Faz

We have Mick George up here trying to drive the competition into oblivion. And it is unfortunately slowly working - short term gains and long term pain I suspect. As for MG - you pay for 20T of stone and get 19 (never had a credit note) that he digs out of his own quarry and ships in his own trucks that occasionally demolish parts of your building - what's not to love.... 20 lines for orders 0 for any comeback!

6F5 has become more expensive (£14.50/T) for us than 50mm clean from the quarry (£13.50/T) since the clowns at the LA/Government started handing out fines to the suppliers for not having the appropriate waste carriers Licence - crushed concrete is now 'waste' ?

£17k is a pisstake mate. My chippie quote o/s Huntingdon for first & second fix (joists, roofs, doors etc) was £15k. This was for 3 plots spanning 7,000 sq ft. Extension = pisstake I think in some trades minds. But, then again they don't know if / when they are going to get paid on some of the private jobs so maybe premiums apply.

They are low kW and cost very little to run. Set them off timers and job done.

If you are doing MHRV it is best to let them complete their first fix through the posi joists before the plumbers and sparks - keeps the bends to a minimum so there is less chance of air noise.

If your BCO sees 'notched' joists you are going to be in a world of trouble - best not go down that route. I have the spare ways on the manifold and, looking at all the issues, quickly decided that mats were the way to go.

Or better yet use a low kW electric mat.

Well - try it under the bathrooms then. If you do the whole house then your M&E will either rip it out or walk away more than likely.

For a single room I wouldn't bother with MHRV. Presumably you have got trickle vents and the like everywhere else? You need as much air tightness as possible in the house for these systems to work properly.

Its not going over the top - the insulation will sit underneath it all.

Put the insulation in after first fix mate. Not an issue with posi joists. Get some decent safety glasses before tackling it too - you really want goggles but they fog up so quick at this time of year!

That is some of the worst scaffolding I have seen for a long while! Didn't go large on the crossbracing either. No puddies - that pile of crap appears to be freestanding.....

A covenant would be simpler and more readily understood by lenders. You would have thought that the lenders would find the prospect of resolving the leasehold title appealing and, as everything is back to back, it would be fairly simple and a single transaction for them - ie send all completion monies to your conveyancer in one go. Speak to more lenders I would have thought.

The LA's hate s96 apps but it would seem appropriate to me. Mind you - you need to decide if you want to spend time arguing about the application route or getting the thing in the system to be decided. I had the same - Huntingdonshire Planning refused my s96 app and wanted a variation of condition (drawings) app instead - this lead to full consultation....... It is just about done (just as well as we built it anyway!) but I would dig my heels in next time.

Or s96 non material amendment?

All depends on your air supply strategy mate - trickle vents / mhrv etc. If you are going down the TV route then NHBC / PG and others state the open area required for the vents for the house in total.

I did mine as a correspondence course with the College of Estate Management at Reading University - only had to rock up there 4 times a year plus a week for the exams (don't know if this is still going - did mine in the 80's). I found the RICS a pretty useless organisation and got fed up of sending them £700 a year for nothing in return (a rubbish monthly magazine that didn't leave it's plastic envelope before it hit the bin) and told them to stuff it 5 years ago. It has relevance for me while working for others but no relevance to me today.

As TBC says, the most important point is a willingness to graft. At 7.30 in the morning in an open field come January.... Don't know about turning in as a scaffolder mind - I have done enough scaffold adaptations in the last few months to know it is not fun!

Clearly not - I wonder if they have been put under a bit of pressure to up their game outside of major towns etc? The chap from Openreach rocked up to us on site offering this before we had even approached them for connections.

You want to go for fttp mate. Keep the copper entirely out of the system. Openreach actually offered it to us for free - we just have to do the trenches and buy a quadrobox. They even keep turning up delivering ducts and bends and all sorts. In rural Cambs (and I mean seriously in the middle of nowhere!) this will give us 900mB/s on current tech - if the network improves the speed will improve with it.

Sorry - promised a pic and failed to deliver! Sorted. The garage ceiling was a piece of p*ss compared to the attic room.

That was inc VAT - good deal at Seconds! Bit of tape to cover any rips to the foil and job done!

I paid £49 per sheet for the Kingspan Thermaboard 120mm. But, then again, I have spent £200k in the last 6 monts with the merch....

That is what my window installers used (Munster Joinery) - up against the layer of EDPM I installed it should be pretty bombproof - or indeed air proof!

I had Eurocell on mine - fairly decent. Don't leave either of them in the sun as the rear backer tape gets hard to take off!