Declan52

Any reason in particular you need as big a digger??? What's access like round the plot??? Hitachi make good diggers but that one is a fair age so would need looked over by a mechanic before I would part with any cash.

What one you can do without will depend on what your plans are for the room. As you say where will the table go, how are you likely to approach that area from the outside patio wise, answer these kind of questions to figure it out. I would do away with bifolds and fully glaze that section. Save a lot of money as bifolds aren't cheap and then you have the airtightness issues with them.

I had a 13t digger struggle to remove what I thought was a fairly small stump. As above dig around it and break the roots with an axe/maul and then it will come out.

Mine was measured from the top of the nearest pole to my meter box. It's charged per m so it soon adds up.

Seen an underground car park in Belfast city center nearly filled up due to a badly fitted top plate. Was only about a couple of feet of running out on to the main road, that would have been fun to watch!!! Ended up putting a very large pump that ran for days into the drains till it got cleared enough to fix it.

Always bed the wall plate on mortar in NI as well. Easy way of ensuring there are no gaps and it's perfectly level.

Dig 30-40mm of the top of the hardcore or an outside trench round the room perimeter, know what option I would pick. A few hours with a pick, shovel and Barrow and it would be done. Only the Lord rested on Sunday, if you believe in fairy tales, so get cracking!!

Think I would buy new plasterboard and fix it through that artex then skim finish it.

Level it out with sand like onoff done with a drag board end up with 250mm insulation or thereabouts. Use pir to get the u values up or get the pick out and get swinging, no other way out of it really.

Only way out of not digging out at least 40-50mm is to use less insulation in the floor. How much had you planned to use?? How much have you left from the top of the hardcore to the bottom of your door frame?? I am removing wood chip off my sister's walls so digging hardcore out would be music to my ears. Only thing left to try and remove it is petrol and a match.

80mm down to 50mm and then same again if it's a small Wacker. It would need to be a very large Wacker to get it down from 160 to 100mm. Think you are going to have to remove some hardcore and leave it maybe 10-20 higher than you need and then wack the shat out of it. Go up and down and then side to side with the Wacker when you are doing it. You need a fine sand or quarry dust to get it snooker table level.

The material directly under the pavers is nearly always sharp sand. It won't hold water so drains freely. If drainage is a problem I would lay French drains in the base hardcore and then don't use any quarry dust type material as once compacted it will never drain any water. As for pea gravel under as a base layer I think after a few months you would have tracks where the car drove on it. Won't ever compact down no matter how many times you wack it in so as it settles it will end up rough as. When you wack the very fine sand in at the end all the gaps get filled in. After a week or so you brush more in so it's fully filled in again. The sand is treated so nothing can grow in it. Don't power hose it you remove all the sand and then you get weeds. A light hose and a brush is all it needs.

I live in one of these rural communities. 1 shop 1 petrol station 1 chapel 4 pubs, we have our priorities right here. If I go for a run you have to pick the roads that have footpaths or you will end up wiped out if you run on the road. Reason there was so many deaths on the roads in Eire was you didn't have to sit a driving test until recently. Stick a L plate up and away you go. Not good on the winding roads we have here.

If your test holes came back with enough information that you only need to go to 12m it seems a bit daft to want to go to double that. Only explanation would be a history or deep lying peat/ very soft silt in the area but if this was a concern who ever done your test holes would have tried to prove it was there or not.

If you are going the piling route a borehole is usually done to confirm what is actually there so your piles are made to the correct length or you could be paying for 20m piles but they only go to 15m or worst case they go to 30m. Not sure why BC need to be told as your SE is signing off the design. Phone the company and query why.

Depends on the size of the stones but it's usually only a meter high each day or it starts to bulge out . Length wise depends on the stone mason.

You have to take enough skim off to let the scrim sit in, a bit of sanding does it easy enough. Use cloth scrim not the plastic crap that they sell now.

That's why I went for cladding.

Same method as Nick but I use a strip of scrim cloth. Widen the crack out with a screwdriver and sand it down. Fill the crack, lay scrim and fill over it again. Sand down level when it's set. You can buy hairline filler but I didn't like it.

I would be 25 stone if I worked near a bakery. Love bread and buns.

Did you get the silver quartzite from mcmonagle???

Ah Dave but that's the way the builder has always done it and not this new fangled way.

Can the stone company not give you the details of someone they recommend . For that kind of money they are taking the piss. Sliders had a guy who done his if you could contact him.

Nothing good from lurgan except me!!! You will get used to the cracks. Just let the house move and shrink and do what it wants to do for the next 18 months or you will be chasing your tail filling in cracks and popped screw holes. And if the bad tempered foreign fella doesn't pull his ears back then phone his boss and tell him to get off site asap and not to come back. It's your house so you are able to come and go as you please.

The best filler I have used yet is this stuff. And use an old bank card to work it in and level it off. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everbuild-ONE1-One-Strike-Filler/dp/B001326TJA This won't be its final coat of paint as in another 18 months after your house has cracked and fully dried out it will all need done again. It will be very obvious if they have missed any bits esp if the sun is shinning on it. Macpherson's is a good paint to use, I done all my house with it.