Leaderboard

As entertaining as it is arguing about black and white it I think it is ultimately futile. Apparently debate is healthy, however I think it is ultimately futile as the vast majority of people tend to be entrenched in their views and no amount of debate can change that. With that in mind, the only people ever worth bothering with in Politics etc are the small number of 'undecided' - this small minority are the only ones with any power as it is them who 'swing' votes one way or t'other. I think the vast majority of voters are 'dumb', not in the sense they are stupid, they just blindly vote the way they always have or how their family has. The Labour party represent this in a way, their connection to working class roots has long since waned yet they are viewed as the party of the working class. The irony that a party of millionaires (as a lot of politicians are) 'represent' the working class! This is all a bit off tangent but I maybe we should look to engage/educate/encourage children from as young an age as possible by introducing this into the curriculum? to help future generations actively engage in how the country is governed, why, etc. I also think the media should be governed by a code of some description of how there correspondence is reported, they have far too much sway with their punchy, crass headlines which appeal to the baser instincts of human nature. The biggest issue in all of this is the lies that politicians peddle, surely they should be legally obligated to accurately present their arguments/manifestos. Not a single one of them is honest and how can they be. If Bill and Mary are peddling lies about your ideas and false promises with their own, the only way you can 'win' voters is to play the same game - being 'honest' would be the death knell for your political ambitions.

It's not just one thing that has the desired effect. You have to pay attention to every single detail. It doesn't really matter if it's timber frame, ICF or trad if it ain't right it won't work they way you want it to. Going round sealing every conduit, socket, switch, light fitting, taping the edges of doors and windows etc all just keep a tiny bit of heat in. Add all these steps up though and they make the difference.

and they have never balanced the books for the EU EVER --had numerous accounting firms and when they start finding problems --they get sacked

especially the ones in brussels we had no abilty to remove from office. a.k.a the Kinnocks

I think the EU want a deal more than we need it, and not just for the fishing rights being offered. They will try to make it seem like we have no chance of a deal until the last. Then make an offer we should just find acceptable. They are trying hard to make it seem a nightmare for any country that might have the gumption to leave. If we wanted a better deal we would have to show we are happy to walk away without one. I hope we do get one as it will make things much easier in the short term I just hope we don't give away too much. If we don't get a deal it will take a while to settle down, there will be problems for the government and many companies but we will benefit in the end. I think the EU would then offer us a much better deal once they see we are managing without them. The majority of those who bothered to vote voted to leave, if you didn't vote, you have no say and shouldn't moan about the outcome. If you voted to remain sorry democracy won. If you voted to leave be prepared for the hopefully temporary problems of no deal.

AB spoke to the rep and they are replacing the whole lot. Kudos to AB Building Supplies. Just means we have to take the whole lot off again.....

Not a single person out there can say this is true - not one. I have yet to see an economical impact statement presented in the last 5yrs turn out to be true/accurate. Everything that George Osbourne / Mark Carney stated as fact turned out to be yet more nonsense spouted by the remain side. We may well end up with a smaller economy, conversely we may end up booming. It is all conjecture so please don't present it as a given because it simply is not. They all lied - see financial impact statements presented by the former Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Governor of The Bank of England. They all have 'opinions' and as expected their opinions are flavoured by their leanings. Only history will be able to judge if it was the right call or not - remainer predictions are just that, predictions. One of the things that really annoyed throughout was the willingness of the CoE and the Governor of the BoE to talk down the economy at every given opportunity. I would say the 'negativity' of the remain side, talking down the economy and the country at every turn played just as big a part in the result as red buses driving around with Brexit promises splashed across them.

So you have a vote, turnout means that no-one gets above 50% and you propose re-running it.....really? The next vote happens, no-one gets over 50%, do we go again? Re-running the vote is the worst idea i have heard. You talk about disenfranchised voters, what do you think a rerun would do? A lot of thos who 'won' first time around wouldn't bother voting again. So what impact does that have on the result if say remainers get over 50% of the vote? Its an even more skewed vote as leavers wouldn't be represented either by protest absence / spoiled ballots etc. A re-run is a ridiculous idea. As for not having a binary question, what else do you put on there? Yet another nonsensical remainer ploy. So we have 1. No 2. Yes - Soft Brexit 3. Yes - Hard Brexit. No.1 gets 45%, No.2 gets 20%, No.3 get 30% - what is the solution there? No got the most votes in singular terms, but then 2 + 3 are both leave voters with a total of 50% so does leave win? But then the vote is split with neither achieving your fabled 50% so what do we do? Re-run the vote or go with No.3 which only got 30% of all votes cast? Farcical. The Lib Dems got their Alternate Vote referendum in 2011: The final result put the Yes vote at 32.1% and the No vote at 67.9%. I sometimes wonder if the remain side focused their efforts now on embracing leave and have the country all pulling in the same direction we might actually achieve something positive. All this sniping at the Government etc serves one purpose and that is to undermine them and helps the EU politicians. A country presenting a united front, regardless of underlying feelings about what happened with the vote, can achieve more. Remainers could have had a soft Brexit, but they weren't happy with that and what did the sniping/undermining achieve? It brought Theresa May down and gave us Boris and potentially no deal (which I am happy with to be fair!). Remainers have no-one to blame but themselves.

A reminder of what we were promised (and how it looks like it will turn out) Before you are quick to blame Brexit voters for destroying the country, take a look at what many politicians promied us would happen, that we could keep free trade etc. It now looks like those promises are not going to happen. the question should be why not? Were we promised something that was impossible (lied to)? Or did the people negotiating or deal not actually want a deal (we were lied to in a different way)? The result of all of this, (quite apart from the fact Brexit looks to be very damaging) is we are now ruled by a party that told us a bunch of lies, are going to deliver something very different to what we were promised, and yet nobody seems particularly bothered by that fact. It SHOULD both worry and anger you the depths that UK politics has sunk to, where the ruling party can promise any old rubbish they like, deliver something VERY different and very worse, we don't (or didn't last year) have an electable opposition, and scarcely anyone seems bothered by the dire state that UK politics is in.

buy an ifor williams trailer and put a shed on it ?

First class A minute ago you're telling us that the referendum was not won by leave because of non-voters didn't give consent Yet these miserable voter turnouts in the UK for European elections gives consent? (completely ignoring the non-voters who presumably didn't give consent either?) bravo.

You're definitely trolling now. Where was the consent for continued EU integration? The EU is framed as a stable consistent organisation and membership (Remain) as a continuation of what we already have but this is a complete misrepresentation. The EU has moved away from the Common Market to something more involved and will continue to do so. No consent for that and a vote for remain would have been twisted into mandate for as much integration as the like of Cameron/Osbourne/Labour and Lib Dem no marks thought would benefit them and to hell with the proles.

I am a remainer. I have never or will ever regard leavers as uneducated. But I am shocked at the level of vitriol, and saddened at the very poor quality of thinking behind many of the points made. Logical Fallacies (both formal and informal) are common on both sides of the argument. But one simple fact: that leavers won the election remains and must be respected. Its not to my liking, but that's tough. I used to train people to think logically. It's fantastically rewarding watching students (of any age) start to analyse text and speech. And slowly realise that respectful skepticism is a pre-requisite for analysing complex issues. The Brexit issue surely deserves that much respect. More honoured in the breach, it seems.

Come on mate, why do remainers assume leavers are idiots who didn't know what they voted for? My decision to vote leave was in no way influenced by promises written on the side of red buses. I took that for the same political clap trap that remainers were spouting to support their arguments. I was under no illusions about what I was voting for and have no issues with a potential no deal. My only issue with this whole process was the sorry saga involving Theresa May and her attempt to sell Brexit down the river therefore subverting what most people voted for in the first place. The way that MPs tried to row back and water down what the public voted for democratically was an absolute disgrace. The best thing to happen in the last couple of years was the hubris of Jo Swinney thinking she had a shot of making massive gains for the Liberal Democrats and agreeing to Boris Johnstones attempt to force a General Election. This forced Labour/Corbyn to support it too and gave the electorate another chance to give the MPs another good hiding at the ballot box. When Boris came back with a massive majority, and taking Labour strongholds from 'working class' constituencies i was over the moon. I woke up early to watch the Brexit results come in and I was absolutely buzzing. I woke up early to watch the results of the last election come in and again I was absolutely buzzing. Two massive elections and a massive resounding message sent to Parliament. I am far from uneducated, it baffles me why remainers assume (or like to kid themselves) we are?‍♂️

As a supporter of UK Independence (I hate the word Brexit) and co-owning a company that deals exclusively with Europe, my business partner is a remainer and so is my girlfriend so we all have debates regarding this subject and the following always come up. 1) There is no right and wrong, its personal belief and situations. 2) In a binary vote someone must win and another lose regardless of the percentages. 3) Had we voted to remain, would there have been a big effort and fuss to ensure everything was done to satisfy leavers? - probably not.

There's a beautiful little book - been in print since 1954 - that repays re-reading every once in a while. Huff, D. (1954) How to Lie with Satistics , Penguin

Hello Vijay. Well done getting the tools out. Below is a bit of text from a previous post. "Just on you own with a half bag Belle mixer, a good barrow, under cover, with not too many windows, tricky bits, and loading out the blocks each night for the next day, cleaning the mixer then with this amount of blocks I would go for 150 blocks a day (15m sq) if you are fit and tenatious. Expect this to drop off from time to time, well quite often, go for a hundered a day (10m sq) tops as you also need to order materials etc" Vijay, if you haven't done this before expect to lay say fifty 100mm thick dense block for the first few days. But the mix.. Oz07 @Oz07 is bang on with it being a learning process. Actually, a good labourer used to be worth their weight in gold to a brickie squad. Anyway here are a few pointers. 1/ Look after you materials. Get the sand, cover it up so it does not get too wet / or dry and to stop the local cats / foxes using it as a bog. 2/ Buy your cement in weather proof bags.. may cost a few pence more. 3/ Get some plasticizer for mortar.. 5 litres should about do. 4/ Get a half bag Belle or similar mixer.. bigger than that and you'll end up wasting mortar and having to dump it. 5/ Get two or three mortar boards.. kitchen doors work well, not OSB board as it splinters 6/ Tools.. string line, good bead etc. A bit of technical stuff. Below is some info from a common standard. The key here is to understand what type of blocks you are working with. If the mortar is too strong the blockwork will be more prevelant to cracking. Too weak and well.. that is just as bad as making it too strong. Roughly what you are often looking for is something around class two to three.. more leaning towards class three for practical purposes above ground.. provided you do you best to not remix stuff and really take care with the mortar, temperature, keeping the blocks not too wet or too dry (not on a boiling hot day or below 4 deg c or falling).. there is a lot too it.. but so long as you do a bit of research you should be on the way to a good job. You can see he above table refers to proportion by volume. This helps. Get a pail and pour half a 25 kg bag of cement into it. Mark the level. Now gently shovel the sand into the pail to the same level as the cement was. Tip it out onto a board and repeat. Now you have a pile of sand. Get your shovel and count how many shovels it take of the same size to move the sand into the mixer... note it down as you are learning. Don't whack the sand into the pail as you are not at the beach. As you go you'll get the hang of judging the proportions so you don't have to use the pail any more. Put half the sand into the mixer, Now depending on how dry the sand is you roughly need about the same volume or a bit less than the amount of cement. For the first mix of the day put the plasticiser in first following the instructions for how much you need for 12.5 kg of cement.. Now add water.. about half the volume of the cement measuring as you go. Now add the cement, a bit more water until it starts to mix and the back of the mixer is clean.. stuff not sticking to the blades... don't put your arm into the mixer.. Add the rest of the sand and very slowly add more water, it comes a point where you only need about a mug full to get it just right. Mixing should take three to five minutes.. don't over mix or under mix. The key to getting start is to make sure it is workable but not over mixed with too much air. It will take some time to learn how to do it but once you get the hang of it it can be very satisfying, so long as you take your time and set everything out carefully. From memory roughly one batch out of a mini Belle ( 12.5 kg of cement) will do about 25 number 100mm thick blocks. Do a bit more research and it's all doable. Lastly, just check that what you are building is a standard wall.. not some kind of specialist engineered wall with high strength blocks carrying high loads.. always check first.

Polypipe manifolds are crap... and expensive crap too ..! Save your money and buy from Wunda or one of the other online suppliers If you’re having a manifold that will be controlling / supplying each radiator, why do you want rad valves at the radiator end ..? Flow control will be done by the actuator and the flow meter so you don’t need valves. These would be fine https://pswtradesuppliers.co.uk/brass-compression-fittings/78-16x12-male-elbow.html

I plan to have an air test one day when I’ve finished keep building extensions, I dread to think the result, but I try as best as I can to seal everything up and use membranes and tapes where necessary, I just keep thinking as long as my annual consumption of gas keeps dropping, whilst also adding more floor area, that’s got to be a good thing! Having completed around 40% of the total floor area this year I can certainly tell a massive difference, but know I still have a long way to go yet. Keeps me busy ?

Time to do some negotiating. I am paying £36 for Landline, Broadband and one mobile phone sim.

No it was earlier than that. Maastricht & Lisbon treaties that both moved the EU from a "Common Market" towards what it is now. We were promised a referensum on at least one of those then never got it. Perhaps, just perhaps had we had that referendum and rejected it, then it would have to have been toned down and re negotiated and the EU might not have become so dominant and might have been acceptable to the majority in the UK?

This is what a lot of water companies do know when installing a new main into an existing house.

Difficult to say really as there is no big 'gotcha', it is more a collection of little things which on balance leave me thinking, regretfully that we are better off out on the whole. Don't get me wrong, I'm pro European, I just don't like what the Union has become. Free movement, the ability to go live and work in other countries are great and its a shame to lose them. I think that the EU is too different to integrate in the way they are trying and its causing a lot of issues. There is a big wealth/debt imbalance, I dont like how Governing the EU works, it seems like a cess pit of self interested motivations. The EU came up with a constitution in 2005, put it to a referendum in France and The Netherlands where it was soundly rejected. What do they do, rewrite it slightly as the Treaty of Lisburn and sign it off without so much as a 'by your leave' to their voters. Such contempt is shown by those in power to the electorate its disgusting. The contempt they showed David Cameron when he went to try and 'win' concessions pre Brexit vote. They gave him nothing and he had to pretend otherwise. They were dumbfounded when the UK voted leave simply because they have no grasp whatsoever of public opinion or they choose to wilfully ignore it. I cant support remain whilst the EU is governed in such fashion. It was supposed to be a trading union, God knows what it is now. The subsidy system, all of it is a cess pit of self interests. They are battling now over the Brexit relief fund in the event of no deal. Look at the cluster f**k with the EU Covid Relief Package, Poland and Hungary looking to veto it because they don't want clauses which prejudice against their access to the fund. They are slowing becoming autocratic, suppressing their judiciary etc, what can the EU do....nothing. It is an impotent and corrupt organisation. They 'buy' Turkish agreement to stop the flow of migrants and now have to tread carefully with the Greece/Turkey oil drilling issue in case the Turks open the gates and let the migrants through. Powerless to stand up for one of their own. Greece and Italy were hammered with the migrant crisis, the EU declared that all EU countries had to accept a redistribution of migrants to help Greece and Italy out...did they....no. They left Greece and Italy to it. Its a Union of equals when it suits, when it doesn't it is every man for themselves. A great idea, poorly led and poorly executed.

That almost offends me! I got an air test of just over one so think I did pretty well in terms of detailing a traditional build! I've got 200mm eps ground bearing slab, which I was hoping would be better than previous 150mm pir over b&b due to Warmer ground temp 150mm cavity filled with dritherm 34 350mm earthwool in loft All parge coated with airtight membrane linking down to parge coat and suspended ceiling void for services. Anyway it's all knowledge I'll know what to focus on next time!

You could try something like this: INSUduct® MDPE Pipe Entry Protection Box www.gasandwaterpipelines.co.uk

There are a lot of variables but it's interesting to give a picture of how good peoples houses perform. I'd be pretty chuffed if I was getting some of the low figures quoted here. Also it's taught me something doesn't seem quite right with my place be interesting to alter this ventilation and teaches me to try something new next time. Graphite beads would be my weapon of choice going on declans experience.

That depends if you want it to move, or just want it to look like it could be moved. A caravan has to be within the design weight of the chassis and suspension and have brakes etc to legally be towed on the road. But a garden office on a caravan chassis just has to not collapse. It would not matter if the weight bottomed out the suspension and the tyres were over their weight limit. I just has to look like it could be dragged onto a low loader to be transported.

I got my nose soundly broken by a a Royal Irish Regiment sergeant for calling him a Paddy. Let my own Regiment down using that epithet. He's a very nice man, very very nice man (still) I'm sure ?

Couldnt agree more ... as someone who relies on working closely with Europe every day

The UK got a pretty decent return on its membership fee, CBI estimates 10:1 It also represented just under 1% of GDP or 2% of public spending. The reason for all of your latter issues are 100% down to the UK govt of the day and their approach to tax and spend.

But equally, how can you lump those votes into your remain grouping? It is true there was no majority for leave, but where is the majority for remain??

That "contract" graphic is the best I could find in a hurry. There is a much better one that I have seen but could not find in a hurry that sets out the exact statement made and the date it was made by all the politicians declaring what we would get if we voted for Brexit. Most of those are still MP's now and strangely none seem bothered that we are unlikely to get what they themselves promised before the referendum. Whatever your view of Brexit, it bothers me greatly that nobody is accountable for anything they say in public office.

I was pleased to read that the EU and UK have reached agreement over NI border checks. Threatening to break international law was not very becoming.

I agree with this, to many variables. Similar to cost per meter squared threads. All self builds are unique. I don't suppose anybody would compare a self builder in South East of UK with one in the South of France. Different conditions, different approaches. Your point about temperature is interesting, I would imagine all newish self build on here should be able to get to between 18-19 degrees without any heating.

“Without an economy you have nothing “ Someone said this once . It’s true . Because stuff your economy and all the other things get knackered also . The problem with brexit which people forget is what they were promised . Money for nhs , easy trade deals , keep the immigrants out - take back control !! Hurrah ! Sounds amazing ! - reality is a bitch . We had a half way deal by being in the EU . Not perfect by any means . But our economy has grown by being in the EU ; cheap Labour , London’s access to EU financial markets etc etc Equally the EU doesn’t ‘get’ what the U.K. wants . The only phrase left to chirp is ‘ sovereignty ‘ . Not sure exactly what that is . Will the US or China roll over for us - no . Far bigger economies than ours . Unfortunately we were part of the largest trading block on the planet . Whilst you can argue quite reasonably about dumb EU rules on bananas and fishing etc. - the bigger picture is what we need to look at . Public were largely sold a lie - now government has to deliver some half baked mess that makes no one happy . Sensible hat off - screw up some pipework hat on .

@PeterStarck Exactly, and as temperature differences increases, the energy usage goes up exponentially, confusing things even more. One of the reasons that just my space heating load is tiny. Take today, the sun is flooding in, washing on the line and I am sanding woodwork. All very comfortable. But if I had to tumble the washing, and was sitting down in the gloom, my energy usage would go up.

Do these calculations actually mean much when interior and exterior temperatures aren't known nor is exposure of the building known. Wouldn't the number of occupants affect the energy use. I would have thought the number of variables is too high to make these figures useful. I would use a lot more energy heating my house if I lived up near @ProDave for example. When I ran PHPP, designing my house, I found heating it to 20 degrees would use 12kWh/m2/a and heating it to 23 degrees would use 20kWh/m2/a. There's also no mention of whether all a house is heated to the same temperature all the time, or whether when at work the heating is off. Not really knocking it but take it all with a pinch of salt.

Keep going, you'll get there. I had to crawl into the floor void last week to pull a cable for outside Xmas lights. Which was a clear reminder of why its taken me 5 years so far not to insulate the suspended floor yet.

I can't see the lockshields listed anymore actually. I've got loads spare if you are after one or two or them, just PM me your address and I'll send some over to you. The MLCP stuff is still there, its all listed under UFH Water Heating System. Their website has changed a lot since I bought from them and its harder to find stuff now. Also the pipe has WRAS printed on it:

You got me there. It was worth a shot

Look at some of the foreign stuff, we are still living in the 60s, some of the nice rads have both valves on one end of the rad so you get this very neat two port valve, plumbed from underneath so no pipe tails on show at all. It is also easier to get the spacing right as you just know that pipes ate 50-60-70mm apart rather than knowing size of the rad.

This thread seems to jump quite far ahead fir a simple question. I have a gen 2. It works fine, it benefits me in now I can see all my consumption historical and live. Hence can switch things off. It hasn't affected my tariff and it isn't variable. I am on the same rate I would have if I didnt have one. I don't see why there is so much contempt for a wee device that automatically sends away your figures...

Interesting reading this. Over the years the waters seem to have become more muddied by the TF suppliers making it harder to compare quotes. Scotland in some ways are more ahead with the TF concept.. long storey... in some ways we went though this journey 20 years ago. Just roughly a lot of the projects on BH are of a good size, some with a significant value. Given this it may be worthwhile just asking how much the basic TF costs.. walls + roof. Given many of the project values here on BH there could be saving to be made by looking at this and paying someone else to design the insulation, advise on the windows doors and other high cost elements... perhaps take your time to choose these elements and shop about your self. There is often not that much money in the structural kit compared with the rest of the job.. it is the extras that seems to be where the Tf manufacture's are making their margin. Also, as soon as you want to make any changes as you go then each time you need to go back to the TF to check out insulation values etc..and at what cost. maybe as a self builder you should consider the need for flexibilty. As you go you want to make changes. Maybe there is merit in getting the basic kit up, the roof weather proof and working with your local builder as you go?

common market. ! Don’t tell me, let me guess, You voted remain ?

We were looking at putting an office pod in our garden, does anyone know the best value ones to get?

Yep - 1/3rd cubic metre tubs with a retarder in that lasts 3 days from delivery. Consistent and very good and means they aren’t waiting on mixes.

Yep delivered

Sorry but I can’t help it..... why can’t you just go and sleep In a room ( or a tent) that’s not noisy while you conduct the experiment that people suggest ? I have various health issues, sleep very poorly and need complete quiet for a good nights sleep but can still manage to sleep in the back of my landrover in a sleeping bag when it’s -5 by the side of a road without whinging..... come on man, stop finding excuses why you can’t do something and come up with some solutions so you can. People are here to help but you need to rise up to the occasion and show some fortitude and a willingness to work with people.... Don’t bother having a rant about how I am picking on you bla bla bla .... it’s a public forum and I actually want to see this thread come to a happy ending but it’s sooooooo hard being an armchair critic and not saying something !

Any except the 'combis' have a heat pump that provides cooling - https://www.genvex.com/en/products/air-ventilation---air-heat-pump just do not expect them to cool an 'oven',

Do not use chrome plated copper into a push fit connector, they blow off, the teeth inside the fitting cannot grip the chrome.