Triassic

After some further investigation it sounds like the building has been built to a good standard, however someone on the committee is now saying that as the foundation raft has no reinforcing bar in it that in his opinion the whole lot will have to be demolished so that the raft can be broken up and mesh installed in a new one. Having been on site yesterday to look at the current new slab I find that it’s 8 inch tick and was apparently constructed over an existing concrete slab. To me it looks bomb proof, thoughts? The building on the above foundation is a stick built single storey toilet block, so not particularly heavy.

In the render board fixing instructions it states that I should cut DPM into strips and staple these over the battens before fixing the render board in place. I assume this is to stop moisture affecting the timber, I’ve saved all the exterior membrane offcuts (I have a black bag full), I was wondering if I could use these, rather than buy DPM. Both are waterproof, so should serve the same purpose?

@Mr Punter what type of bead did you use rather than the bell cast bead?

Do you have any photos as I’m about to start rendering you’ve got me wondering if it would look better without a bell cast.

Where we live you can only get trades on an hourly rate! Mind you,I work with them so there is no slacking, for example our roofer was on the roof in the pouring rain all day on Friday, all for £20 / hour.

Tell me about it ! Our architect stated n an email that our house as around 290m2 when I came to check the floor areas when designing the ventilation system it turned out to be around 360m2. Thevarchitect hadn’t clouded the hall, stairs or landings or any corridors. Our build is costing around £1100 / m2 .

I’m on first name terms with Mark my DPD delivery driver, top bloke! I find that if you log onto the tracking information, you can then leave instructions that the driver then sees on his vehicle terminal.

We live in a rural area, however we’re about half a mile from the village Junior school, so we have a “rush hour” at 8:30 and 3:00 which lasts about half an hour as parents deliver their kids. I usually tell delivery companies not to deliver during at this time. Inevitably they ignore the request and arrive at rush hour, but if they parked close to the site entrance you can get a Luton sized van or a tractor past, so usually it’s not an issue. However one of the mums drives a 12feet wide Mini and absolutely refuses to pass any stationary delivery wagon, resulting in a que of cars behind her. I’ve learnt never to get involved in such traffic issues, as a mum on a mission should not be messed with!

We have a lot of roof and the only planning condition we have, is that we use local slate, 18 tonnes of it at a cost of £22k. So here’s the front roof of the house. And the rear roof of the house. A total of 18 separate roof planes in all! Why oh why did I let the architect talk me into this design? Once the Timber Frame company left a local roofer started to batten our the roofs for our random width, diminishing course roof. Everything was going swimmingly, however he complained of feeling dizzy whilst on the three storey section, so i sent him to the doctors. He’s very old school of farming stock and would probably be more comfortable going to the vets! The upshot is he was signed off sick and needed hospital tests. The doctor has told him no more roofs. So that’s it, he’s told me to find someone else! I’ve wished him a speedy recovery, he is a really nice local guy and I’m gutted for him as he’s no pension, so relies on local roofing and small building jobs. He’s irreplaceable, but somehow I had to find a replacement. If only I had a magic wand, I’d wave it for him.  Gutted!  Went to seek the advice of a neighbours regarding good local roofers. The upshot being, I’ve was told to hunt down a guy known locally as “Old Fruit”. I asked the neighbour “don’t you know his real name” the answer, “NO” I’ve only ever known him as Old Fruit” So I have no phone number and only a vague idea where he lives.  As luck would have it, the third house I tried was Old Fruits parents house. So I now know he’s called Chris and having looked at the job and agreed an hourly rate, he’s start battening the roof out. Fast forward a couple of weeks and he’s back and this morning the slates started going on in the pouring rain, Old Fruit is keen to get on with the job! More to follow........

I’ve just checked our budget and we are on target for £1100 / m2 and we have a basement. Mind you, I’ve had to do a lot of the work myself, shop for bargains and barter for the best prices, both in labour and materials.

I’ve recently used UKslate and Silva for timber cladding. You’ll have to do a search for their websites.

A friend worked for an adaptions company doing this type of work, over the years all the trained trades people have been got rid of and replaced with cheap labour. This is an example of what you get!

There is a SSSI within 10 feet of the cabin, I just kept a watch out for slow worms. The only issue in the eyes of the planner were bats, we had an initial bat survey, but none were found to be roosting, either in the old house, or the trees we removed to build the cabin.

@oldkettleTo be honest BC only visited twice, one to look at the foundations and then when the frame was up. Their fees included the inspection of the cabin and the house. Since then I’ve not involved them in the cabin, we just finished it and moved in. No doubt in 20, 30 or 40 years our relatives can sort of a completion certificate! It was our architect who suggested we add the cabin to the planning application for the main house, mainly so we had something formal and to stop anyone suggesting we didn’t have permission. The description of the cabin in the planning application was vogue, we simply added a front and side elevation of the cabin in a small space on the house plans, no one questioned it. However it’s in Band A for Council Tax purpose. Looking at the accounts it cost a grand total of £30k to build. The cabin has a formal bedroom, a bathroom with shower and a living room with corner kitchen. Above the bedroom is a storage mezzanine, this contains a double mattress on the floor and is used by us when we have friends to stay over. In future it might get BC sign off and use it as a holiday let.

When you do a search you find that shortages (high demand!) are a near annual thing. Me being cynical would suggest this helps keep the demand and price up.

Probably just manufacturers restricting supply to keep the price up.

Affordable housing, obviously! Mind you, Im not sure where they’re being built, not in the National Park, that’s for sure!

If I were you I’d post a copy of your proposed plans on here and ask for comments on the plans, specifically, ways of saving money.

I used Amvic ICF, as you can DIY their system, me and a pump operator poured 26 m3 of concrete into the basement ICF walls, all done in one pour. Not one leak and we used home made props borrowed of a local builder for beer money.

The front of the house The back of the house

I’ve got our foundation done, the frame up, the windows, cladding and external rendering purchased all for £1000/m2. You’ll have to do a lot of the work yourself and negotiate hard to get down to £900/m2. Oh, and I’ve not even started on the inside! Ps. I’ll post a couple of photos later to show you what you get for £1000/m2.

Have you read the relevant government guidance on valuing your ground tent https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/leasehold-houses-valuation/

Thé Health and Safety Executive have some helpful guidance on removing asbestos containing floor tiles. http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/floortiles.htm

The rendering is being done on mates ratés, it’ll be s grand job, or else !

Let’s look at getting the problem sorted. I’ve had a similar thing happen to me on a previous job. I laid a slate tile floor over the ‘problem’. We simple used a dryish biscuit mix, with the slate tiles laid onto the mix before it went off. The tiler guaranteed the job and none of the slates ever moved.