Woodworm treatment.

[pwdrive]

Hi Lawrence,

I agree - rip out the bodges! I'm using copper - much as I can see the appeal of plastic to some, and indeed I might use it for temporary things - I'm not sure I can trust the rubber O-rings to last the life of the house. Whereas solder joints and compression joints are very reliable - even when I've done them

Recently we had a new boiler fitted at work, and they used copper crimp fittings. I hadn't heard of these before, but they seem to consist of an O-ring fitted inside a copper fitting, and a special tool that squeezes the fittings, clamping the pipe. The O-ring provides the seal, and versions are available for gas and oil as well. While they look nicer than the plastic fittings, it's still a case of relying on the O-rings. Time will tell, I guess

I think you're right in the case of granite - which is tougher than even the strongest cement. But, would you use cement with sandstone? It's horses for courses, definitely. Modern red bricks are pretty tough, but the old ones much less so. I guess an experienced bricklayer would choose a mix according to what he finds on site - but it's true that there are people who are practically religious about the use of lime.

External renders are generally a nightmare - when looking, I actively chose to ignore any house that was rendered.

And you're right about the finish. But so many people rush the finish and effectively ruin all their previous hard work. I've disciplined myself to take extra care at the finish stages, but that does cause me to put them off! Besides, totally finished houses lack character. Or so I tell myself

No, I've no experience with rendering timber-frame buildings. I've researched the opposite; my "shed" will be close to a boundary, so needs to be made from fire-proof materials. So it'll be made from blocks, but clad in timber so that it looks like a shed. By using blocks, Building Control will be happy to leave me to get on with it, thus saving me money - and I like the idea of the extra solidity provided by that. The foundations might be a pain, but probably worth it. If it ever gets done :-(

Cheers,

Mark

I'm the same Mark as regarding them O rings, plastic plumbing etc, I too prefer soldered or compression fittings. I have only used plastic for the mains water in to the stop tap, the blue stuff.

I have never worked with sandstone but I am guessing cement is a no no.

Your shed project sounds good, yes hieght and fire regs come to mind if near a boundary, block then cladding in timber sounds good, vertical tanalised battens, kingspan in between, breathable membrane on top then the cladding, but I guess you know this already. As regards foundations then if you are under building regs then you have to have it right, in many cases they are extra vigillant with DIYers, whereas on a big site they sometimes don't seem to give two hoots and anything goes.
I had a bad experience with a building inspector on the first house we did up, he made it clear that he didn't like DIYers at all and gave me nothing but grief all the way, we had a different inspector to sign off the completion certificate and he was fine. Lots don't bother with building regs and just take out an indemnity policy for selling purposes.
(Edit) I took out an indemnity policy at one house we owned as I built a rather large shed (complete with toilet, sink, etc) without planning regs, the buyer was quite happy with that arrangement.

Lawrence.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Lawrence for enlightening me regarding the modern cavity wall slab insulation; I wasn't aware a cavity was still used. Regarding pointing and using a cement rich mortar I would have thought a 3 to 1 mix of sand cement was much too strong? Our bungalow is constructed of sandstone though and this makes quite a difference; I should have stated this earlier. I have an excellent book entitled "The house restorers guide" by the author Hugh Lander and Hugh stresses the dangers of using such a strong cement mix adding that strap or ribbon pointing also damages walls by retaining moisture.

The book actually echoes your suggestions Mark in that Hydrated Lime is the way to go and agrees with you that the lime is best mixed with water in advance making a lime putty and gritty sand can also be added at this stage; a mix which some people have found successful for pointing is cement, lime, clay subsoil (broken down as much as possible) and gritty sand in the proportions 1:1:1:5. Pure lime mortar takes ages to dry out.

I'm sorry if I appear to be answering my own question regarding pointing mortar but I'm interested to learn from others who have gone the lime mortar route. I had to completely replace our random stone chimney stack about 18 months ago because the stones had been pointed with a strong cement mortar mix and this pointing had been struck off proud of the stone face; the stone was virtually destroyed and certainly could not be re-used. When it comes to maintaining our bungalow I want to do everything right and not create problems for the future.

I've spent hours surfing the web for advice and here is a sample of the information on pointing which is available;

http://www.homebuilding.co.uk/advice/exi...tone-walls


Previously I've simply measured out the cement;powdered hydrated lime and sharp sand adding just enough water to give a workable mix; now I need to change this slightly by adding the powdered lime to water to make a putty first and taking your advice Mark I'll not add as much lime but I'll still use the 5 parts of sharp sand to see how it stands up; if it proves too weak a mix it can easily be replaced; the book also recommends raking out to a minimum depth of 22mm; did you take part in writing this book Mark?

If your mortar mix is holding up well Lawrence then all well and good as it works for you; I'm just trying to gather information as I plan to do the pointing next year and all information is gratefully received.

We suffered a thunderstorm a couple of hours ago and the lightning knocked out my computer which has slowed my reply somewhat.

This woodworm thread is turning into a very interesting building thread and I'm very interested in all the replies; thanks everyone for your input.

Kind regards, Col.

[singlepentode69]

I have always used paraffin linearly painted on and with small object smoking them in the stuff and leaving in a large black bag in the sin for a few days . I have also used the air line in the past to blow the dreaded blighters out from when they are lurking and fill the holes to see if any fresh holes re appear .
Regards
Robin