saveasteading

Keep a diary. Weather, who is on site and times. what happened? Have a pocket sized note pad upon your person all the time for notes to self and with names and tele numbers . a file for everyone's names, addresses and for the contractors' insurance cover notes...… check these as sometimes they just get the cheapest quote from the back of The Sun. so cover level, nd what hey do might be wrong. first aid kit...a decent one with bandages etc. what safety kit do you and family have? boots with steel toe caps and soles? helmet, high vis.....they really do keep you safer. practically , a bump cap is good as it protects your head enough for most things, and you are likely to wear it. are you going to insist that contractors wears similar? start a good photo system with dates and/or process. Take far too many: they can be deleted later but might as well all go onto a usb. Building Inspector lined up? Never be shy about asking a contractor what they are planning to do, and when, and if there are any likely issues. Praise good effort. don't be shy about anything that bothers you. Is it a VAT reclaimable project? Looks like it. Be organised from the start with files and folders and spreadsheets. are the contractors supplying materials or you?

It was an exceptional year for flooding, tho it may be that it happens again. What is the local view on it? was there an issue, eg blocked channels? You seem to have been unlucky with the water height. 50mm lower and it would have flown past? You could devise a set of removable dams across the outer doorways. Basically a piece of ply into a slot then cramped to the wall, but other materials would be better. At much greater expense and ugliness: a wall surrounding the house, with a removable panel for a gate. Nothing wrong with Vaillant ashp as far as I'm aware.

Keep a diary. Weather, who is on site and times. what happened? Have a pocket sized note pad upon your person all the time for notes to self and with names and tele numbers . a file for everyone's names, addresses and for the contractors' insurance cover notes...… check these as sometimes they just get the cheapest quote from the back of The Sun. so cover level, nd what hey do might be wrong. first aid kit...a decent one with bandages etc. what safety kit do you and family have? boots with steel toe caps and soles? helmet, high vis.....they really do keep you safer. practically , a bump cap is good as it protects your head enough for most things, and you are likely to wear it. are you going to insist that contractors wears similar? start a good photo system with dates and/or process. Take far too many: they can be deleted later but might as well all go onto a usb. Building Inspector lined up? Never be shy about asking a contractor what they are planning to do, and when, and if there are any likely issues. Praise good effort. don't be shy about anything that bothers you. Is it a VAT reclaimable project? Looks like it. Be organised from the start with files and folders and spreadsheets. are the contractors supplying materials or you?

For your own benefit have a waste reduction strategy. How many skips? Now half that and find a means of ensuring it. Cardboard flattened and bundled....and not in skip. Timber cutting strategy to reduce waste from 10% to 2%. Ditto boards. No bricks or blocks or pallets in there. No air gaps obv. If the lorry can hardly lift it, well done. Other suggestions? As a business we planned on 4 skips per £1M job cost. Equals about 1 skip per £100,000 materials. It's worth a lot of money.

It's a good thing to do, even informally. Washout from cement mixing can be thrown onto your hardcore or sand pile. Emulsion paintbrush rinsing I think will break down in a soakaway....I don't know that though. Gloss paint? Put the resulting spirits in a plastic bottle; thence to tip. ( I'm trying to use semicolons where applicable or they will die). Other liquids could go in a settling tank/barrel. Some will neutralise each other. Some will bubble away or be eaten by bugs. The resulting sludge can go in a skip or be bottled to your recycling tip. Now write that up to sound technical.

OK. So not wobbly but very heavy. I encountered a new kind of window fixing bracket at an exhibition recently. I should find it and tell the BH community.

My house is on 400 deep footings. It's my job, but I got another SE contact for a second opinion.....he said it's been here 80 years so its going to be ok for another 80. But I didn't need anything in writing. Depends also on the ground type and any nearby trees. If yours wants deeper found's for the new extension that is to be expected. If they want underpinning of the existing, then try to persuade them otherwise, using the 100 years principle. In fact it may be best left alone.

I was an Estimator. I kept a wbb (wee black book) of handy approximations for a first run through. For windows this was timber/upvc/aluminium/ fancy. The £/m2 was calculated from real projects and were surprisingly accurate. So I would hope and expect that your estimator was about right. Because the glass is part of the squaring and strength, and has to be right. Ever fitted a glazed door? It flops all over until packed and tight. If they turn up fully glazed then that part is resolved but the supply price will be higher and the lifting more onerous. Also. The lesser window suppliers allow excessive tolerance to make fitting easier. That suggests they don't find it that easy.

If the notches are near the ends then it probably doesn't matter structurally. Where are they? The plates shown by @Temp would be great but your point is valid and important. So you could instead simply fix the flat plate equivalent to both sides, using several screws. More thought needed if that suits. I wouldn't bother with glue at all. Standard at any BM or at SFix or ToolS. Or you could use plywood instead Again multiple screws are more important than glue. Or, replace the flooring locally with plywood, again screwed down. This becomes a top flange for the joists.

Plastic for a shed or where cost is the main concern. Metal for any permanence or if looks matter. Plastic twists and loses its performance, and will start to break in about 20 years.

I also recommend Vibro replacement as an option. Gravel is compressed sideways, looking like piles, into the poor ground, making it dense. This all then bears on the stronger ground. I've used it about 10 times on groundmuch worse than yours and with heavier loadings. Sometimes my own decision from the outset, others as an alternative to the recommended design ( client's SE no longer engaged). It has another benefit in lower mess. So better, cleaner and half the cost.

What is the ground condition? Slab is ground-bearing?

My error in non clarity. Planners required Bco to be satisfied it was started. They would only seek proof if there was any complaint but it was our risk. The bco advised what they now deemed 'started', and it was stricter than previously. He didn't know the reason, but said it was policy. Presumably there had been a dispute somewhere.

Our BCO didn't accept that any longer. Even strippng the site was a marginal decision unless on a grand scale. Banging in some posts with cross rails and painting red and white stripes had been my default for years.....they look good on site too.

That's what people assume when deliberately ignoring the agreement or constraints. Thus some robustness is necessary by the LPA.

I suspect it was propaganda by the oil and/or or climate change denying industry.

That seems to be a little mentioned advantage of solar and battery, especially in locations where it is more likely. eg in a forest.....or near Heathrow. I was going to add 'or Spain', but solar and batteries were the cause. Some alarm that you were 'off mains' would be good though, for rationing.

Building inspectors became strict on this about 8? Years ago. There must have been an issue. Whereas once you could prepare the site or put up surveying posts and profiles, they now wanted some actual construction of the primary project.. Eg a section of foundation or the hardcore for a slab.

So in a power cut you flick a switch for battery, or it simply works? Would you know there was a power cut?

What backup in case of a power cut? On which: with solar and a battery, does this work in isolation ie no need for a mains supply?

Isn't it obligatory now to have an external air source and closed circuit? It is best anyway and easy to plumb in a new build. The one I know is very efficient and gets no blowback.

I think it is simply poor backfilling....pushed in and barely compacted. The fill has shrunk away from the untouched ground. It seems to have come away from thd wall too. The only concern is that rainwater will run through these gaps very quickly. Nothing terrible will happen but I'd get them back to compact it better. It will be character building.

Jumpers off is first. I agree re trickle vents being small but it can be constant so it doesn't get si hot in the first place. Opening windows or doors at opposite ends, with internal air path open too, will usually cause a strong draught unless it is dead still. Chimneys or high vents will also encourage air flow. For anyone still designing, have high ceilings if possible. It can be several degrees warmer at the ceiling, so keep that well above head height.

That can't be right? Let's say 24C is too hot indoors. How often is it that outdoors? Open windows or vents on opposite ends and get a draught through with the new air being whatever is ambient. Trickle vents will do that too.

I would advise against working to any perceived "pass" standard. The people who make up these systems may be less expert than you. Use them as a guide. I'm not guessing....I've met some. Eg I designed a building that got an SBEM of D, 15 years ago and now gets a B. With current insulation it would get A. At the time you got bad marks for air source, and no credit for north lights. But they gave credits for wind turbines and other fads.