saveasteading

OK. Fire first. If a building near a boundary is on fire then it must not be allowed to spread to adjacent buildings or materials. We assume an empty plot will be built on. So the wall on that boundary must stay standing even if the rest of the building is collapsing and trying to push or pull it over. So, let's stick with steel portal frames. The turning forces in a collapsing building are huge and we have a very chunky column fixed down very robustly. Beneath that the foundation also has to be over a big area to resist turning. That is a fixed base. Again to confuse the staff in the warehouse by staring.. you will see that the column is chunkier on that wall than on one facing the car park. On a gable wall everything is lighter. Where it isn't a fire wall, the portal column can be skinnier at the base, with few bolts and the foundation is also much smaller, only taking vertical loading. That is a pinned base. Not usually literally pinned but sometimes they are. On a 30m span shed the boundary foundations might have 5m3 of concrete each, and mustn't cross the boundary, while the others have 2m3 or so. it's all money. My business used tapered columns (and rafters) for best value, and they were thin at the bottom to deep at the top, except on fire walls. The depth of section mirrored the forces. The fire wall cladding is fire rated, and the columns usually need to be protected too. That's all a bit messy and bitty but I hope makes sense.

But you are today's winner. 🏆 💐

Next time you are in a big steel warehouse, look at the rafters. They will be very slender if well designed. To prevent rotation/ out of balance of the rafter, there can be angled struts from the bottom flanges to purlins.. a small amount of steel adding much strength. 350°C , as mentioned by Gus, is very hot indeed. By the time that temperature is reached everyone is gone a long time ago, and most contents will be too. Windows will fall out, doors will fail, skylights will burn or break and so some heat will escape. Ouside walls may even fall apart or burn. Or if it stays intact the oxygen demand doesn't keep up with the fire. The fire bbrigade'sprimary mission is to save life and that is long before 350. But also the fire must not spread so boundary walls and compartment walls are to a higher spec, and steel columns must stay in place. That moves us onto pinned or fixed bases which may be for lesson 2 (only if requested).

I'm not really . I'm being perhaps being lazy and vague. I mean readily renewable, not laid down millions of years ago. Not my understanding. Unless the climate change is all down to pollution rather than energy release. Small nuclear sounds worrying. If VW, Dacia (and some others) start putting it in cars we have to worry a lot about the quality control and back-lot mechanics. (Easier to express for cars than with ships)

That's me, and most on here: thanks for acknowledging. Yours is a list of negatives though, some not limited to wind and some rather, if I may say so grasping. So would you like to complete your version of the pos and cons? Ie balanced not extreme. Please include pollution and health as well as economics. On which we live in a fairly remote SE rural place. But we really notice the difference in air quality (much better) when north of the Forth/Clyde.

The jobs thing is interesting. Whisky is oft quoted as a major employer. It is significant for the nearby village (a visitor centre problem has more employment than the production) but isn't on a regional or national scale.

I know it makes radiation and is dangerous but I've just twigged something. Boffins comments sought. Wind, sun and water all provide a fairly closed loop of extracting energy from current nature and releasing it as heat almost in real time. Effect on the planet fairly small.(?) But can a boffin confirm that nuclear does not have this benefit? Oil coal and gas are energy stored over millions of years , being released over tens. Bad. Burning timber from commercial forests is the sun's resources collected over a few decades. But Nuclear energy was created in the Big Bang, quite a whike ago, so is adding to heat gain in a sudden manner and is not "renewable". Bad. So we should only use sun, wind, hydro and tides, but perhaps some timber from waste, and from rubbish.

A read back will show that I have " got it" thoroughly. I am deeply in favour of non fossil- power (not so sure on nuclear). But, as ever, it needs a plan and policies for all, not left to the free market or the usual snatching of resources from otherwise neglected communities. Hence my proposal for a big electric meter at each development, and the tariff going to your local council

If the hoist hadn't been to hand, this guest might have been tricky to evict. Other than by messy gruesome means and some decorating. This might have been where it was born... feeling guilty now. this introdudes a practical matter: does anyone know a source of very light duty mewps to buy for changing of light bulbs 6m up? No more doing it by standing on a chair. A genie lift for a person.

Sounds as if it is straightforward. The SE will show piers and specify a lintel. Bricklayer forms the window opening which the window supplier measures (don't order by theoretical window dimensions as they can turn out different. , but you can get a quote from it).

A plan showing the house, all manhole and grille covers, & directions of flow. As well as flushing as a test, a piece of toilet paper proves where it is from. There is a product called drain trace. It is brown power that shows as luminous yellow when diluted. With that you can trace from toilet pan through each pontoon it's journey. It's unlikely, as you say, that a mains leak is getting in there, but perhaps an overflowing tank or wc.

Currently proposed near Inverness. Makes sense as a use for spare wind power. Like pump storage reservoirs it could be utilised only when there is spare power. But more likely a justification for more turbines With Loch Ness proposals for another 2 dams, it would make Inverness a major power centre. The downside being the huge local effect but not a lot of jobs.

Thd anomaly is that a stage is reached where it does not "benefit the local community". Planners work yo a tick- box system and cannot include approved but unbuilt projects, so more get approval Then the national grid takes it away. It would be a simple solution to levy £/MW and pay it into the community in perpetuity. Perhaps in real time. But that would be a UK government thing. or? Could it be levied as it is exported to the grid? That could be a planning condition. How big would the meters be?

we had a screed with ufh, over chipboard. As a last minute decision we decided to lay 5mm rubber matting first (between floorboards and the eggbox grid). the logic was simply that there was one chance to do it. as it happens it proved useful as the plastic grid did not fit well/ was not fitted well and had areas not touching the floor. Having the matting meant that normal staples bit into the mat and held the grid down. perhaps the staples would have gripped the boards equally well. we will never know if it makes a big difference. My hunch is that it will make a difference for low frequencies and running footsteps. we ordered online and it came in 2 days. very good quality , clearly made of car tyres and well bonded yet squidgy enough. it reminded me of the matting on a golf range tee-off area.... and surplus will become that and a football goal areas on our field. so yes, we decided to do it. The moral though is to diy the matting or watch the installation. Ours was very ropey with overlaps and gaps with speed dominating over quality.. followed of course by umpteen excuses.

Have they remembered to stop at tunnels?

It should be a routine framed opening within the wall construction. What is the wall construction? Your SE will have allowed that the wall construction can support vertical load (up as well as down) from the rafters. In reality the gable wall is often not a portal frame as it isn't spanning from foundation to foundation.

Lofts get silly hot in summer.

I'm of the same persuasion but we found some that comes in 20 patterns and I like it. Otoh a relatively thin skin of timber slows heat more, but doesn't stop it.

If I recall, you are on sand which is very free draining and not seasonally affected. It would be different on clay.

No, but it's just tiling, which is standard practice. The only issue would be using long tiles on a floor which might flex. Do you feel any suggestion of movement when jumping on the middle?

Of course it matters massively where your doors are, to walk out onto land or mid-air.

I've done a few buildings ( schools and factories) on steep slopes. My principle has been to build a platform at the higher level, then a conventional framed building on top. That keeps it simple and vastly more economical. No basement as you get into a different level of complexity and risk.( digging into the ground, waterproofing, stability, access) So that is conventional strip footings ans walls up to level . Then beam and block or precast planks make the surface. You are then out of the ground and on a solid surface. With a raft you have a big hole to dig then work in. If the slope is steep there is potential differential movement of the ground. If the slope is extreme then you can perhaps have a natural extra storey or part of one. Worth mentioning perhaps that in a couple of those jobs the original designers had assumed the dig and raft technique or retaining walls and mass fill to make a platform. I met one during negotiation and discussed the principles, and he was simply surprised at the cost difference, not being a contractor. Beam and block then a conventional kit above is my suggestion.

The same rules apply. In efficient structural design concrete beams and slabs would be completely integrated, but these appear to have been designed for speed and tying in has been for location and nothing more. The NY building probably has concrete floors too, tied to the steel with studs.

Scotland has differing values and goals to a large extent. Hence a left wing government for a long period , despite the voting system being designed to prevent it. So lots is different And lots was not devolved. In summary? More collectivist and egalitarian. Eg social services. Less of a class system Naturally against privatisation.

Thats perhaps intended as a distraction. No, but they could get a reduced rate for using non- peak times. It's also common sense, as a no Investment solution. People are entitled to not turn on the cooker any time they choose.