Carrerahill

So did I and as far as I can tell our Bosch oven is just a standard sized oven. But this cabinet was basically a base with legs, 2 sides and some cross rails at the top, initially I slid the oven onto this shelf and the thing would have been down at my ankles with a huge gap at the top between the underside of the counter and the top of the oven - so it was a bit of joinery for me. Perfectly good solution, I will argue better because I incorporated some air vents into the "shelf" so that the oven is less enclosed. I used a piece of the many many extra decor panels and filler panels, the one I used was finished on the top and sides and I sealed the bottom so I am happy with it , I suppose no different to the decor panels and various other things that you need to cut to size on site. I just know the next time I buy a new kitchen I will be making some significant changes to what I order. A friend of mine bought all his carcasses from one manufacturer without doors, then he had a furniture maker make him all his doors to his spec (solid walnut) he gave the furniture maker the hinge positions and they drilled all the hinge holes, went together perfectly and looks brilliant.

He suggests the pipe run is 80m long and the field is 1 in 10 - so 8m height difference from plant to stream - I don't think a NRV is needed and would probably cause more issues, I'd just make sure the pipe is exiting into the stream in such a way that a high stream level would not potentially block up the outfall with debris, a simple grate would probably be best.

An integrated dishwasher, as you may or may not already know, simply sits between two cabinets or a cabinet and a end decor panel etc. So, if I was going to do this, I would simply design a location where it could go, possibly between two full height cabinets, and then create a solid shelf say 300mm up to give it that lift into a more comfortable zone. I'd then use a piece of 600mm decor panel to fill the bottom and then integrate a 600mm cabinet in above the dishwasher (may need to use a wall cabinet etc.) to create a unit that looks like a normal cupboard unit, but actually has a D/W in the middle. Don't use MDF anywhere near it though, that stuff is just a dried out sponge, with steam and water drips you will soon have a mess. Use 18mm ply built up on a proper 2x4 etc. frame. Another thing you will need to work out is the door cover panel, you need to notch the plinth under an integrated D/W to get the door to swing in and over it, that means that the same sort of attention would need to be paid to create the recess for the door when you raised it, but I am certain that with some clever joiner it could be done and look spot on. You may believe the above sounds like a bodge, but anyone who has ever fitted a kitchen will tell you that fitted kitchens are not all they make out to be, unless you are installing really simple kitchens you almost never install a kitchen without having to actually do a bit of joinery work to make it all come together. Our designed kitchen required that 3 cabinets needed totally reworking, like seriously so, circular saw right down the back and the whole back off one cabinet type of thing, another needed a whole corner removing, then I spent ages rebuilding the customised cabinet so that inside them it looks factory finished by routing out panels and sliding in backing pieces and all sorts, net result is I am very pleased with it. The point I am making here, is this, decor panels and infill panels and all sorts need cut on site, so making what you describe above, I would not have an issue with that being customised. Also, anyone thinking of buying a kitchen, don't buy integrated oven carcasses, waste of money, we spent £120 on a carcass for the oven, it then needs the shelf building up to the height to suit your oven, that was total made in house, so I basically paid £120.00 for two sides, a base and 4 feet. Had I known what it was, I'd have just installed the oven into the gap left between the two adjacent cabinets and used 2 filler strips either side to create the same look and a piece of 18mm ply setback either side to create a lip that the oven screws to! The end result would have been identical!

You would need 0.904m3 Which would be 289kg cement, 542Kg sand, 1084Kg aggregate. 12 x 25Kg bags cement 22 x 25Kg bags of sharp (note B&Q/merchant etc. bags are NOT 25Kg). 44 x 25Kg bags aggregate (note as above) Or get 2 builders bags of all in one and 12 x 25Kg bags of cement which around here would cost £100 and a sore back. My spot mix man is bringing me about 1 cube in a couple of weeks and he will take £150 for first cube and £80 per cube thereafter - I am happy to pay the extra £50 given it will take all in all less than 1 hour, his guys barrow it to the areas I need it and they will vibrate it in, tamp it, level it and I will float it an hour or so later!

You need to read my post in conjunction with my caveat to be fair. I know that good, well built ones can be good, but they are few and far between. As I said above: "Seriously though they are a big pest, only high end ones (Pilkington Insulite glass etc.) that are not cobbled together by doubleglazing installers are any good, i.e. the oak framed ones with ventilation and proper spec'ed glass etc."

Let me re-phase that for you: "All conservatories are problems. They all leak. Being made of glass the solar gain is so high they are a waste of space in the summer unless you want to cause yourself to get heatstroke." Seriously though they are a big pest, only high end ones (Pilkington Insulite glass etc.) that are not cobbled together by doubleglazing installers are any good, i.e. the oak framed ones with ventilation and proper spec'ed glass etc. We demolished ours, it was only 5 years old when we took it down, (previous owner installed it) it was just a mess - I could not even give it away! It cost £15,000 when built. Best option, remove and replace with a proper extension. Next option is the lightweight roofing options people go for, I personally do not like them, basically you cover the glass internally with insulation then plasterboard it, the structural integrity is questionable, no, actually, it is worse than that, it is really not safe. We had a firm out here when we first moved in and were still naive in thinking it could be made to work for us. They talked us through the process and £5K price tag (I never had any intention on going with them as I would do it better myself but they were knocking on doors!) and frankly the whole weight was being added to the existing structure, I asked how they felt about the loading and they said they could "borrow" some snow loading - well I asked them what happened when it snowed... Silence followed by a pathetic line about reduced snow in UK! If I was confronted with a conservatory again that I was going to opt to keep I would probably add in more walls by removing some windows, make it more of a bright room and remove the roof and replace with a solid roof with some big windows.

See my edited reply above.

Why? Are we talking a single dwelling house that you will build for yourself? Many businesses don't even have an accountant for day to day operations and merely use them to sign off the books at the end of the year for submission, my point is that why would you need one for building a house? You will have no income from it, just outgoings, keep a ledger if you want to keep track of expenses by all means. The only professionals you should employ should be engineers and maybe an architect! You would literally be paying them more of your money, to tell you how much of your own money you have spent! As for the Ltd. company, I can see some minor benefits, I bought most things via my business and I used my business name, however it is an already established business and our business name, although engineering consultancy, sounds like it could be a building firm. When you call up and say I am calling from "business name here" it always carries more weight. Ever notice that manufacturers and merchants almost always ask where you are calling from - you always feel a bit silly saying, "Oh, just me, I am a private individual" I am certain they roll their eyes as soon as they hear that. I did that with Jewsons last month, called them up, I got trade pricing immediately and they didn't even think twice. However, you could adopt a name to operate under, call yourself Mulberry Construction and use it for everything you do. Nothing wrong with that. Have all your invoices made out to that name too. I see no point in forming a business at all, bear this in mind, if you owned a business, you can buy certain things and write them off against tax, that is all very well, it can go down as an expense which comes off you profit line which reduces your tax liability, however, if your business doesn't make any money, because it is just to build your house, then how does the business receive it's funds? Presumably from you, so you are investing in your business with your own money, there is no tax liability on that, so you are not saving the corporation tax. The only way it would be worth while is if you were thinking of forming a construction company that was also going to work on other projects and you could probably put all your materials through as "business expenses" which is actually fraud mind you. Another would be if there are plans that are essentially "business like" - i.e. build 2 houses sell one etc, then there will be some of the benefits above i.e. the materials could be deducted from profit of sale.

As the subject says really, I am looking for some stripping or border that would go with a light oak plank. Basically I want to rotate the planks 90° as they pass through into another room, but I want to create a solid delineation. I only need 900mm! I'd consider a tonal or contrasting wood stripping, or gold, maybe silver, a bit of left over border would be good, another thought is that a thin plank of say a dark oak or grey or something would work too. I called Amtico and they said they can make me up a meter squared box but it is 10 days out anyway and that is from when a retailer orders it for me. Ideally I'd like the flooring down this week. If anyone thinks they have anything please let me know. Thanks!

Try Atrium Lighting.

Where about are you?

We didn't build a house but we took on a 1960's house, tore it back to a shell, renovated most of it, extended it, built garages and demolished old buildings and now on the final push to complete it all with the final parts being renovated now (parts that directly adjoined the extension). Been a hard 5 years so far, I'll be glad for it to be over if I am honest. I go through periods of what seems like total inactivity but you must remember that planning and material procurement and decisions are progress in their own right, we have recently broken the ice on about a 2-3 months period of more or less no or very little progress, but then on breaking the ice suddenly the project takes a leap, I have a JCB turning up later to dump hardcore over a wall into our garden, I have flooring arriving tomorrow/Fri, I had a painter in last week, I made some decisions and plans which then let things move again and I just need to be bold and go and buy lots of materials and hope it all works out OK! In 5 years I have had help from professionals on my site for about a cumulative 4-5 weeks, that includes a joiner for a day, a brickie, general builder (dry dashing the house), gas man, plasterers & painters. The rest has been me on my own or with limited help from friends and family. I overthink things, sometimes it pays off, sometimes it just creates issues and stress, I have actually been feeling a bit off for a few weeks now and I am sure it is stress. I pondered over the silicone job on a window sill for about 2 days at the beginning of the week deciding it let the whole new kitchen down... apparently it doesn't but because I paid too much attention to it I stood and stared at it and fiddled with it and wasted more time. I have also decided that if I do something now and I am not happy, move on, don't think about it and if at the end of it all, I still look at it and think no that is not good, then redo it, assuming it is a job that can be done in isolation obviously! Don't worry and don't you or anyone else set targets for yourself, you will not meet them and you will feel demotivated and then stress and rush and then you will step back and go, wait, I made that deadline, there isn't a deadline and suddenly a huge weight is lifted off your shoulders.

I would not worry about it. I read up on asbestos and researched it because I too had to deal with it in my house. I have also spoken to about 4-5 major demolition businesses that run waste transfer stations etc. who have then filled me in on all the details for legal transfer of this stuff and it wasn't too onerous - this is for white of course! It would take me all day to put what I have discovered in writing and all the facts and reasons but let me go a little way towards trying to give you some information that may put your mind at ease. First, get onto the HSE website and download the asbestos guide with the asbestos content % table which lists most materials and the type and % contained within them, this goes from Artex coatings, bitumen adhesives, flooring and brake linings. You will note from reading this that content is almost always very low in these sorts of products, 2-10% and that is was normally chrysotile (white) asbestos which was the least dangerous, do not mistake me, it can still cause all the same health problems that the others do, but it has a lower risk. Asbestos containing materials, "ACM" such as cement asbestos, cladding, floor tiles etc. were commonly cut and installed by contractors wearing no mask, although there is a greater chance of asbestos related illness among these individuals, particularly those who installed or removed these materials for many many years or decades through employment they generally did not suffer and frankly die before now as badly as those installing brown and blue such as boiler and pipe laggers - so generally heavy industry. You will often hear the comment that, 1 asbestos fibre can kill and that is true, however it is a but of a misnomer because it doesn't mean that you only need to inhale one fibre and that is it, you have had it. You do inhale asbestos, we all do, in a life time we will inhale over a billion asbestos fibres as it is in the very air we breath all the time, ambient background asbestos is about 10-200 fibres per cubic meter of air (they reckon the average person will inhale 265000000 litres of air in a lifetime), it will be worse near for example a primary school that is being demolished and may increase levels for some time (even when it is dealt with properly there is always an escape, even just any dust it left in the school being disturbed etc.) so if only one fibre killed we would all die of asbestos related illness. What it means is that that it will only take one fibre to get lodged in the lungs and cause the damage and scar tissue etc. that leads to the illness - but realistically we need to expose our self to a decent cloud of of the stuff as a one off to potentially get it, or many many short term exposures. 1 of the biggest groups outside of contracting is school teachers and hospital workers who work(ed) in old building full of the stuff, it just gently releases dust as is get older, or a knock or a vibration, ceiling tiles were the worst, and the staff were in there for 30-40 years of their life breathing it in. Working outside with asbestos is far safer as it will get blown away, I took our asbestos roof off the garage, proper half face mask and brand new filter, gloves and old clothes with the sheets wetted down, done in the rain on one occasion and with a slight breeze, strip off and shower afterwards with most outer layers going in the bags for disposal too. I also know I cut through floor tile bitumen adhesive with a circular saw, I am fairly sure it will have had asbestos in it, not too pleased about it and know it may come back to bite but I had loads of windows open, a breeze through the room I was working in and I got out pretty quick once I spotted the black adhesive. However, it is also said that although I cut it, the bitumen will have adhered to the asbestos, it will have then become less small and light, and was also partly or fully encapsulated so the fibre release although still present wasn't a case of pure asbestos floating around my house. The HSE also permits the removal and disposal of these types of asbestos by home owners, the others are strictly trained contractor only, I just don't see the HSE saying yes no bother you can do this on ACM's that are simply deadly, my local tip also let me take some in, all double bagged, I told them what I had, they opened a container for me, I put it in, and left, no paperwork, no questions, no particular H&S to follow. My uncle told me they once installed a garage roof in the 40's and they cut all the sheets with a hand saw - he is still with us, just back issues he has! Do understand, asbestos is dangerous, I do not think your exposure is going to kill you, I don't think my exposure will be what kills me, it might, what I do know is that I will never knowing do any more ACM work again in my life without full PPE like that damn floor I cut up. I am confident that when I did the garage roof it was done correctly, so I think my exposure was minimal and I do not intend on doing any more - I am not letting it worry me. There is a far greater chance of you being killed in a RTA.

I wouldn't cut the skirting, I'd cut the bed - when you move that thing or the next person moves into the house there will be a hole in your skirting and if it was a house I bought I would be cursing you. It could be done and you would really want one of these: https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dwe315sf-gb-300w-electric-oscillating-multi-tool-240v/8890h This is a building forum and not really a DIY forum, so you may get better responses from a DIY forum.

Just get a excavator with a breaker. Relatively speaking sandstone will break up easily, then use a narrow bucket to remove, I'd not worry too much. Are you hiring a machine and doing it or paying a groundwork contractor? If the latter just let them know beforehand they will need a breaker and maybe a bucket with a thumb, you might be able to sell the stone if you get it out in nice big chunks for landscaping and stone walls! Given they can break out entire concrete buildings they will breeze through SS.

I saw one of those at a social housing fair/seminar last year in Glasgow, smart looking think, I suggested to the Tesla rep it looked like a huge iPhone strapped to a wall, he concurred. What capacity is it? I assume you have some renewables - solar? - to feed into it for later use? Interestingly a lot of housing associations were looking at them, according to the rep, with a view to capturing solar energy then feeding it into the battery for use in heating applications at night.

First off, are you sure you cannot slip a timber in full size? If you have a cavity wall then you may be able to insert a full length timber albeit with a slightly reduced bearing surface which could be made up for with relevant additional timber or steel bracket/anchor. I'd investigate that first. I know I could do this in my bathroom because I have a 100mm cavity. Cost of joist replacement using this method £25. If that was a no go situation I'd then consider a steel route, but that is just me and I can sort out steels as easy as I can get a piece of timber! Just for thinking aloud purposes, I think hollow box section or a flitch beam which I would assemble in place. The box section idea would require off-site fabrication, I have a leaning towards this sort of thing because I can easily get hold of steel and have a friend who owns a large fab shop who would weld it up for me, or to be honest, for this, I would weld it myself. Cost - £50 I reckon and I have a good solid repair. Next option and really only needs a piece of plate cut to length and depth of joist and drilled. A flitch beam is basically a piece of thin steel sandwiched in-between 2 pieces of wood. This would allow you to use steel and timber and do it all DIY - you could then have a single piece of steel in the middle and then sandwich it with 2 say 1x6's you could use shorter timber and butt joint it, and then offset the other side, so you end up with one steel (which being bendy on it's side can be slid into wall, and wriggled in at the far end) then add the timbers to give you a solid twin timber flitch beam with offset timber joints. This, coach bolted together tight would be solid and cheap. That piece of steel from brundles would be about £30.00.

Yes - if you layered them you could create detail, outer leaves with cut outs or something - have locating holes cut and then pin them together with steel rod and weld up.

Not as nice looking obviously, but what about get them laser cut from say 15mm steel - you could hand bevel the openings etc. and "dress them up" after a coat of paint and incorporated into the other components they would probably look fine. Just an option. Casting is not going to be cheap, £300 a pop is in my mind quite good. I've had dealings with this for architectural steelwork and by the time they make the sand moulds etc. it's not a quick task.

Your Landy?

It depends, I have not for any of our door or window openings and nothing has gone wrong, you just need to know how to use a measuring tape really. For our garage we just left a standard opening - when I came to fit the door it was within about 5mm and I just shimmed it in - job done. Pros with a frame are that it is set, the brickie needs to follow it and if you are not on hand to confirm sizes or there is a miscommunication it is fine as there is a physical object to follow.

Yup - and if you are doing carpentry a great way to get rid of offcuts!

Sounds more like what I will do, rather than I have planned! I find normal clothes (always a collar and tie optional) and a Dickies Redhawk pair of overalls (always a collar and tie optional) are pretty much all I need for warmth unless I am standing at the bench doing something intricate which doesn't take much movement, and therefore heat generation.

Thanks for that, the issue is postage. I need about £24 worth of tiles yet it will cost me nearly £90 with delivery! I can only assume they are a bit fragile and take a lot of care with packaging them. I've found someone on ebay, a shop's ebay page, who look like they will do them at a reasonable delivery. I did wonder if I could cut them from the 1000's of old imperials I have stacked in the garden! Would be a nice thought to have our own reclaimed bricks made into these and reused in our build.

We have a boxed in pipe in our kitchen, only visible from worktop to underside of cabinet so about 5 1/2 bricks - looking to tile it like a brick wall to make a feature out of it. Based on the corner bricks (which is all I would need) being standard brick size I have worked out I can buy 12 corner tiles and the bits I cut off each side to create a bond would result in the bits I need for the side return. So basically I am looking for 12 decent corner brick slips, tiles whatever you call them.