Gus Potter

Ok to finish. Cracking part of the world. Keep posting about your bale house as very interested. Would love to have sight of your warrant drawings to see how you are dealing with the loadings, movement etc. wishful thinking... Fundamentally though if you keep the straw dry, well ventilated and the perimeter drainage around the house clear it should last a lifetime or more. If you go and plant loads of trees close to the house then it won't last so long. Are you local to the area and know the climate well? Lastly.. depending on where you are there may be a bit of salt from the sea in the air.. make sure you specify the right fixings. I have family that live on the islands and it can play havoc with fixings etc if you use the wrong ones.

Now that is a cracking word "monocoque"! In summary though monocoque is a bit of a genreric term. In the early days it was used to decribe a modern method of construction where basically the ceilings were laid down with shear studs "thingies" on top and later a top layer added to make a permenant load bearing structure. Now we think of SIPS in a different way.. but they tend to need reinforced internally to carry vertical structural loads. This is where problems can arise as if you don't get the loads from above lining up with the reinforced bits in the SIPS you are in trouble.

Simplistically a bending moment is a turning (rotational) force. If you want to take the wheel nut off your car you get the spanner out and apply a force to the end. Say 25kg (you are partly in a bad mood). 25kg = about 0.25 kN kilo Newtons ( a bag of cement weight wise) which is the units that Engineers use unless in the US say where they have pounds lb. Ok, say your spanner is a short one.. 0.25m long. The turning force on the nut is 0.25 (kN) * 0.25m = 0.0625 kNm. This turning force is called a bending moment when we look at say a beam.. torsion when we are trying to take a wheel nut off. Now if you double the length of your spanner to say 0.5m now you have a turning force of 0.25(kN) * 0.5m = 0.125 kNm or you only need to apply 12.5kg to the end of the spanner to get the same effect cf the shorter spanner. If we have a beam over say a set of bifold doors the beam is much longer than a spanner and the loads are much larger. The maginitudes of the rotational force (moment) increase a lot. We can calculate the moment at a point along the length of a beam and then convert that into the stress that the beam material is experiencing and check to see if the beam is ok. For comparison a 254 x 102mm Universal steel beam that is fully restrained to prevent it twisting might be able to resist 70.0 kNm or so bending (moment) force.

Ok, for another day. Catch you another time. Keep up the good work, I enjoy / learn from your input. Off to have something to eat as starving!

I feel more comfortable detailing (if a non composite lintel) as per the picture as it simplifies the window head weather proofing and less risk that some daft window installer will put a screw though it. Yes, check the obvious first as Nod says.

Interesting point and a good spot! This is the way I would detail this as the concrete lintel looks like a non composite prestressed lintel and essentially impervious. On the other hand if it was a composite lintel that relies on courses of masonry bonded to the top of the lintel for strength then the above detail is definitely not correct as the tray at this level creates a slip plane.

Lots to learn indeed, every day is a school day for me too! These jobs require careful thought, not just the engineering challenges. When you come to sell is a potential issue. Who want's to buy a house, part of which could be potentially demolished at the owners cost for the water board to access the drains? You may get build over permission as discussed above but it comes with a caveat as you can see from other posters. If something goes wrong with the sewer then you will suffer disruption and possible high costs! One way to mitigate this is to look into taking out an indemnity policy to cover yourself now. It would be worthwhile researching the cost of such a policy. They tend to be a one off payment and the policy gets tacked onto your deed paperwork.

Point accepted. And there your problems really start! Agree. In Scotland they can ask for photographic evidence , if they are not satisfied then they can ask you to open up the works. The onus is on you to comply with the all the buildings regulations even something is missing from the approved drawings / specification. Go back and check the wording of your warrant approval. Try your best to get along with BC and look forward to enjoying Island life.

I got timed on the editing so have reposted in full. My passport says I'm a citizen of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." I do not support Scottish , Welsh or English nationalism in any way. We live on a small island and face many global threats to our way of life. We have a massive immigration problem, some legal, some not. It is putting tremendous strain on us., some is stressing out our health care system financialy.. but there is a big threat from radical "Islam". It is the big elephant in the room. In Scotland we have this new hate crime bill. I have to be very careful about what I say as I could face 7 years in jail for posting this. What you folk don't really know is that if you say something that can be read on the internet in Scotland then you are fall under Scottish law as you are deemed to have published this in Scotland. You could be hauled up to Scotland in our courts. Also if I report you for a hate Crime even anonomously it will go on your record , thus if you are say a teacher in England and they do a full record check then this will flag up that you have been recorded for a hate crime. Do you know about this? Now most of us up in Scotland are absolutely against this law. Also in Scotland the next thing they want to do is to abolish jury trials for rape cases as not enough blokes are gettting convicted. But Imagine if this was your teenage lad that got a bit pissed, the girl is pissed.. now it is down to a single Judge to determine rather than 15 adults. To make matters worse the Scottish Gov have now taken control of our legal system. @saveasteadingI wonder if this is cultural matter that has to be worked around pragmatically. Yes it is. It's basically a contrast between say living in London and contracting where every one is shafting each other and a bunch of adults being fair to each other in Wales or up Durham/ Yorkshire way. If you want to go culture then a Yorkshire man is one of the hardest folk to deal with. I know as have just had a Yorkshire man as a Client, six foot two, retired Quantity Surveyor.. we are still friends. Most folk in Scotland don't get hung up on folk moving about the UK. Some get touchy.. say I trucked down to Cormwall and started shoving haggis down your thoats? Now for you folks that do think that you want to have a bash at English nationalism.. Up in jockland we have 1/3 of the UK land mass. Also we the sea bed and fishing rights that extend 200 miles from the Scottish coast, the defense envelope that comes with that and a bit of oil, yes we may cut out the gas but you'll still need to oil the hinges on your doors? Yes I know when you look at the BBC weather forecast Scotland seems small.. but that is the BBC for you. We also have the land that defends the high north arctic circle, the big submarine base with deep water access. For the English nationalist.. do you really want to give away 1/3 of your country just to get rid of the jocks? Oh and then you'll give away Northen Ireland.. yah dafties! @saveasteading'Can you come and inspect the drainage trenches'? Yes of course: 2 weeks on Tuesday at 11.30 and don't fill them in. No.. It won't work up in the islands.. it needs much more give and take.. also our ferries don't run if they turn up at all. The Scot gov have just spent £400 million on two ferries that are stilll being commissioned, we could have ones that work for £20.0 million.. so we could have had 40 working ferries by now. Bc are still ok but seriously underfunded. All of my posts about this is trying to encourage @JWHIT not to try and apply mainland rules to an Island situation. It won't work. rather get with Island life and enjoy.

My passport says I'm a citizen of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." I do not support Scottish , Welsh or English nationalism in any way. We live on a small island and face many global threats to our way of life. We have a massive immigration problem, some legal, some not. It is putting tremendous strain on us., some is stressing out our health care system financialy.. but there is a big threat from radical "Islam". It is the big elephant in the room. In Scotland we have this new hate crime bill. I have to be very careful about what I say as I could face 7 years in jail for posting this. What you folk don't really know is that if you say something that can be read on the internet in Scotland then you are fall under Scottish law as you are deemed to have published this in Scotland. You could be hauled up to Scotland in our courts. Also if I report you for a hate Crime even anonomously it will go on your record , thus if you are say a teacher in England and they do a full record check then this will flag up that you have been recorded for a hate crime. Do you know about this? Now most of us up in Scotland are absolutely against this law. Also in Scotland the next thing they want to do is to abolish jury trials for rape cases as not enough blokes are gettting convicted. But Imagine if this was your teenage lad that got a bit pissed, the girl is pissed.. now it is down to a single Judge to determine rather than 15 adults. To make matters worse the Scottish Gov have now taken control of our legal system. @saveasteadingI wonder if this is cultural matter that has to be worked around pragmatically. Yes it is. It's basically a contrast between say living in London and contracting where every one is shafting each other and a bunch of adults being fair to each other in Wales or up Durham/ Yorkshire way. If you want to go culture then a Yorkshire man is one of the hardest folk to deal with. I know as have just had a Yorkshire man as a Client, six foot two, retired Quantity Surveyor.. we are still friends!

@Conor has done a lot of good work, detemined fellow. Honestly, I don't as you don't use your own name but thanks for the kind words. I love helping folk as my job is also my hobby. I do have a wife who loves me though! I think you need to post some decent sketches with dimensions. I was floating some ideas but until you put some flesh on the bones there much more I can say. To be blunt I love a challenge. I'm on BH as I learn a lot.. from loads of folk on BH, it is a two way street. Look you need to get to the bottom of the drains / sewer and start to do a bit of the hard graft at your end. Stop speculating about cantilevers etc and find out what the water board will let you do and what they won't. I'll design you cantilever slabs all day long.. but not now or give you advice on this until you get the basics sorted. Frankly I'm surprised that you have got this far and non of your designers have said let's see what you have under the ground. I often say to folk.. I want to have a look at your title deeds.. Sometime I do this and the project gets abandoned at an early stage.. but these customers always come back to me as I have saved their bacon. Can you get your money back from the SE and designer? How did this happen where you got this far? How much money do you have to spend on this? Draw it out for your self and you'll soon see it it tricky and expensive. I may be sounding a bit tough but you need to confront the elephant in the room.. which is this big drain. Look closely at the drain diagram I posted and study..

Hiya. I'm Scottish base and have family that live on one of the inner Hebrides and have lot's of experience dealing with BC on the Islands. Also I deal with Scottish Building Standards on a regular basis and have done so for the last 40 years. Some of the BC officers I know quite well, we have a chat on the phone about our careers and reminisce on how good the old times were. In other words they are folk just like us.. there is the odd exeption but that is life. In the round though BC officers actually do have your best interests at heart. It would be great to have a BC officer or two join BH! On the Islands there is a lot of politics. Some Island builders are really shite, cut corners in a big way, some are better / good. BC know who they are so maybe you are getting a heads up and not just seeing the wood for the trees about the work that has been done by others. Now you are doing a bit of work yourselves.. well how much and when did you start doing a lot yourselves? It is in your own interests to build your house right? There is always friction on the Islands... BC know this but are not corrupt at this level. There are loads of other Islanders and folk moving there that do DIY projects so you are not the first and last. @JWHIT "surely this is trespass" My advice.. get this right out your head now. If the BC officer can access your site then you have a Health and Safety issue and they can hammer you on that. The HSE law is quite clear on this all over the UK, if your site is accessible then you are on a hiding to nothing. Have a looked at your site security? Don't pursue this route as you will likely regret it. Too late for that, BC can hammer you much earlier. There is no argument in law for shoddy HSE by saying.. hey I'm insured. Insurance is for when you have tried to do your best and things still go wrong. If they can see bad things from outside the site boundary then surely.. you may be making a cock up? If you try and play hard ball with them then they will pull your trousers down and you won't get to pull them back up until they have run you ragged. Now you may feel that the BC officer has turned up with no appointment.. but they are allowed to do this under UK HSE law (not just Scottish law) .. part of their remit is pubic safety.. they can hammer you on this too! To lay it on a bit thicker they may start to ask if your project should fall under CDM regulations., just to give you the run around. In summary: 1/ Yes there is Island politics, don't worry too much about the main Island Contractor not getting the job. 2/ Phone the officer up and ask when they are next on the island and arrange to meet them in person. This is so imprortant. You are on an Island.. you must get to know folk.. the emails you get from BC only show a snap shot.. sometimes they write stuff that seems really daft / aggressive.. but they are pushed for time and under funded. Cut them some slack and cut yourself some slack too. Keep an open mind as while you see this as a personal opinion then they may be able to give you good advice? Also if you hit it off with them then later on when you apply for a completion certificate you'll probably find that part of the process much easier and not get hit with a load of things that don't conform. 3/ Build a rapport with the officer.. recognise that they may be trying to help you rather than hinder. You may have a young and inexperienced BC officer. Be very careful here not to bully as their boss will then give you the big stick! Listen to what they are saying.. put forward your ideas and have a bit of fun.. seriously they are just folk. To finish @Kelvin may be able to give you some advice about how you deal with BC when relocating to the north of the UK ( Scotland) 4/ Some of my family live on Tiree. Clocked this at the end! Well it does.. Some of the building regs are open to opinion / discussion / detailed design. BC officers often hold professional qualifications / have great experience. They are entitled to question. As before one big stick they do hold is the public safety issue (I do it too as an SE) . Lot's of folk on BH think that this is their house and they can do what they want. BC say and I.. that house has to last for 50 years at least and you may sell it to a family in a couple of years time. Our duty is not just to you but all the folk that come after. Just copied this right at the end. The above is misleading as if it is deemed to be a risk to public saftey then the LA can effect immediate access as what they do will call on the Fire service, the Police , gas board and me as an SE. You see.. who knows what building regs have been compromised? Is it just an extractor fan of a serious structural defect that could cause a gas leak? If push comes to shove and I'm acting for the local authority.. I'll find a legal way of getting into your property if I feel there is a safety issue. You are pissing in the the wind! If you have nothing to hide then you should be relaxed about all of this.

But you have now! Below is a screen shot from the Sewer for Scotland guide, same pretty much applies all over the UK. It's pretty clear that moving the sewer is not an option.. too expensive and where would you move it to? Also any type of deep foundation strip / trenchfill directly under the side extension could well compromise the existing house foundations due to it's depth.. you are getting into complex / costly Civil Engineering territory. The manhole up the side of the house is a big issue as you need to maintain access. However, this is worth a look at in principle. Say up the side of the house you put in two or three carefully bored piles near the boundary and then run beams / make a cradle from the gable of the house to the piles near the boundary. Your side extension then sits on part of steel cradle but avoids the manhole and doesn't extend over the line of the drain. At the rear, as you are piling anyway you just do the same maybe with a cantilever concrete ring beam. This could work and reduces the risk that if something goes wrong the water board come along and demolish your extension. It would only be two steel beams that span over their drain which you could dig under. I would draw this but have clocked off the day job. Sometimes it can work where you bridge over a sewer with a bit of structure (not a monhole) and negotiate access with the waterboard. In the round though.. unless you have a very high value property then it's unlikely going to fly cost / benefit wise, unless you work for / own a piling company.. I see this quite a lot where plans get draw by an Architect.. the SE does a design based on the plans.. but no one does a bit of due diligence to check the drains! The professionals should be much more alert to this early on. But often a Client doesn't want to pay for this fundamental early work. Some of the checks are really simple.. a site walk over, a walk round the surrounding area, topography of the ground and a service check. Undertake due diligence! The sewer may even be mentioned in your title deeds. Your drawing needs a bit more detail as dimensions of what you propose vs what you have are critical. In other words a decent plan existing and proposed plan is required.

Look folks. What is happening in Scotland has nothing to do with science and all to do with political ideology. Trying to rationalise this is not achievable.

Do a soakaway test. Your drainage Consultant is flagging this up and rightly so. You use the word "alarmed" and if that is what they are indicating then there probably is a problem with a normal soakaway. You seem to have a propensity for understatement in this case? But if that amount of money is at stake then there may be an Engineering solution available or a deal with a neighbour... yes it will cost you but you won't lose all your dosh. I find this stuff fascinating, the challenge, investigating and finding a solution. If you want a bit of help from BH folk.. there are a few folk that can help that know do their stuff but to get the best help.. then you'll need to post a lot more info... be careful before you do as it may compromise your position later.. as you know. If you do want to post info then basically the full shebang is required. Site plan (dimensioned) and address, any geotechnical info you have, the building footprint, pretty much everything you have and then you'll get some free advice. Yep a clever option. But are you over a major aquifer that supplies drinking water? You are in a zone one! Are you over the North Downs main aquifer? Good solution if you can get the neighbour or Water company to take it for a fee?. With a bit of attenutation you could actually win a watch as you could supply flow to say ditches that suffer from dry weather / intermitant flow. Just mulling over ideas. Ponds / swales etc can work if you know enough about the ground, flood risk, ground water levels etc.. What if you had no roof gutters and drained the water into a swale, raised planters ( attenuation), wide French drain or use a louvred edge roof detail. Or you can have gutters which is more traditional and do the same. Now your 5.0 m from the building no longer applies so long as you can show the structure won't be affected. There are lots of options. Yes this is a general rule to avoid compromising the founds ect.. as above I'm thinking... just say we look at all other options and nothing works or to do a deal with a neighbour costs too much. If there is this much money at stake then why not say deepen the founds and let the rainwater soak away under the building? like it did before the building was there? In reality what happens is the neighbour may see the pound notes flashing.. you say.. hey we have another solution.. push too hard and you'll get nothing.. The above is a bit of a glib statement.. there are many challenges to doing this, geotechnical and SE wise. If you are on chalk then is has up and down sides but fundamentally it should work.. but it will take a lot of work to convice all parties involved that it does. I would look at all the other simple options first. Some you can use to compliment the Architecture and look great if well designed. No gutters can be a problem as the splash zone impacts on cladding design etc. Hope this raises your spirits a bit... if required.