Lincolnshire Ian

We are instructing groundworkers to construct the wallplate which will accept our timber frame building. The tolerances on the wallplate are understandably very tight, 5mm over 8m. So that I can sleep at night I will want to check the measurements myself, and a standard tape measure feels inadequate for these types of measurements. How can I get a super-accurate measurement? Many thanks

Hi folks Do people install the meter box to the timber frame and then outer skin around the box (block and render), or do I need to wait until I start doing the block work to install the box. If the box gets installed on to the timber frame, would this mean that the "hockey stick" cable protector would run in the cavity? TIA

Floor first, but where the cabinets are going to be just do full tiles,no cuts to speed things up. If you are a kind soul leave some whole tiles under the plinth, then if someone (or you) want to reconfigure the kitchen you have made someone's life easier.

The address has changed, but the site is the same. The old site was identified with only a house name. When the prefab was demolished BC issued the plot with a number, and removed the name following the LC house numbering policy etc. I will try OpenReach and probably describe it with a name AND number and see how it goes, I just want to avoid a stupid fee (I already have one of those from National Grid!).

The existing cable is hanging from the pole, I unofficially uninstalled it from the prefab and looped it up on the pole.

Hi folks We have demolished a nasty prefab bungalow and we are building a new house. When we install the broadband, we are planning to install a pipe with a rope so that the fibre cable can be pulled through. The refab previously had a broadband connection, so we know it's on the pole outside the house. Is it just a simple job of choosing your broadband supplier, they turn up, run the cable down the pole, tie it to my rope, pull it through to the house and fit a box in the house, OR do OpenReach need to get involved with undoubtedly massive bills? Thanks

Prefect, thanks everyone.

Hi We need to dig supply trenches for electric and telephone/broadband supplies. Both supplies will come from the same pole, drop down the pole and go underground to the house. Can we use the same trench for each supply, marking up with the correct tape etc? Thanks

I have the dewalt 18v batteries, I am guessing this is what I'm looking for when installing 45x45 battens.

I've just received the list of components for my TF home. It includes 2.3lkm of 45x45 battens for walls and ceilings. That's a lot of battening to do! Can anyone recommend a nail gun that will do the job without spending £5-600. Thanks

Here are my ground core samples. Its expensive, but interesting stuff. The geologist pulled a perfectly preserved shell from the clay and told me that 150000 years ago my plot was part of the sea (the sea is now 15 miles away.

You win this rather expensive competition, your play-dough is wetter than mine. My sampling was down to 5m is yours 4m?

I think that I have seen one of your posts before talking about Town And Country Vibro, and I have enjoyed watching the video Our ground is very dodgy, below 3m it's very wet, the consistency of play-dough. I must admit I thought that the ground improvement route wouldn't work. Maybe it's worth a look though. Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

Poor soil. Clay below 0.5m, very wet clay 2-3.5m, and then we hit the hard stuff at 4m+

Just sense-checking the quote for our piles and ring beam (I know it is going to be expensive 😕). We have the first quote in for 34 piles down to 12m, and 102lm ring beam (excluding structural engineer costs). The quote is roughly £37k. Does that sound about right?

If you decide to go down the Velux route I would suggest sending your plans to Velux, then having a sales consultantation. Velux will send you a quote which will be very expensive. Send your Velux quote to your builders merchant and ask them to get a quote from Velux for the identical spec. I took this route and saved 25%.

Don't treat me like you are selling me a load of tarmac from the back of a flat bed that's "left over from another job". When I have been to the trouble to send you my house plans, spend an hour listening to your Account Manager tell me how good you are and then trawl through a credit application form don't treat me like a mug. I "tested" the BM with a large request for a quote for fencing timber. The builders merchant popped back and said they didn't have the dimensions I wanted but pretty close. I thought fair enough, let's see the quote. They sent me a quote for timber that was for "internal use only", I know this because it was printed on the quote!

Brilliant, that looks good. Thanks for your help.

Our soil investigation company is based in Leicester, so probably not much help. But as a cost comparison ours was for five 6m sample holes and three 10m resistance holes. The cost was around £2.5k. The testing found peat which meant that we needed two sampling holes which were gas tested every week for 6 weeks. This was another £2k.

That's an interesting take on it. You could be right. I don't think many people actually lock the windows anyway.

Hi We are building a TF house with a block and render skin. I am struggling to find weep vents that are long enough for the block + render thickness. Can anyone help with this please? Thanks

Hiya We have received the window schedule from our TF manufacturer, and it shows a ground-floor room with an escape window that isn't lockable. I understand the principle of it not being lockable, but I'm probably more worried about someone helping themselves to our stuff. It's also a question asked when you take out insurance: "Are all the downstairs windows lockable?" Can I insist upon an escape window to have a lock, or is this just something that we will need to do? Thanks

The HSE says that hot water is required https://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/healthrisks/welfare/toilets-and-washing.htm But does this get enforced on site by BC, or is it worth taking a risk that the HSE won't do a site inspection.

Hi all Do I really need hot running water for the portaloo? Can I get away with cold running water with soap etc. + sanitizer. Many thanks

We looked at this, it was my preferred cladding, but we couldn't justify the high price compared to other cladding. We are going with Proclad having looked at lots of alternatives.