markc

While watching the programme I thought it was over ambitious and more like a hotel build than a house. The eye was kinda cool though.

Removing slates or tiles using a mewp is slow and back breaking. (Leaning out of the cage to reach the roof isn’t easy). As above, cut your losses and save your time and energy and let the digger do the work.

+1

One day I hope to have enough free time to #£&@ about like this. Not jealous much …. Honest .

I would go with condensation forming on the stack, then running down

Self levelling will be fine, just roughen the concrete surface to let it get hold (assuming it has been floated)

Just because he is/was registered or qualified doesn’t mean he is or ever was any good. there are a lot of highly qualified unemployable people out there. what is your time worth? Do you really want to spend your time and money educating this guy? cut your losses, learn from the lesson (cheap is cheap for a reason) and find someone who you can work with

Mulitool is very slow cutting through nails even with expensive blades. Knock or bar the timber back as far as you can then get a hacksaw in. Much quicker and easier

Omg! Think I need to be looking around Scotland for a plot instead of Yorkshire

Much easier to calculate the volume of tank and make a dip stick. anything that obstructs the filling flow will cause problems. ifyoudont believe the delivery truck gauge get them to put 20 litres into a container where you know the level. highly unlikely a reputable retailer will be fiddling the meter.

Yes they will be ideal if you already use Hep20

What are you “painting” anything inside a stove or boiler soon burns off or acts as an insulator.

If the stacks project into the rooms and the blocks ARE on the party wall then the stack must be yours …. Or am I missing something

Asking your screed supplier is sound advice, as you are tiling then I can see scope to reduce the drying time as the floor finish won’t be susceptible to moisture and it’s unlikely you will be taking the screed to anywhere near is max compressive strength. drying time also depends on how wet the screed was when it was laid.

Insulating a floor properly would mean raising the floor height substantially or digging down to add the insulation. any insulation is better than nothing, even a couple of layers of insulating underlay and a covering of laminate would make a big difference to painted concrete. Roof void if there is one is the ideal place to insulate above or insulating plasterboard to the ceiling for an “easy” improvement. is the outer wall cavity or single brick?

Will be having the Smoked pigeon or sparrow tonight sir?

Disclaimer: *no animals (well birds) were harmed during the making of this thread*

You could push the brush until it was starting to exit the pot leaving a dome or cone to prevent the birds from building a nest on it. Or bite the bullet and get someone in for an hour to cap it/them off.

As above, real slate has been used for hundreds of years and proved itself to work well, but as a natural product it has flaws, is not consistent and often breaks when you least expect it. ’fake’ slate being factory produced is very consistent, rarely breaks but does look “too uniform” in places.

No problem with a Hardybacker over sailing this corner, even 6mm is very strong when covering voids. if you want to buildout, clean surface, key with diluted pva, ordinary mortar mix. if you leave a small hole at top of backer board this could be fixed in place and then push mortar through the hole and let it drop into the void. But really not needed.

Why should it be anyone’s “responsibility” ? loads of old services are buried in strange places, maps and plans only give a rough idea of pipe and cable locations. It is good practice to look around for access covers and man-holes etc. To get an idea of what could be buried but gas and water can run for many miles without any indication of their presence

Sounds like a balancing problem, anything under pressure will always take the easiest route, balancing rads forces water to go around the whole system by restricting the outlet of rads. look it up on YouTube etc.

The installation Cert is issued on completion of testing. Only one Cert required. you really want the same person or company to complete 1st, 2nd and test or it will be a nightmare of blame and complaints from whoever does it.

Sounds like you just need a 12v coil relay with say spade terminals soon soldering required

+1 to this as long as the stainless is low grade, do not put zinc near any stainless in 400 grade or above