Leaderboard

The next lot to argue austerity measures will have a had job selling that to the public. You made us suffer 10 years of austerity, holding back the economy and making things generally poor, then suddenly found all the money we did not have? won't fall for that again.

Your right Ian The money could be better targeted Perhaps nurses should have seen some of the windfall I was offered two 10k payments the help with my yard rent and business rates I’d be quite happy for that to go elsewhere

It always baffles me as to why anybody thinks that needing less bracing on your icf system is a good thing. You are going to spend £250-300-350-450,000 on building this house, why do people think that saving £500 on bracing is a thing to even consider.

I need to fold a bit of stainless to mount a doorbell camera in my gate pillar. Made one housing but not happy with the result of beating it over in the vice so decided to make a folder/brake press. I could do with one for some other bits I've got to make anyway. A case of what have I got lying around! A bit of 150x75 PFC, galvanised: Some 50x50x6 RSA: Some random, heavy wall steel tube. Plenty of bits of this and box about: I had intended to use weld on "pinet" hinges (from RS) but they are a bit lightweight perhaps. I've already started discing out the steel to fit these hinges. The axis of the hinge needs to be dead centre to where the top of the (mitred) RSA and PFC meet: Was struggling anyway with which way up to put the hinges. They've this odd "pointy" side to apparently make alignment against a straight edge easier. Reckon I'd be better off with plain, circular hinges: Plan was today then was to mark up and disc out for 33.7 OD hinges made from some old handrail off cuts: The tube ID is nom 27.7mm (3mm wall). All I have for hinge pins is some 25mm, 80mm long stainless shafts, or a short length of 1" ali. Whoops! Just realised the effective working length of this bender will only be about 400mm! OK for what I immediately want it for, to remake this: No good though when I come to remake my boiler top. Done by hand last time, edges beaten over clamped wood: I've cut my losses and stopped now. I've access to some longer channel I think so I'll get that.

Roof tiles at 16/18 weeks, told my builder and he dithered... put in a materials amendment last week to change to slate (probably for the better)

That is only partly true. here is more info than you probably want. The fact of it being steel is not the issue, as it is cut in such a way that the ends remain galvanised protected. Cut end peel can be a problem with plastisol, unless you pay more for the upgraded material, or apply a lacquer. It is not a problem with other coating finishes like pvdf or the rarer superpolyester. There are many grades of quality in both the metal and the finishes. Buy the best and there is little concern. As to standing seam. The main advantage is of course that no screws are visible, along with less chance of leaks as there are fewer penetrations. The same applies with composite panels. The disadvantages are that any damage in future is very difficult to replace. If you cut holes into the panel, then closing off is awkward and ugly, and the leaks benefit is reduced. This applies especially on very big roofs. And cost. I never had a client, spending their own money, who chose to go standing seam. ie architects specified it but were not aware of, our didn't consider, the cost. I reckoned that one screw in 500 (at 10/m2) might need tightening after which there would not be a problem, and that was on 10 degree slopes. If near the sea or pollution then additional checks are necessary for material and coating, esp re seagulls.

A friend is starting a self build. He has not broken ground but is about to order the roof tiles because the lead time quoted is so long.

I haven’t used any, but I’ve worked on 3 different ones this year nudura isotex velox. All products have there problems, as long as you know what they are you can address it, and work out what it will cost to put it right. Airproofing woodcrete for arguments sake, what will it cost to parge coat the inside walls and add in an air tight layer at floor junctions. It could be a couple of grand you hadnt planned on spending. But don’t worry you would save that in not needing to brace it. ?????. “

My windows from Velfac, Solarlux and Kloeber were all delivered on time, but any materials shortages may have been factored in to the lead times for manufacturing and delivery - 13 weeks for Velfax and Solarlux and 7 weeks for Kloeber (latter a front door only).

You can lease a brand new, top spec RR for a few hundred quid a month, means nothing. The guy who did our landscaping is an interesting 'case study. Not much education, left school to work for his dad who is a landscaper. Got fed up working with dad so went to work at a few local firms to hone his trade and then set out himself, specialising in block paving. After 3-4 years has moved into leasing small site diggers with the landscaping work on the side. Works every hour, all weather. Extremely honest and sensible with his money but not afraid to stand up to clients or other trades who muck him about. Built up an excellent word of mouth reputation and always has enough bookings to last him a year. To survive in his game you need to be extremely streetwise, hardworking and take no nonsense as otherwise you'll be devoured by clients and suppliers alike. He has seen plenty of mates envy his success and try to replicate it without the same work ethic or skill (kit is always available form other bankrupt trades or available on cheap finance, especially vans etc). They never last.

Airtightness. Cold-bridging water penetration. Uneven walls, due to lack of bracing. ??‍♂️

I'm going fibre next month with virgin supposed to average around 200mbs

Is the draught coming in from outside or from inside pipe boxing? Do the pipes run to outside or into an internal soil pipe in a box? Is it a cavity wall house or is it dot and dabbed?

Ah this could be an idea. I already reached out to the Italian manufacturer in the link posted by Dan F but they directed me back to a UK distributor so I'm still looking at the crazy prices usually quoted in UK. So how do you find an Italian retailer willing to ship overseas? Just realised I may have misunderstood the thread. I had assumed you got best price going direct to Italy but maybe it was more about negotiating best price for supply through UK distributors based on knowledge of Italian supply market.

How about getting a job with Building Control. Would learn all the ins and outs, then it would become easy to build/convert your own places. or the Planning Office, if he really wants to be hated.

At this point it is worth a reminder that if you have certain Employee Benefit cards, you can get an extra 10% off at Wickes on top of the Trade Discount. I have done very little maintenance / building work until recently to justify this. And I lost my Westfield Membership as it was mum's Westfield Health card, and she popped her clogs. Covered in my big old discount thread:

Lucky you - it's slowly rolling out in our town and I can see the contractors working on it but no idea when it would come down our street - OR engineer who came to repair cable said could be next year, could be 5

FTTP for us too and all the ducting, draw rope, chamber etc delivered for free as well. Like @Faz just have to run the ducts from where the pole will go and they'll come and fit the pole and connect the fibre.

Clearly not - I wonder if they have been put under a bit of pressure to up their game outside of major towns etc? The chap from Openreach rocked up to us on site offering this before we had even approached them for connections.

I thought they will only do that for commercial premises and in only certain areas?

ASHP isn't just about chucking in the pump and cylinder though is it? You've also got to design and commision the whole system so that it all functions correctly. I know someone who paid a lot of money for a heatpump installation and because something was wrong, it's burned through 3 compressors and now requires a whole new heatpump as replacement.

Lot depends on how complicated the design is. Simple rectangular houses with simple pitched roofs are cheaper than L shape with lots of dormers or similar complexities.