markc

I would have gone for a self supporting feature balustrade and rail instead of the wall.

A 203 beam per leaf for a brick/brick structural wall over a 3.6m opening sounds right.

I can see the pics now, that’s actually a cool stair, shame they went through the boards. That said it’s a well made stair with a support on the walking line under the ply. This means the ply is isn’t subject to bending loads :). the timber ‘hardener’ will be fine, good scrape and wire brush to remove any loose stuff. The nosings may allow puddles to form on the treads, if so a few drain holes will be needed behind each nosing. Bed the nosings onto a thick bed of paint or thin bed of OB1 or CT1 to prevent water collecting between them and the ply causing accelerated rot

If it’s timber then the backer board is the best plan

Yes you can skim backer board, what’s behind the board? Unless it’s a void then good old browning and then skim

If the treads are breaking up and you want to use the stair then you really need to sort them properly, not just make them look pretty. If something looks rotten then you are careful using it, if it looks good and someone falls the resulting lawsuits could be very costly. when the pics are available we will be able to get a better feel

Very difficult to push anything through corrugated flexible conduit

I’ve just been doing some stuff at 15g/h, so assuming 1kg rolls of filament gives around 200 hours of printing. I like the look of the machine but would definitely machine the side frames etc out of alu or delrin or nylon66

Our mobile engineers (plant fitters), one man in a van with tools etc. cost us around £65k a year including van, fuel, salary etc. if we bring in any additional trades, welder, hydraulic fitter etc then we work on paying £500/day

£2K sounds like a bargain, anyone can fit doors and sliders, but not many can fit them well. the 4.3m wide set is going to need a lot of fiddling, packing and adjusting to get it right. Quite possibly a return to re adjust too.

Frame up, roof on, get on with the internals, we used to allow 2mm/m height for settlement of timber frames on openings. UPVC and sliders are really the only things that are likely to bind if put in too early

That’s what happens when you employ 3 year old brickies

I’m not convinced the OP is a blown unit, the high point will collect anything rising in the unit as it warms, yes the argon should be pure but tiny amounts of water are almost unavoidable after cleaning etc. when we did Lowry centre in Manchester, the diamond shaped pains were and probably still are collecting in the top corners and look terrible on bright mornings.

Dig a test hole against the existing founds down to desired depth, if the existing go full depth then you will (should) be able to leave the existing in place and put starter bars in to tie new and existing together. Good chance the existing founds and quite shallow so measure the depth and give this and a pic or two onto the SE for suggestions, hopefully you don’t need to go under as this is a pain to do.

+1 the cost is minimal and once done you pretty much forget about it.

What’s above it? Looks like newel post for top of stairs

Ahhhh, it was you then 😱

Hi, if you have mud then you really need a geotextile to separate it from the sub base or everything sinks into the mud. If you have grass you really need to remove this vegetation layer as it will rot and shrink once separated from sunlight.

Struggling to work out the orientation of the close ups, is this where the rafters meet the wall plate or rafters to ridge?

Unless you are intending a massively heavy single spine staircase then you have nothing to worry about. let’s assume the staircase weighs 100kgs plus 2 people at 100 kgs each, total 300;split between 2 stringers so each stringer (foot or wall mounted) takes 150 and that is split between top and bottom (unless both people are on the bottom step). now take a 3 seater sofa with 3 people, say 350kgs split between 4 legs. The loads are fairly similar and you wouldn’t worry about the sofa.

Pressure wash! The surface will be pitted so dirt gets deep into the surface, yes you could grind off with a diamond disk but the work and resulting finish would be terrible.

Thickness depends on size, intended traffic load and sub base prep. domestic decorative pavers are often 25mm thick while paving slabs are 40-60mm due to the increased area and therefore bending loads

BH is really for self builders and this is obviously a commercial venture, that aside you have look at intended use. You say flats, so are they aimed at professional couples who are likely to be out most of the day or is this a Hostel type building where occupants are usually ‘at home’ thereby increasing load factor on services?

Moulding concrete was pretty common in the 70’s my Saturday job was in a DIY shop and we sold moulds for patterned blocks, post caps and paving slabs. Simple steel moulds (like shallow cake tins), almost dry small agg concrete and ram it into the moulds, flip out and sprinkle with concrete dye (or mix in if doing a lot of the same colour).

I agree. Unless there is something specific to line the French doors up with then move them over … unless they are already fitted of course.