Jenki

Thanks for the info. more research to be done. Bolts are 200mm With a hook at the end, they will be buried hook end first, around 120mm into the wet foundation and left to cure. If these pull out I've got big problems with the slab. All you are left with is a threaded section sticking out of the slab. You lower the sole plate over the 'stud' then use washers and nuts to bolt down. As I m stick building on site, I will uses the studs to mark the sole plate and drill before I make the panels.

I Personally don't see this as a last resort. My intention is to use J bolts cast into the insulated slab, the stick made panels will have the hold down holes drilled, then when lifting the panel into place, three beads of quality low expanding foam construction foam (ILLBRUCK FM310) applied to the slab, then the panel lowered down into place, lined up with chalk lines. The adhesive will expand and fill any deviations in the surface and also stick the frame to the slab. Any movement will be accommodated by the foam. I will be using radon barrier, so this will be lapped up the external Wood fibre insulation. I think the problems of using a membrane is you introduce 2 joins. Also the gap will be Plus and Minus X mm, so the membrane/ joint strip will have to take care of deviations both ways.

I read on Viking House (Irish Passive Houses) that they use expanding foam. But that was onto an Insulated slab. I'm thinking this will be my approach

Don't think this will help. I've got about 10 upto 3m support height. I'll be traveling up to Lybster on Thursday 31st. I could lend them you meet me somewhere?

Yep, and don't forgot that you also have to dilute the paint to get good flow rates, but this is down to the area to be covered. spraying gives a better finish than a roller, especially for the mist / base coat IMHO. If you've got one room then not sure its worth it, the whole house is different, you only have to mask the windows / floor if the trim work is not in place, then blast the lot.

Spraying the Block walls can get a more even finish. Screwfix do a fairly cheap Airless sprayer that is also great for mist coating all the walls.

This is the plan, WC block will supply each pod, and act as a plant room. The above doesn't go above 16mm2 SWA. No suitable cables eg. 80M 15KW = 16mm2 15.5KW - no suitable cable....

Slight Hijack - My design was to put a enclosure on site, around 75 M run, the plan from DNO was terminate at the pole and run mains cable (95mm Wavecon) to around 30M from the cabinet then joint to service cable 35mm Split con then run this to the cabinet. Then me run my cable to the house and pods as required. (house run would be around 25M), Pods 55M (only require about 8KW) EUG864_001_20210708_DESIGNDOCUM9022022_REV_Site_Plan_LAND 105M SE OF SUIL NA MARA_A3.pdf Reading this thread, I'm now thinking putting the cabinet near to the pole at the front of the new track, then running two cables from this to the pods (30M) house 85M The connection is planned for Apr 6 Any thought's on this. Can anyone point me to a cable calculator for either SWA or split concentric?

.An Acro is designed to take the load transmitted vertically through it. The safe working load of an Acro is vastly reduced when correctly using a strongboy, they are not designed to be angular props. This is dangerous as it gives a false sense that its safer.. Also just a point, and its not intended to be picky. The site is untidy, trip hazards everywhere. Demolition creates mess, but when you are moving and installing steels a clean site is a safer site. There is no need for rubble to be laying around. When I've installed beams like this you stop, clean up, remove trip hazards and then once clean, take a view of the next steps and move forward with the plan. If you make mess you tidy it up. When I see sites like this I get concerned about the people working there and the quality of the product.😞 Good Luck, you've been given some great advice so far.👍

The info they supply on breaking bed rock is to create an open face by either drilling holes at an angle(#2) then the open face is the top surface, once this is out you then have open faces to work with , the other option is to chain core drill, a slot essentially a trench thus creating an open face. The later option seems the most sensible, but core drilling 1.7M Wide trench by 1.2M deep (in multiple depths) seems like arduous work. I will only know for sure what I'm dealing with at the end of the month, but was thinking of trying this on a trial basis to see how I get on.

my take on this would be to draw the activity spaces on the plan layout, just use a nominal size for the tray, although you won't physically have one, you will have a tray former that is the showering area. Building warrant wants to ensue that there is room to move around.

Just dragging this back up as time is getting closer. @Dave Jones Mentioned Chemical Charges. Has anyone used https://www.dynacem.pl/uk/non-explosive-demolition-agent-dynacem-feedback.html. non explosive Expanding grout? To Recap- I need to remove around 8m3, 3.8M long * 1.8M wide * 1.2M Deep. Sorry don't know how I missed this . To clarify the rock I'm dealing with is granite, part of the Caithness granite slabs, namely lower flagstone group fishbed? so its thick bedrock. so its all a problem (or at least the 1.2M deep I need to remove. With regards to flows there is some variations in land levels, so main house to treatment plant and then to soakaway to watercourse should work with little / no additional breaking out. The pods some 60M away may end up being pumped to the Treatment tank.

Cheapest option is a rectangle. You can use camber trusses that will give you a vaulted ceiling. If you build long and thin, you could have a vaulted ceiling at 1 end, and room in roof trusses for the remainder to get bedrooms. As soon as you move away from a rectangle / sq then the foundation and roof becomes more complex if you want vaulted ceilings.

1 1/2 storey would be a significant change in design. My comments FWIW, for the design you picked: Rooms in roof good It will need some big steels to carry the vaulted ceiling which will have an impact on the foundation design. Roof valleys cost more. Thumbs up for the Velux windows. Layout works The hall / Entrance is massive. (Bigger than Bed2 & 3 Combined).

My View on this and any design was simple, my budget is tight, so functionality wins. If you set out with this in mind then be prepared for a lot of compromise. Its great to draw complex foundations with different roof line, roof heights, and you can get a stunning effect, but each little change from a rectangular box costs more money. More in materials more in labour or both, then each of these decisions effect the cost going forward. The easiest building to build is a rectangle, with gables and 1 roof line (Well a rectangular box and a pent roof) any deviation from this will cost money. My Design uses the rectangular box, but over a single level, (this is with an eye on the future) I think I could have saved a little by going room in roof with the bedrooms upstairs. Smaller foot print etc. If your budget is healthy and mortgages are in your future then treat yourself to a porch, different roof planes, different roof heights, dormers etc. If not resist the architects desire to break new ground, (and your bank balance). One thing to note that the timber frame costs of these designs will vary little, but the cost of building it can be vastly different. I would have thought as a quick example, a dormer would cost 10 times the cost of a velux window, but the kit cost would vary a few hundred quid. Building your own house should be a great experience, but reality has to be upfront. I'm sure all the compromises, and "discussions" we had at design stage, will make the build process less stressful, when the money is disappearing faster than Abramovich's. I know. 3 1/2" nails, disappear in 1 blow.😲

This is going to be my approach. Stick built on site. The expense, unless you can do it yourself will be getting panel drawings with the details you need to build on site. I have drawn my own, and then passed these to a Structural engineer for confirmation and the certificate of design (Scotland). youtube "larry haun" and its surprising how simple a process he makes it. The quality of the product is down to Square accurate cuts and accuracy when assembling. I don't want to re-look at costs yet as prices are constantly rising, but my build from a timber frame company was around 50K supply only(insulation membranes and plasterboards. plus external membranes and fly battened roof.) I got my stick built costs at the time to around 27K, but with thicker walls and better u values all round. That saving will be my time spent cutting and assembling. no other way would work for me. The goal is no mortgage.

https://justthejobsupplies.co.uk/products/radon-barrier-yellow?variant=40474272825501 This is the thicker membrane. With regards to an expert, cs2 is a non vented solution, so membrane only. So you would only need to prove you've used the correct membrane, (not what you want to hear). building control would / should check they are satisfied with the install.

For my build in Scotland, the Radon report comes back as 3, IIRC. So need radon minimal Radon protection. I.e Radon barrier and top hats and tape for pipe penetrations. Extra cost over std visqueen for my 98m2 is about £200. Edit: just read that cs2 is non vented protection. If you've used STD visqueen and not a Radon gas membrane then it's not going to pass. The thickness of concrete will have no effect. It's an obvious question but why use it on the perimeter but not over the main area?. In my view the thought of long term exposure to Radon gas and resultant poisoning isn't worth the £200 budget worry. At least you've not poured the X cubic meters of concrete yet If you were having a screed afterwards you might be able to use a radon barrier here, but not sure how this would be detailed to the outside of the building .n

Personal experience says foundation blocks to max 2 course "below" DPM. Externally you don't want to see them. and DPM level should be 150mm above ground level. Its common (old practice) to build the external internal skin to DPM using concrete commons / thermalite coursing bricks, and then knock out these out at thresholds. but that has issues. Internally sounds crazy / wrong Depends a lot on construction type - Timber floor / beam and block / slab on grade etc etc - need some more info but doesn't sound correct...

The next cheaper option with inverter I've had a quote of £1550 delivered ( Dream HP from eBay). So basically £450 extra or about a third. What would the payback be on that (in efficiency between the rotary and inverter compressor). If I was to go for the two. 1 would only be heating the 300l tank for DHW. The other a 150l tank for DHW and a buffer tank for UFH with excess PV topping up the DHW. Gut feel it's worth a punt? Plus I can claim the VAT back on it. Is there any big red flags to anyone?

You are correct, 1 for both pods 1 for the house. Pods are around 20M2. The above was referring to ESHP idea, I thought these were smaller units and not enough capacity (DHW) for the two combined hence needing 2? My idea is the plant room with 300L UVC and this ASHP, with backup Immersions. Another topic will be how to divert heat to these immersions from excess solar PV 60M away......?

Is this on the inside of the exterior wall or outside. If outside that will be part of the structural calculations for the build. (racking forces etc.) In Scotland, for areas in Bathrooms you need to install 18mm to cater for hand rails etc. For kitchen wall units, usually 5x2 noggins added to the studs at about 2050 high would be enough - check the kitchen tall cupboard heights to be sure.

but I'd need two, one for each pod so that's £3K - I've got a 300L (£200) UVC with Immersion as backup. My rough calcs. as I'm not sure how to calculate re-heat cost etc. but 300L raise temp of 40deg is around 15KW/H so @ 0.25p /KWH that's about £3.75 so lets call that a £5 a day with re heat. with a COP of 2.0 it would be £2.5 saving so 1000/2.5 = 400 days? I'm sure I've got that wrong with some big assumptions but a year or 2 its worth it.. Same company. - I do think it might not be an invertor even though it says it in the headline - the spec says Rotary-

was going to get them delivered to me in Preston and take them with me. on one of my trips.. hopefully got some storage sorted in Wick.

I assumed and this is always a problem, that it was a standard controller and those parameters did nothing to the ASHP unit.? there is a note at the bottom "Note: some parameter is not effective for the unit, so the have a “---------------- ”