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In essence, the "magic" somehow claims to transform one polymorph of CaCO3 to another before it's actually formed. Somehow, the claim is that the CaCO3 in solution is changed (there's no clear, peer reviewed, science to explain this alleged change, or what the mechanism is behind it that causes the alleged change whilst the CaCO3 is still in solution). Somehow, the CaCO3 in solution "remembers" having been through this device and "remembers" to preferentially crystallise out as aragonite, rather than calcite. The claim of 20 days is OTT - aragonite invariable reverts to calcite within about 4 days under normal household conditions. I remain wholly unconvinced. This invention has been around so long the original patent expired 12 years ago, and no one has ever been able to provide solid, peer reviewed, evidence that there is any real effect at all in all those years. There are lots and lots of claims that the device doesn't do what it claims, and many of those are based on some pretty solid science. In my view, if a "breakthrough" invention hasn't been proved to work after several decades and there is absolutely no peer reviewed evidence to show it does as claimed, then I think it's only fair and reasonable to be just a bit sceptical. The obvious question has to be "Why didn't the original device manufactured under the Australian patent make the owner an absolute fortune and render all other forms of "water softener" obsolete?". After all there have been a few decades for the product to prove itself, yet we don't see them in common use in our hard water areas, do we?

I've been lurking around here for past 6 months or so & finally decided to say Hello to all. It's wonderful to see so many amazing projects from the grounds to completion. Majority of projects here are truly inspirational, but my current circumstances don't allow to go for a self-build / refurb at least for 1-2 years. Still, I'm keeping my eyes open for a suitable plot and later sell the house to fund the cost of the build. We currently live in Wigmore (very close to Luton airport). Hoping to make some good friends here Thank you in advance. Sunil

We visited @Weebles yesterday and I wanted to say a big 'thank you' to them for being brave enough to make the offer and give up their valuable time to show various Buildhubbers their MBC frame when they clearly had plenty to do without nosy visitors asking lots of questions. With luck and a fair wind we will be able to do the same soon (but still not sure exactly when - the joys of self building...) We briefly crossed paths with @vivienz and @Dreadnaught and it was good to put faces to their Buildhub names. The amount of help/info (directly and indirectly) that we have gleaned and the sense of community from people on this forum is amazing. Thanks to all. Mark

Just to say those are the correct "twissle" nails for joist hangers. Just not enough of them.

We're due a visit! I remember when Mr & Mrs Weebles came to our site many moons ago to see our frame (we were in the thick of first fix I think) and they were somewhat sceptical that they'd ever get that far themselves We did the same, visiting @JSHarris and @jack before we'd put a spade in the ground and it is equal parts inspiring and daunting.

Bask in my glory, fellow minions ?

By the time it had collected in all the corners they would approximate round anyway. ? ==> ?

Shit collects in corners

By username and nature! I've reached a point in my life at 50yrs old that its time to build a house. Apologies in advance for having more questions than answers ☺️

Best keep your trousers nicely pulled up, then, in case people think I'm installing indoor bike stands.

If when the house is finished you will have any paved areas around the house you will eventually have to put down a hard standing for this. So why not install it all now, it will provide a nicer working area. 15tonne of scalpings will probably stretch a long way around. Ive got two truckloads coming next week as I can’t stand working in the crud.

Okay, stand at ease, chaps! I've been very kindly offered the loan of a time lapse camera which will be even better.

FYI; 2 in number drones WITH cameras have been found in my garden. One very expensive looking one with 6 rotors. I barn danced on them both. Bin. Ta ta.

No you can’t as that’s criminal damage. You could go to the faa but that’s about it. Fwiw if you shot down my drone I would come back with a much bigger gun ?

Such a useful visit! I'm happier about progressing a number of niggling issues now and have a clear idea of how I will deal with others. All of this vould have taken me ages to work through by myself but one day out on a visit and all sorted. Brilliant.

Has the inventor decided how it works yet?

and another. In fact, with @jack and @Bitpipe , we shared a lot of information and used several of the same contractors and suppliers. It can be extremely useful, to develop this link and support system

I forgot to mention that it's possible to level boards with a router. There are several vids on youtube that differ only in the design of the jig..

.... well , just for the record, I've just found an unused box of Compriband - that is to say, what's obvious to you may well not be to Plonkers like me. [ '.... other than the obvious ....' above ]

Most magistrates are pretty good at sorting out what's what. I doubt any would consider that any benefit was gained from what's been done to date (especially given the costs of remediating the piers, assuming it can be shown that they were damaged by the first builder). That said, I'd be tempted to accept that £120 extra is a small price for dodging this bullet. Also, the last thing you want is to make an enemy of someone locally well known. Personally, I'd consider accepting the loss, diverting my time and attention back to what's being done now by the new guy, and chalking up the extra as a price paid for useful experience. Probably not what you want to hear given the horrible job that was done, but your time, energy and emotional well-being have a price too.

Not at all, his and his sons company deal in BIG developments and are very well known. I asked him to tell me what to do about the structure to get it ready to live in. He said all that was needed was a new roof. I am learning a lot but I am no way experienced enough to know anything about what is and isn't safe. He has visited the site many many times as he was going to do most of the work. I trusted his professional opinion as did my husband. It was only because it looked 'wrong' that I called in someone else (actually two people but one was just for a 3rd opinion) and will now have M do the work. "he probably wanted out by the end of day-2 as the poor condition of the structure was revealed." The room was gutted weeks ago and he has seen it many times. The onus was on HIM to notice the instability of the frame and piers not me. I know nothing! Well I do now. Anyway. I f*cked up. I have learned my lesson and am now paying top dollar for a real professional not some guy that wants an 'easy' weekend project.

I'd second @Mr Punter. While the work may not be great, I rarely speak to many contractors who note that the previous person did a top class job. In itself it's probably a weak basis for a claim. While I can understand you'd be fairly unhappy about the work that's been done, try and get away from the 'he said' type of statement and note, in non-emotive language, what the problems are and why. Reference to standards (whether building standards or manufacturers standards) might help create a more objective basis for a claim.

Not sure how this one measures up but Aldi are selling these just now and they have a 3 year warranty Aldi airless paint sprayer

For this sort of job it is best to get 3 people over to have a look and decide what needs doing and get a written quote from each. It may be that you did not specify what you wanted and ended up with a cowboy job. What was the total contract sum and what was he supposed to do for that?

... and we did the same with @JSHarris There's quite a chain (a few chains, actually). Lovely to see it being continued as each new link in the chain moves forward.

I'm no building expert, but if things are as bad as you (and M) say, then I'd not be paying him a penny for this work and be thankful for getting away with just the £170 you've paid him for materials. Tell him to take you to court if he wants any more.

Could do a bolted connection for transport or take two lengths of flat bar and weld on yourself...

That applies to everything - the guys who turned up to do ours expected us to supply EPDM for under our doors and compriband for where the external blind rails meet the cill. They asked for this in both cases on the day they actually needed the materials, despite the fact that they'd been onsite for days and we'd asked them when they were quoting whether they needed us to supply any materials.

Establish which window sealing products they will be using for fitting the windows and whether the costs of the products are included with the fitting/installation price.. Use the best products available ( for example, Compriband), as you will only get the one chance to do it properly.

Your point about the transfer from truck to install is good: there's a minor wheeze to think about there. Where are those windows that are not being fitted at that moment going to be kept? By accident, we had a small flat area of concrete 'spare' (because of the disaster last year) on which we could keep the windows safely. I had a couple of tie-downs points so we could strap them in place if it got windy : I was fussing like a mother goose about that - and when it did get windy, everyone grinned sheepishly. Watch the weather forecast. I ordered a 4 to 7 tonne telehandler from HSS. My God ordering it was hard work. Clueless of Lancaster did the paper work. Their Insurance waiver only covered the first £5000 of loss (on the machine) - and the machine was valued at £25000. Had it all gone boobs up , we'd have been left with £20,000 to cover. HSS do Not tell you that. The machine cost £23.02 to cover on the site insurance for a week. Allow half a day to sort out the paper work for insurance. Allow half a day for HSS to get their act together. The checking process: managing that well at what is likely to be the end of a working day when everyone is focused on getting home is not easy. Which makes me remember about Snagging Lists and retainers. Gaulhofer are up front about that. Is there a simple snagging checklist? If not make one. I started checking by lunchtime on the last day - and made sure that everyone saw me doing it. I still missed stuff. The lads are here this morning naggling and fettling. (Door lock won't work) Ian

I'm listening to Radio 4. And a report which talks about Trump and Truth not being Truth. I wonder how Cohn could gainsay @Hecateh 's statement.

Sounds like a metaphor for life! ☺️

Thanks all, You've convinced me not to use the SL and I think I'm going to use Nicks trick. Appreciate the input - the hardest bit about self building is that there's no one to mull options over with. Must remember to take my stilettos off tonight......

Hi @kla456 and welcome to the madhouse Ok, 1 ) Oversizing the HP can make it run a little quieter, but id discount thoughts of the 14 & 16kW models and they're very big. 2 ) Not sure if this is present or future tense? 2 tanks? 1 x DHW + 1x Buffer? Is your DHW tank an UVC? Please be clear on what you already have and what your considering. 3 ) If you have PV then the HP is already running off PV PV will lend itself to whatever is drawing from the consumer unit unless it has been specifically made divisible by a PV diversion device / other. 4 ) With a buffer tank you can then do pretty much whatever you like with the HP. Running it for DHW will see it max out, so lower CoP and possibly noisier in operation for that period of high grade heat demand. 5 ) If its an UVC then this point is moot, as there is very little volume in the HP UVC coil, so no. Better to use excess PV to heat DHW first, and then the car last. Some choose to charge the car off off-peak electricity at night as its out of phase with DHW / sunshine. Pointless having a charged car and no hot water, plus vehicles are typically used during the day so best to have it charged for the morning ready to use ? 6 ) Get a new, more energy efficient family ASAP. Gumtree or eBay etc. 7 ) If thats a fact, then consider utilising battery storage to run the HP at night, but prob best to wait a couple of years for the battery market to become a but more viable. Prices are dropping, but let them drop a bit more first, IMO. From what I've heard the Tesla cannot be stopped from taking grid electricity to satisfy its recharge requirement, and there are others around which are preferable. I'm looking into this in depth at the moment for a couple of clients, I'll add what I learn when I can. I am not an expert on this by any means. 8 ) Same here and feel your pain. 9 ) With the windows left open and the HR turned off you'll need all the help you can get ! 10 ) Pretty fine figures for a retro-fit. Do you have a concrete slab to put heat into or thin screed / other as the main emitter ? With a HP you should be able to top that up without any tears, plus with the extra PV you may well be able to store some excess into a Sunamp heat battery and then leave the HP off at night. Problem is, those open windows, so prob best just to use the HP and be happy with the offset of the running cost via CoP. 11 ) Maybe reconsider point 6 12 ) Agree. Battery storage or a better medium for storing DHW, other than wet tanks, ( eg a Sunamp heat battery which would give you 3 times the storage of heat energy for the same equivalent physical size but with far lower standing losses ) may become your friends. You don't want to get into a situation where you have paid for additional PV but then are exporting. Get your heating installed and DHW running via the buffer ( from the HP, so all DHW preheat is at max CoP ) and then wait on a years figures before deciding to add more PV. Storing off PV in the day plus the CoP may make more PV an unwise choice unless you can routinely charge the car in the day Plenty of info here if you'd like to browse a little. For the benefit of others wanting to comment, can you give a better breakdown of EXACTLY what you have in place right now please Cylinders / type etc. Cheers.

Hence why I use adhesive and drag / spot fill according to the dips. Ditra doesn't level though, so there is merit in its ( the SL ) use if its bad. Just how bad it can be over new Weyroc remains to be discussed

There are very few flexible self levellers around, and if you try this I almost guarantee you'll end up with a floor that has build up, but is not as level as you'd think it'll end up as. A proper 2-part self leveller is a dream to work with, but AFAIK there are only water based 'builders screed' type levellers available which just dont flow anywhere near as well as you'll need. You will find the high points just get a little higher, which is the opposite of what you want. If it were me, I'd identify the high points with a 6' level, and note the bad ( low ) bits. I'd then mix up some tile adhesive and use that to fill the dips making sure to add nothing to the high points. Use a straight edge and level the adhesive off flush to the high points but not above them. Dont worry about the UTH wire, as long as your not wearing stilettos you'll not hurt it. Then apply the SL, mixed ( and added to as I say below ). Ditramat is down and UTH wire too ! If you want to use a flexible SL then Ultra is a product I'd recommend as I've used a LOT of their gear over the last 10+ years without a single issue. I'd recommend spraying a dilute solution of Ultra flexible primer / water with a Hozelock bottle immediately prior to laying the SL, and I'd also mix exactly the quantity of water they state on the bag. Once thoroughly mixed chuck a half pint of the mixed primer solution into the SL and then mix it one last time. Get the SL down quickly and thats the best you'll get without hand finishing / trowelling the adhesive as per my first suggestion. Make 1000% sure the UTH wire is fixed down and every loop end taped to the floor prior to laying. If you level 4mm and the wire floats up you'll be using the same amount all over again to lay the tiles so will end up 8mm total. Expensive and a waste of time then. Make sure the perimeter is sealed up so no SL can dissaperr down any rabbit holes, as thats a real PITA when you mix up 6 bags but only 2 stay in the room. Caulk or exp foam are your friend there.

You shouldn’t use self leveller on top of crack matting It sort of defeats the object

Thanks. I’ve done it. Thank feck for that! But did the top first and improvised with getting the springs pushed up afterwards. It wouldn’t let me hook the top on without pulling the backplate away from the wall so that it could slide behind. As @Onoff says screwdrivers have a multitude of uses. Used 3 different ones here and none of them touched a screw. Only 5 more cisterns to go

Yep done this. Make it quite liquid - another half a litre per bag - and make sure the floor is wet too. I’ve used Mapei but wasn’t overly happy - it doesn’t cover what it says on the bag. Also used Wickes own brand and that was fine too. Make sure it’s the flexible one though..!

I was recently using some oak I Slabbed 5 years ago with a chainsaw mill to make a fire place. To get a good top surface I first got a bit of ply and made a couple of timber sides. I then wedged my oak board in and levelled it up so that the vary minimum of wood would need to come of the top surface to get it level. Once it was chocked up I screwed it in place (making sure the screws were well below the finished plane level. I then just stated shooting it through my makita planer / thicknesser what will take up to just over 300mm wide. I just took of a fraction each time to prevent overworking the motor but it worked great. The final result was fantastic and was so smooth I did not even need to sand it. I tried to upload the video I made but failed due to it being the wrong file type....... and I am a dinosaur when it comes to my iPad. I have nearly finished the fire place and will start another thread when it’s done. But I just wanted to show that I did something just like you are talking about with very basic kit. Ie a planer only !

For the frame, can you get a local wrought iron business or blacksmith to make you one? It would need careful design to avoid looking like a patio item, but it might work. Alternatively, there are lots of chunky metal legs on Ebay, including some of these. Ignore the hairpin legs. https://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/metal-table-legs Ferdinand

Our local sawmill could do it, and are an old-fashioned place where you just walk in and chat to the family members who run it. I know them all well and could easily ask them if they'd do it, and what they'd charge (not much is my guess). They have a crude website here: http://www.ridleysawmill.co.uk/ but do everything face to face or over the phone, as they're not really that up with the computer age yet. The problem would be getting the oak down here and back.

You could try asking a local timber merchants if they could plane it "in between jobs".

I have circa 20 windows sat in the garden gently rotting. I have a half empty skip. Is this my best call of action to combine the two or is there something better I can do?

I had to take the exterior wall of a house down from the wallplate where the roof sits down to the 1st floor joists as it was bulging. When I had it all open and you could see the inside wall a neighbour said to me you should have supported that wall as it will fall down. I said to him how would you like me to support it? He said acro props and I said what do you want me to support, the slate roof. When I pointed out the roof sits on the inner wall he just looked at me and I carried on repairing the wall. Just ignore him and prove him wrong as people have said.

Mood hoovers. Don’t let them grind you down. Choose to be positive and use their negativity to motivate not discourage.

Don't get down. Get fixed price quotes on things you can't do, say roof, electrics, plumbing, windows and doors. Tbh have a think, ask on here and you might be able to DIY some of those to some extent. Do the stuff where you can provide the labour yourself to save on that element. Loads of options for "on the cheap" that look good (Pinterest). Scaffold board kitchen maybe etc. If you don't need it "now" defer doing it.

I think there will always be room for negotiation, but will just add a note of caution. An acquaintance recently had a new house built, on land they already owned, going down the main contractor route. Although he and his wife have run their own businesses successfully for years, I don't think he knew much about building work. He trod the fairly common path of getting an architect to design the house and get planning permission, then went to tender for a main contractor to build the whole house. He had quotes in from a few builders and selected one. As there always are when building a house, a few minor things changed as they went along, but nothing that should have had a major impact on price, in my view (I've seen his plans). When they got to the end of the build, the bill from the contractor was £20k more than the quote, on an original build cost of around £120k, IIRC. The reason given was changes in spec from the client plus increased material costs, both of which are in dispute. Needless to say the client was not at all happy, and so is still battling with the contractor over this increase, but I don't think he'll win, as he did not have a firm price contract with the main contractor, he just accepted a quotation. Firm price contracts are fixed in price, fixed price contracts are not fixed in price - variation is allowed for some things, like exchange rates pushing material costs up. Quotes are very often treated as an estimated price, neither a firm or fixed price and a quotation should be a firm price but very rarely is in practice. This last point is where I think a lot of people come unstuck, they believe a quotation is the actual price they will pay at the end, and often it isn't. One thing we found was that very few builders have a properly drawn up and negotiated contract procedure. They give a quote, perhaps with their standard terms of business, and expect to be given the job on that basis, with them having the freedom to adjust the final price as they go along. This is fine as long as the client is kept informed every time something affects the final price, and a good main contractor should do this regularly, so the client knows each week or so what the changed final price will be. Some don't do this, as in the case of my acquaintance, and then the client gets a nasty surprise at the end. We didn't go down the main contractor route, but we did have two main contracts, one firm price contract with the ground works company (roughly £50k in our case) and another firm price contract with the house build company (who built the foundations and weather tight and insulated house frame and a detached garage) that was a bit over £60k. I drew up both contracts, and agreed them with the contractors, with agreed stage payment plans. From the discussions I had with several companies during the tender stage I don't think many usually worked to any form of written contract at all. So, my advice would be to choose a main contractor that has priced realistically for your area and try to agree a firm price contract, rather than accept a quotation. There is always a risk with a firm price contract that the price will be a bit higher, as the contractor will build in some risk contingency to his price, but for you the advantage it that you know what the final price will be. The other down side with a firm price contract is that it limits your options to change things as they go along - each change needs an agreed variation to the contract. Alternatively, agree a fixed price contract, or accept a quotation, and ensure that there is a clause requiring the main contractor to discuss price changes with you on a regular basis.

Reading between the lines here, from the outset of this project you undertook the roles of surveyor, structural engineer, building control inspector, quantity surveyor and project manager. It is unreasonable to blame the solo low-end 130 quid a day bod who decided to work for you, he probably wanted out by the end of day-2 as the poor condition of the structure was revealed.