saveasteading

This is from the Washington Post. Does it happen here as well as in Germany? Typically 800W. In Germany, balcony solar is hugely popular: as many as 4 million systems hang on railings there, equivalent to the capacity of several large power plants. (Yes, there is a one-word German name for it: Balkonkraftwerke.

I've got a fig in a big pot (actually an inpection chamber ring) and it grows but never fruits. Perhaps because it's from a Spanish cutting. Is yours a UK friendly variety?

Brackets fixed to the rafters (probably the sides then a twist) or to the wall.

OK. Paddle lines, colour variations, perhaps some microcracking. It's a matter of taste. But do ensure that the contractor is a specialist ( does nothing else) and is aware this will be exposed and of your expectations.

Good thinking. The building regulations are accessible online and straightforward too. Downhill all the way with access for clearing blockages and that's about it. It's all logical but BH will help with challenges or queries.

I hope you are not expecting a beautiful surface that needs no covering. "Polished" is a warehouse finish.

With one client whose architect would not contemplate external gutters, and with only the end available for outlets, I doubled up on outlets, ie a full gutter would flow over one to the next one. On another we took the gutter out through the gable to a big hopper with external dp, and with an overflow wier... so any freak rain would overflow outdoors. Once the water is in the downpipe it will cope easily, its the entry to the dp that is restricting. ie overdesigned acc to the regs. I imagine and hope that they coped with this year's downpours. External gutters are good and why hide such an important feature of a building?

For fertiliser yes.

Anybody know a good reason for pumping it out. Gravity seldom fails so I like it. Ditto. Always full for the chambers that work that way. A big plus for me is that they will continue to work 90% ( well enough) if there is no power or the pump breaks

Steel goalpost built 200mm or whatever to the front. Clad sides and roof. Move door forward fixed to the frame. a lot of money for small benefit.

What comes out is liquid and looks almost clean. If you have a test chamber you will have the comfort of seeing, even testing, this. A chamber is a good idea anyway. What muck remains in the effluent will continue to break down in the soakaway. A pump should be unnecessary and is another thing to go wrong. I wonder why a manufacturer has one included apart from draining uphill.

If you mmean, cut square to length then thats ok. If an angle maybe not. When the geometry becomes apparent, please ask here before cutting the end off. It ceases to be a beam if you take the top or bottom flange off, but some angle will probably be OK. The welder should also add the horizontal bearing plate discussed above.

There shouldn't be gaps... should be level. But at least they have packed them as some might just have built squint. We have sole plates going onto an existing slab, with 20mm variation. So we will pack with plastic packers: probably horseshoe shape. Then inject non-shrink grout possibly from both sides, and then "point" the outside, pressing it in. BUT for the big gaps I favour dry pack. A sharp sand and cement grout, with just enough water to make it workable. This way it can be forced under and packed tight so it is known to be 100% full and dense, and the low water means it won't shrink. That might work with dry-mixed expanding grout, but it won't help. Diy, as only you really care.

Yes to levelling off sand, but I'd suggest add cement to the sand. Otherwise you will have gaps for ever. Then go 100mm eps, then 100mm pir with staggered joints, then 90 screed. Insulation provides diminishing returns with thickness, so this is a pragmatic proposal. Ie the saving with eps is quite a lot, but the extra heat loss will be low.

Correct. It is promising though. You can diy the test.

Re the first photo. Thd padstone looks good but the old wall it is half sitting on looks slender. If you look in the cavity can you see wall ties holding the skins together so it acts as one wall? And I think the ends need tying together. These perhaps

Sounds amazing. How did they do the boreholes? Then the percolation test in a pit?

Re the steel beam. What are they welding? Do you have the removed bit to put that back on? I don't see a padstone for under it.

Agreed. Its my subject and I sometimes forget other people don't read the ground.... and once I was too cocky and got it badly and expensively wrong. If you are going to use a Structural Engineer then talk to them early. They may have information on adjacent plots. That might limit the survey required to being a digger doing a couple of relatively shallow holes. For example where I am now I know there is 80m or more of solid clay because a plot nearby did boreholes. Plus I have dug below the soil and found blue clay. BUT my mistake back then was not to dig a few holes, as we found there had been a pit and it was filled with rubbish. You must avoid that. Then, with certainty on the ground conditions you will likely make all that cost back as the SE now has certainty on the ground properties. It may be important for soakaways too, if you need that.

20m3 / 200m2. 100mm of rain. Best stay indoors.

So couldn't get involved even if they wanted. BUT if they really are expert, and the roof really is installed wrongly then they may well tell their mate as such, and recommend some remedy and without publicity.

It will need a movement joint too, or it will take some load from the floor above. Floors bounce, houses flex. If it is a decision for aesthetics, then stopping the glass short is likely to be lore attractive than an aluminium channel with gaskets.

Make sure everyone (incl your lawyers) is accepting of this party before committing. eg, I wasn't always convinced that an expert who our construction lawyer recommended was an utter expert. But perhaps they were on an important list of recognised Experts. eg an expert in the subject plus a qualified arbitrator or on that list. eg I can't remember the context but one such I recall being sent to a meeting in his private home study. After an hour he said I knew more about the subject than he did. and he charged several hundred. BUT the main thing was he backed us up. So I think that killed part of our non-paying client's claim. My point is I think, that only an expert installer will know the context and also be willing to climb on the roof, but that may be argued against, as they aren't qualified in the necessary formal way.

But the manufacturer has not inspected the installation, nor made any comment. all they've done is confirmed you bought it. Does your expert say it is incorrectly installed? Is it?

Great analogy. What Gus says is correct, but just because a vcl doesn't burn, it won't probably stop a fire bursting through a a wooden wall. If it is specified then use it: otherwise not.