Leaderboard

On my side of the bed so the wife couldn’t steal it.

nice and flat.

I think we calculated the combined buying power of BuildHub was circa £60m at any one point in time. How we actually use that is a very different question ..!

The snag is that there is some sort of universal law that dictates that stuff expands to fill the volume available. Add an extra cupboard and it will just end up full of stuff, so needing another extra cupboard, and so on, ad infinitum...

Did he recently sell a box of tools for £1?

or small child

I was given a free shed and didn't stop to think! I merrily went ahead, picked a spot out and excavated it. I build a base with a decent slab with a DMP underneath. I then built dwarf walls from some left over stocks and Celcon blocks and erected the shed on top. Tbh I should have chopped the thing up for firewood and sold it at the gate in bags putting the cash towards a proper shed! Given the available area it's not big enough to swing a cat in. But we are where we are... Looking then to, as cheap as possible, add a small side extension on. (Tbh I want to knock down the treehouse and wendy house elsewhere and build a 30m2 passive esque shed come garden room with green roof but that's for another thread). I'd put the little extension in the excavated bit where the water barrel is: The site slopes so I was thinking maybe cast a waterproof concrete wall on 2 maybe 2.5 sides and key a new slab into the existing one. If I cast the base first with some rebar sticking up around the edges then the walls later I assume I'll get seepage through between the new L shaped wall and base? Or do I cast floor and walls in two hits then just paint the outside with a liquid DPM? This is tbh only to store a few garden tools, old knackered cement mixer etc. I'll strap a sturdy door post to the existing shed side and make some double doors. As to how I integrate with the existing felt roof...

My strimmer head has worn out and given the amount of plastic line I loose to the environment I was wondering about replacing it with one of these, what do you think? Has anyone used one, are they any good ?

My trusty albeit much abused wheelbarrow. Rotary wire brushed and flap disc'd the frame. Got No2 daughter to etch prime it with a rattle can yesterday. Then in a big clear up I came across some green gloss paint left by the previous owner. Opened it up to an oil slick on top. Mixed it up and it was lumpy like porridge! Today I stuck it through a kitchen sieve (sanctioned) and employed some slave labour: But what to do with the old galvanised tub? It's rotted thru at 4 points. Let's be honest, cutting out a rectangle and TIG welding a new panel in is overkill. Thinking just 4 big square washers maybe bonded with CT1? Quick rotary wire brush and galvanising spray underneath:

Mine is no MOT now as >40 years old. But if you live on certain islands with no RoRo ferry connection to the mainland, vehicles used on the island are MOT exempt. There is a list somewhere of which islands those are. EDIT As noted below it is islands with no public "road" and which "do not have a bridge, tunnel, ford or other suitable way for motor vehicles to be conveniently driven to a road in any part of Great Britain"

In more general terms: The prices have gone up a lot at GH. Below are the prices of equivalent plots for each phase as I've been tracking them. 100k, Phase 0 (Pioneers, The Street) 230-250k, Phase 1A 300-315k, Phase 1B Given we paid £255k for 500m2 in Phase 1A, a golden brick of £62k, and actual already at £245k before getting weather tight... That leaves £20k remaining from our budget and we're not finished getting weather-tight. We'll be making no 'profit' as is typically marketed. And that I think is the point, and why GH's prices are high: People are so starved for land to build around here that they are willing to pay such high prices They don't want those who see the project solely as an investment I commend them on point #2 in particular, but it doesn't excuse foundation costs being x2-3 the norm nor the absolute inane bureaucracy they put in place. I'll stop there, GH does no good for my blood pressure!

I'd put it above the shower, as the shower produces lots more water vapour than the bath.

@K78 as far as I remember, you need to sign up on sketchup homepage first (they call their online platform trimble), and than you can chose the download (should be a dmg /mac file available there) I ll have a look tomorrow how exactly it works.

Talking about German preferences, I am currently on holiday in the old home country and what I can say strikes me a lot(careful, generalisation) There seems to be a lot more "stuff" made in Germany (but also in Switzerland, Austria or Poland, where I also spend a lot of time). The amount of small to middle manufacturers outside the UK seems to be huge, while in the UK I am constantly under the impression that my choice of "stuff" is either custom made - high price- or imported mass produced. With some exception of large factories. But the amount of medium to large size production is extremely little in my perception and all the infos I read and all the opinions on here seem to support that impression. Which I find a little scary tbh. @JSHarris all the stats you pull are generally supporting my impression.

Just been looking at other markets. Supermarkets have been mentioned previously, so here are the top 10 supermarkets in Germany: And here are the top 10 supermarkets in the UK: The pattern seems broadly similar to cars, in that Germany seems to have a strong preference for German-owned brands.

There is a strong tendency in countries like Germany to buy stuff that is made in their own country, unlike the UK. For example, take cars sold in Germany by manufacturer: Now look at the same data for cars sold in the UK in 2018:

Which is why the older you get, the more sheds you have.

Snowcrete is just a trade name, I'm actually planning to use whatever white portland cement the builders merchant has. From the Tarmac website... Blue Circle Snowcrete Tarmac Snowcrete Cement is a white Portland cement suitable for architectural uses, and provides attractive and durable concrete, rendering and mortar. Strength Higher early and later strengths than Portland Cement CEM I 42,5

Is it really about teabags and horse meat though. Most of our trade is finacial and other services. Many people think that these are not real goods, but they generate income, so are. We do, as a nation, fixiated with making things, eventhough we don't manufacture that much in the UK. Last year, Germany made 6.3 million cars, we made 1.52 million. About a quarter. We like to think that we are world leaders in pharmaceutricals, well in 2017 the UK employed 73,000 people, Germany, in 2015 employed 114,000. Even France employed more people at 92,000 The EU employed 723,000 in total. Finacial services in the UK employs 1.2 million people. It is in a totally different league.

@Onoff is a One-off. Kyrie eleison . (My iPad cannot even get liturgical Greek right without mangling it. Lord, have mercy ... since no one asked.)

I don't know why, but I have this image of your place in my mind.

This is a refurb job not buy new. Using whatever I can find lying around hence the old gloss, part used rattle cans. Cost so far zilch...or is it? I now need a new sieve as the old one I used to sieve the gloss is ruined. The 2 half used cans of etch primer used it's not there for something else. Call that £5 for a can. It got the kids doing something practical was the main thing and maybe made them think about the throwaway society etc.

I got an amazing barrow in Australia, I used it daily for years out there moving massive loads (60-120kg) on a regular basis for 10 years and as it had served me so well I found a corner for it in the shipping container when I sent a load of stuff back to Scotland, it’s still going strong, I had to rebuild the main bearing area with bits of old pipe and plastic but it’s fine now. I have never seen one like it for sale in the (UK) the extra wide wheel allows for large loads and provides great stability. Another one of my top 10 buys !

I'm not dealing with the "thick northern racist" thing, through I think that is perhaps an underlying cultural perception for some at the BBC - see for example the 'personal' twitter feeds of some presenters and staff. The Guardian has no external regulator, and would need a team of dozens just to keep track on the pratfalls imo. It has cost them their reputation. Now, on the BBC being held to account - imo they are tenacious in refusing to correct when challenged, and get a large number of things wrong. For example, you remember this graph from the Euro Election months ago, on the BBC - where they got a 'majority for remain' by pretending that the Tories were not pro-Brexit. From this page (now removed): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48403131 To hold them to account for this took three rounds of complaints, and a threat to go to OFCOM, before they switched from dead-bat tactics to admitting an editorial "misjudgement". And this for what they finally claim is a minor mistake. The history is here: There was another one iirc last week where the BBC extensively reported on "the need to stop eating beef" as a prioirity to stop climate change, entirely out of context of the actual international report which also included many other things as equally, or more, significant. No time to round that up now. This concerns me as they are the UK's media monopolist, with around a 40% share. They are just not very good at news istm, and refuse to be held properly to account short of extreme efforts. Not good enough for a tax funded setup. Ferdinand

I'm with Onoff. Fit them in anything but white. We all know what they are. Im 32 and am creating a seat in our shower for a similar reason. I wouldn't give it too many years before I need a handle to get off said seat. Just try to make it look less sterile.

I dont know. But what do we know? They are shaped like pliers so probably for holding or squeezing something. The holes in the grippy bit are serrated so possibly for turning something or stopping something turning. The holes are the same size so I doubt they are for crimping. Only thing I can think of it to apply different amounts of pressure. Unless there is an industry that needs three strands to be held apart and stopped from twisting....... Pre insulation days..... My guess is some kind of electricians tool. Probably best just used as a nut cracker so Dave wins

Ouch. You have paid £275K for the plot and foundations. That is more than my entire build including land. While I love the principle of Graven Hill, I think they are taking the p**s with the plot prices. That is going to be a £500K cost house at least by the time you have built it.

So... welcome ..! I know your architect, and I know why you’re going to be challenged to build that for the budget ..!! I would have a serious look at those wall specs as some are wrong (Party wall and internal stud wall) and some are just overkill. Why use sound block plasterboard on blockwork walls for example ..?? Firstly, seriously consider a straight render on block scheme, and lose some of the CaSil board on render detail as you don’t need it. There is a lot of cost for no benefit. Next, you do not need a party wall build up into a garage - it’s just classed as an external wall with insulation Thirdly, the differing insulation types and detail will give you a headache - switching from cavity fibre to external PIR on batten is pretty pointless and will just create cold bridges on transitions. You could do some serious value engineering on that and save a lot of money and make it much easier to build and still get the same effect. Out of interest, what are the sections through the floors and roof, and what’s the roof finish ..??

I can’t believe you cut those blocks around those bricks. Nearly spat my tea on the laptop.