Mulberry View

We're in the process of building an open Car Port with a cavity wall construction (no insulation), facing bricks inside and out, nothing will be plastered. Is there a way to secure the wall-plates down but either not have the restraint straps visible or that they are slightly more aesthetically pleasing?

I should probably add here that our 38x12 Willerby weighs over 6 tonne. Ours is sited on unmade up land, just soil. It has about 12 or so axle stands, each one on a slab that was just plonked on the ground in all honesty. I occasionally tweak them, but it's never been perfect. There are 4 hefty stands around the axle and lighter ones at the rest of the support points. It's been this way for 3 years. It's not strapped down in any other way. It is pretty rock solid, though 50mph+ gusts can cause it to jolt a little. I've never felt like it's going to go as far as a wobble, let alone fully tip over. We are fairly sheltered though, particularly on the SW side and that's the important one. Our main worry is the surrounding trees! We are surrounded on all sides by 60-70ft trees, something we just did not anticipate.

Flash git!! I don't have that amount of space to play with unfortunately, but I'd love to see your progress pics? I'm hoping to make the Sauna cabin at least 2x2m as I want 2 flat benches at the optimum height (for me and SWMBO). Like you, I have plenty of spare Celotex and so will insulate the floor with 150mm or even 200mm depending on what room I have. From my own knowledge, be careful if using normal PIR inside the Sauna, I understand it can emit Cyanide gas under high temperatures. There are some specialist versions on the market which I'll be looking at. I've done a fair bit of research on the Sauna itself, there's a lot to learn to be honest!

Yes, perhaps. I think I've talked myself out of a changing room and shower. I just need to get my head around being able to get back into the house and to the shower without, you know, sweating everywhere. Would still be good to hear from anyone that has built a home Sauna, I'd love to see some pics.

We're planning on an Electric Heater, but a "proper" one. I'd really rather not have to incorporate a shower etc as we have 3 of them in the house, but it's the practicality of getting from the Sauna to the Shower in the house that I'm worried about.

We have a Car Port in our design that's linked to the house via a covered walkway. The Car Port itself it open. We are really fond of having a Sauna within our scheme, but not enough room in the house and so I decided to increase the length of the Car Port in the hope of incorporating a Sauna within a partitioned structure at the rear of the Car Port. On further thought, I would really like to include a small shower and changing area but space is pretty tight as I don't really want to compromise on the 2m x 2m internal size for the Sauna. Does anyone here have a Sauna? Do you have anything to add in terms of sizing? This is my "fag packet" sketch (not at all to scale, yet!) The external walls of the Car Port are double skin with an uninsulated Cavity. The partition walls are likely to be 100mm facing bricks with a proper sealed door into the Changing Area. The Sauna itself is a separate discussion, but that will be built and insulated according to Sauna best practice. I'm interested in the Changing and Shower Area at the moment, which I want to make comfortable to use (not necessarily luxuriously warm, but usable in Winter) and so I am thinking of applying some insulation to the walls. What thickness of insulation (PIR?) should I consider for this? 50mm? The structure is somewhat shielded from the prevailing wind by the house itself and I can insulate the floor and ceiling.

I would love to have the intelligence to be able to turn that into something practical, but I don't know where to start. LOL.

Thanks for the reply @Nick Laslett. Our ceilings are a minimum of 2.5m throughout, but the whole Kitchen/Dining/Living room is under a 5° sloped ceiling that rises from 2.5m to about 3.3m, they are already quite generous. My current levels are to provide a completely flush threshold to our Dining Room door. But overall, you appear to be saying that the PIR route is minimally more expensive and so, in your opinion the better route?

That's my thought. The money saving would be lovely, but I'd like to try to offset the poor performance of the Beam & Block floor as much as possible.

We have a Nudura build with Beam & Block floor. The B&B is now installed and grouted, we did all the work and the resulting floor is pretty level/flat. I think the finish is good enough that we can examine/rectify any imperfections. Sand blind or not? I intend to see what the floor is like once we've had a day or tidying it up, but I'm certain its better than usual building site standard. Our internal walls are built from medium-dense concrete blocks on 100mm thick Marmox blocks Our design showed 150mm of PIR, but we can now better this due to some changes in build. We have approx. 290mm from the top of the floor finish down to the top of the B&B. We plan on Microcement throughout, which totals 4mm, so 286mm for Insulation and screed. We intend on having UFH (yet to be designed). What's the best split of Insulation and Screed for optimal performance? Drying time isn't a huge priority, although my head is fried all our other nonsense, I'd like to make some blummin' decisions and get this all underway before the weather cools down. I expect our Glazing to be going in late October or early November, all being well. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Because we're founded on hard chalk. Made for great foundations, but less so for water infiltration. The bottom of this hole is like a bathtub, the soakaway was designed to potentially be half-full most of the time.

Anecdotally, if anyone is feeling frustrated by the amount of work needed for a Soakaway, know that this is what we had to have for our modest (200m2) 4-Bedroom house. 96 standard sized crates in 2 layers (though these are larger crates so there are *only* 60). Just under 20,000 litres. LOL.

The installer is adamant that everything is compliant because the material manufacturer (who has ZERO interest in the installed roof) has issued their material warranty. I have raised several queries that are strongly likely to be detrimental to the longevity of the roof but of course failure of the roof due to any installed detail will fall back to the installer, so why would the manufacturer care? It's like the perfect storm of non-acceptance.

The installer stated early on that no expert testimony would be accepted by him as he is an expert installer and therefore his view is the end of the line. I had to remind him that this is not how the law works, but finding an Expert Witness who can top trump this guys self-righteous disposition is the challenge. There are Expert Witnesses who do not specifically specialise in Zinc roofing, I can see we won't get the full picture that we need. Then there are Zinc roofers who have all the expertise and experience, but are not classed as legal 'Expert Witness'. We have found one person who has BOTH credentials, but he and our installer are mates.

The installer that did my roof is so deeply in the pockets of the whole industry, it's hard to find impartiality anywhere. The local rep for the manufacturer with whom I discussed the entire situation as it was unfolding lives 15 minutes from my plot and would not come to see. They literally do not get involved in the installation. They provide standard details and general guidance, but cleverly disconnect themselves from installation issues. I have raised specific queries with them and shown them photos of what I claim are defects, they refuse to get involved.