Adam2

That sucks, will let you know if I have more success. As this is primarily for backfill protection I was planning just to tape the boards in place

Do you mind me asking which company's products you're using for the waterproofing? Also - what EPS were you considering just the cheapest you can get or anything in particular?

We're building using ICF and have some semi-basement aspects to the house - 2-3 sides are covered but 1-2 sides (it varies by floor) are open so drainage around the house is not expected to be a problem. Planning to use waterproof concrete + externally applied membrane (both BASF) + a double drain dimple layer. In addition I was thinking to also use a 25mm layer of EPS to provide some added protection when back-filling/compacting. May be overkill but it shouldn't be a large cost. I saw seconds+co have 25mm boards at £11/sheet but roofingoutlet have jablite 25mm at £3.80 a sheet which seems a total bargain https://www.roofingoutlet.co.uk/products/expanded-polystyrene-eps-70-1200mm-x-2400mm-x-25mm Any suggestions for better solutions appreciated before I press the button. cheers

good luck, we have our ICF blocks on site and waiting for foundations so should start having fun with that soon - though I'm not personally doing the building

Thanks, looks good. Seems the supplier has a load of these going as they were all immediately re-listed so will check on delivery and if there is a reserve. The auction hammer price = + about 40% for fees and VAT so with delivery may not even be a great deal off buying similar elsewhere

I'm watching various auction sites to spot things we can buy in advance at good prices. Came across this: https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/auction-catalogues/william-george-auctions/catalogue-id-wi413271/lot-22a02a31-9aa5-4a52-bd73-abdf0113767a The style of this seems fine to us and we're wanting wall mounted. If I can get a bunch of these at a lowish price I'm assuming I can get anything I need to make it work such as fittings and frames to mount - please let me know if that's not likely to be the case. Frames and concealed systems are quite pricey as well so will need to fins some bargains for them too (just saw on post below the links to a discounted frame)

Hi @Timedout here's a good link to a summary of the detailed thread and also a great leaflet from HSE in relation to "domestic clients"

Is this really the case - there is a deep thread on here covering CDM and my understanding as a domestic client that I am assume to know nothing and contractors have the CDM related responsibility. I need to provide the basics - WC, dry and heated area (sun ? ) , water. I also have first aid kit and PPE if they need to borrow but I don't want to take on responsibility for their H&S

Thanks for sharing the tables etc. In non-boost mode there is a 10 l/s difference between supply & extract and in boost mode this is much smaller. Is it assumed that a higher supply will leak out the house so not something to be very concerned with?

Thanks, interesting reading. Thinking about this at the moment for my ICF build which helps in some ways but when it comes to doors/windows/roof and internal walls built off the (non-passive) slab I want to be sure we're doing as much as we can to maintain air-tightness and minimise the thermal bridging. Will be asking for details from suppliers soon to see what they propose and likely be asking questions on how to improve.

Thanks for the input- completely agree, it is the people working there that need to decide and be happy with the solution. The sheets will be a bit out of shape hence the intent to purchase - I'm providing materials (at their suggested spec).

It's a difficult decision and I agree I'm not qualified to make it. The geo-technician who did the ground investigation thinks this is OK as does an engineer at the product supplier but I'm a bit cautious so expect we will go with the shoring as per the diagram (which was the SE original proposal). I think I've found a decent source for trench sheets so this is coming down in price which is helping! My reference to collapsing was really meant if there is prolonged bad weather at an inopportune time vs a substantial sudden collapse as per the recent house in the news on the Isle of Sheppy. Anyway - a really interesting product but not one then that I'm expecting to use for this project unless we want to make some concrete furniture or other interesting garden feature ?

Without something being there the slope may collapse especially with heavy rain/wind as the site is exposed as at the top of a hill. The top of the slope is my neighbour's path down his side of the boundary. Limited room so the slop will be very steep and some lucky person will need to work next to it to waterproof the walls before we back-fill. Unlikely to collapse but I;m sure that was said many times before it did ? Open to any other suggestions, my default option that both the ground workers and build co are happy with is below. This is more expensive that the concrete canvas (which my geotechnical contact says should be OK) option but is better understood/trusted by the teams who need to work near it. Any other options of course appreciated - I was intrigued by the concrete canvas but that route may just take too much time to get agreed whereas the one below I can get done in 3 days.

Anyone used this on here https://www.concretecanvas.com/ Am considering as an option to add stability to an excavation that will be about 3m deep x 4m wide and 70 degree slope. Will be backfilled in 5 weeks so only temporary. Price is not too bad and quick to install with no special tooling etc. Currently either that or trench sheets and some props set into concrete thrust blocks . This sheet option will cost more and take more time hence considering new fangled ideas

My grass was a lot less than 24/m. Ground is already compacted sandy soil so levelled that and compacted, layer of terram, 50mm new sand compacted and then another layer of terram. Area is about 160m install cost inc edgings was 5,300. If you're in the south let me know and I can put you in touch with the firm I used - don't think they travel far or if they did may cost a far bit

V nice @RandAbuild interesting also as I'm Adam and my wife is Rhiannon so could also use that id ? To help stop weeds we did a layer of membrane below sand and a layer above so hope may stop at least a few of them, apparently this also prevents sand migrating through the grass drainage holes. Leaning towards the widest brush thing with a collection bucket at the moment, especially if battery or petrol powered.

Ha yes our dog will scavenge any food so not bothered about that. maybe a henry hoover with a custom 2m wide suction head would work, or maybe go crazy and use a dyson ? I do have an electric Li-on battery powered lawn mower - maybe I could customise that as obviously no longer needed.

So we've got our grass down - pic below just after laying so not finally fixed hence small wrinkles etc but really happy with that! [... polite advertising removed ... ] My question for those of you experienced with this stuff is what is the best way to remove leaves/pine needles/pine cones etc that will be collecting on it? A blower, a sucker, some form of power broom???

I wonder how cheap you can make it - I can get IBCs at £15 a go so was thinking 4 of these + maybe 100 on connection bits and 560 for a long hose down to a garden tap so about 220 all in excluding my time. Though thinking about this I wonder if it even makes sense - you need a perfect combination of enough rain to fill your tanks then no rain for a while so you can use your tanks vs the rain doing the watering for you! I wonder how often in a year that works out to be the case. Seems like you'd need a lot of storage capacity for this to work out remotely economically or even practically.

I saw other threads where some are using IBCs to store rainwater for garden use. I'm thinking of this also but wondered about risk of freezing. Is that likely in the South of the UK if you have something like an IBC (1000L)? Mine would be under an elevated driveway so not surrounded by walls on 3 sides but a bit protected from wind. No idea on the maths to work out how many days <0 degrees would be needed to freeze one of those

For me probably not got use for them but could be good for others

Great - yes we're leveling the area and compacting some type 1 first. Figured a bit of light mesh in there as well may be useful to stop cracks though may be over-kill.

Hi - across the different floors and wall etc I'm expecting 6 pours and each of these is going to have some waste concrete. Id it viable to look to use this or should it be chucked out? My intended use would be to create a level area of storage underneath my garage (whihc is on a platform with about 2.2m headroom. Currently is soil. I was thinking I could level this area, put down a bit of type 1, put in some shuttering and some mesh then barrow down the excess concrete and place in here - area is 6m x 4m approx. So the levels would be built over the course of separate pours. Will that just be a total waste of time as the concrete will not be stable like this/ is the excess from the hopper/pump tube suitable? Appreciate thoughts on that vs paying to have it taken away

Ok cheers will do that. I'd have tried a wood bit as I thought was mainly resin, I know it's a mix so will be fun trying this out

This will be just cars driving directly over to get in garage so not too much stress, esp if recessed slightly. Any thoughts about drilling into the resin stuff - the Aco product looks pretty robust to me so feels OK for this but thought would be good to see if other ways to do this. Bit more info - The image below shows the entrance - 2 red blobs, direction of slope arrow and 2 x drain runs in reg wiggly lines - will try and install straighter ? Fall from entrance to nearest columns is about 400 over 3m and there will be a fall on the concrete of about 200mm over 6m going up the page towards drain channels. Channel in front of garage entrance will be 750 away from garage doors and there will be a slight fall also from the garage down into this.