saveasteading

I agree that we should insist on the capitals. Yesterday I got a water bill, with the volume stated in L instead of l. I didn't realise Lister was involved with water. Apparently we are adopting the American L to avoid confusion with l and the number one. A script l would have been more elegant.

We should blame kingspan and celotex. I try not to use any brands of their holding companies but it is difficult esp when they change names and sell off the tarnished brands. They appear to have escaped largely unpunished. White collar crime is accepted.

Wouldn't a sharp post with thumper go through it? Or maybe a small cut is required first.

Note how the snow has not melted anywhere on the roof. A very good proof of continuous and effective insulation and airtightness. Or that the heating is set low or off.

That beam is going to cost about £800 and require lifting gear and pads. Maybe you can find a preused beam....just maybe. You can use very deep joists at close centres with the added advantages of ease of fixing and easier service routes. But do you have the headroom? The cost may well be similar or worse. It is very essy to find the joist size, but then it needs costing.

Yes be annoyed. If they miss at 600cc, then there is 1200 between fixing. That's too far. Regardless of anyone's hunch in it your Engineer has said 600, so that should be done. They may have gone to the next screw size up, but don't play with centres or miss any out.

It will likely be steel, coated with Plastisol. If within about 10 miles of the sea it needs a special finish. The PV will not load the cladding but will bear on the structure behind it. The reason for having standing seam is that the fixings do not penetrate it. So to then screw PV through it needs skilled attention. All the above may well be understood by the build team. It needs maintenance much sooner than tiles. Decades, but fewer of them. Why is the developer using it? Much cheaper while also being fashionable. That's why we are using metal cladding on ours, buf it will be screwed, not standing seam.

If the room is very small and very well insulated, body heat will do it at no cost. Gradually peeling off jumpers until dying of asphyxia or overheating. Could we call that IR heating?

Welcome. A good chance to sound insulate the party walls.

It is worth detailing to stop leaves and muck getting to the soakaway. Having the downpipes outlet onto grilled hoppers is standard.

@NMarshallthanks for the links. It's difficult to tell if they are lying about the supposed benefits, or simply don't understand it. Bottom line....it is an electric heater. It would be a nice luxury for bare feet on a tiled bathroom floor. Otherwise it is expensive to buy, and to run, and will NOT heat people by IR as claimed, as it is within the floor, which warms. These adverts should be shut down.

We used black tubes in the ceilings of sports halls. Gas is combusted at one end and expelled at the other. The tube gets hot and a lot of ' glow' is apparent underneath it. It heats the air of course too but it stays up high. Sports teachers report back that the pupils moan about being cold in the first class of the day. But they respond to the whoomph of it firing up, then start running about, and the heater can be turned off again for the rest of the day.

It can't possibly be any benefit? Or real even. Can you find this statement/ claim? Ashp are much more efficient than they used to be, and quieter. I can't see what your concern is re the depth of floor. That is a big issue in a refurb but not with a new build. I am not against IR heaters and have specified them often, both from electric elements and from gas fired hot tubes. As @ProDavesays, they heat the person or first object they hit so have their place for very local heating. When I am banished to watch rugby in a very cold room then I have an IR for that, also on a patio for summer evenings, hardly used. But they are electric heaters using a lot of power. We are here to help and learn. I'd like to know more about this product.

He was the cleverest. Their nicknames were with them already, from borstal probably. We felt that they were taken on according to who was neediest in life. They were supposed to do all the carrying but we soon ignored that If there was to be any progress.

Massively. Both on material and labour.

One morning on site was completely wasted for the whole team because, back at the office, the numbers for the theodolite work didn't tally. The motorway was heading in the wrong direction. After gentle questioning the chain boy ( they hold the staff) told us that he couldn't find the datum point in the bracken so had put the staff on his foot. That was initiative unfortunately.

Yes I did this for real for a couple of years. In my training we were sent round a housing estate loop and were expected to be within a few mm when back to the original datum. We were taught by mining surveyors. The same applied to theodolite use, with the added precision of only rotating it one direction to keep the innards perfectly aligned. Motorways were aligned to a few mm or seconds accuracy. Then at the end a man lays a concrete kerb and taps it til it looks right.

How deep? Presumably this is a concrete floor, probably 4" thick. So you would need to remove that and then hardcore, sufficiently for your new construction. 100mm concrete, at least 100mm insulation, 75mm screed. That's a lot of work. Liquid screed pours level but will have various lips that you can rub down.

The word is not protected. So it annoys me when a van says 'civil engineer' when it is a groundworker. Plus there are are expert mechanics with real flair who might be called engineers, because they work on engines. From the excellent advice above you will have seen that the theory is important, but so are the practical aspects. At the right time we can run through some more.

I was marking out a site boundary recently. The drawing provided was done by satellite references. I asked how they had decided where the red line on the drawing was in the first place. Estate agent's sketch on Google earth superimposed on a site survey. Where is the datum for the site survey? It's done by satellites. But the very real gate is in the wrong place acc to the drawing. It's done by satellites. It's like " computer says no". Anyway I got the line shifted where it mattered.

Ermmm. You would get flung out of BH if you wasted money. Efficient is the word. Or a skilled designer.

I haven't ever done it but here is my design for efficient use, avoiding bending. A 2 x2 timber, about 2m long. with a scale on it from an old tape. Put a ply base plate on one end so it stands up. Another the same then fit a clear tube linking them and fill with water. Then one post can stand on the datum point while the other is moved around. All points are then are plus or minus from the datum. No helper needed. For sophistication, colour the water and have plugs for the end. Is oil better? I don't know.

You are right of course. Going to read the link. We are planning to build a simple diy RWH just for garden watering. A tank inline is easy enough but the pump has to be cheap and cheerful too.

I used a 3 year old spons as a matter of course because it is generally high. That's for cost, and then it would get my margin on it. Once I had to tender on the basis of using spons so that the job could start in 2 weeks. I applied minus 20% if I recall. It went well. But generally it is a good try, useful fof a few items, but not to be used as a matter of course.

So @Alan Ambrose you are a "general purpose engineer". The numbers kind? Then you can do it. if you are following the suggestions above then great. If not, get someone to do it. The projected lines to safe positions are vital. The corners will get knocked out or dug out, then have to go back in. Most new houses are built out of square and level. This is becaise the managers and operatves can't use tapes and levels properly. If you can control that, then all the workmanship is better. I've got a total station. A waste of £10k. But I use tapes and a site level. And string line. This is because the building is usually a rectangle and i know where it is / goes. Actually I have a sophisticated sort of water level, using oil in the tube, so I can do levelling without someone holding a staff. Checking stuff discretely after the workers have left avoids pressure and awkwardness.