mike2016

That looks like a slightly scary prop for the ridge steel but I'm sure it's ok!! Just don't slam the door too much!!!! Great work and hope you're enjoying the paddling pool! We had to knock out a corner of the foundation as it was taking too long to brush out a hole we'd drilled which would get clogged up fast. The soil pipes weren't cut down at that point. Hopefully no ducks made their home there?! It's those calculations and little gaps that can cause such headaches, well managed though!

Not posted an update in a while but was focused on getting the outside of the house rendered, painted, guttered and drill vented before the scaffolding came down. It was off hire on a Monday and I worked 11-12 hours days on the Saturday and Sunday to get through a few tasks including chain drilling the MVHR vents (2) among other things. Basically anything at height. Anyway, while peeling the masking tape off the soffit while lying down on my side I moved to all fours to get up and my back went into spasm! I was still able to move around but the next day it was sore. Off I went to the Chiropractor the next day and he thankfully sorted me out. A few weeks later and I was putting the floor down in the new attic and again lying down while slightly propping myself up to secure the T&G OSB with screws and I felt my back get sore. The next day again I was in agony and off to the Chiro the next day. The following week I took a different approach to finish the attic, very carefully, and remaining standing on the ladder all the time working backwards towards the hatch opening. Thankfully this avoided any further injury and I completed the task. Fast forward a few weeks later and I visited my mum, contracted covid and while propped up in bed the OTHER side of my back went. And this was no fun. No Chiro for me while testing positive (had to wait another 7 days) and it really set itself in. As soon as I tested negative I booked in to the Chiro but despite two visits it was still sore. I could do a 1/2 day at the weekend and a good nights sleep could repeat but it was hindering me. I'd booked 30 x 2x4 and 100 2x6 for delivery this week before the latest episode and had taken the week off work. After they arrived on Tuesday (I insisted on a HIAB thankfully so they could be dropped inside my boundary where I could secure it) I moved the thirty 2x4's inside but felt my back beginning to go again. I lay down but it was getting worse so I covered the remaining lumber and headed home. A few bad days to follow. I tried one Physio my neighbour recommended on Wednesday but it didn't shift the slow, gradual healing along much. I tried Panadol, Ibuprofen, even CBD oil but nothing was helping. I went to a local Physio yesterday and have received some treatment and exercises so I'm resigned to 2-3 months of recovery (my estimate, not theirs) to make sure this is really healed but start Pilates as soon as the Physio says I'm ready. I've been resting up all week and just have to accept I'm the weakest link! In an 18 month project so a few weeks isn't that much but I'd hoped to crack on this week after covid etc. Not to be!! Yeah, so take care of yourselves, especially if you are solo. I've accomplished so much over the last 10 months to get here, it was just one deadline where I pushed my body too hard and am now paying the price. It was a fear of mine but now its here I'm just going to rest, get back to work, wait for my back to be comfortable again (it's still sore) and take things easy for a while (I can plan electrical, home automation etc in the meantime!). How do people in their 60's even do this?!! I'm in my 50's and finding it hard! Fair play to those folks!! Anyway, Off to lie down, I'll call a few favours to get the lumber indoors when I fell I can help at least a little and only tackle jobs when I have a good back regime in place. I reckon it's 8 more months to finish. Can't wait!!!

No mancave in the basement?! Looks impressive though!

What I'm hoping to do is link up the AICO smoke/heat detector network to home assistant and have a power circuit via a Shelly Relay I can turn off to kill the MVHR unit in the event of a fire. So at least the MVHR fans aren't spreading the smoke. I would like an intumescent vent in each room but not sure if they are compatible with the system I'll be using. BPC have some here you could consider: https://www.bpcventilation.com/metal-fire-protection-valve-supply

The Architect originally specified a drainage channel across the top of the driveway. There is a 0.5 meter drop to the house. The road has a slight dip and the excess water always tends to flow down the estate rather than over the threshold of the new driveway. Now construction at this area could change this behaviour but should I move the drainage channel to in front of the house, or keep it at at the top of the driveway? Or even do both?! Thoughts? Parted ways with the Architect. Thanks.

Sure, a standard two piece where one runs inside the other and you can vary the length. The key is managing risk and safety. How are you with heights? Search YouTube for the essential craftsman video on ladders, I learned some great basic tips there. Have a spotter the first few times to secure the base and supervise. Don't climb alone.

If you just want to to clean them out what about a gutter cleaner & extension wand for a power washer? Do it all from the ground, Safer. If repairs are needed then a two part ladder with a standoff but I wouldn't like to mess around with resting it against that glass or trust resting it on a spongy gutter climbing up and down. Tricky. You can hire a van that has a bucket in the back for a day but unlikely to help around the back. Or just pay the local leaflet crowd who do the cleaning for you? There's always someone offering those services around the area.

Just caught up watching the episode. Awesome job and what a result! Can only imagine the fears and worries building something of that scale! Hats off to both of you, what a team! Hope you get to give a talk at a self build exhibition someday. You would be inspiring to listen to.

Something about atomization makes me worry about long term health effects as you have sealed your fate? Will it off gas for years? Like spray foaming everywhere, doesn't appeal to me! Interesting technology though.

What is the age of the property? Any older photos available from Google, previous sales etc with a clue about age or size/extent of cracks? How many previous owners? Condition of surrounding houses, speak to neighbours? Compare. There is a risk, just how big though?!

You can get legs / stilts to put the new floor on and rest these on the ceiling joists but as your setup sounds unusual a photo may better confirm where the structural support comes from and if there a gap between the two layers?

Am doing weep vents into cavity just below dpc which is 150mm min above ground level as specified.

Wow - great job! Latest skillbuilder video said he spent 10K on his bathroom renovation which horrified me, 4K is much more reasonable and a steal for the quality you delivered, amazing!

Thanks - they seem to be a standard angle to block the summer sun from all the drawings I've seen. I thought 200mm was a bit big but otherwise you would have gaps sunlight would get through and reduce the effectiveness. Seems to be the same approach on any office versions / commercial buildings too.

One aspect of the Passive House PHPP I paid close attention to was overheating risks. As a result we looked at shading and extended the downstairs porch to shade the downstairs bedroom window. The upstairs we though about using Brise Soleil and have 3 canopies over the 3 main windows. I've been working on this for about 8 months with more than half on design and structural engineering and manufacture taking place in June. Then I spent most of July / August trying to get them to fit before bring back the bricklayer to finish some work and the day before scaffolding being taken down, finding I couldn't get the blades to fit....!! So the idea was get briese soleil drawings and have my timber frame SE come up with a plan to support them. This involved extra vertical posts either side of the windows and a big metal "caison" as I call it bolted 360 degrees into the timber structure. I got the timber frame lads to do this bit for me as it was a 2 man job and I'm a solo worker. Then it was over to me to fit the arms. There are two arms per shade with 5 x blades between them. Each arm has a baseplate, a thermal break plate and is bolted through the timber frame and caison and meets another metal plate and then washers and nuts are attached and the whole thing fits together. There were a number of issues, the first was the hole centers for the mild steel caison didn't line up with any of the the powered coating aluminium brise soleil components. Well, Aluminium is an easier material to work with so I used a step drill to enlarge the holes in everything but the mild steel. 1 Arm fitted, then the other. Next a dry fit with with the inner and outer solar sail in place so we can see how we are doing and nope, wouldn't fit! I ended up having to go at the mild steel too but it was much tougher going and I probably only ended up hardening it. Eventually I got the six arms fitted and knocked out the sails so that the brick layer could finish the final course. Last weekend I left re fitting the sails until Sunday, and the scaffolding was off hire on Monday. Not chancing my luck I went at it and found the arms for the longest blades (1.8 meters apart) 30mm too close. It was too far to wedge my body in the gap so how do I solve this. I know it was tight but thought I'd finagle it somehow!?! In the end I figured out how to use a car jack to create the space I needed and managed to get all 5 blades installed this way on all arms but it was a close thing loosing light towards the end. The rooms do look darker but I'm hoping the scaffolding coming down will offset this a bit. Of all the house projects so far, this one was my hardest! Advice: never give up, never surrender, unless it's tea time!

Thanks - you should see what the SE did with my brise soleil but I'll check in with the timber frame supplier and see what they think. It will only be used for services (MVHR ducts,electrical wiring) and some storage.

One last question - do I just fix a length of wood at either end into the timber frame and hang the joists off that using joist hangers? Was just going to use 92mm nailgun nails through the 44mm wide timber into the TF structure but can't find any details on NHBC to see if this is sufficient? Thanks.

I can only think this is part of a cavity wall system? Maybe, outer brick is added later in the first case? Are the double rows side by side or with a gap? Might be for structural reasons?

I'm using a 200L barrel with 3 x 30L jerry cans I ferry back and forth with my car to keep the barrel filled up. Portaloo with hand sanitizing gel to wash hands (v high alcohol content). This got me through foundations and all bricklaying. Funny think is I have a 4,000L rainwater tank out back but it's not hooked up yet to anything!

The brise soleil are each the width of the 3 main upstairs windows and come out about a meter from the wall, the windows are 2 meters high. Internal cassettes are the nice wall mounted ones more typical in very small offices / homes, rather than ceiling mounted and I hope to put them above the beds when I get to 1st fix so they blow over the bed rather than onto it in case it needs to be kept on overnight for a good sleep!

I directed the Architects to improve the overheating score in PHPP from 5% based on local weather data (Dublin, Ireland). Adding Brise Soleil improved it to 2% and opening roof lights dropped it to 1%. However with climate breakdown I asked about changing the climate location to London and even with these mitigations it drove it up to 13%! I'm installing Air to Air heating/cooling with 4 internal cassettes and hopefully this and passive stack cooling in the evenings will help mitigate this risk for a decade or so......

The 400mm centers is an option, just need one set wider at 600mm wouldn't I to make it possible to get up there after a turkey dinner at Xmas?! Or possibly access it from a hatch in the landing? Was using first floor spanning tables but switched to attic tables today and found with c24 I can do 44x175 in Bed 3 and 44x150 in Bed 2 which is much better. Just a bit harder to get hold of.

I'm 9 years in, 8 years trying to get it off the ground and what ifs, everything getting more expensive but in the end I put my house on the market, sales fell through twice and it took a year but then was firmly on the melting ice flow, renting a room and finally building since January this year. Definitely prioritize health and take breaks, the mental aspect is very real as relayed by many buildhub members stories here. Do what's right for you at this moment in your life! As for giving up, there have been tough days but I've been lucky with the trades and it's just small issues holding things up - like using a step drill bit to ream larger holes in mild steel and couldn't make any progress last night, trying again tonight. Hope it's not been overheated & hardened by the original driller! My world reduced to a 13mm hole in metal!!

One problem is the neighbour fitting a wood burning stove and the chimney is closest to the ensuite, was hoping to place the intake closer to the front of the house where the prevailing wind would better clear any smoke from entering the system if it gets blown down the side passage between the two houses. Also have to fit two manifolds somewhere or push the MVHR unit downstairs. That 210mm is the insulated pipe diameter, it's smaller inside. Will have a look around the space later and make a decision. Will probably put joists in Bed 2 as it's only meant to be used as an office and not rented out (unless I blow my Budget!) and that will give me storage. As for Bed 3, full ceiling gives me the most options with ducting, it's always push here and it sticks out there with houses isn't it?!! I like the idea of the mid ceiling though but the intake would be obvious that way unless I bury it in the wall somewhere, ah decisions, decisions!!

Thought it would be echo'y and while I have a shed storage is always handy. Also I've to fit a MVHR system up there - the ducting will be going out the gable end in the left room with the unit situated in the "hot press" on the landing. Big 210mm pipes. I can box these out a bit but have to keep 2.5m separation when they exit the building if possible - off the left hand side. There is a major road 2 meters off to the right of the house blocking that path. Worth considering though, will have to have a think about the ductwork.....