Russell griffiths

You need to do the bottom, especially if you have ufh as this will be the warmest area the frame is internally and the coldest externally, so a great area for condensation on the frame.

Your over analysing this. I’ve got a 1-5tonne kubota, there’s only two jobs I haven’t been able to do with it in 6 years of being here. bulk excavation of house plot as it was just too much volume 300m + I could have done it but it was taking too long, 8 tonne machine for 3-4 days sorted that. then installing the septic, I could definitely have done it with my machine no question, but I had to hire in a box shoring system to hold the sides up, the 8 tonne machine struggled with this as well. so two weeks hire of a bigger machine in 6 years of owning our place. there’s not a single week I haven’t used the digger.

Ha ha, your stil thinking about it 😂

You won’t need to hit them much, soon as you nail the first rafter on they will come loose from the mortar.

Don’t fix your plates down, leave them floating, as you cut your odd length rafters you can wiggle the plate in and out until acceptable, then after three or four rafters you will get a feel for the best location for the plate, fix it down and strap it then.

Go bigger every time don’t consider anything under 50mm, and 50mm only for a single SWA of say 4-6mm anything bigger will be stiff and awkward to pull through, 50mm rigid for BT or fibre. anything bigger stick to 75-90- 100mm ducts.

Far better to do two layers and stagger the joints. 150mm is a pain to cut. if it comes bent it’s hard to straighten, two layers would be my choice every time.

Remember a 300mm chamber can only be 600 deep. @flanagaj

@Nickfromwales is a bit of a bender 🤣

A sewage treatment plant takes it all, toilet, shower wash basin washing machine dishwasher just nothing that you haven’t eaten except good quality toilet paper, no wipes no sanitary products no nappies, just poo.

If you can go 8mm i would bend them on site, simple jig and a hand bender.

Total construction supplies in the west mids did mine, they didn’t like it as it was small and hard to bend, but did them as I had had £5000 worth of steel for my foundations, and they featured my foundations on their website. give them a call. could you drop to 8mm links, check with structural engineer, easier to bend to get the tight radius.

As above, run at a little bit steeper fall, then slope down to meet the manhole invert for the last 4-5m. you can run plastic steep, it won’t leave your no 2’s stranded.

Very time consuming to cut and fit expensive even if fitted well it shrinks over time leading to a poor fit. if your doing something from scratch you should be able to design it out and save some coin.

If this is a section below finished floor level you shouldn’t need any form of waterproofing as it’s all below dpc, using real flint will stick you out 100 mm plus from the icf, you will need some serious counter batten and batten to get the cladding to overhang. using a fake stone will give you a more consistent depth and thinner profile. have you considered rendering this bit, it could save a few grand in the build process. I can see the attraction of the flint if you are doing a wall of it, but just the splash zone at ground level seems an expensive method for a strip at ground level. depending on what icf you use you will not pull the eps off the concrete, it should be very secure, nudura you actually need to destroy it to get it off. I would waterproof render onto the icf, reinforcement mesh, rough up the render, then fix the stone/ flint with slip bond adhesive, pointing as you go.

The cavity is clear if you use surecav, you can go lower width cavity if you use a proper barrier 50mm is fairly standard to allow for inaccurate building practices and materials. ensure you keep the bottom of the cavity clean, you will need to exercise old fashioned good practices to keep the cavity clean at the bottom.

Yep 100mm and 8mm render and 1.6mm top coat. haven't seen anybody lay 75mm blocks for a long time. how bigs the cavity, if you use surecav can you tighten up the cavity a bit.

What do you want it for ? i cannot think of a use for it apart from rendering.

If the ufh manifold is in there, then the pipes will need to travel across this floor to get to the manifold, just add a couple of extra metres to one loop and wiggle it across the bits not already covered.

I thought you mentioned 300mm high, if so you going to push your stone out from the icf by loads if you use surecav, sounds very OTT for just a strip at ground level and below finished floor height, surecav is predominantly used on timberframe.

Planning will only get involved if you actually tell them.

Cut along a straight edge, normally aluminium.

I don’t think they were needed at all, but did it anyway.

Will this create a large shelf that you will need a flashing over. on an eps block I rendered onto the eps with a waterproof render with mesh included, then left the surface very rough. then laid natural stone bedded in exterior slip adhesive and stuck back to the render with the same slip adhesive, stainless screws and stainless brackets bedded in every third course.

Badly designed wall, using incorrect materials I’m afraid. it all needs pulling down, new foundations and a new wall of some description. I would go for something more flexible like sleepers or gabion baskets with a nice stone on the face.