redtop

cheers, will watch later

don't suppose you have any more information on the GD episode you mentioned so I can track it down?

they can and do put a 'woodland TPO' on areas which means you cant remove, prune, or touch ANY trees without applying for planning approval. We know we have it. Remove the ones that will be an issue now, Mr Punter is spot on. Spend a few quid and remove a massive risk.

not far of, 30 degree slope that has had to have 7 level terraces cut into it for the piling machine, plus create access road, dig out a turning head, remove retaining wall, 120m2 tarmac; the list goes on.... piles are 41 X 5M 220mm each that lock 1m into bedrock and are then filled with rebar cages and grout. groundworks took a month, pile foundations will be 3 weeks. The good thing is that once this lot is done then the actual build, given the supporting steel we have, is simples. TBH the services could have cost a lot more given the size of the plot and access issues (did I mention access road is 6ft wide and very steep with a 1 tonne weight limit...). That's cornwall -)

I would say that the biggest risk is under the ground; foundations and services. get them done and breath a sigh of relief; majority of risk removed. I think the only major residual risk is if you haven't firm priced something like glazing which can be very expensive depending on spec. electrics and plumbing might overspend, but not by a lot in the scheme of things. that's my list anyhow:- groundworks, services, foundations and then its manageable and not scary risk and you will be able to get a proper feel for the final cost. As an aside for our 160m2 house we have spent 27k on groundworks, 26k on foundations, 22K on steel to form posts / substructure and 8k on services. so that's £83K to be ready for the building to go up; and this doesn't count professional services and we did drive the costs down as much as possible. But then this wasn't unexpected as the site is a bugger and the groundworks included installing a publicly accessible turning head (don't ask). It will be another £100K to watertight (including glazing / roof / stairs) an then onto internals.

so now you tell us ? Piling rigs just arrived on site; 41 5M piles circa £500 per pile, odex so through mud and into rock beneath. Locals loved the tracked compressor coming down the narrow unadopted access road so much they banged on the side with joy.

every day is a learning day ? is that how they usually do it? any idea on how you avoid making holes in the VPL when fixing vertical cable clips (we will be using propassiv OSB)

ah got ya. not fully up to speed with the safe zones ? guess its something to do with being unable to run the cable vertically due to window. obvious really lol

I thought there was tape you could put between the battons and the smartply that sealed the holes from the nails / screws. Doesn't help with the cable clips though. Also notice in one of the previous photos there was a horizontal cable run halfway between bottom of window and floor to the socket. Surely this wouldnt pass muster?

I would do the drops in 20 / 25mm conduit and use trunking around the tops; last thing you want is to be ramming as many cables as possible into metal conduit

we had to have a SE due to using pile foundations, he did all the calcs and the BCO really had no choice but accept them; he didn't question them mind but he seemed more than happy as we had used a SE

we had a terrible one, noise throughout the pipes. ended up being a leaky shower head!

we have had to fit sprinklers due to access issues for fire engine (has to be 45m to all sides of building, goes up to 75M with sprinklers). all this has been done but it is taking forever for fire dept to write to BCO and accept the plans (literally be holding BC approval up for 6 weeks now). If they go to the extreme they could ask for a dedicated rising main which is ££££; I think we can push back if that's where they go as it isn't a building regs requirement (I think...)

only because the water is 50M away and is 32mm MDPE into a 3/4" tap already fitted to a post; be a right pain to strip it down, add in a connector, etc; all all of the temp bits to be thrown away when done. Garden hose will be re-used

yep, its the garden hose to the pipe bit I couldn't work out, end up spending more on fittings than I will on the toilet if not carefull

so, getting a portloo on site will be a pain, getting it emptied will be impossible. but I have a mains sewer connection, terminating in the pipe shown below and I have water. So thinking I can cut pipe down, fit toilet on top and put up a toilet tent. Pipe isn't blocked where it goes into sewer. so question is, whtas the easiest way to connect from a garden hose to a toilet? obviously cheap and easy the way to go

beetleplumb beetleplumb bettleplumb

there must be a good opportunity for a really good plumber to provide a design service, or is this already available?

ille throw in a load of harris fencing for free ? and a pasty

this is a thing of beauty. fancy a plumbing job in looe, cornwall ?

hot tub hard wired (no plug) = double pole isolator

just moving onto ordering 6 roof lights, who did you use?

mark the wall, thicker insulation and its a job fixed with half a days work. even if you say 'yep its my fault ime a donkey and will pay' it will cost you less than going to court and for the stress it will save be worth it. or mark it up and tell him he's wrong and has to fix it. Or mark it up and let him tell you he was going to use thicker insulation and all is OK. Do something, but certainly mark up the wall to prompt the discussion. Don't try to second guess what comes next

yogi bear quotes would be far better? 'because ime smarter than the average self builder', 'ime so smart it hurts', 'let's go go go'

no blame needs to be identified at all. By marking out the FFL on the wall you provide the builder with the perfectly reasonable response of 'we will get to that by using x mm insulation and then y mm screed'. Lets put it this way:- your BC has confirmed the insulation goes on top of the current concrete base. Then they will screed. So unless you know the thickness of the insulation you have absolutely no idea if the final level will be low, right or high or even if any mistake has been made. regarding the trench, its been pointed out that is needed for the trade to work, why cant you just backfill to below DPC level once work is completed?