Russell griffiths

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

Thanks for that I will have a good read tonight. ?

Confused as normal, so doing some research as normal and all I keep reading about is breathable outer layers so moisture can escape outwards, makes sense to me. So why am I watching lots of install vids on products where they are taping the joints on the exterior racking sheeting boards? Most of the vids are American so I am careful to consider the climate difference between the two countries, it's no good watching them in Texas as compared with sunny Cirencester. But I also see them applying a stick on rain screen house wraps that are all produced by European companies. I like the idea of having a complete skin over the roofs and walls, but how does it all breath? I intend having a full MVHR system will it breath to the inside or have I got myself all muddled up again. Cheers russ.

So in 2006 I built our old house, timberframe and all stick built on site with the help of 1 other chippy, wanted to know who has had a frame stick built on site so questions would be who designed it and signed off on it why did you do it this way would you do it this way again. Need to do some massive amount of number crunching to work out if there is actually a financial benefit. Cheers russ.

Hi in 2006 I built our old house using timber frame with a brick outer skin, so now we are putting in an application for a new build I thought I was 100% going down this route again, that is until I passed a site a couple of miles down the road from us and they are using the clay blocks with the thin joint system, just wanted to know if anybody has any good or bad things to say about them. Cheers russ.

I would like to have a go at ours as well, can I find Jeremy's instructions somewhere. Thanks russ.

Thanks everyone, will have a good chat with the consultant in the new year.

So sitting here thinking between the cold meat and leftover Christmas pudding, pro dave mentioned that when he told TF companies he planned to add extras to there frame they weren't interested in supplying. So if you were buying a frame and going to have a large cavity and a brick skin and put further insulation in the cavity I'm sure they would be happy with this, so what's the problem if you want to screw it to the face and then clad With something else.

So if I was to go down Daves route, can you tell me who did the design of the frame and who designed the insulation side of things and also the condensation risk, i think I have a problem coming up,I have an architect who I like very much as he has come up with some very valid points that I hadn't thought of, the problem comes as I don't believe he is going to be up to speed with the timber structure design or some of the newer thoughts regarding insulation and air tightness. Oh well another hurdle to get over. Russ.

Thanks for the reply Dave,I was just reading your blog. I built our previous house in 2006 and did it completely on site stick frame style and have considered doing it that way again, the reason for getting a company to do the frame was to speed the process up as the last one took weeks wielding the nail gun. At the moment I'm struggling to comprehend why every thing seems so sodding awkward when it needn't be. Plenty of more random questions coming, cheers russ.

So just wanted to find out anybody's experiences with taking a fairly standard mass builder spec timber frame and upping the spec. I was thinking that a lot of the standard spec frames use 147mm studs filled with various types of insulation with a cheap house wrap on the outside. My thoughts were to add additional insulation on the outside, as well as insulating the service area on the inside, then using one of the top grade airtight membranes as well as the addition of a suitable all singing all dancing rainsreen on the outside. The thing I'm wondering is the time I do this would I have been better of paying for a passive spec frame in the first place. Cheers russ.

E bay start the bidding at 99p I bet someone buys them. We have just turned an old games room into a tool shed inside the room was an old pool table from a pub I thought I was going to have to smash it up with a sledge and throw it in a skip, so I put it on e bay and it sold for 99p 2 lads turned up and loaded it on a trailer, I didn't even lift a finger.

Thanks for all the replies just to fill in a few gaps. We will be contacting the local planners as soon as we have finalised the drawings, I just wanted to hit them with as much justification for the replacement dwelling as we could, the planning consent we have in place at present we managed to secure through the planners complete lack of enforcing there own rules, so managed to slip it past them. I believe we are not exactly on there Christmas card list, so as soon as our application goes in I think it will make them sit up really quick,so just wanted to be fully prepared. Bat survey done newt survey done full topo done flood risk assessment done hydrological survey done so the things I was wondering about was what things I could include regarding energy efficiency and how the house will be far superior to the one already on site. Thanks russ.

Ok a bit more about our build, we have a planning consultant working with us, earlier this year we secured change of use from a managers dwelling to permanent dwelling, we are continuing to use them for the next stage which is replacement of existing dwelling, I am just trying to help them with any info regarding how fab the new place will be compared to how crap the old one is so it makes more sense to replace it, so far planning has cost us £5000 to date and I see it costing another £10000 before we get to the building stage so just trying to smooth the way with a lot of reasons to justify why we want to build it. As as far as the local plan we are told Cotswold district plan is so outdated that they are supposed to have drawn up a new one which they are a couple of years behind doing so there is little in the planning polices regarding how big it can be cheers Russ. Ps it's fairly rural we sit on 17 acres with the next nearest house 300 m away.

Hi we are currently putting an application together for a replacement dwelling. What I am after is a list of any information that either should be included with your application, or information that you included as you thought it was relevant and could help your case, we think we have got a fight on our hands as the replacement is a lot larger than the house on site so would be happy to do anything to smooth the path th full planning. So far we have had done: Topographical survey flood risk analysis hydrological analysis ecological survey so I'm now thinking of all the good bits about the new house compared to the old one,. But unsure what to include and what not and also are a lot of things covered later at building regs stage or is it best to chuck so much at them there seems little point in arguing with you. Thanks russ #confused.com.

For the fishermen amoungst us, main lake 7 acres mixed fishery, plenty of silvers, lots of tench average 5lb, low stocking of carp stocked at about 8lb now coming out at 18 plus with a few pushing 20, should all be 20 plus next spring. Good head of pike up to mid 20's stock lake approx 1-1/2 acres 100 5-8 lb carp and plenty of silvers crucian lake ,approx 1/3 rd acre stocked with hundreds of hungry crucians and tench, growing well going to be moved about and a few sold on when they are bigger. Thats about it.