saveasteading

Headline this week: 'Invergordon man retains world's strongest man title'. You were quiet for a couple of days, so your secret is out.

Good advice. to which I add or confirm: Clear tank is a bad idea, and black should not be expensive, making sure to get potable quality. This is very heavy. just supporting on blocks is not enough as it needs lateral stability, either by more blocks at 90 deg, or triangulating whatever other material you use. We are currently detailing our off-grid water supply. Have decided on 3m3, as plenty for a large house. There are use calculators on the water companies' websites. In emergency of course it will run out, but that applies to everybody, and modern houses don't have any cold water storage. Have you worked out how to connect the 2 tanks one above the other, so that they work together and are secure? Better to have a commercial tank of the right size.

So totally different chemically. stays flexible long-term? Is the expansion controllable?

Not me, It is in the back of every bodger's van. What is so good about this Illbruck, as I might look into it.

Maybe it was you that cost me all that money!

All those bigger bits should be filtered out automatically. I once ordered 20t of crushed concrete from a well known local supplier. It came off the lorry looking moderately robust but handled like the mud it was supposed to be covering. Mud with a lot of wood in it. So I took a sample and swirled it in a jar of water and showed up the fines and topsoil, and a lot floating as it should not. I complained by email and they cancelled the bill without any argument or excuse or apology at all, but we still had 20t of **** in the way. And another time I wandered onto a crusher site, and saw the 2 piles...one of hardcore for crushing and the other of muck, basically topsoil. Owner of the company observing it all. Blatant selling of junk, and presumably getting away with it. Not all suppliers are like this of course. Some will even certificate it. Best surprises? Toilet seat (whole), squash ball, thousands of tiny springs.

Yes but with some added filth from an adjacent pile.

I hate it. It gets used to overcome all sorts of issues that have better solutions. It has cost me thousands, when it leaks over metal cladding, doesn't come off again and needs a whole wall replacing. Mt nobody did it but my cleient didnt care who did it. It fills voids with potential damage through damp. It probably shrinks over time. It drips and sticks. So even for my own job with my own control, I would find another way. Probably stuffing the gap with surplus foam packaging, which will be a more reliable and flexible solution. And can be removed if necessary.

As Russell, but this must be official. As MarkC, there are proper transition pieces in plastic. There will be turbulence but should be ok. How long is the duct? Flexi ducting will cause more flow resistance than the change in section, so use smooth pipe instead of bendy ducting and it will all work better.

As a main contractor I did not want novated or nominated subcontractors. That is those chosen by the qs but to be controlled by the main contractor. Why? They would not be my choice, they would more likely be loyal to the qs than me, and I have no idea how competent they will be. And what if they cause problems or delay. And then I would add at least 20% to their cost for the management and risk, which you pay. So your contractors will all add time and money for this. Why does your qs suggest it? Takes responsibility off them. Perhaps uncomfortable managing it. Not their money. Any problems and the contractor has to deal with it. Demo companies are not always the most careful. Make sure you have insurance. This is easily the best argument for main contractor control.

Thanks. You think the angle plate is unnecessary then? Angled through the side of the rafter and into the ridge? I was thinking of that as a temporary fixing, not the finished article. So downwards load is onto the batten, upwards load resistance is only rafter weight plus from the screws....doesn't seem enough, but 8mmand a screw each side, yes that is a lot of shear.. and the timber at the screws is the likeliest failure point., so position half way or above. Held tight against splaying by the band and the screws. How clever. Won't help the strength but is a cut less. I will change the sketch to notch to sit in the hanger or cut to slide onto hanger base.. So use a roll of banding? 20 gauge (= 0.91mm). and lots of nails. Costs will be similar for either method I think, around £4 per rafter for materials as opposed to the sloping strongtie at £17. Labour very slightly more? We will have to put this past the SE who did the warrant, so will ask the joiner if he has thoughts then plump for one. Assuming the SE isn't familiar with traditional construction, the joist hanger is prob easier to 'sell'. But then again...local joiner says this is how to do it.....and a bloke I don't know off the internet.

They aren't great at debates.

My bad question. I meant that glass/rock wool is fibres that are glued together where they touch. If it gets wet it stinks and falls apart. so maybe that would also fail in heat. If it is compressed enough that wont matter. I have rockwool stuffed hard around an uninsulated pipe, perhaps 50 thick, then plasterboard and it only gets slightly warm so you should be fine, but keep an eye on the surrounding area for any sign of colour change.

So Russell, is this second sketch in line with your suggestion? It is certainly very neat with the tiny cut-out. Joiner friendly, and avoids the expensive Simpson brackets. I wonder if 25mm as a ledge is secure enough during construction. so perhaps a 2 x 1? Also I guessed where the screw that holds it in place goes. with a wider batten it could go up from the bottom. And cold feet: I have also added an angle bracket...perhaps unnecessarily. The first sketch is my original idea of using a standard joist bracket, with a notch which is less than 1/4 as instructed by Gus. Sorry about the hybrid 3d, the sloping rafter makes it tricky.

No. Broccoli are flower heads before they flower. The rest are even earlier when harvested. I thought you were netting the beans.

Is there any history of timber houses there blowing down? I'm a little surprised that 2 Engineers have very different wind loadings, unless one says that local knowledge requires additional precautions. I went on a wind loads course and it was noted by the instructor that the consultant employed among us produced higher loads than the contractor employed, but not dramatically. The consultants rounded up every time there was an in-between number, or off a graph, and the contractors iterated (as permitted). That wind column is very expensive for what it is. Of course it is easy for the SE to spec a standard item, and they are probbaly easy for the joiner to connect to, but they may not be aware of the cost. Column section £50/m plus fabrication of end plates/ connection plates......and some SE design! I would expect to see a big foundation to each post too, or for them to be linked as a goal-post. I put my trust in triangles, and would expect that the walls can be triangulated, either literally with angled stud bracing, or using double osb. Can you find out what any neighbours with a similar construction have got?

I wouldn't, as it may entangle birds. I use bits of wire mesh salvaged from otherwise failed plastic greenhouse, barbecue shelves, bits of expamet. The other attractions are that it can be lifted aside for access, and that when the beans entangle with it they can be ex-tangled easily.

How thick, and what keeps it in place? My concern would be with the adhesive which may not be heat resistant.

I have taken to non-woven over time, as it seems to stand up to punctures and mud better. Woven should be fine. We got 'Type 1, from a granite quarry and some stones would not remotely have gone through a 75mm sieve but would go sideways through a grille....so not complaining....but the term Type 1 seems to be used rather liberally. Mixed size stone would be more accurate.

Is it though? If the rafter is designed as simply supported then bending is nil here., and we are looking at shear and uplift. As the rafter is 225 x 47 there is a lot of shear resistance, and the rafter has been chosen with limiting deflection, before structural failure is involved. The massive glulam beam will just about hold it all down without the rest of the structure. These are hunches though as we have no numbers. Yes we may have to ask the SE but the answers here provide us with more context from people who have done this before. It would be nice to present a solution and make it easy for them. As you may have read, we have already suggested several improvements to their design, and I wonder if at some stage they get the huff and say no. I am probably being unfair saying that, and they will take it on its merits. Gus thinks a notch will be ok. I have sketched it and , because the rafter is so deep, 25% notch out should be feasible. I was rather hoping that someone who has done a stick build or bought a kit with a ridge beam will know how their ridge was built.

Well done and thanks for the blog. This is gutty work, so the big machine must have made a big difference. Are we seeing stone arisings from your excavations in the track? It doesn't look like type 1. What membrane are you using?

A car parking space is generally 2.4m, but a car is less so that doors can be opened. Measurements will now help.

SE has agreed that 600cc is ok. How so, only when we point this out?. I guess on most jobs the client just pays the extra,

Messy. if the boundary is actually the face of their wall then their gutters, provably foundations are on your land, also their extract fan venting onto your land. If the boundary is perhaps 150mm or 300 outside their extension then not so awkward. I you are friendly with the neighbours then it could be readily resolved... but there would be implications for them too. Eg if you built up to their extract fan then it would be useless and they would have to divert it. If not, then it could get legal.

If the face of the wall is on the boundary, then it ix very likely that the footing runs onto your ground. Tgey should not have a gutter or anything overhanging, and the roof should not shed water your way. You can build the equivalent wall, or post etc hard against theirs. On or adding to the same footings is getting tricky though. As ProDave says, a photo or sketch would help, if you don't mind being potentially identifiable.