saveasteading

Depending on your location, it is possible to be locally outside the radon risk area, while people are in the habit of specifying it as standard. There are other risk reducers too, such as being on a hill....in my opinion. Would radon gas force its way through a lapped joint? Probably not, but can't demonstrate it. I don't understand your comment about flooding. Your careless builder should be lucky to be allowed to supply another membrane rather than break it out and start again.

In case it helps, you might be amazed how out if level most slabs are, and how much us considered acceptable. If there was a roof on, you wouldn't notice. Agreed as above. Level off with sand. Fill sand or builders sand is fine unless you traipse over it in boots and mess it up. If you have a mixer you might add 10% cement to crisp it up, as it is only 1/2 m3. For interest, and continuous professional development, do you mind telling us what level 'control' was used. Is the middle low, or are thd ens high...and how thick is the concrete?

Our project is Scotland. I have done far more work in Kent. The rules are much the same. So you have the land, have dug a hole, know that there is chalk below. All looking good. There is an unusual concern on the chalk, that water will disperse down a crack and cause a sink-hole. Spreading it wide resolves that. Unless you can do it yourself I would get some professional help on this. Seeing the site is crucial. Doing test holes and permeability tests are easy and you can do them before engaging help. But for free.... how many bedrooms? Do you think it is clay? Is there a stream or ditch adjacent?

That labourer at £145 is probably getting £80. £250/ day x 5 x 46 = approx £60k pa. Not bad eh? I'm out of touch with current south east rates but not everyone makes that. It does perhaps reflect cost after a contractor's oncosts though, and some down-time. It isn't so much the daily cost that matters but what they do in the day...production and quality. Rates are likely to drop, but trades traditionally don't drop their rates in harder times until chased out of the house for whatever is available.

For ours, I did the drainage investigation, the report and the design. It is something I do. Whether sepa even looked at it we can't tell. It is quite a complex process. The treatment plant manufacturers will specify appropriately, but you need to be, or make yourself, fairly expert to do the disposal assessment, esp as you are looking at soakaway. Otherwise you will need professional help. For now, let us know the ground and we can help with the initial feasibility. Also...do you have much land available for a drainage system. Reed beds are great in principle. Depends on circumstances.

Ask neighbours. Dig a hole. Simply, for now, what do you find 300 down?

One of you is wrong. I hope it was you. Where are the big differences?

A properly selected treatment plant into a proper soakaway will more than perform (the drainage beds are very conservative, ie oversized ) and should be signed off easily enough. Metrics are based on building use, presumably domestic, number of bedrooms and ground permeability. What is the ground/ water table level?

From a known name or a warehouse only supplier? Am I right that we are looking at 40% difference or so? And that the retail sites perhaps won't break ranks on discounts?

We should have huge buying power with lots to procure. Our plumber suggests two retailers whose prices are utterly crazy. Perhaps he planned to keep the discount. Tried the usually reliable local bm, but they are going through another party, not big name manufacturers, and the prices are disappointing. We are looking at roca, hansgrohe, etc level which we can schedule. Any suggestions of a good source? To Inverness , but where necessary we can explain that this has roads.

Yes. A roddable bend. 45 degrees better and has standard fittings. Or a chamber. Don't count on it. And hot oil will soon coagulate. Plus the flow can be slow. If the run is short then you can remove the U and get a snake along it.

14 week lead, then delivered on a hiab but the driver had no ticker for the crane. Another week. The alu ones are supposedly on 6 weeks lead...we will see

I think you need the rodding eye, and thd extra cost or hassle is presumably small. I don't like the red option. Keep the flow simple. It's simple really. Imagine a blockage at each (every) point of the system, and make sure you can rod right through it.

I don't understand the question. Vitcas is a fire resisting board. Sts is a tile backer. If it is to act as a thermal barrier then insulate the pipes. If a retrofit then the one with foam in it should have more insulation.

I learn from and enjoy contributors' progress reports. Not everything has to be a problem. So some progress from us. Our first batch of windows went in. The easy ones that are all rectangular and into new build. A lot of units, installed in 1.5 days by our joiner and his 2 employees. A few more doors and windows to come from the same supplier. Timber with aluminium facing. The upper area of the big gable feature, the other complex windows (arches) and anything in the same rooms will be aluminium from a different supplier, who can cope ( we hope) with non-rectangular shapes. BTW, that shed in the background is made of salvaged, reworked timber and corrugated cladding. All DIY and a satisfying project involving much of the family. It will house the water system, log store and perhaps a sauna one day.

Knowledge, quality control and pragmatism. An alloy.

A good SE is unlikely to hear of any such allegation, and usually isn't responsible for insulation levels. My business was mostly very big sheds. A slab over 25 x 25 or so doesn't need insulation. The walls and roof do. We had a relationship with a specialist manufacturer who promoted fibreglass throughout. They bought in pir sandwich panels if the client required, BUT insisted on complete movement joints in the roof every 40m. Why, I asked the development Engineer. The gist was that some huge building by someone else had (allegedly) big issues due to shrinkage of the pir within the roof panels. Crazing and crumpling of the roof and leaks apparently ensued. As there was a big legal case and a private settlement, nothing was published, but our people learnt what they could, and decided that they would assume shrinkage and design a sliding joint for roofs. We used sandwich panels a few times, without problems, but never dissected an older building to look for problems. Yes I think it shrinks. We did use pir under the slab for smaller buildings The pir has a plastic sheet over it so it isn't tied to the concrete slab, so there will be gaps rather than crazing. But perhaps the pir behaves differently next to the colder ground. Nobody has any incentive to check. If there are known issues they are not publicised. With this in mind, for our current steading project we used 2 thinner layers of pir, with staggered joints. The heat losses if any, will be minimal.

I'm on holiday in Spain and popped into the big DIY to look at tile quality and variety, so as to discuss quality with the family on site. As we looked at one display this man came along and reduced the prices. 12 Euros /m2 for decent tiles. Inside they got more expensive...about E18 average. Exchange rate 1.14. So I'm thinking 60% discount should be easily OK in UK, even allowing for transport of Italian or Spanish tiles, and priced at £50. On the other hand, real timber laminates were silly expensive.

This is a skilled job, so your contractor should advise. However they don't always fully understand, so you are right to ask. It depends on concrete thickness and mesh selection. I don't have the book to hand. It will need something between 4 and 6m centres for cuts.

As your picture? That is what I assumed we were talking about, and am OK with if you are careful in backfilling. Not for a house perhaps but fine for a shed.

Interesting. What machine, and cost? Can you use it at distance eg to see the heat from the whole house?

Flat blocks as the first course isn't going to cost you a lot. Cutting woukd be a chore. Just be careful when filling and compacting against and over them.

I have contacted the Italian company that makes the MySpace tiles recommended by Russdl. We would have to see a big sample. The suppliers have promptly responded, that suppliers (having told them Inverness) are in Chichester, Bedford and St Albans. They ignored my question on repeat patterns. £40/ m2 is to be found on websites, which is over budget.

No, we had a digger with broken tracks, sitting in the way for a month. Nice, reliable guy, so we were soft. I think eventually it went foc. He told me it was going to cost £3k or so to replace the tracks, and it needed hoisting off site. Probably any expert looked at general condition too eg why did the tracks come off?

Beware. We (in business) used the same small groundworker for many years. He bought oldish excavators (about 5t) rather than hire or lease, and they always developed expensive problems, usually hydraulics, but sometimes tracks. The repairs were often expensive until they ended up scrapped or abandoned on our site. Eventually someone would take it away foc. Presumably repaired on the cheap and sold on...to diy? How to avoid I don't know, without a premium to a dealer. Why is someone selling this digger? I wouldn't know what to look at. For a less hardworked machine on your own plot , I suppose there is a decent chance of getting away with it.