saveasteading

If you have the time and skill then, agreed, dismantling is the way ahead. It is un-building, and allows you to sort materials. How much of the material can be reused? Hardcore. you can hire a small crusher quite cheaply. It struggles to take a whole block but will take half blocks, bricks etc, then all is free. no tip and no buying. You do have to store the material. If you can't, then agree a reduced price skip for masonry only and save on the crusher. You will be buying back somebody else's crushed masonry, with added muck, later. Tiles too unless they contain asbestos. Timber. nobody will build a commercial house with reused timber, but you can as it is for yourself. Subject to condition of course. If not so great, then you will still end up using it for shutters, propping and odds and ends. windows, doors etc are probably going to be scrap. carpets, insulation etc too. That will have to be skipped, but you can keep costs down by loading with minimum air gaps (I have had labourers empty skips and start again) You have got it right when the lorry only just manages to lift it. If you can sort wood/metal etc it can keep costs down Plasterboard is horrible and a contaminant. keep it separate and out of the general skips. If you tell the skip supplier there is no plasterboard then you should get a much better price. Then of course you need a special one for the plasterboard. OR find a skip company that sorts it all out at its depot. Wiring and pipes have a value, which will be yours, at scrapyard. Cost Labour? your own time. 2 workers for 3 weeks? access towers or scaffolding skips safety stuff and odds and ends. As above, please do not cheat with waste. It is not worth it or morally acceptable. ditto re safety...be careful up there. let us know your decisions and how it goes please. Deduct saving on hardcore, timber and scrap value. You have just 'made' a lot of money.

Prices and effects, from very recent enquiries. This is Highland information but probably national and international. On timber prices. I was hoping to buy all non-structural timber locally in the Highlands, where there are many saw-mills. The prices are obviously (?) better than after handling through merchants. Wrong! One helpful person explained that their prices are rising to match availability too, just dealing with their primary markets of fencing and pallet wood. Quoting rule of thumb for local pine products as a shocking £500/m3. So he advised that, for example, they cannot ever compete with imported cls prices. A blow to our costs as I had estimated at a lower price (for secondary timber) than the merchants'. He also said that OSB board that is made at Inverness is mostly going to the US where the price is very high. The Scottish timber is all much wider grained than that from cold countries, so isn't generally of structural quality. Will the prices settle and fall? Anybody's guess. For timber I reckon it will a bit as it is not from EU, and a balance may be found. On the other hand, the foresters can control the price by not cutting the trees. EU supplies cement by the tanker from Greece, bricks from Belgium, and I am assuming they are 1. slow to recover from lock-down, 2. having to sort out import protocols for GB, 3. is there import duty by GB? One Inverness area project has closed the site for 6 weeks minimum, in the hope of materials becoming available at all, never mind the price. Perhaps if more sites could do that, or alter the program, then things would come under control more quickly. We have an area of roof to dismantle, and will be trying to harvest whatever timber we can. We have also altered our works programme from 18 months to 2 years, and are starting slowly.

Depending on how long the trench is, the extra cost of gravel in a wide trench can be shocking. It isn't usually the digger driver that is paying for it. On top of that there is the spoil replaced by gravel that has to go somewhere. A 450 trench is my choice for a single drain, but 300 works if you can get it straight. If you don't have the right bucket then perhaps hire one, cheaper than the materials saved.. Putting 2 pipes in one trench is great if the levels are compatible, but they seldom are. Re driver skills, it takes a good operator to excavate to the right depth, especially it the bucket is toothed. Extra dig and it costs you gravel, or it gets refilled with loose earth and the pipe will settle locally. Supervision.

Excellent thanks for the info , and what a pretty roof. Yes I meant fixing vapour barrier under the rafters and insulation, on the warm side. And NOT fixing any under the sarking, just relying on the draught to remove any dampness. As the construction is of slates direct to sarking boards with the traditional gaps every 150mm I would have thought that local draughts would do the job, rather than linking the whole under-sarking void to vents. (Yes you need an awful lot of circular soffit vents. I once talked a BCO out of vents by taking him into my attic to feel the existing draught. That is my current house (change of use) , with tiles onto sarking boards above a cold attic, and the wind whistles through it.) I might just show that existing detail, with comment, and see what is said. There will be no soffit so I think a pragmatic solution will be acceptable. I agree that 25mm vented space is sensible as it allows for local deviation. I have read every word of a very useful blog on a steading rebuild in Aberdeenshire, and gained some info on what is the accepted way for a steading. It is clearly not a mainstream method of construction and there may be many solutions, but it is great to hear of proven ones, and the reasoning. With all that in mind I think I will do a detailed sketch and let you all see it, and await praise or disdain...better from this hub than the BCO. The final version will then be drawn up in CAD for clarity and the ease of the BCO. If we get it right between us then it can go on this hub as an approved solution.

It depends on the screw type. I like to use toggle / butterfly fixings in plasterboard as they spread the load away from the hole, and a setting tool is worth the investment, to get a clean and tight fixing. (otherwise the bolt spins and the board gets damaged). Then you can perhaps centre it to ensure some normal screw fixings go into the timber. Once you have chosen a fixing type, the information should allow you to calculate how many you need, but best allow some safety margin, as people sit and lean on radiators. You can find allowable loadings on the websites of suppliers and manufacturers. For example this says that each fixing supports 20kg. 4 of these might therefore be sensible, but you must check to suit your circumstances, including the condition of the plasterboard. https://www.diy.com/departments/fischer-steel-hollow-wall-anchor-l-37mm-pack-of-4/1161797_BQ.prd

The oak will shrink and distort a lot. Others may know more about oak and whether this is acceptable. I once had supposedly kiln-dried T and G pine cladding that shrunk so much it had to come off and be replaced. Fortunately the supplier agreed to replace the material, but the work was a cost. The boards shrunk about 10mm across the width.

I thought I 90% understood this, so can I try this? Q Discuss how the foil on the faces of pir aids insulation of a house. A. Because somebody makes and sells stuff, and shiny looks good, it doesn't necessarily do as much as implied. Basically it is shiny and reflects light, and other wavelengths, but only from the side that the radiation comes from? So in a heated house the inner shiny face of pir reflects heat back into the house, effectively back into the plasterboard that is touching it. But as aluminium is conductive it also transfers heat into the foam board and out to the world. In summer the radiated energy that comes through the roof covering is reflected back towards the sarking and ventilated away, only if there is an air-gap? The size of the gap will be irrelevant as long as there is air flow? Therefore it works to keep out some summer heat, if there is an air gap and ventilation. For winter internal heating, the foil is only there to keep the foam in a sandwich? If fully enclosed and touching other materials on both faces, then the foil has no benefit?

I think I would fix the vapour barrier, perhaps with some tile battens to hold it tight, and wait for the timber prices to come down again.

The other advantage of gravel as an infill, especially rounded beach gravel, is that it compacts naturally and you do not have voids that may settle. This is more important on the inside face as it is supporting the floor. If the quantity is small it can be worth making a lean mix of concrete as that will also compact.

Paving slabs my suggestion too. Assuming they are available! Will be a permanent solution and your base looks good for it. OR paving blocks. presumably you will have to scrape out some stone to suit the construction depth, or it will be too high at the door. The board and felt is clever, but will be temporary. The stones will wear off and then the felt tear, but not if the ramp goes unused.. I have never used it but there is paint for application to steps for non-slip improvement. That would last longer than the grit on the felt, but is perhaps expensive.

My case is very specific. We now have possession of an old farm steading in the Highlands. The roof is substantially intact and I reckon was replaced about 50 years ago. There are traditional sarking boards of about 150mm, all built in inches of course and with the required gaps between. No vapour barrier. No insulation of any kind, anywhere. The wind whips through at present, and that helps keep the dampness down where it does leak. The roof does not need to be replaced, as rot is local and can be spliced, and worm is also surprisingly little (the wind?). It will all be sprayed. The roof is slated, and repairs required are few. Therefore our intention is for a mostly cold roof, with rafter infill using either pir or cavity batt, and I have to decide whether to leave a ventilation gap or not. The rafters are 225mm so we have scope. It is not in any spec, and I was considering fixing Vapour barrier under the sarking, but I'm not sure there is any point. I wonder if there is any proven logic to the ventilation gap being 50mm as that seems excessive to simply allow air flow under the boards: but from comments above, perhaps that is sensible with a 2.4 x 1.2 board, and unnecessary where draughts will require less pressure to move only 150mm. Rules excepted, I am thinking 200 of insulation and 25mm gap will be ideal. then vapour barrier under the rafters and then plasterboard. Whether to apply a thin strip of foam board (5mm?) to reduce the cold bridge at rafter/board is a cost/benefit consideration. There will be some cold bridge effect through the timbers to the exposed ties, but that has to be accepted. Re BCO, we have to apply for a Scottish Warrant, so we will put in a full design and await comments. I would like the design to be perfect and hence am thinking through these special details, some of which might not be standard. Hence all comments and suggestions are welcome. As background I have done only 2 Scottish Warrant applications, but scores in England. Never for a steading renovation though, and there is a lot to learn. Architect is in the family, but with the same gaps in knowledge and experience of stone steadings.

This discussion so far is helping me out of some confusion. From various sources I have seen that PIR needs a gap to the sarking, and I assumed this was for ventilation, although mineral batts do not need it for some reason. However, the Kingspan spec sheet shows the option to fully fill up to the sarking board, OR to leave a 13mm gap. The logic from what is said above is that the gap is only to create an air space and thus allow the aluminium foil to have an effect on insulation., and this is borne out by Kingspan's numbers. ie 140 PIR in a 150 space gives the same U value as 150 in 150. Does a shiny surface (in the dark) reflect heat back into the foam? Is that affected by there being an air gap? Intuitively it makes no difference although it might work the other way and keep heat outside in the summer. The plasterboard manufacturers used to claim that their inner foil surface aided insulation, but now don't mention it. I am thinking that leaving the gap is a good idea for ventilating the sarking board, and I don't see why 13mm shouldn't work well enough.

It is quite easy to soundproof and exceed building regs 'Exceeding building reg's is not necessarily a good thing if it wastes materials and money. I'm not saying the reg's are wrong on either sound or fire, but that the tests are not necessarily realistic. Agreed, worth getting right first time when it is critical.

If doing this to comply with regulations or for own internal benefit, then building to these approved details is fine. However if ever you have to get the sound insulation tested, then beware. I had to have a building tested once and it all failed (just) through walls and ceilings, although built precisely to the approved details. Fortunately the testing consultant advised that we were working to too high a standard for the purpose of the rooms, and so it was ok as built. He also advised that the stated performances are impossible to achieve in real life, and always to use a higher spec. Why is this? To the best of my recollection, mostly flanking sound. In the drawing above, noise will transmit through the block wall and through the floor and ceiling. Also it is difficult to seal the new wall to the other surfaces. In the tests they don't use real situations. In another project I had a situation with noise from a communal area to a quiet one, despite a wall exceeding spec. I established by ear to wall and floor testing, that it was through the concrete floor. Cut a saw cut through the floor close to the wall and it was fine. I now know to put that joint in at the time of the floor construction, with the cut under the wall line.

Or 'cavity wall batt''/slab/insulation if you need the waterproof kind.

but the closest I can get to that is SPONS and that has never been more out of date than under the current climate. Spons is usually very conservative/ expensive. It is useful for an approximate guide for an estimator needing a price for an item in a hurry, and I guess it could be deemed to include sundries and a level of sub-contractor margin. (I once had to price a 3 storey office on the basis of Spons x a factor. I think we went at minus 20% and made a lot.) I used to use a 3 year old one, being more accurate I felt ( and a discounted bargain itself) Interesting that you think they are under-priced now. Earth wool: I thought Earth Wool was a Knauf trade name. price that was over double Wickes. I had the same with TP. Asked for a price for a dozen various 100dia branches. Got told to pick out what I wanted then they would put them through the till. NO, I want a price. The price was 3 x the toolstation price, even though both in same ownership. Same excuse...quality Osma v unknown. That may be right to some extent but the toolsation ones worked fine. 12 x £11 just like that.....not saved, but not wasted. The manager then explained that they were as exasperated as we were that they were being undercut by their own owner. Another example was MDF. We wanted 2 pallets of it and a merchant quoted a price that was more per board than a single from Wickes. So was easy to quote the Wickes price as a starter...and of course they then knocked a lot off. It is cheating. Once last because it annoyed me so much. Jewsons, bag of washers (for shims) £8. Went to another branch for more £36. Same product but massive margin (500%??) They lost our account because of that. Moral; know the price before you start. Wickes is handy but limited.

I had useful , off-the record, advice from a national insulation supplier. For the best price, never mention any trade names. For example, if you say you asked for a price for 'Celotex or an alternative', then they had to give the quote for only Celotex, or at least not undercut it. It was an agreement with the suppliers. I think the idea was that if an Architect specified a product, and the supplier may have helped with the design, then they would get the order. That gets difficult sometimes , how to ask for rock wool without saying Rockwool. That may not be the issue in your case, but could be. Also I learnt that they charged different prices in different areas, even if it all came straight to site in one big load from the factory. Just because they could. 75% discount in Oxfordshire, but only 65% in the South East, I seem to recall. I think the same, re names, can apply to other products at builders' merchants. Do tell us the best prices you get , please. We can all save each other a lot with the benefit of insight.

I usually try to keep them on side but there's a point when that goes out the window! Agreed, this is my attitude too. I try to make their decision easy, with all the information they will need, but not too much either. I hope that when they first stamp it in, they notice that it will be straight-forward. But then if they simply ignore it, it is time to make a fuss, and make it worth their while (I mean time efficiency) to just do it. If no progress, then it is legitimate to start the job, with the risk of pulling it down again, so depends on the likelihood of approval. There may well be other applications jumping the queue because of pressure from councillors and big developers. We little people have to decide to accept that or find another way forward. It is the system , not usually the planning officers personally. When they ask for an extension of time, otherwise it will be a refusal, then that is naughty. But I know why they are doing it, and a deadline can often be agreed. What to do? Speak to your Councillor and MP. In principle they work for you.

Unfair on Planners, well most anyway. They have to spend a disproportionate time dealing with aggressive and determined housing developers, who put in excessive amounts of paperwork, and have lawyers and planning consultants ready to pounce on errors. They are then bombarded with objections from the current residents, and perhaps have some sort of pressure from their employer who wants the development (money per house, and gold stars from Westminster) but doesn't want to upset their constituents. Then we put in little applications and can either get stamped straight through or be ignored. Meanwhile they have to deal with councillors, who wander in and can demand attention (Elected Member don't you know), some of whom don't follow rules, don't read the paperwork and sometimes have an agenda of their own. When we get back to normal, I suggest going to a council planning meeting. They can be very interesting. I have seen Planners have to give very strict instructions to councillors who don't understand a thing...very diplomatically of course. Some are just not very efficient, and that might be your situation. You seem to be well supported by reasonable emails, so you are unlikely to get in very big trouble for a tentative start. If it was me, I would email to say I was starting and would be happy to hear from them. A risk, so up to you.

There is a good reason for fixing hard to the block, as otherwise the fixings can bend. You can politely tell him that it needs to be done the other way, and the response may tell you how the future will go,

So much to comment on. A short essay. 150 years? more I would say. When modern buildings are said to be designed for 50 years. This is more a matter of the design codes for weather events. 50 year occurrence of storm/snow etc. I think anybody buying a new house would hope it lasts much longer, but some may well not from what a lot of us have seen. The usual reason for end of life of a building is that it is in the way of something else....new development. Next is that it is simply out of date stylistically or functionally and nobody wants it. Thus factories are demolished after 60/70 years. I would guess that after these, the average life of a house is 150 or more. My career was in commercial and education buildings. They all look fine after up to 40 years except for the 2 that are replaced by housing, or due to superficial abuse by the operators. All ok for the next 200 years if looked after. My house is 90 years old, wooden and with no founds. prev was 100, and 300 and moved seasonally and in the wind. Lots of maintenance but is good for the same again. Shear in rods to plinths. This must not be done lightly. In my case the buildings were big and light and there was uplift, turning and shear. Although I am qualified to design these, I always had a Structural Engineer do the calcs for certainty. Lucky 6,000 times perhaps. So, yes they are safe and can lead to higher quality, but not to everyone's taste. You are right that this may not be cost-effective for 2 small bases, even though the loads are probably all downwards. Concrete encasement protects steel, and there is not much oxygen to support rusting, . There is always a chance of gaps under the baseplate so that is the biggest risk. Not essential.but the extra cost of bitumen paint is tiny. The photo of the column in the water demonstrates my argument about bringing the base plate higher for control. That is a comfortable space for working in too, and it is not always so.

The trouble with the first one is that concrete goes into the recess of the H shape. If you can isolate it neatly and get a float in then it should be ok. It may need thicker isolation to allow shrinkage without causing cracking.

I may be misunderstanding the intention, but if used as a retaining wall with earth behind, whether vertical or staggered, I would expect the steel will rust. It is galvanised to resist weather wetting, not sitting in wet earth. This is certainly the case with building cladding. Also check out the strength of the Z posts. There are light gauge ones that are designed to deflect in case of vehicle impact, (like the crumple zone on a car) and may not be strong enough for your wall. No opinion on the aesthetics.

Tie bars from plinth to mass base. The bigger the load the bigger and deeper the bars. Moderate accuracy required to get them in the zone of a shutter, but much less accuracy and difficulty than for putting the bolts in perfectly with a mass pour. We took to building the shutter with permanent blockwork. For a big base, these are L bars down to near bottom. All Civil Engineers have to experience both site and office, but tend not to hands on help with concrete pours in nasty weather. I introduced this method when I had to reset bolts in such circumstances.....and thought there must be a better way. On paper the plinths cost more. In practice their perfection has greater value in my opinion.

Interesting but fails building reg's in many ways. These are 'temporary' buildings. The commentary even states that the foundation screws come out again when finished with, and that the same can be built cheaper with wood, if you have the skills. the FAQ are interesting. is it fireproof ...no., but plasterboard is bad, so use sprinklers. do I need scaffolding ...yes do I need permission....yes u value 0.3 what cost 1,000 to £1500/m2, or £500 for a pattern. and more. thanks for sharing it.