ProDave

That is what I am planning to do in my new house as squeaking floors like we have at present will not be allowed.

What's your "final floor"? I am planning my "final floor", some kind of hardwod, to go direct on the battens, just like in the present house.

The issue here is you have PP to build a house that looks like the one in the PP. Whether it's an eco house, passive house or barely complies with building regs house is irellevant. That's a seperate matter. So I can't see anything stopping you making the "human" part of the house super insulated and air tight and leaving the loft cold and draughty for the flying rats. I wouldn't bang on about it being a passive house. Just agree with your ecologist to provide the cold draughty loft space he demands, and build the rest of the house well insulated and sealed and just don't make a big thing of that when talking to the ecologist. All he needs to know is it will have the cold draughty loft space he demands.

Sue the post office for criminal damage.....

I am just ordering another Rationel window, and it's the same price as it was 10 months ago so no price increase there (yet?)

Put a £50 sign on it. It will be gone next day.

Decent lengths of red and black t&e sell for more on ebay than new cable. I have sold anything from 5 metre lengths upwards. Othwerwise weigh it in as pvc covered cable. If you work out the hours it takes you to manually strip it to weigh it in as clean copper, it will be a VERY low hourly rate indeed. I soon realised I can do better things with my time.

My Sister is here for the week. Part of me says "bugger, I can't get on with the house" but it least I will be doing something different, including hopefully a day on the boat. Dolphins from a week ago (seen from the boat)

That's interesting. So nothing under the floor, no membrane, just bare earth?

I presume the "task" is just to round off the front corner to stop bruises? Why not just cut the corner off at 45 degrees with a panel saw, and then round the edges with a rasp / surform / belt sander?

Why do you ever "log out?" To be honest Firefox is a pretty poor browser, full of bugs.but is the least bad of the bunch.

I recall seeing a you tube video of someone trying to smash a toughened glass shower panel. He hit it very hard with a hammer and nothing happened. He then stood back to think about what to do next, and some time later it just exoploded.

So, I have ordered two stainless steel cowls, and a length of 150mm diameter rigid spiral ducting to go through the wall. Of course it has not arrived yet, and I want to get on. So daft question of the week: Do I drill a 150mm diameter hole, and expect to be able to insert the 150mm duct when it comes? Or does the "150mm" refer to something other than it's exterior diameter and do I need say a 160mm hole?

Is the issue protecting the frame? or progressing the build quicker by allowing work to continue on a wet day? If it's protecting the frame, I would not worry. I am just cladding the frame of my garage that's been open to the elements for 10 months now.

2.5mm will, under the right conditions, withstand up to 27 amps, so will be fine for 16A. The only thing to watch for is voltage drop, if it's a long run you might consider 4mm. P.S an RCD is a residual current device, to trip in the event of earth leakage. It is rated usually at 30mA. What you need is an rcd and a seperate mcb rated at 16A, OR an rcbo, which is an rcd and mcb in the same housing.

Here's another slant to this often talked about "forgot to put in a cable for......" Yes I will try to remember all the cables I need, but you also need to think about technology changing and a need for something new. So I am building my house in such a way that it should be possible to add new cables from just about anywhere to anywhere in the future. How am I achieving that? Well for a start there is a service void all around the house, so dropping cables down that should be possible. To enable that, when I fit the floor upstairs (chipboard and carpet) I will leave a small strip all around the perimiter of each room that is only screwed down. So to gain access fold back the carpet, unscrew an access strip, and you can drop a cable down into any segment of the service void (spare holes having been left at the top of each segment of service void). That coupled with posi joists throughout, should mean I can add new cables from anywhere to anywhere.

So here's the damage. First the crack that I can see from underneath. I think by removing the tank I will be able to get at that one from above. It's to far over to be accessed by removing the floor plate. But I did remove the floor plate and here I found crack no 2 My guess is one of these has been cracked for some time and the other has only recently opened up. I can close both gaps to where they should be by pushing down on the bucket. The plan is to weld crack 2 from above with the tank still in place. This is much further from the tank but I will still dothe wet towel thing. I hope that will then be enough to hold both cracks closed while I drain and remove the tank to weld crack 1.

One of the most nervous jobs I did once was replace the fuel sender in the tank of a petrol VW golf. I had dsconnected the battery so there could be nothing to make a spark but still had SWMBO watching over with a fire extinguisher and wet towel just in case.

It has always struck me as "poor" that a "built in " microwave is nothing more than a free standing one wioth a front plate put around it. It loks like that rather than a proper built in one. I get the feeling when we come to choose our new kitchen that for the first time have a "built in" microwave, that I am going to be very dissapointed with the offerings.

I haven't looked at removing the tank. I know from experience, that petrol vapour will ignite very easily. Diesel you actually have to put a flame to it to ignite it, so i had thougt as long as I am not welding to the tank I should be okay?

Metal tank. I've only just poured another 20L jerry can full in there, so drainig it would be a problem finding something to drain it into. Yes I don't want to carry on trying to use it, if the other part of the bracket breaks it would fall off and then be infinitely harder to fix then. As it is now, as long as I can get at it to weld it, it's fixable.

I've been finishing off the last bit of drainage, the rainwater drains. While digging the last trench something didn't "feel right" But I carried on and finished that. I also flattened out a pile of soil while the digger was around the back of the house ( dare I say the first bit of "landscaping"). It was then I realised what the problem was. As I put weight on or take weight off the bucket, the king post is moving a bit. Oh dear. A look underneath reveals a chassis member supporting one side of the king post has cracked where it changes angle, I suspect a weld at that point has given up, so it's only being supported by the other side, which is flexing. Not good. I think it's going to be a straightforward repair, just re weld the seam. But it will be awkward to do from below so I am hoping I will get better access from above if I take the floor plate out of the cab. Watch this space, photo's to follow when I get around to lifting the floor plate. No hurry, I have finished all the immediate digging jobs so it can wait if it has to. This is the penalty for buying an old cheap digger. Serious question. It will be welding about 12 inches from the diesel tank. I know diesel is a lot less volatile than petrol. Would you drain the tank? or just do it?

A garden outbuilding under 30 square metres does not need building regulations (that's the situation in Scotland, check it's the same in England) Another "get out" is if it's a portable building (e.g shed or caravan) then you can build up to nearly 100 square metres without building regulations. Strictly speaking, in both cases a drain connection does need building regs, that is all. Could you make a "temporary" drain connection and then regularise that as part of your building control when you start the house I wonder?

Is the garden room going to be attached to the house, or is is a seperate garden outbuilding?

So many months of delays, and many £000 of pounds, and it comes down to "dig a trench and bury a plastic sheet on sticks" Couldn't that have been agreed much quicker and much cheaper? Talk about mindless beurocracy.