Gone West

I may have misunderstood, but you seem to be saying you should only use a raft if it is required by the ground conditions. I chose an insulated raft because it was the best fit for my design of PH. Whether it was over-engineered for my ground conditions I do not know, as I am not a SE.

We built an Isoquick insulated raft thirteen years ago when we started building our PH. The SE was employed by the company installing the raft and didn't attend site. With my lack of experience I thought the raft was massively over engineered but I knew very little about insulated raft foundations.

We had an insulated raft foundation and the SE only wanted a soil plasticity test from the centre of the slab area. He told me what was required, I dug a hole, put a soil sample in a plastic bag and took it to the laboratory. £50 for the results, it was thirteen years ago though.

For our next gabion wall I've decided to make the baskets myself. I have the crimping tool and clips, I've seen how they're put together, so I'll just buy the appropriate mesh sheets.

When I had my 9m x 3.5m concrete slab laid last year I had it floated with a bull float and it had a good finish.

We didn't use a decoupling membrane and didn't have any cracks in the concrete. We used BAL flexible adhesive and the tiles were 750x450mm. I had a Vitrex wet diamond bridge saw which I also used for the roofing tiles and patio tiles.

We had all our roofing materials loaded onto the second lift by the delivery lorry hiab.

The government gave the BoE independence over monetary policy in 1997 setting a target inflation rate of 2%. This was to stop years of governments using interest rates to suit their needs. I don't think we should return to the old ways.

I finished the build in 2018 and was able to use the local tips (East Kent) before they introduced the charge. I reused and gave away most of the waste so never had to use a skip.

I use both Cornwall and Devon tips, so far no problems.

Councils have been banned from charging for accepting DIY waste at refuse tips. That's great for me. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65977938

My first mortgage interest rate was 8.5% and within a year it had increased to 17%. It's all happened before, we just have to suck it up, what's the alternative? I also remember when mortgage tax relief was stopped and the fuss about that.

It's best to cut galvanised steel sheets with hand tools only. Power tools heat the metal too much for the galvanising. If it is cut with hand tools the galvanising will creep over the cut edge maintaining the protection. The instructions for fitting Lindab guttering have the details.

It was just a bloody worm 😁

We drove past this place the other day. Stuff looks good and the prices are ok. Will do bespoke as well. https://yellowduckpine.co.uk/

Better get eating plenty of tinned spinach then 😁.

We used Lindab steel guttering which was galvanised and then painted. The instructions for cutting it were to only use hand tools, because then the galvanising creeps back over the cut surface. I was a bit sceptical but none of the cut surfaces showed any rust after six years.

I bought a Draper router in 2010, still got it and it works fine when I need it, which isn't that often.

I visited Crossway while it was being built and filmed for Grand Designs in 2008. Richard Hawkes had coloured glass chips and special aggregates added to the surface of the slab when it was laid. The surface was then ground down with different grades resulting in a highly polished attractive looking surface. A friend had their conventional concrete slab ground down and polished, and although no unusual aggregates were used, it looked an attractive interesting finish.

Do you mean power floating, I've yet to see a power floated finish that I would want in my house. I have seen some polished concrete which looked excellent, especially when special aggregates or glass chips have been added.

I guess it's a passive coating, same as on some screws. Yours looks more like a woodscrew than some I've seen. Should be fine.

Looks like its a timber handrail on the top of timber posts.

If I understand you correctly, are the screws suitable to be used without the plastic plugs. I've seen lots of different types of frame fixings and some have had normal type wood screws in the plugs.

Yes is the short answer.

So what refrigerant could be used in a domestic heat pump to produce water at 90C with a CoP of three to four?