Declan52

Try and get the build as far as you can using your own money. I got mine built and the roof on before I went looking a mortgage. At the time the Ulster Bank where the best option. Progressive said no to me as well. The next time you go to apply for a mortgage you actually have something of value not just a plot and a few drawings.

You either have the option of mixing buckets of mortar up carrying it up a ladder, walking up the roof and bedding all the tiles on. And then in a few years repair any bits that blow out. Or roll out the adhesive strip and use a cordless drill and bang a few screws in and forget about it.

You do get a lot of funny looks from people driving by. I have always had a good head for heights so it's easy for me.

It's only for a BBQ so it doesn't have to be 100% perfect. Just use that tool and keep checking your level as you go. Have a piece of timber with nails every 75mm. You can then use this to see if your at the correct height each time. 1 or 2mm each way is no big deal.

It will all depend on how good you are. If your constantly reaching for the level and checking and tap tap tapping on the wall your not going to earn much. Will also depend if you have help to stack the blocks and mix the mortar. Walls with loads of openings, doors and windows, will be a lot slower. There will be days where it will look like you haven't done a thing other than build corners and set out inside walls and other days the walls fly up.

Should look like this then you get the correct bond. Use 3 bricks.

You should have bricks in the return of that pic but otherwise yep. You always end up with cuts no matter how you try to do it.

Quicker with a tape but for all the time it takes to dry bond it you get a better look at dry bonded.

Have no pictures. The block on its edge will be set to suit the outside measurement on the plan so when it goes up to sub floor level you then start the first course of brick/block that will end up being visible. You can go right round with one on its edge in one go no bother. This will give you a straight wall with which to put the 2 blocks on the flat up against. Your 2nd course then will be 2 on the flat set plumb on the outside so your bonding over the single block below on its edge. Your basically building a single skin right round and then filling in the back with a 9 inch wall with the blocks bonded as normal. Then on the next course you build a 9 inch wall and fill in the back with the single block bonding as you would normally do building this width.

It's easier to use a block on its edge first as you will be using string lines to form your outside edges and plumbing down to get the measurements correct. So moving a single block to get everything square is much easier. Then once your happy it's all as the plan says you can put the 2 blocks on the flat behind it. For corners you just bond it like you would normally. When it's the block on its edge you use a brick at the corner and when it's the course on the flat use a block cut in half on the return. Your basically building a single skin on the outside and build it as normal then put the blocks on the flat behind to suit. Then next course build the ones on the flat on the outside first then in the inside making sure you always overlapping so you have no vertical joints.

You need to measure it out so you don't end up with a half brick in the wall when you get to the end of the run. When you lay them out dry then you will get to a point where a full brick won't fit so depending on how much you need to get one to fit you either open the perps up or tighten them in to suit your needs. Also helps with setting out where doors and windows go so you know the perps are all plumb and not moving to one side to fit a window in as it's really noticeable when you know what your looking at.

The main issue will be keeping them upright if there is any strong wind. A single skin wall 3.5m high will wobble. It's going to need braced at some point. My wall in my hall is over 5m high and it was a tad scary at the top. It wasn't until I got the roof on and used wall plate straps that it felt solid. Overnight I used scaffold planks with a few block on them and using a combination of kwikstage and trestles it managed to keep it from falling.

There should be a ventilated membrane that laps over both sides of the ridge tiles and keeps the roof water tight. Can't see from your pics of you have one as it is normally wide enough to be seen. https://www.roofingsuperstore.co.uk/product/hambleside-danelaw-dry-fix-roll-out-ridge-and-hip-vent-system-6m-kit.html You might need to screw a tile of and have a look unless you can see it.

https://passivehousesystems.co.uk/product/gerband-fortax-6400-airtight-sealant/

G&L do all the work for the housing executive here so should be trustworthy.

As above you need to compact it fully so it's 10mm higher than your finished height. Use rails, 1.5 meter lengths of copper pipe ( a 3m length of 22mm is ideal) and set these to your finished height and use a very straight piece of timber or a spirit level and slide it along your rails leaving it dead flat. Just move the rails along bit by bit as you go. You will need something around the edge to attach the grass too. I used treated timber and screwed the grass into the timber or the wind will get under it and lift it.

You can buy the panels already made up like seen here. They are very very nice, a tad expensive but you get what you pay for. Slats already come attached to backing foam so very easy to install . https://www.acupanel.com/

Always hated foundations. It's not just that the blocks are bigger and heavier, and them ones your using are headstones, it's you never have your feet right. Your always standing wrong, 1 foot is on the concrete and the other on the bank or they are side by side and your twisting your back. Then by the time you get 2 course up your stretching if you get up on the bank.

Once you get the completion cert the clock starts ticking with the vat reclaim so think about any thing else that you might need and if the funds allow buy it. Plus once that cert is in then the local friendly rates person will be paying you a visit. So make sure what ever needs done makes the house uninhabitable. No water supply, no kitchen or bathroom etc.

Scaffold boards won't bend like 9*1. Use something like rockwool insulation and jam it into any big gaps. Foam will work for bigger gaps but might stain the stone work.

Use something like 9*1 on the both outside skins of the stone wall with some fixings into the mortar to hold it. It's fairly bendy so will adapt to the stone face. Set it so it's an inch above the face of the stone and then fill the gap between both lengths of 9*1 with concrete/mortar and use a straight edge and drag it along leaving you a lovely flat surface to place the copings.

They would be a fairly massive construction company here making all sorts of products. Bank all them 20p pieces you will save to spend somewhere else on your build.

Fairly easy to use it you can already handle a digger controls. Will depend on the digger how the hydraulics work. Some use a foot pedal, others a button on the stick.

I would try and salvage the frame as this would be the least noticeable and would mean you don't damage the structure removing it. The door on the other hand needs removed and cut into firewood. You could maybe live with a single one of them issues but that list of pictures showing all the faults is taking the piss. A joiner didn't build that. A 2nd year apprentice on a Fri afternoon knocked that together.

Are all the ducts fully insulated if they go via any cold areas of the house like the loft. I had a similar issue with a build up of water, no where near as bad as you have, and this was due to not having enough insulation over a section of duct that was in my eaves. Once fully wrapped it's had no further issues.