markc

Condensate drain running up hill? No wonder it’s filling with water

Effectively forming a rebate the frame sits in will work. If you wanted something less bulky you could put shear studs/pugs into the beam and have these in clearance holes or even sleeves in the top of the frame.

Scuff with glass paper or emery etc. emulsion won’t stick to the smooth surface. May even need a wash over with dilute PVA.

Well done, any idea (or want to share) your build cost?

It could be vermiculite, but possibly brown asbestos. Do you need to remove it? just re read your post, is this under the plaster? Or filling a void?

I think it may be enamel or coach paint if this is an older property. If so then yes it’s hard!

Hi, you can do timber frame, build the wall (as for off site construction) horizontal, fully finish the outside (assuming you want to minimise gap to existing wall) and then raise into position, a little thought / details and planning needed as you can’t get back in the void. insulation in timber frame or inside new block wall, leave gap to existing wall empty

Do yourself a big favour here and don’t use the walls, build free standing on the inside. No grief from the neighbours that you have damaged the wall or gone over their side, no damp coming through because neighbour has heaped soil or compost against their side. No party wall agreement (discreetly put in your new foundations)

Yes this is pretty normal, sometimes you are lucky and get it just right and they come apart without any grief, but getting the sleeve end through the gripper ring without grabbing is rare.

And the nails are

You can use screws, look for connector screws as these are made for the job, or you can use connector nails (these are very good in shear and have a twist in them, very tough nails) no problem packing the side gaps but it won’t make much difference to noise or deflection. Adding noggins will help if the joists are twisting. Replacing floor with 22mm boards fully glued and screwed will make a big difference

Grants come from the tax payer and just inflate the cost of something.

Encasement doesnt (normally) include base plates as grouted underneath and usually/often screed over the top. Baseplate is unlikely to fail or deform due to heat

I did too! “There’s mould in the bathroom” sure enough the fan was turned off.

Electric rads, I would say no switch needed as no regular maintenance/cleaning needed.

Good morning and welcome, If the basics are so “wrong” it is usually easier to start again than chase problems and improvements around the system. full re wires are disruptive but as floorboards etc are up then re plumbing is easier at the same time. as above, make a list of what needs doing and prioritise based on benefits and cost etc.

Nothing wrong or difficult in creating your own niche, main thing is ensuring water does not get into the stud work or behind the tiles.

In that case, why the Aco? Is it to reduce splash?

Is it an optical illusion or is the inside floor at the same level as air brick?

Perimeter/joining timbers is pretty standard (still called a subframe even though it’s not underneath. Tek or other screws through the timber and into the pile cap is a cold bridge top to bottom, so sometimes deep counterbored holes are used but this is just extra work, hence the angle or U saddle brackets to prevent the cold bridge. You don’t put down the whole floor and then crawl under to fix it. fix first frame timber to caps, drop in row of panels and next frame, fix to that row of pile caps and so on. This way you always work on the ground, easy access to pile caps you are fixing, no drilling down or guessing where caps are etc.

I have no idea about Scotland regs but I can’t see any problem storing some timber, insulation and plasterboard around the inside of a shed, and occasionally doing some work in there.

I’m going to be a bit more positive here and say yes it’s going to be more expensive but not necessarily prohibitively so, but with the caveat that site location and ground conditions are the over riding factors. Much easier to basement into a hillside than boxed in on all sides, big hole with battered sides is much easier and cheaper than sheet piling, big Big much away unless you can loose it on site, plus many more factors like drainage, access etc.

Normally I would say the chances of a key being matched to a lock is minuscule but if they were looking in the garden or drive they must have an idea it could be close by so yes change the lock. Is it a Euro barrel (key hole shaped)? If so then very easy to do

Connector screws are made for joist hangers etc. short shank under head designed for shear loads

@idris you have to look at what a SIP is, a block (or several blocks) of polystyrene with a thin ply or OSB glued on either side. The ply or OSB gives very little to screw into. When used as walls they have foot and head timbers for rigidity and you fix through the SIP sheet and into the solid timber. the Sips panel support doesn’t have any fixings, it is just a support to take deflection out of a panel.