ToughButterCup

At the outset, I should admit that I am abusing the word 'need'. Or put it another way, using the word 'need....' in the sense that all teenagers do. As in; Dad I need (....insert appropriate fad topic here...) Given a single battery system (in my case Hieronymus Bosch The Elder) and a good few tools that take batteries of varying capacity (lets say 10 tools) How many batteries do I need? 1 each (10) 20 5 2 or just one? I can make a case for any of the above except the 20 one. You realise that your answers will be taken as the excuse (reason) to buy more. As in : Well on BH they say I should have [ n ]

Thanks very much everyone for your help. Ian

Echoes of our soil survey. And I must admit to panicking a bit about the cost implications. Until I realised the significance of our site being on a gentle slope. That meant we would be bringing 400 tonnes of MoT1 in (and take no soil out) to level the site. So any contaminant (in our case lead , Pb) would be even more hidden than it is now. We have built on 'Made Ground' - spoil from an old clay quarry.

That's what I like: simple. I can do that.

Because my mind is so full of other stuff. I do remember and thanks, I'll do some research based on your lead. Thanks Dave Ian

Anyone recommend a cheap oil-filled radiator? Or suggest one type to avoid?

That, @IanR is impressive. Really elegant, elegant because of its simplicity. If you want to know why I keep coming back to BH, it's because of posts like yours. You can be sure I'll be re-reading it often. What do you call that stuff @Nickfromwales ? I mean generically, I'm not asking for a trade name. I know for sure that if I go to our BM and ask for Quick Trim like Ian's post I'll have another of these experiences

Thinking through the issues involved in advance of first fit, I realise that the issues of shadow gaps (or not) is one that I need to think through. I did this search on site Are shadow gaps just a style thing? Or a feeling thing? Or used when needs must? Or just cheaper and so a way of saving money? @LadyBuilder would disagree arguing that they are are all the rage, @ProDave uses them with care, I note, @Stones dislikes them but uses them when it suits. @Trw144 uses them everywhere. At this remove (when will I ever get to first fit?) I'm thinking - go for it - shadow gaps are cheaper and will impress people like @LadyBuilder when they come to visit. I bet there are some real gottchas using shadow gaps. What do you think?

A word worth committing to memory, that one.

Right now we're getting somewhere. What really interests me now is - how do you go about thinking it through? How do (did) you make sure you didn't miss something? Miss something in terms of content and process. This M+E stuff is really interesting Its a bit like that stupid question (....stupid until you start thinking about it) - How do you know what you think until you hear what you say? Adapted to this discipline, '... How do we know what we need until we have described what and how we are going to use the house for - and with whom ...' The best method I can think of is to apply 'Use cases', or perhaps better put, Informal Use Cases (using software development processes to decide how a house is to be M+Ed is a bit strong maybe). Once those Use cases are described, then perhaps we stand a chance of getting it nearly right. What worries me is @ProDave's post above If, like me, you send your wife out to work to keep yourself in the luxury to which she has made me accustomed, the detailed thought processes and hence design decisions are not easy to communicate. I know making it up as we go along is OK(ish), but as the First Fit thread showed, tight, careful planning is the way to a happy, continuing marriage. How did / are you trying to reduce the stress of a poor M+E design process (not outcome)? Use cases? Standardized approach? Software? Intuition? Experience? (There ya go, sounding like I know what I'm on about already)

Not intuitive is it? I mean does @Nickfromwales call himself a mechanic?

Sketchup. It allows you to put photo textures on surfaces. Bit of a faff to learn, but it works and did I mention... its free. Here

Thank you @ragg987. May I let you into a secret? I am having to replace '... Less knowledgeable...' with 90 percent '...hands on...' and '...Many hours of work here...' I don't think I have ever worked so hard in such a sustained way in a discipline in which I have no expertise and consequently rely on the collective good will knowledge and supportive critique of all here. Even those who themselves ask for advice teach me, support me because I have to think very carefully before giving advice. Off to do some M+E design, and maybe think about bragging about it in the pub tonight. Just before I do, which bits of the design are 'mechanical' ? Door sliders? Hinges?

If it's simply a pain I can stand that. Thanks folks. Ian

I have any number of these left over from the build. I'd like to stick them in my roof between the rafters.... but I have a dreadful feeling Mr @JSHarris will say ' No you can't ' . I think we've had this conversation before but for the life of me I can't find it. Wasn't it the small gaps between the blocks that'll prove too hard to seal off? Please tell me I can use them. It's such a huge waste not to....

So come on, what does M+E design mean?

If you want to know why I joined this forum, here's the answer.

Must go to AngularRus then...

We have just the man....remember this? Well, he's got what I need at a price I can afford.

This will be a small car park. So far I have put some drainage piping under it, covered it with what was left over from our MOT 1 pile and levelled it with our digger. I'd like to prettify it as cheaply as is sensible. My thoughts are to roll it as flat as I can get it, put some of that black membrane down to suppress weeds, and then tip some 40 to dust on top of that. Roll that to with a mm of it's life and then wait for the rain to 'tighten things up' And then put some pretty gravel on it. I know gravel isn't ideal : it moves..... But it's always the same old story: how do I do just enough to make it look a million dollars with only a hundred in my bank account? I'm sure someone has faced this challenge before. May I plagiarise your ideas please?

You'll make a scientist out of me yet. ....And I can even explain (at the right time to the right audience) how that trope 'thermal mass' benefits from a small tweak. Who's a clever boy then? I am. Even my esteemed architect trots (used to) it out occasionally .

This is a meaty read... Perfect for a lazy Sunday morning. The answer is 'yes', then?

Cornwall, dahling, Cornwall as @pudding says.

The ICF Durisol has the insulation in the outer half of the block and concrete on the inside of it. Both those materials are 'shuttered' within a wooden form held together by cement.

I had thought that a 'silly' idea . Not anymore. Dunno why .It was Pete who first mentioned it. I'll give it a try.