saveasteading

On t&g spruce. It moves , so I discovered it is best to stain it before fixing. One coat of sickens light oak is almost invisible, which is the point really. It then dies to leave a light gloss. After 5 years the colour is much the same, ie no fading. After 10 years esp south facing there is fading but still no grey. FYI we also used a very dark brown called dark palisander. After 10 years it is largely the same on north faces but on need of a re-coat facing the sun, for aesthetics not durability. In-between colours we never did. On the steading I was over-ruled and it is cedar, which is fading , but fairly consistently (still coloured where shadows protect it) and attractively so. Be very careful to use fixings which don't react with cedar....it can look awful.

If it's on the drawing then that is what is approved.

I prefer the top picture but it won't stay like that unless treated. My choice is spruce then treated with 'light oak' Sadolin so it keeps that look. Others like grey, but have you noticed that Architects always show newly built properties, never the greyed or mouldy result. I should say seldom/ rarely.

My thoughts too. If it is open to a hillside then the rain runs off the hill and the water table will be low. With an external membrane and a carrier pipe at the base, is that all that is required? It's a retaining wall. Ask a basement waterproofing company for a basement design and you get what is shown, but it isn't a basement unless I'm misunderstanding.

OK. So you can walk out of the basement onto this area outdoors. So it is patio rather than basement? Rain falls into it?

S isn't even near 2 on the keyboard. 2illy me. Carele22.

The planning permission rules apply and you have accepted them. It is normal fof neighbours to object to a new development: it wasn't personal. I think you have to respect them and their mood may improve. If you have to do noisy stuff, even in approved hours on thd weekend, try to get it over with ASAP.. a breaker going on and off for hours can be avoided. Ask them to let you know of any times that would be a real nuisance, eg they are having friends rounding you will try, not promise, to minimise it. No radios... that is just inconsiderate. I've had this.. it usually goes away if you show consideration.

I don't really understand what this is about. What is a basement "open on 2 sides? What is the drainage channel for? The wall should not leak if designed properly. Putting a membrane inside a basement is to resolve an existing leaking basement, not newbuild. Where does the water go from the channel? Presumably it is 2m or more underground.

If you use Google Earth, you an look at older aerial views, sometimes back to wartime 19402, to see if the hedge was there then. perhaps you'll see a fence or smaller hedge?

Fire engines are designed to be maneuverable. And there isn't a real world problem with a 5 point turn, or 7, as thr emergency had been dealt with by that stage. Hence I think bco tends to be pragmatic. Plus, if the building meets fire regs the tank water should sort a typical fire , and not need a big water store on site. Our bco was happy that we had a 3m3 drinking water store that could be used.

Insulation-wise pir is twice as good as rockwool, but gaps defeat the object. Are you pushing it up to a roofing felt or to exposed tiles/slates?

No. It doesn't squeeze. Especially when thick, it won't fit. The size of the gaps will be +/- and the rafters may not be vertical. This has has been discussed on here before, and the consensus / easiest seemed to be to cut it a lot smaller, and inject expanding foam in to close the gap. I don't like expanding foam as it goes where it shouldn't, and may shrink. On our project where the timbers are 100 years old, it was distorted in all directions: we tried with 2 layers of 75mm which allows easier fitting but it still left too may gaps. So what we did was 75mm of pir board, cut as well as poss, but with inevitable gaps., then 75mm of rochwool slab which can be squeezed in to the space. Or 50 + 100... I can't remember the detail.

Sort of. In a narrow box such as double glazed units, a tiny air gap creates a large improvement, very much more than with secondary glazing, because the air circulates. In a floor void It will heat up and circulate too. There should be air bricks and they will suck the heat away too. Even if there aren't, there will be draughts. I can't see insulation. The blocks are about 150mm, then a slab on top, but I don't see insulation.

My main point is to check that you have floor insulation, thickness and what material: don't assume. Is there somewhere you can easily check eg at a hatch you could assess the thickness. OR somehow get an accurate report on the neighbour's floor. That looks just uninsulated to me, but hollow blocks helping a bit. There are ways of playing with the numbers to get building regs especially back then. The actual number could be dreadful. It would not suit ufh. Air in a large void is a very poor insulator. Ground is better.

Agreed, it isn't really a pergola but a structure for solar panels.

16 years ago what was the required floor U value? I might have an old manual, somewhere. I'm going to guess at the equivalent of 75mm pir. But putting none in the floor and more elsewhere was more common then. I agree with the warm feet principle and that 20mm of pir (twice as good as eps, might be worthwhile. Do Wunda do a pir version? BUT on balance you'll lose a lot of energy down to the void, so I'm thinking live with it especially if the boiler is gas. And put 300mm of fg in the loft.

Is it an ancient field hedge or a domestic one? if agricultural then there is usually a fence as well, or the remnants of one, or of a gate. Logically though, if that was planted as a field boundary within a farm, then the centre would be the boundary. If planted as demarcation of two farms then there would be a fence first, of marker posts and then planting on the planter's side, but then swallowing the fence up. So 200mm off centre?. Middle of hedge seems about right whatever. Whatever, your designer should have kept 1m min away from it to avoid complexities. Decide what you want then tell them to sort it.

'We' meaning a business with insurance? Yes agreed that deadweight will work too. Presumably you didn't use the cheap pergolas which form an arch and support a honeysuckle at most. I've seen skinny things made with cheap cedar. Did you build them from 3 x 2 / 4x2 tanalised? That is the sort of structure this needs in a gale. I'm not against it, just urging caution and research.

That looks like chalk so should drain ok. And gravel, especially that much, would probably be resistant enough to uplift. Any risk would only be when the tank is empty, so that could be kept to the end of summer.

A picture saves 999 words?

Mine hasn't either then.

That might take off on the wind. It will need a substantial pergola, with strong connections throughout and fixed down hard to a foundation. The sort of pergola you see in a garden centre is not made for this use. The solar panels at that angle will create a wing effect and could all end up next door. Would this be diy or a specialist package?

I hadn't heard of this product so thanks @Nickfromwales. BUT I can't see any mention of it used in supporting a post, or of its bearing capacity so I doubt this is suitable for that They say Structural a lot, but without numbers. They also stay quiet about the insulation numbers. If that post is simply holding the side of a wall or window then OK, but not to take a vertical load without some proof. OK found it. 7,000 kPa at 10% compression...... but we wouldn't want it compressing under a post and it is made of foam, however dense. No mention of the strength before compression which again suggests it is for light structural use where the forces are small. That is 7,000 kN/m2 or 1/3 of concrete strength so quite impressive... so not suitable for heavy structures. And the insulation level is OK too considering the density. Marmox is a bit better. Back to the question, even though it has probably all been built by now. Forget about the base to concrete. Stuff the open web with PIR, then board over as above.

Contrary to the rule of thumb, forces don't dissipate at 45°, so a narrow footing might be OK but needs assessment. Re the depth... if you keep the old walls they will be deemed OK. If you are building new walls then the bco will likely want the foundations to be assessed by an SE. So a trial hole for depth and soil type.

That should show any cracking. I wonder if there is any way these internal wall were added later, and built on the floor slab. That may not be insured. When you brief the SE be sure to tell them this is re an insurance claim. If the SE thinks the problem is not the original foundations then you may wish to drop the claim and minimise his report and fee. That wouldn't resolve the original issue of course, but that can follow.