|
NotJustANumber99 posted:It's 4/10 graded gravel. So some one has measured all the pebbles and they're between 4 and 10mm. Yeah, that sounds like a pretty workable standard stone (like our #2) that you can use for most of everything from under concrete to trench leveling, around pipes, etc. We have a "modified" which is basically 3/4" "crusher run" (so everything 3/4" and smaller) with extra fines added to it that gets used for gravel driveway/path bases because you can roll it out and it locks together. Then you put the nicer looking stuff on top and it doesn't sink into the mud as fast.
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2022 18:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 03:43 |
|
|
I'm sure the real answer is "this is way cheaper than doing it your way, do you have any idea what cement costs, and how many trucks it would take to fill this volume?" but sure seems like you could do the foundation a lot faster by just excavating the foundation box and pouring a continious slab? Especially when you take into account your time, equipment rentals, bunch of deliveries of fill dirt/rock, labor of people scamming their own family etc might be break-even? 
|
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2022 18:55
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:I'm sure the real answer is "this is way cheaper than doing it your way, do you have any idea what cement costs, and how many trucks it would take to fill this volume?" but sure seems like you could do the foundation a lot faster by just excavating the foundation box and pouring a continious slab? Especially when you take into account your time, equipment rentals, bunch of deliveries of fill dirt/rock, labor of people scamming their own family etc might be break-even? I think we had 3 and a bit truck loads... The volume of our groundbeams is about 30m3. To pour the whole thing to the same depth would be over 100m3. So at least 3 times the cost. Also a lot more trucks, dunno if we could do all that in the day, we only just managed as it was, so that would be two days rental on the pump at additional cost. But you might be right that even at those costs it might have been worth it. What we did think afterwards is that we should have just dug out the whole volume rather than trenches, set up all the formwork and backfilled with the digger back in between. I have no idea really now what would be best, and thats with the benefit of hindsight. Well I mean the real answer is we should have just stopped for a few months and waited for better weather. Sorry another edit, you've got me thinking. I guess I would also have had to put the ground heave polystyrene stuff under the whole slab if I had done as you suggested. So that's 3plus times the cost for that too, which is thousands. I ended up paying the Latvians and the randoms he brought in to replace his brother almost as much in cash as the original quote for the whole strip foundation we had planned. Sobering. The worst was the lass he brought one day who had size 4 feet. The faff to get size 4 steel wellies! Then she never came back after 2 days. NotJustANumber99 fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Jun 18, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jun 18, 2022 19:30
|
|
|
Like I mentioned it's pretty common to build a ringed foundation of concrete or LECA blocks (with a concrete "sole"), then fill the inside up with gravel, insulation and plumbing. Only thing I've never seen before is all the cross bracing.
|
|
#
?
Jun 19, 2022 07:48
|
|
|
Its concrete day! We rent the pump truck separately from the actual concrete people cos its way cheaper. They send us the oldest truck in the country but I'm cool with that. Our pumpster is a real cool guy and very helpful. The concrete guys are kind of real pricks and on the day tell us our first truck won't be coming until 2 hours after our planned window opened. we have the pump booked for a day, which is actually just 8 hours, so there goes 25% of our booked time. hmmm Anyway here they are!  And were pumping concrete.  We've rented a petrol vibrator thingy which is quite fun, you can see it sat there in the middle. By the way what was left of the fence blew down and the neighbour complained (we will revisit this issue later with much threats of lawyers lol). As you can see I did a bang up job repairing it so not sure what they're on about. The trucks roll through really smooth and everything seems to go fine.  We are later charged a waiting fee that they just take direct off the credit card. There is no evidence of any wait time for any of the trucks? We were sitting around waiting for them because I knew we only had the pump for 6 hours. Its total bullshit but as with everything you can't be arsed trading poo poo with the scum of the world and just loving put up with it.  We run slightly shy of having enough concrete and have to do an additional part load. I have my numbers worked out but listen to everyone else and order more than I think.  We get finished off!  and spunk the extra cubic metre or whatever all over the place because of course we didnt need it all. The pump lad thought we were nuts not having a laser level during the pour to keep checking levels and he was totally right, also we should have had the formwork much more oversized to allow for error. I had realised all this before but figured too late now, I was committed and ignored it all. But... we got away with it because we'd spent so long with the latvians and replacement latvians getting the formwork just right. When we checked levels afterwards, bearing in mind were talking about a very long pour thats like 50m linear distance one end to the other, we had a variance of like half an inch. We tipped the pump guy a few quid, just because I liked him. Oh and we went slightly over the 8 hours so i figured he'd do us a favour. He didn't lol! anyway Probably a year and 50k over budget later...  bloody foundations eh?
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2022 00:23
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2022 00:29
|
|
|
Wow I noticed your setback from the fence, went back to the OP to look at the plan diagram and WOW you're at the bare minimum lot line offset, huh? Does that free up extra usable lawn space or were you just trying to follow the footprint as closely as possible or what Also looks like your added some extra foundation in the center vertex where both halves meet. Do you own your driveway or is some of it right of way? Looks good great job 
Hadlock fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jun 22, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2022 22:17
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:Wow I noticed your setback from the fence, went back to the OP to look at the plan diagram and WOW you're at the bare minimum lot line offset, huh? Does that free up extra usable lawn space or were you just trying to follow the footprint as closely as possible or what Great questions, thanks. I've really enjoyed making this thread to give me the opportunity to shake my memories up and interrogate my decision making. So far. When I realise some horrible mistake I'll be raging. Some new horrible mistake, not all the ones I already know about. Yeah. The positioning of the house, given the size of the plot has been a real headache. As I said we were heavily restricted by planning to "respect" the original stable block footprint(dotted on image below). But the plans that came with the plot from the seller did have the building over a metre from any boundary. Thats the magic distance. You can build on the property line if you want, but a metre away makes all the fire regulations go away. I knew this and yet misunderstood some advice that it didn't matter anymore. I thought that meant they had changed the rules. They hadn't, my builder friend just meant theres more choice in fire regulation friendly cladding now than there used to be. Its going to come back to bite me and I do regret this mistake. I hope I can just spec factory pressure treated timber cladding for the back of the building(which is also costly). If not its going to be problematic. I was trying to find an image to highlight one of the issues and lol the one I found is actually one I sent to the concrete pump company to explain my plan for them:  You see where the pump truck is sat, thats the issue. Its the tightest part of the site and I wanted to squeeze the building to the other boundaries as hard as I could to keep that avenue open. For the build as it would mean trucks and diggers can get past without problems to use my loading space at the end of site. This is an issue even now, always slowing down and making sure my arms tucked in when passing through here. But also... hush hush... if I ever try to build more houses further down the site I don't want this clinch point to be a deal breaker. I own all the driveway (in red on that previous drawing) and have no negative rights of access from my point of view. I even have access over the driveway to the right of mine, from the gate to where it meets the highway although it hasnt been maintained and would be a ballache to deal with I suspect. The plant room was something that quickly became an obvious necessity and has been factored into everything with the foundations and so on. Basically its a very long house and we're having underfloor heating. Its quite important to have a centrally located manifold for that in order to better balance the pipe runs on each zone, as its best to have them all roughly similar. If we have our heating manifold all the way at one end of the house, the zones at the end are basically all "feed" pipe rather than actual heating pipe. It is also useful to put all sorts of other gubbins in there and mean we don't lose and any actual house space. But thats absolutely what its for, nothing else. heres the underfloor heating zone plan I came up with so to maybe show how crazy it would be to have the manifold at one end of the house. 
NotJustANumber99 fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Jun 22, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2022 23:11
|
|
|
This is amazing, and I wish you the best of luck. The closest I got to this was hiring somebody to inspect my foundation, so you're pretty much an English building wizard in my book. I look forward to more Latvians and walls and have eagerly subscribed.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2022 20:59
|
|
|
I would love to have central vacuum, and a plant room in the middle is a great place to put it. Have you considered it? Vacuum pipes can go under the beam and block.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2022 22:35
|
|
|
CancerCakes posted:I would love to have central vacuum, and a plant room in the middle is a great place to put it. Have you considered it? Vacuum pipes can go under the beam and block. I have! and like you say it seems really cool. Like I dunno america or scandinavia or something used to do it... but I think it kind of sucked. Not in the good way. Especially now with roombas and much better battery tech and stuff in competition. To be honest I wouldn't even need to suck it away, just get the roombas to poo poo through a hole in the floor.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2022 22:59
|
|
|
Also, now I look back on it I'm lamenting how no one will ever know about all my piles. At the same time I've realised my gate posts require attention, every day I have to lift up the gate and walk it round, rotted as the posts are. I think I have a once and for all solution and have given my old pilling pals a call to see if we can sort this out: 
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2022 23:11
|
|
|
NotJustANumber99 posted:To be honest I wouldn't even need to suck it away, just get the roombas to poo poo through a hole in the floor. I have central vac (it was already here). It's nice and it sucks real good, but I can't imagine it being worth the money with the quality of battery powered vacuums these days.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2022 23:17
|
|
|
This thread is incredible, it's like someone actually going through with all the wild stuff people would be told to do if they were asking for advice in a thread about the same situation.NotJustANumber99 posted:Also, now I look back on it I'm lamenting how no one will ever know about all my piles. That's your ceiling OP
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2022 23:36
|
|
|
This project rules. Thank you for documenting it. I also have central vac, as it was installed when the house was built in the 90s. I basically only use it in the garage to vacuum out the cars, and on the stairs occasionally.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 00:03
|
|
|
Are you married? Everything I know from grand designs is that you may soon will not be. Congrats on the foundations though!
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 00:35
|
|
|
El Mero Mero posted:Are you married? Everything I know from grand designs is that you may soon will not be. This is so much better than trying to turn the town water plant into a residence. (wow it's been a long time since I watched those)
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 00:46
|
|
|
Motronic posted:This is so much better than trying to turn the town water plant into a residence. I think my favorite was the guy building a giant mansion out of earth/adobe, one layer at a time (i.e. like 3D printing only with mud bricks/straw). There was no reason, he just wanted to build a mansion out of mud I think because it was "the cheapest way" since the building material is easily available, don't have to pay anyone for it! Which makes perfect sense if you value your time at zero. Naturally the build was....not going quickly, and his wife clearly was already fed up (and maybe had already left him by the end of the episode when they check back in a year or whatever? At which point he was of course still nowhere close to done).
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 00:59
|
|
|
grand designs aside, please remember this isn't one, its a quick and easy house build.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 01:09
|
|
|
NotJustANumber99 posted:its a quick and easy house build. I really, really love this thread.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 01:19
|
|
|
Love love this thread
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 01:37
|
|
|
SyNack Sassimov posted:I think my favorite was the guy building a giant mansion out of earth/adobe, one layer at a time (i.e. like 3D printing only with mud bricks/straw). There was no reason, he just wanted to build a mansion out of mud I think because it was "the cheapest way" since the building material is easily available, don't have to pay anyone for it! Which makes perfect sense if you value your time at zero. Naturally the build was....not going quickly, and his wife clearly was already fed up (and maybe had already left him by the end of the episode when they check back in a year or whatever? At which point he was of course still nowhere close to done). Was he also doing a round house or am I conflating two of them?
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 02:38
|
|
|
BonerGhost posted:Was he also doing a round house or am I conflating two of them? I think you're right that it was round, or at least part of it was round, or maybe it was like a bunch of round masses bunched together? All I remember is it looked like absolute poo poo because he wasn't a pro at adobe mud bricks by any means, had taken him forever, had destroyed his marriage, and it seemed like it was still gonna take another 10 years for him to complete it. Also I don't remember how he was gonna protect it from the rain but it definitely didn't have much protection in its in-progress state, which in the UK.....yeah. edit: haha he finally finished it https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/houses/113080045/grand-designs-uk-castle-built-of-mud-finished--but-theres-dirty-laundry SyNack Sassimov fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Jun 24, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 02:58
|
|
|
Motronic posted:This is so much better than trying to turn the town water plant into a residence. That one was mental. The other one that I remember distinctly was the single dad in London building 2 stories down under a historic building in a graveyard so he could have a house to spend time with his son in (by the time he finished his son was in college.)
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 04:00
|
|
|
El Mero Mero posted:That one was mental. That one had an awesome swimming pool. The main advantages to central vac for me is never runs out of charge, vents outside so no need to wash or replace filters and don't need to empty every 10 minutes, but unfortunately I can't retrofit into this house. Be interested in why people end up not using them as we might do an architecture at some point and vac is on the list.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 06:03
|
|
|
Wallet posted:I have central vac (it was already here). It's nice and it sucks real good, but I can't imagine it being worth the money with the quality of battery powered vacuums these days. It's worth it for the single reason that it vents outside and doesn't use filters.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 18:01
|
|
|
His Divine Shadow posted:It's worth it for the single reason that it vents outside and doesn't use filters. Reminds me of my old mate down the pub, always sat in the beer garden, often quite angry and exclusively smoked rollies.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 20:27
|
|
|
His Divine Shadow posted:It's worth it for the single reason that it vents outside and doesn't use filters. Mine vents into a big canister in the basement and also is capable of using a filter (though I don't have one on there).
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 23:07
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:Also looks like your added some extra foundation in the center vertex where both halves meet. Lol I only just reread this and realised I probably confused you with my answer, plant as in not plants but like machinery plant. I assume you're american (cos you can't spell centre) is that the word in America? For like all your aircon and pumps and stuff. yeah, mechanical room.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2022 22:23
|
|
|
NotJustANumber99 posted:Lol I only just reread this and realised I probably confused you with my answer, plant as in not plants but like machinery plant. I assume you're american (cos you can't spell centre) is that the word in America? For like all your aircon and pumps and stuff. yeah, mechanical room. I am from Houston and we refer to the big chemical and oil & gas refineries as "plants", but I've never heard someone refer to an HVAC closet or those sorts of utilities in a home as a plant. Makes sense tho.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2022 22:41
|
|
|
Physical plant is more commonly used in commercial or industrial spaces in the US to describe mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, not so much homeowner
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2022 22:47
|
|
|
In the UK if you have a room separate from your kitchen that has a washing machine in it that is called a utility room, even if there is lots of other things in there. UK houses simply don't have the square footage of the US, especially new builds, so having a separate room for washing is a luxury for most. UK houses are loving garbage, unless bespoke built on 6 metre pilings of course.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2022 07:17
|
|
|
CancerCakes posted:UK houses are loving garbage, unless bespoke built on 6 metre pilings of course. Surely that makes it a pile of garbage?  Excellent thread, so I’m curious how things will progress (or have progressed?)
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2022 10:44
|
|
|
Interesting news story popped up not so very far from here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10954289/Retired-couple-forced-demolish-five-bed-home-FIVE-YEARS-dodgy-foundations.html Forgive the daily mail link, but basically someone's brand new house didn't use piles on very similar clay soil to mine and now its toast and has to be demolished! So back in time a little bit for our water connection as it didn't quite fit in earlier. You have to pay them to do it basically and whilst there are some contestable aspects basically theres no choice. The water main is away over the other side of the road so we'll need a 3 way traffic light setup around the green. All in comes to about £4k.  water meter with the spinny numbers goes in here  fruity pink barriers  some of said traffic lights  lol we also have to completely surround and isolate our octogenarian neighbours. lol soz.  Then they patch it all back up again  Bit of an issue though  village facebook group is kicking off. We've ruined the village green, blah blah. Lol so I'm apparently on the hook for damage to the green I didn't do, nor did the guys I paid thousands do, but some passing lorry driver that did a bad job of getting round the lights did? So i just ignore it and, whilst I'm sure someone is still pissed off to this day, everyone seems to forget about it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2022 22:53
|
|
|
You'll never be admitted to the Village Green Preservation Society now
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2022 23:02
|
|
|
Geez!!
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2022 23:04
|
|
|
Despite owning several houses over the years I’m currently dealing with knowing and caring where the meter with the spinny numbers is for my house for the first time. One of many issues with the house I just bought is that the main water shutoff is 1) in a moronic location literally in the middle of a finished room and 2) leaking. At least finding the street shutoff will be no mystery for you in the future!
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2022 05:46
|
|
|
Is purple a normal safety barricade color (colour?) in your part of the world? We have those same barricades but I've only seen them in orange, once or twice in safety yellow
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2022 19:56
|
|
|
That is an interesting question, to which I do not know the answer. Googled it and can't find anything... And well you'd think if it did mean something, it's not of much use if nobody knows about it?
|
|
#
?
Jun 27, 2022 20:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 03:43 |
|
|
here's a tedious answer! BS8442 only has requirements for reflectivity, but does not specify colour. Chapter 8 pedestrian & traffic barriers come as orange/red/white as standard but most utilities companies will manufacture to whatever their colour of choice is - presumably so on bigger sites they can tell what belongs to who and they dont steal them from each other.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2022 09:58
|
|
