Mulberry View

Yes, I agree in principle. In practical terms, some parts of my drainage are having to be restrospectively placed under the foundations. It's not as bad as it sounds, as my concrete is only about 300-400mm deep, but the ground level where the rodding eye will emerge is a fair bit higher and without much distance before we reach the boundary. Can a rodding point be vertical? The one I did on my last project was 45° and of course I'll need some length for that. It'll mean one more place I've got to go under the foundations, which of course I'm trying to minimise. Presumably there are minimal solids coming in from the Kitchen...

I won't go into lots of detail here, but our foundations c'ock up resulted in some last minute decisions that have had an onward effect. It's not the end of the world, but I just need to figure a couple of details about my foul drainage. This is a rough idea of how I expect my drainage to run. Starting at the top... The first run of pipe after where I've shown the rodding eye is from the Kitchen and that goes in a straight line, approximately 10 metres, to the first chamber, which is there to take the pipe coming in from the internal SVP. This is the short penetration shown and brings in flow from the Master Ensuite and a second Ensuite only. The run then goes into the second chamber, which handles the incoming flow from the main Bathroom (the longer pipe) and Utility room before proceeding towards the mains sewer. Firstly, do I need the rodding eye? I'm hoping the first chamber will give sufficient rodding access, being the first point for solids coming in. I'm going to struggle to get a rodding eye in the indicated position as the drainage run will be fairly deep at that point Secondly, am I able to use a swept T-piece under the building? If I can do so, my Utility sink/washing machine etc can follow the red route and take away one of the penetrations. I guess this must be OK, as I'd have needed a T-piece if the rodding eye is required?!

Not sure I understand how any other way would have worked? See above, first course of Nudura straight onto the foundations. Next step is to add 225mm of concrete to the walls of the lower section of the building, onto which the Beam and Block floor shall sit... The Beams will only bear on the 2 short outer walls of the rectangular building, along with the 3 sleeper walls.

Fast forward a few weeks, we received our first on-site Nudura training day, during which time this is what we got done...

Next step was to reduce the material inside the footprint. So, that happened and this is what we were left with...

This picture was taken after the concrete pour on the 20th September, a month after my 'mate' had arrived on site full of promise. I definitely 'levelled up' in that time. This photo shows the 600mm level change and also the £300 puddle that I had to break up with the digger a few days later and remove in 4 loads on my little flatbed.

I've covered some of this on here, but wanted to treat you all to my story so far... Rewind to August 20th 2022 (shortened for convenience). One of my friends owns a Groundworks company. He subcontracts to the large developers. He offered to dig our foundations, which after lots of debate with SWMBO we decided to politely decline and go with the security of paying a company for this very important step. Then, at the final hour, matey steps in and tells us how silly we are paying for the work when he is very willing to do it for nothing. How could we refuse? So, on August 20th, he stuck the bucket of a hired 5 tonne Kubota into the ground and away we went. Over the course of the weekend, I watched in awe as he beavered away at our trenches. Digging to hard chalk, without a defined depth, as per BCO instructions. He went away on the Sunday, instructing me to 'grub the trenches out' and get Building Control in ASAP so that concrete could be put in without delay. However, on the Monday, in the cold light of day and under my own steam, I started to become suspicious. The trenches just didn't look right. They all merged into one another from a depth stand-point, but we have 2 internal level changes, 600mm and 400mm, so how were these accounted for? Truth is, they weren't. My trenches were wildly wrong. So, for the next 4 weeks, I had no choice but to master the 5T digger, climbing over trenches and all sorts of shenanigans in order to reach impossible-to-reach trenches in order to correct the depth errors. The worst corner to get to was 500mm too shallow, I had to have one track either side of a trench and the front bar propped up on Heras blocks, with the cab turned 90° digging through hard chalk and flints. But we got there, the relief of seeing the concrete going in was immeasurable. In went 43m2 of concrete. Well, 41m2 and 2 cube onto the floor, but that was a small price to pay. I'll continue the story below...

Indeed appears that way. But we still need to get the Concrete from the Minimix chute into the walls! Furthest point around 15-20m from the closest point the Minimix will get to.

Fingers crossed for you. Our Surface Water plan went straight through as it was once they were in a position to determine it. No mention of neutrality. We have put in an amendment to vary the Treatment Plant condition now that we want to go on the mains, that'll be interesting. Due to be determined early December. If that goes through, we'll be overjoyed as we had put most of the drainage infrastructure in anyway before the whole NN debacle, assuming the variation would be straight-forward!

We're now getting quotes for the Beam & Block, I'm planning to lay it. Off topic, is your Nutrient Neutrality situation now resolved?

The 42m boom pump that did our foundations was £1200. Not sure where you're getting your peanuts from. I could get away with 32m, but to pour 2-3 cube?! Plus I have to obtain permission to place it on third-party land. I have permission to do that for the wall pours, but this would be additional to the agreement and extra faff.

I'm taking onboard all the opinions about the mix quality and time etc and coming around to the idea of readymix etc. This is the biggest truck we've had up here. I don't think you'd get anything bigger up here, there's a bend to tackle and on an incline (the building in the background of the pic is a 16th Century Tudor Barn which sits right up to and on the bend). I don't know how long the truck is, but the soil pipes must have been 6m. He was a good driver, not everyone could have managed it. From this point, there's still another 100m to the plot, but that's the hard bit done.

Here's our Beam & Block design. The blue walls will bear beams at 225mm void height The red walls will bear beams also at 225mm void height, but off a +600mm foundation The purple wall will bear the beams from the 'red' section, but off the lower foundation (needing an 825mm fill), no part of the 'blue' section bears on this The little green section will need to bear the 'blue' section beams at the 225mm void and 3 of the 'red' section beams later on (I guess it'll need to be topped up once the blue section floor is done) The yellow walls will bear beams with a 625mm void All uncoloured walls will not bear any part of the floor structure.

Interesting point. Our building is a bit of a tricky shape, I had planned to pour only the walls onto which beams will bear. It is made a little trickier because I have a 600mm floor-level change between entrance hall and kitchen, part of the entrance hall wall will bear beams at that level, then also beams at the +600mm level, so that part at least will need to be dealt with differently. Our main building is just over 13m long and 5.5m wide. The 13m walls are not bearing any of the floor, so it seems silly to carve up the blocks and pour concrete in these walls. So, with beam and block aside, does the waterproof concrete have to go in as a separate exercise to the main wall pour? I thought it was just the case that the first couple of deliveries would be a waterproof mix, with the rest going in on top later that day.

Having laid the first course of Nudura, I've got to do my 225mm wall pour soon. It's just not worth getting a boom pump in for it, as it would need to be 32m to get into the plot. We could get a Mini-mix up here, but I kinda like the idea of pouring these individual walls at my own pace. What are the practicalities of mixing this with normal cement mixers? I'm not massively rushed, so time isn't really the issue. I'm about to work out the volumes, but I think it might be around 1.5-2.0 cube total.

These are cheaper than the ex VAT price by quite some margin. OK, fair enough. These blocks aren't crumbly, they're brand new, left over from a build by the looks of it.

I'm hoping to infill my overspec'd Beam and Block floor with 7N blocks. I've had a chance to buy a quantity of concrete blocks very cheaply, they are listed as 7N, but no paperwork. There is nothing obvious stamped on them, they weigh just over 15kg each. How can I tell if these are definitely 7N?

I'm doing a Chimney stack removal job with my FIL soon. We're going to remove the stack to just over the first floor ceiling, reline the lower part, then covert to Twin Wall. His roof is definitely a little over 45°, but I think it's less than 50°. What's the best type of flashing to use for this? Also, any recommendations on flue suppliers for Twin Wall and Flexible Liner?

It's not quite that straight-forward. The blocks can technically be laid directly on top of the concrete foundations, the other measures are for convenience/accuracy or whatever. I don't believe the warranty will depend on what was used to align the bottom course of blocks, there is seemingly more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. In the case of Timber, this is, I understand, fixed down in a fashion enabling the blocks to be laid in a nice straight line and allow the building to be levelled and temporarily fixed whilst the concrete is poured, removed afterwards. I like this idea, but wanted to see what others have done.

I've got ICF Supplies coming soon to do our on-site setting out session. Their guys seem to all have a slightly different view on the best way to lay the first course, these seem to be the options... 1. Using Timber fixed to the foundations as a guide 2. Metal Channel fixed down to locate the inner face into 3. Bedded in Mortar 4. Nothing at all How did you do yours? Pics would be an added bonus.

We're doing a Nudura build with what we deemed to be difficult access, but it's not as bad as what you're facing. We've had a few things into the plot such as a Unimog, a 10T Tipper and a 7.5T flatbed. We poured our foundations from land belonging to a third-party, who were very cooperative, but this is immediately adjoining. I'm hoping not to sound negative, but I think you need to think of all elements of the build, not just the wall pour as it's easy to overlook what else you face. We're currently debating how to bring in Beam & Block flooring. We know it can be done, just using several smaller deliveries, but how would you solve that for example? Also, don't overlook fire access. I imagine that must have cropped up in planning/building regs?

Again, it went up on 1st Sep!

No, but keep in mind it was just a surface water condition that was holding us up, we are harvesting the majority of our rainwater so we couldn't have done much more. I expect that a drainage plan might not have the same outcome. My guess is that they're clearing some of the easy ones, thank god. We're so pleased to be able to make some progress and just hope they're able to bring relief to some of you that are in the same situation.

***Update*** Our Surface Water Planning Condition has just been discharged! We're over the moon, now we can crack on. 👍

Trouble is, I'm pretty cynical. I have this view that we're coming out of a pretty weird 3-year period. All I see is problems that were created to distract from other problems and now they're gradually being undone. It feels like a way to get us to accept the newly elected cabinet. Create the problem, then create the solution. This is what has happened with energy prices, Liz Truss' cabinet flew in to 'save us' from the ridiculous £7200 price cap we'd been conditioned to expect, but I haven't seen any justification for the extent of the price rises we are still facing, even after the 'rescue'. It's a convenient way to get everyone to quietly accept what amounts to a tax heist, probably to pay for the huge COVID overspend/debt. Nutrient Neutrality was an ideal way to get ecology in the news and bring the housing/construction industry to its knees. It's just one disaster after another, keeping us all living in difficulty and fear.