LSB

Re crushing and re-using. We were planning on doing exactly the same, but investigation showed that hiring a crusher was going to cost more than a grab lorry to take away and buying in. Also, someone (can't remember who) on BH said that the quality of previously used and crushed might not be acceptable. We had a fibre cement roof which can contain about 10% asbestos on the barn we are converting, this was the stuff that is not so dangerous, and the cost to get someone in to clear was circa 12k. In the end we suited up and carefully took it down ourselves, it all had to be double wrapped, look at my blog for pictures, and then we hired a skip and had it taken away. With the DPM to wrap and the skip hire it all cost about £800 for 3/4 ton and probably 30 - 40 hours of time. Good luck, and use BH as people on here have a lot of knowledge which I have already used many times. We are now at the opposite end of the country, but come from Somerset originally and love the area.

Some of the stuff we dug out was small so I've already done the 120m driveway and area around the barn, we have so much ? But, thanks, I will check what we can use. I sort of assumed that because it came out of the floor, we are just lowering it to get enough roof height, that it would be fine to go back in, sounds like that may not be the case.

I didn't think that output from a waste plant was allowed to go into a water course that ultimately goes into the public water supply.

It might be worth looking at planning consultants in the area that know the rules rather than 'warn' the LPA in advance. Do you really want to get rid of the barn or could you get planning permission again to convert and then sell that. The house already seems quite large, if there is a particular reason for almost doubling the size it's worth discussing that with planning expert as well.

Hello We have many tons of rubble, some very large lumps. This is the original barn floor. As we are going to need ballast for the new floors I'm after the opinion about whether to have this lot 'grabbed and taken' or if we hire a crusher to make our own. The cost of a crusher is £576 for 2 days, which may not be enough and also will possible not handle some of the large pieces. So far we have only dug out about 25% of the floors so still have lots to do, but the pile is getting so large that I would like to sort this pile out soon to get space for the next lot. Some of the lumps are so big that our digger can move them, but not lift so these will need to become part of the garden (bit ugly) or grabbed. Here are a couple of pictures of the big bits and later I will take a picture of the main pile to give an idea. This lot all came out of a hole that suddenly appeared beside the barn where we drive to dig out the floor.

I've been looking up paper tape, but I'm not sure what you mean, is it this? DIALL PAPER JOINTING TAPE WHITE 90M X 50MM (619CF)

the plaster isn't loose so I don't have that, but downstairs there are lots of cracks where the old house can move and the extension can't. Thankfully, most of them are level. All the corners have crack, but as the house will be sold when the barn conversion is finished we need to make sure that nothing shows.

We built an extension on our house about 20 years ago. The old house was built 1860 and has no foundations and is on sand, so has always moved a bit. The new extension had to have 3m+ piles where it connects to the new bit. We are now re-decorating our master (in the extension), where there are a number of settlement cracks, easily filled and sanded for painting But, under the window there is one which is about 1mm raised from side to side and we are not sure what to do. This has been there for some time (years), but I'm not sure exactly how many. Can anyone advise what path we should take. We are not sure which side has raised or dropped, but it is the side by the radiator that is lower. The downstairs goes out about 3m further than the bedroom, it has a sloped roof. There are no corresponding cracks above the window or on the skirting. This is above where the heating pipes go down for the lounge, which are surface mounted in the room below, not sure what we were thinking back then. Picture to show.

Over the last month we've spent most of our time continuing to take parts of the barn apart whilst repairing some bits that need to stay. What's brilliant is that all the fibre cement roofing which contains a small amount of asbestos is gone. The skip company delivered on Friday and collected on Monday and after seeing it all wrapped said it was very good and we didn't need to wrap the skip as well. We've pretty much finished clearing the back sheds, although there is still quite a bit of moving from A to B with no real idea of where it is going to end up, such as 8 farm gates that I will need in the future, but am not sure where to store. I spent a number of days moving rocks, where are the chain gangs when you want them, these are ones that can't be reached by the digger. I also knocked down an internal wall that we don't need, this means that 2 sheds become 2 beds and a bathroom. I also removed a number of broken blocks and HID replaced them with new ones. Then HID started digging out the floors and I got to clear, sweep and drive the digger. I'm also revisiting my plans to measure again, thinking about windows and drainage. In my online plans I've added furniture to see how space works and the best place to put doors. With all the comments about price increases I'm thinking about ordering some items sooner than originally intended. As physical self builders this project is going to be a few years, yet if I wait then we might end up with boarded up holes and no glass, nice and warm I guess. Next month is going to be much of the same as will the following months with a lot of floors to be dug out. The digger cannot break the concrete so we have to use the breaker to start and then lift with the digger. Last month I bought an Aldi wacker as they seemed a good price. It will be a long time before it's needed though. I can see all this clearing is going to lose my interest long before it's done, but doing it ourselves is literally the only way we have any chance of affording this build the ways things are going. Well I guess it's back to the grind. And, thanks for all the help and answers that I have been getting from BH.

all our blocks have arrived on pallets, we were lucky that they could be placed right by the build, 48 per pallet, but absolutely no chance of moving them with the pallet truck. Also, ours are 25kg as they are 140 deep.

looks great, please can I see a picture of the twins ?

We actually need to make some of them smaller as new internal walls will hit the outside right in the middle of 3 windows. But, we are rendering and will have plasterboard inside so I hoped that it wouldn't show once we finish.

Thanks, I've read many times about using 'standard' sizes, but I doubt my barn holes are standard, are we better making the holes smaller to allow for this. For example the ensuite window is 1106mm x 685mm Or, will the window suppliers cater for this.

Do you have CIL where you live, if you have don't do anything until that is sorted.

Question: in my barn conversion I have some existing opening which will become windows. But, when I measure to get quotes is it the size of the hole that I use, i.e. if the hole is 1m x 0.8m then is that what I use and the glass is smaller. Or, do I allow for the frames myself.

We were refused twice for class Q and didn't get a 'free go' in either case as it was for PD.

ok, I'm not sure then what the rules are. probably building regs

I think it would be permitted development, but that does depend on other extensions done to the property.

I have a copy of House Builders Bible, previous edition 12, 13 being latest which you can buy off me. Make me an offer ? It is heavy so post might be a bit, where are you?

there is so much work on at the moment that builders can pick and choose. just to add to the complication, make sure that you check builders references and see some of their previous work. and don't pay up front.

Hello, another self builder here from Suffolk, not SIPS though. Where abouts are you

Next question re the hollow blocks. I can't find any details on how much mortar it will take to fill each block, I know each side and level is 10mm * block depth, but how do I calculate the middle. I've done lots of googling, but can only find details for H blocks which are 200 deep whereas these are 140 and have 2 ovalish holes.

because that is what the existing wall is built from and we have to make a few changes for the new roof. This is one block height increase for the 24.5m back wall. The old ones with cracks, either in the block or the mortar, won't that cause problems with cold bridges?

Thanks, I will measure later to confirm, I know the new blocks we have ordered are hollow 440 * 215 and 140 depth, the new blocks for some of the internal walls and external are 100 deep and not hollow. Another question. A few of the old blocks are split through the middle so we are going to remove and replace. The SE said it is long standing and not an issue. These broken blocks are at ground and first level, nothing split higher up. But, as well as that quite a few show the vertical mortar joint is cracked. We were planning to also replace these rather than try any sort of repair. Is that the right thing to do. Insulation on all these existing walls is EWI with plasterboard inside.

I thought the blocks were 210, sounds like I need to check my measurements in the existing blocks. We have existing walls that we have to keep, I wonder if the sizes have changed since the barn was built in the 60's.