Roundtuit

I'm currently putting noggins in where cables penetrate the ceiling, and I'm planning on a generous squirt of silicon to seal the hole. Downlights will have hoods siliconed to the top side of the sealing.

I'm up a handsaw, but down a wheelbarrow and a 30m tape measure so far. I've sort of come to accept that whatever tools or materials happen to be on site are assumed to be there purely for the convenience of what ever trade is passing through... I did construct my temporary stairs from discarded timber and nails though.

With regards to decrement delay, I can see that those of you with cladding as the rain screen will have to give more thought to insulation types, but surely the OP's block outer skin and obligatory 50mm cavity will have a significant beneficial effect on internal temperature stability?

That's what I was hoping? If it's a low laitance liquid screed, doesn't it just need a quick once-over with a 60 grit to provide a key, rather than a couple of mil?

Interesting. I need to get about 150 sq m done in the near future. How big a job is it? One man with a floor sander for a couple of hours, or something more complicated?

Thanks. After a long circular chat with talktalk again, followed by the same with bt, I'll have to conclude that their common sense shield is impenetrable. However, I managed to get the phone number of the OR guy who looks after our area, and he understood our position exactly, without having to explain it lots of times in different ways, and he's going to try and sort some cable out for us. Failing that, at least he's on board with diy cable pulling, so a good result!

@ProDave to be fair, we've been with talktalk for years, and have been happy with the service, it just seems that theyre not equipped to deal with the non-standard. Openreach left us the ducting, but no cable or instructions relating to running one ourselves.. @Bitpipe Thanks - did search to find this thread, but doesn't putting your own cable in potentially leave you the mercy of an Openreach jobsworth? ( I know - the guys on the ground are usually great, but it would be just my luck...). We've ducted to the boundary, and that's within about 3m of an openreach cabinet thing. As an aside, the OR website says we can get super fast fibre, but talktalk say we can't. Assuming OR is correct, what sort of cable would we need to pull for that?

No, different area code so no need to transfer number.

I paid £330 inc vat three years ago, after being quoted over £800 through the architects 'preferred' surveyor ( shortly before parting company with architect through loss of confidence..). Seemed to me that a) the bigger surveyors had carved up the region between them and priced accordingly, and b) a lot of the cost was office overheads, so If you can a smaller outfit there are savings to be made.

I'm just trying to sort a phone line out. It seems to be harder than I think it should be, and feel sure someone will have cracked this already.... So, many months ago, our application was made online for a line. Openreach turned up on site within days, assessed the job, and dropped off a load of ducting and pull cord f.o.c for me to lay. Great service! Now, whilst l'm not in need of a connection, I'd like to get the cable pulled through and into the house at first fix. Openreach tell me I need to arrange it through our chosen service provider (talktalk - already in a contract that we're planning to transfer, when we're ready to move in). Talktalk tell me that to get a line in, we can take out a new contract at the new house (leaving us with cancellation fees on the current contract), or transfer the current contract, leaving us with no line in our current house. Both options seem a bit $h!t to me. Anyone been faced with similar please?

Ok, thanks. Waste stays where it is, and I try to minimise the impact. It's not a biggie, it just limits the choice of basin/furniture a bit, which was one of the hundreds of little details I couldn't have even tried to get my head around in the early stages! (No shouting involved, stand down the plumbing militia!?)

First fix pumbing has started today. The pic shows the waste pipe for the ensuite basin waste. My preferred location for this would have been hidden in the stud wall that sits on the joist to the right of the current location, but that means putting a ~40mm hole approx, 40mm in from the edge of a 150mm wide joist. It would be within 400mm of a supporting wall. Have the plumbers just taken the easy option, or does anyone see a problem with doing that? Thanks. Andy

Our local recycling centre is great, I've got rid of all of our build waste there so far. As long as you play by the re-cycling rules, they don't seem to mind how often you visit, but then I think the council is just grateful you haven't fly-tipped. As for the pruning saw, that would go in the metal skip!

How does that sit with Building Regs? Assuming you haven't put trickle vents in windows and don't want uncontrolled airflow through vents, is leaving out the mvhr an option?

Looks like a Luxair Anzi extractor without enough space to fit it flush, so trimmed with architrave.

I had the chain on my site gates cropped in the early stages of our build - nothing stolen, but it made me aware of how vulnerable we were to passing scrotes with bolt croppers. My first reaction was to replace it with a f.o.b chain, but changed my mind when I realised that the next easiest way in is through the 2mm heras fence wire. Better to lose 2 quids worth of chain....

What's the risk you're trying to mitigate? I'd suggest that you need to be properly secure before you do much in the way of first fixing, so if you hold off on that, there's probably not much appeal for thieves if you weigh up the re-sale value to risk...

Fridge every time, if you've got the space. Dropping the temperature slows the respiration rate, so it will keep better, longer. Just be careful with stuff like courgettes and aubergines that are prone to chill damage.

I've got a buildbase account (and a legacy travis Perkins account as it happens) and cross check prices for anything big. Generally, buildbase is cheaper than I can find anywhere else, so I guess it depends on your local branch.

Ah - good plan. I ask as I got a bit caught out with this. I didn't fully anticipate that the weight needed to go on the roof to 'settle' the frame before the brick/block outer skin could go up, and I'd lined the brickies up before the roofers. Windows went in after, but then they do span the cavity.

This might be a dumb question, but where abouts does getting the roof on sit in your schedule?

Congratulations and good effort!

Can you full-fill the cavity? I thought the cavity was necessary for a timber frame with a masonry outer skin?

Except perhaps decrement delay? I'd agree, my brick skin is a (very...) expensive rain screen, but I expect it to contribute to the temperature stability inside. Yes, you can achieve the same thing with alternative insulation types, but then you're back to increasing wall thickness again are you not?

The ties are generally nailed to the osb that clads the frame, and bedded into the mortar joints of the outer masonry skin. Not sure how how effectively you could do it differently.