Rate my Brickie….

It’s the project that keeps on giving, once it’s skimmed I can start fit out – electrics, sinks, plumbing, workbenches, shelves, etc.

Which site can we make bookings on? I would like to stay a weekend…

1st day’s progress. Bonding agent, mesh and skim on both 8m walls.

[/url]
Freshly skimmed walls[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
Freshly skimmed walls[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

What centres did you put in the soffit vents? Ridge vent in place?

I can’t remember did you submit a Building Regs application?

No ridge vents, but the felt is top of the range Dupont breathable membrane. I’ve put a soffit every 80cm down both sides.

Whole thing is covered by building regs, and feedback so far, from my inspector, is he’s never seen such attention to detail, nor such a well insulated house let alone workshop!

Edit, one side faces the wind (South facing) with no obstructions, so it will get a huge air circulation, hence I don’t expect any condensation.

😀 wish the stuff I inspected was so carefully built

Not been here for a while, moving on nicely flaps. Steel looks prefect for a big heavy training bag and pull up bar!

Steel looks prefect for a big heavy training bag and pull up bar!

Yep, both those will be fitted at some point!

A little bit more progress, all the cosmetic stuff seems to take ages.

Trimmed all the foam from around the door and then tried to find somewhere with 65mm PVC trim. In the end, bought a gutter down pipe and cut one side off it:

[/url]
Cutting down pipe to make 65mm trim[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

To make the trim to fit above the door:

[/url]
Plastic Trim Fitted[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

Bravo, necessity is the mother of all invention.

Workshop is now fully skimmed and I spent a few hours on Saturday fitting 6″ skirting:

[/url]
Fitting skirting[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
Skirting[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

And Finally moved one bike into it:

[/url]
Turbo set up in the Workshop[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

Just need it to dry a little more then will paint it all and then think about moving in…..

Good stuff!

All you need now is a lick of paint, then you can fit the bar, beer fridges, somewhere for the kegs to go and decent selection of fried pig based snacks.

When’s the opening party?

When’s the opening party?

Need to discuss it with Chipps – do a Premium user special deal on tickets etc…..

I’ll be arriving by bike, as I know parking is a bitch in Cambridge.

Thanks for the update, keep em coming.

Cheers.

In preparation for the grand opening, I thought I better paint the inside (the outside is already painted bright pink):

[/url]
Two coats on all of this end[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

I have to say the novelty of using a roller has long since expired. A very tedious weekend indeed….

Still got a few hours worth left as well (2nd coat on other half):

[/url]
One coat on this half…[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

so when’s the opening ceremony ?? someone must have a pair of giant scissors

Ummm… Who picked the colour for outside? I couldn’t help but notice as I went past it today – not exactly subtle!

Looking very nice tho…

No more updates 🙁

Possibly as not a lot has happened. Most of the next few jobs are all outdoors and the weather has been a bit inclement. I’ve just finished running power to the workshop, which has taken an age as it’s a right pain and also it’s been a tad cold:

[/url]
Frozen mains cables..[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

I’ve run a 25mm steel pipe from the house to the workshop with 10mm2 mains cable, dual CAT-5 and 8 core alarm cable. Right pain feeding it round the corners:

[/url]
Untitled[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

It runs along the fence (really can’t be arsed to bury it):

[/url]
Kitchen end[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

Amazing how hard steel is, cutting 25mm worth of threads heats the tube up from sub zero to almost too hot to touch:

[/url]
Cutting threads[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

Finally it all pops out in the workshop:

[/url]
Cables entering the workshop[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

I’ve still got another 18m to run inside the house to get from the hole by the back door, behind all the kitchen units and into the under stair cupboard and the distribution box. Total run length end to end will be something like 75m all in.

If one of the purposes is security (alarm system), why wouldn’t you run it underground where it can’t be seen (and therefore cut!)? ❓

Cutting it would trigger the alarm anyway, so no issue there.

I assume that Cat5 cable is rated for running in the same conduit as the mains so you can get it signed off for building regs.

I assume that Cat5 cable is rated for running in the same conduit as the mains so you can get it signed off for building regs.

Interesting question. If the insulation fails on the mains then it is likely to short to the steel tube, and trip the RCD, before it can short to the core of CAT-5, which is also double insulated. Four layers of insulation need to be breached to short CAT-5 to mains, which is getting a bit improbable. I couldn’t find anything saying you can’t do this in Part P.

Absolute worst case is I have to run Cat-5 externally which is a 20min job, but just looks messy. We have loads of exterior grade Cat-5 at work, but it’s very thick (has an extra UV stable outer sheath).

I don’t think it’s about the insulation being breached it’s about current being induced. You can get Cat5 I believe with insulation with the same rating as mains cable which makes it ok to run in the same conduit. It might be worth a call to building regs to see if they can advise.

A conductor will create a magnetic field around it when current passes through. The magnetic field will, in turn, induce a current in any near by conductors (this is how transformers work). Luckily magnetic fields have an r^4 strength law, so decay very rapidly with distance.

So, the 50Hz current in the mains cable will induce a current in all the other conductors nearby, but they will be tiny (micro-amps). If I could remember any Field Theory from University I could work the exact numbers out.

There is no insulator than can stop a magnetic field, you actually need a conductor to do that. Some twisted pair cables do have this, they’re called FTP (Foil shielded twisted pair) as opposed to the standard UTP (unshielded twisted pair cables). If you’re installed CAT-5 near large conductors (100s of Amps) or in other noisy environments, you use FTP rather than UTP. However, you have to remember to earth the foil at both ends and even then it’s only a reduction, the magnetic field will still ‘breach’ the foil shield, just attenuated.

NB I’d be gob smacked if building control know anything about this, they just outsource Park P compliance to a local electrician who turns up and signs it off or not and doesn’t even know what Field Theory is…

The only other progress is of an undesirable type: mould. It appears that the timber I used to build the benches was pretty wet and combined with an unheated and almost hermetically sealed workshop has resulted in mould growing on the wall behind one of the benches and in a couple of corners.

You can see it follows the line of the 2×4 timber on the back of the bench:

[/url]
Mould[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

I was worried it was damp ingress, but I pulled off some mouldy skirting board and it was bone dry behind it.

So, I’ve bleached all traces and given all the walls a fresh coat of supposedly mould resistant kitchen / bathroom paint. I’ll also leave the Velux vents open 24/7 and make an effort to heat it a bit more during the weak. The give away was some of the unused timbers had mould under them and a damp patch, where they had been lying on the ply floor.

the main reason for this is not to prevent magnetic field inductance, it is tp prevent any fault level in the band II circuit causing a fault current to cross into the band I circuit which does not have the same insulation levels and could lead to the conductors in it becoming live and staying live without any means of automatic disconnection. The possibility is there and therefore is covered by:

Regulation 528.1 of BS 7671:2008 requires that Band I and Band II circuits are segregated or that the cables are rated for the highest voltage present

528.1 Proximity to electrical services
Except where one of the following methods is adopted, neither a voltage Band I nor a voltage Band II circuit shall be contained in the same wiring system as a circuit of nominal voltage exceeding that of low voltage, and a Band I circuit shall not be contained in the same wiring system as a Band II circuit:
(i) Every cable or conductor is insulated for the highest voltage present
(ii) Each conductor of a multicore cable is insulated for the highest voltage present in the cable
(iii) The cables are insulated for their system voltage and installed in a separate compartment of a cable ducting or cable trunking system
(iv) The cables are installed on a cable tray system where physical separation is provided by a partition
(v) A separate conduit, trunking or ducting system is employed
(vi) For a multicore cable or cord, the cores of the Band I circuit are separated from the cores of the Band II circuit by an earthed metal screen of equivalent current-carrying, capacity to that of the largest core of a Band II circuit.
For SELV and PELV systems the requirements of Regulation 414.4 shall apply.
NOTE 1: In the case of proximity of wiring, systems and lightning protection systems. BS EN 62305 should be considered.
NOTE 2: Requirements for separation and segregation in relation to safety services are given in BS 5266 and BS 5839.

Its also included as a specific question on the EICR typically 5.14 and 5.15 which your electrician will likely have to fill in to complete the part P.

it seems such a shame that after all of the effort put into the build that at this late point the project is compromised by this, especially as you seem to enjoy threading the conduit so much (which i hate) and if you ran another one to put the alarm and cat5 in then the kittens will all sleep safely 😆 😀

HTH

Well it’s hardly a show stopper, I can always run the CAT-5 along the same path, just outside the conduit – it just looks messy. Although I’ll check the spec on it’s insulation first.

What about the intruder alarm cable? unfortunately that is also not allowed in the same conduit as the band II cable.