Conor

Just got a quote back from Haldane fisher (lbm) for a one off, special order of C24 treated 6x2s... Comes in exactly the same price as their c16. Same stuff, different stamp???!!!!

My SE has specified 150x50mm C24 joists for our balcony. I can't find any treated C24 timber locally, I'm sure I could get it as a custom order from a mill, but I've neither the time nor money. I can't find a definitive strength difference or loading table to compare C16 vs C24... and I've not heard back from the SE. Is there any general rule I can follow when substituting C16 for C24? I can get 200x50mm C16 no bother.... Thanks

It's probably spent most of its life outside anyway. Only case you would is if it were particularly dry or sopping wet. Even then a few days would be enough.

Yeah, I've put one alongside a cold feed in our back yard where there will be an outdoor sink. No need to bring muddy shoes or boots in to the house.

You can buy a clipping tool, basically like really big pipe snippers, bit I think you'd need to be doin a lot to get the benefit out of it. I started cutting mine with my right job saw (dulled for pvc pipe, insualtion, cement board etc) but then eventually just used my pocket knife for convenience. Not nearly as meat as can go wayward, but duct is easy to trim.

Another thing thing that BC might pull you up on is the grey waste pipe coming up through the floor at the plant area. It should be brown underground pipe for anywhere below floor level. (Assuming it's a waste pipe and not a conduit) I'd speak to your building control officer yourself, get them round and see what they point out. Don't take your builder's word for it that BC have been round and are "OK" with the current state of things. And please tell me that anti-cracking mesh isn't resting on the pipes... Think that's a guaranteed way to have a damaged pipe. Has everything been filled with water and pressurised?

Radiator

Just realised that the bottom steel is probably resting on the existing rear wall of the house. The wall should have been lowered more so the steel would sit low enought to be insualted. Re the electrics, I assume the new spaces are getting all new wiring going back to the consumer unit and they aren't just extending existing rings?

First quote I've got is coming in at £100/m. No priming as it's to be galvanised, but includes the notching and face plate. Good enough price then.

The steel letterbox. How deep is it? Assume it's sitting directly on the concrete floor slab? Is there insulation around / over it? ? Looks like it's sitting above your floor insualtion with UFH pipes going directly over it. If its a 203x203UC then looks like you've 150mm floor insualtion? What's the build up on the RHS of 5he beam? Assume existing house?

First priority is making sure you're compliant with the 30min fire resistance regs... Painting the steels with intumescent paint or fully boarding with pink board - so all surfaces of the steel are covered. Your builder's suggestion doesn't achieve this. There a quite a few things in your various pics that just don't look "right". Get your SE and architect out for a look over and word with the builder. They'll probably charge you a couple hundred quid each, but will be be worth it

I don't see padstones under your steels and barely 100mm bearing on that bottom one. Have building control been out recently?

I'm not going to comment on the plumbing as I'm sure Nick will be along soon, swearing. Why is there so much dirt / rubble / stuff on top of the polythene and UFH pipes? Should be insulation down on Monday, polythene and edge insulation/expansion strips on the tuesday, UFH pipes on the Wednesday/Thursday, screed on the friday and back to business on the following Monday. And no other trades in between. Otherwise you open yourself up to a load of potential issues, damaged pipes, crushed / moved insulation boards, gaps in polythene etc.

We did it on an internal block wall- studded out 50mm to allow for sockets etc, then brought the surround out around the TV another 200mm. Put a sheet of 18mm ply on the TV recess so just screwed the TV mount to it with 30mm screws. Don't need much to hold a modern TV on a flat mount. Made the TV recess a good bit bigger than needed to to cover any change of use in the future.

Previously used CASC, they weren't bothered pricing the steels for our balcony. Walter Watson have been OK but pricy. Plan to sepak to McComb steel in Bally oney next week as they have come reccomemded from another steel fabricator that's too busy. Be prepared to be the bottom of everybody's priority lists....

Stud it out, put sockets at TV height, inset storage. That nook is made for it .

Stick an extra 100mm EPS on the outside. Not much more cost than 50mm and same amount of work. You can use 180mm galvanised screws for fixing battens/ cladding through to the plastic web. For fitting the EPS, full bead of foam and 5/6 screws through to the web. Easy enough job. It's excacly what we did and far cheaper than higher spec ICF. No regrets. (I happen to have a load of 180mm screws, caps and EPS plugs left over)

40ft

Is this your only ground floor WC? If not, the regs do not apply if you have another accessible WC.

It takes approx 3 to 5x the diameter of a pipe for a fluid (or gas) to return to its stable (laminar) condition after a restriction. So if it's a 150mm flue, then allowing 500mm for flow to settle is bang on. BUT it's not strictly cumulative... If you have two or three bends / restrictions you still just need the 3-5x, (maybe up to 10x to be safe) diameter length to "settle" after the last point.

How deep is the pipe compared to your footings? If the pipe will run through the footings, chances are the digger will end up smashing the pipe anyway, so have a couple lengths of PVC sewer and a flexible couple on hand anyway. But if it's deeper then where you are digging, then just leave it.

We're near passive and we have a low temperature heat pump supplying UFH. It's barely on, max 6 hours a day and house is a constant 20-21c. I don't even think about it day to day. It runs on weather compensation so when we have a mild night, like last night, the flow temp was less than 30c, meaning no overheating.

My first thought was fire as well. If a fire starts and the side door is blocked, how do you get out? Would need to see a drawing.

We used intumescent paint on beams that were sitting on their own, or pink board for areas that had a few and it was more economical that way. You have to make sure if boarding you have the board running fully around, i.e. you'll need an upstand where it ends.

Can't reccomend a supplier, as using a northern Ireland one, but very happy with the quality of our del Carmen prime slates. Roofers did not complain at all and don't remember there being many / any rejects. Worked out at £1.50 a slate