Russell griffiths

I couldn’t give a monkeys what these companies say on paper I would want to see the build quality and airtightness results. the figures for my walls would not pass current building regs, but I know every square mm is insulated exactly the same with zero gaps and no cold bridging, then with an airtight score below passive standard, I’m sitting in a house that is so comfortable, the wife put a chicken in the oven this afternoon and I went and opened the patio door for 15mins.

I wouldn’t bother swapping materials, you will need two different contractors, trying to find one is hard enough. stick to slate.

I did this, personal taste really, I would have like a big stone to look like a lintel, but was running out of enthusiasm and it just needed finishing.

Corner slips or mitre and glue your own. depends what look you want, do you want a large chunk of stone to look like a lintel stone.

Have you Seen the weather outside 🤣🤣

How cold is it where you are ? I’ve built my workshop very well with high levels of insulation, I installed one of the 40mm panel doors, it’s pretty shit and I’m unimpressed for the cost. but the workshop isn’t cold, it sits at around 13-14 degrees all the time a simple fan heater for 15mins and it’s up to 16 -17 which is plenty for me doing woodwork stuff. it feels loads colder than the house but it’s not unpleasant to be in if working.

The lads I’ve had on site I can count with one hand. I think I have probably saved £200,000 in labour though which is what I wanted.

The last house I built in oz I did 75% and had help with the rest, when we started this I said I needed more help. then as we started I just kept doing everything myself got quotes to do stuff but didn’t like them, everything seamed to expensive when I knew I could do it, even if it took longer, then covid came along, things went up, ran out of money, things went up again, ran out of money again. plus I’ve got multiple other things on the go. I’ve also had large periods of time when I just couldn’t be bothered spent hours wondering what on Earth I was doing and why we even started. and I’m just about to start a couple of small refurbishment projects. must be mad, could be sitting on a beach with a cocktail.

February 2018 seams like yesterday.

Yesterday we moved into our place, started in 2018 still not 100% finished in 2026, I estimated it would take me 2 years, 🤣🤣 thanks for all the advice from fellow buildhubbers. What we bought, what we have now.

Just be aware lead should not be longer than 1.5m, I’ve seen lads run a roll of lead from top to bottom of a valley, as it’s long and thin it looks like the obvious thing to do, but expansion kills it.

Top pic in my previous post was after washing the floor ready to prime it for tiling. middle pic was the day after it was laid.

I remember why the softwood option was cheaper I left large gaps between each board so used a load less boards not saying how big that’s up to you to decide. all fitted with 90mm galv ringshanks nails my labour was free, it took a bloody age. I researched this forever and found that a lot of EU countries used big gaps, and they have been installing this stuff longer than us.

I priced up ply versus sorft wood 100x25 the ply was a lot dearer. but this was in 2020.

I wouldn’t consider osb under the sheets, pull out strength of an 18mm screw is not great. 25mm sarking boards for me.

Go and see the neighbours rip the hedge out and re plant a new one, by the time the house is built it will be 4 feet high and nice and lush.

Cash flow if a contractor supplies a service and materials it’s zero vat if you buy the materials you pay the vat and claim it back, this could be a long time before you get it back.

Depends what door you have, we have a mat well simply because a lot of the modern low threshold doors are very low to the finished floor, so you physically can’t put a mat on top of the floor or the door won’t open. also with the low doors they tend to trap small stones and scratch the floor, the mat wel allows the stones to fall lower allowing the door to open.

How much is the huge fee from the planning consultant our was about £4000 and she worked with us for 18 months getting the plans passed. your not mixing up all the survey fees and other documents with her cost are you. the rest of the fees took it up to £16,000, but the actual planning consultant I felt was very good value.

The cement faced foam core boards can be skimmed, but you use a specific primer. definitely not pva.

What do you want to know the brass stop cock is the incoming main, it’s got the couple of turns in the pipe so the tap is easier to reach instead of it being above the cylinder, as that cylinder is probably 1500high. the white bit of hep pipe is the temporary pipe because the water softener isn’t there. This allows the house to have water while the softener was removed so we could get to do the pipe work above it without dropping solder all over the new softener.

I have a Carlos fandango bearing puller, oil filled mega pressure one. it’s still easier with a cold chisel and lump hammer. get a chunk of 16-20mm round or square steel, put it in the vice and bend the top 40mm at an angle you can get that down the centre of the bush and use it like a drift.

Join a Facebook group called 8 ton and below loads of info on there regarding anything digger related.

First thing to do is put some safety glasses on. they are extremely hard and can shatter. I would look at some YouTube videos I did mine at the bucket end. you can do it a few ways, make up a puller/ pusher tool buy using some threaded rod 16mm you will need some old sockets from a socket set or buy some cheap Chinese rubbish from Amazon, get a socket the exact or just smaller than the bush add on a small extension bar, place on face of bush and whack the f##k out of it. After 3-4 whacks you will see it move. if it’s a two piece bush so one either side with a gap in the middle you can get a foot long cold chisel and put it through one bush and up against the other bush. Again whack the be Jesus out of it. it’s not a delicate operation. all sockets and extension bar will be buggered at the end so don’t borrow your mates best snap on set. 🤣🤣 SO YOU BOUGHT A DIGGER THEN. you kept that quiet. have fun.