Building a house

[Mhic Easmuint]

General quotes I got back for screeds:
Standard Screed: £10 - £11 m2
Liquid Screed: £13.50 - £15 m2

With liquid screed prob need to make sure sub floors are level as you could get hit with extra cost - in part of one room - it ended up 80mm deep - so extra charge of £500 for additional material - I think it was £200 per cubic metre. It was 17 weeks before I was able to start tiling on it - got it tested at the deepest point.

Found tilers are cagey/cautious with liquid screed. Heard some horror stories of tiles lifting after 7/8 months.

The floors need sealed with an acrylic sealant rather than the standard ones. I used the pink Larsen stuff and have had no issues at all either on tiled floors or wooden floors stuck down with Gutoid (or equivalent adhesive).
Builders in general struggle with something that's different than what they know and rather than show their ignorance plough on regardless hence the horror stories.

I bought my liquid screed off RTU in Newtownabbey and they'd informed me of all this stuff at the time.

I got my screed from them as well though it was through a floor screed company. RTU said to put down 2 coats of acrylic primer first. Got it tested by them and the pass mark was below 0.5 and it was 0.4 so a pass but the guy still said it might be best left another week with the heat on.

Paul Hill perchance?

No A Donnelly Flooring

[LeoMc]

A question regarding wall mounted TV's.  If you wish to keep the Sky box, DVD etc. completely seperate from the TV, say in another room for example, what cables are recommended to run to the TV.  Someone who reckon they know about such things advised that, to future proof, I run 2 coax and 3 cat5e or cat6 to any TV point, working on the basis that you can send hdmi signals across cat5e/6 also.

Any advice would be appreciated.

For future proofing, forget about Cat5e, you want to have Cat6. Cat7 is too expensive for the pay-off. You'll definitely get a HDMI signal down Cat6 but not assured down Cat5e. If you are getting your house wired at the moment just run as much as you can as they'll always come in handy in the future if not even for your telly (e.g. alarms, cctv, telephone, home automation). Into our sitting room, I have four runs of Cat6 (telly plugs into one for internet widgets, two and three run back to home server for HD video over IP on server, four is used for remote control of server and satellite box in the garage). Also have a four Coax runs to sitting room (one for FM aerial for RTE, one for Freeview/RTE aerial and the other two I'm keeping for a new Freesat & Saorsat dish I'm building. In all the other rooms I have two Cat6 runs and two Coax, some rooms take telephone and others music players, internet radio, tellys, alarms and a wireless access point for mobile devices. All hardware is located in the garage, no wires anywhere in the house and if you choose your equipment well you can control the whole lot from one universal remote control. Also don't forget to track in your surround sound speakers.

Has anyone looked at this sort of home automation more recently?
With the improvements in WiFi and the number of differing Home automation standards would that volume of wiring be considered excessive?

[armaghniac]

I'm getting a substantial overhaul on a 70s semi-D. New bathroom, kitchen, complete heating system, rewiring and extra plugs etc, interior warmboard on external walls. Basically a lot of ripping at the same time. Any observations on extra things to do or things to watch out for welcome.

[redzone]

I've a stove in the living room now 3 years or so. Do I need to clean the chimney or the inside of the stove. Usually burn  turf. A Plummer told me one time u didn't need to clean the chimney when you have a stove installed

[Bensars]

I've a stove in the living room now 3 years or so. Do I need to clean the chimney or the inside of the stove. Usually burn  turf. A Plummer told me one time u didn't need to clean the chimney when you have a stove installed

Based on that, I hope that same plumber didn't plumb your house.

[redzone]

He said if I was burning coal it needed to be cleaned but sticks and dry turf are ok . Better get it cleaned

[Tony Baloney]

He said if I was burning coal it needed to be cleaned but sticks and dry turf are ok . Better get it cleaned

Both contain carbon and if you burn unseasoned sticks you'll have plenty of crap up your chimney.

[johnneycool]

He said if I was burning coal it needed to be cleaned but sticks and dry turf are ok . Better get it cleaned

Both contain carbon and if you burn unseasoned sticks you'll have plenty of crap up your chimney.

I've burnt logs and I'd still put the brush up it once a year. I now burn coal and I haven't noticed any great increase in soot.

Get it done or buy a brush head yourself for a few quite and sewer rods and do it yourself.

[The Bearded One]

Anyone know how much a tonne of sand costs these days, approximately?

[oakleafgael]

Anyone know how much a tonne of sand costs these days, approximately?

Building Sand? Plastering Sand?

[The Bearded One]

Building sand, sorry.

[oakleafgael]

Building sand, sorry.

Anything from £9 to £14 plus vat depending on what part of the country your in.

[The Bearded One]

Good man, thanks.

[redzone]

Anybody have any idea how to get tar of the top of railway sleepers that I have laid as kerbs. Hot weather and it melts, and with children looking to get walking on them u can imagine the mess. It's not that much tar but any wee bit is to much

[FL/MAYO]

Anybody have any idea how to get tar of the top of railway sleepers that I have laid as kerbs. Hot weather and it melts, and with children looking to get walking on them u can imagine the mess. It's not that much tar but any wee bit is to much

WD40 or petrol might work to remove the tar.