Kelvin

It’s a killer on self-build. You need to impose deadlines on yourself and stick to them. Once decision made you move on to the next thing. As a procrastinator too I need deadlines without them and I get bogged down.

What type of screed? How thick? It takes a long time to fully dry. I ran the ASHP in floor drying mode which is a two week process. I also had three dehumidifiers running although we were also plastering at the same time so there was a lot of moisture in the house. Plus all the moisture from the timber etc.

If you can replace the whole length why wouldn’t you do that?

My experience with Perth & Kinross council was very different. Due to a few different factors we ended up renting the farmhouse we planned to live in while building 4 months before moving. They sent us a CT demand so I called them and explained the situation. They said no problem let us know once you move in and we’ll calculate it from then. I did need to send them pictures to prove it was empty of furniture they were fine with some boxes. Then when our house was nearly finished and we were waiting on the handrail arriving to finish the stairs and the electrical sign off they contacted me and I said we didn’t have a habitation certificate from building control so we couldn’t move in (this is where it’s quite different from England I expect) they again said let us know when you do. All very reasonable.

I went to a builders merchants and it was all sitting outside with some vague tarp over it. I asked them about it and they said it dries out eventually but that will be sitting in free air. How likely is it to dry out inside a wall. That said if you get flooded that badly everything is soaking for a long time anyway. He could always stick a few moisture probes into this area in a few places.

It’s in the build drawings for a reason. Your builder hasn’t done it to spec. Tell your architect (assuming they are still engaged) Immediately take it up with your builder. Don’t get into a debate where they fob you off with ach it’ll be fine. Do you owe them much money still?

It definitely varies. I’ve been in houses that were taped and they looked perfectly fine even with light falling on the walls at the right angle. The plastering in our previous house was clearly done by different people as some of it was flawless and some of it was terrible.

Exactly what I did. I have an SVP out the garage roof, AAV in the roof void, and another SVP after the tank. No smells. No penetrations through the house and a clean roof with no unsightly pipes coming out of it. Graf system.

I’d definitely raise it with the council. Can’t you guide the water to where it exits naturally avoiding the flooding of the garage and shed which surely makes them unusable.

The other thing to factor in is the extra time plastering adds in and it makes a right mess. You can put down sheets and protect all the windows, woodwork, doors or whatever else is in place. We debated going taping and filling vs plastering (timber kit) and went plastering as I preferred the finish but we would have been much quicker taping I think. We also had to sack the first plasterer as he was crap and that added another several days as I had correct all his shoddy work.

There’s plenty of pressure without the pump as our drinking water tap comes into a small accumulator in the garage and bypasses the softener. The issue is the recharge rate so we would empty the hole throughout the day and it would take hours to refill hence the tank. In hindsight we ought to have fitted another accumulator in the garage and could have likely negated the need for the pump.

I thought about that but no room. The pipes come under the MVHR and it’s all very tight as it is.

Big tank. Ours is 1200 litres. Our borehole recharge rate is very slow and the borehole very deep (147m) with the pump at 80m. We had a problem last summer when we had a house full of family so lots of water use where the alarm in the pump control went off. There are three water probs in the borehole and the water got low enough to trigger the alarm (which stops the submersible pump) Because it can take a while for the borehole to fill back up it meant we used a lot of the tank water. I disabled the top probe so it starts pumping again more quickly but still has the protection if the water gets low.

Folk generally have become much better in front of an audience or a camera.

Speakers are fitted into enclosed boxes for a reason other than to stop them falling on the floor. The difference it made to mine was very noticeable.

It was a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A

In a previous house I made MDF acoustic boxes lined with acoustic foam. Knock something up.

“As is common in the building industry nowadays the offloading of the tiles is automated” A guy in a tractor took them off the lorry 😂 And how TV has changed. A huge amount of detail compared to everything has to be quick entertainment nowadays.

The most disappointing thing is the lack of ambition of current new builds compared to this from 44 years ago.

I looked at the Google street view and it looked like it has a small AC unit fan or something literally hanging out a window. I suspect it’s rather warm in the summer.

The fire regs aren’t to do with the speaker going on fire. You’ve cut a big hole in your ceiling and if there’s a fire in that room it can spread more quickly as the speaker is made of plastic mostly. I have two in the kitchen which has a bedroom above it for example. Depends on the room and what’s above it. I fitted them to improve the sound though. They do output quite a lot. Take your pick. You can size it to your speaker. You will need to cut it to fit. They are a pia to fit but with your 1980s office ceiling it will be easy for you. https://ceilingspeakerworld.co.uk/collections/fire-hoods-for-speakers?srsltid=AfmBOoqVbinaygWtUK1gX5ktvnSE2RlAqI6H7o1ggxG4MQ4MJBKM-nDB

Open backed speakers like these typically should be mounted so that they are enclosed. It improves the bass, and reduces sound from travelling to whatever is above them. There’s also a fire regulation depending on what is above them. I fitted all mine inside a fireproof hood and the difference in sound quality vs just having them open was significant.

Good stuff. How are you mounting them?

A reed bed system is different and not allowed nowadays. They aren’t complicated at all. Our field just has grass on top of it and it all looks like the rest of the field so there’s no change in the soil. Our Graf system bubbles the air on an on/off cycle so is slightly cheaper to run. After a year ours has 30% sludge depth so will likely need emptied before year 3 is up. pH level is 7, water clear and ammonia levels within spec.

Yes exactly the conversation we had with building control. I had in my mind at the outset it would be a soakaway largely because that’s what the SEPA website said and what they told me when I called them. When I had the land survey done the guy that came out to do it said he it would likely be a drainage field or discharge to the burn but that would need permission so we submitted the planning application with that in mind. When we applied for the warrant we had a more detailed design done for a drainage field. The original design in terms of size was 24m x 1m but this was changed to 9m x 2m for the warrant. We were fortunate that the Goldilocks position for it happened to be the only place it could go and the place where the percolation test was perfect. Despite having 1.5 acres of space there was nowhere else it could have gone due to our neighbour’s borehole location, the burn and the nature of our land. The guy I spoke with said the reason it needs to be a drainage field is for your reason above, build up of toxicity over time or if the treatment plant has reduced efficiency over time for some reason but he also pointed the need for the homeowner to correctly maintain the treatment plant and have it checked annually (or do it yourself)