saveasteading

They are not expensive to hire. We once put in about 150m of duct across a field and I think it only took a day. I wasn't there that day so haven't seen it done, but our op, who was used to driving a digger, said it was easy.

Have you considered a plough type cable/ pipe laying machine?

No. But don't reinvent the wheel. Fire rating requirements are published, as are material performances. Eg sometimes 2 layers of grey is enough. People often use the pink board unnecessarily. Means of escape and detectors too. The bco will want a proposal and it's in your interest to get it agreed ASAP.

Soaking would dissolve the bitumen content and lose the stickiness. I couldn't vouch for a coating of solvent between the old and the new but it might work.. it's your own surface so you can try.

Properly laid Type1 is basically returned to nearly solid stone density, just not glued together. Good planings are the same but do stick together. Yes clean out the hole to see stone. It might be worth painting it with pitch or bitumen to get some bond.

Berwick Bank wind farm in the outer Firth of Forth with up to 307 turbines generating enough electricity to power up to six million homes. So that supplies all Scotlands needs when the wind is blowing. Meters on the cables to England and Scandinavia and the Holyrood budget will benefit hugely.

It's normally better to buy a finished house where you miss out the years of problems and the risks. Value wise, turnkey will be expensive too, and seldom any saving compared to buying a finished property to move into and enjoy. Self build and diy may reduce the cost but increase the risk.

We had wasps somehow getting through a 2mm local gap between overlapping weatherboards. They then chewed the stud behind to make paper for a nest. So mesh needs to be very small. Someone will have studied this I hope. Overlapping messages. That mesh looks fine.

Steel will be the answer. It covers big spaces economically. My rule of thumb is that adding an internal column under a portal frame will reduce that frame by 1/3 in tonnes and cost. What width of building do you intend? You don't want a column in the middle of your space I'm sure, so make this a fundamental requirement, and accept the cost. OK, so they should be able to look after you, and will be charging. So anything we say on here might concern them as distrust. Have you given them a budget? Would any of them know how to achieve it?

It doesn't have to be fancy special stuff. It is stopping fire from spreading through a cavity so even wood will usually be suitable.

a service void is nice to have but I'd prioritise the headroom. Anyway, that 830mm vertical bit could be widened to be a SV without affecting headroom.

I've done a few of these, design and construction, including a church, with the starting point being 'someone says you will be able to half the price we've had from tenders'.ie it's not a cathedral and so funds are tight. It is complex, based on the use, or variable uses, of the facility, and also the size. Ventilation can be a huge issue as is means of escape , if the numbers are large. Even which inclination of church and their procedures can make a difference to performance and choices. But to start with I don't know what you mean by a Composite deck screed. Does that mean your own steering group, or are there professionals advising?

it would be consistent with what is there already, but not really proper. It would be quite easy to redirect the round pipe to the grille with use of a hacksaw and a new connecting piece.

Understood. The square shoe isn't quite long enough and the round pipe misses slightly. If you can rotate the round one at any of the joints to be over the grille, that should sort it. For the square you need the tiniest length of pipe. Temporarily cut a detergent bottle to make a channel and slide it under, but leave the bottom on to make it flow the right way onto the grille.

I have a similar but worse situation where the grille is set 100mm below concrete so fills with leaves. It is an unpleasant chore to remove them. So I have made a chicken wire cage to hold the leaves back a bit more. It's not pretty. But I have also bought a small, battery powered leaf blower and am pleased with it. It makes it quick, and not unpleasant, to shift these leaves and others nearby. It is very battery hungry but OK for a 10 minute job even with wet leaves.