PeterW

They will prosecute under the Forestry Act 1967 for failure to obtain a felling license. Smiled when I read that article as I know the guy who bought the house and who’s commenting..!

Agree entirely. I did one recently where there were brick dormers and dormer cheeks shown on the architects plans, but nothing by way of showing how these could be constructed as this was room in roof and space was at a premium. Changing the dormers to timber framed and lead clad meant they could be built up off doubled up 8x2 rafters, fully insulated with 120mm of PIR in/over the framing. As drawn, they couldn’t be built in brick and block without some serious engineering challenges and compromises to floor space.

I’d fill the whole of the base less 10mm with sharp 20mm gravel, it will drain but won’t provide a “home” for anything. Then use 50mm jablite on battens and it will keep it “warm enough”. Other option would be to get some big bags of vermiculite and mix it 10:1 with OPC and a little water and pack it between the joists. It will have a fair insulation value if you don’t pack it too much, but will probably be better than having an air gap.

Highly unlikely given the expansion of screed per mm/C change and you’re talking about a crack or slot that is 1-2mm at most and is then filled. At approx 10 millionths mm/degree, a 10m slab will expand less than 2mm for 20c rise which tbh would be absorbed at the edges if at all.

Goalpost or a pair of new uprights would be fine there - I bet that hardly moves when you take it out. Just check there is no welded joint under the existing stanchion.

Yep - Egger Protect And Egger D4 glue would be my preference too.

OK... benefit of hindsight and also practicality (and you getting a "better floor") I would ask them to lay 22mm Caberdeck at right angles to your current floor, fully glued with D4 glue and screwed to the joists below. 22mm is nothing to lose off doors etc and the staircase should be rectified at their cost anyway. Its a quick and simple fix, should take no more than 2-3 days to do and will give you a seriously strong first floor with zero deflection !

@jimboban overlay will work but not as a direct heat source unless you want to spend a lot on heating ..! If you got another 25mm insulation under the floor then you may be making a tiny dint in the issue ... problem is that stone floors like solid surfaces so you need to add something like Fermacell floor over the top so you’re looking at losing 60-70mm overall. Are you set on a stone surface ..?

Are you sure it’s 0.1l/s as that seems low..? Hampshire has a 0.072l/s/m2 rain rate at T500, and 0.018 for the T1 range which is just less than 1l/s for normal peak rainfall. This would mean you need an attenuation tank of about 2000 litres before the hydro brake. That doesn’t seem right ..?

@Sjk I’ve been looking at this and I’m missing a bit of information ..! What limit have the sewerage company put on your outlet, and what’s the total roof area ..?

It is much more dangerous ..! Hence why I think they should be licensed .....

You mean one of these ..?? Makita Top Handle So ... it’s not a “1 hander” at all, it’s a top handle short bar for aerial work. It puts your right hand on top of the machine so the pivot point is further forward and you can use the machine in tighter spaces when you’re climbing or working off MEWPs . Your left hand goes on the other side ... see the black lever on the far side with 3 rectangular holes in it ..? That’s the chain brake. Slam it forward, chain stops instantly. It’s there so when you get kick back or climb out of the saw and it swings back toward your head, the chain stops before it cuts your visor in two, or worse. If he uses it “1-handed” then I hope he has good life insurance ...

Good. I am a serious proponent of a licensing system for chainsaws as they are deadly. Stihl used to have a forensics lab where saws involved in accidents were sent to have the bits of people and PPE removed from them. I’m trained, have all the PPE and never start a saw unless I have the kit on. I never ever lend my saws to anyone, as I don’t know what they’ve done with them. Even twisting a chain to release it from a jam can damage it and if it breaks then I hope you can run at 12m/s as that’s what the chain is doing ... The electric ones are ok but have a real false sense of security to them - they can still do serious damage, and working in trees and off ladders with no PPE is a recipe for disaster.

Welcome ! Sounds like you’ve got a lot of info - blog is very good too !

@Eileen looks beautiful. Is that hoggin that’s been used for the paths..??

If you’re replacing the tank with a treatment system then I’d get rid of all the clay pipes, interceptors etc and start again. Go from a new manhole at the back of the house to the treatment plant in one straight run in uPVC and then trash the rest into the septic to fill it in. Clay pipes move too much and that’s a lot of your problems. You may find you’re getting blockages as the joints are weeping and the solids are being left behind.

@Sjk do you have that picture minus it’s lines ..? Just put dots on where the soil stacks are And have they specified an attenuation tank or hydrobrake..?

Are they the posts on the plumbers forum from 2009...?? mice will eat cable and thin stuff first as it’s soft. TBH I would be more worried about how a rodent had got into a ceiling space than worrying what it’s eating .. you’re brick and block so all joist ends will be sealed to the cavity, soil stacks are through concrete floors, and even if you dot and dab the walls you’ll have no runs for them to get into the spaces. If you’re that worried run everything in 20mm conduit or use conduit pipe. That’s rubbish. Copper tee is 75p, if I’m quick I can probably prep and fit a tee in less than 10 mins from straight runs of copper and end feeding. At £25/hr it means to fit a copper tee is probably £4.75 in total. Same in Hep2O is £2.60 and takes 2-3 mins most to make off so £3.60 or so. That’s 30> cheaper. Then factor in pipe at twice the price per metre; not being able to thread through joists etc, not having to form elbows to run from ceilings to walls; not having to joint every 3 metres ..? The list goes on. I can probably teach a reasonably novice DIYer to use Hep2O in an afternoon to the point that I would be happy leaving them to do a lot of it. To learn to do copper properly takes weeks - get it wrong and it can mean an hours work to undo everything to get to a joint. Sadly your ex plumber is the sort that probably still sells sanitary putty and suggests it’s better than McAlpine pan connectors .... just because that’s how he’s always done it .. NAPHE used to be full of them ..! Don’t get me wrong, copper has its place and I still love using it but I’ve been using it for probably near 40 years. I also still know how to lead weld and do formed sockets in lead and copper pipe joins - but there are much better modern alternatives ..! If you really want the copper on show but don’t want to learn to solder or don’t want to set fire to a kitchen cabinet then use the Tectite Sprint fittings. Look neat, work the same as Hep2O but they are not demountable so it’s measure 5 times and cut once ..! I’ve done a 3 bed recently with 22mm main feeds, 15mm to bathroom en-suite downstairs WC kitchen and utility and I reckon the total cost of Hep2O pipe and fittings is about £180. I’ve then spent around £160 on copper just to do the plant room ..! Plant room took a couple of days to do, rest of the house the same .. work that out ..!

There isn’t one. Rodents don’t eat plastic pipe, not when in a house there are more nutritious and easily obtained food stuffs. I certainly haven’t seen any Hep2O rodent damage. Could it be that copper is over twice the price, 10 times the complexity and he happens to sell it perhaps .......?

Go to your pictures on your phone scroll down and you’ll see a folder marked recently deleted ... should still be in there

Go to your pictures on your phone scroll down and you’ll see a folder marked recently deleted ... should still be in there

I wonder sometimes if GD pays for the trips so viewers get to see a bit more excitement than a 1960s International tractor with a flat tyre mixing hemcrete...

Flat bits are fine. Drill as deep as you can go.

Take the lid off and watch where the water is coming from into the pan. If it’s over the top of the overflow weir, the float is set too high. If its around the bottom of the flush, the flush unit may not be fitted correctly. Any chance of a photo..??

Sorry ..! Read it as foil backed plasterboard .... Toolstation foil tape is very good.