saveasteading

It won't fall down. It's better practice though to cut down two blocks to fill the space, than to insert tiny bits. Also for small bits not to be at the corner. So the perfect corner would have whole blocks, or no smaller than half blocks. The left wall would therefore have the corner and next block exchanged. This is because of stresses at the corner. If one wall tries to move, the adjoining one should have as much linkage as possible to spread the stress. I don't know if this is written anywhere. Perhaps someone else can clarify. I may look in some old books.

On a fire course, they showed a test fire (what fun!) of flame spreading up a plywood wall. Because the heat rises and preheats the timber, it spreads very quickly, in fact suddenly.

I would use low grade ply or osb ( for cost) then plasterboard over it. This is what happens in a bathroom to support the appliances so will work for you and no fire spread risk. Fermacell or cement board covering are another option.

We had people dahn from that London. They couldn't stand the silence at night, and absolutely hated opening the curtains and seeing sheep staring.

If you'd rather get it out of sight dig a hole there and fill with the jaggiest bits of rubble. It's best to line the hole in permeable membrane to keep the earth and roots out. Also on top before backfilling.

Maybe I've missed it but let's resolve the structural side of this tree thing. 3 questions. What kind of tree is it? How far is it from the tree to the closest point of the proposed extension? +/- 300mm for now. What kind of ground do you have? In your own terms....clay/silt/sandy?

And so you should. Take it 5m away if you can.

I think that's about right, but not if these 10% are critical for water or nutrition. An arbori.etc once forecast to me that spreading earth over 30% would certainly kill them. However I've seen our Borough approve new houses right underneath (3m at construction) oak trees, in an aonb. The housing target trumped the tree's community / ecological value. The house will suffer too, with moss and mould, and blocked gutters.

I hadn't heard of the brand until reading the current Which magazine. Not good.

34 dBa is about the level of a person's whisper But whispering can be annoying. How loud is an oil or gas burner flue btw? I have a mental trick. Listen to heavy traffic noise in the distance. Think waterfalls. One is annoying because people are doing it to you, the other is calming because it is nature. I haven't tried it with heat pumps yet.

Foundation designs are based on tree distance and type, but at the mature height, not the height at the time of construction. More likely was ignorance of this at the time, because tree problems have increased more recently. I've met bcos who knew nothing about the subject. The tpo however is all about the health and significance of the tree. Building over or cutting a large proportion of roots will damage it significantly. Also, building near a tree can cause it to readjust asymmetrically and just look bad.

1. Expensive for a small building. Would create a potential stress point between old and new, as the existing building will continue to move and the new one won't. 2.For all that I have my doubts about them, steel screw piles to similar depth as the existing founds might work. 3. Sometimes you have to accept that an idea is not feasible.

Only that you have no house and have costs but no certainty of permission to build a new one. There are no tricks. it has all been thought of. However, its worth realising that builders seldom buy to renovate, and would prefer to demolish because of the constraints in the existing building. Then the zero VAT thing comes in too. But you can't assume that you will get permission to demolish unless the building is unfit for purpose. Erm, not necessarily. Permission is not certain enough.Again, Please concentrate on doing a good job, and not looking for dodges.

But...as a rule of thumb I say that a single storey building costs the same, per useful m2, as 2 storey. This doesn't apply for a very small area though, as the stair takes up so much space. on one or both floors depending on arrangement. Miss out the stair and mezz, save 1/4 of your cost, and lose ...not an awful lot of floor. This means nothing of course if it doesn't provide the accommodation you want.

Good work. Thanks. I'd just found these plasson and another make called philmac are the only options ( from a farming online discussion). I went straight to jdp on Monday but they were closed for stocktaking. 3 bm later I've got stuff that won't work, but can take it back. The jdp website just would not find these, but I'll try the depot again. Plus see if they'll sell me 1m of 25mm blue pipe. Should I buy a proper pipe cutter?

More very messy digging, with every shovel and trowelful sticking. Is finding more issues progress? Of course. So there is another joint, looking more modern. That might unscrew. The pipe was resting on bits of brick and tile, and on concrete dollops on the drain pipe ( I'm guessing they conceal damage). Then just heavy clay backfill with whatever brick or old rubbish happened to be in it. To the right it bends past the manhole then dives down under the hedge. So it was clearly stressed. When repairing it I will loop a generous length of pipe away from the bank to give flexibility. Of course I will backfill with gravel. My big spanner doubles as a measurer, so I now know the black pipe is 1 1/16th (inch and sixteenth). This coincides precisely with Internet info saying that an alkathene 3/4" internal pipe has an OD of 26.9mm. I can't find for sure that this will push into a modern 25mm connector. Surely it does, or there would be special connectors???? The blue pipe measures 18mm. Presumably this what you get as a notionally 20mm. Taking @ProDave advice to leave the repair until after Christmas. Too much risk of the merchants being closed or not having stock if there is a change of plan. My cork and denso is working. A drip every 3 seconds, with the mains valve barely open , but I'm still turning the mains off again night. Oh yes, I found a bit of iron pipe among the mud. My main concern is whether the black pipe will fit in a 25mm connector.

Yes and no. If this is going to be traditional construction then an experienced builder knows the approximate cost level, and detailing is simple. But, there is no money in giving free advice so some trust is required both ways. From my own experience I would visit most potential clients and advise an approximate cost immediately, or next day. But some I simply declined on a whim or immediate judgement. I don't know you or your local builders so can't predict how it might go.

Ditto. Russell is right. Another option is to start with a quality, small, local builder. They can give an immediate guesstimate, and can get the necessary construction details within their package. Assuming you are looking at standard materials, as what you've shown is a bit flash. And as with all grand designs and architect mags no handrail "yet". £120k? In theory yes. In practice you'll be lucky.

That must be optimum. The gap between boards is sealed and becomes an air cell. Any tape would do though. Shiny surfaces are only effective when facing a void.

That seems to be right.

I thought that until this discussion.

BC said "more" insulation between floors needed I didn't know this! It seems that the easy options are 1. Single layer plasterboard ceiling and 100mm mineral wool on it. 2. Double layer plasterboard no insulation. Floor chipboard has to be a certain density, as does the pb.

To reduce the chance of your gravel clogging with muck and weeds over the years, could you put a perforated pipe in the gravel and vent it upwards? Then cover the gravel with slabs? It would work better if the pipes vented either higher, or distant to the house, allowing the breeze/ differential pressures to evacuate any gas. Despite my interest i have never heard of there ever being an explosion in a house ( or anh building) from ground methane. Might as well do it properly though.

Good work. I've done several jobs on methane sites. In most cases I've specified a perforated pipe network beneath the slab, surrounding in gravel, then venting outside the building. There are branded systems at about 4 times the cost. I have the advantage of the qualifications, which the bco should accept. Your blanket of gravel clearly allows gas to escape too, ( for a small building, so you must have detailed it very well. It needs to be open at different ends of the building to get wind suction. I assume you have this.

Thanks all. I will check properly, but I think the black mains pipe is about 32mm inch externally, Some research shows that this is called 1" because that is the ID, and is also stated as 24.5mm ID and 33.7mm OD. Yes, I know that an inch = 254.mm so i will find another reference to check. The branch is blue mdpe 25mm. i also see that I will not 'win' any black pipe when fitting a new branch as the pipe goes nearly all the way into the socket. so I will need to buy some 35mm mdpe,. nobody seems to sell it by the m so I will have 24.5m spare. But it might be as well to replace a metre or so while I'm at it. IN one direction it is easy digging. The other soon disappears under concrete! Apparently we can tell that alkathene is failing when black bits come out of taps. something to look out for. Ive turned the water off for the night . My cork and string thing is working, and i think the leak is now at alkathene to brass. The puddle has grown considerably but its a leak, not an outpouring. Tomorrow I have other things to do, so I will get back to it on wednesday and report.