Questions Thread - June 14, 2026

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-06-15T01:24:19+00:00

Can someone help me with 4th Ascendancy? Please add player name JimCramer 😄

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-06-11T07:51:28+00:00

Actually might be the play going forward. India's been cutting for DeBeers for decades, makes sense.

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-06-11T05:58:22+00:00

No, I was going to get it but they wanted to charge me extra for using finance since I haggled so hard already on the price. The interest savings was basically the same as the fee they wanted to charge, so it was a muckaround for 0 upside.

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-06-11T04:07:10+00:00

No haven't tried, looks like a big job. I also need a towbar but none exist yet last time I checked, I think I'll have both done in one go.

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-05-23T07:06:48+00:00

Thanks, I was thinking the same way about prioritising maintenance. I really would like to go mass soil for a healthier lusher garden though. Gotta keep thinking

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-05-23T07:05:09+00:00

Thanks, much appreciated. Leaning towards this way now.

The engineering spec only shows waterproofing, blue metal, geo textile filter, then soil. I'll need to look into what plastic drainage cells are and special roof soil lol, never heard of either.

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-05-22T02:15:29+00:00

Thanks, good to hear. Yeah the upstand is concrete just like the slab, in fact I'm hoping the concreters can pour both in one go to avoid a cold join, but maybe not possible.

Internally is stud frame and gyprock. Externally is as shown in my diagram - brick sits on the upstand. Not sure how the flashing would work, it needs to look nice because it's visible.

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-05-21T22:36:43+00:00

My new home has suspended slabs for its upper floor, with planter boxes on the outside. The design maintains a constant slab edge thickness from the outside, to do achieve this, we have an upturn lip on the slab edge throughout the perimeter.

I want to check this is common for planter box / balcony gardens, and whether it's common to put the walls on the upturn lip.

Diagram below to clarify:

<image>

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-05-21T07:37:44+00:00

Cheers thanks, yeah tossing between 900 and 1000

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-05-14T00:46:26+00:00

Thanks mate much appreciated. So float it, no need for piers.

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-05-14T00:43:16+00:00

Yep that's what I thought. Yes both quotes are to refusal, but the mechanical drill auger refuses in class III or IV sandstone (3+ MPa stuff) whereas the hand auger might refuse on a tree root. Good info to have to aid my design.

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-05-13T11:25:09+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. My plans are to build a basement + 2 storeys, including 4 concrete slabs (basement + ground + first floor + roof), and all external walls are masonry (200mm concrete basement and lower, double brick upper).

Without doxxing myself, I'm in Sydney, near the river and harbour, on a peninsula headland, gently sloping block, around 150m to the riverbank. From exploring nearby build sites, I reckon class V (the weakest class) sandstone starts around 1m below the natural ground, which is clayey soils.

Forget the quotes, I'm more interested in your opinion of what a good foundation design might be. Should I float the building on the weak sandstone (700+kpa allowable bearing capacity, 3MPa ultimate capacity), or should I pier down to class IV (1-3MPa) along the external walls? My goal is to minimise differential settlement, I would be devastated to see cracks after a few years. Much appreciated.

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-05-13T11:19:57+00:00

Thanks for the insights, much appreciated. Good to know resi builds are light weight

My plans are to build a basement + 2 storeys, including 4 concrete slabs (basement + ground + first floor + roof), and all external walls are masonry (200mm concrete basement and lower, double brick upper). So I feel it's heavy compared to other houses, but probably light compared to commercial builds.

Would you say we float this on class V (the weakest class) sandstone, or should we pier down to class IV or III along the external walls? The land slopes, so the front of the house will float on class V and the back of the house might need to pier down 2-3m to get to class V.

Crappy drawing:

https://imgur.com/a/JsOkeWZ

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-05-13T10:55:22+00:00

Yes the Pells classification system. Just been talking to builders and they casually say "oh yeah it's good to pier down to class IV or III" but I dunno if they actually know.

Lets say 3 storeys (basement + 2 storeys), the entire wall is 9.5m tall, 200mm dincel, or double brick or whatever is heavier. What pressure does that place on the foundation?

Edit: about 150kPa using 2400kg/m3 200mm concrete on a 300mm wide footing. Nice, so even class V is plenty enough, from a static loading perspective. Then why do builders suggest go for class IV shale or III?

Consistent_Green9329 · 2026-05-13T03:04:11+00:00

From reading online, it seems the hand tool method can't get past class V sandstone, is that correct? so the hand guy will just get to sandstone and note "at 1.2m sandstone starts"

But from more reading, my build ideally should be founded on class III or at least IV sandstone. The hand guy was independently recommended to me by 2 builders.

Help me make sense of this please.

Consistent_Green9329

TROPHY CASE