saveasteading

So either lay thr timber out now to fade. Then fix it in grey form and fire protect it. OR stain it grey and fire protect. OR choose a colour. OR just fix and protect it and find out if it fades anyway. My favourite. Who will see it?

There is very good advice above. It looks like an easy way to go bust, or a very hard way to make money. All I would add is. As a designer and contractor I won some jobs at half the next price. We made the intended margin. Occasionally we would not win a tender, but the contractors didn't last long. That was in a very specific field. Every building is different. If every building could be built at the same cost there would be one designer in the land and no point in many contractors tendering.. Can it be done? Maybe. But probably only by utter experts in design options for best value. It sounds scary to me. You need expertise but that costs. Maybe sell as is?

Perhaps discuss with the building inspector. If the chance of your wall catching alight is very low, for example because there is little chance of the neighbours having a bonfire, or their house is brick, or there is a pond adjacent, then does a year matter? Let it go grey elegantly silver, and then paint in intumescent. Risk is time related, so for year one you could be ultra-careful to avoid any fires adjacent.

Yes. In a structural slab the cross section of steel is what resists the shrinkage, and in a structural wall or slab the cross section is chosen to provide the tensile strength required. But by using more bars of smaller diameter, at close centres, adding up to the same sort of c/s , the cracks can be made smaller ( in both directions) This was a very long time ago but I think I selected small mesh and tied lots of small bars to it, for ease of construction. If it works, then the tiny cracks are not visible. I expect they do 'heal' as a bonus. I probably specified concrete with smallish aggregate to ensure it flowed around all those bars. I hope the concrete was poured without extra water added on site, or it would defeat the object.

I have skim read this but may try again. In case it is of any interest here is my experience. I have designed large, above ground, water tanks for industry and for a hospital. I recall they were about 3m deep. Both were built and I heard no more, so I think they worked. The design codes at the time covered how to control the cracking. Maybe the codes have changed but it worked back then, and concrete will still behave the same way. Basically we used a lot of small reinforcing bars, so that the inevitable shrinkage resulted in micro-cracking.... millions of cracks that are too small to see, and water can't get through. Did it heal? Probably. These tanks could have been sealed on the inside but were not. The evaporation of water was not considered an issue, and perhaps that causes 'healing' as water soaks through. For a garage or other basement, the water is on the outside and it would be easy to tank the inside, but it might come off. A big basement I recall doing, we tanked the outside of the wall and slab using a bentonite filled sheeting.

Picture?

this is how it is usually advertised.

It greys the same as softwoods. I haven't ever seen any architect's' photos of it in faded grey, with nail streaks, always in newly built gold.

Doe anyone know (or forecast) what solar panels will look like in 2 years? Will they be on a lightweight roll that is simply clipped or screwed to a roof or wall or anywhere?

I once had a tentative complaint that a building was too high. I asked what their datum was and they had no idea. Sorted.

I understand that electricity prices are averaged out wherever you are. So @ProDave pays as if it was gas powered even though he will be getting wind power, costing 1/3 but not passed on locally. If people knew their price could plummet then wind turbines might be loved more.

Are you sure of that? The aim is that a fire next door doesn't set your wall alight, so a surface treatment should do. Perhaps some closure to any cavity as well. Had never heard of this It appears to be a exotic, rainforest type timber, with ayous being one of many names. I have used 'larch' otherwise unspecified on many hundreds of m2. I get it tanalised and then prefer to colour it but that is opinion. Russwood is beautiful, but is priced accordingly.

Will there be oil at affordable prices in a few years? Will gas be turned off? (Putin related) Will electricity price fall? Are you constructing a new floor suitable for UFH anyway? And do you want to use less fossil fuel on principle?

They do that on purpose, just as you stand straight on the other side. It's not something I immediately thought of in doing a conversion, that there is a conflict between improving the floors, undermining existing walls, and door heights. An experienced builder told me that lots of people get it wrong.

When current houses are demolished there surely has to be a protocol for removing eps and pir? To ''energy from waste'? It won't be easy. Where does fibreglass demo go now? To landfill I assume. It should go to incineration , not for heat but to return it to sand.