saveasteading

You might simply be able to push up the elbow to stop the leak. I'd repair the bigger holes ASAP. A pointing tool is a good investment and disguises my amateur work.

You've given away the secret of good design. Water droplets, units of force, whatever. Then express it on site in dance.

Interesting I looked it up and suspect this will be your problem copies of warranties, photographic evidence or independent expert reports, for example. as I expect your bank will immediately ask for this and you will be into costs. alternatively the other party will throw some tech explanation at the bank, and then they ask you. OTOH if the window people do think they have some liability, or better things to do with their time, you may get an offer to end the matter.

Hadn't thought of that. Just how soft / fragile is it? what about handling it? But the cost difference appears to be £1,000 maybe more if in 2 layers. There will be lots of cutting as the rooms are divided. But that would help in defining areas and promptly covering in polythene.

We will have 150mm of insulation under a 60mm, or so, screed. I'm looking at costs and practicalities. the existing slab has a variation of 30mm in level and is about 18m x 18m. 150mm to 180mm of insulation is preferable in performance and cost to making the difference up in screed. I'd prefer 2 x 75mm thickness to allow overlaps, with the top face taped. Then add 25mm where necessary but perhaps 1 x 100 everywhere and a top layer of 50 or 75 as appropriate. dpc and/or tape over steps may be tricky. I started off considering PIR to the top and EPS to the bottom for economy. On the basis that EPS is half as good and half the cost. But as we have an exceptional HP/A, the centre of the building isn't going to lose much heat downwards. And, as previously discussed on here, the performance is not linear and insulation diminishes with thickness. Listed costs for PIR are very similar on some sites (who will match each other) with others a lot dearer (but will match) so I'm using these for the exercise. I'm optimistic the area will encourage a discount. The sites quote different delivery charges at surprisingly small sums (order of £150ish) so their target buyer appears to be for small works, As such, EPS is half the cost for thin boards but 2/3 for thicker boards. But assuming half price, the saving is £1,100. The Seconds company seem to be the only supplier of unfaced boards. That can't be so? It is much cheaper and matches the eps prices. There is no benefit from a foil facing in the dark with no air spaces. Or is there strength or the tape sticks better? Seconds quote thicknesses as eg 90-100mm or 140-150mm. Does this imply that most of the product has been rejected for being too thin? Or maybe some is thin, and they don't know what will turn up, so this is sensible advice. But what do I order if I dont know the actual thicknesses. Maybe they can tell me at the time. I'd like, as always, to support local merchants rather than distance. so am hoping they can match these prices. maybe they can source seconds when requested. I wonder if it would be double handled at the yard or come direct from the factory. Any thoughts and experiences welcomed, both science and site, as are questions.

and French drains leading to them. Once the amount of storage is assessed you will know whether a controlled overflow is a good plan. I guess you could reverse this, with water to pond/rain garden and overflow to soakaway.

I'd scrape the loose paint off to help it dry inwards and also to monitor it. You might find the the plaster beneath shows dampness, and I would mark that in pencil and be delighted to notice that it isn't spreading and may be reducing. Will you be doing diy ? Anyway you can brush off the green stuff now, as that is holding water. this is one of those queries where we can all feel good at sorting an issue so please repot back for better or worse.

Quite so. I'd advise you listen to the advice here. it may be free and we aren't always right, but it is by people who have done it/ do it for a living/ know the theory or the reality or both. Draughts are worse than cold bridges and that thermal pic may make it look worse than it is. draughts can be sorted with standard brush strips. so what do you do if you get awarded £30 towards fitting these? Up to you. You will spend many hundreds and they might agree that it isn't a justifiable claim. I've sat with an industry expert (selected by my solicitor) because of a cost claim by a client. I think it was about structural design. After a very expensive hour he said how interesting it had been, and I clearly knew more than him on the matter in question. That might be the case here, with the free advice above being equally expert. Not mine: the others who know this subject backwards.

Yes. Depending on your topography you could have a lagoon and rain garden . this then works as a soakaway but also loses water through evaporation and from transpiration of any plants. In the winter it doesn't work so well though. so it has to be big, and you must be prepared for it to dry out in summer. any rain will disappear before reaching it (see 'French drains' later) . I discussed this with a Naturalist, and he agreed with me that nature finds a balance and it isn't for us to save every creature from the drying or flooding cycling. BUT I had the feed drains built as French drains so that only overflows from them reached the lagoon. also rainwater harvester inline. It worked well for 1000m2 of roof. The planners and the LA 'nature' advisors resisted at first because it didn't fit with their hierarchy of solutions*, but I convinced them. So yes, but don't count on approval. * they have lists and like to see 'things'. so they wanted a green roof and crates. I explained how this prevented the water from reaching the harvester, and added tonnes of steel (so carbon) to support it. You do still need the water to soak away. Is it perched water? unlikely I think. Otherwise you would have seen it running from the sides of the hole even as you dug it. Was the ground you dug pretty well saturated? It may simply have been oozing from there. Your percolation test is decent and that is what matters. A crate will fill with water and so provide a head of water which will head downwards. You appear to have space, otherwise a rain garden wouldn't be a consideration, so you can have a bigger area of 200mm deep crates. OR simply do the drainage field principle as in the building regs. Caution: if your rain garden or lagoon overfills, where does it go next?

the photo is helpful. I suspect a leak from the lower downpipe joints. Notice how the green is spreading out from that.

I think this is straight forward. see the green moss and algae on the wall? it is from water running from above. or simply rain hammering into that corner and not running off. also there appear to be gaps in the mortar. it is above the dpc and getting through to the inside where exactly is the internal dampness in comparison to this external photo? id have the wall cleaned and repointed. Plus check for water running out of gutters or flashings. You need to stand in the rain to se this properly. You may need to clean out or repair a gutter.

the reason for the pipe being at that depth is to be clear of frost and of excavation/ other physical damage. that doesn't seem to be a risk in your situation, but you must decide on that. a short length that is not as deep as the standard isn't going to freeze. whether the logic will interest your water people is another matter though, so there is a lot to be said for showing them what they want to see.

the pipes will stretch and perhaps even slip a bit when pulled by the tiny movement. Using frequent joints, controlling the water content (low) and keeping the concrete wet while curing, the induced cracks will be small and insignificant. OR, if it is all going to be covered then you don't necessarily need the crack inducers and can let it do its own thing with millions of micro-cracks.

Welcome. Explain in what regard please? Are you sure? Id have thought for big plots then yes, bigger developers will have it. But on a small plot, the builder will only pay enough to retain profit after all costs including interest, selling and legal fees etc, and there is always risk. For self build you may be prepared to pay a bit more IFFFFFF the site is very much to your liking. You do not make money on a self build unless you are highly skilled yourself and do a lot of the work, whether design, management or physical...so maybe you have that.

Or undertighten. Actually I found that the clamping lug screws had to be surprisingly tight to ensure their seals.

That is what they look like. But I think it should be on the outside of the tightened screw for full contact with the pan. Let's see the pan and thr fixings that came off, for certainty. Btw I'm only expert in this through getting this wrong, then right... if any proper plumbers want to correct me that's fine.

Pretty well any cistern should do. It is a very primitive connection... just an open pipe below the cistern into the hole in the pan. That connection is likely the problem anyway so look at the rubber seal that came off with it as homework... does it look distorted or perished? The new cistern probably won't have this seal so you need a new one, and should change the screw fixings too. I messed up this connection the last time I changed one and had to start again, ( the seal ring wasn't neatly on the cistern outlet). so check it all fits neatly without clashes with fixings, threads etc on both parts.

It's all pricey. Block and beam is a good option and not esp costly. Where you say slab, it's probably a screed. Miles cheaper than a structural raft.

Only if you have real doubts about competence. Without full reading back, you are on virgin clay? No fill? So it's straight forward and my decision would be in comparing a structural raft to traditional build of footings and slab. Beware, that the term raft is often misused, being applied to normal groundbearing floor slabs ( to make it sound fancier?)

It's all free online by NHBC if you want to do your own assessment.

Fair enough. It is not clear in the regs so it is interpretation. Neither is there anything to stop a neighbour planting an oak close to your house (I think there should be) , so at least this is on the safe side. The thorns aren't an issue but maple is. It's an easy assessment off a graph. Sometimes a designer will work from the closest distance tree to house and specify that depth all round.but it could be shallower at the opposite faces.

No, I hadn't seen the skirt before and it does look useful. The first UFH I was involved with was 20 years ago and the PIR all floated up even with concrete , not screed. Poor taping I think. An exciting day. Hence I take this very seriously.

OK found it easily enough. £1/m for 100mm.They all seem to call it expansion strip but it isn't. It's for containing the edge and free contraction in curing and as a thermal break. If screeds expanded and shrank significantly in everyday use, there would be a lot of broken tile and rumpled vinyl flooring. Our project has about 200m of internal edging, so I think this product will be worthwhile. We have to use something and this will be easy and provide a little thermal benefit. So thanks for the exercise!

Against the internal stud walls you don't need much insulation. Heat is 'leaking' into the wall from both sides. But you are then losing heat from the wall down into the slab. Timber is low conduction but not ideal. But stuff the stud with insulation and I think it is sorted. But you do need an edging to contain the screed. You can use the foam board as suggested and it will insulate between screed and timber where there would be some heat loss. In summary for best insulation, use that edging board and also stuff the lower cavity. Caveat: I have somehow missed the edging board in years of being interested and doing 3 heated screeds. What is it called and is it expensive?

I can see the logic of choosing it along with a contractor experienced in it. But otherwise I'd use whatever is normal locally The basement is not building but Civil Engineering so both SE and contractor need to be expert. By piling I assume you mean sheet piling to retain the earth while digging and building. What structure are you allowing for the basement?