PeterW

Round here it’s even more fun as the council tree officer is on sick leave so basically you submit and they do nothing ....!! I know of a couple of planning applications that went to 18 weeks and non-determined as they needed the tree surveys reviewed. They have also exacerbated it with 2 new conservation areas in the district so that is more approvals needed and no-one to do them.... On DD&D (dead, dying or dangerous) then the guidance is vague. In the 2012 amendments to the tree protection legislation, the rules around what is “dying” were altered. It became permissible to remove a dead branch without consent, but the notice for other work was increased to 5 days. On top of this, councils lost their Article 5 protection which meant if they delayed a decision and a tree caused damage then you could claim compensation. This was restricted previously and was designed to speed up decision making to put liability back with the tree owner ... Take photos and preferably keep some sections of any dead or diseased timber. The term “professional” is also a challenging one as arborist and Arboricultural contractor are used in the legislation, but you could equally ask a horticulturalist or a plant scientist if a tree was dead..... who’s the expert or professional now..??

Flat box strapping works well as a draw wire and can be quite easy to pull and push through. Duct taping the cable to it in a few places tends to make it easier.

They are much lighter - what’s the span ..? I think MBC use metal web for their rafters to get the depth - @JSHarris or @TerryE could confirm. With anything over a 6m span you are probably going to end up with something that needs the joists to be closer together than 600mm anyway due to the load on the spans. This will play havoc with roof windows as you can’t get a fire egress roof window in a 400mm gap...

If you don’t have trickle vents then it’s purely about item 2, with item 1 as an added benefit

It may actually be a building regs requirement. If you don’t have external vented fans for bathrooms, and if windows don’t have trickle vents fitted, then it has to have MVHR. That would be my starting point.

@JamesJJJ is it worth looking at the current pull again if it’s been opened up as the resistance in the system should be less.

Sounds like an ordinary old oil boiler - the old floor standing utility models used to give a faint aroma most of the time as they draw air from inside the room for the burner.

You can buy 125-100 adapters in Screwfix and Toolstation - not expensive.

You don’t ... that’s a shower light extractor..!! Could make a restrictor ring somehow with some thin plastic ..??

I’ve used these on a commercial build and they are good but in heavy rain they will splash a lot and can throw water and leaves quite a distance. They also only fit 110mm downpipes

Not sure that is correct as 50mm doesn't give me 0.286 (using a uValue of 0.022) at 50mm so not quite sure where that is from..? I would go with a 10mm gap with a 90mm stud spaced off the wall using steel studs and nuts, and then 70mm between the studs with 25mm over. A single skin of fireline 15mm plasterboard with skim will be adequate and heavy enough to stop any sound. Minimizing the cold junction at ceiling level will be your issue - what is the design detail for this..?

Welcome What is the cost driver to use earth sheltered and static caravans..? Earth sheltered will need planning, and will need some serious structural engineering along with a hefty steel and concrete structure - you are basically building a hangar to slot the vans into. You are probably looking at 50-60 cubic metres of concrete for a structure that size - plus steel reinforcement. Ordinary static caravans are not made to be joined - the shape isn't supportive of it, and the structure is designed to a minimal standard with 50-70mm of rockwool in the walls and roof, and sometimes only 30mm of EPS in the floor. Just to make it comfortable, you will need to at least triple that, and how you would do that with the roof internally would be a real issue unless it was external so you need some way of protecting it. Earth can't do that without membranes and a solid structure so you are back to square one. Probably worth outlining what you are trying to achieve and why, as its not clear from what you've proposed and there may be much better ways.

So for either a 2:1 or 1:1 gang you normally pay a price per thousand laid for bricks, or per block laid. 55-60 bricks or 10 blocks to the square metre means you can easily calculate this out to days.

AD plants are very fickle beasts, and need to be fed very regularly to constantly maintain production. There are a couple of big ones near me and talking to one of the farmers it is controlled very tightly and each load of waste or feed into it is analysed and the temperature and water content varied accordingly. Not sure how this small scale stuff would cope with a weeks holiday or a family christmas...

It is all in SPONs. There you will find cost and effort calculations for everything you need. Sample_Costbook.xls This one is based on SPONs - it has some fun calcs in it and isn’t far off being accurate.

Have a pair there and ask - they aren’t expensive and a cuppa and a £20 may help ...

Use a hopper with integral leaf filter https://www.screwfix.com/p/floplast-d94-debris-gully/

Actually @JSHarris it was to the Housebuilders Bible - as a basic reference document it gives you a good breakdown of the big chunks of a build. I wouldn’t rely on it for costing as I think they are not accurate, and is based on a sample of 1 build in reality. SPONs is very good for detailed cost management but you need to know your way around it. Paying £150 or so to an online estimator will give you the same output but shaped to fit your build and then you can work from there to customise rates and costs further.

That to me means a standard strip footing at 700mm wide and 650mm to top of block so probably 900mm deep max. No mention of ground floor slab though.

Build what ..?? House..? Bungalow ..? Traditional ..? Modern ..? Timber Frame..? Brick and Block..? If you’ve not already got a copy, buy one of these and have a read - it’s a good reference and starting point and then head here for the detail and the gotchas...

ST either want you to replace the whole lot in UPVC (it’s probably clay) or pay for a CCTV inspection before and after. TBH it’s cheaper to rip the lot up and replace it - get the runs ready, don’t forget a couple of slip couplings and basically you can bung the neighbours drain for an hour and replace the lot in one go.

That should be dropping into a properly haunched rest bend that is encased in concrete so it can’t move.

Used to be listed as an internal clay and iron adapter (hence the finned seal), not seen one listed as a plastic adapter before so looks like it could work. I don’t like anything with steps or edges in them but assume it works fine.

BRE365 is self explanatory and if you read it, you could probably do it yourself. There is a very helpful copy online here and you can see the process needed. But it be very careful getting any equipment on site if you have a CIL Liability as it may be seen as some (money grabbing) councils as a quick way to get your CIL money.

That is a clay adapter and not an offset ..! It’s got a ridge in it that will collect crap.... @epsilonGreedy the correct gap is 35-40mm so you can get a branch with a boss in there, and you should also have a bracket or two to stop it vibrating when there is a flush dropping down it.