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Thanks @Barney12 @Construction Channel The post was made with the best of intentions and as help for quote checking. I wholeheartedly expected for others to come in and ask question or say things may have been missed. I didn't expect for someone to come in and descend it into chaos for no apparent reason other than an ego trip. Thank you for the support, my profession is windows and Passive House including steps towards certification (I'm not a certifier). This is where I can offer advice in an independent way, obviously my interests are towards the business but not here. Im not a fountain of all knowledge but I certainly have above average knowledge when it comes to windows and installation details etc. @JSHarris I fully understand what you are saying, I have owned/run forums using IPS in fact for nearly 20 years (since the days of Ikonboard) and still run/own a large forum. Forum etiquette is something I'm fully aware of. I'm also aware of a newbie rubbing long term members backs up. Which is part of the reason for the introduction and declaring immediately. Some on this forum will know me, wasn't any point trying to hide that fact (not that I would have anyway). If anyone had an issue with how I have posted then that's for them to advise why and for me to learn and understand how. Before posting I read all the relevant topics about how the site became to be, I understand the ethos of the site and I've understood the feel good friendly nature of the site from browsing the topics in every section. I know some clever people are present here and from all aspects of life. So I'm not trying to tell people this is how it is and what you must do. Just friendly advice on what I would do as someone who checks quotes, trains staff on window systems, differences between systems, manufacturers, processes orders, deals with technical drawings, detailing, service related issues and so forth. I've been in the industry now for nearly 9 years and understand others with greater knowledge exist and willing to learn from them. However when someone tries to call me out or tries to make me look like a fool. That's a different matter. I have and will continue to contribute in other areas but I'm not going to just spam across the forum, if I have something to contribute I will.

I think I've said this before here, or maybe on this forums closed predecessor, Ebuild, but it doesn't hurt to repeat it. My view is that forums like this are communities of like minded people, and there are parallels with a group of regulars in a pub. Many here have known each other a long time, several years for some of us. I joined the old Ebuild forum in 2008, and there are a lot of members here who were members of Ebuild from back then, too. That means we all know each other pretty well. When a new member joins, we try to be welcoming, but it does pay for new members to have a think about how they may be perceived by a bunch of people that have known each other for a long time. For example, if someone entered a pub, and started giving the locals unsolicited advice, just because they felt it might be useful, and with no knowledge of the skills and experience of those locals, how do you think it would be received? The advice may well have been given with the very best intentions, but I'll lay money that many of those locals would get their backs up at someone they didn't know telling them stuff that some of them may already be very familiar with. The same applies here to a degree. We have a broad range of members, from university and college lecturers, academics, members of our emergency services, energy assessors, planning and tax experts, IT administrators and systems designers, tradespeople in every aspect of construction, engineers, technologists, serial self builders with a great deal of practical experience, and at least one oddball scientist. Taking the time to understand the nature of this forum, and the very broad range of skills and experience within its membership, before posting anything, is a wise move for any new member. The better we all get to know new members, the more inclined we will be to accept them with open arms into our online community.

What a missed opportunity to calm the atmosphere. I sense a certain lack of raw courage, and an instinct to protect herself first. Add that to a demonstrable inability to discuss, listen and debate openly; the omens are not good. And she owes it to the bereaved and the dead to handle this well. Argggghh! We are being lead by donkeys all over again.

@craig I think you will be fine. 11 likes on 30 posts is a good start. We just need a tot of brandy. F

That's a fair point, but doesn't detract from the fact that it looks really bad. Shades of Bush flying over New Orleans after it had been levelled by that hurricane. I suppose in these situations she would be damned whatever she does. On a wider note, I really do wish the politicians and media would turn it down a notch or two, and concentrate on the human tragedy and human spirit in the face of such appalling adversity.

@craig I am a mod and although i may be speaking out of turn i agree that your original post was made with the best of intentions. AFAIC you went about it the right way by declaring your professional/commercial interest, contributing to other threads and then creating what i consider a useful checklist for the general public, this is being discussed by the moderation team as we speak so this thread may well be edited back to something useful instead of the mess it has become but as @Barney12 said don't be disheartened. you haven't got any black marks yet Ed

Remember that we are at a severe threat level, an attack is imminent, and the PM is the person under the greatest threat of attack in the country, greater even than the Queen. She was advised by the security services that if she appeared in an open public setting they not only would not be able to guarantee her safety, but that she would be putting members of the public at risk, both from any potential attacker and from the defensive action that the her armed protection team may have had to take. She could have undertaken a controlled access visit, within a safe cordon, as the Queen did, but I rather think that would have attracted more criticism from her detractors (and frankly I don't like the woman, so I'm not defending her here at all).

As Dave rightly says, the shear key won't do much at all if it's in the sub-base. To work it needs to be in compacted and undisturbed soil, with shear properties that have been used in the sliding stress calculations that were a part of the retaining calcs. I have a spreadsheet to do gravity wall calcs on my main PC, so could run some numbers and see what it looks like later. To do this I'd need all the base data on loads, soil type and bearing/shear stress, any surcharge from structures or imposed loads higher up the retained area, etc.

The sheer key will do nothing imho. It's only keying into hardcore that is laid on a slope, and the whole lot, hardcore included could, no make that probably will slide down the slope. I would level the site in steps so at least the infil is sitting on level ground. Perhaps another footing and dwarf wall at each step? Buttress walls on the inside of your wall which I think is what drawing 3 is trying to show? and buttress walls on the downhill side of any intermediate dwarf wall. To level the site in steps, you will be removing a lot of soil. Use that removed soil to raise the ground around the garage. You will be removing the top layer of organic soil anyway won't you?

Yea yea....... BT have issued a mugshot of the suspect.

What utter baloney. Sheer and utter unsubstantiated shite (not you - JH!). The media story around this is disgusting and certain politicians are blatantly using it as a political tool - barely disguised. This thread is quite interesting because we're exploring different views and thoughts on it - whereas the media are causing hysteria, anger, resentment when frankly there are no answers to anything right now. I find it all quite sickening.

Ah - hence my comment ..! Flat tees and bends all the way for me ..! so get your wax crayons out and start drawing then ..!!

There are reports floating around (NOT FACT) that the owner of the flat where it started packed his bags before leaving. Yes finding the cause of the fire is important, but the fact remains, however it started, a fire in one flat should not lead to the destruction of the whole block and massive loss of life. I see the manufacturers of the cladding have been identified and are falling back on "it met building regs" I have not heard one person say "well in that case the building regs are wrong and need changing PDQ"

Dees pic.

Which one..??

Quick update: my builder casually said " 'S OK lad, there's a load o' rebah lyin' 'round in 't yard. Help thee sen. Tek 't Landy 'n fetch it". It was a pleasure: driving a lovely Disco 4 - with reversing cameras - was smug-making. (OK, it isn't an Audi Allroad Quattro, but Hell it's better than my 1988 Landy TDI) But I simply had to re-tune his radio to Radio 4 on all the pre-sets. . Well what else is there to do while waiting for the lights to change? So, I'm giving him some (some, not all, I'm not daft) of our over-ordered rebar mesh in exchange. Overall cost? Say £50. Well down from over £1000. A few more cost savings like that would be just the ticket.

Not ideal TBH as that creates the 'stall' I mentioned. I'll actually post a pic ASAP.

Expensive way to fix an issue ... Use a tee on its side to go to the new pipe - a double socket would slip its "plain" end into the tee on the stack - and the just use a std 90 elbow to bring the other loo stack out of the floor. Quick, simple and 3 cheap components.

+1 to what Nick said. Only involve Openreach if you have infinitive amounts of time and money! I wouldn't get too hung up about saving the internal wiring, unless it's incredibly easy to access and unclip. A length of telephone cable is pence in comparison to mucking about trying to fish out cable. Do save the BT master socket though if you've got one of the modern two part ones but again not the end of the world as they can be easily sourced. If you're going down the DIY route then it's not a bad idea to pop off the covers of the external and internal boxes and take a quick photo of the wiring so reconnecting in the van is easier. Its amazing how quickly you can forget if it was the orange or blue (or other) pair that that the BT line came in on! A quick couple of photos will save trial and error! If if you don't have one you'll certainly need a punch down tool. Something like: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-punch-Down-Tool-Network-Adjustable-Impact-LSA-Plus-for-KRONE-and-strips-/131936902808?hash=item1eb80d5e98:g:MiYAAOSwFe5X1rdn

@Dee Ill do a pic later .

It was one of these @Dee Linky McLink