saveasteading

@SteamyTea I'm not grasping your meaning. I noticed in Spain that all new street lights appear to be solar. At first it seemed to be on commercial estate but now on dual carriageways. The weather helps of course. Must be much cheaper to install than mains, with no trench or cable.

It appears to be on a pole along with a small solar panel. It likely powers a street light which illuminates the adjacent footpath.

It is called CPD. Learning that some people see the world a different way can be interesting, or concerning. There's only me and thee that are always correct, except thee sometimes. But I appreciate that to learn new stuff I have to clear out some older knowledge...my excuse.

Where does the condensation come from? If it is airtight and is dry, then it shouldn't be an issue. Building inspectors like standard methods but I'm thinking you are simply doing maintenance.

Thinking 'aloud' really. Keep it simple. 1 the pir is still there. It may have shrunk and left odd gaps between boards, but that should be a small proportion, so leave it 2. Insert pir between joists but only 50mm boards. This thickness gives you control in cutting and inserting. It's easy to cut 50mm by handsaw or jigsaw. That should squeeze in reasonably accurately but there will be gaps. These gaps, however are closed spaces so have some insulation value. 3. Then Insert rockwool 50mm or more to the full depth. Use batts and they will cut easily and also squeeze in tight. 4. no need for foil backing.. it only makes any difference when facing an air gap. Vcl then plasterboard. I can't See any condensation issues with that but await comments. This all assumes that the lead is sound.

Maybe he's used to this standard of levelling. It doesn't really matter of the floor slopes evenly. It's about 13m long So that's 25 ÷ 13000 Doesn't sound so bad that way. Apparently I'm unusual in thinking that accuracy is possible and should be standard.

I may have said this already,: it's simple to lay a small electric mesh before the tiles . Warmup. Then this can be on a switch , but better is a timer. 30C I'd say is ok though, and there are bath mats.

Wastage costs an absolute fortune. 10% often gets added as default, and trades are very happy to not use offcuts or measure (plan) in advance. Materials are typically 40% of a project. So imagine a 500k project x 0.4 x 0.1. That is 20k of wasted material. It then goes in the skips, typically thrown in loose , costing £4k? The only argument some will understand is: if this was your project, how much waste would there be? With your skills, let's work together on this. That timber will be a noggin. It remains much stronger than it looks. For its' like, I may have to collect/denail/ clean and carry indoors myself and instruct firmly. Really bad bits will become raised beds or nature piles.

If the screed has a maximum thickness of 32mm, sitting on plastic with no bond, and that on chipboard, what chance of it staying in place? We take chances, but not that one. It was a decision made long ago, snd we are stuck with it. On a positive , saving 20mm of screed or so pays for the eggbox. Btw. I surveyed the ground floor screed in advance of the shadow gap skirting. Awful! 25mm variation across one (big) room. They didn't use level control, just flow and checks on minimum thickness. The steading was done with the little triffid tripod thingies and was great. I did question the methodology but was assured of their 'expertise'. The tiler will have his work cut out too!

Now have a sample of what we are using. It's available with a thin eps underlay which we will not have. We will instead lay an acoustic dampening sheet. So we are left with an 18mm tray. The pipes clip into that and then we have a screed designed to be 30mm thick. We need that because there is a balcony sliding door setting a low datum. With what should we glue the Acoustic foam down? I'd rather find a tube mastic than tape, for ease. Then ditto the plastic grid I had been thinking screws into the chipboard floor...it feels solid and certain. But perhaps first a glue for speed and overall adhesion. Any advice on good tube adhesive that doesn't melt plastic?

This applies equally to larger quantities eg a delivery of concrete or screed. That might be 1/2m3. When that is watered into a slurry then it spreads and can be a nuisance. If there is the space then when it is hardened/dried it can be used as hardcore. @Great_scot_selfbuild it's a good question. Your stuff is in relatively small quantities so is controllable. So your heap can gradually build up. Then use or dispose.

For anyone generally interested in steel, especially contractors. My business was mostly big steel buildings, mostly portal frame. The frames were supplied in red oxide as standard. They did not need paint other than touch-up or an optional decoratively. A finished coat at the works was not wise as chains etc damage it. Clients recognised it as ' cheap red oxide' and often chose that it needed full over- painting. Then our supplier began to offer grey oxide. This became our norm, and scraped bits were touched up after construction in the same paint. Nobody ever said it was unacceptable. However, for simple beams as above, red oxide is never questioned.

No need to do anything, but touching up in red oxide will look better and avoid anybody questioning it. If there is the slightest chance of dampness on ,say, padstones then some blackjack locally might be worthwhile. Steel needs a lot of dampness combined with oxygen, to rust. A tip for appearance. Do any red oxide as local rectangles rather than splodges. If you need any proof I can find photos of the columns on our project that were exposed to the weather for 30 odd years. Rust looks worse than it is, because the steel expands a lot when oxidising. I'm assuming it will be out of sight. On balance, touch up in red oxide. Then decide whether to stick there ot paint it all in red oxide.

Well done @BTC Builder I'd love to hear how the vat goes.

I disagree. Unless you mean as a template. Lots can go wrong so thinking each stage through is important. Access, tools , workwear. Mostly, what might go wrong once x piece is taken out or over a weekend.