oldkettle

This membrane - there will be separate rolls for the walls attached to the ones under the slab? Do you have any indication of the cost - I know you have groundworks as a package. Sorry, more importantly: great progress and an excellent catch in the corner!

I have almost finished dealing with a row of Lawson cypresses along the far side of the garden (19 of them) - only the stumps remaining. Bought a Macallister shredder in Screwfix and it did a good job (well, had to replace it twice). Created a crate out of paving stones and got it all stored. Ordered a second green bin which is just an extra £25 a year, will be done in 2 months. The only thing I would have done differently in your situation is hire a big beast shredder for a weekend - would be much easier. I would really not like it should my neighbours decide to burn that much stuff - and frankly I don't see the need as it may well be faster and safer to shred it for a couple of hundred pounds.

Oh no, the layout only! I know my place.

Hmm, if that's the case will you not get a better result by moving the door towards the left corner so that you have a straight run of the units on the left, then a passage to the utility, then another run of the units including the fridge on the bottom side, all the way to the living room wall, but possibly less deep? No space wasting corners.

This seems to be for the usage above the ground only? Lifetime of 30 years worries me a bit.

Hi Gus, thank you very much, very comprehensive reply. Let me clarify first. 3m indeed came from a similar link some time last year. My point was that quite a few articles about rafts state that they can be used where strip foundation would be uneconomical. In my case I've just removed a row of Lawson's cypresses on the "top" boundary and some of them were 8m high. The remaining trees on the left boundary are much less dangerous hollies and on the right one - 4-5m cypresses again. Since I want to build 2m away from the border it's all very close. The ground has not been touched for at least 70 years. I didn't discuss a strip foundation with anybody as I am trying to use this outbuilding as a "rehearsal" for the main house so really want to use insulated raft. Frankly, for a single storey building the load can't be that high. Basically, if you think 4 holes of 3m is the right thing to do (and clearly I can't use a digger as this would lead to a disturbed ground and make things worse) I will just go for it. I thought it was improbable as existing houses tolerate all those trees just fine hence my layman's view was "it can't be a shrinkable clay otherwise our 1m founds would have given way a long time ago". Again, the BC said "low to medium shrinkability soil". I feel a section on rafts ("Granular infill beneath raft foundations in shrinkable soils") describes what I expect to happen really well: https://nhbc-standards.co.uk/4-foundations/4-2-building-near-trees/4-2-9-foundation-depths-for-specific-conditions-in-shrinkable-soils/ Thanks again.

Thank you, Gus. I must admit I am slightly confused here. I thought that the whole idea of a raft - apart from making sure it moves as a whole - is spreading the load. Hence the usual depth is no more than 650mm - MOT, insulation, concrete. Then the weight of the building is spread across the area. There must be a reason why they are happy to design a raft where strip foundations would have to be 3m deep.

This is only for the survey, SE wants this before proceeding. I actually asked the surveyor whether 4 holes were needed and he just said yes. I didn't mention it to the surveyor but SE did suggest screw foundation. Don't know, maybe they talked directly.

Thank you Declan 3.5t digger is too wide for our existing passage, only have about 1.20m. Thought I could dig 2m with a 1.5digger then use an auger. The question is whether it's good enough for an SE: I was asked for "factual and interpretative report for a potential insulated raft foundation, soil parameters, ground water and shrinkability of the soil as well as desiccation". I must admit this particular SE was talking about screw piles, no idea why - as I said, no existing house needed those.

Hi @ianfish , @TonyT Where are you located? Just had a quote for a soil survey for our garden building. There are plenty of houses around including our bungalow which is fine with a 1m foundation and doesn't mind old conifers around. Despite BC saying it's a sandy clay mix low to medium shrinkabilty the surveyor says 4 holes 3m deep, £1500 plus VAT. I wonder whether we can get it done cheaper in Surrey.

Doing exactly the same thing right now for our outbuilding. So far can't say the quotes for installed product are low enough. Materials are fine. Can't quite figure out how 4K raft materials (OK, plus 1K concrete and <1K rebar) become 15K installed. The same with the walls.

Oh wow, second floor! You have a different kind of a problem here. Even though we are pretty well separated from neighbours on both sides they still can see into our garden from first floor windows (and if we ever rebuild we will have the same pleasure), so I am not really bothered to be honest. Maybe because they are nice people.

I am slightly confused, sorry. How come a 2m solid structure provides no screening? Or do you mean between first floor windows? Attached a picture of how it looks from my side at the moment - seems 4m ridge we planned should be more than enough. Carpinus Betulus Fastigiata looks like a proper tree. Are your neighbours not concerned about something so big close to a boundary? I must admit I was surprised ours never requested a cut as the hedge blocks all light in their garden after about 4pm.

Are your neighbours on a higher ground? As you are putting in a shed it will block most of the view anyway. I have just cut our 8m Lawson's cypress down to 3.5 as we are preparing to build an outbuilding as well and to be honest I am really thinking of removing them completely now, before March (as otherwise access will be very limited). Our neighbours are on a much higher level but still they would see our garden from the first floor windows only. I would much rather plant Portuguese laurel there later if we ever need a taller screen again. A tree which is all black inside is disgusting.

The boiler may be easier to connect on the outside wall. And the space where it is now would happily accommodate your laundry cabinet - well, the two machines stacked.

Maybe a slight misunderstanding here : the tests I suggested should be external, i.e. not conducted by the employees of the developers, so hopefully the same kind as you suggested originally, just a different function.

I agree with this but I would still prefer the on-site everyday inspection to be internal, not external. Better if external inspection performed an air-tightness test on every home and possibly some kind of a thermal imaging test. When 10 out of 10 homes fail this (which they will) and the developer has to fix them all before they are signed off they will learn really quickly.

Am I right that the external finish you have included for your sips/tf is just wooden cladding? If that's the case will it actually last as long as the rest of the house? You will certainly need to paint it regularly.

There must be a History somewhere in your browser.

I hope so, but ultimately if the wall outside is on fire then windows are at risk. Again, hopefully, only a potential problem for very tall buildings.

I'd hope not based on the fact that there is a massive difference in conditions between EWI and a full fill cavity and between a high rise building and a two storey house. Edited to add: I wonder where it leaves ICFs which in many cases use EPS forms.

This does not look like a full fill insulation and not in a masonry wall cavity?

You have the same plot orientation as we do. Would it make sense to make the house deeper and less wide to get some more light from the South? Does the house to the South of you has such orientation (it's partially visible on your picture)?

Doesn't the kit define what insulation can be used to a significant extent? I.e. for example 140mm frame means Warmcell is out of the question? With regards to extras, AFAIK not all manufacturers have doors/windows as options so they seem to be making their margin on kits and installation.

From today: smart home range from Lidl - Zigbee 3.0 compatible. With the gateway at £19.99 and a smartplug at £7.99 it's not a bad way to "try before you buy". The only thing I don't like is E27 are 806lm only rather than 1500+ that we currently have, but hopefully there are other compatible bulbs to choose from. https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/c/smart-home/c1693/w1 https://www.lidl.co.uk/our-products/smart-home