sgt_woulds

No, just stating a known fact 🙂 I may have been getting the wrong end of the stick, but I felt the inference from Andehh's comment was that TF and rubble trenches were inferior. I not stating that such a building would definitely last for thousands of years, merely that it could, based on extant evidence. As could any structure built with care, and with proper design and maintenance. Not something we can apply to most mass housebuilder efforts, nor the ego-boosting glass and concrete towers littering most major cities. I suspect most of these will be torn down or require a substantial rebuild in the next 50 years.

True, and the oldest man-made structures on earth are made of mud bricks or cob on rubble trench foundations 🙂 There are also plenty of timber frame buildings in this country dating back more than 800 years. Combining the best features of all of these structures that will last the test of time is the ideal, as long-term savings in running costs and maintenance can then ameliorate any initial up-front carbon costs. So-called 'energy-efficient' monstrosities built using tonnes of concrete and bricks, but with a practical life measured in decades, is where we are at today, unfortunately. At least as a self-builder, you have the chance to build something better. Put your name on a little commemorative brick like the Victorians did, and someone can praise your efforts in 100 years...

If you really want to save upfront carbon, then changing to natural stone will save much more than the mortar alone - and it will look lovely as shown above. Changing to engineered timber rather than sawn will save more - (less timber section required for the same strength, and more of the tree can be used for structural components versus traditional sawn timber). The smaller cross-section allows more insulation and reduces cold bridging as a useful side effect. This works well with a woodfibre external sheathing board and flexible insulation between the studs - hemp flex for preference to reduce upfront carbon even more. TF can work well with a brick skin as long as you allow adequate ventilation and effective protection for the insulation. Probably the best area to save UFC is in the foundations. These don't need to be concrete - a rubble trench foundation is as green as it gets and is perfectly acceptable to building control with a structural engineer's sign-off. As a plus, it is the quickest foundation type to make, and also act like a French drain to keep your walls bone dry.

Not necessarily large sections! Some, like 'We Build Eco' provide pre-cut and numbered timbers to allow swift build on sites with limited access for lorries/cranes. Essentially a rapid and accurate stick build with very tight tolerances. With or without all insulation and finishing boards included. House 'kit' content will vary according to manufacturer - most end with the basic shell ready for fitting out, but some include all items required for finish (e.g. Huf Haus) Essentially one step down from pre-fab

I briefly worked in a car insurance call centre. The line managers' commissions were based on the value of our sales so were always pushing us to upsell unnecessary extras. In most cases that involved screaming and spitting at those members of the team they could get away with, and generally being as objectionable as they could be to the rest of us without actually expecting a knuckle sandwich. The entire call staff quit on the same day, just after we got our payslips. Would have been one of my best days ever - a real 'self-respect' moment - but one of the scumbags sexually assaulted one of the girls after she went to collect something from the toilets. I was in the pub with the team when she came in crying. I never met any of them again, but I heard later week that some of the guys had tracked the scumbag down and 'sorted him out'. They all got done for GBH but he was never convicted as the poor lass was too scared of him.

But back to the OP's question: Alongside the alarm you should really consider a smokescreen system. If they can't see it they cant steal it

Personally, I think introducing a little public shame back into society might work wonders - bring back the stocks and televise the rotten tomato throwing. There is so much open lawlessness on the streets we could never throw enough people in prison to curb it. There are gangs marauding pavements on stolen mopeds and people openly shooting up on the bench outside our local police training station. As the police pull out in their vehicles they deliberately look the other way. The decline in morals and public order is shocking. The increasing apathy in policing is even more so.

Isn't it strange how the bad bosses seem to have all the luck? I had one, who used to call us all 'see you next tuesday' every other word. Vile man, but he could turn on the charm when he wanted to and most people who didn't work with him thought he was just a 'rough diamond'. He always got away with things that would see the rest of us in hospital or prison. Typical example: Overloaded van Torrential rain No seat belt Holding phone to ear with a shoulder Because he was rolling a fag with his hands and steering with his knees Over 90 mph (Me with my head in a book trying not to see what the idiot was doing and silently praying as he swerved in and out of lanes...) We get pulled over by a jam sandwich and he comes on with the cheeky-chappie cockney sparrow routine. Much laughter all around. Then they ask his date of birth and realise it's his birthday. 'So which one of these offences would you like us to charge you for then...?' The fact that it was hissing down with pets and they wanted to go off shift probably helped. Only got done for using a phone.

Yes, when I first got on roofs this was how my then boss expected us to work. 'That's just how everyone does it...' He also liked to make 'ladders' out of any bits of timber that were lying about. I politely told him to do it himself and I would watch from the van and take photos for the H&S investigation. Pretty cocky for a 20 year old rookie I know, but we were both in the TA and he knew that one day I might be standing next to him with a rifle and I'm sure he'd like to know which way I'd point it when it counted. Even back then a roof ladder cost peanuts; he bought a Youngmans ladder the same day for less than £200 and it saved his life a couple of days later when he was overreaching and the slate he was standing on slipped. He only just managed to grab the ladder, but it held, and so did he.

You should never rely solely on what you read on the interwebs... 🙂 Plus my knowledge doesn't extend to WUFI software, unfortunately. I have fitted solar panels to an externally insulated roof in the past. From memory, the screws were 280mm long and even though the timbers were over 100mm wide we were extremely nervous about hitting centres. We had a jig made that would hold the screws vertical to the face of the roof as they went in, and hired a pull-out rig, (used for testing 'man safe' systems) to ensure that each screw had hit its mark. We also used extra fixings on the frames' outer edges for additional insurance. It worked, but it was a total PITA and took an age to complete. Nothing is impossible, but all options should be weighed up and thought through. I'd be interested to know how you resolve this.

Too true, but you get where I'm coming from - to the layman, (our Landlord could not be more 'Lay') BS stands for something else! They only care about what the government has 'suggested' and that BC are familiar with. @Benpointer always good to get an expert viewpoint. I look at the fold-down rail to the right-hand side of the toilet and think, 'If a wheelchair user is expected to use that on their own without sustaining a concussion, then a toilet seat lid will be child's play!' Personally, I think the lack of lid is more to do with its use in public facilities - cheaper to buy, easier for cleaners to see if the last dirty scrote has left them a message, quicker to clean, and less likely to be damaged or ripped off by the animals that use these spaces.

Thanks, but BS 8300 is not mandatory. We only need to comply with building control Part M, (or possibly Part T if the building use changes). Really, I just need to know if there is some section or amendment to Part M that I haven't seen that precludes the lid. Otherwise, it appears to me, that manufacturers who sell Part M 'approved' toilet seats are talking out of their derrière 🙂

The only time we ever had PV panels come off was with a zinc standing seam roof. To be fair, the panels didn't come off the roof, the whole roof detached from the building and landed in a field about a quarter of a mile away. [Wish I'd seen it happen - the roof was about 4 football fields in size and it landed in one, (rather twisted) piece]. It seems that the roofers hadn't used the correct number of fixings per metre specified by the structural engineer to counter the PV uplift. In any contract, always ask for photos of the completion of any key stage to prove that instructions have been followed. And ensure that a structural engineer confirms the roof design. Don't rely on an architect for this aspect - they know next to nothing about how a building is put together.

Can anyone point out to me where it states in either approved documents T or M that the toilet seats can't have a lid? The only specific mention regarding the seat I can see is height from the floor, (between 480-500mm). However, the only available part M-approved seats I can find come without lids, and our landlord refuses to fit anything else. As this is a commercial - rather than a publicly accessible building - I think we should decide based on a risk assessment that includes a balance of risks. We have a one ambulatory-access female toilet and one wheelchair accessible universal toilet, (the de facto Male toilet). We do not have any employees in a wheelchair, (or with any mobility issue) and only see visitors in a blue moon. The likelihood of any accident caused by having a lid is extremely low - especially regarding the number of times this facility will be used for disabled access purposes, (in our case next to never). The risk to health from the spread of bacteria and disease is much higher without the toilet bowl being enclosed during a flush. (There is publicly available evidence to show that flushing with no lid or with the lid up creates an aerosol of water and ‘other things’ which coats every surface in the room – flushing with the lid down reduces the toilet plume by between 30% and 60% ) Balance of risk therefore confirms that the health risk from flushing outweighs any difficulty caused by lifting a lid. I have suggested fitting a toilet seat with a handle as a compromise. If in the future, we employ somebody with additional needs, we can create an employee-specific risk assessment. Is there anything in either document or some other standard that I am unaware of to dispute this argument?

It may be possible to use all insulation above the rafters - with a WUFI assessment to confirm that it works. I cannot stress that enough. Also, using woodfibre above the rafters would require a significant depth of insulation to achieve similar U-values to the example shown above - you would be using dense insulation boards throughout and these do not provide as good a U-value as the flexible woodfibre used between the rafters. Shown below is a build-up with U-value of 0.248 W/m2K: Here, the 18mm OSB3 is used without a VCL membrane and a UDB breathable membrane is used above the insulation. Ubakus doesn't have the TLX Batsafe listed, but this should provide a similar performance. Two layers of woodfibre are shown, 100mm of better U-value, and a layer of 40mm which has a hydrophobic coating to provide additional weatherproofing. In this case, the breather membrane is used as protection from the bats, otherwise it would not be required. If you can find the correct quality of OSB3, (unfortunately, not easy in the UK) it can be taped and sealed to provide both airtightness and vapour control. You could also use a VCL over the ply if required. Points to consider: Fixing Length – with this thickness of build-up the fixings would be a minimum of 220mm long. The fixing process needs to be exact to make sure that the fixing penetrates the centre of the supporting rafters. This can be difficult to achieve consistently with such long lengths. If a lower U-value is required then the overall build-up increases as does the screw length. Counter batten size – the counter batten and screw hold all the insulation in place and need to be designed to withstand any wind & snow loads and carry the weight of the external finishes. The counter batten width needs to be sufficient so that when the fixings pull into the structural frame, the batten doesn’t pull into the insulation layer; the woodfibre is relatively dense but this needs to be accounted for. Hence the fixing manufacturer, (e.g. HECO Topix Screws) must design a fixing methodology to consider all the following factors – wind load, snow load, exposure, insulation type, batten size etc. The same build-up using F1 felt and a V-VCL membrane will show moisture issues in Ubakus, but again, if you have it assessed by a WUFI expert you may find this is within acceptable levels. I suggest speaking to 'Mike Wye' or 'Back to Earth' as they have more real-world experience in their technical teams and will be able to advise accordingly.