Russell griffiths

Parge coat onto wet blocks is not a problem, as you would want to wet the blocks down anyway weak sand n cement mix with a shovel of lime. bucket and a soft broom head or just a hawk n trowel.

Have you looked for the cheapest roughest version of what you have so you could knock it down.

Get all critical measurements added to your drawings. so get a foundation drawing, not a drawing of the house with the foundations on it, but a dedicated layout drawing just for foundations. then a set out drawing for brickwork on top of that foundation, you don’t want the location of the kitchen sink on it, that’s not relevant, you want all the different aspects that are on a set of plans pulled off into individual elements. all these drawings go to the surveyor and they will plot all the points into their total station. when they come to site for the first time to do an initial site set out get them to put finished floor height, damp cours height and anything else relevant on a timber post that you have fixed somewhere, preferably out of the way of the digger, probably screwed to a fence or something. after the site scrape you can measure down from those marks very roughly to get the bottom of your trenches or whatever foundation you are doing. remember this stage heights are very rough, accuracy is not needed in just preparing trenches. from the ffl mark you can work out how many courses of brick or block you have below this and this will give you top of concrete height. it’s all fairly simple measurements depending on what you are building. I had the surveyor out 4 times I believe 1. Rough house layout then I scraped it down to depth. 2 piling locations then the piling company came in then I installed the ringbeam. 3 wall position on top of ringbeam. from here up it’s all set in stone, your corners are marked, that’s where it’s going, it’s just a case of adding the layers you have on your drawing untill your up to ffl. 4 drainage points. Where added as we brought the blockwork up to work out position of cut outs in the block walls. a slab is slightly different, but the same information is needed.

That’s sorted then. you need a full tin hat scaffolding put up remove the entire roof remove all roof timbers replace with loft trusses replace hip ends with gables re roof fit out inside. a year of agro and lots of money, but you get what you want. have you got any pics.

Do you need to take the front down, partition it off inside and strip it back to a shell, re insulate it, re plumb, new electrics and then tie it all back in to the new extension on the back. no different to buying an old scudder and doing a refurb on it, except don’t damage anything in the new bit. bring it all up to spec, with a bit of a modern touch to the front, new entrance new windows. how far do you want to go.

If you go with your original idea of all the insulation on the inside I’m unsure of where you would position doors and windows, you will end up with very deep external reveals as the windows will need to sit within the insulated area. have you not thought of a fairly standard insulated cavity but up the internal insulation for a better u value. so 125 cavity or something like with 90 mm cavity boards and 50mm internal, then a service void and then plasterboard.

It will not be a new dwelling, you won’t get the vat back, it’s just another extension. same as the loft conversion.

Nobody can answer this, only you, you’re stood there looking at it, you know your financial situation, you know what it’s worth. sorry we can only answer technical questions. personally I would knock the lot down and build the biggest most expensive house in the street, then sell it and do it again. but my circumstances probably don’t fit in with yours, so you need to do what is right for you.

Have you looked into the porotherm clay blocks, used a lot in other European countries, a new build local to me used them. they use a thin joint mortar system.

185m is not big enough for what you are trying to build, ok for the family house but not big enough for the outlaws as well. get planning for a nice regular 4 bed and sell it, buy a better plot.

I would not use aircrete blocks if you gave them away free.

Don’t be a plonker. you will end up with something you don’t want. take the purchase price, add on £12000 and pretend it has planning for exactly what you want. happy now or still pissed off. the system is shit, but so are most things in England. all my reports and fighting cost me £14600 I know the figure to the penny. felt like giving up a few times. if it was easy all the gutless dreamers would be doing it.

I thought up your way it was iron brew in ya pipes.

I said it before going to say it again you need to stop work and get a set of drawings showing what you are actually building you should have a block n beam diagram showing the location of all the beams, they should have been designed to allow any load bearing walls to come up and through the floor. they will also have been designed to avoid any soil pipes coming upwards. I think a bit of cold bridging is the least of your problems stop now make a plan and work to it, or charge on with no plans and find out what sort of cock up you end up with.

Use a magnetic level, stoopid

List from my memory power in power out to garage power out to sewage plant power in from solar power out to car charger telecoms in cat 6 out to electric gates power out to electric gates cat 6 out for cameras power out front garden lights power out back garden lights ASHP flow out ashp flow return, could both be in single insulated duct power to ASHP cat 6 to ASHP so 13-14 ish without thinking too hard. plus all your poo pipes. lots could change in your situation, sewage plant might be near the garage so could take power from there, the car charger could be on the side of the garage as well.

Cor, your well posh in Bristol, Tesco finest, show off

@Pocsteryou can get various products for sealing porous ground, one is called bentonite, it is used for sealing up voids in clay when used to build the sides of a lake if it’s leaking. I wonder if you can find something that you can dril a few holes in the ground and pump it in under pressure to find its way to the gaps and cracks. just a thought.

Power out for sewage treatment plant if you have one. don’t mix power and internet. don’t worry about multiple ducts, if you need them that’s it, you need them. all power in and power out can come up below the consumer unit, I have about 6 ducts there, then 3-4 more in the plant room for water in and ASHP in and out. you will need power out to the ASHP plus maybe cat 6 to control it. Do a sketch of the house and some lines on it of every device inside and out and how each device will get either power or water to it or from it or both. I wouldn’t be surprised if you end up with 20 odd penetrations in the slab, don’t worry just get them in, and run a spare just in case.

I don’t think that will be far out, but it depends on the quantity and the difficulty. 10m in a straight run will be priced one way 10m of little short sections with corners and returns will be priced very differently, then you have the pain in the arse factor to price in. then how busy the contractor is. then he might just not like you and stick a bit more on for that. 😂 just prepare yourself for some shocking prices when you get going.

What would you list as its drawbacks.

You wouldn’t do it like that nowadays, stone houses were built using natural stone as it was readily available and cheap. it is now very expensive, unless like a lad on here @scottishjohn you have a building plot on an old quarry site. you will need to build the house in some other form and add the stone just as a decorative exterior finish. you could do a cavity wall with stone as the outer skin, or icf or timberframe both with stone externally. but don’t for a minute think it will be a cheaper option, unless you can find somebody with a lot of stone they don’t want. the quarry by me wants £200 for a bulk bag of it, which doesn’t do many metres at all. then you have the labour cost of finding a good team to lay it.

Better to be too big than too small, just adjust it when the velux gets fitted.

You won’t need a report, you just draw it on your plans and state the species and say it’s being retained. then do a landscaping plan showing all new planting and hard landscaping.

Where’s the drainage???