Russell griffiths

Not my place Dave, group of houses about a mile up the road, I popped in to see who had made the frame and had a nosey around. Plot of land £300,000 plus £500,000 to build them I really feel for the poor sod who will end up with this. Not sure if I can inform someone.

Yep it's a piece of fibre board. This is a 3 storey house. Build cost £500,000. The second beam is a monster top and bottom flanges 20mm about 9m span with 2 other beams coming into it at the midway point.

What's your opinion on this? If you look closely there is one beam on top of the main one in the photo, out of the shot there are 2 more beams running into the large one that is stacked on top of the one in the photo. So in all there are 4 upstairs walls sitting on this point. Do do you like it?

Don't understand @recoveringacademic Do you mean it gained you brownie points or not to bother

A couple of things to think about if you lack a bit of concrete experience this is is not an afternoon job. Get the first truck on site at 8.30 am then the second straight after do not be ordering it for 11am you need to get it n quick smart rush about like a madman and then have a breather as you will need your 2 hour hardening window to get all your bars in. Be prepared. Get all your bars and spray a line on them for insertion depth, mark a fill line around your trench. Make yourself a tamping thingy make sure the dumper has diesel get a tarp ready for the road or driveway make sure you have batteries in your laser if you have one. Good luck.

This is the bit I don't understand. They found nothing a big fat nothing. Said the site was quite boring with nothing of any interest. I will read it again.

Evening all. We have had a full ecology report done and all seems fine. We have been advised by our planning consultant to provide a method statement on how we are going to mitigate any risk during construction to any protected species on site. Now ive just paid £1400 for the bloody survey I really don't want to go back to him and give him more of my dosh to do this method statement. Anybody done one or got any links to where I could pick up some pointers. I used to write up loads of method statements for work related matters so I'm used to a bit of waffle I could just do with a point in the right direction. Cheers russ.

Ok so I've just read through the other thread on rainwater harvesting and I have my opinions. So the reason this has just come up is the company carrying out our flood risk assessment and rainwater mitigating measures has suggested we tell the planners we are going to flush the karzie with rain water as it will give our GREEN build a bit more clout. Now personally I think this is a load of BS and don't agree with the whole water reusing thing at all. So so the real question is did anybody use water harvesting in your planning to gain a few brownie points or do you not think it carries any weight. Cheers fed up russ.

Just wanted to say a big thanks to @IanR for pointing me in the right direction of Cullen Timber Design. Thanks buddy.

Could anyone recommend a company for this. Cheers.

Has anybody made a complete checklist of all the parts that went into your house or would you know where I could find one as I want to start breaking down the costing side of things, so I can see how much of it I can't afford. Cheers russ.

Right I think I was wrong. After reading all the good reasons for a pop up plug I can see the merits. We don't have any kids so had never considered safety an issue. Learn something new every day.

I think you are off the mark a bit here. The string is to keep them upright until the concrete starts to harden it is not to support them. It looks on your drawing that there is no reo in the trench so that means there is nothing to tie the starter bars to. I would mass fill my trench and level it, go and have a cup of tea and a biscuit, you will start to feel that the concrete is getting firm. Grab a bar that you have already pre marked with the insertion depth on it, plunge it in the concrete and wiggle up and down push down to desired depth and let go. What happens next. Answers on a postcard please. It falls over and gets covered in crud. Remedy. Go and have another tea and come back in ten minutes. It stands up on its own like a soldier outside Buckingham palace. Repeat436 times. Perfect. You cant push it in. Oh shit you shouldn't have had so many biscuits.

Js has hit the nail on the head. The reason for all the questions is I will probably end up building the frame myself or at least buying a standard frame and improving on it. Last week I was on a site where two houses are going up,I decided to be nosey and go and have a poke about, from 200m away they looked like a fairly cheap frame 150mm studs with some Kingspan stuffed in, well on closer inspection I was horrified with the build quality, I didn't say anything and chatted with the lads putting it up, I asked a few questions and told them I was about to submit my planning and was just doing some research. They both chuckled and said they wouldn't buy one of these, they're crap. When you are dealing with a company with Swedish links in its name you would think you were buying a quality product, how wrong you are, be careful out there. Just as an add on, both these houses have a build cost of over £500,000 that does not include land price. I was concerned so much I have even thought of trying to find the purchaser to warn them.

Bugger me I only want to build a wall,

I think the problem here is two different jobs are getting confused. You have put up a picture of a base plate being used to hold up a column you hav made a ply former to hold the base in position and it looks spot on??. What the lad wanted to know was a starter bar a length of reo 800 long with a 90 degree bend and a 200 return if you think you are going to pull that out once it is set then I don't know what you think you are building. If you give it a good wiggle the slurry will run around the reo to seal it off. If you are concerned about water ingress then it shouldn't be cast in two pieces like it is going to be as there will always be a cold joint. Also i like you accurate way you said you would do it but it is not needed or warranted. The last footing I did had a linear run of 123m if you were putting a starter bar in at 600mm centres that would be approx 200 bars if you think you are going to mark that out on a bit of timber and fix it in place to hold them up with holes drilled in it, I will leave you to it, I'll go fishing and come back and pick you up tomorrow, As I said I think different jobs are getting mixed up here it's a starter bar in a footing not the space shuttle.

Ok then in a former life I lived in Australia, and I also have family in the states. I built our last house in oz, and I'm seriously considering importing some of the materials for our new house. Just wondering if anybody had done it and what your thoughts were. I am finding that if you can buy it in the local merchants then it is ok, but as soon as you want anything slightly different than the red box house you are going to pay through the nose for it. Where as in the states and oz the different materials are just standard details over there. Annoyed with England again. Cheers russ.

It's fairly easy really, done it loads. If you have a set of profile boards at either end of the footing mark a line on here where the reo has to go in. Between these marks pull something taught. Either a brickies line or fencing wire, you can now push your reo in giving it a good wiggle up and down to get a good secure hold, if you put a paint mark on the Reo you will know how far to insert it. You can tie it back to the line or just sort of balance it against the line while the concrete sets. What at I think a lot of people are guilty of is overthinking things, you are not building the space shuttle this stuff is used by groundworers on a building site in the mud and rain, as long as you are accurate to about 50 mm you will be spot on. Remember when that concrete has set it is very easy to bend them all nice and straight so they line up with the next stage. CAUTION. Buy some plastic caps to go on top of the exposed reo. A poke in the eye or falling on one could be nasty.

Thanks for that Dave. But how thick was it?

Yes please js she is looking really thrilled at having to use her brain on the weekend.

Did you not use frame therm on the inside?

Thanks js I will get the wife doing some sums I am just a hammer wielding Neanderthal so need a bit of help with such things.

Hi Dave the system with the external insulation will be modelled on the type of build up you did. Except with external battens and timber cladding. How thick was your internal insulation in your 190 frame.

Ok so I'm confused as normal, trying to design my wall build up, can anybody point me in the right direction to find out how to calculate u value. I am considering two methods of wall construction both timber frame both with external timber cladding. Method one. timber studs with a soft fluffy type insulation inbetween and a firmer slab type insulation on the outside. Metod two. Double stud wall with all fluffy type insulation inside. What at I am struggling to get to grips with is the depth of insulation and what u value it will achieve please do not suggest any of the solid board type insulation as I have previous experience with poor fitting of this stuff and hate it. Cheers russ.

Ok this is my opinion. You don't want one or need one. Why are normal sockets not an option, I have seen them placed on the ends of the island, I have also seen them inside a fake drawer front, so I would suggest having a bit more of a think before you buy a pop up, my mate has a pop up and unless you are a super neat freak you will find it is always up and never gets pushed down