Big Jimbo

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.

Ì built a boat from fibreglass about 40 years ago, and also did a large flat roof with fibreglass about 5 years ago for a friend. I hated the both doing, and the look of the fibreglass flat roof. Tons of edge pieces. Loads of fibreglass strips over the joints of the OSB3, before i could even start laying up the roof. I know other people love them, but i would not have a great deal of faith on a fibreglass roof. However, i'm not that keen on torch of felt either. I've done about 5 flat roofs over the last 5 years with EPDM, and just feel that it is a better system. I would however, want all of the old OSB3 off and replaced, before i put on any new roof, regardless of what system i was going to use. Anything now just put over the top, comes accross as a bodge to me. If you are going to sell in the next few years, fine. If not sort it properly. You don't want to have to re-visit it again in a few years. No offence, but i doubt any builders G T will be worth the paper it's written on.

What about protection to the wires ? Just below the plasterboard ?

I agree with Patrick above. However, i just dont have that gift, and i always end up winding them up. The truth is, i think our planning system is broken. The National and local policies are all written like laws. Open to being interpretated in many different ways. It's quite easy to have one planning officer who is ok with crown roofs, and one who is not, sitting next to each other in the office. I have a local planning officer, not young, who passed a large crown roof, 2 doors away, but told me 2 months later, that he would not allow them on mine. You are at there mercy, and whims, and that is just not right. Once you get a job with the council, you don't get sacked. You can spend your whole career going from department to department being rubbish. Don't feel too sorry for them. My highly educated, very clever daughter, (not my words. She was identified by a government dept at 12 as being so) joined a council. 30 in the department. After 2 months she advised the council that the dept could be run by 10 people with spare capacity. She advised that the 2/3rds of the people who consistantly worked from home, achieved 2 peoples work. She sugested a proformance pay structure, and no more home working. She identified that people working from home, were logged onto the computer system for as little as 12minutes a day. These people were earning in excess of 30k a year. A huge proportion of the money we put into the councils bank accounts is wasted. Sorry.

Good luck. I will miss your comments, and highly valued contributions. Have some fun.

Thanks. I think that looks fantastic. I normally use either Karndean, Amtico, etc, as i won't have carpets downstairs, and engineered wood etc is prone to being damaged easily. I would'nt expect you to tell me how much it cost, but is it very expensive ?

+1 for above.

Bitpipe. Show us your resin floor please.

I just wanted to say hi, and to let you know that i have found this site great. I have done the whole thing on my own so far. (Two houses in the greenbelt) I have done all the drawings by hand, because i am rubbish with computers. I have done all the studies myself, such as sight lines, bulk, mass, sight coverage etc, and the design and access statement (72 pages) I know the NPPF backwards, forwards, and sideways. It has been very hard work, but basically has only cost me £840. Which was the application fee to the council. I spoke to several Architects, and a number of planning consultants, who frankly all seemed more interested in getting my money, than actually trying to understand what i was trying to achieve. I was quoted between 15 and 20 thousand total to get me to planning..... If i manage to get my application through, i will have saved a lot of money.......If, that's the question. But , to be honest it has been very, very hard work... Would i do it again on my own....Hell yeah, but only after a bloody long break, and a damn good holiday.

Great thread. Interesting read. Wish i could use a computer, but unfortunately, i am usless with tech.

Welcome. What a fab space you have. Love what you are doing so far. Just One small point. You are going to find it hard to fill that bath.

Some planning depts will take account of permitted devl rights when considering what you would like to build. However, sometimes you may have to demonstate by way of drawings exactly what you can do under your permitted devl rights, and make sure the drawings show the most ugly thing you can build. Then with drawings, you can show them what you want to build, and demonstrate that it will be better, and less harmful to the Greenbelt than what you could build under permitted devl rights. This is what i did last year, and got permission to extend my bungalow, in the greenbelt to aprox Six times it's original size

I'll have to stick that on my list for a visit sometime.

That old bar looks great.Love the leading on the upper windows of the shop front.

Well he should have. Makes all the following trades so much easier.