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Sorry, but I disagree with the last few comments. You don't need to 'battle' with the insurer. That's just emotive language that isn't required. Just simply set aside an hour to write a well worded letter pointing out the facts covered above. I would also ask the insurer (its always good to ask questions that they have to confirm) to confirm the relavent experience the loss adjuster has with Durisol. The fact of the matter is that the loss adjusters reason for rejecting the claim can be clearly refuted. There is no need for battles, anger, distraction. Just calm well written words. Besides, how many hours do us self builders spend trying to save a few quid on materials and suppliers? Would you spend an hour shaving £1,200 of a materials order? Edit: actually the facts are so simple it's probably more like half an hour!

lets not get hasty here. Have you double checked the water level is stable. have you taken lots of photos, have you finished that can of "lager" have you got a cat?

Just catching up on this. My view is its not worth your time to pursue for £1200. Regardless of what anyone did or did not say, it's completely obvious that the gable should have been propped. That includes you boss. Common sense should have trumped here and it didn't - lesson learned. You're unlikely to deal with Durisol again anyway. Whilst I'm not disagreeing with th e principles behind it I think you should drop this all immediately and focus on what matters to get your house built - this isn't helping anything. 'winning' this battle will do what? £1200? I know I'm not sugar coating it but I really think you're energies are not going to be well spent pursuing this - not even as a side show. It was an accident. Someone made a mistake. You know how to prevent it - everyone one here who will ever build icf knows what not to do - you've learned, we've learned and you're about to sack your builder and save multiples of £1200 and have a far higher satisfaction level. If it wasn't the gable it would have been something else - £1200 well spent. Moving on!meanwhile I've just propped the garage walls....!

The roof is finished! Hurrah!! I'm not doing that again. FAR to much like hard work. Actually there is still the porch to slate once it's built but I think I can cope with a couple of m2!

The underrated Mr. Luxton is self-building in the Cotswolds, as covered by the overrated H&R magazine. I thought the Passive Slab fans might be interested in the system he's using: Full playlist at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hiRazqQFrU&list=PLwMzOUIf2_b6FIG18FbvgQZUrBMxOsO_r

Why not consider using an ICF block as the basement as that is DIY and ties in well with your floor ..??

@recoveringacademic - go find your local supplier and talk to them. Face to face. I have a local, a regional and 2 national companies within 10 miles of the site. The local company : - beat the nationals on price hands down - let me change the order right up to the last wagon left the plant - rang me to check if we were ready on the Monday morning - specced the product for me when we told them what we were doing - delivered a quality product that worked for me and tbh everyone that had to work with it said it was superb, not bad for a flowing fibre reinforced slab at a wicked slump ..! Local concrete company number came via the local skip company owner and verified by the local tool hire place .. get the picture..?? Batching plants aren't difficult to find - a quick google found these guys who do batch mix and pump too which may help you. http://quayconcrete.co.uk/ I wouldn't hesitate to use a local and pay a bit more over using AI or one of the others - they make money by having those wagons on the site for minimum time and you need someone who can work with you.

If it can dig it's way up through 2' of clay and flint then shift the pallet SWMBO insist I laid over the grave "in case the foxes dig her up", then escaping being boarded in behind a wall mount wc will be child's play. It can even have my lager. Let's not forget the whole reanimation issue!

Sorry ignore above post, I wrote it much earlier in day but lost my connection and it only just sent...answers are much clearer from the others that responded!

Get some expanded metal mesh, either galvanised or stainless, and roll it into a ball and stuff it down the duct. Tie a bit of fence wire to the end of the pull cord before you do this, and feed it through the ball of expanded metal. This will stop rodents, yet can easily be pulled out with the draw cord attached when the need arises.

Going through exactly the same thing at the moment, trying to get quotes and drilling home that if the spec is off on delivery, the lot will be turned away. I think the only way of telling is with a slump cone

If you put a batten or perhaps 2 battens on top each other (if needed) at the very bottom of your rafters it should give your tile enough kick as if it's sitting on another tile then you can leave fascia till roof is done

The top of the fascia board needs to be raised a bit because the bottom tile is not sitting on top of another tile. So if it's flush, the bottom tile will droop. Best way is to mock it up, put the bottom two tile battens on, sit the bottom 2 rows of tiles on, then offer up a bit of fascia board complete with a strip of the over fascia vent on, and adjust it's height until all the tiles sit at the same angle. That then gives you how high your fascia needs to be in relation to the rafters. Some styles even like to kick up the bottom row of tiles slightly but personally I don't like that.

Oh yes! I found out what those plastic strip things are for!. They are for where you cut the soffit and have to attach to the building side i.e. they cover up the rough cut!

That's not especially small. My first house 1 bedroom starter home rabbit hutch, was only 12ft wide. They build a whole estate nearly 100 houses like that. The 2 bedroom ones were just as narrow, just a bit deeper. But on a practical note. Looking at the picture, the left hand property appears to have windows overlooking the alleyway. Can you just block up someone's windows without their permission? I like the split level layout that in effect makes the whole middle of the house a stairwell.

That took me a while to figure out as I had half length tiles at verge and ridge. I used a wooden spacer to set the batten pitch but it only has to be fractions of a mm out and by the time you get to the ridge you can be miles out. Best stop and recalculate when you are about 10-15 battens below the ridge. It's also worth making a mock up of how the ridge and eaves will go. They may not do s "Hip Apex Cap" for your ridge system. If not I think you have to cover the area with a membrane patch and then cut ridge tiles so they mitre together like a hip apex cap. Darn Peter beat me to it.

Are you doing this yourself? Personally I'd swallow the cost of a roofer. See if you can find a good one on day work and labour to him. There's a lot of tips and tricks they know and I doubt you'll find all the answers here! Also they've got all the right kit which will come within their rate - less consumables. Not saying this to sound rude, it's just what I'd do! Goes against ethos of forum I suppose!

That's what Debbie's got her teeth into. An uncomfortably sharp mind, a job where she spends a good deal of time giving difficult messages to stressed people. And doing so quietly and dispassionately. It's essential for us to proceed in a manner which engenders the least defensive responses. I quote from the met report we asked for from the local Met Office (Lancaster University Met Office is round the corner from Debbie's office on campus) [The wind] seems to have been averaging up to 11 m/s (~25mph) during the night. We no longer measure gusts but looking at some older data with the wind in a similar direction, you can be pretty sure it would be regularly gusting at least 1.5 times the average. From memory, it was particularly gusty, so the highest speeds may have been more like double the average. This is pretty unusual for July - especially from that direction. (Signed Dr. xyz) We've sent that to the Insurers. In addition the topography locally (here's the image: there's a steep ridge just out of sight by the pond next to the road) adds to the turbulence. Any glider pilot would recognise that it's a perfect slope soaring ridge. We'll keep you all posted.

This is why I would be more inclined to pursue Durisol than the insurer. The insurer can rely on common sense says that you don't build an unsupported wall. They are insuring unforseen circumstances, this could be easily foreseen. I undertand @JSHarris argument that they might pay out to save hassle, but the real culprit here is Durisol not the insurer. Already this is bad PR for Durisol, an insurance company isn't really worried about bad PR, everyone hates them.

5.8m wide by 2.8m tall. But I believe they make an "XL" version which can go even bigger.

Much less, when you factor in lost time and the distraction. . Unless you KNOW you can win, and you can get your 'personal fees' back too. If this was £12k it would be very different.

Looking passed pissed-offness is hard, I accept there is a good deal in what you say. What I appreciate much more is the confidence you have in telling me what you think. I hesitate to use the phrase 'thats what friends are for' but if it isn't that, then its something close. ================================ PS: Garage? That's the size of our house!

Not sure if it has something to do with our soil ( clay) but our local land drain expert told me not to put pipes in the bottom as they will block up, he digs a trench, lines it with membrane and fills it with 50mm stone and a little covering with soil ( and membrane ) if you dont want to see the stone. On my many many trips to sight this appears to be the way drains are laid at the side of the A30 going to Devon. ThIs is the way I have done the French drains around my garage and house and they work very well.

That's a very good point. We've mentioned here, or on the old forum, that the building industry is a bit resistant to change, and builders are far more comfortable doing stuff the way they've always done it. Add in that doing building work for a self-builder may well make any builder feel under a bit more pressure, because they have someone looking over their shoulder and setting higher standards than they may be used to, and it may well be that the builder would be rather throwing up an extension for someone who doesn't have a clue as to what's good or just so-so than finishing this build, using a system he's not used before.