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I am extending my roof and have a sitiation where the existing sarking boards (6 x 1 softwood boards) will butt up against the new boards. There is a small gap (say 2-3mm) bewteen the ends of the boards which is, unfortunately, exactly where some of the slate hooks need to land. Can anybody...

I am building a house (for me) which is on a rocky, sloping site. There is a solum behind the rooms downstairs at the front that rises steeply and then levels off. The face of the steep bit is a very uneven rock surface. Has anybody got any suggestions about how I can treat this to seal...

I am building an ICF house, starting with the garage. As the walls are polystyrene, I have to cover them with plasterboard to fireproof them. Once it's all boarded, the bottom metre in the garage will be covered with plywood to take all the knocks. Attaching the plasterboard is no problem...

Can anyone help me with a Velux flashing question? I am trying to install a Velux GPL (top opening) above a GIL fixed element. The windows are installed on the roof and I have been installing the flashing kit today. The problem I have got is that when I come to install the drainage...

Can anybody answer a question for me on eaves support trays? I am about to use the Klober eaves support tray on my new garage. The installation instructions say that they should be overlapped by 100mm. Should the join be sealed with some sort of mastic? If so, what do you recommend...

I am about to put the slates on my new garage, using stainless steel pointed end slate hooks. Can anybody answer a question for me on the right length of slate hook to go for? The slates are 400x250 "Scottish Heavies" which are about 8mm thick. The headlap will be 96mm (with a 152mm gauge)...

I have not installed drains before and I would be grateful if somebody could give me some advice. Our new house is being built on a rocky hillside and the strip foundations (600 wide, 300 deep mass concrete with an A393 mesh 75mm from the bottom) are being poured onto what is pretty much...

The design for our house includes several honeycomb blockwork walls in the solum area. The walls are structural and will be built using dense 140mm blocks. My question is whether there is a standard spacing for building a honeycomb wall, i.e. how big should the gaps be? Thanks Andrew

I am building a garage which will have a concrete floor in it. The concrete will be laid professionally so that I end up with a nice level, polished surface but I am doing nearly all the prep work. The floor will be: natural rock type 1 (250mm) quarry dust (50mm) DPM insulation (75mm)...

I have recently started to build my own house. The scaffolding is now up and I am wondering what safety equipment would be best. My biggest fear at the moment is falling off the scaffolding into the "hole" where the house will be. It's a very windy site. I have been looking at fall arrest...

I am building an ICF house and in amongst all the gear was a foam gun (and 48 cans of low expansion foam). There were no instructions with the foam gun. I am quite happy with all the procedures for loading and changing cannisters and how to clean it. My question is whether you need to use...

I am building my own house. My foundations are supposed to be 600mm wide and 300mm deep with a layer of A393 mesh 75mm from the bottom. The A393 mesh has been delivered and is 4.8 x 2.4m sheets. Ideally I would cut the sheets into four 600mm wide strips. If I do this I end up with some of...

I want to have a tap in my (yet to be built) garage. The tap will be at the point in the garage farthest away from the rest of the house. If I want to run an MDPE pipe to this tap (and on from there to a greenhouse further down the garden) am I better off running the MDPE pipe under the...

Can somebody help me sort out my blockwork heights? In my new house that I am about to build the load bearing internal walls will be built of solid blockwork. I know the finished floor level of the first intermediate floor so I know that the top of the TJI floor joists will be approx. 22mm...

I am about to start building my new house. The consumer unit will be in the attached garage and there will eventually be a separate outbuilding which will require some power (probably just a light and a single socket). The foundations and the walls of the garage will be made from poured...

Can somebody please tell me how my ridge is supposed to be built? I think that I have got to grips with most of the roof but the ridge still baffles me. My new house will have a slate roof. As we are in Scotland the roof will have plywood sarking boards so the roof construction will be...

I am doing a bit of planning for my new house and I have a question about Henley blocks. The house is quite big (approx 400 sq m) and will have nearly 20 circuits. Rather than trying to squeeze everything onto one high integrity board I was planning to get two 10 way boards installed. We...

I am just about to start building my new house, starting with the (attached) garage. I would like people's opinion on what socket type to put in the garage. The house will be built using ICF (insulated concrete formwork - like polystyrene lego with concrete in the middle). The inside of the...

I am about to put some slates on a roof. The slates are Spanish Campo Lombao 400x250 heavies (so about 8mm thick). The site where I am building my house is a very exposed coastal location (Shetland) so they will be nailed and hooked. I know that I need to use copper nails but my question is...

I am just about to start building my house. The first job is to build the garage and workshop so I can work out of there to build the rest of the house. The garage will be pretty big so I can build a long workbench down one side. I have a mitre saw and I am wondering whether I would be...