crispy_wafer

Yep you’re right, cover now back on had to take it off otherwise the lifting strap fouled on it.

Today, I will cut a channel through the field to lay 70m of 32mm mdpe in ducting. Made the decision that we'll fill the channel and surround the ducting with 2-3ft of 2" clean stone to act as a drain, we've done this at the back of the house and round the other side of the riding school and it works well to drain the surface water. You can see on the photos that we are blue/grey clay under the top 3ft or so of sandy/gravel and is really slow draining after prolonged wetness!

Deep enough I think! Ready for lifting at this point I'm thinking Hole too big! Plenty of Room for concrete, concrete for the base is coming Tuesday, about 2m3 I calculated, base will be about 300mm thick as I miscalculated the dig depth a little 🤔.

Hobbit checking out the hole Getting there That'll do for the day Shape is OK, just needs about 150mm off the bottom tomorrow, then I reckon we should be good for a trial fitting, not perfect, but acceptable I think considering I can only operate the machine from one side of the hole. Pleasantly surprised by the lack of ground water. Managed to rescue an amazing array of bottles, bricks, bits of car and other rubbish at various depths of the dig.

Next task, Remove rose bush and some flowering weed from treatment plant's new home A few canes to mark out the excavation... Fired up the quattro!! Mrs B on the machine fettling the throttle as it likes to cough/splutter and stall on occasion, so Mrs' B's task for the day - Keep the machine idling till I need to empty it!

My tool for the week. First job, remove the IC from in the grass (for when we were going to hook into the septic tank) Didn't take any more pics until finished! But I had a bit of socket pipe and a slip coupling from all the UG drainage bits I had left over. Knew they'd come in handy one day!! I'll be honest, I didn't bother with any pea gravel, It's going to have a limited life, septic tank will be decomm'd when we finally move in, and none of this run has any pea gravel, so not wasting any on this short bit of repair. Job jobbed!

D day has arrived. Operation dig the hole will commence at some point today, it's only been sat waiting for 2 months! Must be losing my grip! Was chatting to an acquaintance this week, he used to labour and what not on sites round this district, suggested I put some ground anchors into the concrete base, let the concrete go off, then strap the tank down as that's what they did on the sites. Instructions don't say to do this... Wonder if this is one of those installer tricks that is never written down! Thinking of surrounding it in kerb mix, would that be the right stuff to order? How much concrete can I put over the barrel up the riser? I've got about 7-800mm to play with before ground level.

just had a look at these, what a great idea! Thanks for posting, its the sort of thing us mere mortals don't know existed till now, just like C stud infill timbers for doorframes. A question to the boarding gurus, you see things like waferhead screws on metal frame, and possibly the metal tabs on these brackets are likely to sit proud of the frame a little bit, is this likely to be a problem for plasterboarding, and finishing or not really, and this can be tolerated?

@joe90 did you treat your brick Window cills? I've done similar (angled brick cills) and notice a bit of discolouring on the north side - slight dampness for longer than the other elevations and lack of direct sunlight I guess. I wonder if a little bit of masonry sealant might help.

I think you’ll get a positive verdict if you Increase the cavity width to 200mm and fill with cavity bats, or blown beads, easier to install for your builder and probably cheaper too. Beaten to it…

So within the thermal envelope of the building? If so, then getting it up there, removal if and when, and Structural elements aside I don't see why you couldn't.

If you think they are in breach of a contract over what was promised, vs what was supplied, then best speaking with a solicitor, especially if they are now altering the planning to suit what they supplied.

A picture worth its weight, any edge support at the wall required @nod

Consider a typical new build dormer, room in roof arrangement, insulation under the trusses. What's the best/easiest way to batten out for, and what's easier to fix to for when I plasterboard? For any services I've already created a couple of channels in the insulation. Tis my job for the weekend possibly, maybe... So to save any more procrastination and time wasted Trusses vary between 600 and 400 centres. Should I batten along the trusses, or perpendicular to the trusses? I'm not planning on installing any lights in the slopes. And is 100*25 ok to use as battening (I've got a pile on site)? Planning on 12.5 mm plasterboard, so if I go across, then 400 centres? and edge support where it meets the wall, or opening?

How far down the planning route are you? If you havent submitted yet, then in all honesty get the land cleared as @joe90 says, you aren't doing anything other than cutting the grass and tidying up! if you make a noise and upset the Wildlife and it goes on a temporary holiday, it'll come back, don't worry about that! What you don't want is wildlife getting in your way, costing you money and delaying you and your journey! That money will be better spent later on, on the things you want rather than paying for some buggers pcp payment on their new land rover. It's all good doing the right things, but in all honesty when you are building every sod and their pal wants their palms crossing with silver just for ticking a box. There's definitely a reason @ToughButterCup 's farmers act like they do.

if anything like my laurel (cherry) then the buggers are difficult to kill, and grow at a rapid rate... I take the tops of to the height I want - get through any thicker branches. New thinner branches will be easier next year, then it's a quick twice a year trim. I need a scaff tower to trim them now. Must be about 12-14ft i think. The neighbourhood bird population love them for nesting in! excuse the rubbish but there's some of mine looking out of my kitchen window trimmed about 6 weeks ago!

got 2 laser levels, a dewalt red, and a green huepar jobby, they are good I admit, but hurt my eyes a bit. I normally set the laser about 50 mm parallel with the wall and then run my tape off the studs to check. I popped down to toolstation and grabbed a stabila 1.8m, the lines are tighter to the bubble than the cheapie minotaur one I have which give me a bit more visual feedback and confidence in what I'm seeing. Don't know why, but I've been panicking about my stud walls and door openings and whether they were alright and good for accepting door linings and boards, all in all they were ok, give or take a few mm on the worst offender, I checked them when I built them, but my experience with timber is that unless it's anchored and braced it'll twist,bow and make what looked reasonably decent, look cack overnight.

Yes, that’s true but I need as much help as I can get! Less than perfect light upstairs in the evening.

Approx 1.8 - 2m long. with a nice tight bubble. I have a long cheap red one from toolstation, but the tolerance in the bubble (in that the gap between the lines and bubble) is quite large, I could do with something a little better so I can double check my studs and openings for plumb.

When I was planning my cassette stove an installer quoted Kemwell board to surround the stove. I haven't done any further research on it so I don't know what can or cant be done with it, but may be a starter for 10...

@richo106 not sure of your location, but if you are anywhere near Lincoln, I've got one of these and a couple of rubber seals I could donate. (Over ordered as per) Connector for 75mm Blaufast MVHR Semi Rigid Radial Ducting System for Heat Recovery Ventilation (blauberg.co.uk)

Yep, all in hand.

Nope, electric only. I'm with Octopus, so for now the plan will be for any generation will feed back until such time that I commission the MVHR, Poo tank and other always on kit.

your replies are very much appreciated, thankyou.

Hi, Had 3.6kW solar installed when the roof went onto the build about 2 years ago, solar has been inactive since as no electrics in the property to connect to. Original plan was to have an EDDI or similar... Recent contact with the company who installed the panels and will complete the install have suggested that since the original contract prices have increased and they want some more money. No problem, that's fair I suppose. It's going to be a little while before HW cylinder is in place, and I'm thinking that once first fix electrics are in, get them in, the can connect up the solar and it can start exporting as it will have no load on it for a little while, and I can forget the Eddi for now. This helps with my short term cashflow and it brings my contract price down and gets them in/out and that's the end of my contract with them. *extra bonus* Is an EDDI(or similar, please advise) installation a task a qualified electrician can undertake? I'd hazard a guess, me buying the device and him installing at a later date is going to be cheaper than this company.