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1st coat and I don't care what you lot think! That cream of tartar is a Godsend to a newbie. Warm in here, like the volleyball scene from Top Gun!

#progress. I hope they all turn out like that

The octogenarian Elsie McBane had a visit from her Presbyterian minister. As she was making some tea, he commented on her two Dachshunds , Molly and Mark. "They are very playful" he said, "but what do you do when Molly is in season?" "Och, that is simple", replied Elsie, "I just pop Molly up the stairs". "How does that solve the problem" asked the minister. To which Molly replied. "Have you ever seen a Dachshund try and walk upstairs with a hardon".

No, really, there's nothing to see, it's all gone! A great deal has happened in the 2 weeks since the last blog entry meaning that the planned update and photos never happened. First off, very sadly, my father in law died 2 days after that entry which although not entirely unexpected, still comes as a painful shock and means that there's a lot to do at a time that isn't the best. I was very fortunate with my in laws and my father in law was a lovely man and will be greatly missed. On with house matters. Over the last 2 weeks, all the demolition has been completed and debris removed. We kept plenty of the timber from the roof, which we will use to make raised beds for the kitchen garden - there's no way I'm going to dig that clay over, no-dig all the way for me! We also salvaged some bricks that formed an outbuilding, but the rest is gone. The concrete floor of the garage block formed a really useful hard standing area and that will stay pretty much until everything is done, including a lot of the landscaping. Shortly after this, the portaloo and site cabin arrived, along with the security fencing. After the demolition, work started on reducing down. We've gone down 800mm from a point set by the surveyor but this may need to change slightly as there is still some debate over what the finished floor level will actually be. There are 3 different levels floating around at the moment, but this will be finalised once MBC have come back with the designed foundation. In the end, I used a surveyor for setting out the levels then had a play around afterwards to see how everything works. I'm glad that I used the surveyor as time was limited in getting the setting out done and it only took him a couple of hours once he had found the previous survey points; I'm pretty sure it would have taken me days and I would have lacked confidence in the final result, so it was money well spent, if only for the peace of mind. One by-product of reducing down was that we found out where the water main was running, which was nowhere near where we expected it to be. Of course it wasn't. How naive to expect it to be in a sensible place rather than running through a neighbour's garden then through a field. I've got some people coming out tomorrow to do a survey and give me a quote on running the main under the verge parallel with the road, but in truth, I'm bracing myself for a very expensive quote that I'm not likely to take up. On the face of it, the current water main route does seem stupid, or at least inefficient, but in terms of what will go where with the finished build, it's not that bad and I could easily live with it. It will run close to where I'm having the kitchen garden en route to the house, and I want a tap there anyway, so it doesn't seem such a bad route now. I also plan to get the electricity cable buried and that will run a similar route, so I could have both in 1 trench and save digging up more than I have to. The weekend after my father in law's passing, I had a bit of a hissy fit with the architect, but one that I think was thoroughly justified. I wasn't in the best of humours anyway, but it happens that the 11th June marked exactly 6 months from getting planning permission and instructing the architect to do the building regs plans and details and I felt overwhelmingly frustrated that no matter how close we seemed to be, we were never quite there. I was highly conscious of the timescales for MBC to swing into production and for my glazing delivery, and greatly concerned that I wanted the building to be watertight before the onset of autumn. I shan't go into details, but I left the architect with no uncertainty about how pissed off I was and that there would be financial ramifications if I wasn't in a position to sign off on drawings with MBC very soon. The upshot is that I did, indeed, get my final drawings and these were signed off with MBC last Thursday; I also made the next stage payment to MBC and everything is rolling there, with confirmed dates. So, my schedule is as follows: 17th July, piles go in 30th July, MBC are in for the foundation 14th August, MBC return to erect the timber frame If any BH members want to visit and see things in action, let me know and you're more than welcome to come along. Bring your own hard hat because I have none to spare. A word here on piling, as I've had my final quote in for the mini piles, which stands at £14,870, all in. Having done muckaway on a reduced dig of 800mm, I now have full knowledge of the cost of that, and were I to have gone down the route of a reduced dig to 2m (this was the depth MBC reckoned it would need to be to overcome my clay), I can confidently say that the option of piles is cheaper by a good few thousand for me. Nobody wants my clay soil so the whole lot has to go to landfill and it ain't cheap! There will be more spoil once we've dug the pond in the field, but I reckon I can lose most of that on the site. The site is now 'energized', as the electricity suppliers say. Basically, this was just a case of getting a meter put onto the fuse in the box that runs down from the overhead supply on a pole, but it took a ridiculous amount of time to get through to any supplier that I had a MPAN number and just needed to get a meter installed and sign up for supply. I truly hate bureaucracy, it's the work of the devil, I'm sure. So here are a few tedious photos - like I said, there's really nothing to see now! Photo 1 - if you needed any visual proof that we have clay. Photo 2 - demolition done, getting ready to reduce. Photo 3 - reduced dig to 800mm from finished floor level. Plus a view of the neighbours' cottages.

@newhome it’s a bit blurred but I think Debbie took this one ....

Dear All, Thank you for accepting my registration. Please see below the overview of my current "DIY" project: I have recently purchased a granite house in Scotland, and it does require quite a bit of a refurbishment. After reading more and more on forums and watching videos I ended up with more and more questions. I registered and posting for 2 reasons: To find the best way to solve these issues and Hopefully help for people who face similar problems/questions The main reason why I am not sure in some subjects like wall insulation is cause there are many different opinions and/or not enough information on granite houses (at least I either did not find the right sources or it did confuse me). I am looking to do the following refurbishments which of course I will post in the relevant forum threads in more details: Wall removal – 1 load bearing 1 divider Installation of heavy gauge vapour barrier to the crawls space – quite a few questions here Treating and fixing floor joists – should be relatively straight forward Insulating floor and replacing floor boards – should be relatively straight forward Refurbishing staircase – will see how complicated it will be after a more comprehensive inspection, maybe use existing frame Installing insulation on the walls – not sure if required Installing underfloor heating – should be relatively straight forward General cosmetics (wallpaper removal, painting etc.) From these points some are straight forward, some I am not even sure if required. I would like to document the whole process post photos, videos, prices and time to help for people who are trying to do similar projects. I am planning to hire someone or a company who can do help me in some of the processes and probably give me advice on stages which I will try to do myself. I was already looking through some posts as a guest, and although I still have many questions, I am 100% sure that people here will be able to help me out. Every feed back is welcomed, thank you in advance, Daniel Some photos uploaded as requested, nothing exciting yet:

Oh and I meant to ask - can you feel that the finish line is in sight now? Seems like much progress has been made recently .

What is about that scene? I remember the then girlfriend was mad for it after seeing that. Or was she just imagining I was TC or Val Kilmer?

is that the left over muck?

Ta. No professionals involved! I got the first set on the ceiling and wall with my lad labouring. I put one sachet of CoT in to a full bag of multi, should tbh have put two in. Did the ceiling first then the wall. When it came to finishing the first set on the wall it was getting a bit thick in the bucket. Probably a big no-no but I brought it back to life with a dash more water and another sachet of CoT. Cleaned all tools thoroughly and did the second mix about twice as runny as the first but with two sachets of CoT from the off...it retards things a treat for a newbie like me. My boy and I then put the 2nd set on, me the ceiling and he the wall. I then started polishing it and my nephew turned up and helped finish off. Seems to be drying off nice. Nothing paint won't sort! A good father and son bonding experience! (Get the plastering themed joke? )

Is that a cure for flu then? You not seen my girlfriend's make up have you. She looks like an Essex Girl after being strapped to Southend-on-Sea's pier for the winter.

That'd be me, then. I was a bit-part bloke in Poldark - a horse handler to be precise. Mind you, that was the original series, so time may have taken it's toll. I did enjoy holding Angharad Rees horse, though...

Some day for it. Today was one of those special days where suddenly years of work starts to come together in front of your eyes. No machinery here just elbow grease. It was all going so well until the building inspector turned up. A few internal load bearing walls to be finished and then on Monday we have the telehander coming to stay for a couple of weeks, followed by the delivery of the attic trusses on Tuesday.

Painting the ceiling's a 5 minute job in comparison to the floor tiles. Girl had the first bath, boy's having the first shower, I'm christening the loo and SWMBO gets to clean them all!

I read a book about it, all I learnt was that the Dutch are tall because their grandmothers got starved in WW2.

Dunno, once you have walls, a ceiling and floor it speeds up a bit I suppose. The fact I've renewed all of them... The plan always was to learn from this one room. Floor next anyway starting at the wet room corner and working back!

Nope - not yet - but there's a big bonfire to burn sometime before the end of this build. At which stage (unless something happens quickly with selling this house) I will have a few bedrooms goings spare ... we will see. A big buildhub BBQ could be on the cards lol

Yup = some kind of festival this weekend I think

Yep... he’s been to the ball..... and no, not dressed as Cinderella ....

Well Will has a tendency to drink anything too ... but taking the old man on at whiskey one night proved a mistake and he had to back down !!

Yep ... Stella Artois ... or roughly translated as act a twat.... Tennants advent calendar is “different”... is that the first beer of the day ..?

Black sheep ale ??? that and Theakston Old Peculiar - its what God invented yeast for.

"Nothing to see"? Theres a hole thats the shape of a house! Excellenté 14 August......."this shit just got real, theres me hoos" Blink, and you'll miss it.

I'll limit myself to one of each. Had I posted a gut shot earlier you'd have realised why!

I was wondering that but it's 9 for @Onoff and son of @Onoff I imagine but still not an even split .

8oz srf 4oz butter 3oz castor sugar 4oz mixed fruit 1tsp mixed spice 2-4tsp milk 15-20mins @ 200degC CofT is a "tartrate of potassium" apparently. Proprietary plaster retarder contains it at 40% and is the only active ingredient. Going to make MYSELF a bfo traditional fruit cake sometime...with nuts on top...

Looks like we have a fight on our hands. Floor tiles first where I went to school As this is a wet room the wall tiles need to be scribed to the floor as I dont like the idea of water running down a wall and into a grout line, whereas I'd rather water was running past a grout line, which you get if you tile the wall last. Plus one of my nit-picks is 'grout line PoV' where you shouldn't be looking at a grout line in the corners. For eg if you stand in the doorway of the bathroom, the wall opposite you should be tiled first, and then the two walls that run to meet it on the left and right hand side will look as if tile just meets tile. It should only be apparent theres a grout joint if you stand directly in front of that opposite wall and look left or right, where you'll be looking at the last cut tile and the grout line to close it into the corner. When I show customers that at the end of the job, and other little basic considerations, they remark on the difference it makes. Same with the floor. if you tile the floor last then all around the room you'll be looking down at the grout line, whereas you should, imo, be looking down past the grout line and directly at the floor tile, again appearing as if the tile hits the floor. Simply set the laser up at the chosen height of the first horizontal wall tile grout line and get set to cut the entire room bottom course ( dry cutting for the moment ). Then you simply turn the tile around, so the face is against the wall that its to go on, and check that its sat snug to the floor tile. It matters that the tile is NOT brought plumb as you want the scribe to be included. With the tile firmly against the wall and the floor you then simply mark the left and right side of the tile where the laser hits it. Carry the marks around to the front of the tile and then cut it. Offer the tile back to the wall the right way around with the cut side against the floor and bingo. A perfectly level cut line which follows the undulations of the floor tile with the scribe done for you by the laser. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

Flash git! March 14th all over again tonight I reckon...

We have just installed a treatment plant called a vortex and it discharges to a ditch that is dry for a couple of months a year. I didn’t think septic were allowed for new builds any more( but may be wrong) . Because the ditch dry,s for a while during the summer the pipe to the ditch is called a rumble drain, a pipe with holes In it and set on drainage stone. We are very pleased with ours.

The plot of land that we bought was part of a large garden There was two tankks that had been fitted 10 years ago that were problematic It was upto us to put a treatment plant in for ourselfs and re route the neibouts drain and install anew tank The difference between the tank and treatment plant was a thousand Same labour and concrete I asked the neibour to put 500 to and I would install treatment plants for both of us NO Eighteen moths on they are kicking themselves I’d no option but to install a treatment plant But I’m glad I did

Dude.... Sweeeeeeet.

For the small extra cost, I would definitely fit a treatment plant now rather than a septic tank. We were doing that anyway and it ended up getting permit to discharge to the burn, which they definitely would not have allowed with a septic tank Our issue with SEPA was building control rejected our soakaway plan and it ended up with no option but discharge to the burn (with a small partial soakaway). SEPA have a presumption against discharge to a watercourse and only allow that as a last resort if all other options have proved unsuitable which is the situation we had reached.

My personal opinion is that there really isn’t any other option I would do trench fill, unless you dislike your bricklayers.

The general rule is that treatment plants are far and away the preferred option, a septic tank with tertiary treatment (usually land drains in aerobic soil) is acceptable if you have the land area for the drains and a cess pit is generally forbidden unless there is no alternative option. A treatment plant discharges treated effluent with a low biological oxygen demand (BOD), so can be discharged to a watercourse (subject to agreement) or can be discharged to a suitable land drain/soakaway arrangement. A septic tank doesn't aerobically treat the effluent, so it's discharge has a very high BOD which needs tertiary treatment. Traditionally this was done using a leach field of shallow land drains that allowed aerobic soil bacteria to do the final treatment, but these only have a limited life of around 10 to 15 years before they stop working, due to biofilm build up, hence the preference for an aerobic treatment plant. A septic tank can discharge to an alternative tertiary treatment system, like a reed bed, but although reed beds work well there is quite a lot of maintenance involved and a slight risk of infection when thinning them out and trimming them back. Generally, blower type treatment plants seem to be the best. There are some non-electrical units around, but opinions on them seem mixed - some have found that they work well when properly set up, others have problems with them. The ones I would avoid are any that have electrical operated moving parts inside the chamber, as they look to be a maintenance nightmare. There are lots of well-respected blower units around in the size range you're looking at, and several here have experience of some of them. We have a Biopure1, that suits 1 to 6 people, and have found it works well. Ours discharges to a nearby stream; an easier option to get consent for here in England than it is in Scotland, for some bizarre reason to do with different policies between SEPA and the EA. Others here have used blower units like the Vortex, which is similar to the Biopure but has the option of a timed blower pump (now also an option for the Biopure I believe) that saves energy. The hurdles you face are really to do with where you're going to discharge the output from the treatment plant. @ProDave had to jump though some hurdles with SEPA, so may be best advised as to how to handle things where you are. I got consent to discharge to the nearby stream from our EA within an hour of asking, but I gather that SEPA are a lot different to deal with!

Personally I would never buy a granite worktop from a kitchen company. The granite specialists should always provide a more competitive quote and they will be fitting them day in day out.

Come on then, let’s have a similar pic of you as a comparison

Listen pal, wimmin are queueing up in the lane to admire my rippling torso , just like that bit-part bloke in Poldark.

But they are wrap around and that helps with glare...

Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash!"

We have a mixed timber stair, oiled with Osmo. Oak treads softwood stringers and risers. Looks surprisingly good.

Combine them with a decent pair of safety specs as you know it’s the right thing to do... Bolle Spider https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000MGSK36/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_LW1lBbGQTM4PV

When he sobers up we can get a translation

Beat me to it. Obviously someone had a good time at the festival!

It'll look the dogs bollocks mate.

@Coopers and I pay ~£70 for a safety cert at our rental properties.

you guys have already seen most of this, but because I had to at least start making some kind of video again before I get the wedding footage here's where we currently are with the stairs in the form of a very shaky and long-winded video;) enjoy

I have access to one - I spend a day a week on it. It belongs to a very old friend who cannot use it any longer so I go and help him out.

Ours is block and block im still confident that we will achieve a low score without a membrane Simply by sealing everything the same way as the mainstream house builders are supposed to

That's looking great. I am sure that will be much more of a feature than my stairbox stairs.

Dilly Sisters!!