saveasteading

Quite big. But the concrete should be totally stable now, and you are using the mat, so i think you can risk omitting movement joints....not nice in a room.

I use these rods in the garden for bean stakes, as they are cheaper than reinforcing rods, yet are galvanised.

So diy or change. In case an explanation of basics helps.. There will be a load coming down your structural walls, measured in kN/m. Say it was 50kN/m and the ground capacity is 100kN/m2, then you make the concrete foooting 0.5m wide. But if the capacity is 50kn/m2, then you need a base of 1m width. The floor is separate and can sit on much weaker ground. If your project is several stories high, with very big rooms, then the wall loadings will be very high, and it would become technical and expensive. Are you sure the se wants to dig out the whole area.? What woild go back in? Plesse be aware that we don't know your circumstances and haven't seen your se report or drawings. Btw, piles will push through the soft clay very easily.

and the room size?

If there are contraction joints in the floor then mirror them. Otherwise, why would you expect the floor to move?

That was me. 2mm hump in a 900 x 150 porcelain tile. It needed a levelling system but the first timers are getting on great with it, and using the levellers on smaller tiles now too, for speed. I am guessing that a big square tile may have a hump in the middle, but the perimeter would all be level. Perhaps a heavy weight in the middle will sort it, but a 2mm flow won't really matter. Handling? Well you wouldn't want to drop or scratch them so find a helper (doesn't need to be a friend) and buy a suction lifter?

Not according to that NHBC sketch. To me it is ending up as an overdesigned floor over an expensive substitute for slab eps, (which would not require a vented space), but entirely due to circumstances.

' screw piles are not common in Ireland,' If you mean the metal ones that are screwed into the ground and left in place, then I am not a fan. They are ideal for garden sheds, and telephone masts. I discussed these at industry shows some years ago and the reps were giving amazing promises, which turned out to be nonsense. The trouble with conventional piles that are 2.4m long to refusal, is that you then chop the top 900m off. Very wasteful. UK planning allows anything significant to constitute a start of the works, including forming an entrance. You might chat to a planner about your predicament and see if they allow such a thing, or alternatively what danger of not getting renewal. In UK there would have to be a significant change in the local policy to prevent renewal...and I'm sure you could present it , but the Architect should only charge for a couple of hours.

I don't know the detail of course, but I think the design is cautious. 100kN/m2 is perfectly normal and takes standard footings. 70kN/m2 is not great but should be ok. Making footings wider spreads the load and is preferable to taking the whole area out. So I would be proposing standard trench footings at 1.3m. 70kN/m2 is also fine for a floor slab...nobody will fall through, otherwise it wouldn't be safe to walk in the garden. Therefore the ground between footings can stay in place. Yes have a chat with the BCO. What would be necessary is close inspection of the excavation as it proceeds, perhaps tending higher or lower as the ground is exposed. Perhaps the SE is avoiding the uncertainty, which some clients would prefer.

At least insect mesh. I think I would fix it inside for security and outside too, to keep the vents empty of creatures. When the beads are glued together is it a mass, or are there gaps?

Welcome ClubTropicana. Looking forward to hearing of your intentions and methods. I was trying to work that out from the sun's position...but it doesn't match the shadows, so I think it is random. My guess is that the wing curtains are to hide behind if necessary, and the rest is optionally exposed to the world, or is one of those blackout windows (pixels within the glazing, by pushing a button) . Balconies would be nice, perhaps depending whether you have a clear view of the Clyde or Dumbarton is in the way.

Box them in. Everything is black in the dark, so they will match.

We thought we had 3 phase (amateur me looking at the wiring, and it being a redundant farm building). But it wasn't , and it would have been expensive to bring in, and the standing charge would increase. With research and the advice of ProDave and others we confirmed that our single phase was plenty, even for ASHP for 400m2. SSE were helpful too, but I know they don't stretch to Suffolk. With SSE agreement, we put in an oversized cable just in case things change. After years of asking electricians what 3 phase was, I now realise they didn't really know. they just knew how to do the wiring. Great for heavy machinery, but we don't have any.

I can't see anything wrong with it. My concern would have been getting approval from BCO for a hybrid design but there is NHBC confirmation so should be ok. so do not have air bricks. Make sure that the dpm is utterly seales so that water cant get in (there is no way out again) presumably the superbead is placed slightly prod so that there are no gaps. How do you keep the superbead in place against the wind, and dry until the vcl goes in? or is this within a constructed house?

If I may, why do you want 3 phase?

Our business bought very big orders of steel buildings, and our credit level rose over the years. We got significant discounts for prepayment....much more than the interest. So most clients jumped at the saving but were rightly nervous of the risk. But the supplier got a personal guarantee from their bank to our client. It was a single page saying that if the materials were not delivered or were wrong, the bank would reimburse " without argument". So it can be done. But the bank is not taking the risk, and won't. A small supplier would have to provide guarantees to the bank.

At £1.50 for 3m, the rod could be continuous, base to eaves.

Costs more of course as the blocks are fancy compared to normal cuboid ones. It is very clever and may avoid or reduce putting pir over the floor.

Yes a little. The crack below the window has already been filled by the look of it, but has continued to grow. We can't see the context to see if this has been the house settling in or something more concerning. I think have an SE look at it. In the first instance this could be a verbal opinion to put your mind at rest or suggest there may be problems.

I relayed your info to the family. They report back that the ufh is already off because there is plenty of heat from a hint of sunshine. Big windows to that section of the building. Promising for the winter heating performance. Will be interesting come the summer. Blackout curtains touching the floor, stair and veluxes as a cooling flue, open the wbs for stack ventilation, and park a van in front of the windows?

Beam and block comfortably spans 4m. Polishing the slab is ok, but a bit specialist for domestic. I prefer concrete screed, pir, screed with ufh. Control. Or b and b, then pir and screed. 150 slab with 1 bottom layer of mesh is a surprise as a suspended slab. That will require great precision. Crack control is simple enough. For later discussion.

M8 very much cheaper if it would suffice.. Direct Channel Support Systems Limited M10 Threaded Rod - High Tensile Steel (8.8 Grade) - 1 Meter Product Code: TR1-10T M10 Threaded Rod - High Tensile Steel (8.8 Grade) - 1 Meter High Tensile Steel 8.8 G.. £1.50 inc VAT (£1.25 exc VAT) M8 THREADED ROD - 3 METER Product Code: TR3-8 £1.62 inc VAT (£1.35 exc VAT)

My opinions: Beam and lock preferable to void formers. Above void formers need a structural (ie expensive) slab. perhaps 200 thick and with 2 layers of heavy reinforcement. If the ground heaves it crushes the former, but if it shrinks it then leaves a gap....so might as well have used B and B. If you need fibres in the screed and it is only for crack control, then use plastic fibres, which add typically £100 to the job, as compared with very much more for metal fibres. From my experience, Engineers (I am one) and Architects have been sold 'a solution' by void former suppliers but don't always know the cost implications. I am more used to severe shrinkage clay, so it should work for you with your lovely 'medium shrinkage'.

Saves going indoors, but my compost heaps are right next to the pavement and road, and a bit high. And once mulched round the roses, I'm not going that close.

I have done many big projects with b and b, always dense blocks. Then a cement wash over the lot to fill any cracks, seen or unseen. Then brush in sand and cement to the bigger gaps. Not only houses, but offices and assembly spaces, I think the biggest area was 800m2. The eps blocks seem very expensive. Therefore over that area , any price difference can be a lot of cash. My belief is that housing developers use b and b for certainty. The certainty that some subby of a subby isn't building on loose fill. Do they use eps blocks? I don't know. My default is always to build on the ground, which adds insulation in itself and doesn't have airflow under the slab, even though not fully acknowledged. B and B only to overcome site conditions or on steep slopes. I had not heard of using metal fibres over eps blocks. Is this for strength or crack control? It is very expensive too.