Matthias

Thanks for the ideas, I'll certainly give them a go. How'd you get in contact with the local farmer? Know them already or just do some cold calling? And I just tried offering the rubble on a locals sharing site and it was rejected due to fears the tiles might contain asbestos. They do not, we had a survey done before any work began - oh well.

Ace, thanks very much. I'm going to dig out the details on the stove that we're looking at getting and see what it says. Will update with a link when I find it.

Hey all, Please excuse the very not-to-scale drawing but it gives the idea. We're looking to install a stove like the ones pictured and I'm looking for advice on: A ) Correct material to use behind the stove. At the moment it's rendered block work that we where going to dot-dab and plaster. But I'm not sure if that would count as a combustible material and so shouldn't be that close to the stove - and even if it is suitable if the paint wont crack from the heat of the stove. What's best practice for a wall behind the stove? B ) The stove will be on a concrete shelf like the ones pictured. But the floor beneath that will be engineered timber, how much of a gap do we need to leave between the edge of the stove, the plinth and the floor? Many thanks, Matt

Hey all, I'm looking for advice on best practice to remove and cap an old vent stack. We want to cut it off low to the ground, if possible flush with the ground. Seal the top and then cover over. The pipe itself is 110mm 'low risk asbestos', so I'm aware I need to be careful in how I handle it and cut it down. But can I just use a drain blanking cap in the top? Doesn't seem substantial enough. Many thanks, Matt

Hi all, We're looking to get rid of 16-20 tones of rubble, all old internal walls from a bungalow and an entire roofs worth of tiles. It's all been sorted and is suitable as hardcore. We'd hoped to get a grabber in to take it away but site access is a nightmare, 10ft high hedges and telephone lines overhead. We can just about get a skip on to the driveway. Does anyone know of the next cheapest option for removal? Man with a crusher, rubble skip hire or similar? We're based in South Wales if that helps. Many thanks, Matt

Hi all, I've flicked through the forum pulling out useful information over the past couple of months as I've come across one issue or another with our build but I think it's time to seek more direct advice. For background my brother has bought an old bungalow in south Wales that we're converting in to a four bedroom, two bathroom, open plan, modern house. In time there will be an extension that goes where the single garage is now but that's a ways off. So far the demo work has been done, tearing out most of the ground floors internal walls. We've had the roof rebuilt with a full width back dormer to accommodate the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom. (All to structural engineering plans specifications and okayed by building control. We're not cowboying this.) These's are insulated, plaster-boarded, first fixed and currently being plastered. We're waiting on windows to be delivered to hopefully install those before winter hits. We've just finished underfloor heating downstairs and self-levelled over the top ready to take an engineered timber floor. As we've been living in the property everything has been done a bit piecemeal so a lot of jobs are half complete, which is a pain but the only way in some areas. Our experience with contractors has not been great, they haven't built to the quality that we'd expect to be standard and don't seem to think of future issues they're causing taking shortcuts. Not saying all contractors are like this, just our experience, but it has lead to us taking on most of the work ourselves. Anyway, I'm coming across some niggling questions; like the correct way to cap a disused soil vent and the correct material to put on a wall behind a wooden stove. But I'll find the relevant subs and post the questions there. Kind Regards, Matt