Russell griffiths

I have been very impressed with our icf system and how it allowed me to make cantilevered sections.

I have a few big openings, 5.3m all done in icf with reinforcement in the concrete, I suggested to my engineer about installing a rsj into the core of the icf, he really didn’t like that idea and said you cannot get good consolidation of the concrete around the steel especially in the web. So you would need to make sure the steel is doing the job on its without the concrete assisting it. All mine where 12 and 16mm bars with links every 150mm, very fiddly to tie up as you needed hands like a 5 year old to get in between all the steel.

It depends if they find the body.

If you use this type you can just bolt on.

Can anybody recommend an alarm system. Looking for something that will ring a mobile number as well as make a load of noise, I have very good neighbours that would come over to have a look. Hopefully with a gun over his shoulder.

You generally fit them with an angle grinder instead of drilling out the mortar. Get the hangers that also have flanges on the sides to take bolts. Draw a straight line across the wall and do a series of deep grooves the thickness of the cutter blade, you will find the flange on the hanger is about the same thickness 2-3mm, hammer in the hanger with a club hammer, when all plumb and lovely add a bolt to each side flange.

Definitely no sunken spot lights, there is no need with the amount of flat led lights available. 25-40mm service batten and you will get a multitude of lights to fit in that.

Just a tip to make life easier. Place the concrete lintels tight to the face of the wall up of the ground before you install the strongboys, this way they are half way into position and you don’t need to thread them through the acrow props.

Out door kitchen sounds fun. Get Dutch oven and you will be able to burn all the old pallets and off cuts.

Looks fairly solid, will you have to deal with archeology surveys and stuff.

If you go on Facebook there is a group called TIMBERFRAME JOBS you can go on and advertise what you want, you will find a couple of lads who will come and chuck it up.

If you are doing a lot of the work yourself, many problems will go away naturally as you will have an increased length of time between jobs. So between frame up and internal plasterboarding could be 6 months to a year, this will allow stuff to settle and dry. A lot of problems occur because follow on trades are rushing to get their bit done.

Not really understanding the problem, is it not a case of a longer screw 130mm x 6 mm through the battens, through the insulation, into the i joists.

Our window company would not supply a large door unless I allowed 30mm clearance above the door as they are having problems with large openings in timberframe construction. Even though I didn’t build in timber they said they would not warranty any door without this clearance.

Since I’ve now been to your site Patrick I think I would get a factory made kit, in 3m by 2.4m panels and carry them in and erect on site. 4 lads carrying it in, and 2 erecting will have it up in 10 days.

It’s just a gap, MBC timberframe set their roof joists apart with a gap between two timbers, look at some of their specs, Jeremy doesn’t come on here anymore.

Have you had any samples @DC5 @GraemeHM of the coma stuff, I didn’t like it, it felt flimsy and dented very easily.

I have 70mm under mine, 25 is inadequate in my opinion. Dont forget vapour control layer, and don’t penetrate it with downlighting.

For such a small area why are you bothering ? also have you looked into getting a structural engineer to sign this raft off, icf walls are heavy and I would be concerned about uneven loading on a raft as I presume being an extension that it will not have a load on all 4 sides, I would also be concerned with differential movement between strip and a raft. For a small area you would be better just strip footing and build your icf up from there. A lot of reasons people use insulated raft is to remove the cold bridge when using a timber frame, however you don’t get the same cold bridging with icf.

I’ve got 200mm of knauf omni fit in between my rafters and 70mm pir under for 0.14 far easier to fit than cutting all that pir.

You will pay double to do that small area instead of letting the guys that do the rest of the house add it on and do it at the same time. Why do you need to screed it to just make it a temporary office if you have block n beam floor what’s wrong with that for a while longer. And why no underfloor heating, this cold room of yours you will come to regret, get it to the same spec as the main house or it will be an unpleasant place bolted on to a nice house.

First thoughts are that your garage is a bit short, 6m is fairly normal as far as I’m concerned 5.5 is a squeeze. Unless your into tiny Italian sports cars.

What sort of wall are you putting on a 300mm wide footing, that’s very skinny

On the phone again 40 mins this time. Im hoping it’s going through, fingers crossed.

I personally think he’s talking rubbish, but I like to know some facts before I tell someone they are. I cannot find anything about a combustible surface, he’s probably mixing things up with flues from boilers and other regs. Like daves problem previously i could I could solve it with smaller bottles. How could i work out how long a 19kg cylinder would last running just a gas hob.