mike2016

Hi was out digging a hole for a concrete fence post, setting the new boundary so I can go on to building on my site next year. I uncovered 2 x 4 inch black pipes stacked on top of each other about a meter away from the fire hydrant (heading that general direction). Judging from the thin sounding pipe wall and talking to the water utility they appear to be the water mains into the estate, and not marked on any service map! That would be ok except they are only 20cm below the surface. I'm worried about construction traffic cracking them. I could put a few steel plates over the area once I did another trial hole to map it out. For the driveway I'm wondering if I'll need some type of concrete reinforcement over that section to ensure they are properly protected later on? If anyone has had to deal with this let me know - curious what issues I should be aware of to avoid massive unexpected costs....Thanks!

Wow - that solar array - the house is something like out of grand deigns and the journey is certainly impressive to read! Well Done!

I've been looking forward to getting to a point where I can park my car in my driveway again, and finishing my July Post with a part 2 here to mark a finish to my Driveway project finally! Took a bit longer than the two weeks I was hoping!! I just finished adding up the damage and it was @ €7.2k all in all. I think the length of time increased the costs as there were days where I couldn't get to use the compactor and I had to get it back a few times to progress the project on. Some notes observations below: The big Diesel Compactors are heavy duty brutes but also take a specialist skill to start. They are all draw cord and they pulled the arms off me for 25 minutes before I gave up. I was shown how to start it but had to return it to my embarrassment and downgrade! Drainage took a lot longer than I imagined, plumbing in the drain channels was very difficult - I replaced both gully traps and one was encased in concrete by the original builder! Just getting the right couplings and things to fit took me a while to figure out. SDS comes in different sizes, SDS Max chisel bit wouldn't fix my SDS drill so ended up buying an SDS Max drill off Screwfix! I now own 3 angle grinders, started with none! A Screwfix one that won't let me change the grinder to anything else, then a 5" DeWalt, then a 9" Makita. I prefer the cut using this to the block cutter but the dust is gruesome! Grab Hire worked out well, took away 2 x 20 ton loads to clear the site and was able to drop two loads of MoT 804 exactly where I needed them. All moved by hand / wheelbarrow at that stage, was very difficult to find anyone hiring a skid steer for one day. Lots more sand and cement than I thought, all mixed with a wheelbarrow! Using a digger is scary when it starts tipping to the side due to doing something stupid! Two injuries: #1 drilling concrete screw into wall for new side gate, it got stuck and the SDS drill spun violently out of my hand, 6 weeks sprained finger didn't help! #2 seagull poo'd above and dropped inside my goggles, put them on and got acid splash into my eye. Now store goggles between jobs closed to the sky! Broadband issue is fixed - tree roots crushed the pipe on my neighbours property, stump was still there for years. I tried to find the pipe to create a new junction to my new house hear the boundary but only ended up finding the gas pipe by accident with the digger, just the tape over the pipe, where it shouldn't be - should be out on the road according to the gas map. Went to the other end near my old house and finger traced the pipe to a point near the new boundary and created a shore there. Thankfully after two years complaining a crew came recently out to remove said stump, run new draw cord and I'll have no issue getting broadband into my new house now, 1 less worry So I've to finish the very front and put up two more concrete posts and panels. I've to grout using Rompox jointing compound and see how long that takes. Hopefully it will keep the weeds away! But at least I can relax a little bit and use the driveway again. Would I go it again?! Well, I learned valuable lessons, to pace myself, what I can do when I put my mind to it, very useful for my self build next year. My body is certainly feeling the pressure and I'm glad I'm in my 50's and not my 60's!! I overestimated how much work was involved but learnt a lot in the process, not just specifics but about groundworks and hiring plant and grab hire which was new to me. I did get a digger & driver for a day and could see how they made short work of things compared to my efforts so picking and choosing where to spend money best is a wise course of action! Full costings below if interested! I Kept all my receipts for idle curiosity! All inclusive of VAT. Best of luck to anyone out there thinking of doing same! My Driveway area is 75m2. 7265.52 Total 1984.38 Tobermore Paving 210 Paving Block Cutter (€400-sale afterwards) 200 Recessed Manhole Covers 32.69 Spade 690.78 Sand, Easypost, Cement,Gravel 100 Diesel Compactor - unable to start, returned! 32.66 32mm plastic waste pipe as screen level 300 Compactor Rental 39.92 Donegal Quartz stone 89.95 Dewalt Angle Grinder 102.57 Sand/Cement/Gully 44.95 More Gullys 35.47 Lubricant / Sealant 147.08 Donegal Quartz stone & gravel 24.48 Plastering Sand 76.65 Sewer Gullys 11.32 Sewer Pipes 19.56 Sewer Pipes 19.19 Concrete Screws 200 Hire Compactor 500 Hire Digger 19.58 Plastering Sand 86.35 Manhole Cover 292.15 Plant Rental 69.65 Cement mix & misc 45 post and line levels 93 replacement wheel for wheelbarrow & cement 17.7 side gate lock and hook 5.99 petrol can 284.55 rompox jointing compound 12.45 tape 257.31 sds max drill 82.04 kpost 7.15 coupler 38.8 drain caps 15.95 sds max drill 37.25 bits and sockets 38.95 draper cold chisel 700 Grab Hire - removal of concrete/topsoil 300 Delivery of MoT 804

Check out the custom lagging t-pieces in this article: https://www.neighbourhoodconstruction.org/2017/07/03/1972/

The staining was covered a bit on the Skillbuilder YouTube Channel - "Ugly Monocouche Render Stains - Roger's Rant". Worth a watch.

They left the gravel in place but put a strip of bricks on between it and the paving to stop the pebbles drifting onto the paving.

Thanks - so this is taken facing the house, concrete path around house on the left. The path is higher than the paved driveway on the right. So the slope is high left to low right.

My Mum asked me for alternatives to the existing edge pebbles which end up on the paving over time. I'm not sure if I can find an exact match to the paving to extend it and replace the pebbles, the neighbour put a row of bricks between the pebbles and the driveway paving to keep them in (sticks up 1 or 2 inches). Might be a slight trip hazard though. Any thoughts/ideas? Thanks!

The Inlet for taking water out of a tank is normally a float, with the intake part a foot or two deeper if I recall to ensure the water is drawn from deeper in the tank to avoid any surface contaminants or turbulence. Check out this site for some resources: https://www.harvesth2o.com/index.shtml Never thought about collecting off a green roof, my pitch will be difficult one so plan on tile.....

possibly - will work better in the summer when the sun is higher. You could price micro inverters so that even if some panels are shaded, the rest produce full output, otherwise without optimisers you could affect the whole garage string? Or setup two smaller strings with one being furthest away from the house if the inverter has the spare connectivity?

no idea of your model but try this?

I'm looking at the interface between a new paved driveway I'm building vs the tarmac street it will be joining. The tarmac is laid on top of concrete but there is a bare area of concrete where the old concrete edging used to sit and is now gone. Options I need advice on: I could run the paving right up to the tarmac but there's barely enough height for some sand beneath the paving blocks. It's also a rough edge and would allow some movement of the paving blocks. I could fill this strip with more concrete to create a stronger edge for the pavers as long as the shallow depth doesn't cause the concrete to crack under the strain of vehicles? 60mm depth I could fill this gap with more cold tarmac to cover the concrete after laying down the pavers and tamp down the new tarmac to create the edge for them? Thoughts? Thanks!

Would I be right in saying that the flooring choice has a bearing here? If you have a polished concrete / screen floor you're ok? Tiled Floor is ok? Wooden/laminate/bamboo floor with underlayment would present a condensation risk? Carpet??? I'm considering an air to air system with a separate heat pump for the hot water but still debating if I should put in the underfloor heating loop or not just in case. Would prefer tile/bamboo mix downstairs if that can support cooling effectively.

Yes! We ran water down each gully to test it and checked this manhole and the next foul manhole for proof. It's a very shallow foul drain alright that these are all connected to. The is no riser below that manhole cover, it sits right above the pipe junctions below. Am thinking of replacing the top of the existing gutter gully with one that has an input pipe and take it around to the ACO. Need to dig a bit more concrete. There are some mad stories about the builders so am not surprised at this setup! Just need to protect the pipes from the whacker and paving work. Thanks! 1 - Upstairs Loo 2 Downstairs Loo & sink 3 - Gutter discharge/gully ?? - Unknown, might be neighbours toilet??!

After unblocking, excavating and digging out the drains yesterday I found that the rainwater from a small front extension feeds into the sewer drainage rather than the stormwater drainage line. There is no stormwater drainage at that side of the house at all! I want to add a linear drainage channel to the existing gully but want to avoid smells. The space is a bit tight and I'm trying to run the ACO the whole width of the front extension. I was going to cut in a 45 degree junction into the existing pipe as marked below but I would then need a gully to block smells escaping. It's a bit tight for a standard gully trap, I was thinking of a bottle gully. But is there a better way / combination than that here? I'd have to get the trap inlet below the ACO to do it's job then? Thanks.

Nothing I can see on the cable itself, the path is a bit strange curving outward from the house, would need to big a bit to see where it's going. Am going to be tracing the broadband cable today so digging will be focused there as I need to tee off this for the new house. Just curiosity more so....!

I went down about 400mm total but didn't find the pipe I was looking for. Yep, plan to add 2 x 75mm layers of hardcore on top. Might dig this out so and wet it a bit and compact it in layers tomorrow while I still have the digger. Good idea, thanks!

After following others journeys into the self build world for years, it looks like I'm finally about to embark on my own after several soft starts. The first major work is to realign the driveway and I've opted for paved over other styles and to do most of it myself. I got a driver & digger to take up the concrete driveway and grass and pile it up and hired a grab truck to take it all away. Less than two days later I was left with a barren front garden! Since then I've been figuring out a few details and grading the site to prepare for the required level of MoT. There was some damage done during excavation to be repaired which is underway. The current list of problems are: Get Earth Rod reinstated and connect house ground to it - Electrician Buy another wavin universal gully 110mm as the first was to replace one cracked during digging, this one is to replace the old one which doesn't have a swivel head and its at the wrong angle to the house and will make the paving cuts a lot harder to achieve and look wierd. The new ones let you turn the gully to different angles to run parallel to the house. Buy adjustable connector for linear drainage channel to connect to inlet of universal gully as they are nearly level but not quite. Trace broadband cable from house to a point where I can create an access point and run a pipe from there to my site next door (I tried digging to find it on the other side of the site to only find a gas main where it's not meant to be!). To dig this alternative position out tomorrow and see if it's viable. Decide if I'll keep the loose soil in the original broadband excavation hole or remove and replace with hardcore (I've asked this question under the driveways topic on this site) Hire concrete / kango hammer to remove concrete surround of manhole cover and replace with a recessed unit and gain access to drain on other side of house for linear drainage channel over there - the side of this drain has a mass of concrete beside it for an unknown reason. Dig out holes for more concrete posts to form new front boundary but mind electrical cable heading in same direction Assess how much MoT I'll need to build up 2 x 75mm levels on far side of site which was grass and will take the most vehicular traffic. The old concrete driveway sub base is still there and its nearly at the right level, won't need to do much to it except whack it a few times and it'll be good to go. Risks: We found the water pipe near the far side of the house but I didn't take a photo before covering it back over. Now I can't find it again. The builders dumped a load of concrete beside a drain that I need to plumb a linear drain into and I'm concerned I might hit it. I have to chance breaking that concrete. Concrete fence post holes vs main electrical cable to house Finding broadband line - it's a 1 inch black cable but so are the electrical and gas lines! I'll have to excavate the whole route of the broadband pipe to ensure I'm looking at the right one. There is tape to show which is which eventually but nearer the house they don't bother with this. Marking on pipe aren't clear what it's for either. Site Safety: I've Heras fencing up & warning signs and put a temporary post box and wireless doorbell on it to avoid people coming onto site unnecessarily and twisting an ankle. Dust is a big problem. We had some rain last night which helped. The new side gate is up and the back is secured again. Today I was replacing the cracked drain gulley and nosing around a few builders providers trying to find what I was after. I'm back to work next week so things will slow down. If I can get that broadband junction sorted out tomorrow that would be great, otherwise I might have to try dig more holes again! This is definitely the biggest project I've taken on to date. Bits of civil engineering, drains, electrical, using a digger, compactor, line levels and more skills besides! The head is definitely taking a bit of a beating but I've had some great answers to my questions on this forum which has been a BIG help! At night my brain is going 90 mph though so need to balance things. At least going back to work will be a distraction. I'm past the point of no return but do wonder am I mad and should I have gotten someone else to do this for me!?! But the budget wasn't there and I'm learning a lot. Expect the unexpected. What lurks under the ground level for decades can't be put into words...strange cables with no purpose, concrete and gas lines where they shouldn't be, aching arms and head! Would I go it again? Ask me when it's over! Hopefully my next post will be it completed but until then, good luck with all your summer projects and I am VERY sympathetic to anyone taking on a house, I'm aghast at just a driveway!!

The house is 25 years old so there's one main broadband duct for virgin media/sky etc. There was PSTN/old telephone lines in the past so maybe it's to do with that but where it's coming from I don't know but that's my best guess currently!

I excavated a portion of the sub base trying to find the broadband line and failed. I backfilled the loose soil back but am concerned it will not compact sufficiently and will settle causing a dip in the block paving above later on. Should I remove the loose soil and replace with MoT or just whack it a good few times? Thanks.

Thanks - thought the house was earthed through the mains supply in a housing estate but happy to be wrong. Will get an Electrician booked ASAP.

I did the threaded bar and bolts through the post and these are holding fine. Might try a lit of loktite for good measure! Thanks!

While excavating for a new paved driveway I encountered two strange black 1/2 cables. One appears empty and I have the loose end and there's no sign of anything inside. The other is running into the side of the building. Would it be electrical in nature or a phone line or something like that? I'd assume the main armoured electricity cable is routed internally after feeding into the utility box in the side of the house? I have a good view of that, it's much bigger. Thanks.

I've been excavating for a new paved driveway but have a question about the ground wires for the gas line. The earth rod was bent by the digger and I'll reinstate that. The pipes are copper so it's still needed I'd guess. How urgent should I make this? Also there are two copper gas pipes in different sizes, any ideas why? Just interested in understanding the various connections while I have them exposed. Thanks!

The gadget I didn't know I needed !!! Thanks!