teaky

The sparky on this one will be me, so it will be tidy 'cos I'm like that. I read an interesting book by George Clarke (the one off the TV) a few years ago who said that if you want see the definition of "reluctance" try asking the builders to tidy up at the end of the day, especially on a Friday.

That's not the word I'd have used.

Hi Northroader. Yes, I remember that thread. There have been a number of 'loft' threads over the years and it appears to be something which polarises quickly. I wonder what happened in the end? Did a layout get built in the boarded out loft?

Only 9? Pah! I'll top that next Tuesday with 21 of 200 x 75mm floor joists and 30 of 150 x 75mm rafters. In this case it is costed into the job though. Perhaps I'd better have the smelling salts ready for the builder? When I was figuring out which parts of this conversion I would do myself I estimated the floor joists would weigh around 40kg each. For a moment I thought OK but then realised I'd have to carry all of them up two storeys and quickly put them on the list for the team of builders.

Scaffolding. It was too good to be true! The house is now a security risk wrapped in scaffolding on three sides. When the fourth side will be done is anyone's guess. They may be back tomorrow or it may be Monday! Clearly scaffolding is the trade of choice for people featuring a communication level of zero on their skills list. The 08:15 start time turned into 11:50 and, like yesterday, they just turned up and started. No "sorry we're late" or anything. Then at around 16:00 it all went quiet again. Laughably bad communication. Still, I'm no expert, but the scaffolding looks good. Nicely cross braced, plenty of protective plates & timber where it meets paving or touches a roof tile. The important thing is that none of the remaining scaffolding will impact the builders' ability to start next week. I'll add a few photos when the light is better. (Even if you do all know what scaffolding looks like!)

Have you already dismissed the Wills CK14 engine shed kit? You need more than one kit but you could have eight or nine for the same price.

Well, we appear to be on a roll today! The scaffolders have just turned up unexpectedly, half a day early and are busy putting up scaffolding at the back of the house. I don't imagine it will make any difference to when the builder can start but at least there should be time to make any changes if things are not the way the builder wants.

Yes, I intend to illustrate what happens at each step. Hopefully, the photos will be more exciting than what I've been able to post so far.

Windows have arrived. A day early. It can't last. I've had a peek at one and they look quite smart. If only they fitted through the hatch I could get them into the loft. They'll have to wait until the scaffolding is in place and the builder opens up the roof from the outside to begin work.

Probably just as scary for anyone observing (judging by your avatar).

Pickled?

Where I come from 'mauve' is what impolite people say when someone's in the way. I never realised they were actually commenting on my choice of clothing.

Is that so that the sheep can have the ground floor? That's the way it used to be done isn't it? Animals on the ground floor providing free heating for the upper living quarters.

I've remembered that I decided I couldn't do this because I could not get the separation I needed between vent and window to comply with regs. btw - re: "My job in the next day or so is to form the 'flaunch' within a live manhole with a vets at the head of the soil pipe........lovely.....". I think I'd be donning full protective gear for that one! Don't you have an apprentice who needs to learn how to do flaunching?

Hmmm. The AAV is still a non starter for me since I have convinced myself they can fail and access is problematic. The en-suite pipe is the one furthest away (as well as being the easiest to re-direct), so the bathroom pipe is where this would apply. I'll have to give the alternative ducting some thought. It may still lose out simply because I've already done most of the piping and there's only one length of pipe to cut. Thanks for the info.

That's a good question Paul. Due to the fact that I've been plotting this for some time it is something I considered. A spot of online research made me doubt the long term reliability of air admittance valves (AAVs). In this case the height of the steel beams means there won't be a great deal of space between the top of the steels and the deeper rafters which in turn means that accessing the space near the eaves will be awkward and fitting a replacement AAV difficult. I've written off the back eaves as storage space. The front though is accessible because we have a gable roof over the main bedroom which will provide sufficient headroom for access. Had the access been there I might well have opted for AAVs or at least one for the bathroom. The design of the existing roof tiles with built-in vents doesn't create a significant weak point in the roof. They're pretty solid items. Some of our neighbours have a different style of vent that slots in between two tiles but these are a direct replacement for a whole tile and the tiles themselves are 30mm thick concrete. That being said, I suppose anything that goes through the felt layer could be deemed to be a weak spot but there's no evidence of leaks to date.

Today’s exciting instalment: soil vent pipes. The house has two soil vent pipes which both exit through roof tiles with built-in vents set a little way up from the gutters at the back of the house. This is straight up for the pipe from the main bathroom but for the en-suite it involves a 2.5m horizontal run. The snag is that the en-suite pipe will be in the way of one of the new steel beams and the bathroom pipe needs to vent higher up the roof now because the outlet cannot be below the roof windows. The builders also managed to give the "horizontal" en-suite pipe a slight downward slope before it met the vent which means it had a small puddle of water in it. Fortunately, I spotted this before disconnecting the pipe. Presumably this is condensation or blown in rain, or a combination of both. I expect this came about because the roofer put in the tile vent and neatly aligned it with the other vent further along with the soil pipe installer (plumber?) not wanting to alter the roof or not realising there was a flaw (although the fact that pipe adhesive was used on the final joint and everything else is push fit makes me suspicious). Hey ho, I managed to drain the water out but could have done without the faffing about in a tight space. I’m going to run both pipes to the front because it will minimise the intrusion into the new loft room and put it on the opposite face of the roof to the nearest window. To facilitate this repositioning I have inserted an additional joint into the en-suite pipe run so that by twisting the pipe it can be set at the required angle. I don't know what the angle will be yet. I'll have to wait to see the exact position in the roof that the builder can re-fit the vents. The bathroom pipe needed some additional lengths of pipe. I've used a flexible, concertina-style connector at the bottom of this extended pipe because it makes it as easy as possible to start the pipe run off at whatever angle is required. Since the builder will be making holes in the roof anyway to fit windows, I have asked him to move the tiles with the integral soil pipe vents at the same time. For the time being I have done what I can in terms of re-jigging the soil vent pipes. They, temporarily, vent into the loft space but that should be OK for a few days since it is reasonably ventilated and not in use. I was pleasantly surprised to find virtually no "drain" smell when I disconnected the pipes. Curry and chilli are off the family menu for a short while though just in case. I was in two minds about whether to post this exciting information but decided it is all part of the work required and ought not to be ignored.

The builder was just passing and called in to ask if he could return at 18:00 today with the scaffolder to assess what is going to be needed and where with the aim of putting the scaffolding up on Friday. Building work should commence on Tuesday but might be Monday.

Builders' merchant tells me the correct windows will be with me on Friday. So that should be fine.

Well the windows arrived and some of them made it into the house before I spotted they weren't quite right. Just out by a crucial single letter in the identifying code which meant they had the wrong kind of glass. Hopefully replacements can be turned around quickly enough not to delay fitting. I did check with the manufacturers a few weeks ago who confirmed what I wanted was in stock so unless they've sold them in the meantime I think I've allowed sufficient contingency. Without a secure, weather tight storage area it was always going to be a balancing act with ordering lead times on any materials not kept in stock by suppliers.

Top of a signal just visible over the parapet?

I used to work in an office around 500m from that factory when we first moved to Worcestershire. I had no idea about the history of that location. It has always been an industrial estate as long as I have known it. I have walked past the loading wharf a number of times on the opposite bank of the canal and been interested and pleased to see the building is still maintained to a certain extent implying that loading and unloading of canal barges might still be possible. Like Midland Mole, I'll be watching this one with added interest.

A bit like some real pies then!?

Incidentally Rob; what's a bason?

Have you considered entering the RMweb cake box challenge? I'd have thought the end result could then be used on the larger layout thereby avoiding it being a distraction.