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Hello, Another post and another year of self building. Since my last entry we have made some progress in a few areas. I previously mentioned some trouble that I had with the treatment tank. We choose a Tricel model as it is widely installed on Skye and the local merchants all suggested it. The alternative was a rotating one with moving parts which I was keen to avoid. Other models were getting costly to be delivered and would require some form of mechanical unloading at my end. After my post I had a fair bit of communication with the manufacturer and the merchant. I didn’t back down and didn’t pay, in the end they backed down and sent a replacement. This went via Inverness and the merchant wanted to inspect before delivering to Skye, guess what they found? Three tanks later and it’s now in the ground. Discharge will be to a ditch, which at this time of year is wet but for most of the year is usually dry, this runs off to a wooded area at the bottom of the croft. Our original warrant and SEPA approval was for a traditional septic tank and soakaway (amended installation was agreed with both parties). After some posts on BH it was clear that a treatment tank would be the better option all around. I should say that a traditional septic tank and soakway is still quite popular in the Hebrides, two recent self builds both installed this set-up. Whilst the digger was here, we decided to get some further work done. A gravel drain was put around the back and is working well. Rotten rock which was at the front of the house was used to bring up the level around the house. A big pile of clay and top soil (or mud mountain as some called it ?) from works back in 2015 was then landscaped around the site. We are pleased with how the house sits in its surroundings. Finally, here is one from the Broch. People have been self building here since the Iron Age! Although this one is down to foundation level with the rock reused multiple times in various self builds during the last two thousand years. We now need to put the fence back up around the site to allow our sheep to come back on the croft. Today’s job has been digging and fitting four posts. The electricity connection was moved from the temporary supply box into the house. The cost for this work was cheap at around £200 and done by two very tidy and polite SSE workers. This simple homemade box was constructed from scraps and has lasted four long Hebridean winters but will now be recycled for another purpose. Talking of recycling, I don’t have a skip on site and everything apart from dust is stored and will be used for another job. Internally all our efforts have been on the upstairs of the house. Upstairs is an easy win to get completed as it’s just our two children’s bedrooms and an upstairs living area. A bit of time has been spent with our MDF skirtings, architraves and cills. We used real wood in our last build project and it has moved slightly over the years, MDF won’t do this and is cheap, but requires work in sanding and painting. Carpets are due to be fitted at the start of January and once these are down it will just be electrical sockets, lights etc to finish the rooms. Internal decorating can then commence downstairs. That’s about it, the kitchen has been fitted and downstairs flooring is done but both are covered by copious amounts of cardboard and I’ll upload some photos once this is removed. Thanks for reading. This will be the last post for 2019, hope everybody has a great Christmas and best wishes for your projects in the New Year!

getting there slowly but getting there

It very definitely would be. The first plot we were looking to buy was challenging, mainly because, although it was around 1/3rd of an acre the space available to put a house on it was very limited. Luckily, the planning officer was very helpful, drove over to meet us at the plot and talk through what we wanted and what he felt would be acceptable. In the space of about an hour on site we had a pretty clear idea of what we probably could and could not do. Sadly it seems that this is very much the exception rather than the rule, as planning officers just don't seem to have the time to do this any more. It's a pity, as I suspect that if they made a bit of time available up front like this, they may well save a great deal more time later in the process.

The idea of HSE, really, is to stop people exploiting the safety of those they employ or have other control of. Things have improved enormously for factory workers, and other labourers in the past 100 years. But that's not what we read about. I reckon much of the HSE stuff we hear about - from the local Round Table not being able to do their annual fireworks display, to the local council insisting upon hard hats being worn when inspecting the pavement - is largely insurance driven. IF something happens, and somebody makes a claim against them, then the insurance won't cover them if they have not followed the terms to the letter. Mean time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd_FMM8FPAU

Just beautiful ..! So envious of your views ..!

I did the MOSFET upgrade on my Anet A8 because I'd read of problems with the control board connectors. Later I was told it wasn't strictly necessary because the connectors had been improved on the latest versions of the control boards. The issue is that on a 12V system the bed heater draws quite a lot of current. This goes from the PSU to the control board then on to the bed heater. eg it runs through connectors on the main board. With the MOSFET mod you run two new power wires from the PSU to a new MOSFET board and then on to the bed heater. So the high current no longer goes through the mother board connectors. You can do the same mod on the nozzle heater. It's less critical but explains why some people do two MOSFET mods. I'd check on a forum for the anycube i3 to see what others think. If the connectors have been improved it may not be needed anymore. I found this video on how to do it here for your printer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol6QecdYUw0 It shows how to do a MOSFET upgrade for both the bed heater and the nozzle heater. Although for some reason he uses the words "Table" and "Tip" instead of "Bed" and "Nozzle". Looks like you need to print some mounts to support the MOSFET boards first. Be careful with the wiring polarity. I accidentally powered up after the mod with 12V and 0V swapped. Normally that would destroy the control board but somehow I got away with it. PS: I think some control boards had/have push-on power connectors and others have screw terminals for spade connectors. The screw type are better.

Someone bought the house and refurbished it. They then sold it minus part of the garden which they had obtained permission to build a house on. The new owners were the only people who objected to the single storey house even though we already gave permission to build a two storey house. Apparently they cited that it would hurt the value of their house which was ignored.

Well, happy 21st! @Temp, do you reckon the MOSFET upgrade as worthwhile? He (we ?) do intend printing ABS: https://m.all3dp.com/1/anycubic-i3-mega-upgrades-mods/

The problem is, that's the one rule that dickheads think doesn't apply to them. But who am I to talk - I hate going up ladders, but have done so many times, and over the years have got away with some real stupidity. Fortunately, I find my fear of ladders, and such like, increases as I get older, so I'm less inclined to go very high on them, and less likely to be stupid[1]. [1] Not necessarily in a general sense, of course.

Is this a wise conversion? Doing so, if the neighbour then did the same, would turn both houses into "semi detached" and devalue both of them. A rear extension might make more sense?

I still have the barn tool box I made as an apprentice, including making the hinges.

I keep meaning to buy some of Uncle Bumbef*ck's stickers: Available from here: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/687412636/warning-stickers-mk-ii

Use option 2 and insulate it well, and make sure you strap it to every joist as you go so it doesn’t move.

Had the same HSE nonsense once in the Ford Dagenham I was wrongly standing on a A frame scaffold around a pit that was 4ft off the ground to nut some bolts up ,was told to put a harness on, the fact I had nothing to clip to wasn't apparently an issue ?.

I don’t see why not, I am sure the studs can take a compressive load as long as good fixings are used (bolts?). My only worry would be noise, make sure it’s mounted on good rubber mounts and surrounded with sound deadening material. Mine is hung from roof trusses rather than sitting on ceiling joists and no noise can be heard at all.

A stop tap. As you get older you take more pleasure in the little things in life.

United Utilities operations teams (the lads on the ground) could not have been more helpful. Every person arriving on site looking at the design (detailed here) agreed that someone in the office did not provide a competent design is (one that takes into account the fact that stop tap packing glands fail occassionally) Another less charitable interpretation is that they do know how to design competently, but are deliberately not fitting stop valves. What is the likelihood of a Plasson Stop Valve packing gland failure? I mention that because the operator in the New Connections Team let slip that they were not fitting external stop valves nowadays: and immediately she said that, I could hear her biting her lip...... Alls well that ends well.

they are - it’s rock hard and easy to get a sharp edge on it with a router too.

Bribery might work. Or can you do an aspect of work to get the commencement fixed in, and then consider varying the existing as Plan C. Gateway or soakaway? Presumably you will be on the CIL-exemption before work requirement (?) Ferdinand

Progress on site has been a bit slow so we have combined the last two weeks together, and also the guys packed up early on Friday for their long and well earned Christmas break. Over the last two weeks you can see them taking down the last of the shuttering and getting it off site. So that is the end of the poured concrete for us which is a big milestone and you can now see the full extent of the basement / foundations. The next step was to put a fillet of mortar all around the outside of the kicker to get a smooth edge for the membrane, and then prime the outside of the concrete in black. Then they have started to put on the external tanking membrane which has been a real challenge in the wet and cold. At one point they resorted to putting the membrane in the digger cab and running the heater to get it flexible and warm. They managed to get the left hand side wall completed and the first job next year will be to put the French drain around that side and backfill with clean stone so they can get around to the back and continue the tanking. They then need to build the internal walls out of blockwork and then the beam and block floor ready for the Timber Frame. So given a really wet autumn progress is pretty good; the guys have worked really hard and though it has taken longer than we thought, we are pretty happy. Now it all depends on the weather in January! The waterproofing guys inspected the concrete and declared it 'near perfect' so looking good for the warranty. Also the BCO and Structural Warranty folks all seem happy so that is comforting. They seem impressed, as we are, with the quality of the work and the attention to detail - which, given the weather, is a huge credit to the guys on site. And whatever the weather they are cheerful and work really hard. Are there any convention out there on how you treat your contractors? - we make sure to drop off cake or cookies to them about once a week, and even mince pies for Christmas! It also looks like we have finally got some drawings to sign off from the TF company so just waiting on our SE to agree and we can push the button to get it into production - so likely to see it in Feb. Similarly with the windows - we have a complete schedule that looks good and though it has taken ages the window supplier, the TF supplier and our Architect all see to be in agreement - fingers crossed they all fit!!!! And they are on 12 - 14 weeks lead time so likely in March! So wishing all of you following our build a Happy Christmas and we are looking forward to further progress and an exciting New Year! On the video front see https://www.dropbox.com/sh/th9f6e3cel5dm1q/AAAfsWdAH184J75bCNUUtzVra?dl=0 for the weekly videos (Week 12 & Week 13 just added - but not too exciting). And as an extra special Christmas treat the entire 13 weeks of 2019 Groundworks videos are compacted down to a 3 minute video summary named 2019 ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/jbvjhdxn1dyrufm/2019.mp4?dl=0 ) Its much too quick to capture the detail but it give a really rapid view of the progress we have made this year - starting after the demolition in October. So still a way to go - but moving forward is so much better than having your soul ever so slowly destroyed by the Planning process! So From This To This

These give an idea of what it is... (it looks much better than it is in the photos thats for sure!)

I once did a very detailed risk assessment (in Australia) for working under a helicopter while long lining 1000kg of rocks in bulk bags into a deep canyon that had never had a helicopter operation carried out in it and as it was a deep canyon did not get wind through it to blow of dead branches (called widow maker’s) with all practical measures in place the risk was HIGH but by providing an emergency response procedure and a whole bunch of other measures to protect the ground crew I was confident that should something go wrong a medical response could be provided within a minute or two at the most. The guy representing the government agency I was working for told me to go away and re do the risk assessment and get it down to medium, I told him that unless he wanted to clear fell the whole canyon of trees (we had multiple drop sites) there was NO way it could be reduced and that the rating HIGH was the correct one. He informed me that I was obviously incapable of carrying out the operation and that his own government team would do there own risk assessment and do the lift ( I had 20 years of experience working below helicopters) he had only been out of university a few years...... needless to say during there operation a big branch came down and broke one of his guys arm and collar bone, was lucky it was not his neck, and no paramedic on site. Fudging the numbers on a risk assessment is a very dangerous thing.

Is it me or have we crossed into the conservatory thread?

Possibly not a well-founded assumption when they specifically mention Northern Ireland BC.

The main problem is that health and safety legislation is aimed at everyone, not just those who can actually be trained to work more safely. There are people around who, no matter how much effort is put in to trying to train them to do things safely , will just ignore it and carry on. Best example I can think of is a friend of mine, left the RAF as a Chief Tech Armourer and got a job in the Middle East as an armaments instructor, working for a well-known ME air force. He terminated his contract early and came back to the UK, for one reason only; he was expected to train dickheads for whom no amount of training was ever going to enable them to work safely. The final straw was after he'd spent weeks trying to train a team of armourers to safely load missiles to underwing rails. There's a sizing procedure that has to be followed to ensure the correct tolerance between the rail and the missile, so it can both be installed safely and will fire away from the rail cleanly at launch. No matter how many times he tried to train the guys to gauge the rails and missiles to ensure the right fit, they never seemed to get it. The day he walked away was when he saw one of them using a mallet to force a (live) missile on to a rail, as the fit was too tight. He lost a fair bit of money by walking away, but reckoned that if he'd stayed there for 100 years those guys would never have been able to work safely. His view was that the bottom line was that they had a very strong, fatalistic, view of when their own lives would end. The use of the phrase "insha'Allah" is commonplace there, and viewed by many as being a bit like the Cornish word "drekly", but in his view the guys he was training literally viewed it as if they could never be responsible for the time of their own passing, it was literally down to the will of Allah.

Probably because women, small children and animals may be upset. Really, all that is needed, is one rule. No Dickheads

He wasn't wearing a high viz vest. It would never have happened if he was.