saveasteading

Most things are possible, but the disruption and cost must be considered.

I look forward to learning how crack control will be handled. Although 'simple' lining doesn't mean cheap. It might be effectively a fibreglass bath built inside the concrere base and block walls.

Mice 3 days. Small rats 5 days. Longer but less awful in winter.

It is all that can be done. A future owner might know the ruling, but not care about killing moths or nature at all. But if it is sympathetic from the outset then it is a start. Most people don't change much.

Porcelain tiles should be laid on concrete, not rubble. Plus they get very slippy when wet. Agreed with the above...that you need 150mm for splashing OR a perimeter drain. But the drain can simply be gravel.

Thanks for the extensive research. You may stand down now,. I'd never heard of this but now see that there is lots of this stuff online. I've put a bit of plastic over the area in question, then an extra layer of fibreglass, but will bear this stuff in mind. In lockdown I had a mouse move into the car, in the channel below the windscreen. Anti-Marten spray* would be the business I hesitate to think what is in it that repels rodents.. Reminds me of trying to buy slug pellets in Spain. I asked for bolitas para corocoles. In UK think asking for pellets for snails would be understood. But the guy just stared. 'Contra corrocoles?' ahhhhh si. As I write I am told there is scrabbling in the flat roof area. I can't spray in there. Maybe it needs a third type of poison nearby. Otherwise it has to be traps with chocolate but yeugh, I'm squeamish with impaled mice.

Topps Tiles, backing board. There are others like this. Jackoboard. Wedi board. It is much denser, made for under tiles, and it has thermal qualities which the foil would not. And/ or mineral wool in the space below.

Ask your local builders' merchant for a non-woven geotextile membrane. If there is a choice of qualities then tell them the purpose, but it is going to need only middling quality unless you will be driving trucks or buses on it regularly. Terram is the best known name (like Hoover) but there are plenty of other suppliers. Do follow the instructions precisely. The materials should not be too cold, and it is clever, not magic. Whether you should remove the cover to let it breathe is doubtful. Mortar does not get its strength by drying out, but curing into a new material, and needs water for the chemistry. Cement normally takes 30 days to complete its chemical reaction and get the mortar to full strength, and it needs warmth and moisture for those. The additive speeds this all up, but I know no more. Perhaps the instructions say more.

3 degrees and rising is the guide for concrete. I've broken this guidance once and it became expensive hardcore....it barely hardened, and then crumbled. The same will happen with mortar. As for the type 1. That shouldn't go down thicker than 150mm per layer and be compacted by roller. I hope you have membrane under it. Compaction over mud would press the stone down into the mud and it would mix if there is no membrane or just rut if there is. Spreading with a tracked machine does not compact it, but is your best compromise for now....and don't run wheeled vehicles over it. An experienced builder should know the basics of all this, buy many don't. They should also expect to lose working days in winter. It's not your responsibility to keep them earning at your risk. It is too important to turn a blind eye. More detail of the hardcore construction?

Single storey is best value in my experience, even with the large roof area. That's due to ease of construction and the absence of the cost and space lost x 2 storeys for stairs. I'd say about 10% less than for 2 storey. With a standard kit building there may not be much difference though. Basements are from at least double to much more £/m2, depending on the ground, water table and the site area and conditions. Not something for the average builder either. On top of that you must allow for a high risk of unknowns and the weather. It could go badly wrong. These are factored against the land value although a small, city site is also trickier. Bottom line? I wouldn't consider a basement if other, standard, construction will work.

I decided against a hammer tacker because of the proximity of the hammer to the other hand, holding the membrane....my left thumb is virtually hurting even as I write the words.

I had the privilege of visiting a nuclear plant and looking down on the very James Bond looking hall with the cores under it. Turning 180° there was a view out to sea and about a km out, a visible whirlpool of hot coolant water. Isn't releasing energy encapsulated with the big bang, much the same as from coal, oil or gas. As you say, it can't escape, but there is also lots more of it, to not escape.

An old thread resurrected. But I have just bought a wickes stapler for about £15. Fixes membrane to osb nicely, also dpc to timber. I would want something less manual if doing a very big area.

A 600mm wall is 3 sleepers high. I meant you could set the second one 30mm further back, and repeat. Perhaps that's trivial. Indeed. The filled side is next to the boundary.

Nuclear contributes to climate change as much as fossil fuels. All the energy is being released from a historic source. All the electric power turned to heat at point of use, and a large proportion is released as waste heat at the power station.

The plastic plug method may well be OK, as the loads are well spread through the sheer number of fixings. 600 centres? But it is not for us to say, when you have an SE and supposedly expert contractors. There may be more damage, perhaps cracked but hanging in for the present. Something is wrong. Too close to the edge is likeliest. And/or Not the right fixings or hammered in too hard. Yes epoxy will sort it but the SE should specify it. Or the contractor present you with a formal remedial proposal which is not a cement and sand patch.

OK except number 10. No chance of that happening. And anyway don't we need some other funder to provide a platform to argue back against musk?

It does but it would be on your land. Dig out bank and stop short of the boundary. French drain on your land. Sleeper wall on your land, and you can step each layer back a bit and over the drain. Backfill as you go. Then you might need a new boundary marker. Is there a fence hidden in the hedge? ith th boundary being your neighbors responsibility you need agreement to repair or replace it. Also you need to keep the neighbour's pets and children safe from falling into the hole or the machinery. sounds complicated when they aren't cooperating, but maybe they will.

OK that is strong. But you may be right unless humankind becomes caring and unselfish suddenly. Or the other worst alternative is to cross fingers and carry on as is. No, it would be to reverse into turning off 'windmills'.....but half the populace might support that in their ignorance (I mean that word in its non pejorative sense.) Your solution then please.

I think hazel would grow again from the roots. Also that it propagates easily from cuttings so you could start growing some now, in anticipation. This is probably correct. Why do you want a retaining wall? Would it be above or below the neighbours' ground? You cannot dig out any of their ground without their permission. How high would it be?

I can't have been paying attention. What legislation is this?

The steel works have closed because the UK can't compete with China and Mexico etc. It's not because of pollution. China uses coal and cheap labour, but we aren't about to change that. It gets confusing when such arguments are mixed up with the current subject of sustainable energy, and I expect it is meant to muddy the waters.. Nothing is simple in reality. Britain had the industrial revolution because of sufficient resources at the time to benefit from scientific and technological innovation. We don't have the underground resources any longer and the populace don't want the dangerous dirty, low paid work that made Britain rich, and the Empire. Other countries do that. Thus steel making is from elsewhere, and will stay that way. There isn't a magic solution, or any right to have cars and houses and foreign holidays. Yet there is is that expectation. It's simple really..... No more mass housing outwith the cities, which generates traffic and the expectation of the right to space and cars. Infrastructure has to be designed and integrated from the outset. An agricultural policy that makes use of all appropriate land. Foreign holidays may have to stop. Wind and solar. Air source heating. It will be more primitive but that is a matter of expectation, and will be accepted through habit and necessity. The biggest problem is who is going to make the decision and tell the public. They mostly don't want any change and revolt.

Accepted. I was thinking of the bad years and construction, when costs were galloping. But now, 4% annually will be about 40% in a decade.

Is that an option? Along the railway lines which are an existing network to all areas of the country?

If it's not something you're familiar with, then it's worth buying a pack of screws with plugs, so you know they are compatible, even though you only need a few. I'd recommend a big brand too like Rawl or Fischer. Get stainless steel screws if there is a choice. Something like this.