Field_of_Dreams

@Nick Laslett thanks for the extra info. I see with the twin wall ducting you dont appear to have any "string lines" in them to help pull through the relevant cables/pipes. Did you run into any trouble getting the services through them? Im not even sure how you would get the line through them anyway considering the length of the runs...maybe there is a little trick?

The site was marked out by the surveyor and like you, the groundworks were going to disturb them. I added more marker pegs much further out before the ground works started so I should be good...unless I hit one with the digger which is highly likely! 🙂 As the workshop is open plan I have some flexibility as to where the services are located. "In the corner" is good enough...but I hope I dont end up regretting that at a much later date.

@Nick Laslett Thanks for the pictures Nick...it really helps makes thing clearer in my head. I have about 550mm of MOT and a similar amount of insulation so I am about 875mm below DPC...the thought of going even deeper for the services is the bit I am having a hard time getting my head around 🙂 I was told not to run any pipes in the MOT as when it gets compacted, it can potentially cause damage. I guess that only applies to the solid pipes rather than the twin wall ones you show in the pictures? Thanks again for taking the time to post the pictures and all the info...truly appreciated.

Thanks for the info Peter. The building is actually a "workshop" in the garden of the main property but I am trying to future proof it in case I need it to be something else in the future. The electrics will come from the house via an armoured cable. Good to know about the 63mm blue twin wall being a pain. Thanks. Single stack for the toilet etc. Not sure what you mean by "running across full width". The distance from the buildings soil pipe to the IC is no more than 5 meters so I assume I can rod from the IC back to the building if I need to? Forgot to say, I will also be needing a pipe for the Fibre too. Thanks again for the tips and info. Much appreciated.

Hi All, Just starting to dig out the hole in the ground ready for the sub base that will end up supporting my insulated raft and I am hoping someone can help get something clear in my head regarding the services. I will have water/Electrics/waste water entering/exiting near the corner of the raft and those services will be under the sub base (buried in the dirt/ragstone). I think I have it clear in my head but was hoping to get some pictures from others just so I can compare and maybe see anything that may raise some questions before it is too late 🙂 All the pictures I see in my searches are after insulated tub in in place and I was hoping to see it before that and the sub-base went in. So far my plan is to run the soil pipe just below the sub base and into an inspection cover from where it will go the sewage treatment plant. The plan for the electric's is some piping, below the sub base, that I can later pull the mains feed through...not sure what size pipe yet? The plan for the water is also some larger piping, below the sub base, that will allow the water pipe to be pulled through. Am I on the right track? Pictures of previous work similar to mine would be most appreciated so I can know if I am on the right or wrong track. Any help or guidance, truly appreciated. Thanks

@TempThat makes sense. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for all the info and the link to document R. This makes me think it will be worth doing the trench and installing the ducting between the two poles that will remain. Maybe a silly question, but does the ducting usually get exposed at each end or is it left underground and if it does get exposed, is there a specific way you avoid water getting in? Hopefully they will make use of it when the fibre goes in. Failing that it will be a DIY job 🙂

Hoping someone can offer some advice regarding BT cable (fibre and copper) going underground. I am about to get some electricity poles removed from my garden and we are going to run the cables underground. I have been onto UK power networks and they have been very helpful and we have agreed a solution and what section I will dig and what section they will dig to keep it FOC as they have no wayleave. Some of the poles carry a BT copper line that I also want removed and we are soon to get a fibre line installed as part of a village scheme. I have spoken to open reach asking them for details about what depth trench and the type of conduit that needs to be in the trench for a fibre line and all they are willing to do is send out a surveyor at a cost of £350. The surveyor will then tell me how much it will all cost to re route it all. They don’t seem to understand or care that they are about to roll out fibre and I can do all the trench work myself as they just want to keep charging me. I am hoping someone on here knows the specs for this type of work so I can do it myself and when the new fibre comes along I can ask them to run it in the conduit and hope they are willing to. Worst case is I will just let them install it and re route it myself when they have left 🙂 I will ask an open reach engineer next time I see one but thought some pre advice might be beneficial. Many thanks

I think they are quite new to the world. I will ask them about this when I contact them.

Anyone come across this product before? https://gablok.be/en/ Thought it looked interesting and wondered if anyone had any experience of using it. It might be an option for my buildings so will investigate further. I will get a quote too.

@DevilDamo Full planning permission originally.

FYI...Case officer has come back and said "minor material (Section 73) application" would be needed. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/faqs/faq/65/where_can_i_find_the_material_amendments_form Will investigate further.

@Mr Punter Not getting any NHBC on this build. I was looking at their docs just to see about standards and hoping to further my knowledge.

just checked and they got removed 12 months ago.

@PeterW Ground is medium clay. Still waiting on a GI report. Trees got cut between 6-18 months ago...I did it at various stages.

I have been reading the NHBC standards, in particular the bit about foundations and trees and it mentions about the calculations needed when there are trees nearby but also trees that are going to get removed. I can't actually tell what they mean by "trees to be removed" and was hoping someone may be able to offer more insight. I have several stumps that will be dug out and whilst that means some roots may still exist in the ground, the bulk of them will be pulled along with the stump. Does this count as a "tree removed" or should it be dealt with as though it never existed? I realise that leaving a stump or grinding one still means all the roots are still there and as such gets factored in but the guide does not clearly state, from what I can see, about trees/stumps that get removed completely. The trees that got removed were within 2M of the foundation and were fully mature sycamores (medium thirst). I am hoping to get an insulated raft. The more I look at foundations, the more questions I have ?

Are you looking to have the table made of one single piece that is 3.6M long? If so, how wide? As mentioned by someone else, you might be better off with a router sled as that is the only thing that will do very wide planks. Take a look here and you will see he has several videos about big tables and also a couple or varieties of router sleds. He also has other videos that will help in regards drying, epoxy etc https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxxvtQQz4C4DO9KnqC0tZMg/videos If this is going to be a one off build then you might be better off getting someone to collect the log and do it for you as the cost of the kit involved will soon mount up.

The Triton is just a thicknesser and not a planer. Normally you would plane two sides to get flat edges and then thickness the other two sides. Your alaskan mill will not give a smooth enough finish to jump straight to a thicknesser. Having said that, it all depends on the finish you want. If you are going for a "rustic look" then it may work for you. As mentioned before, you need to seal the ends as soon as you cut it. You can also use paraffin and wax to seal it. I recently cut a big sycamore and left it a bit too long before I sealed it and the cracks started to appear very quickly. I won't know if I got away with it until I come to slab it...but I guess you are slabbing it straight away so that will also help.

Good to know. Thanks @Dreadnaught

Thanks for taking the time to explain @Temp, @DevilDamo, @Carrerahill. Now I know my options, things are much clearer to me. I will have a chat with the case officer and see what can be done.

Hi All, I am thinking about a change to one of the buildings I have been granted planning permission for and just wanted to know the best way forward in terms of the planners. The build has not been started yet. See attached drawing of current design. I was thinking about taking the first floor (side elevation top left) south wall (all of it including the windows) back 2 meters. This would then give me an undercover outdoor area. Everything else, roof, walls, ground floor, overall size etc would remain as it is now on the plans and has approval for. There would also be a need for a slight change to the roof windows in that they would either be reduced in number or moved slightly. Does this usually mean a change to the application or can it be dealt with in a more simple manor? I am hoping that it can be simple as I am not changing the external size or footprint but maybe I am placing too much hope in our planning system ? Thanks

Thanks @Dreadnaught It was points, 1/3/4/5/6 that are applicable to my plot. I am looking at my groundworks at present and it seems to be heading towards piles but I don't have a GI report yet. I seem to change my mind every other day at present! Some say that it is not needed and just put the money towards the piles but I have also started to look at vibro stone columns and from what I understand, they need a GI report. I am hoping to get some time to talk to one or two suppliers today so hopefully that will help. I am also waiting on several quotes to come back in to hopefully make things a bit clearer too. I also have an archeological watch on my plot so need to be very efficient on site to reduce those costs. As always...more questions than answers at this stage ?

@Dreadnaught Thanks for the blog post. I am very interested to hear what answers you got back from your tree guy as I have many similar questions running round in my head regarding my own upcoming build. Hopefully it will will help clear the fog a little ? Thanks.

Thanks. Good to know I don't need anything fancy.

Hi all, Just looking at some building regs and it mentions the need for an oil tank that is within a certain distance from a building or boundary needs to have a "Fire Wall" between the tank and the boundary/building. It needs to have at least 30 minutes resistance. So... is this a special block or do they all tend to last that long or longer? I am not fussed what it looks like as I will eventually grow some plants up it ? Any insight appreciated. Thanks