saveasteading

Explain please? Btw our gauge has now risen to 55%. It increased when the rains came, demonstrating that it is registering the atmosphere and presumably the immediate effect on the screed surface. Still below the magic 65%.

Wind posts have large overturning forces so there is a big footing too. So it's too late for that. Alternatives are racking panels as @ProDave suggests, and the cost and inconvenience are low. Or a structural goalpost utilising the existing structure. Can't comment on why one SE thinks it necessary and another doesn't.

I've done many an over-clad. The cement roof stays on, fix omega shape brackets over, then rails. Then you overclad with or without insulation. The downside is that the old cladding is still there, affecting value. Is it asbestos or innocuous fibre cement? The risk of asbestos(2% of the toatal) is overstated unless the material is crushed and sniffed. Against under-cladding is that the roof may leak onto it.

I generally used a piling company that had several technical options ( driven, auger, vibro) ( end bearing, surface friction, ground inprovement) so that they could help decide on the best solution. But this involves 2 way trust which takes time to form. And they aren't likely to suggest another method of construction with no piling. Looking forward to your info.

The easy option would be stick on plastic like this

Do you have access to the borehole logs? Just a statement that piling is required is of little use. Is there hard ground at 5m depth or 50m? How soft is the clay? Does only the structure require support but not intermediate floor areas?. That said, a starting point of "about 30 or 40k" lets you start on feasibility. But there are lots of piling techniques too. By considering that and the method of construction you could be saying "allow 20k to 80k". I've probably done about 20 piled buildings and often used a different method to that suggested in initial reports. But never for clay... yours must be very soft indeed. Any chance of seeing a borehole record? And what about the house? Big/small/ conventional or huge rooms, 1 or 2 storey?

Bottom line? If you want a natural wood finish then it needs to be natural wood. On the surface as a veneer at least. Even then , there may be some extreme knots that should havd been discarded or have been replaced with epoxy. But a good engineered timber costs about £60/m2.

Maybe this will ease your pain... a problem shared and all that. Here is our new kitchen island showing the blank side. You may notice the " feature " knot that repeats and repeats.... and there was no way round this other than rotation. Again it shows that the manufacturer doesn't register this as an issue/ doesn't care. To be fair I don't suppose many kitchens have so many in a row, and at least the pattern is staggered. Would it sell more kitchens if they had several patterns and marketed this virtue? Probably not. I have though noticed some tile manufacturers advertise that their wood effect has 22 or whatever, individual patterns. There will be a table in front of this.

What make of kitchen? We've just found that howdens have provided one section as just lots of panels and fittings, and we have to manufacture it. So they are used to providing panels. Maybe your supplier can provide more blanks for that end that should be longer.

200-170= 30k gross margin, from which some tax would be taken as income or dividend. Still not a good year but that's business sometimes.

Like a circle in a spiral. Your line doesn't fit the song so well.

It used to annoy me how often that was quoted, perhaps as an excuse. Mostly true but it ignores that a really good builder can be very efficient, and so can be faster and lower cost than a shambling, do it twice, one. Also that people said " choose two". My view was that we should reduce the size of the triangle. That involved defining quality with the client and then designing really well and practically for ease of construction. I think some designers confuse innovation and style with quality. And some clients confuse price with cost. And some builders are not as good as they think they are.

I wouldn't recommend space heating except for any enclosed workshop. Infra red heating pointing at work- forces, or even on a trolley for very local benefit. It's standard in the vehicle industry buildings I've done and I think pretty well everywhere... to the extent of doors being left open. Eg in big shed retailers and esp garden centre checkouts you may see heating directed at the person. In garages it may point down on the bonnet or under the raised vehicle. Presumably you'd use electricity but there are gas methods too.

That's different. I'm sitting now in what will be oug garage and it has a very agricultural floor. I don't see why we need to improve it for garden stuff, a mower and maybe even a car to sit on. If I too engines apart that would be different. My man cave in the corner will get some marmox on it, then levelled with latex and then... I think a floor of many colours, using leftover tiles*. 6" pir in the walls and ceiling of the boxout. Electric, probably infrared, heating. * there's a thing... I have boxes and stacks of spare tiles sitting in the shed "just in case". You can be sure that heavy iron pots have been dropped in the kitchen, and that floors have moved. No tile has broken , ever. They might if there was grotty workmanship on the dot and dab principle, but the adhesive contact is total and loads go straight to the screed. Tile if you want, using those free tiles that will take up space until you move.

My logic is that other things go wrong. Eg one toilet in my house sometimes doesn't clear. It needs a shove and all is well again until another time. I suspect it is over use of TP and not a scientific thing. On one job a long drain blocked when the occupier moved in. The drain had never been used officially. It turned out to be a sanitary product in mid run. It had run out of speed. Then it affects subsequent use. ie low use can cause issues too. A neighbour had 'stuff' appearing in a downstairs wc from the one above. Was all according to regs. Ie other things go wrong and I'd rather it was outside and simple. But do it to regs and it will mostly work and always be roddable.