Gus Potter

Hi Mike. Hard to tell without some wider context. Some panoramic photos required, also external ones so we can see the ground levels. It may be something as simple as the plasterer has really soaked the wall first and that has "reactivated" the latent salts in the wall?

This is what lots of people say.. until they do need to make a claim. As someone who inspects on behalf of Clients (and reports to warranty providers) who find they need to make a claim against the warranty providers. I can tell you this is a mine field and there are few friends in the desert. The rebuild cost can often be above the build cost as for example you may have to demolish, clear the site first.. which can be costly. I've not seen this advice before as it suggests a limit to the cover, maybe I've read this wrong and there is more to it? The basic shell may only comprise 20% of the build cost at times. I would ask your broker to seek two alternate quotes and provide you with the terms and conditions on when you and cannot make a claim. Read these carefully before making your decision. It's going to take a bit of time.. but I can assure you, based on my day job, it's at the very least going to inform you, it may save your skin later if your circumstances change.

@Square Feet "This is the jump I have taken since my previous blog posts (which have in themselves also been an act of ‘starting the conversation’). " This is progress! I enjoyed our telephone conversation. I have lots of different types of Clients. Some are just starting out and have little experience and you need to adjust to give the best advice that puts them on a sound footing at the start of their journey. Some Clients such as yourself have a wealth of experience and technical knowledge. Here we can skip some steps and more quickly go into technical detail, for example what detailed risk the site may pose all the way up to how you are actually going to build it on site. The conversation can quickly move to a position where can test our ideas against each others knowledge and experience in a free, open and enjoyable manner. That is why conversations take time and are invaluable in all cases. At the end of the day building a house should be fun and rewarding. It should be fun for the Client and for me also as the designer. This is achievable if you plan well, get good advice from folk where you may have weak spots in your experience. If that advice is well presented and informs you then it allows you to make evidenced / risk based decisions. The best news is that the seller has made contact and you have met in person. I’d be gutted if I saw the plot reduced to what I would have paid at some point in the future when I had already committed to a compromise plot I don’t like as much. He was generous enough to not reject it right away but instead to say that he would think about it and talk it over with his partner before getting back to me sometime next week. I can ask no more than that. At this stage there is everything to play for. The key here as you know is to keep the negotiation channel open. You want to buy, the seller sell. I think there is reference to this concept in Adam Smith, 1776: The wealth of nations. Rooting for you!

Good post. First thing is the location, It's windy up our way and often, thus local knowledge prevails. It's so windy that cold roofs if not too big work fine. But if you want to now heavily insulate and make air tight then you have a big problem. What you are missing is that you are trying to apply modern regs to an old structure. It's very hard to achieve, and expensive. Have you considered targeting easier areas to improve the thermal performance?

How does this happen?

I do like your idea of foam glass. I've designed using this and in the right application it's fantastic stuff. How ever.. I'm very sceptical about how folk get different work packages and don't coordinate the design. You have to get your head around this. KORE etc are not here to do complex details for you or take on extra design liability, they are there to sell their product. Here is a thing I would want to understand more about. You show the soil under the existing stone wall at an angle of about 45 degrees. If that is clay then it is going to dry out and shrink like fury. If it's gravel then you will disturb it, it may fail suddenly during the build. Also you are reducing the "confining, call that a confining pressure" load above the level of the foundation by introducing lighter weight material. In other words, the soil around the found is to some extent stopped from squeezing upwards by the soil at the moment. But now you are reducing that load. The best advice I can give you is to take on board the concept but think about how the ground is going to behave, builders being rough and so on. There are far too many idealist thermal details on BH and few that understand the soil and how you build off that. You should discuss this with your SE, even if you have to pay them a bit more.

Indeed. There is a huge learning curve to go though, but if you persevere it's worth it at the end of the day. This is also true! Basements carry higher risk.

What you are doing is on the face of remarkably tricky! Your builder is showing positive signs by asking about this. Yes you need different types of cavity closing and the cavity ventilation details change depending on location for example; above the windows, up the sides and under the cills! It takes a lot of experience to get this these details correct and coordinated with say MBC. Unfortunately I can't read the detail as it seems to be a screen shot. The fundamental "hard thing to do" is to have a ventilated cavity, that get's closed if there is a fire. I and others may be able to help. I might even post some of my drawings that show examples / give you pointers on the key things you need to consider. But first I would want to see what and where you have got to in the detailing stage. Can you post the actual drawings you have rather than screenshots?

You make a good point about the skills you have, I accept that. The regs have become a lot more stringent particularly in relation to portal frames on or near boundaries. Best thing you can do is to give your SE a call and discuss.

Thanks for expanding on my good news story! I hope Rawlins Paints don't mind me singing their praises but attached is their painting instructions, that mentions how much you can thin the paint. They also supply the wet film gauges so you can measure your paint thickness. This is power to your elbow if self building. Yes.. heavy steel sections can be designed where they don't need fire protection. In a fire we are allowed to reduce the imposed (live loading) as the chances of the building being fully loaded up and a fire happening are smaller. Us SE's design on the probability of all load acting at the same time. If we designed for the worst case of everything happening at once then that would be.. not practicable / justifiable on a risk basis. Yes, I also have no doubt many buildings are under-protected. Build hub Rawlins Thermocoat WI, WO & S APPLICATION GUIDANCE (5) - Copy.pdf

I was generalising. I makes no difference as you should know. The condensate seal trap works the same way. It does not matter if it is internal or external to the boiler. The fact is that if water backs up in the rain water pipe it's going to piss out inside the house big time and wet all the electrics for example. . Of course it triggers a cut out of the boiler but where does the over pressure from the rain water pipe go then. If the rain water pipe backs up then the pressure head is at gutter level say that is 2.5 to 3.0m head. In the round the thing stinks. This sounds like a bit of a straw man argument. Are you serious? A Pressure relief valve into a condensate pipe? Can you explain in lay terms?

Hiya. To provide a bit of context, much of my initial SE training and Masters research was on portal frames. I know enough to make a contribution on this type of design. Here is my offer. You can call me on the phone on (mobile number removed, PM for contact details) for a 15 -30 min chat. It's free for BH folks! This forms part of my pro bono work that is good for my soul, my primary qualification is in Civil Engineering, you work for the public. Text me first so I know it's you. I'm pretty deaf so sometimes miss calls. I use my own name and can be easily found on the internet.. I get some interesting calls and offers, these range from "massages" to lots of "financial" offers and other "stuff" that actually breaks up my day, hence me filtering calls. The section sizes you quote might be dependent on your eaves height, wind loading and the types of finishes. That the best I can do for now.

Ok @Nickfromwales and Karen. To expand, my mum is 95. The following happend to my neighbour. The rainwater down pipe got blocked and the water backed up. The water then flooded back up the discharge pipe, over flowed the tundish inside, soaked the electrical fuse box, soaked the floors. Karen. You are right on this. If you need some help then happy to chip in with a draft text to support a complaint as I'm sure @Nickfromwales will also do.

I agree how on earth can this be justified. Now they might say well ok we are following the gas regs we have the right tun dish inside so the over pressure is discharged. Putting my SE hat on I'll say if that pipe freezes you can't have water pouring into the structure. Now the building regs support my statement. It's a disgrace. Between you and I @Nickfromwaleswe could make hay with this compliant! And to do this to a person of this age is appalling. My own view is that there needs to be a bit of punishment element to discourage others. The way you actually win this argument is to use a technique that I deploy against say the NHBC for example. You might have a valid case for saying it's a structural safety issue. Then your case will get elevated up the chain. The structural issue is that if the pipe freezes water will potentially get into the structure and cause structural damage. You might argue that it might stain your flooring..but that is subjective, but as an SE if I argue the safety case they start to maybe wake up and smell the coffee. Karen, be persistent. What is happening here is gate keeping, they deny, delay, defend.

Historic bricks vary a lot in size, but that is the attraction. If the brickwork is essentially non load bearing then your options expand a lot. But BC might ask about their frost resistance. If they are particularly permeable then they may ask for a bespoke DPC type detail. It's horribly frustrating at times as a designer , especially when trying to recycle materials and do the right thing environmentally.