Alan Ambrose

@nowtie >>> Is there anyway I can private message you with the report? I think you can attach it to a private message, but you could just post the link up here, or just the strata bit if you don't want to post the whole thing.

I would think that's important info, particularly if you're 'fall challenged'? For the 2nd product below, I'm guessing it's ~75mm as this is 225mm twinwall into 300mm twinwall and the tops of the pipes look roughly in line, but whatever ... ?

>>> I have just gone to the BGS website and it looks like there's something on the same road but I'm struggling to interpret the data, can you help? Ping me your site's postcode and I'll take a look at BGS. Or post up any nearby reports here and more knowledgeable people than me will chip in too. This is the kind of thing (from a 1941 borehole report maybe 3/4 mile away from my plot). It shows clay to about 20m and then sand under. If you found, say, sand closer to the surface, that would help a lot...

Ah boundaries are complicated - read some of the old threads here. The Land Registry plans are not definitive. It could be that your neighbour is right unless you have other evidence. Easiest is to sell with boundaries as is and file more accurate boundaries with the Land Registry this time.

>>> I mean that's just not feasible right? I think that's possible. On my site, it's mostly clay with a small amount of 'sand lenses'. Next door, hearsay says they started digging out their 'moat', hit some sand, and all the water ran away. Find similar sand lenses that drain and you're in business. I don't know if such a thing is possible on mudstone though.

Wow, these are expensive for how well they are made. Anyone know - are you allowed to put a CU and say a router inside too?

From memory doesn’t ubakus allow you to choose from a bunch of different moisture models? I’m guessing that a typical moisture analysis usually isn’t so marginal that the choice of moisture model means much anyway.

You might be able to slip it into fulfilment of a condition - do you have to confirm materials, planting etc? Or the straight forward way is to file a non-material amendment - no rush as presumably you'll do this near the end?

This? "You will also need to provide one of the following: + An approved claim for a VAT refund for DIY house builders + A self-build warranty + An approved self-build mortgage" So, the VAT claim will do it?

Yeah, good quality diamond drills will do it, but even then, they take a while. I found the erbauer drill guide a bit b.....x.

Do you have a soil investigation and/or have you looked up BGS records of any bores nearby. It would be interesting to see how deep the clay is and what’s under it.

To go to a proper waste plant, the dirt would need to be tested if there’s any amount of it. (A single wheelbarrow full probably gets through the system unscathed.) There’s restrictions on knotweed etc. Look up ‘WAC testing’ (not some kind of sanity test). If it’s going to be left in a layby somewhere you won’t need any certs. Check he’s not being an idiot over one wheelbarrow worth, but suggest the answer is ‘yes’.

Not much. Probably fencing, hedging, tree planting, grass cutting, vegetation clearing. Soil investigation, percolation tests etc. Demo maybe. I email my LPA’s CIL people to check before I do anything much.

Apologies - I was not intending to cause controversy - I was just asking, as a fire regs newbe, 'how does this meet the regs'. Reading this article and looking at the pictures more closely, I think that structurally it is probably a steel frame building entirely (i.e. not a few random steels dropped in for span purposes). It actually appeals to my meccano-kid 5-year old self. So, I suppose nicely coloured intumescent paint is the simple answer.

>>> Instability? Surely this is a good thing I imagine the nuclear plants are already bugging the French regulator suggesting that they have to pick up the cost (and risk?) of wind and solar putting random spiky amounts of power onto the grid. That is 'it was all very safe and stable until the new boys came along'.

Wind and solar glut forces 6 French reactors to shut temporarily: https://fortune.com/2024/06/16/electricity-prices-france-negative-renewable-energy-supply-solar-power-wind-turbines/ I wonder whether there will be some future intervention on the electricity marketplace to reduce this kind of grid instability?

And this: "The basement is not counted when assessing the numbers of storeys for fire resistance and means of escape. Typically, for a two-storey house over a basement, 30 minutes fire resistance is required for the structure..." https://www.basements.org.uk/TBIC/Basements/Fire-Safety.aspx

OK school day for me apparently: "A pack with 4,400+ matt and eggshell colours with sufficient intumescent basecoat (Bollom Brosteel Ultra 60) and coloured topcoat (Bollom Flameguard Ultra Vinyl Matt, Bollom Flameguard Ultra Acrylic Eggshell) to protect suitably primed, standard ‘ɪ’ shape structural steel beams and columns in internal environments to 30 minute fire resistance." https://www.rawlinspaints.com/products/5402-zeroflame-aquasteel-wb-30min-system-for-universal-beams-columns.html https://www.rawlinspaints.com/products/5232-bollom-brosteel-ultra-60-30min-system-for-universal-beams-columns.html

As an alternative, I can't think there would be a problem running two or more SWA cables (e.g. one power, one network) in the same duct. Yeah, theoretically heating if there were two power cables, but you're unlikely to be doing that.

But it looks like, from the article, they do:

>>> the only thing stolen on our site was wheel barrows (X2) that reminds me of an old joke... https://jokesfunnystories.quora.com/What-was-a-loophole-that-you-found-and-exploited-the-hell-out-of-356

@Indy B....x - commiserations, I feel for you.

In this issue of Homebuilding & Renovating p24-31 (the 1st image doesn't have a wavy ceiling, it's just the way the magazine is sitting on my desk). I like the look a lot. My question is: how do they do this without covering the whole thing in plasterboard etc for fire protection? Standard paint over intumescent paint maybe?

Maybe use some temporary struts at 45 degrees to the floor to hold uprights on a temporary basis. In two planes at right angles to each other if its a single stick pointing at the sun.

I like these things for that sort of job: https://www.fischer.co.uk/en-gb/products/cavity-fixings/board-fixing/metal-cavity-fixing-hm Only the Fischer ones, the competitor ones are rubbish. You really do need to use the pliers thingy ('setting tool') to pull them tight before you screw into them. Ask me how I know. With these you can screw and remove as often as you like.