Conor

Wood split. Guys carrying plasterboard up at the time.

6x100mm screws. Later one of the treads failed so I then fitted 200mm strips of roofing battens under each one, with a couple 50mm screws. Much more solid. At the top I had a vertical riser screwed between the strings and had that screwed in to the steel beam with 6.5mm X 70mm roofing screws.

We gyplined over it 😄 Alternative would to spend a day with a kango chipping it right back. We didn't do any wet palstering at all so no idea how you'd fill the ends - I'm guessing expanding foam the trim back.

Second the DPC idea from @Dave Jones what happens is water soaks through the coping and down through the middle of the wall, then out the sides through the paint. The reason why your paint is failing. You want a full width DPC, trimmed back to the width of the coping. You can get 400/450mm wide rolls from anywhere really. To lay, put a thin bed of mortar on top of the wall, lay the DPC down, more mortar on top, then the coping, and angle your coping 1⁰ or so to shed water. Trim back the DPC when cured. A bit of waterproof plasterciser in the mix won't do any harm.

It's quite astonishing how good a 5" cordless grinder is. I had a load of rebar and mesh to cut (only 10/12mm) and bought a load of discs for the big grinder. Anded up doing 90% of it with the small one, only slightly slower but much easier and safer to use. Wouldn't be without it. Also makes most padlocks and chains totally redundant.

A monoblock is super simple to install, buy the kit yourself, set it in place, get a spark and local plumber in to connect and commission. I think it cost me about £1200 that way. It's all in the design and sizing anyway, installation is easy (esp with a preplumbed cylinder and buffer, there's just a handful of connections to do.)

Our guys used nail guns for the tracks and the ceiling struts etc. I can't imagine having to drill a hole for every fixing. There will be hundreds. It'll add hours to the job.

fine 1mm INOX blade in a small grinder, low RPM.

All of the numbers are "correct"... all depends on your spec of finish. I'd be budgeting £2k/m2 for a basic/modest finish with simplified heating system.

Put the PV on in-roof trays while you're at it.

We did all our boarding before screed. Normal. You board right down the the floor slab, don't trim.

We had to do the same, tho we knew about it before final inspection. I made a basic wall panel and ceiling hung slider from timber and perspex sheet to isolate the hall/stairs from the open area. Doesn't need to be so any particular standard. Passed final inspection and hasn't been closed since. There's always a way!

That's how I did my deck, but with concrete blocks instead of pavers. Solid.

Coolio. Makes life easier as the firrings across that direction are a lot shorter than the other way. Will make meeting the return a bit more difficult as the fall then goes the other way... Will cross that bridge later. Will have loads of offcuts so noggins not an issue.

Hi. Balcony build in progress. Firring strips to be added to the joists to create a fall away from the house. This is the same direction as the joists. Do I just add them directly on top or do I need to counterbatten first? Worried about twisting. OSB deck the EPDM on top. I'm guessing noggings in the middle wouldn't hurt?

Yeah, your summary is pretty much bang on. I'm in NI and the CDM15 is slightly different to the GB version in that it's clearer that the domestic client must assume the role of PC and also PD if needed. It's just a matter of a bit of paperwork, site welfare, book keeping and signage etc. Basically all the stuff you should be doing anyway.

Firstly, what will the basement be used for, and will it be heated? 100mm of XPS / mineral wool is not nearly enough, you want a min of 100mm PIR.

For us, it makes sense to use ASHP and export. This is because we are on an economy 7 tariff and we buy off-peak at about 10p a unit. We sell our PV for 8.5p a unit. So with a conservative COP of 2.5-3 in warmer months, it "costs" half as much to heat with the ashp then solar diverter. What I'll probably do is turn the immersion stat down from 56c to the same or a bit below as the heatpump, 45c, so that way if we are ever running low during the day we get a free top-up so we don't run out. While the bulk of the heating will be off-peak. Another aspect is that the off-peak period ends at 9am... So conceivably on bright mornings between 7-9 the PV will cover a fair chunk of the ashp demand.

We had pocket doors specced in a few places. Didn't I stall any in the end. Make the door in to your living room a single hinged door and push it in to the corner.

Yes to moisture resistant board for the reveals. Remember to undercoat/paint the underside and edges of your window boards to stop them absorbing the inevitable deluge or moisture after plastering.

Forcing down crushed ice also works a treat.

Put up a sheet of OSB and see what he says. That's literally what we did. Still not done the balcony 9months later.

Very similar to our basement, two rows every 200mm. On thing to point out that the SE may not be considering is the practicality of some rebar specs. E.g. for our master bedroom cantilever head, ours had specced two rows of 32mm, horizontal, with something like a single 25mm running below. If we'd done that, there's no way we would have got the concrete in to the cavity.

I mostly bought the Screwfix easy drive or turbo gold. Never had any issues. There's over 2000 holding my EWI in place. The concrete screws are particularly good. Of other brands, bought a few timco velocities for our ceiling counter battens as the easy drive wouldn't screw into the steel channels very well. And I'm a big fan of the screwtite 2 screws for lighter work as they drive really well and never split the wood.

Yes, the house is eerily quiet. And we've either laminate, LVT or carpet in all rooms... We were paranoid about lots of echo in the open areas, but it's fine. Concrete floors and fire rated doors help a lot as well. I also beleive we have not only limited time, but limited physical and emotional energy... Are there other things you could be spend this energy on? Definitely my biggestes lesson learned from building a house.