Russell griffiths

Ok so I have read various topics all covering problems between the sizes of the openings and the actual window sizes. so can anybody tell me why I can't do this. If I have a window that is 1000mm x 1000mm why can I not make the opening 1030mm x1030mm so 15mm clearance on all 4 sides, in this 15mm clearance I will have a sheet of 12mm rigid insulation cut down to the same width as the timber frame, that will be stuck to the rough opening prior to window instillation allowing for 3mm all around for final sealing. In in the event of slightly inaccurate rough opening or to allow for a bit out of square the insulation layer can be trimmed or tapered to take out any inaccuracies, and then sealed in the opening. Just a thought, tell me why this is either stupid or not necessary. Cheers.

I have looked at this and I interpreted to mean that the garage floor can be level and the house level but there must be a height difference between the two, the height difference can be made up with a slope rather than a step, i was proposing with mine to run the height difference out over about a 1m so it will look like a mini disabled ramp. And will not encroach on the garage space. Why would you want a garage floor that was not level.

If you buy a load @Vijay I will have it off you when you are finished.

Cedar would work well but it would be a completely different kettle of fish to your external variety,it would need to have a different moisture content as bringing your external cladding type timber indoors would make it do all weird and wonderful things.

You can't beat tapping a nail in and pulling the tape measure out. Personally I would save my money on a digital tape and buy one of these. And as Declan said a good metal tape not a cheap plastic thing.

This is very informative, the first 15 mins are probably irrelevant to you as I know you have started building already, I started to type out some of the things you need to do but as they say a picture paints a thousand words so I looked up a vid that should get you to a point where you will have a number of lines up that you can then check for square. I would go out and invest in a longer tape measure so you can check your diagonals. You can also buy a 3/4/5 square that folds up into a nice tube for protection, they are fairly dear but you will use it hundreds of times before you finish your build so long term a good investment.

What you don't want @JSHarris is bamboo, it will spread like spilt diesel and will send shoots up in all manner of places, even if someone tells you "it's the non spreading one guvnor" they are telling porkies. Your budget of £1500 is not small but it's not very big either careful buying will be needed and maybe finding a local lad with a small digger to do the holes will save you some dosh. Local sourcing of the trees will save a lot on delivery so plenty of ringing about needed.

What you need @JSHarrisis a row of pleeched trees, the picture shows a row of hornbeam that where chosen as it will retain a brown leaf in the winter like a beech hedge. I have installed many like this and is a good way of getting the screening at a height needed without the long term wait.

Hi just wondered if anybody had done any costing of a passive slab with ufh, verses the more traditional strip foundation,concrete blocks up to dpc, beam and block,insulation, ufh, screed. I have not done any figures yet and I know the passive slab components can be expensive to buy, but when you look roughly at all the different elements that are needed to get up to ffl in a standard strip footing I'm leaning very heavily towards an insulated raft. Cheers russ.

I don't think length is the critical thing here it is finding a good plug that works with your blocks, some of the lighter aircrete blocks can be a sod to get a good fixing in, I think doing some tests on some spare blocks would be the first thing I would do before buying a few hundred plugs. I remember really struggling to get a good fixing in aircrete, but we found a plug that screwed itself into a twisted little mess that never shifted.

Yes a lot would be site specific but for instance bathrooms. Bathroom 1: bath/ taps : sink/taps : toilet : floor finish : wall finish Etc etc what I don't want to do is get half way through and think, oh sod it I forgot about the heated towel rail so I haven't put an electrical supply in for it. If you get my thinking. Cheers.

Hi I asked this question before, but I don't think I worded it correctly what I am trying to do is do a list of parts and components that go into a house, last time I said this was for costing purposes which it is, but I need it for my own use, I don't need an estimating company to tell me how much of my house I can't afford ? So what I need really is a list of every single thing you either did or had to buy to finish your house. I would also like pointing in the right direction as to if I can find this on the web somewhere. For example. 1: site clearance: fell trees and shrubs : scrape of vegetable matter : alter any site levels 2 : services : Gas connection : Elactricity connection Etc, etc. This is the sort of thing, I can do all the sums myself I just don't want to miss a big or small item like forgetting our access track needs raising 600 mm for a length of 80m, nothing a couple of hundred tonnes of stone won't fix. Thanks for for any help. Russ.

Don't worry about the levels, if it was your standard building site job you would be pleased if they got it within 50 mm.

Well done that is a massive job for someone not in the trade.

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2.9 m is a long span for any rod bar type material, it will deform without a shadow of a doubt, how about buying some ex butcher shop hanging bars they are normally a rectangular shape as there is more strength in the deeper profile than a round bar.

I wasn't happy about using the word never as sometimes you do seal the inside but leave a gap. But typed it quickly, so in effect you can seal but must leave an exit point.

Nick is spot on you never seal the inside always need a way for water to find its way out, as it will always find its way in.

With regards the water, if you know where the meter is then this is all you need as you will probably run a new pipe from the meter into the new house, so no need to actually find the old pipe, just its origin.

Very neat and tidy. ? The only thing i would would say is stop the 11 hour days. It's a marathon not a sprint. If you rush around doing the ground work to get it ready for the slab, you bet you will rush around doing the slab ready for the frame and so on. Our last house I said to myself I would not be on site before 7.30 and would always be away by 5 and only do research and have a tidy up on weekends. At the end of it I had enjoyed every day on site and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Whoooo there dobin. Slow down BATS to be removed. Have you looked into this it's not just a case of stuff them in a bird cage and move them off to some hollow tree. I think you need some some better advice here and also get all your facts correct so you can pass on the correct information. We have just spent thousands having an ecology survey done and we made sure that there where no bats whatsoever. I will Let the experts take over.

I'm sure someone with far more knowledge than me can answer. But what is your rush, you could get the house down and the site cleared in next to no time. I would be very scared to knock something down without having the planning you want. Just to to let you know we used to get a pair of semis down in a day including pulling out the footings. Second day load it all up and scrape the site off.

You can do it like this but I have found that one central fixing is just not enough,and allows cupping of the lining. I would much rather have two fixings and more filing.