Big Jimbo

Personally, i'm gutted that David James has gone out, because it means i see less of the Russian Blond.

You are now making me miss the fit Russian Blond. A raised tie will give you a raised ceiling. You are going to walk out through the door from your existing first floor, and you are going to have a wall to your right which will rise from the floor you are standing on. at the top of that wall, you are going to have a slope rising towards you untill it meets the ceiling above your head. On the other side you will have the same, but the slope will be shorter, because your wall on that side is taller. The ceiling above your head, will be level from one side to the other. Stop trying to find problems where they arn't any. Relax, and enjoy the blond.

You can now relax, and ogle the Blond Russian fit one on Strictly that was dancing with David James, and crack a beer. Enjoy

Your roof trusses look fine. They look like they will give you something close to your drawing. A longer slope on the left from the top of your wall to the ceiling, and a shorter one on the right. Your riased tie will give you the increased ceiling height you require. Happy days

I wonder is that a regional thing ? I only ask because i have only ever known a truss like that as a "raised Tie"

I would call those raised tie trusses. They have been designed as raised tie in order to give you extra headroom in the room above what a standard truss would give you. If you nip up there and measure from the waterproof (for 65 days) flooring to the top of the wood walls they have put up, i can give you an idea of how high the ceiling will be in that room and put your mind at rest,

Well done Zoot. Talking is always good, and now you have got clarification of the things you needed to know. You builder sounds like a top fella, and if he tells you to door through will be fine, then i can see no reason not to believe him. Why don't you go and make him a cup of tea. You can now relax. It would seem you are in safe (welsh) hands. You could have saved yourself so much anguish, if you had had that conversation with him much earlier. Remember, for the future. If you have a question, Just ask. Post up some pics when it is finished, so we can all admire.

Thanks Russell. Yeah i quite fancy having a go at the ringbeam.

My above comment may well be out of order. I have no idea how Christine choses to gender identify. She might have already been a 6ft 6inch big geezer called Bob, who just choses to identify as Christine ?

Exactly Christine. You had to man up, and that was even harder for you because you were not a man to start with.

This thread is a joke. I'll do my best to help anybody, but Zoot is on another level. No advice taken, and round and round in circles. The answer is simple, but he just won't do it. Anybody other than the big boss who comes to site is told to go away. Phone call to big boss to say you want to have an on-site meeting with him. Meeting with big boss. Simple questions written down that you want answers too. What will be the difference between my existing finish floor level and the finish floor level on the ground floor of my extension ? What will the height be between my extension finish floor, and the ceiling above ? What will be the height of the first floor space from finished floor to ceiling. I am having a door cut in, (already there) at first floor level. Will this door be full height ? It's not hard or unreasonable to seek answers to the above questions directly from the person who you are either paying or going to be paying. You won't do it..........instead you will carry on writing pages, and pages, and pages. I bet you a fiver, I'm right. You have been man enough to do a drawing, commission a builder. SO HAVE THE MEETING.

The deep foundations do look a pain. I'm not sure about a reinforced raft. I have a look on the interweb and see if one might be suitable.

So, and correct me if i'm wrong, the finish floor level of the extension is lower than your existing house finish floor level ? By how much ? What is the ceiling height from the floor of your existing house ? What is the ceiling height anticipated by you in the new extension ? How are you going to access the new extension from your existing house ? A door with steps down ? Do you have enough height for a full height door ? To get from your existing house into the extention Answer the above, and i will see if i can help further.

Good job. You got it sorted, that's all that matters. So many things that we buy these days are utter rubbish, although i dont think it's a new thing. My brother in law used to work for Ford developement. In the late seventies a manufacturer came in with an alternator. Said they could do them for say, a tenner each. They were asked how long it would last, and were told minimum 15 years. They were told to go away and re-engineer it. Make it last 6 years, and make it a Fiver.

Evening all. I've got about 41 lin mt of footings to pull, or have piled. I'm told by a builder who has just built 4 masonary barn style properties about 500m from me in the same lane that "Its good ground" He dug footings at a 1m deep for 2 storey masonary. Happy days you might say. However, i have trees. 2x poplar, 3x oak, 2 x silver birch, and conifers cut to about 5 m in height. Boo Hoo you now might say. I'm going to need about 10 m at 3m deep, and the remaining to be 2.5 m deep. I have not had a soil test done yet (See below) but i should find clay with flints, silt, sand, and gravel according to British Geological survey web site. Dont know yet but may have to make the trenches wider, ie; 700mm and stick in some clayboard re clay. I've got a decent size rear garden, about 100ft x 200ft, so unless what i pull out is total crap, i could prob spread most of the spoil, over the site without making much difference, or have it carted away. I think that i could do the deep founds for between 15 and 20 k allowing about 4k for muck away. I've been told by the engineer that i sould be able to get it piled, and do my own ringbeam for similar money. I've dug plenty of founds down to about 1200mm with my mini digger, but never any deeper. Any body on here dug deep founds ? Is it a pain in the butt ? 3m is bloody deep, i know, 2.5 aint exactly shallow. Am i mad to even consider it ? should i just get piles and do my 450mmx450mm reinforced ring beam ? If i was to get my own soil test (plasticity) done. (lab locally) anybody have any idea at what depth i should take the sample from ? or do i need to do several tests at various depths ? Thanks in advance gang.

I think Halfords are good value for socket sets, and have a no quibble lifetime g/tee

Gutted for you fella. That looks bad, very bad. Not a roof i would have any confidence in, looking at that. I hope you can get any money you have paid back.

Now im not a plumber, but have done central heating in my own houses, and my 3 daughters houses. I always fit a magnatec or equiv. I did my own house in a mixture of plastic and made use of some of the existing copper. Then i put ply all over my ground floor, and tiled it. 3 years later i had a plastic pipe pop out of a plastic conc.........As you can imagine. Nightmare. Daughters house. I did it all in copper, which was expensive, and a pain getting through joists etc. However, never had a prob in 7 years 2nd Daughters house. I did it all in plastic, but without a single joint under any floor. Basically, I ran a flow and return pipe to each rad, and made up a manifold (under the stairs) Full bore isolator on each flow and return, so i can isolate, and remove any rad at any time. And even keep the heating on. Did the same upstairs. Been in 2 1/2 years and works a treat.

I would defo say, inhibiter, inhibiter, inhibiter. I fitted a boiler about 15 years ago (with the exception of the gas connection) because i was doing the whole house up, one room at a time, i knew i would have to keep draining the system. I thought, being a tight git, that every time i drained to do another room, i was going to loose all my inhibiter, so thought i would wait untill i did the last room to add it. 12 months later boiler packed up. Heat exchanger totally blocked due to not having any inhibiter in it for the last year. DOH.

I've done it with several different BCO's and 4 Local authorities On Off. Think of it this way. Sparks comes along, does all your first fix. You cover it up with all your plaster etc. He comes back and does your second fix. Everything connected and working. He says he will come back on Saturday morning with his final invoice, do your test, and issue your cert. He never makes it because he crashed his van, and he is now re-wireing harps in the clouds. Any other electrician is not going to want to cert his work. He can't even see the install. At best he will do a periodic test for you. What are you going to do, rip out all your finish work ? Never going to happen. I have yet to find a BCO that won't accept a periodic test.

I did part p years ago at a training centre, and got a cert. From what i remember is was simple stuff like wire runs being vertical, or horizontal, dont drill a joist near the end etc, etc. Very much common sense stuff to be honest. I am also very old, and qualified as an electrician, although never used it for making money..... I always wire all my own stuff, full house refurbs, extensions etc. Unless you know an electrician very well, i doubt you will get one to sign off your work with an install and test cert. I have in the passed managed to fall out big time with my BCO on a job (about window vents, and free to air soil pipes) When i came to the final inspection and had him in front of me i said. Right fella, I'm part P. I have no idea where my cert is, and i'm a qualified electrician, but not the up to date edition. I have done the full install myself from the incoming, so how are we going to handle this. He said, just get a periodic test done, send it in, and i'll sign it off. I have always, just continued to do that. About 10 times now, and never had a problem, or had it questioned.

Sorry i can't help Mike, but whatever you do, don't do anything with haste. Defo nightmare if you get it wrong. I think that when i have been reading one of the biggest problems seems to be, Site 1 says one thing, and the other 5 sites say something else. Who do you trust ? Good luck

I have been told by a highly respected repair man that the Dewalt nail guns (i have one the same) only like Dewalt nails, and not the cheaper brands.

I'd go with Russell above. Just put the pipe in now. Job done

That's how i made my living for 20 or so years. I would design and have made (handmade) bespoke kitchens, bedrooms, etc. I would then fit them into large posh houses. My kitchens ranged from about £30k to £180k. I would always make a good 35% profit on top and about £5k fitting. Don't knock it, you are not buying a posh handbag where they are producing a few thousand. You are buying a One off, exclusive, designed for you product. Nobody is going to come round and say, "yeah my friends got one the same" It's like having a pair of hand made shoes made. Or a fabric designed just for you, and made into an exclusive piece of clothing. It costs to be the only one to have something. I've specked up ovens, that cost £35k. I kid you not.