Cpd

Welcome mate, your in the right place at the right time. Best of luck.

I made my own sills but my doors open inward, the hardwood I had was to small so I joined it together. I have a weather strip inserted in the groove that the door closes up against and went with a large overlap at the bottom of the door to act as drip. I also cut in another drip detail below the sill to stop water tracking back under the door. I like it and it works well but not something that would look right on a new build….

What is the right hand column standing on….. all looks pretty sketchy to me and I am pretty bloody sketchy.

Friend just got a new makita battery strimmer, he really likes it but finds the batteries do run down fairly quickly so he is needing to buy more. No sure how long battery life will be using them for large areas on a regular basis. I have a massive husky and you get an hour out of the tank by which time you need coffee and biscuits before refuelling and going at it again. I got it second hand 10 years ago for £150 and it’s still going strong but I feel the weight more now……

Your right that it’s not the end of the world @Mr Punter and plenty of extra screws should do the job, however it would really rile me that after repeated instructions the builder has ignored the request to to it the “proper” way. Not worth sacking him but all future work will need to be carefully monitored to make sure he is not taking the piss.

I may have missed something but shouldn’t there be glue obviously leaking from between the joints in the chipboard?

Slate knife all the way.

This is what I did, floor needed raising so I dug down as far as reasonable and then made up the shortfall by adding on a bit at the wall heads, I believe that it will be cheaper to keep what you have as your roof is large and complex where as my roof was small and simple.

I have seen padded white blankets designed to wrap around flue pipes , something like this https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/thermal-insulation/8405526/?cm_mmc=UK-PLA-DS3A-_-google-_-PLA_UK_EN_Engineering_Materials_%26_Industrial_Hardware_Whoop-_-Thermal+Insulation_Whoop-_-8405526&matchtype=&pla-343435779033&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjo2JBhCRARIsAFG667Vu0lvuZRt9HiXJb4CohprQ8GSTDgNCXSjozpNzVsJGBjuPQu-9pAUaAl4YEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds just a quick internet grab but gives you a starting point.

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My footing stones are on stable earth and it’s easy to just dig a long deep hole from either side, given you have sand it might be problematic taking this approach, I also my core drill and with a bit of carful measuring you can get a good line up so that the holes meet, I have a mix of bits going up to 120mm. I have restored 3 old buildings or at least am in the process of restoring 3 buildings that are your typical old - very old croft houses that you see the remains of all over Scotland, it’s very challenging and expensive and given my time again I would have knocked at least one of the 3 down and got a nice new build when I had the cash but that ship has sailed long ago…..

Just done this on my old wall that is exactly the same as yours, I just picked a big stone and dug under it and did the same on the inside, put my 110mm soil pipe under with a swept bend coming up on the inside and then refilled the hole with stone and cement until it was back up to wall height. Previously I have core drilled (I have a proper petrol core drill) straight through but you can get into difficulty with the rubble in the middle of the wall…. and on another building I just used a drill hammer + chisel to remove the mortar around a stone, pulled it out and repeated on the far side, removed the rubble very carefully so as not to dislodge excess amounts and fed a 100mm extractor fan pipe through and re cemented the hole.

It’s pretty bloody awful, the ridge is a joke…. The lead work terrible and only there as they lack the skills to slate it properly. I am glad I am not you having to deal with this problem, don't know what you are to do as they will not want to fix it, but if it was me I would want the lead work reduce by a minimum of 60% and 3 rows of slates installed correctly, the ridge needs cutting back and properly finished with lead flashing, I AM NOT a roofer and had never worked lead before and did this on my shed roof 10 years ago and it was not hard…… I have the same zinc ridge as you. @makie might be able to give a definitive appraisal of what they have done. best of luck.

Sounds great, a photo of the site would help fill in my imagination gaps !

Photo as promised. The container is 300mm high, the trees directly behind the container are a normal willow planted 3 and a half years ago, there is a row of them along the front, they are about 6-7 foot high the ones behind it are the very quick growing willows and are one and a half years old.

I am no expert on a turret slate roof but have done quite a bit of traditional slate work, I would say they have used to many wide slates near the top, especially where a wide slate spans three other slates…. I would have only spanned two slates at any time, the slates should all be of a similar size on each course / row so that they sit right, each row nearer the top and the slates get narrower. Looks rubbish and personally I would want it done correctly. Go online and find some information on how it should be done and present this to the roofer. I may be wrong but that’s my opinion.

Insect mesh goes between the lower batten and top batten, foam filler goes between top batten and profiled tin. I live in a very severe weather location on the west coast of Scotland 70Mph + winds directly hitting the building and no problems with the velux installation yet. but as others have said, if you cannot find an installer that can’t answer basic installation questions then it’s time to look for a new installer or at some other roof covering.

More likely he came to the same conclusion as the rest of us and realised it was not his job to buy them…… as others have said just get them ordered and move on, small change in the bigger picture.

@harry_angel I will get pictures tomorrow no problem

Its just a small cottage and the downstairs will be open plan kitchen and living room, upstairs will be two bedrooms and a bathroom, was planning a single bathroom close to both bedrooms…... Upstairs does have a door to the outside as it used to be a hayloft and the topography of the ground outside means there will be a short ramp to the road out back, not sure if this will be any use to them but hayho.

Thanks, luckily I am very capable and removing one would not pose a problem, also I have a large landrover and trailer so should hopefully manage the logistics. just got to build my polly tunnel to act as storage for all the stuff I have in the cottage at the moment…..

Scalpings so as in tarmac scalpings ? If so when your whacking it down spray it with a generous dose of diesel to help soften it up……

Ok so I planted very specific willow and it grew 14 foot in the first year, it will now slow down and the trunks will thicken up. It’s designed for fuel production as a crop that can be harvested within 6 years but it would be the perfect screen for curtain twitching neighbours ! Use it as the quick fix and then plant some slower growing more ornamental plants that will take over in 6 years time, you can then cut the willow down and poison the stumps or cut it and let it regrow. It’s non invasive and only costs 60p per cutting. Salix Viminalis x Schwerinii DRH Brown https://mammothwillow.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=24&products_id=88 if you want to see photos or need more information just let me know, I have no affiliation with the company just a very happy customer.

16mm seems very thin, I presume they have been replaced at some point and not original. sanding will only loose you a few mm and if the floor is solid at the moment then it should be ok…. have you looked at if the floor has insulation under it ? There is probably a reason for carpets…. It gets very cold in winter ? no point spending time and money getting the floor nice only to find out you need to put carpets back down to keep warm ! insulation first then work out where to go next.

As I used to say to my workers - doing a good job is easy but doing a great job just takes a little bit more effort, but there are very few contractors doing a great job because they think it costs them in profit or they have to charge more money and won’t get the job, however if you are also very efficient in what you do from start to finish you can do a great job quicker than the average contractor does a standard job, have pride in your work, very happy customers and suddenly have a very very good reputation and get the pick of the jobs (the ones where it’s not all about the customer wanting the cheapest job…… ) and then your enjoying your work, making loads of cash and walking of jobs proud of what you have done. - and have happy customers !