Alan Ambrose

Tried the tracksaw followed by handsaw idea today. Works fine, but we actually need the tracksaw at 60 degrees and it has a max of 45. I've also ordered a hot wire cutter, a Bahco wavy saw and some Bosch wavy jigsaw blades to try. Intend to build a jig somewhat like @Super_Paulie 's. Will report back.

@JohnMo Pretty much this:

I have a bunch (~72m) of Ravatherm XPS blocks 100mm x 600mm x 1,250mm I need to make some cuts reasonably accurately at 30 degree angles. Something like below, if you're looking from the ends of the boards. Anyone have a great method? The cut surface on the slope is 200mm long.

Sounds like a lot of progress to me. Thankfully the weather is heading in the right direction now.

Suspect that’s for eps beads rather than wood fibre or cellulose. I hope the same might be true for those two though.

An interesting problem. ‘Interesting’ for me at least in that we’re about to have insulation blown-in and an answer to what happens if ‘membranes fail and the insulation gets wet’ would be reassuring. I think you need either a proper creative engineer or someone who has fixed this problem before. Sure, call the blown-in importers as they may have exposure to this problem before. You might need their CEO or their top tech person rather than be fobbed off with a lead to their local representative. Alternatively, call a bunch of the local representatives (mostly one-man businesses), describe the problem and see who bites. I’m wondering whether some more creative solutions e.g. just let it dry out or suck out the damp stuff and blow in some dry stuff might work. Do report back to add some info to the hive mind.

>>> Shall we all make a date for say Thurs March 19th? ?

Don’t know if this helps any - it’s fairly common to bevel the plasterboard below and above the window. (We have ours bevelled in all 4 directions, but that’s a bit of a faff.) Would that help your objective?

Maybe there’s another staircase design that means the ‘rsj’, or replacement, can still do a similar span? Also, it’s possible that an SE can design something that will have the same structural effect but not impinge on the stairs. The good news is that there won’t be many bidders prepared to absorb the cost & risk of structural work. Start flinging out very low bids to see whether it might make financial sense? Agree that previous developer is a fool, so there may be other stuff lurking. You should be able to see on the land registry what the previous developer paid for it. That might be a psychological bottom line for them.

UK technology company Automated Architecture, or AUAR (pronounced “our”) believes it has a solution. It makes portable micro-factories that can produce the wooden framing of a house — the walls, floors and roofs. Co-founder Mollie Claypool says the micro-factories will be able to produce the panels quicker, cheaper and more precisely than a timber framing crew, freeing up carpenters to focus on the construction of the building. AUAR has raised £7.7 million ($10.3 million) to date, and is expanding into the US, where a lack of housing and preference for using wood makes it a large potential market https://edition.cnn.com/world/home-building-robots-housing-crisis-auar-spc

FYI I see: Bosig/Warmotech Phonotherm RG 550 - 7MPa @ 10% - 0.076 W/mK CompacFoam CF 200 - 3.5 / 0.046 Marmox Thermoblock - 9 (doesn't say at what compression %) / 0.053 (but probably less vertically- the columns are 0.13) (for comparison) Ravatherm XPS 300SB - 0.3 / 0.03 I see there are a bunch of others too - Armatherm, Foamglas, Unifoam etc.

If you don't mind me joining in ... this is my solution atm - I'm not totally happy with it. That is, steel shelf angle resin anchored to side of slab, mostly buried in XPS insulation, and supporting Marmox Thermoblocks for a mix of thermal & load bearing. The brick plinth is Suffolk-barn stylistic rather than load bearing. In my case, the door load falls completely off the slab like Nick's example. Any thoughts gratefully received.

The US dictator will lose interest in Iran quickly - he doesn’t have much of an attention span.

Fyi discovered these recently, they work surprisingly well into twinwall: https://www.easymerchant.co.uk/underground-drainage/twinwall-drainage-pipe/pipe-fittings/110mm-twinwall-pipe-saddle-adaptor/

Won’t the eps / compactfoam compress with the load tho? i should say I have a similar detail coming up, so I’m v interested in a robust solution.

OK that's interesting. I can see these plastic battens: https://www.kedel.co.uk/battens/BS2505150.html - 50x25x3m solid 11.67 each Low Profile Composite Decking Joists/Battens 3m | Dino Decking 50x30x3m hollow 7.50 each Brown Plastic Square Sub Frame W 40 x H 40 x L 3000mm - F H Brundle 40x40x3m solid 7.30 each Strikes me that with all the plastic waste we get through, that recycled plastic s.b. cheap and plentiful. Thermowood prices seen a bit more elusive atm. This could be cut down to 25x50mm at about 6.75 for 3m length. Thermowood Pine Batten | 25mm x 100mm | Woodlands DIY Store

Having monkeyed around with some blue 'graded' roofing batten a couple of days ago I was unimpressed - a pilothole-less screw driven through it would cause it to shatter. Is there a better quality of batten? e.g. What are the people with fancy cladding, cedar, larch etc using as battens for their nice hard wood rain screen?

New datacentres risk doubling Great Britain’s electricity use, regulator says: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/23/new-datacentres-risk-doubling-uk-electricity-use-ofgem-peak-demand

Can I ask what went kaput with the old one - I was about to buy one of those.

Maybe it doesn't matter much practically ... by the time the LPA has sent the enforcement peeps around to take a look and they've worked through their processes ... then you'll have gained PD rights anyway. You put up PV panels and didn't have them on your planning drawings? Please take them off again. But drat, now you have PD rights - damn you can leave them up.

Yeah, that's a good solution. Here's my OCD non-exhaustive mini-analysis for anyone that cares: I figure I want W1 & fire protection, so am inclined to use Illbruck ME050 FR.

This guy is hilarious

As usual, I've got into this in an 'over-enthusiastic' manner... I see some membranes with fire ratings of A1, A2 (OK for high rises), B1 (does burn a bit) or none (you can bet it burns). I see some with UV ratings of from 3 to 12 months (or none at all). I see water penetration of W1 (just doesn't) and W2 (leaks a bit). Some at 2 quid / m^2, some 8x that. Question is: how much do we care? how much does BC care? I'm thinking all re clad timber frame, of course.

I guessed 😄, congrats on your new grandchild.

@LSB >>> looking at baby prams Congrats :). We have the 21 degrees guy calling in at our home address i.e. IP6 late afternoon, so would be pushed to make 5pm. Agree that seeing it in the light would be better than stumbling around in the dark😄. Shall we all make a date for say Thurs March 19th? Sunset is about 6pm then apparently. Happy to host a plot visit - might be marginally more interesting as by then we should have the structure of our walls 'watertight'.