Sorting out the drainage in the lower field and other gubbins. An apprentice digger driver writes.

[LKSF]

I was watching a program about Golden Eagles hunting. Apparently they can pick up small goats, then they drop them on the rocks to kill them.
Owls get hold of the heads of their prey then yank them back to break their necks.
Off the back of that I asked one of the falconry guys how they killed their victims. Oh they don't bother he said, they just get stuck in!

 

[AHPP]

I viewed a house near Hawick yesterday that was owned by a falcon breeder. It’s surely a small world. I’ll wager one of your Pennine bird crew knew him or knew of him.

 

[LKSF]

Stormdry is good for stone use it reasonably often

What do you use it for, a similar problem with driving rain and porous solid walls?
On paper it looks like the best you can buy. As you probably know you can get liquids which don't last more than 5yrs and I'm not sure are breathable. Other creams which make claims, but have not been independently tested or approved and then Stormdry which has.
A 30yr life is a big advantage as is being breathable.
What Is unknown is whether the other cheaper creams are as good as Stormdry, I could have saved a lot of money if I'd used them, but decided it wasn't worth the risk.

 

[6feetdown]

What do you use it for, a similar problem with driving rain and porous solid walls?
On paper it looks like the best you can buy. As you probably know you can get liquids which don't last more than 5yrs and I'm not sure are breathable. Other creams which make claims, but have not been independently tested or approved and then Stormdry which has.
A 30yr life is a big advantage as is being breathable.
What Is unknown is whether the other cheaper creams are as good as Stormdry, I could have saved a lot of money if I'd used them, but decided it wasn't worth the risk.

Same as you porous surfaces and we look after some flats that are stone. Had numerous leaks and damp issues but seem to have sorted for now. But winter is approaching!

 

[LKSF]

Same as you porous surfaces and we look after some flats that are stone. Had numerous leaks and damp issues but seem to have sorted for now. But winter is approaching!

Nobody knows who invented the cavity wall, or if it was even just one person. If it was they deserved a knighthood!

 

[LKSF]

It took me about a year of occasional research, pondering and procrastinating to get my head around household water filtration systems, I came to the eventual conclusion that companies were over-speccing to make money on equipment you didn't really need.
I got several enormous quotes, but narrowed it down to two companies. One was happy to work with me, explain stuff and for me to remove parts which I thought were excessive. This was the result:

Water is pumped up from about 60m down through rock, first it goes through the huge filter on the left. This is full of 'filtering media', (granules of various things). Then it goes through the two replaceable woven nylon filters to the right, then into the house.
The big one has a 'backwash' facility on it, it's programmed to pump water backwards through it and out into a drain once a week at 3am to flush it clean.

It's made a massive difference, the brown staining of everything that came into contact with it has stopped dead. I've recently made an insulated cover for it to stop it from freezing and surprisingly it keeps itself warm with no additional heat needed. By warm I mean 2 - 4'c when it's below zero in the garage or -6 as it has been this week.
So for the first time since it was built the old farmhouse has a clean and reliable water source, another box ticked.

 

[LKSF]

This is the front of the house after some recent driving rain. To the left of the downpipe is a very wet untreated wall, to the right is a dry wall treated with Stormdry:

Sorry, not the most interesting of posts right now!

Not long to go until the shortest day, so the sunrises and sunsets are easily visible and often spectacular:

To the rear of the house a single storey extension was built, not long after the main house was finished, it's now the utility:




Within the last 10 to 20 years the upper floor bedroom was built on top. As it's modern it has cavity walls and they took the stone slates from the lower bit to put on the top, sadly they didn't allow for the low pitch of the roof and it leaked. A lot (familiar tale!).
They were taken off and a tiled roof put on. When they did that they pulled all the wet glasswool insulation out too.

 

[LKSF]

So when we bought the place it was the driest room in the house , but also cold and draughty. We screwed some plasterboard up where it was missing and K used it for her 'WFH' office until now.

 

[LKSF]

With the recent change in weather outside work has stopped so it's time to sort the ceiling and insulation out, so she's moved into another room. First I pulled the old buggered plasterboard down:

 

[LKSF]

You can see the signs of water, mould etc, but it was tinder dry and sound. I got some 100mm PIR insulation, summoned up all of my patience and carefully fitted it tight between the rafters. No matter what, they will not be perfectly parallel, but will be warped, twisted and bowed to some degree, so fitting a rigid board tight between them is never going to be easy.

 

[bobthebuilder]

You can see the signs of water, mould etc, but it was tinder dry and sound. I got some 100mm PIR insulation, summoned up all of my patience and carefully fitted it tight between the rafters. No matter what, they will not be perfectly parallel, but will be warped, twisted and bowed to some degree, so fitting a rigid board tight between them is never going to be easy.

expanding foam gun is your friend

 

[LKSF]

For reference there is a flexible tape you can buy now to put round the edges. It either is a regulation now or soon will be.
There is an air gap above.

 

[LKSF]

After that the rafters were made deeper by 25mm with some tile batten and a layer of 25mm PIR put under the whole area:


This is to stop the rafters being a 'cold bridge'.

 

[LKSF]

Followed by the plasterboard:



It's tapered edge for joint filling. Because of that the boards need to be a good fit.
So you've got rafters which are all over the place. The insulation between them needs to fit accurately, the insulation under it has to be the same and also the Pb on top as well! So it's a good lesson in patience and making things fit.
All ready for joint filling now....

 

[LKSF]

1st coat on:

Second coat on and pretty smooth straight off the float, a quick lick with some scratch and all ready for paint.

 

[V8Druid]

It took me about a year of occasional research, pondering and procrastinating to get my head around household water filtration systems, I came to the eventual conclusion that companies were over-speccing to make money on equipment you didn't really need.
I got several enormous quotes, but narrowed it down to two companies. One was happy to work with me, explain stuff and for me to remove parts which I thought were excessive. This was the result:

View attachment 42151

Water is pumped up from about 60m down through rock, first it goes through the huge filter on the left. This is full of 'filtering media', (granules of various things). Then it goes through the two replaceable woven nylon filters to the right, then into the house.
The big one has a 'backwash' facility on it, it's programmed to pump water backwards through it and out into a drain once a week at 3am to flush it clean.

It's made a massive difference, the brown staining of everything that came into contact with it has stopped dead. I've recently made an insulated cover for it to stop it from freezing and surprisingly it keeps itself warm with no additional heat needed. By warm I mean 2 - 4'c when it's below zero in the garage or -6 as it has been this week.
So for the first time since it was built the old farmhouse has a clean and reliable water source, another box ticked.

no UV?

 

[LKSF]

no UV?

No, we've got some old water quality tests which show zero bacteria, lived in it a year with no problems then I also had another more comprehensive test done which also showed none too so figured we don't need it. AFAIK bacteria grows in stored water, but we don't have any of that.
We've got one of the cleanest water sources around here, many are still spring fed.

 

[Quattromike]

Brown staining is more like high iron content in the water?

 

[LKSF]

Brown staining is more like high iron content in the water?

Yes we had our own homemade Irn Bru! It was high in iron, manganese and turbidity. I think it's probably mentioned earlier in the thread somewhere, it was something like 4 times the recommended amount of manganese and 10 times too much iron. It stained everything it came into contact with, bath, sinks, toilets etc. You couldn't put anything white in the wash and some of the crockery was turning brown. The toilet cistern had a furry coating in it about 10mm thick and even her hair went ginger!

 

[GazCro]

Yes we had our own homemade Irn Bru! It was high in iron, manganese and turbidity. I think it's probably mentioned earlier in the thread somewhere, it was something like 4 times the recommended amount of manganese and 10 times too much iron. It stained everything it came into contact with, bath, sinks, toilets etc. You couldn't put anything white in the wash and some of the crockery was turning brown. The toilet cistern had a furry coating in it about 10mm thick and even her hair went ginger!

Over time you'll probably still get some staining of whites. A small hotel near here has a similar filter setup and they replace white towels for new every month. They look perfect until you put them beside new ones.