Russdl

Yep, i don't think that's an option (but willing to be educated otherwise if anyone knows better?)

So, if the red joist becomes an RSJ am I on the right track? Or could I use an LVL I joist? Or a pultruded GRP 'I' beam?

The span tables I've seen says it will, but... ...I guess span tables don't consider hanging all the other roof joist of it? Yep. Plan is a flat warm roof. That will definitely happen, I want to understand it all myself though, plus see what this wonderful community can throw up by way of alternatives.

The plan is to build a garage sometime next year. Irregular shape to fit the tapering plot and low height to comply with Permitted Development. I want it about 9m deep. About 5m wide at the back (narrow end) and about 7.5m wide at the front. The first question that I have is how do I construct the flat-ish roof? Can I do it all in C24 as per the image below? Or does the red C24 in the image have to be a steel or something else? TIA.

I’m sorry to hear that, very depressing. We used secondary glazing in our previous house to try and dampen road noise, it worked to a limited extent, sadly for your situation I suspect it will only turn the noise down a little bit but you’ll still be able to hear the little erks. IIRC I bought a kit online (it was a long time ago) not too expensive and easy to fit. Good luck.

I think that was the reason I felt unable to watch it but with the passage of time I can’t really pin down exactly why I couldn’t watch it. I just couldn’t.

@Jac probably about 6 months after we’d largely finished (it’s never finished). Like you, couldn’t bear to watch it during the build.

Bit it’s still worth doing this: Check CCJ Is it not?

What a coincidence! We had a friend dying of cancer (short notice, swift departure) who’s long dead now. We didn’t owe anything though. The individual we were dealing with owes us close to £5000 (CCJ) which is unpaid CCJ’s can be checked on line for £6 and I’d recommend searching that site before employing anyone.

Horse for courses. I get the arse if they’re even vaguely dirty.

Yep. I always put a little drop of washing up liquid in it. Fortunately we have inward opening windows, well most of them, so ladders rarely get used.

Get a little dehumidifier to dry your clothes on the cheap through the winter, save all the condensate and wash away to your hearts streakfree content. Rain drops wouldn’t exist without dirt/dust etc so rainwater is not clean, but stored in a water butt I guess most of the dirt would settle out.

I can’t!

@Radian yep. Just worked bits of that out (and edited my post)

@Redbeard that’s the zinc roof and it’s definitely not that cold but the zinc always seems to throw back some weird numbers. I’ve no idea why zinc would do that. Actually, scratch that theory. It’s the sky/deep space maybe it’s a real temperature???

If you get tempted by the Bosch thermometer you’ll be in the ‘Flir 1 Pro’ price territory. Brilliant bit of kit that attaches to the base of your iPhone (I hear rumours that other types of phone exist as well?) Heres one I made earlier of an open bedroom window. Various temps identified, should be self explanatory.

Looks like you need to pull the fitting out of the ceiling, spring clips will be holding it in. I suspect you won’t be able to change any of the individual lighting elements, you’ll probably have to bin it and get a new one and good luck finding one that matches…

@TimCx I’m using these Analox ones. No complaints so far (and the price on that site I linked is very good but no idea if it’s a good site)

@Kevin J Perfect, thanks 👍

DIY or MCS fit? That probably answers your question. It won’t be worth it.

Oo, this has kinda turned into a Sunamp thread! Ours sits there silently doing it stuff, not leaking heat etc. Heated by off peak electricity in the winter and PV in the summer (actually it’s heated by off peak all year round at the moment as it’s 5p a kW but I’m sure that’s going to change). No gas/oil boiler or ASHP gubbins or any other shizzle to worry about. It’s excellent. If it fails I would definitely buy another.

If it were me I’d bin the external door and take out the wall between plant room and pantry. The rooms can then be divided up with large sliding wardrobe doors or similar. They hide a multitude of sins and permit easy access to everything in the plant room.

Cost. Thats a fair point. If you’re ‘hands on’ then the major cost is time because it’s the air tightness detail that generally can’t be engineered in and is definitely labour intensive. The other aspects can be sorted at the design stage and there’s not a huge amount you can do about it if it isn’t/wasn’t. Benefit. Low energy bills.

Drifting the thread a bit but if you’re building from scratch and you don’t do your utmost to eliminate thermal bridges, ensure the structure is as airtight as possible and insulate the hell out of it then your missing the boat imho.

Thanks both. I think I’ll use a combination of the two methods so that hopefully my next three half rounds will be in a dead straight line (anything else is not acceptable!)