Carrerahill

Mine appear to be about bang on 100mm. I had a lintel on Sunday that was 100mm at one end and 110mm at the other!

No, it is not "ideal" but there is no serious or even intermediate concern with this in this circumstance - see my post just above to Brickie. In the end it will never compromise the build or give issue. In the first image, if you look closely the bottom two courses are out in relation to the rest which was my fault, I had to get those courses up for various reasons so I built them myself - when my bricklayer came to build the rest he set the coursing up properly to suit the walls he was about to build thus creating the difference between the bottom 2 and top. Throughout the rest the other 450 odd blocks coursing is bang on.

It is common to mix commons and block to make up lintel heights and sills etc. Yes, brickettes (coursing bricks) should be used but many merchants don't have any so for the sake of 10-20 bricks a common is used. The CTE (although without figures it may be a null point) may slightly differ between clay commons and concrete block in practise it is not going to make a blind bit of different and as I say is done all the time. The actual reason you are not supposed to do it is not because of different CTE but because of cold spots and that is why the NHBC would not accept it - however, in plenty of circumstances it would not be an issue to have this cold spot and therefore it is perfectly acceptable practise - as for the load bearing capacity of the block and brick, the blocks were 7N and the bricks I bought were 25N/mm² so the bricks although on end can actually bear more load than the block. For the OP building a garage, a common on end will be fine and I have never seen render fail due to mixed commons and block.

Which product did you use? DIY or contractor?

My brick layer splits all his blocks with a 4 inch bolster and club hammer - measures, scores first side, spins it 90°, scores again, spins it 90° and this time scores first then repeats, at this the block usually splits cleanly where he wants it - if not he spins it onto the first face and works the score line. I actually started splitting blocks for him on Sunday as it saved him going up and down the scaffolding. I need to buy myself a 4" bolster! Until now I always just used a 4 1/2" diamond disc and put in a 1/2" score all round then bopped it - as you say a lot of dust and also much more dangerous.

Use a common on its end.

Wish I could use the table saw for mine (while wearing a mask) but at 150mm I am a bit out of the max depth of cut! I am also thinking about putting some of the left over 150mm stuff between the joists in the loft in the eaves over the master - we currently have 50mm EPS so I think I will take that out, put in the PIR, then put the EPS back down and use some of my left over OSB to floor it. Toasty!

OK thanks guys. It all makes sense, all of the stuff outside is in it's wrapping - they are just a bit torn up. I'll look out tarps later. I might even start installing some!

Exactly what I see/thought. But I wanted to be sure I don't ruin a small fortune worth of the stuff!

All the insulation arrived today, does it need to be under cover? It would take a lot of effort and a lot more effort to clear a space to put it indoors so it wasn't in the way and the garage is full of timber and tiles and cement just now. I don't want to double handle the PIR boards, so, can it just stay put outside until I use it? Probably a couple of weeks tops - it's just it does have a symbol showing a umbrella with rain which is the keep dry symbol. It's closed cell so I cannot see how rain would upset it. Thanks

They will do credit accounts but it is only till the end of the month for the statement then 14, 21 or 28 days to pay so it's not a massive bridge. If you need help with financing these things you may be better taking out a personal load or even better a 0% on first 60 days purchases card - but remember, this can be a slipperly slope particularly if it is this early on in a build. The merchants will do stringent credit checks and it is not even them that do it, any organisation that offers credit now must protect themselves and to have the insurance needed etc. they all use a credit agency or third party credit checking business. Particularly in the building game where many unscrupulous cowboys run off with money and without paying bills it is now ever more difficult and often they won't give you credit till you have some history with them.

I would be interested to know the actual internal dim's of the actual barb through the mains pipe and the type of valve, looking at the 32mm pipe and the size of the main body of the saddle valve it looks like there is a restriction in there anyway. It is only a short length of reduced diameter pipe so I would be tempted to leave well alone - can you test the flow at your house yet? Also, do you know what the pressure is on that mains and at your house? Some mains can be very good some not so good, if your on good mains pressure then that will help too. I'd let them write it off and just plumb the house carefully to suit if you think there will be an issue.

It looks to me like a case of, that is the saddle valve they had in the van, so that is what they were going to use!

If the upstairs soil pipe comes into the left branch, I would be tempted to use a decent bend on it, or else you will get lots of splattering noises - OK if it is going to be outside. I know soil 90° are always bends rather than elbows like you can get on waste fittings but the bends are still quite sudden. I know someone who has lots of bends and things before a soil stack in their kitchen and I kid you know, you can audibly track the progress of the poop as it makes it's way along and down the internal stack which in the kitchen, is rather off putting!

I'd just use the stop plate with the lug ground/cut off as it will have a square hole in it and therefore be a decent fit and the correct thickness.

If the square shaft which goes into the multipoint lock will be held in position by the lock mech itself then you can remove the stop plate, grind the stop lug off and refit without it also remove or modify the action of the spring. The handle will then go both ways but will have no integral position hold mechanism - but as I say, the lock mechs "home position" should hold the handle where you want it i.e. 9 or 3 o'clock position. Many UPVC door handles just swing round and round when off the door and rely on the "home position" from the lock itself. If not you would need to alter the stop plate and spring arrangement. In a word, yes it will be possible - but it comes down to a bit of luck or your ability to modify it.

Does the master and living room have windows to the side or only the front?

All this talk makes me wonder if I should just backfill the lot and screed over.

I would do a stage 2 design for the whole house but only take the part you will build now to detailed design which will include parts of the future ext. - I would then incorporate all the lintels and openings just now, then brick them up so that come extension time you can just remove those bricks and you are through. On the founds I would pour founds some way into the extension and take into consideration any utility runs like pipes or electric etc. I would run the founds out so far with some rebar sticking out so you can continue them at a later date and connect into the existing easily - paint the ends and backfill with gravel so it is well drained and easy to excavate. I would run in the required cabling and things that may be needed to a convenient point and leave enough of a coil to get it well into the first socket or light switch etc. If you are going for a slab found then I would do the whole slab in one go and just deck over it or something for now.

depth of biscuit mix? direct tile onto this?

I think I am going to lower my joists 19mm and batten out on top now. I do have a clear run home down one side the way the perimeter of the floor works out (joist change direction) but I prefer the idea of running them as I want and NOT in the confines of the joists. Good call! I have not been shown this detail before and it makes perfect sense! Glad I didn't nail in all my joists a couple of weekends ago!

This is how I am doing it - but I could do it as per prodave as I could just remove a 19mm piece of the plate the joists sit on and use 19x38mm battens over the top - hmm!

This is what I have been advised to do but without the OSB directly above the Celotex. - but I think I will run the battens under the joists and let the PIR sit lower, I also suspect this will be stronger (I will need to get good fixings and use plenty support).

Ah got you. Could you post progress pics please and let us know how you get on? Please note my edit in my post, I hit 5 rather than 2 - 120*145mm for a 5x2 - ish.

When are you doing yours? Are your joists only 5x2? Note, if so you will only get 20mm above 100mm PIR as 5x2's are 120x45/47. So your PIR will sit level with bottom of the joist? Or do you mean 1x1 level with the bottom and the PIR sits on that so it's about 25mm up and 20mm from the top?