Home DIY

Aye, got one of those a while ago.

Yup - we're getting it templated and made accordingly. Doing it just with the legs would raise the worksurface quite a bit, we'll have to do some investigating. Plus, the depth of the worksurface itself would then start to interfere with the window, so I think some recessing is needed whatever height we choose.

You'll need a deeper worktop than normal, or have a long joint across the width of the window.

@user69121 indeed - as we're getting it cut to order they'll hopefully be able to do it in one, but otherwise a joint should be fine. There's a bit further below that mitre, and it looks like (from what I can see on the outside) that it's sitting directly on the brickwork.

I'll lift a tile and see what I can find.

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we'll have to do some investigating.

From your pictures you have enough wiggle room to play with the reveal on the inside. Buuuuuuuuut (and it's a big but) you need to be careful in doing it, ideally when the opening is formed there is a slight fall on those bricks. That way any water getting in will hit it and make its way back outside. If you're going to play with levels inside I would strongly advise putting a dpm at the bottom of the opening (where it currently is), this should fold up along the inside surface of the window and finish just below the top of the worksurface to force any water ingress back outside. If you don't do this you run the risk of inviting damp in and you'll know fuck all about it until its way too late.

EDIT if that makes no sense let me know and I'll upload a sketch which should be easier to understand.

Actually, as it's my birthday, ordered the Veritas MKII honing guide and a new strop from Axminster.

There's a bit further below that mitre, and it looks like (from what I can see on the outside) that it's sitting directly on the brickwork.

There's around 15 - 20m of frame below the mitre. The frame is then sat onto a cill profile which probably has an upwards lip on the inside. Similar to this.
https://www.modernupvcwindows.co.uk/extra-upvc-cills.php

You could have enough window/cill to play with, but your quest for a neater worktop may look more untidy

[Quangsheng]

Don’t forget to put your name on it https://youtu.be/YmRrS_tlD5k

I understand what you're getting at in terms of preventing water ingress, I think this is what you're suggesting? I insert some DPM under the exterior sill and sandwich it between the frame and worktop to capture any moisture that gets under the window frame/exterior sill?

@user69121 that's a really useful bit of info. I'm unsure what the current interior window sill is sitting on in terms of brick/block. I guess your point about looking more untidy is fixing the gap between left by the protruding lip of the exterior sill profile?

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Happy birthday. The plane is a great prezzie, health to enjoy it.

Spot on.

Its a common problem I come across at work especially with modern level access bi-fold door setups that are oh so popular these days.

Roger Bisbee explains it much better in this video (from about 0:30 - 3:00) than I can by tapping away on my phone you'll be applying it to a different issue but the principles are the same.

https://youtu.be/QwfXBAldPUw

Next you'll be splashing £400 on a Tormek.

Get behind me satan

If it helps the Tormek is not that great for plane blades.

You should still get one though, it's brilliant for chisels.

But that is a low angle plane therefore sharpening principles are much closer to those of a chisel😈.

Weird, I never do mine on the Tormek but I must have made that decision a long time ago and forgotten why.

When they first came out the theory was that because there is a dish to the bevel they grind plane irons for normal planes would be prone to chipping. It's not really a problem though. A low angle plane cuts bevel up so it's not an issue but you shouldn't use the Charlesworth ruler trick on the back of the plane iron something people often forget.

Anyone used DIY solar PV kits like https://www.pluginsolar.co.uk/? Considering going this route to save some money but wondering if there are any pitfalls?

The obvious one is being grid-tied they stop working when there is a power cut which doesn't help so much if you are trying to be more grid-independent (not off grid, just relying on it less).

Soil and crush all dug out and sub-base down, though not yet compacted. New pvc pipe for the ventilation to the air brick as the clay one was cracked (and sat too high, would have meant I couldn’t lay the PIR flat once it arrives). Got sand and DPM to go down first too.

The top/back left of the photo is where the new boiler will go and I was thinking about making some formwork of sorts to create a T-shape channel in the top of the concrete slab as per the pink (not to scale) so that pipes can run below the surface.
Then i can use ply or similar as a ‘lid’ of sorts before putting the flooring down (rubber stuff from colourflooring)

Anything I’m missing and/or is this a terrible idea/is there a better way to go about this?

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Ideally the pvc pipe should be surrounded by pea shingle to protect it and stop it cracking when you get the whacker plate on the type 1.

I've done a fair bit of formwork for concrete in my time and while what you are suggesting is a good idea it is not easy to acheive in practice. Concrete doesn't easily flow (unless you get a poker in it as its being poured) the problem is if you do get a poker in it the formwork will want to float on top of the muck. If you don't use a poker the formwork won't rise up but it will be hard to get the concrete under it and the risk of leaving voids will be very high if you leave voids the whole slab can potentially be compromised. On a civil engineering site channels like that would normally be acheived by pairing an experienced formwork chippy and an experienced concrete finisher working together, the formwork would be made with an open bottom and held in place with steel wire and the concrete finisher would be able to make the bottom to the right depth.

Other problems that you have will be striking the shutter after the concrete has cured, this can be problematic even with foil coated shuttering ply and the world's best releasing agent - red diesel (there is a reason why concrete workers are known in the trades as muck-savages). Also ensuring that the channel is completely inaccessable from the outside of the building - if its not it WILL become a rat run, I know this because back when I was a supervisor on big commercial rennovtion projects my least favourite job was superising labourers in hazmat suits digging out years of chewed up stuff, rotten food and of course rat piss and shit - unless its completely sealed the little shits will get in.

If I were doing what you are trying to do at my house I'd do it one of two ways:

1. Pour the slab and hire a floor saw (basically an angle grinder version of a plunge saw) or chaser (the same but it cuts out a channel) and cut a channel when the concrete is still green. By green I mean just hardened - the chemical process that makes concrete go from liquid-y to hard takes time and after it is set it will continue to get harder for a couple of months, during the inital stage of this hardening process the concrete is darker, some (presumably colour blind) people say its green in colour at this stage but importantly its much easier to cut. Once the channel has been cut fill it with your pipes and then back-fill with either concrete or sharp sand and cement.
   
2. Pour the slab to ~ 60mm below the height you want and put a screed over the top to bring the floor up to the desired height. There is an added bonus with doing this you will get a MUCH better surface for laying your floor if its done really well you may even get away with not putting self levelling on it.
   

Thank you! Fortunately the channel won't need to run right up to the wall - it'd essentially follow the service void, stopping just short of the external wall(s).

Fortunately I'm using a very nice builder to do the bigger bits and pieces, all the steel, drainage, and replacing and leveling 48m of dodgy joists (fortunately the house came with 50m+ of 3x4 timber used to box in everything/anything which proved very useful there..!
So might just ask them to do it when the bifolds arrive and they brick up/add the little window to the current back door.

Almost feels like we're turning the corner..!

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I can't see very well from your photos but are those steels sitting on padstones?

Some just on the bricks/piers, others on padstones, and the column has since been underpinned with a load of concrete (photos are from the day the work was done so a few updates)
Also a few sections of steel plates welded here and there.

Building inspector has been out and had a look for what it’s worth :)

edit: opening in the first photo is only about 1.4m too

edit 2: exactly how I managed to get a 2:1 in Civil Engineering with such a lack of basic knowledge about how buildings work is something that still makes me ponder 10+ years later…

If the building inspector has signed it off there's no problem.

Pro tip: Get photo documentation yourself with date / time stamps of everything the building inspector has been to check. I worked for a client in the past who had to remove large sections of bonding and plaster, then make good again, at their own cost, because the council building inspector lost the paperwork.

Very much appreciated, es ever!

@Airhead & @Bobbo The Veritas MkII arrived, it's like a space ship.

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