Carrerahill

I think 825 is good - get it in Toolstation - it is specifically for this sort of thing. EB25 is probably a bit sales gimmicky. https://www.everbuild.co.uk/product/silicone-825/

I assume you have a joint in a sill, and as is typical moisture will pass down through mortar so a waterproof seal is what you seek? I would use Silicone 825 or EB25.

How is it going - could you get us a few photos of the pour/concrete int he trench - also, when the builder is not looking ask the driver what he is delivering - Strength/slump.

He does a good job. A very competent builder. The idea behind the plate makes sense. A plate is welded so that the flat section that the window butts up again can go to the bottom - the other side of the angle sits above the opening then it's tight to get a fixing if at all possible in some instances, so the plate sits to the underside so that he can bolt them down further down the wall - this also protects block, brick and concrete from edge drilling which can blow sections off "edge protection". So where the plate is welded you end up with a "T" section.

Try some of the clamshell operators, they literally have a 40 tonner with a clamshell and just drive about and lift it and charge by the bucket. Local utility firms and councils use them a lot as it means they can just phone in a pickup and don't have the hassle and expense of having a guy taking a wagon out for one load of spoil. I just googled clamshell hire, told the ops what I wanted and either they said, nothing we do, or yes sure, where are you.

He is Irish! Every time he offers me a render type or roof detail or lead depths and sizes he says, "Right, do you want it the English way, the Scottish way or the Irish way?" The first time he said it I laughed and waited for the punchline! When asked the differences he usually would suggest Irish ways allows for bigger overhangs and greater ability to protect during inclement weather. I suspect the Scot's way is similarly good as our weather Zoning does require plenty of beefed up details but he is proud of his country and I like the Irish so I pick Irish. He has a local roller shutter company make the angles for him - he just calls in the opening sizes then they weld them up on galv steel and it had some Galvafroid or similar painted onto the welds. I can weld so would do the same, but, thinking about it, if you don't weld you could buy galv angle and then cut two smaller pieces and bolt them on to create the flange that would work just as well. Remember the top section really is just to give the window some linear support from wind loading and people leaning on them and opening and closing windows etc.

Is it raining just now? You know what, I think you will be fine, you deserve this to go right, it will be fine!

Indeed, it will cure under water but it needs to be far enough along before a monsoon hits it if it is to survive with no harm. After the initial set water is a good thing in fact. If the water is being combined into it as it goes into the trench it has the same effect as too much water in the concrete, if the concrete is already in the trench and rain is allowed to lash down on it it will wash the cement out the top layer, leaving a clean pile of sand and aggregate or create a very watery top surface with the cement and water basically making a weak paste.

Yes but which one? It spans 3 of them!

We would need to see a plan of the stairs to see where they start downstairs - do you have the space/arrangement to allow for the stairs to start further back so that there is a landing outside the bedroom access, so basically you need to start the stairs sooner on the ground floor so by the time you get to the bedroom you are already at that level. The only way to make it right, is to have a single height landing across the whole opening to the bedroom, even if you were to cut the 2 steps into the bedroom further into the floor so you can have 3 stairs, you still have a stair meeting 3 stairs on 3 heights!

I am hearing you - what a pest. If I was closer I would come and help with a big tarp system. Simplest option - call the builder, draw his attention to the heavy rain - and suggest they reduce the water at the batch plant - that will cost him nothing - ask what strength they are using, I'd assume a C20-25 - ask him would he ask them to alter it to say a C30 - over-cost should be about £10 per cube. These things should be no skin off his teeth but give you some peace of mind. Are your founds standard sort of 150-200mm thick or trench fill? I am sure you can look at the ground levels and where water will want to run and come up with a protection strategy. Even for example pallets or logs or cones or something in the middle to let you pitch some tarps out over the concrete and down to a run off which could be as simple as a little culvert roughly scraped to a low point. I think it would be worth getting your planning chappy round and go over things and see what can be done about next door - I would also have a solicitor send them a letter basically outlining that if they continue to cause issues that are unfounded or found to be a waste of police or PA time you will see them in court to re-coup charges. It sounds to me like the dumping of material in the forest upset them, but did you say it transpired the builder had right to do so - i.e. he knew the land owner etc? I would go legal on them. They wouldn't have a house after I had finished with them as they would need to sell it to pay legal costs.

How old are the originals do you think? When you consider how long wood lasts if done correctly and the roof is right I would always so use timber again. I know you are moving on but these plastic ones have about a 10 year warranty. Does't fill me with confidence - Many houses have original timber which can be 100 odd years old.

If even 20mm hammers down during the pour/immediately after I would be concerned. If this pour is to to ahead I would first have the water ratio altered from the batch yard for a low slump concrete - lower than the slump you would want - if pouring then happens in the rain then the reduced water in the concrete mix will help when the rain goes in and then you will reach your target slump - I'd also go up to say a C30 so the cement ratio is increased, that allows for more water... If the met office are wrong - have the mix jagged. Builders love to add too much water, they are being lazy - so they will probably think it is fine that it runs like tomato soup.

It is not great if it will be heavy rain. I am surprised by the number of people who have said it will be fine, concrete works on a water to cement ratio - high surface water will create a very high water ratio - this leads to reduced strength/crumbly surface or it can wash all the cement away and leave just aggregate and fines, so although I am sure it will be fine, it would be very wise to sheet the lot and try your best to stop water getting in on top of the founds. I would look at low spots etc. once you sheet it can you persuade the water to run away from the founds and not just under the sheet and into the found anyway?

I was meaning for the refit part of your bathroom...

Go 15mm then. There is even the discussion re. 10mm for basin supplies.

People think you are supposed to use 22mm for hot as standard because they didn't understand the logic behind it on old non-pressurised tanked hot supplies. I still see people immediately reach for 22mm pipe when they are doing hot water piping even though they are on mains pressure via combi/sealed tank. So my guess is ignorance?

He would span the opening with some angle - he has just shown me a piece of 50x50x2mm galv angle which has a 50x100mm plate welded to the bottom of it on each side, it has 2 slotted holes either side too. He says he would offer that up at opening height then bolt that on - he usually always uses 8-10mm resin fixings for edge protection reasons if he is doing a whole house, if just one window in a gable wall etc. then he just uses thunderbolts.

Just spoken to the builder, galvanised angle iron bolted to at sill level, window sits on this and then they use angle brackets to tie the window sides and top to the external leaf. There are also brackets you can buy but he found the angle was cheaper and stronger and easier to use - he fits it all so that the windows can be taken back out and new windows screwed into the brackets during replacement from the inside.

Let me go and see if he is on site...

I'll ask my builder, he is an EWI approved installer. I can certainly understand what you are trying to do, I would want to know things like the cavity, right up to roof level, was well sealed and is not damp internally as although you will then close this cavity internally you will be bringing that cavity internally into the house envelope. I think that can be managed suitably but having seen some of the wall cavities in my house when I started the punch through for the extension in places it gave off that horrible damp masonry smell for about a month - I solved the issue causing the damp and it was water running over the inside of the sofit and running down the cavity in heavy rain - fine, it dries out, however if you then have these cavities closed internally and plastered over and that happened then you end up with damp plaster/wood and staining to decoration.

Not hugely convincing points and on par, if slightly increased in some aspects, with the alternative in terms of potential risk. If he wants to run in 2.5mm and use a 20A breaker (which is very limiting) then I guess fine, realistically however, this becomes a 4mm radial - 2 x 4mm conductors into a terminal poses more risk of strained terminals due to the heavier wire and reduced compliance to take a bend when being forced into the back box, this increases the likelihood of a wire sitting permanently under tension or sheer - a little hot/cold cycling and they are more likely to loosen as the stranded make up of 4mm allows the strands settle. So you end up with as many termination risks however arguably worse than using 2 No. lighter conductors that terminate nicely and comply with being formed into shape to recess into the backbox. MEIT did a big report on cable termination around about the time push-fit terminals were becoming more commonly used - the conclusion was that smaller solid core wires caused less risk than larger stranded wires. There was also a shift toward going radial again but this was ousted on various grounds as not being the best solution.

Well it would be both for both types of build - only no planning if under PD.

That's the whole point of design stage - you need to bottom it all out first. Your builder isn't going to choose which way he wants to build it, you will tell him - also, without a construction type how can they tender like for like? One might be a brickie and one might be a joiner, so you know one will be traditional and one will go TF.

Radial: Circuit which runs out and daisy chains around consumers, i.e. sockets or lights the circuits ends at the last unit - common on lighting circuits and small power runs. Ring: Circuit which runs as a ring - so in the case of a typical power ring it would leave the DB on a cable, go to the first socket, which then goes to the next socket and so on, then the last socket in the group has a wire that runs back to the DB to create the "ring". The following depends on your DB - if it's old with cartridge fuses then this would be the time to upgrade. I'd add a new extension lighting radial or two if you have enough ways left in your existing DB, alternatively and arguably a tidier and certainly safer option if not a nightmare to do so would be to tie the ground floor ext. lighting into the existing ground floor lighting and same for first floor. Go for 1.5mm for the sake of an extra few pence per meter. Then add a ground and first 2.5mm ring if you have the ways, but a single "Extension ring" to cover the whole lot would probably be fine depending on the rooms. If you are lucky another option is to tie into the existing rings, depends where the existing rings run and how easy it would be to extend the rings to the new sockets then continue back the DB.