Big Jimbo

I have some questions with reference to building a basement if any of you nice people can help. Rather than just leave it to an engineer, i would like to form some of my own ideas. Thanks in advance for any advice received. 1. When you install a floor / bottom in a basement, do you still need a load of insulation. If a basement is underground on 3 1/2 sides. Just a lightwell exposed. If that floor is say 4mt underground is the temperature not stable, and quite warm at that point ? 2. I believe that to comply with building regs you have to have Two methods of keeping water out ? Any idea what is normally done ? I was thinking about a french drain around the base to a sump with a pump which would take that water to a suitable soakaway ? I'm not sure what other methods might be used ? 3. I know that sometimes basements are constructed using formwork, and waterproof concrete. Any ideas as to what other methods might be suitable ? 4. If a bathroom was to be fitted in a basement, i take it that a macerator pump would be required to take the waste up to ground level where it could be discharged into a normal 100mm soil pipe ? 5. Any directions to web sites, or you tubes, that might give me a better idea of methods available ? 6. Anything else you think i might need to consider ? As always, thanks in advance for any help or advice offered.

Its like the fencer who gave me a quote for 100m of fencing. Sent a couple of guys round who spent a lot of time chatting. A lot of time looking at thier phones, and a lot of time standing around. At the end the fencer came round and said he would have to increase the cost because it had taken longer than anticipated. I told him that his Two blokes were lazy gits, and that if he paid them well then he needs to think about replacing them. If however he paid them peanuts...... I told him to bugger off with regards any extra money.

I think you will have some options if you have a job, or some income. If you dont, regardless off the fact that you own the house and the plot you will be looking at some form of commercial lending. If you have no track record, that will narrow it down. Borrowing money on a commercial basis is going to cost you a lot more money than a nice self build mortgage.

I would expect labour would be about £300 to £350 max.

have you thought about making it a floating deck ?

You will have spent a few bob on that. It looks like it is within P.D. 30sq m limit. personally, i would clad the outside with 50mm pir. It looks like you would have room re the roof overhang. I would put 50mm on the floor, and board over. Don't skimp now. That structure is going to be there for years.

I applied for a knockdown and rebuild (6 x the size) got that through. Because i'm on green belt, i went back in to planning for a new permission, which added a 1250sq ft basement. I am in one of the areas affected, and also have another problem because Ashridge park is close by, and the council has identified that the park is being damaged by too many visitors. At first the planning officer said that i would not be given a decision because of both the above matters untill some sort of mitigation strategy had been sorted out. I pointed out that my application was not for a new, but for a replacement dwelling. (It will go from 1 toilet and a shower, to 7 toilets, 6 showers, and 1 bath) He just said "Oh, Ok" and passed it. My application basically said i would connect to existing mains sewage. I made no mention of what i would do with rain water. Perhaps i was just lucky ?

That looks so much better. Well done.

I used 2 x 1 to make temp handrails down some steps. NHBC passed them no problem.

If that pipe is collecting rainwater from your garage it must go to a soakaway somewhere ? I would think about connecting the downpipe to a new soakaway if you can. Also try and get it 5 meters away from any building. You could use one of the crate systems to provide a new soakaway.

Bob the builder. What even a replacement dwelling ? Existing house already connected to mains.

Porthole. Should not be a problem for your kitchen fitter. By the sounds of things your sink should fit inside the sides of your unit. The legs on the bottom of your unit should be supporting your cabinet sides, so the weight should not be an issue. If your doors are full height then the top hinge hole will have to be re-drilled lower down. Thats not ideal but possible. If your doors are full height then you are going to have to set the sink back from the front in order to allow for a worktop (granite) front rail. 2x2 screwed into either side of the cabinet with an 18mm board on top, with a hole cut for the waste will be fine for support. Can you post a pic so i can see what sort of cabinet you have.

I take it this madness relates to new build on virgin land rather than any replacement dwelling ?

As Nick said above. I did a refurb in 2007 and used speedfit from the incoming mains. I always pressured with air when i ran new pipes and left it overnight. 5 months in and a pipe above the kitchen ceiling came apart. It had an insert, and had been marked with a sharpie to ensure if was fully pushed home. Then another One went on the central heating. I switched to Hep20 pipe and fittings after that and fingers crossed, never had a problem since. (Fingers crossed) Good luck getting it sorted.

My daughter used to go into waitrose every morning on the way to the tube. Buy a coffee, and get a free banana. I have never understood why people would do such a thing. What a waste of money. She is defo going to struggle badly with the new costs of energy. I must find out if she still does it.... I will as super dad, try and help her out, but she is going to have to cut some things out.

On Off. I think that what you are doing will make quite a difference to how you will feel. Defo worth the effort in my opinion. So epc's have been around for a fair old time now. Have people taken any notice of them ? Having had to help my 3 daughters onto the property ladder, i think that younger people just want a place that they can call there own. I think that once people have owned a couple of houses, flats etc, and have been paying those bills for several years, they might be more inclined to think about the bills in the next property purchase.

I have no idea how much of our housing stock is leaky, badly insulated etc but, i expect it is very high. I hate to say but i think that the planners, and planning system does not help. If, and i am not saying that i am right, the best house is a simple box, flat roof, no fancy sticky out bits, then that is what we should be building. One of the problems is that people (purchasers) planners etc are most comfortable with things that fit in with the other houses around them. The second is that mortgage lenders still take a sharp intake of breath of buildings that are non standard construction. I will probably get shouted at, but i really believe that we should only build houses that have a life expectancy of 60 years. Technology, materials etc will move on so much in that time that any housing stock will only be fit for pulling down, and any retrospctive bringing up to spec will be too costly.

29mm ducting ???? That is not going to be worth having. When i did kitchens for a living, all of the external extractors i fitted required ducting of 250mm, and sometimes 300mm. If you have only got 29mm for ducting you need to have a serious think about alternatives.

Insulation, Air tightness, and controlled ventilation. The way we should build houses.

How can people mock up something that quick. Black magic going on on build hub.

I'm a grout line hater. So the bigger the tiles the better.

I like it a lot. I would imagine that care would need to be taken fitting them. I would imagine that they would have some flexibility at only 3mm

If you took little bits of all of them, you could build something...................?

Morning Harry. Only just read this thread. So how long have you had the planning officer boarded up inside the place. Did you supply them with food and water ? Hope you got on ok fella.

No, i get that but better than nothing if you are buying a not new house.