G and J

They are, so will do. Maybe bulk buying 38 tubes of ct1 wasn’t such a good idea…. Gotcha. Makes perfect sense.

There’s a good few posts advocating that too, and I guess from my point of view both will give a good, strong bond with enough flexibility to endure. I’ve got ct1 and I’ve used it many times so I’m at home with it, hence my preference. But I’m open to other viewpoints.

That would scare me. Partly as I hate foam.

Forgive me if I’m being more thick than usual, but is that a cross section detail of the joist/downstairs panels/ upstairs panel junction?

I’m having a couple of hours off the build, so of course I’m on here researching. No hope is there. We have 22mm decking (a caberboard equivalent) upstairs throughout. I believe it’s really nice and flat but I will check that carefully. I’ve read up all I could find on here, and as a result I think ….. I don’t need to fetch up the flooring to replace with marine ply, but I do need to prime it. I think this is for adhesion rather than waterproofing. The tray instructions say lay on a bed of sand and cement, but if the decking is flat then ct1 appears an excellent bedding material. I can’t believe the mortar mix won’t just turn to dust over time, with footfall and temperature cycling (J has skin removing shower flow temperatures!). We’ve put 15mm green plasterboard with oodles of screws on max 400mm centres, and we can tank that after fitting the shower tray. If it’s better or easier or both to do beforehand please correct me. The wastes are lurking in holes in the floor, all connected up and ready, they sit quivering with anticipation on their own special noggin so they can’t drop too low. When I actually fit them to the tray I’ll put a wipe of ct1 on the trap itself under the rubber washer, then on the washer, before carefully not cross threading the top bit as I screw it in. I’ve practised that a couple of times using a 12mm plywood stand in shower tray with a 90mm hole in it. I really must get out more. Then I scrubby scrub the shower tray’s bottom, (a clean bottom always helps) before carefully squirting ct1 on the bottom of the tray before dumping it in place. I then pull it away from the walls a bit and squirt yet more ct1 into the gap before pushing it home. Next day I run water into the tray and watch underneath for drips or expanding wet patches on my ceilings. Simples. So what can I improve on all that?

Sample of one.....few years back we were doing up a mid victorian print workers cottage as a holiday home, we were aware the young lad helping us was trying to get on the property ladder, and this was in the price range (particularly before work) that he would have been looking at......"wouldn't touch it with a barge pole mate".....he bought a 'cardboard' new build that over the next 10 years (2008 etc) plunged in value and when the time came we were able to sell at cost plus, but he wanted "new"

I used to use my combi drills for driving screws but they both would have been burnt out months ago on this build. Using my impie today I found my hand getting uncomfortably hot with the hot air, so I think even my impie is on its limit. Mind you, at £40 it’s paid for itself many times over.

Chain sharpening does take practice. I tickle up my chains with a file but I sharpen with a grinder bought for the purpose. Chains are quite cheap, however, and I know a builder who simply never sharpens them, he just swaps to a new one. For shrub cutting the downside of a sabre saw is that sometimes you need to hold the smaller branches otherwise they just vibrate with the blade and refuse to cut, so I find bolt cutters rather handy too. Either way, it’s a good opportunity for hours of power tool porn! 😉

Chainsaws are f dangerous in my opinion, even the diddy ones. I firmly believe that if you’re used to using a chainsaw then fine, if not a sabre saw will be safer for things like tree lopping (to about 3” ) and cutting up pallets. Sabre saws have blades that cope with nails, chainsaws don’t. Chainsaws can kick like a mule with toothache if you hit the wrong stuff. That said, I’ve done many hundreds of hours on chainsaws, and I’d give up my sabre saw in an instant over my light sabre (AKA top handle single battery micro chain saw). I use it one handed for all kinds of stuff, it’s a lot safer to use on a ladder than a two handed saw. May the force be with you.

Then slate. With solar pv in roof. That’s what we’ve done. Things to note: Ventilated ridge and airflow at the bottom of the slates help the membrane shift water vapour and hopefully cool the panels too. Most roofers round here will counterbatten but then run the felt directly under the bottom tile, stifling all airflow. Not good. Close supervision was needed in our case and we had a brilliant and well respected roofer. Not all membranes are spec’d for this configuration. Make sure you’ve got one that is.

I would naturally reach for my single handed chainsaw for such (aka light sabre). The sabre saw will see least use in civilian life, methinks.

I bought my sabre saw when we had started to demolish the timber frame bungalow. Brilliant. Before that I felt it was just too rough. However, it’s now part of the base armoury. I think of it as a super high power jigsaw.

I cable tied a two gang extension lead onto the board. Saves wiring and I’ve two separate chargers for when I eventually return to normal life, whatever that might be.

I’m using the most basic Makita 18v impie - it’s showing wear and tear but then, it’s built a timber frame house with me. I can understand higher spec ones maybe lasting longer in professional hands, but otherwise I think the basic one does everything brilliantly

I wanted a dual charger but as a skinflint I waited till there was an offer on for a single fast charger and I put em both on a board. Simple. And cheap. Just like me. 😉

With respect, anyone who’s interested in all my ramblings really should get out more lol I fixed my tester, and the hep connectors worked a treat. Good news.

This may or may not be what was meant, but in out last house (block) we had a room with a vaulted ceiling put over the garage, work commitments meant it was done for us and in our naivety we went with the pir insulation recommended, which is effectively a huge component of the sip. The "feel" of that room was totally different.....dead/flat/echoy...just not "good". Sufficiently unpleasant to make us push back on the architect and move away from pir (in our case to rockwooĺ) for our stick build. Not yet plastered (hopefully only days away🤞) buy absolutely no regrets, even as it is now (osb/ply lined) the "feel" and noise absorbance are totally different.

You’ve seen pics of new born chicks. Bald, scrawny and terribly wrinkly. So in at least three aspects I do resemble one.

Rushed to screwfix after finishing on site. Stumbled in through the doors, brandishing my phone with my “Good news, your order is ready” text like it was my bow of burning gold. I grabbed my stuff, ignoring the sad “oh look, another weirdo” looks and raced home a fast as Skooby can manage nowadays, so at least there’s no risk to the licence. Connected up the shower valve to the pressure tester via the ‘panacea connector’ and…….. watched the needle steadily drop. Oh. But wait! I’ve been here before. So I tested the tester. Duff. Ah. So whilst I can report that the connectors fit beautifully both the shower valve's and the tap connector’s compression thread, I can’t yet pressure test it. I think I can fix my tester tomorrow, or if not I’ll buy another, so I’ll report back then. Again. Assuming anyone’s interested. And if you are then just like me, you really should get out more lol

Can't judge on value, but the above is also worth thinking about, can even get shallow wardrobes with rails the other way round...... maybe rather than on opposite side to bay, have shallow units either side and over......having said all that sometimes keeping simply and airy works.... Re the ensuite you could reduce the "intrusion" into the main bed by pushing it throughout the wall and using the return in the original room for a built in wardrobe and that way you could possibly still make use of some of original plumbing?

That's what I was thinking.....just makes the approach to main bed more straight forward.....the corridor could be either 'public' or part of the main bed eg. drawers/ dressing table/window seat?

Hi, what will the room that is currently the main bed be used for in the future? I ask because if your happy losing ensuite/wardrobe anyway a corridor in front of the bay/ changing what I guess would be opaque glazing in the rear window may be an option......could even make corridor a little wider and have a seat/study area in the bay?

Plus, Im more of a Laurel and Hardy theme type of guy.

Where’s your sense of adventure? And anyway, I’ve got a multi tool and a lump hammer, so what could go wrong? (Opens window for small Screwfix order…..)

If I (G, that is), wasn’t so ugly I’d offer to kiss you @Nickfromwales