Ralph

We are having a issue with our Cedral. It's been up for 5 months or so and we are seeing some discolouration. The Cedral rep apparently thinks this is efflorescence from salts, like you get with concrete (builder sent them photos). However, the paint now looks to be flaking off quite badly, you can scrape it with a fingernail in places. I'm waiting on builder and architect to organise someone from Cedral to actually come out and look at it. Any thoughts? I'm not sure if we're looking at a manufacturing issue or what. Thanks

As other have said it's difficult to tell on this without drawings. When you wrote floating extension I envisage something more like a cantilevered 1st floor with steel columns for support. Having said that the blockwork looks very ropey and given that I would not be happy with the same people casting a lintel of that size in situ. Take a pause and get some advice before you go any further.

I go back and forth on the electric. I need to replace a bunch of tools so I'm not wedded to any particular ecosystem. Having said the the Makita stuff is nice and if the clone batteries are cheap enough it could be an option. Not sure I could handle the stigma of a battery chainsaw around here though, might as well wear a dress and start calling myself Margaret. (joke)

Do you mind me asking what price that was? Sounds interesting. I think I'm also about to buy a Stihl chainsaw. Expensive month.

I had been keeping my eye out for a second hand one. You occasionally get ex council groundworks stuff but I wonder if they've been used hard.

An hour's worth is not bad at all, better than I thought it would be.

Thanks @Thorfun we sold everything when we moved into a flat a few years ago so I'm starting form scratch. I'll take a look at the Ego stuff.

I don't know how long it will take or how often I will need to do it but we're keeping most of the area wild, so not really any manicured lawns. I think this means a whole lot of brush to cut on a regular basis. I was advised to get a scythe mower but they are just too expensive. How long can you go with a couple of batteries?

I'm looking at some petrol brush cutters / strimmers, I have a big area to do and I don't think battery will last long enough. I'm thinking of 4 stroke Makita, a Husqvarna and a Stihl. They are all in the heavy duty consumer bracket, handle bar style, so about £250 - £300 Does anyone have any recommendations or other makes to think about? Cheers

Our painter used Dulux white trade and it looks very white, finish was not great but that's down to the painter rather than the paint. Yup. In the first 20 minutes I think, this is is easy, look how quickly I'm covering this area, I'll be done in no time! 3 hours later I'm covered in paint and ready to kill the next person who points out a missed patch.

Thanks, it makes the last few years of build worth it.

Some architects do yes. Our first one was insistent on having the big windows facing south because that's the convention and it's also the side people arrive at. Problem is that it's also looking across the field to the farmers industrial barns. He had only a few small windows looking at the view which was what we bought the plot for. We just could not make him understand that we wanted to sit looking out across this in the evening. Second architect was an entirely different experience.

Yeah there is some on the front. These photos were taken on a hot day and it's the worse we've seen it. The photo also seems to highlight it as it was not that bad in reality. We used SSAB Greencoat, it was not cheap but the installers were a nightmare and I don't think their finishing was as good as I would have liked. For £500k I would be expecting a much, much better.

Interesting to hear that it may reduce overtime. Our gable end has some but it seems to be on hot days when the metal expands so hopefully it will reduce. Being matt rather than shiny also seems to help.

We struggled with the same issue on our steel but it's not nearly as bad as this, probably because the runs are a lot longer on theirs. I'm convinced that a lot of the photos you see of metal roofs and cladding have been photoshopped.

Houses not actually designed for the people who live in them, classic. I may have to actually watch this, I'm still surprised at how bad the zinc cladding looks, unless they were going for the dented and rippled look.

Ahahahah! Someone really does think they are the dogs bollocks. "The knowledge and experience gained will be published on this website and made available to the public. In addition the performance of the building would be monitored and an annual open day would be held to enable future builders and designers to learn from the building methods and details used. This could be very useful for the self build market that the government are currently nurturing." Also what do you think they mean by a "...didactic solution."

It seems like you can get away with a lot if you have a black polo neck and some trendy glasses.

I did not watch the show but have seen some of the pictures this morning. It looks like it's clad in standing seam steel with some really bad oil canning and rippling. I would have wanted better for that kind of money. It does look like a "I am considerably richer than you" type of house.

I should get in touch and see if they can use our lessons learned system. ? At least that's something.

I've sent of a complaint email so we'll see. I doubt I would get any compensation for the delays but getting all or most of the costs would be something.

We have constantly been told that our connection was complex job that involves a high pressure main that can’t be undertaken by our own contractors. It's taken years to sort out and nearly £4k in costs but today was the day they finally arrived today to do it. After all the hassle it took two men with a mini digger a couple of hours. No massive excavation with pumps and large equipment, not even a connection to the main was required. The connection was actually made to an existing 32mm blue connection that runs to a neighbours property across the road. This was something just about anyone could have done, not only has it cost £4k it's massively delayed us. Two years ago we even told them that a neighbour had previously made a connection and was charged less than £400 but they would not believe us. I am fuming!

Long Barrow and Tumulus about 120 metres from the structures. Our plot is adjacent to a 12th century battle site, is a few km from a pair of iron age hills forts and 1km from a roman fort. Not to mention all the barrows, cairns etc in the area. I was expecting to jump through a lot of hoops for archeology and it was never mentioned. No one gave a monkey's about it.

Unsatisfactory is an understatement! understood, thanks

Ah nice one thanks!