jamiehamy

Whatever you do - don't watch any videos on the matter https://www.rt.com/news/311458-crane-collapse-hollande-house/

I was thinking for a small crawler crane to actually lift it round the side, if you have enough clearance/access? There are some different specs, but that's what some are meant for and they are fairly narrow - would have a far less complex operation and 800kg should be no problem. The window would always be within a metre of the ground. But yes, just too far for HIAB - This one would do 790kg to 21m but would probably not clear the house http://www.3bcranehire.co.uk/cranehire/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Plant-Hiab-XS-288-Lift-Capacities.pdf I got a HIAB to lift our phone box(750kg) 15m - you should see the bend in the boom! If I can find a pic I'll upload. (can't find phone box pic but the container weights quite a bit more)

Sounds to me like you're doing just fine Vijay, even if it doesn't feel that way. We get sick of it sometimes, usually when we are bogged down in something but despite saying we'll 'take a break', it never happens - once something completes and we're onto something else, we find the enthusiasm again. I think one reason we don't get too stressed is that we have no timeline - it will be ready when it is ready. IF things are delayed, then we've always got something else to be doing. You might be a bit stuck because you have a fairly limited set of activities that NEED to be complete before you can then always have something to work on. Re: engineers - I think they are all like that. Ours was a nice guy - but needed kicked to do anything. And had no idea about self building, specifying standard off the self solutions that were totally inappropriate or over the top - the floor beams being one - how was I to know that 5.5m floor beams are VERY hard to get?! Or that 600mm inspection chambers cost well over £1000 each - and he specced 4! So I feel your pain there. For the floor - the engineer drawings were not very clear and 3 floor companies did the wrong design - and only one actually rose to the challenge and managed to find us a solution - credit where it's due - Cellecta/Tetris really did a great job for us. For the ICF - We got prices from all, Polarwall were not the cheapest, but I loved the product (which was perfect for our odd build) and Alan was great - always on the phone, really knows his stuff and gets invested in the project. I doubt we'd have had the same support from the others. My tip? Make a list - as long as you like. Then at the top put the three things you can/need to get done in the next two months. Forget the rest - once the top three are done, your list will remind you of everything else. It's easy to frazzle with too many things at once. Keep smiling, and keep at it - there are ups and downs, but the ups outweigh the downs in the medium and long run

Have you considered a mini crawler crane? We looked at these for our floor beams and also the windows. It might help hugely de-risk the move too? The price we were quoted for a week was £1500, with £2000 for the operation (including their stay). So if you only need it for a day or so, could be possible? The transport up to Scotland was silly money tho. Also worth considering how you actually get it into position - one reason we couldn't use a crane for the windows was the roof overhang - we'd have gotten the windows up, but not in, our overhang on one elevation is 500mm+. Oh, and will the crane lift it straight off the truck? You're definitely right to get the insurance checked out - as our recent experience shows, things DO happen. And be crystal clear who is responsible for what activity. Also checking how the unit will be supported - after our disaster when the units fell over on the truck, we had to take them out one at a time with HIAB - and it was only because I insisted we put a timber runner under the frame (low threshold) that it wasn't seriously warped. The operators wasn't too clued up on window lifting. http://www.maedaminicranes.co.uk/application/pdf/lc383.pdf

What went right? I'll not name the company yet as we're still trying to get a resolution but here goes: On arrival, three of the biggest units had fallen onto the side of the truck. Not only was there cosmetic damage, but it took 3 hours to move everything to get the canopy back and the HIAB operational. Three units damaged. 6 of the units did not turn up and took a further month to arrive Despite being listed to be offloaded by HIAB, the pallets were totally unsuitable and I had to fabricate pallets in-situ before anything could be lifted off The external seals on the moving units were felt - despite assurances that they would be rubber as per the units in the showroom. 5 of the units have grey spacers bars between the triple glazing - as opposed to black we ordered and that the other units have. Two of the units have the wrong color cladding - a clearly different shade of grey The same two units also have a noticably different timber colour inside - we think they were both made in a different factory. The French doors are seriously out of alignment - we noticed this on the truck and are unable to fix without taking the doors off and doing structural work The front door has cosmetic damage where it was strapped down without protection The biggest unit of them all (2.3mx2.2m) has blue solar tint applied - despite no other unit on that elevation being specifed as such. (We have it on another elevation). So on a sunny day, this window is shining blue when the others are not! BUT Best of all - every single unit was manufactured 20mm too big. Despite us signing a form saying 20mm would be taken off all the dimensions we had provided, this was not done. It's been pretty horrendous to be honest. My big mistake was not simply rejecting the lot when they turned up as the pic - we were persuaded that we should unload everything and any damage would be fixed - only once we had unpacked did all the other issues present themselves - by which time it was took late to reject them and send back. Fun and games eh?!

Glad it all went smoothly. We've just finished fitting ours - which have been a disaster and still ongoing (a story for another day I think). We used Compriband around the outside edge and filled the rest with TP600 foam, although we could probably have managed with the foam alone, Compriband looks great - shame it'll all be covered!

I'll second that method - we used it last year and it works a treat.

Lovely. Last time I asked someone how they voted in the EURef, the response was 'Well, I certainly wasn't one of the 52% of ******** who voted leave'. He then paused, and then asked 'you didn't vote leave did you?' ....

We had a long period from getting the roof on to the windows arriving. I screwed OSB onto the front of the openings and stapled polythene to it and lapped it down which kept is virtually watertight. For some of the big ones, I actually cut damaged insulation boards and kept them in place with expanding foam - never moved an inch even in the fiercest gales earlier in the year. We took the OSB off a few weeks ago and it's in perfect condition for reuse.

I'm afraid HMRC will not give any assurance - sadly, their 'Help' line is quiet the opposite. Phone it twice and you'll get a different answer. Ask for a written confirmation on the advice - and you'll be told they don't do that. The alternative is to get them fitted by someone else and just claim the VAT on the materials as usual - but will lose out on the labour. The problem is that there is little you can do to persuade them to change their mind. If they think they will be liable, then that means that possible THEY will get the bill if at some point down the line someone decides VAT should have been charged. Not ideal unfortunately. What happened with the previous windows? I'm curious as we're having serious issues with ours.