flanagaj

I am most likely going to use a man and an excavator. Just so things can get moving and trenches are not left open for too long. I am now wondering whether to go with a beam and block floor over a ground bearing slab. Given I am binning having a power floated floor and am going with conventional screed and then either tiles or wood, it might be quicker and might be better suited to DIY installation of the radon membrane.

Some good points there Nick. Haven't really planned any of the stuff you mention, but now is a good time.

So I am not alone in waiting. The sound of the heavy rain on the metal roof of a static caravan is akin to being waterboarded and remaining positive is hard work.

We have been in our static caravan now for nearly two months and haven't even started our self-build. The weather has just been so rotten. It's been either very cold, or throwing it down with rain. Are people literally just carrying on in the rain and pumping out filled trenches .... to enable things to progress?

I had an SE do the calcs for the steels, but I'm confused as to what they mean. He has specified 254 * 102 * 22 UB. Whilst I understand a UB works for the inner steel, I don't see how you use a UB on the face brickwork side, or why it requires a UB as the load of the external face is much less as it's not supporting the roof or floor. Does anyone have any advice on what steel design you would normally use for a ground floor 4.4m sliding door. Estimators specified a Catnic https://condell-ltd.com/catnic-cx150-100-4800mm And I understand how that works as it is shaped for a cavity tray to easily be fitted and the exterior brickwork to have the required weep vents, but two parallel UB lintels would not work like that. 25578 - White Cattery Lane, RG26 5TN.pdf

Do you have a drawing to hand as I am struggling to understand how you do this? On reflection, is it just a simple case of making sure that the top level of your sand blinding coincides with the top of the block level for your sleeper walls?

It would need some thought regarding the internal sleeper walls as you obviously cannot run the membrane across the whole ground floor area, if you have internal sleeper walls.

This is an interesting approach. Given BC have signed off level thresholds around the perimeter of the house, I am keen to understand this detailing further. It's the detailing with regards to the level threshold that's confusing me. I did find the below, diagram, but it's for a conventional 150mm lower outside floor level.

That was my thought too.

We are in a Radon zone and require 'basic' protection. I contacted Visqueen to ask if they offer a design service, so I can understand the junction details. They came back an said they do offer a design service and it's £3000. I'm going to ask if they have added an extra zero by mistake 😂 I doubt they have, so I thought I'd ask what did those of you do who also found they needed Radon protection measures. I might consider an alternative supplier, if that's how they treat potential customers.

Finally! I might have had some joy. Found a brickie who has quoted me on m2 rates and his work looks very tidy too. Rates are £23/M2 blockwork and £55/M2 face brickwork. Those numbers do align much more with the estimators quote.

I have 540m2 blocks 147m2 face brickwork So my numbers are not far off yours, but your 13k is way under the estimators 20k labour figure.

White Lane Cattery 106b Elevations.pdf

Quotes are labour only and they have allowed 20 days for the job. It's a straightforward rectangle build with gable ends, face brickwork on lower ground floor and then block upstairs. The issue I have, is that if I just say "Oh well, let's just pay 10k more and get going", if that same thing happens for all trades, then I am in real trouble and we'll have to sell the house once it's built.

They use local labour rates. A brickie is not usually on more than £300/day. So I said 2 brickies and a labourer for 20 days at £800/day. That still only equates to £16000 for 20 days work. So the quotes of 30k, 42k and 60k are just a joke. Anyone would think I was hiring a legal team.

Here are the estimates that I received from Estimators. Excavation & Foundations - 7 days (2GW + 1 Labourer) Foundation Masonry - 5 days (2B + 1 Labourer) Brickworks - 15 days (2B + 1 Labourer) My theory is that if estimators can't be that far off when it comes to estimating costs for a build.

I had our plans estimated and it gave me a figure for labour up to plate height. So far, they have ranged from 10k over the estimators 20k figure, up to a staggering 45k over. I really don't know how to proceed now as we have had 4 quotes so far. It's a very simple brick and block rectangle, built using stretcher bond.

The tech architect submitted our drawings to BC as follows. I do however, want level thresholds on the entrance door, garage door and both patio sliders. That makes it difficult to not have it at DPC level or very slightly below.

Are you saying that as long as I have the correct fall on the ACO system I can have the outside levels at dpc or a few mm under it?

I understand that for the garage and doors with level threshold, you install some sort of ACO, but what about the areas of the house which are not entrances, but you want at the same level? Could you for instance run some sort of ACO drainage around the whole house so that you have the exact same level? I am trying to avoid having a 150mm step down from level threshold areas. For example, I have a path that runs down the back of the house. It has steps one end, but at the other end is our patio. If I keep this section 150mm below dpc, I will then have a 150mm step up to the patio and will create a potential pond.

In the end I've gone with the Norrsken 319A sliders. They have a fixed pane and the frame is chunky, but I'm ok with the aesthetics. I really liked the way that when you closed the door, it felt like you were closing and aircraft door. The sealing is very impressive.

I've been using Heras panels for our site entrance, but last night's storm has busted them and I lost a pair last year to wind. I'm now contemplating just buying a set of proper steel site gates and putting them. Yes. They are nearly £900, but I just need a better solution than Heras. We have nosey neighbours and I like to screen it off and am currently using the hoarding that supposedly allows the wind through, but it's definitely not that great and is probably the reason for panels snapping. Caravan life is great. It's either been Baltic or lashing down. We want to get cracking, but the weather is certainly not in our favour.

I think they just said "Oi scrote, make some more muck". There were no pleasantries back then, when I was 17

Conventional floor build up. Eg, screed on top of insulation.

I didn't know whether the detailed drawings from the manufacturer would suffice. Eg, Velfac provide the below, so I suspect Norrsken do to? https://products-commercial.velfac.co.uk/products/18760/18789/19843/