saveasteading

The proper term for stick build. So yes timber I think, but tell more please. Are there big rooms that will need beams? Confirm is brick facing on GF intended and timber clad FF?

Normally my hunch is that if you want brick facing, then build cavity walls. But with all that glass you need beams. Plus the first floor is timber clad. So I think stick build.

How about remove chamber and link straight through. Fit rodding point riser in kitchen. There is another kind with a screwed on cap on the side. If you go to a merchant (ie not TS/SF) you can handle them.

Thanks Hubbers. That is now working. All I've done differently is cut some more old cable off and fed it straight (no bending) into an interim box, thence connecting the 2 boxes with a new and short length of T&E. Hoorah the gate works. I had 3 more occasions of the rcd tripping. "Obviously" with my new knowledge, when cutting the cable. Twice more I expect through touching earth to something even when I thought I had shrouded the wires. The problem appears to be as @ProDave suggested. Either from bending the old cable or at a fault in it. Perhaps this taped connection!!! It's amazing it lasted as long as it did but it was invisible under 10 coats of gloss. I've also decided that I don't like lever connectors. What a pain. The wire has to be dead straight, and stranded cable is a pain too.... I know: it needs an end crimp.

I'd no idea this was possible. Is that common practice?

Great point. Birds deposit bramble seeds in fertiliser, and brambles make persistent roots. On the occasion that I designed away the green roof "suggestion" by the councils Green advisor I learnt a lot. 1. The green person didn't know a lot about reality and spouted Greenwash. 2. The planning officers aren't technical people so accept the consultants suggestion. 3. The head planner showed me their drainage "hierarchy". Probably this is a standard thing. It says green roofs are best. It doesn't mention that rain won't reach the butt/garden/pond, so clearly prepared by a 1. 4. They needed a reasoned and scientific proposal to alter this requirement. Plain English summary followed by the logic. This was for our own building so it mattered. 500m2 of high roof. I calculated that the extra steel for strength l would use more carbon than the growth could ever balance, let alone the other arguments. So we saved the steel, and the green roof costs. Spent some of it on a rainwater harvester which was great for an office but I wouldn't have it for a house. This also saved on drainage rates. Butts yes. If you go for this plan don't show a financial saving, just a better world.

How much work would it be to strip that wall, or the top half , insulate and re-board?

My thought is that sod's law will come into play. Plus it could be spotted in a survey. So work to standards if possible. Maybe a branch and a rodding point as you suggest: in the kitchen or beyond the extension.

Pride or shame. To encourage the others.

I dont like green roofs. Had to do one once and that convinced me. I suggest you propose deleting the green roof but substituting an alternative. I've done that successfully.** Logic. A green roof is very heavy when wet, and requires much more structure...which has a carbon cost. It needs special membranes...lots of carbon issues. It needs maintenance. Safety issues. How are you going to access it, not fall off etc Preventable risks should be designed out. It prevents rain going elsewhere more useful, incl your water butts which overflow to Eg a pond or into the ground. So you must propose something better for nature. Pond, meadow, log piles etc. And no rain must reach the drains. * in recent drought, any rain would soak into the roofing cover and not reach your butts, garden , pond. So it's a bad thing. ** planner stated that this all surprised him but made sense. I've got the letters to say I'm an expert, which helps, but go for it. If you haven't enough land that might be more tricky.

Oddly this is a building where these little screw piles might be appropriate. Ie as no regs. As wrongly assumed earlier. Screw in piles, then timbers spanning them, then joists. There would be a void underneath. For clarity i only mean these, not big time proper piling. At b&q for patios I expect. Prob best get longer stronger ones than these.

The sun room could be fairly cheap. Assuming all diy. Concrete 20m3 or a lot of mixing. Hardcore from demo company. mesh has to be bought Timber £1,000 or look for reclaimed. Windows second hand on Facebook or ask a window company ( they take old units out) . Felt, fixings etc Got a trailer or mate with truck? Buy used mixer, hire roller etc Anyway, with lots of time and bargains, £5k target but prob more.

Modern metal cladding needs a repaint at some stage, depending on spec and exposure. 30 years? It will last much longer but is best kept maintained, as any product. The main hindrance to longevity is bad workmanship. Misplaced screws or fillers. Scratches from tools or boots removing the surface. Older technologies were poorer. Paint would peel or erode (like a car) and plastisol had cut end peel. I've been on old roofs (60 years) that had life in them, and new ones that were failing through damage. Cross fingers but my projects total about 50,000m2 and I believe are all OK. I would worry about damage or bad detailing during solar panel installation. Detail is important too. Avoid ledges and upstands (eg velux) that can hold dirt and encourage nests. And NEVER have internal gutters.

I think it's kingspan quadcore LSR1000, 140 thick, grey colour plastisol. That's a profiled panel, not flat. On the walls we're having flat panel 100 thick, black.

Begging your pardon. I'd misunderstood your intro. I now see that the extension is for another time. This is a small building in the garden. SO: the tree will affect it. The ground will shrink in summer and expand in winter by 10mm or so. Does that matter? I'd say you live with that and any minor damage it might cause. So you can use 1m deep footings and not much damage should occur. I'd say that is OTT for this building. Or slab with 400mm downstands and accept a bit more risk. so go with your 600 depth, and 400 wide if you can fit in it. To minimise ground shrinkage make sure the rainwater off the roof is dispersed very adjacent so the tree gets it.

Yes as it is part of the house. Make it separate and it isn't. Says who? Or do you mean you haven't contacted them? Perhaps make it an outbuilding with a passageway link. I think I'd regard that as not affecting the house.

That was one of the questions I put. They knew nothing. Such screws are a possibility for a garden room, especially if you want it raised. Also for a temporary building eg a beachfront shack. For an extension it must perform the same way as the house. It needs building regulations, thus an SE. Tell us more. What type of tree and the distance? Is the ground clay or what? It would be interesting though to get more info from these screw suppliers.

@Jadhacha what Are they charging for these screws? I agree with @Nickfromwales unless these are £20 each. I've had a chat with a screw supplier at a construction show. . They didn't appear to know anything so I think were franchisees.

That's so simple and now seems obvious. Ta. No brilliant idea on the hockey stick. It's all training for me I tell myself.

so should i turn off that rcd, and/or the one in the consumer unit, before doing any more? I have stupidly forgotten to put the cable through the hockey stick. So not a lot achieved! If it was a straight pipe i might slice the length and insert the cable, but that wont work with the bend.

Basics question. I turned off the circuit yesterday at the local switch in the house, and the relevant circuit at the consumer unit... I think it only supplies this one cable. I disconnected the box to change to a better one. That went well, and the metal gland is solid. No sparks or drama from the now exposed cable. Meanwhile, the primary rcd tripped in the house. How can that happen if the power is off?

Would it not be much less disruptive to either hire an insitu sander machine, or get it done? A big push-along one for £50/ day. Or a specialist would be quicker and better esp around the edges.

For interest. I've found this connection box in my stores. It seems to be very classy with 3 screw-in sleeves with integral and tightening seals. The box back is completely in one piece of moulding, and the holes are made by tightening in the sleeves, whence the knockouts break off. Also a connector block. It is made by els Spelsberg, and also labelled Attema. New names to me but the build quality (and attention to detail) is astounding. There are also 2 sealing grommets stuck to the front plate, presumably to seal the screw holes. I cannot figure out what the rubber strip joining these grommets and extending to the rim seal is for? PS. Ive found it is available at SF for £8.99. But it is described as "unbranded".

Would the cost be much? I haven't looked. The delay is an issue. But you've got the existing PP and could get started on preliminaries. If memory serves me though you don't start on claiming the vat benefit part way through. 20% can be a lot.

I'm pretty sure it is worse than that. It's knowing and understanding so little that they are unaware of their own ignorance or other people's skills. What other horrors lie in their previous jobs?