saveasteading

With good reason. Not a good idea. Try finding a recognised builder who does it, and wonder why they don't.

Unless it has come via an intermediary. Actually they test it and know where it came from. Russia selling happily to India it seems. Come the winter will the oil companies supply UK and Norway at the old price and to Germany etc at market rate?...I think we know.

I use ts and sf for convenience not for value, so do check around. Often the specialist merchants can do better. eg Saw some fence washers at £50 / bag in TS that were £15 at fence merchant. Drainage much cheaper from a drainage merchant...but ts and sf great for a quick in and out, if in stock.

10% off a £1 order or £1,000. At the end of the job it is 10% of a lot. Keep at it. I have been in Wickes with a 10% voucher that isn't scanning, and thought, 'is it worth the wait for 50p?' Of course it is. I can't speak for Appleby v LAP but will say not to buy own brand (with made up names) from these stores.

Excellent. What will you do with the water? In the rainy season will it be partially emptied for car washing etc, before the next rain storm? I

No it won't if it performs less well, and eps performs significantly less well than PIR. The actual thickness is not a 'thing' in itself. EPS provides half the u value of PIR, at half the price, so either 350 EPS or 175 PIR, is what I am saying. Either or, to give the option to suit construction detail. Buying twice the volume with EPS might have a transport implication too. There is another option of grey EPS with a 10% better u value than white. Something to do with graphite, so 350mm of that would be like 200mm PIR, roughly. We costed all the options in great detail recently, and there isn't much cost difference in the material purchase, so it is down to whether you have more or less excavation/fill as a result.

Well, many thousands insulated and tens of thousands not....if the building is big enough, floor insulation is not needed, certainly in the middle. The manufacturers used to make that clear but now seem to have forgotten to tell us. re the drawing. 350mm of EPS is a lot. If a thinner construction suits you then 175mm of PIR will do the same job at the same cost. or 75 of eps under 100 of PIR would be a pragmatic spec.

I couldn't. Height discrimination.

Good, that was rather my implication. I can do it but still find it hard. Just check /enquire of the Engineer if there is any natural way to reduce costs rather than crates. Being pedantic here, drainage is Civil Engineering, not Structural. Your SE may very well be able to do this but might choose to sublet all or some of it...watch the costs, as I have seen 40 page reports where 3 would suffice. The SE does not have to dig the holes or carry the buckets of water, so you should pay for observation time only, if they want to observe rather than accept your figures. Probably sensible to do this again, and it may even allow a reduction in caution, and soakaway size. That is surprising as it increases flood risk downstream. I thought there were always constraints. If you haven't done it yet, I urge you to find a way to reduce this flow for the general benefit. It is all these small increases in flow that cause flooding problems. Unless, of course, your water course ends up in the sea in a few minutes. Or into a reservoir would be good.

Yes, the stated limit is 15, so we are just outside that. However, I'm sure SEPA would have accepted a faster flow, as there is 15m of the same sand below that, so the water will be very well spread out before it hits the stone and runs off to the burn. The fast limit is to prevent erosion and sinkholes, and over-fast flow to watercourse, and neither would apply,

In Scotland you now need an air feed for 5kW or more. The more I think of it , the more a direct feed is the right solution, even for under 5kW. I first intended to fit a louvre close behind the burner, as this would provide the air, yet not cause a draight. But it must not have a closer, so it will inevitably create a draught. We have put in a 60mm pipe from outside, then through the PIR to behind the stove position. In due course it will be connected into the back of the stove, as yet not selected. It can all be plastic until close to the stove. I am hoping that more manufacturers start allowing the rear air entry, as currently they are very expensive. As a bonus , opening the vents will create stack ventilation, if ever needed.

Here is mine. NB this is exceptionally porous. Our soakaways are very small. We happened to have deep pits dug for other reasons so tested within them. The test holes can be nearer the surface. Soakaway design I am not publishing at present. See how you get on with percolation first. Then you have to do rainfall calculations before doing a soakaway proposals, which are not easy.

Before we can say more we do need, as Gus says, to know more. Type of tree, and nature of the ground. Conifer...ususly no structural problem but lots of needles and mess. Deciduous...can vary from small up to 25m, with as much in the ground (over and under your house) The roots near the surface are usually much finer than this, but I guess the lack of competition is encouraging this growth. Generally if you cut away or through more than 1/4 of the surface (feeding) roots the tree will die. Once we know the type of tree we can predict its eventual size, and effect on your house..that may affect the most appropriate treatment. If you don't know tree types then a photo of it, plus of the leaves and the bark would help.

What thickness of Compriband? We have a couple of stone arches, soon to receive glazing, which are no longer symmetrical, and so I want enough flexible sealer to accommodate any slight joggling of the stones. Assuming your windows are not in this situation, but suggestions welcomed.

We are getting the Everbuild Thermofoam, for which the spec reads much the same. Will report back after use.

Reduced again. Ours was £50 more, and was certainly a good buy. A little small for our large area, but well worth buying instead of hiring. Actually that is a handy width for trenches. NB no delivery AT ALL at any price to IV and some AB areas. Absolutely appalling, when they have a shop in Inverness, but I blame ignorance rather than prejudice. Same power but 7cm wider at Screwfix costs £616. yes six hundred and sixteen.

I would always go for level as well as flat. Anything off level can cause twisting and stresses, especially at the door.

Let us know how it goes please? Good luck. You now the rule of setting a limit and sticking to it?

Jings, crivvens, cheesy peep, that is a thorough answer. James, re the crack in the original wall, is that a simple crack, or has the wall moved outwards at the crack? There appears to be a shadow under it. I am thinking Gus is right, and the extension is on deep footings whereas the original is on shallow. Normally the building might rise and fall several mm and nobody would know, but the extension is causing a stress point. The positive thought is that it may return to place as the ground gets wet again over the winter, and rises.

I wouldn't know where to start in knowing if the glass was suitable for the purpose, so would probably have enough framework to prevent falls, and the glass to keep out the wind and allow vision. I assume this is subject to building warrant, so how could you prove it? There are better value steel and glass balcony systems recently, especially if in standard sizes, which you could design for. 'Composite' is recycled plastic, bulked out with sawdust. Works well and is very durable, but gets very hot in the sun, which of course is a big concern where you are. We bought a picnic table of the stuff, and it is going strong after 15 years, which timber would not.

Everyone above is correct. On large span portal frame buildings, with slopes about 10% but down to 2%, there is generally an upward force from wind, and all the screws and bolts are holding the roof on and the building down. Adding PV panels complicates the forces immensely, and especially very locally. The cost of reinforcing the structure is a very small proportion* of what the PV installation would cost. I have had installers phone and ask for permission to fix PV, which I could not give. Perhaps we could find enough redundancy for 30% cover but that would be the limit. The installers then whinged and demonstrated that they knew and cared nothing about structures, just their potential job. The least knowledgeable fitters may also just screw down to roof panels or purlins. On a steeper roof where any snow might be assumed to slide off, the panels will retain it and the whole building will be subject to 1m of snow as well as the panels weight. All buildings (except agricultural) have safety factors which include for bad workmanship and incompetence, so few buildings fail. But if they do it will be drastic, and not covered by any insurance other than the PV fitter, who will disappear rapidly. * But a lot of money wasted if the capacity is never required.

My greenhouse is set on 6 slabs (4 corners and 2 mids) with gravel in a grid for the floor. the structure is bolted down with 6 chemical bolts and has withstood many gales. However, draughts and dampness don't matter for a greenhouse but might for your shed, so consider how the rain is 'shed' away.

There is digestion going on in the tank and gases are likely to need an exit, so probably best to choose the least nuisancy point and leave a gap there. My understanding is that a balance isn't reached for quite a few weeks. But also, the tank will be designed for a balance of contents, so pee, poo and water basically. In a normal household that will balance out. But if there is an imbalance eg rainwater getting in, or not enough water, then it may get whiffy.

I would say suggest that the RH bracket simply bends at the base, and the LH one potentially gives more resistance. But the LH one isn't fixed to much floor board or close enough to the newel, so will twist. Can you get down and observe while someone else pushes? Is there any way to get more structure under that bracket? And use a heavier gauge bracket?

A concrete slab raised above the existing is best. You could potentially just lay slabs instead. Then bolt it down. What is going in the shed?