PeterW

That would depend on a couple of things - the type of screed and the insulation levels. What you are defining is a 150mm slab - somewhat thicker than a normal slab and with all the insulation below the concrete itself. Normally in this instance you would have a separation layer of either insulation or at least a membrane between slab and screed but 50mm is a bare minimum that you would expect as a liquid screed so some sort of chemical / mechanical bond between layers may be preferable if there is no upper insulation layer. What is the insulation build up ..??

Welcome ..! Innovation in major house building seems to move at a glacial pace .... some of us just like to be bleeding edge ..!! Does that user name indicate a Yorkshire location ...?

Thats actually Egger Protect - I have an account with MKM. Good stuff and really decent service from the local branch too.

Egger Protect glued and nailed to joists and the other boards is what I use. Weatherproof for 9 weeks from memory with 20% rain. If it is glued properly it is structural and makes the whole structure rigid and will turn your first floor into a swimming pool ...

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Safety on sites is inherent and I would never suggest anyone learns anything from a YouTube video or what they read on the web when it comes to using power tools that have the ability to maim or kill. If I went on the Yachting forum and said I’d bought a 35ft sailing boat for £500 and I’d watched a couple of videos on YouTube and I was off to the Azores in it, I’d probably get a similar response to what you have received. Not all the self builders and members here are “ordinary people”, there are a significant number of time served trades who are imparting decades of experience for free... factor that into any cost saving on a build and appreciate the value of the advice that is being given please.

So that’s the difference in a priced day vs just having them turn up - and depends on duration too. I would say say to a joiner that has 12 oak finish doors to hang that I’m expecting 3 per day, so 4 days in total. Get them to agree that’s reasonable and go from there. After 2 days, if only 3 doors are hung it would be a quick conversation or goodnight Irene. The issues do come though with situations where they are following on from other trades and potentially picking up other work that may not have been done right.... and that’s not a good place for anyone to start ..!!

Looking at the glue lines is a good way to check if you will have any issues - if they are swelled up and foamed properly then there won’t be a problem as the glue will have sealed all the edges. A sharp floor scraper will clear them off when they are properly cured. The problem usually occurs when they aren’t sealed on cut edges around openings and similar - brushing on some glue will help.

I would check with him what is needed to finish the garage and then ask him to stop. I would then take the rest of the build “in house” and hire the subcontractors directly, asking for either day rates or a firm price from each to complete. On the scaffolding, approx 2/3rds is on the erection and dismantling and 1/3rd on the hire however if you have it over 8 weeks a number of companies then add a premium by the week. How long has it been up..?? And tiler day rate around you should be £180-240 for a good one.

As in you can’t just add some sort of new fitting ..!! Only thing going on those is a bit of copper, an olive and a nut ...

Use the isolators - they are fine. You can use the old pipes yes, but you need a minimum of 50mm of clean bright copper with no solder snots or bits on it to connect to Hep2O. From that point on you could use copper or Hep2O pipe. I use copper as I’ve been using it for probably 40 years and for visible stuff I still like it. Anything hidden is Hep2O as it’s flexible and easy to run. It has some forgiveness in it too .. No inserts needed in copper - correct. Have you got any fresh copper pipe ..??

You will have to use the isolators as you can’t connect anything onto those threaded ends anyway. New bit of clean pipe - or clean up a stub of what you have so it’s bright copper - and then go from there.

The 5m rule is always difficult on smaller plots so don’t be afraid to go down rather than out assuming you don’t hit the water table first !!

I think the comments here are a bit less clear than they need to be.... To to use a mixer properly, start it empty and stop it empty. It puts less stress on motors, belts, engines and gearboxes and will prolong the life of the mixer. Its also safer as hand starting a drum is a recipe for a broken wrist or worse if you get something caught on the drum or vanes.

Limescale heaven..!! just a short length of copper, olive and nut and then move everything onto Hep2O..

You can do that with 2 elbows btw first is out of wall, facing 30 degrees or so up. Then swing the trap so it’s parallel to cupboard and then turn the outlet to face the wall. Second elbow into the trap socket facing 30 degrees down, join with a pipe.

How many grey elbows have you got ..?

Slack the nuts off, swing it to the left and then use one elbow to come vertical and the next horizontal and it should all push together.

Pull the toggle and wait for the water to rise and float out of the skylight ..??

All grey push fit Pull apart, cut to length and chamfer outside edges. Bit of liquid soap on the seal and push back together. As long as it always goes downhill it doesn’t matter what it looks like.

Nothing needs doing - leave it alone and crack on with the worktops.

Ok the issue is you are assuming you are the last delivery from your merchant. A fully laden HIAB equipped wagon from a merchant can be upward of 27 tonnes so whilst you may only have a pallet with 6 bags of plaster on it, the next person may have 10 bulk bags and 8 pallets of blocks. Assume all merchant deliveries are full load worst case and you won’t get any surprises. The other consideration is that if your attenuation is under the drive, you need heavy vehicle cubes - move it under the grass or lawn and they drop to standard or lightweight cubes as a significant cost saving.

Yep perfectly acceptable. You cannot use a backdrop though on a public sewer.

That site is out of date. Anything below 1600mm invert needs a restrictor ring to 300mm, unless it has inbuilt ladder access which requires a concrete ring of min 1050mm width. 450mm plastic can be used for depths up to 3200mm with the appropriate reducer ring. If you have an existing manhole, do you mean on the main sewer run or on your land ..? Whilst connections to existing manholes may appear easy on paper, if they are old brick built manholes then you may find there is no branches avaialble and you would need to replace the whole manhole. If it is less than 380mm (ST rules here) then you can saddle onto it down to 100mm where you need to use a branch.

What regulator..? Should just be an attenuation tank that holds the water and then allows to soak away slowly. With gravel drives, just be careful if you use MOT1 under the gravel as a sub base as if you compact it hard, it becomes like concrete and doesn’t allow infiltration.