Carrerahill

What do you want it for? That is the Bosch domestic range, I wouldn't expect great things from it or perhaps the longest life if you put it to any sort of real use. I personally won't buy DIY grade power tools - but when your building and using them like a pro then it pays to have good tools - I also love tools - I would quite happily go onto Screwfix right now and just buy a saw or drill or something that took my fancy! Keep an eye out on Screwfix and Power Tool World - some professional grade tools for not really much more money. https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/tools/drills/cordless-combi-hammer As @AnonymousBosch says they need fed, pick a manufacturer and go for it - I use Makita and Bosch tools, which lets me limit my batteries to those two types. Makita batteries are expensive but once you have a set of them you can pickup bare tools for really reasonable prices. Sometimes I will also buy a whole drill kit on a deal just to get say 2 x 5.0Ah batteries. I bought a drill for £119 on a deal that came with 2 x 4.0Ah batteries, that was back when the batteries were about £60 each! No brainer and I got another charger. There is also always the scope to sell the bare drill or case or charger on eBay.

Would I be right in thinking your bathroom sits above the kitchen? If you flush the toilet or run the basin do you hear the water coming down that stack? If so I would first check to see if there is a tap running slightly or the toilet cistern is filling constantly and running a little, small amounts of water in stacks can drip down internally and give that noise. I know that would not be connected to the rain but it may be coincidence - although I admit there is a good chance it is connected! Do you have a condensing boiler with a condensate pipe tied into this pipe upstairs? Down lower is there any access point (usually a white sort of round panel in the wall that can be unscrewed). What is below the counter top to the right and left of the pipe, could you for example remove a washing machine or other appliance and cut into the boxed in section and inspect it for an external to the pipe leak - that way if all looks dry you know it is internal and not an issue, or the issue is something like a leaky tap or if it's damp you know you will need to investigate. The chances are it is a single piece of pipe from the branch section on your first floor (or if this is a flat the flat above!) down to the ground floor, so there shouldn't be too many leak points and it is possible there is a leak there. Also, externally, what is your gutter pipe arrangement - your house looks like a fairly recent build so I am going to assume separate rain water and foul systems - so do you have externally mounted down pipes for your gutters?

Just ask him if your finished floor level will match your existing house or ask him to set it to whatever height you want.

If that really is the case throw him off the job. He sounds like an arrogant fool - you pay his wages - you call the shots. Find a some Polish guys and get them in to blitz it I don't want to offend you by saying this, it is not meant as such, but it seems like your possibly not fully aware/understanding of the various stages and building works and then in your naivety stressing out about things that probably require no stress. I saw a post further up this thread where you were discussing deeper founds to allow for more play and allowing for an inch here or an inch there. I don't think that is the case, I think the guy is just going to build your extension as drawn, he will know where floor levels need to go and will make that happen, yes sure, heights to an extent are dictated by heights of stages of the build that precede the floor, but at the same time a foundation is not a good indication of final floor level as so many things can influence this. This thread has grown a bit, disjointed too, could you by reply, please list a summary of your current concerns in simple short sentences. Let me kick this off, if I have understood you correctly, i.e.: 1. Concern that extension floor will not match existing house. 2. Concrete is under 2 inches of water 3. Drainage - please elaborate your base concern here. With this we can look at the way forward. If the guy is working in your garden then surely you go out and ask a few innocent questions of him?

I wonder - thinking aloud here... the drain next door may tie into a drain on the other side, previously, what sort of drive was it next door? Permeable or semi-permeable? and therefore water was just soaking away into the ground, so is the drain just doing its job at reducing ground water, the ground has then started to dry out causing shrinkage?

You are about 5k for a sarking, membrane, batten and tile roof renewal of about 60m - single ridge - no lead etc. If you need a whole new roof then I think your going to be chatting about 10k minimum but don't be surprised to see quotes for 15-20K. It also depends where you are, add another 50% if you are in or near London.

Puraflex 40 if you need to paint over it @Thedreamer I use that for my car restorations and love it - it's a brilliant, polyurethane based product that can be used to stick stuff on, seal things (inc. areas that will be subject to oil and fuel).

I'll see what he has. I don't think I will do mine even next year to be honest. The plan is to have a year off building! Apart from some garden work and maybe a little wall or two - got to stay busy!

No, I just literally went out to my garden and asked him - he showed me a set of galv angle sections in his van that he has had made up for gable wall he is doing next week. They looked good - I liked the simplicity yet very tough looking solution it provided. It will stick in my head this detail as I may do a couple of the "easy" walls on my house in the future and I will be DIYing the install so I now know myself what I will do - crack out the MIG and get some angle going! That reminds me I need a drum of 0.8mm wire! He is not here today - maybe he will have an image I can get next week. He also spoke in great detail about how the guy in 15-20 years time will want to change these windows and his method makes that totally possible. I have just had an idea myself - I would maybe weld little lugs onto the frame, so the window gets pushed out hard against the lugs, it's then fixed internally, but once it's sitting in the angles and hard against the lugs it cannot push out, and could literally just be held in by the woodwork/trim around it and a couple of suitable fixings to lock it all into place. By the time you seal them all up they are going nowhere. The windows have been installed in my extension for about 4 months with 4 screws! Including some 2.4m wide - they are not going anywhere and cannot fall out as the block work comes over about 5mm to lock them in.

Height to eaves, pitch, tile or slate, how long is the ridge, any hips and valleys? How long is a piece of string? FYI - My garage roof is 39m - it cost me about £330 in concrete tiles, £50 in ridge tiles, £80 in dry verge units, £80 for a roll of membrane, £60 for roofing battens, £30 for a dry ridge kit - took me a couple of weekends on my own.

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...