LSB

Thanks, I just get a bit paranoid about being chased by salesmen, but i have looked and am going to seriously consider this. Particularly when the weather gets better and we can actually do something. Currently our 'room' resembles a swimming pool as it's full of water and builder hubby isn't keen on wading in it to lay blocks. I think he's being a wimp, but then i don't have to do it 🙂

gosh, that hadn't even occurred to me, I will have a look from a different PC using a proxy server so if it is click bate then I can disappear easily.

our foundations are huge, so far we have had 104 ton crushed and still have the same again at least so I hope yours is not so much funny how it was supposed to be underpinned, as it we didn't have enough already. our BCO has been brilliant, turns up scruffy on a motorbike, but is really helpful

thanks, but you are right, there is nothing to be said.

I really hoped that now we are progressing after our suspended floor saga that things would get better, but something somewhere is determined to make sure that doesn't happen. The only change is that this time the things that have gone wrong are not build related. Firstly, my brother, only 63, died of a heart attack with no history of problems. I spent 5 days with him and his wife / kids in intensive care hoping against hope that he would pull thorough, but at 6am 6th Feb his heart gave way for the last time, no more restarts, RIP Alan 😞 Just before that, 6 days before, I got told that I've been made redundant, as the only breadwinner that's another major blow, the build funds are sorted, but we still need to eat and pay the bills and run the cars. So, forget build PM I'm now looking for a job that offers enough for us to live on. The only snifter I've had would be a 20k reduction in pay with an hour's drive each way and 24hr on call once every 4 weeks. I may be desperate, but I'm not that desperate yet. The trouble is I'm in my 60's so although age discrimination is illegal you can't prove it's happening. But, with ALL the experience on my CV it shows that I'm not just out of uni. Right, back to the build. In December we had just got the details about our suspended floor. It had to have a bearing of 130mm, plus 20mm expansion foam, plus shear links. After much huffing and puffing it was prepped and ready for inspection. The BCO came out and just said yes with no hassle and went on to talking about the other parts of the build and our future under pinning of the back wall. He was really helpful and has even sent a message to the SE saying that he feels that 2.5m deep foundations is over the top with our sandy soil. He wants us to dig two trial holes of 1.5m deep and then have a site meeting with BCO & SE to discuss what we really need. He feels that the SE is being over cautious bearing in mind we are converting the barn into a single storey bungalow when there have been no issues with the existing barn over the last 70+ years. This will all happen about March as hubby is going to build this 'room' first. This will actually be our hall and snug. The above is the inside wall of the cavity wall up to DPM. As I speak the mostly external wall is finished although the bit nearest stays internal as that borders the kitchen. I wanted a 'proper' wall for hanging a sliding door and kitchen cabinets. It was already a separate space when it was a barn so it is a bit like an extension. The long awaited concrete pour happened, at one point it looked like they might not make the slope as it was raining, but after a lot of slipping and sliding they got there. bit of a wet day for it, but all dry now The only other thing we did this month was buy a block saw at auction (for not a lot of money), it needs a new engine as it's been stood outside for years, when hubby took off the old casing it was obvious just how long. This is how it arrived and this was what was under that casing. I wonder how many years the birds were nesting. We actually got 2 for the price of one, when we got to the auction to collect they said, oh there were 2 of these in a lot. So, hopefully we can make a bit of money by cleaning, replacing the engines and servicing. These beasts are seriously expensive to buy working at about £750. Hubby has worked with a company in the paste who are going to do the work for us and refurbish so we should end up with at least one working machine for less than £250. I've not been able to work for over a week on the build and we stopped for 10 days over Xmas so a very short month. Once again, I'm just hoping next month will be better, but somehow I'm losing hope on that front.

this does seem to depend on the LPA, ours is very strict about this, but they have been good about the time, we are late due to covid and they accepted that as they came and visited and were happy because we are working on it. They took away 5 apps, 3 because the 'barn' had disappeared and looked like a new build and 2 because nothing had been done in the 3 years since planning was permitted

conversion, the LPA said that the barn must be converted as a rebuild is a new build in the countryside which is not allowed. We are still doing it now, but am converting with some issues as not straight or the right measurements for blocks etc. We have had to do some underpinning as well. It would have been much easier to knock down and rebuild, but it was convert or nought so convert it is.

Right, a question about the DPC in the internal cavity wall and the DPM under the internal floor level. We have the internal cavity wall built to what we planned to be the DPC level in the wall But, due to the build up of the floor being suspended on the foundation by the time we put the insulation and screed on top of the slab the GFL will be higher than the DPM Please note this is not to scale, just to show what I mean, the external FFL is 150 below the DPM rather than a whole block. So, we need to have DPC in the wall with the sheet under the insulation, I know we have to have some insulation running beside the screed as well, but just not shown here. The plan was to place the DPC in the wall with a 'skirt' to be joined to the DPM sheet, but is it okay to have some of the insulation and the screed on the internal wall above the DPC Or, should we put the wall DPM a block higher so it is all wrapped, we have full fill insulation of 150mm This would mean that the external and internal DPM would be at a different level. FYI, the only thing in situ yet is the suspended floor and the internal wall to planned DPC. The brickie is starting on the external wall today. One of the things we need to do with these levels is conside the level access for doors, but we plan on doing this will a gently sloping ramp and French drains. TIA

You are not very PC are you Do some exercise and keep your head down

it's 9:30 - why aren't you fitting this kitchen I'm avoiding the cold and waiting for BC, what's your excuse

the rest of the floors aren't like this, this bit of the barn was like an 'add-on' and is an independent structure with its own roof. We are building this first to then use as storage as the rest of the barn is where we store things at the moment. thanks for your help

I don't have the updated whole slab drawings, our SE just sent us through what I've posted, a bit bigger, but no more details. The rest was left as the original without the shear links. You are right about the spacers, we do have those, just didn't mention. Thanks re the vibration, we will do that and not add any water. The barn is on our land which we've owned for 30+ years and was used for storage of tractors, hay etc. so was never on the open market There are times when I wish we hadn't bothered 🙂

First time DIY self building and my fault to be honest. Hubby knows how to build, but not really how to read plans, he's used to be told, do this, do that and then do the other. Plans are down to me and I've been so busy at work that I didn't stop long enough to even think. Not again, I've spent this time going over everything again to check, double check and then do it again. This wall was also supposed to be under-pinned, but when we took out the floor as per the plans the walls turned out to not be attached to the existing foundation and after one fell down it became clear that this bit of the build needed to be done from scratch. This also necessitated involving the LPA as the existing plans were for single skin and EWI not a cavity wall, which is why there wasn't enough bearing space. The other option given us by SE was to put in secondary foundation inside what we had poured, but then that had to be attached with horizontal rebar and vertical mesh as well as the existing mesh. So, knocking down the cavity wall up to damp proof was a much easier option. The shear links are attached with metal ties, bit like cable ties, but metal in the middle of each mesh, so that side is 100mm so shear links are also 100mm. There are also 'foam' expansion sheets around the wall at 20mm thick to allow for any movement of the slab / mesh. Barn conversions are definitely much more tricky than new builds.

there was, but at least for that we had huge amounts of crushed concrete. I felt more sorry for hubby having dug it out by hand in the first place.

Our tale of delays and woe is competing even with @pocster for time taken From Oct - Dec progress has one again been delayed by weather, flooding, cold and in all honesty a bit of incompetence on our part meaning we are further back than when we started. This period started well enough with the trenches for foundation filled ready to start building walls. After digging down and down to the required depth (or so we thought) we started to place the cellcore ready for the mesh / concrete. Most of this had to be done by hand as we somehow managed to build the walls before digging deep enough for the hardcore and blinding and couldn't reach lots of it with the digger. The cellcore and mesh were laid Then this hit - storm babett our road and the site were totally flooded and the work from the previous day ruined After waiting for it all to dry enough BC came out and said wrong, wrong, wrong. We had mis-read our plans and somehow forgotten to suspend our suspended floor and to add even more woe we hadn't left enough bearing space on the foundations for the mesh to sit on. Cue 4 weeks of SE, BC and the associated costs. To be fair they were both really helpful at trying to sort out what was our mess with the least upheaval to us. Then partially fill the hand dug hole, thankfully only one room not the whole house and having crushed 104 tons of concrete hardcore isn't in short supply. In the end we had to knock down what we'd built and get agreement from SE & BC that we could use Shear Links between the mesh sheets and have any overhang of 150 instead of 200. I hadn't even heard of Shear Links so sourcing them was fun as neither had any of the main BM's. there are also many different shapes, we needed shape 33, like a paperclip So, amended drawings, shear links, time and everything else leads, once again, to more cost and more time. It's also rained so much in the last few months that any progress was hampered. We are still not back to where we were, the blinding needs whacking again so the cellcore can be put down again, the mesh needs placing again with the shear links, the walls need rebuilding to DPM and BC needs to inspect. Then we will be back to where we were 2 months ago. One day, I'm hoping to do a blog entry where everything is wonderful 🙂 More in a couple of months.

the issue with the size is that it's a barn conversion, these particular walls were not usable. When we dug out the floors to start to underpin, the existing walls were not attached to the ground so had to be replaced. But, we had to use exactly the same dimensions so for once we can't blame the architect. What should have been done was a bit more measuring in advance to make sure that the blocks didn't end up like this in the last corner. But, can this be left for this level and the rest done correctly or does it need removing and redoing. Be assured, all the rest of the levels with be built corners first as it should be.

Does this look okay HID is worried that the small parts of blocks at this corner may not be man enough to sustain the next level. For context this is DPM level and will be entirely internal, the external wall to be built next. TIA

We are converting a barn and about Aug this year a car drove in and it turned out to be the planners. He was doing the rounds of all the local barn conversions to check. He was happy with us as he could see the old walls and what we were doing, but he told us that there were 3 people who had lost their planning because when he did his random visit there was no existing barn there and they had obviously knocked down and started from scratch. 2 others lost their planning because they hadn't started in time. So, go for planning for what you want to do, but as others have said don't do anything until a rebuild is approved so that you have a fall back option of renovation.

JP Chicks in Ipswich, quite commercial so not cheap, but very efficient.

no mining in Suffolk, no hills, but was an old pig farm so looking for methane. This was done by the SE.

we had one done in 2021 and it cost circa 6k. Some just dug and taken away, 3 monitored for 3 months for anything bubbling through. There was nothing otherwise it would have been remedial works next. This was a condition post planning, the phase 1 was a desk study.

Hi, we went thru the B705 v B785 a while ago, the SE just didn't update this bit of drawing. They also provided full details of the mesh and Shear Links, I just didn't know what they did, so I was trying to educate myself. They have designed the mesh to go in a particular direction, basically side to side, although it is only the sides that take the weight all 4 sides have the rebar on top. The conversion has 3 sizes of rebar in different areas, underpinning in shallow foundations and secondary foundations where they don't think there is enough bearing size for the rebar. All in all quite complex drawings, not helped in the least by them making typo mistakes like B705 when I'm trying to get best price. Thanks for you help.

why 4 layers, what are you building

Still getting a big bogged down on our suspended floor. Our SE drawings were fine, until we started to clear to underpin an existing single skin wall only to find it wasn't attached to the ground so was not viable. So, after all the hoops that involved getting permission to replace some unstable walls, which appeared stable on the initial class Q conversion survey. We then continued in our merry way and dug out, trench approved, and poured foundation. BCO came out as he wanted to check our mesh suspension and then insisted that we had new SE drawings to cater for cavity walls. Some cost and lots of time later we have the drawings as requested. All fine except he's included shear links. More back and forth as these seem to be unusual, we eventually got the code H33 and have found them. Apparently the H10 in the drawing just means bumpy steel. Right, my question, what do these actually do and what does 100mm cts mean. I guess they sit 90 degrees out from the wall partly on top of the foundation and partly within the mesh. This is for a single storey barn conversion, not the rebuild of Luton Airport carpark Any info greatly received.

welcome to EA, if you are in East Suffolk, be warned, planning is vicious, just ask a few people on here who have appliced there