Red Kite

I think the SE would specify 12 x 4 glulam! (but he might just upsize it to be sure - or hell, costs no issue so lets just go with a monster steel). Given my time again and the huge cost of engineered foundations I would interview several SEs on the basis of 'value engineering' and 'timeliness' . I would pay the best two for a single days work to come up with their draft scheme and cost these up and base my choice of SE on build cost (and timeliness), and not on professional fees. It might be a bit expensive to run a competition but the scope for savings is huge. I am convinced we are into the 12 x 4 glulam design where the 6 x 2 would have been fine. Once you have an SE on board and he specifies 12 x 4 you are pretty much stuck with it. Though I am also convinced that our basement is 'bomb proof' and I have no worries about its integrity or longevity, which is no bad thing. And humble apologies to any SE's on the board - nothing personal, and our SE is great and very professional; I just feel if it was his own money going into the ground he might have slightly different ideas. And I do know they are constrained by a bunch of legislation and PII issues so its not an easy task.

As you can see in the video this week they built up the shuttering in layers; first the outside, then the steel in the middle of the sandwich and finally the internal shutter. Also along the bottom they cleaned out the kicker and laid in a waterbar / waterstop (that brown bar in one of the photos) in a pre-formed channel, this forms a seal and prevents any water coming through the joint between the walls and the floor. They bolt the two halves of the shuttering together with steel threaded bars inside a foam sleeve so that they can get the right thickness and hold the shuttering against the weight of wet concrete. The steel bars come out when they strike the shuttering and they waterproof the holes. As you can see they didn't pour all the walls in one go but built alternating sections and will do the infill next, I think this is partly down to cost of shuttering hire, and partly down to the sheer weight of concrete. The steel shuttering is really solid and well braced so there is no risk of collapse or burst and wet concrete spilling out everywhere like you sometimes see on GD's. It was a bit of a wet week but they pushed on because the waterproof concrete and pump was booked for Friday, and they had extra manpower on site as my contractors brought in a couple of guys from the shuttering hire company who really do know how to put up shuttering fast! Sometimes it pays to get in the experts who do just one job really well. I had an interesting discussion that groundworks like this is often seen as a pure manual labour job rather than a skilled trade like sparks, brickies or chippies. In fact, at the level our guys work at, it is really a highly skilled trade and they are working to really fine detail and tolerance, plus you only ever get one shot at poured concrete! We have nothing but admiration for them - they are doing an amazing job in some pretty dreadful weather. Next week they will take down the shuttering so we can really see the exact size and scale of the walls which will be great. Then they will rebuild the shuttering to make the remaining retaining walls and expect to pour these in about 10 days and this will be the last of the poured waterproof concrete - it will be great to get that done before it gets really cold as the waterproof needs at least 2 deg. Progress on the other elements is crawling along; MBC seem to be taking an age to produce drawings, and Internorm should have the survey complete next week (so about 4 weeks) and are now saying 12 - 15 weeks for delivery - so March-ish. We could say that delays getting MBC drawings make this easier - MBC have not given an estimate of when we will have a frame on site but I am expecting its now into February-ish. And this will give the groundworkers plenty of time to complete the substructure if the weather turns really bad. After 5 years of delays with PP you tend to get a bit blasé about the odd few weeks and we have never had a rigid timescale but it is a bit frustrating how long some of these things take, and how little control you have! Almost certainly their relaxed attitude to timescales will not extend to payment terms! See https://www.dropbox.com/sh/th9f6e3cel5dm1q/AAAfsWdAH184J75bCNUUtzVra?dl=0 for the weekly videos. The weather for the pour of the walls was dry and sunny, but very high humidity give it that ghostly misty look - will try to get the next pour a bit clearer - I think the presence of a concrete pump upsets the camera somehow!

And this is part of my bar bending schedule - its totally meaningless to me and just specifies an expensive pile of rusty steel! It was included in our SE's work - and I can't see how an SE can design and warrant a design without specifying the steel he decides is needed - but I am not a Structural Engineer. However being an SE he seems to have built in several layers of 'contingency' - i.e. a huge amount of steel and concrete, where less might have been perfectly adequate. This seems to be the result of our litigious society! 01 Bar Bending 11.12 Rev B.pdf

Moonshine - PM'd you on the drawings. The sheet piles are as you say temporary and will come out after they back fill. They are there so the driveway above doesn't fall in the hole, or on the contractors. If you have the space you can slope the ground back (which they have done in most places) to avoid the need for expensive sheet piling, technically called 'battering back'. We have about one meter from the RC wall to the piling which is what they need to work in - but that space needs to be safe. Working at that kind of depth with any risk of collapse is REALLY dangerous. The SE didn't specify them the contractor did, and the BCO would have not allowed work without them.

I would reckon leaving it exposed will be fine as long as the UFH pipes are not full of water and might freeze and split. Also making sure you keep as much water (rain and ground) under control as possible would be a good idea (you dont want the insulation to float up) - can you set up a pump? Insulation and steel are often left out on site for weeks at a time - not much to degrade really if its EPS or similar. Concrete for the slab in Jan will probably be OK unless it gets really cold - and slabs are usually not too bad as they are a large volume sat on insulation so they dont suffer from frost damage as they set - but check with your concrete supplier. I would pressure test the UFH pipes before you pour just in case - you cant fix them easily after the concrete goes down!

Russ , its one slab for both houses, one retaining wall around both and then block walls in between both houses . Did you see my message about Herras?

Actually it didn't pour and it was really great weather on Monday for the main slab pour which was a real help for the guys. They poured the 300mm thick slab - all 79m3 of it - all in one go, so it was a long day and the kicker took a lot of time as it was levelled with a trowel. It caused a few traffic problems when the first lorry was a long 8 wheeler and blocked the road, but after that 6 wheelers meant that cars could get past. As it is waterproof concrete and is covered by a 20 year warranty the waterproof guys had one person in the concrete plant mixing in the chemicals (dont ask - certainly not green in any way), and a second person on site monitoring the pour and checking it went in OK. As it turned out - perfect! Our contractors on site worked really hard and kept up with the deliveries and apart from not getting a break until 2:00pm (we brought them well deserved doughnuts!) it was all done and tamped down by about 4:00pm. They were able to walk on it the next morning and then proceeded to remove all the shuttering and timber formwork and started to build the shuttering for the walls that will get filled with yet more steel and more concrete. We can really start to see it taking shape and get a sense of the height of the walls. Also there is a really good solid base to work from and with the pump running the water is much more manageable. In the picture where they are pouring the last of the concrete you can see all the water that was on the membrane floats and gets pushed to the last corner where they have to bail it out so the concrete doesn't get too wet. The upside of doing a pour like this is, oddly enough, the cold and wet; doing it in the summer heat and dry means the concrete can go off really quickly and be difficult to work quickly enough. There was some mud on the road as a result but in comparison with the local farmer cutting his maize its nothing - the rest of the road by his fields is a real mess, and I dont think he has any intention of clearing it up like we will. So just some pics this time as the camera batteries had a funny five minutes and we failed to catch the epic pour on video - we joked that we might ask them to do it again - they said if we paid for more concrete - so photos it is!

Week 8 was a short week on site as they finished all the prep for the slab pour on Thursday and went off to another job - or to hide from the weather. The big pour for the main slab is all set for Monday and because of the quantity of concrete and the waterproofing they booked it a week in advance. The slab gets poured in one go so its going to be a busy and exciting day! If you look (sorry the video is not very exciting this week) you can see them tying in the last of the L-bar / starter bar steel and then building the wooden formwork for the 'kicker': the small upstand that forms the first part of the walls. Its a pretty skilled job as getting this wrong will mean the walls are all out of alignment - but they seem to have done a very neat job. The early part of the week was good and we actually had some sunshine, but Thursday morning it snowed - not much but it was vile. Luckily there was only a little left to be done so they packed up early. Happily the forecast for Monday looks dry and the site is also pretty dry now we have the pump running 24/7. Our BCO came out and was really impressed by the quality of the job, and also impressed by the quantity of steel! He has signed it off and is happy, and even though he doesn't need to may come over on Monday with his graduates to see some of the pour. We also had our LABC surveyor out and he was equally happy, which is great because the window for changing anything in the slab has passed and this is the last we will ever see of this pile of steel. We did wonder about a 'time capsule' in the slab but couldn't think of any great ideas on what to put in there. We could easily put one in the walls so if there are any bright suggestions then let us know. See https://www.dropbox.com/sh/th9f6e3cel5dm1q/AAAfsWdAH184J75bCNUUtzVra?dl=0 for the weekly videos

Colin, I would play hard ball and turn the tables with something like "I do not agree to any extension of time, but if a decision is not made within this period I will assume you have no objections. After <decision date> I will proceed on the basis that you agree that permission has been granted by default (unless you contact me within 14 days)". I would quote the NPPF being in favour of sustainable development and since the original permission established this principle then you are confident that the Appeal Inspectorate will uphold this application. Go ahead with implementing the NMA and then if they serve an enforcement notice go for retrospective on the basis that they agreed to it by default. I wouldn't bother with an Appeal on Non-Determination (though its a good bargaining chip). I would however make sure that any communication is signed for and you have proof! I would write off the fee - unless you want to prove a point. Though it depends if your NMA is trying to 'fly under the radar' in any way - in which case I would keep very quiet! I am saying nothing about my own NMA - radar? what radar?

Yes this is a fixed price Groundworks plus drainage contract with a specialist contractor. We have been talking to the contractor for over 5 years, at that point we were going to go with Weber Haus (the Euro put paid to that idea!) and he does a lot of the GW for all the German OSM's. Weber Haus have used him for 10 years plus and would not use anyone else. He is happy and able to work to the tolerance the Germans ask for (about 5mm!) and comes highly recommended. This for him is not a big job - hate to see bigger. So yes we are paying top dollar, and I am sure we could have gone cheaper (or DIY!!!! ) but the quality and knowledge is absolutely top notch. I heard some advice at one of the shows that was 'work with the best possible people you can afford' - we can just about afford this and so far he is proving to be the best. As a fixed price contract, as long as you dont have hard deadlines, it doesn't matter if there are weather delays, but as you can see they are cracking on. Also worth considering that we would likely have been on really deep trench fill foundations (or piles and ringbeam) for a more traditional foundation design; expensive and a pile of unknown risk. Raft foundations btw dont work well on sloped sites! (for some reason MBC declined to offer their brilliant raft foundation solution). Building the way we have adds some cost but takes a lot of the risk out (if you dig that deep!!!) and gives us two houses on the plot and lots of additional basement space. The rule of thumb is that the basement floor space will cost you per m2 'about the same' as the upper floors - but you get the foundations as a bi product. So then its down to how much space you want and can afford. Given we had a height restriction of no more than the existing bungalow we couldn't go upwards, which left outwards or downwards. Outwards wouldn't have allowed two houses on the plot easily due to planning and site restrictions (we tried!). So we went downwards, which works well with the sloped site. Certainly not the route for everyone, or for a cost sensitive DIY build (I couldn't imagine doing this as a DIY or even PM + Subcontract project like so many brave souls on this board seem to do), but as with all self-build you get to choose exactly what route you want to go down (or 'choose your brand of insanity'). Though were that route takes you is a different story........As they say 'its a journey'.

Yup, muckaway costs what it costs, same as everything. Question is what do you need to allow for and what things to factor in that are part and parcel of the dig. Based on our somewhat massive dig (see the blog) it aint as simple as it seems. These are non-expert observations and based only on what we have seen - your mileage may vary. Ours was approx 600m3 - 'as dug' or 'in the ground' gets a bit immaterial at that point - its just really big and expensive! Firstly you need to understand what the ground is like - to the depth you plan to dig (plus some), and over the whole site. Our clay was relatively easy to dig out but was potentially very messy and sticky. Also we know it was pretty consistent over the site but we did hit a patch of gravel in the clay that meant more sheet piling we had not accounted for. Not picked up on our soil survey btw. Then you need to calculate just what volume to dig (the obvious bit) - you will need at least 1m all round the outside of the slab to allow access, and then you need to batter back (i.e. create a slope to ground level) so it doesn't all fall back in (or sheet pile if you dont have the room). The batter angle (or technically the angle of repose ) depends on the ground conditions so you need to check with your SE on what is a safe angle. You also need to dig deeper than the slab as you will need a sub-base (Type 1), some blinding layer, insulation somewhere, the slab itself, screed, floor covering etc/ So work from FFL downwards and add the extras to the muckaway. BTW dont dig any more than you have to - you can't un-dig and any dug areas you dont need will probably need to be backfilled with brought in materials not your muckaway. As you say the 'in the ground' volume is not the same as the 'as dug' since it 'fluffs up'. I think this depends on the soil type - there are calculators that help (eg https://source4me.co.uk/calculate_excavated_spoil.php) determine volume and weights. Weight is also important as our lorries measured weight load and beeped when they were up to weight - even if there was space to get a few more bucketfuls in you stop at a weight limit. Wet clay is very heavy in winter - summer might have been better - or if you can dig and leave it for a few months to dry before carting it away I am told this helps reduce the cost/weight. I suspect that if you talk to muckaway contractors they will work that out for you - but it might 'fluff up' in the process. Drainage of the site, both when digging and afterwards, are really important - when you dig a big hole it typically fills with water. Our guys very early on dug a temporary French drain - a trench filled with gravel - round the slab. This then goes into a temporary sump and is pumped out and keeps the site dry-ish or manageable. You need to have somewhere to pump to btw. We will get a proper drain later but this temporary one is all extra cost - more digging and gravel in that you probably dont think about. You need to think about the logistics - our site looked huge but when it comes to digging and muckway its really tight. You need to have somewhere to stand the lorries to load them, and you need to make sure they dont get stuck in the mud - or leave half your site on the highway. Our guys dug an off road area, filled it with type 1 and then compacted it, just for the lorries. Hardly a drop of clay on the road - but more muckaway and costs - but a great base for our new driveway. Also there seems like there is a huge amount of skill in digging: first some digging, loading some, moving the digger, making sure you dont dig yourself into a corner and generally thinking a bit before going wild with a big digger. Our biggest time constraint while digging was getting enough lorries in a day - but we were close to the point of not being able to fill them fast enough. If you want to keep some topsoil for landscaping then you need somewhere to store it - or it goes into muckaway and then you buy it back! And you will need some storage area on site - so that might just be where you were planning to store the topsoil! So to summarise the simple steps - get a topo and soil survey so you know where you stand. Then you will need an SE to design the foundations / basement and he (or she) will probably have the biggest cost impact on your whole project cost (if I knew then what I know now!), plus a drainage engineer in our case. Then you work backwards from this and the Architects designs to the hole, how big it is etc etc. Then you can figure just how much it is likely to cost, and how the logistics might work. In our case our GW contractor wasn't able to price the job until the SE had spec'd the concrete and produced the steel bending schedule so it was unknown for a very long and worrying time! So good luck with the project, and hopefully all the above was just a recap for you - I would say that muckaway is the bottom of the iceberg!

Hi, we are looking for a patent glazing solution for a flat-ish lightwell about 1.3m x 6m. It sits at about ground level so needs to be safe toughened / laminated and can 'flat' or up to about 15 deg pitch. There seems to be some on going joke on the board about walk-on glass that I dont understand but this could be walk on, but doesn't need to be. It needs to be thermally efficient since it sits in the thermal envelope of a 'close to PH' house - so triple glazed panels and some form of thermally broken framework. It abuts a vertical wall on one side and sits atop the basement wall at the other. We were envisaging some form of 'patent glazing' i.e. cross beams separating the 6m length into bays that get glazing panels. Has anyone done anything similar - any thoughts? and suppliers? Thx

The video shows the black plastic membrane going down this week, followed by an enormous quantity of steel. What you dont see is that with all the rain the pump has been running continuously to try and keep the rainwater at bay - getting lots of water on the slab at this point is a bad thing as the membrane floats up which is a 'bad thing', its a bit better now because of the tons of steel on it! The black membrane goes down in three layer - first the sealed flexible which is heat sealed and goes up over the shuttering and is sealed around the pipes. Then a rigid layer in sheets on top to protect it, and then another flexible plastic layer. The aim here is that the whole slab is waterproof and no water comes up through it. We will also have additives in the concrete itself which makes it 'waterproof concrete', and talking to the guys this pretty much makes the membrane redundant - but B Regs requires two 'just in case' methods of waterproofing. Then in goes a ridiculous quantity of steel mesh (rusty brown in the video) in two layers standing off the slab on blocks of concrete referred to as 'Mars bars' and separated by 'chairs' (if I have the terminology right). Its a really good question why there is so much steel? We think we could build a skyscraper off the slab and it seems overkill for a lightweight timber frame house. However the Structural Engineer designed it and since he is a Professional (with a capital P) it seems he can add contingency and safety and 'just in case' (same as the waterproofing) as he sees fit and we get no choice at all. Its all backed up with pages of abstruse calculations on the bending strength of steel and concrete - the joke about SE's is that 'they have their moments'! The only comfort is that it should withstand any earthquakes we might get in Wiltshire ,and its all backed up by his Indemnity Insurance so, apart from the cost. its all wonderful. Also interestingly the contractors said that 10 - 15 years ago slabs like this only has a tiny amount of 'anti crack' steel mesh that worked just fine, so it seems that those earthquakes must be getting more common (or more likely SE's more cautious). Though in an age of trying to be Eco and 'save the planet' you might have thought there would be a move to design to 'good enough' and not to seemingly overdo the huge amounts of steel and concrete (really not a green material - especially with waterproof chemicals) used in construction. But having just watched 'The Accident' (a C4 drama where a building collapses and kills lots of kids and they are all questioning the construction methodology and start apportioning blame) on catch-up then perhaps they have a point. After the mesh has gone down they started on the L Bars that tie into the slab mesh and stand up into the vertical walls so they hold back the ground around them. They should finish these and the 'Kicker' next week. The Kicker is a small upstand around the outside of the slab that gets poured at the same time as the slab and then the walls are shuttered up from this. They estimate that the slab will get poured next Monday - and they plan to pour it in a single exciting day!!! The other progress is that the Planning Officer signed off our Planning Conditions. This was after a bit of to and fro on the materials - we showed her samples of the render (cream K-Rend silicon), roof membrane (slate grey IKO) and the grey cladding panels. Seems like she didn't quite understand these - they are Rockpanel which is made from Basalt stone (pretty Eco) and finished in a textured grey - apart from the snazzy finish it looks a bit like render board. After a couple of rounds we got there, and now we can technically start the house construction. Up to now all we have been doing is 'foundations' to keep within the letter of the conditions which preclude 'house construction' until the Planners have approved the drainage, materials and landscaping! Luckily we had no 'pre-commencement' conditions so could get on with work while the Planners faffed around! See https://www.dropbox.com/sh/th9f6e3cel5dm1q/AAAfsWdAH184J75bCNUUtzVra?dl=0 for the weekly videos

The steel sheeting was installed by the groundworks contractor and was planned into the design. The longer side is onto shared drive so is there for 2 reasons, to stop the drive way falling into the hole and to protect the workmen. We did not have enough space that side to batter the clay back. The additional section was added when they found some loose sand in the clay. They were fitted by the excavator with a hydraulic hammer, this is very skilled as you have to keep moving the excavator arm to keep the sheets vertical . The steel sheets are hired in but all part of the quote!

The video for Week 6 doesn't have Thursday and Friday as the camera played up (I blame Halloween) but good progress. this week. You can see them laying in the service ducts and drainage pipes and then laying a thin 'blinding layer' of concrete = our first pour. They then went on to put shuttering up around the edge ready to fit the waterproof membrane and then the steel on top. By Saturday (see photo) the rain had filled it up quite a bit and the black shuttering you can see round the edge keeps it in a treat (or is that Trick or Treat?). The problem comes is that if this happens after the membrane goes down and before its weighted down with the steel then the membrane floats up. Lets hope its dry (ish) next week. And see below we can now officially pump it out on Monday. This week (I am sure it is related to Halloween) our worst nightmare came back to haunt us - Planning !!!! Having spent 5 years fighting Planning we thought we were home and (relatively) dry, but no; Planning raised its ugly head yet again. Six weeks ago we put in and paid for Planning Conditions to be removed, and on the day the decision was due we contacted the latest Planning Officer (we are on our 7th so far) who had 'forgotten' about it, was most apologetic and asked for a 3 week extension. We needed three conditions removed: Materials, Landscaping and Drainage, so it was passed it to the Wilts Drainage Engineer who promptly came back and queried the design they had agreed 18 months ago! He wanted cctv surveys, hydraulic modelling and a repair schedule for the Highways drain so he could agree to let us discharge some of the surface water into it (i.e. a really drawn out and very costly agreement). However they had agreed to this as part of the Planning Application and were really difficult about it then! So we duly pointed all this out and offered to work with them and suggested that rather than granting an extension we would hold off on our third Appeal unless that became necessary. We were delighted when they decided to remove their objection! Now all we need is to get the materials agreed, and as she requested an elevation of a post and rail fence (WHY???) , the Architect has drawn a beautifully detailed picture. Hopefully she will agree the landscaping and materials we should be condition free! We had a visit from the Structural Warranty surveyor who, unlike the BCO, came across as really negative and slagged off our basement and contractors when in fact they have already declined to insure the basement anyway. We debated if were going to pay for Structural Warranty as there is much discussion that its often not worth the paper its written on - but in the interests of future resale and the Council of Mortgage Lenders we bit the bullet. However if the first visit is anything to go by its less than inspiring. So first concrete is in and we are probably a couple of weeks away from the main slab - which is the bit that the BCO and LABC want to see almost as much as we do. See https://www.dropbox.com/sh/th9f6e3cel5dm1q/AAAfsWdAH184J75bCNUUtzVra?dl=0 for the weekly videos

Ha, Ha, the steel should start soon?️! Nervous - why would we be nervous ??

Video is at the same place - see Week 5 ? Play count the muck-away lorries again ?

The last of the big muck away at the start of the week and then laying the base stone layer means that we are pretty clean on site and the mud is hardly an issue. The surveyor came and marked out accurately and the Architect produced the detailed layout for the services - electric, telecom, water and soil stacks and you can see these being laid in towards the end of the week. They will come up through the slab and so need to be pretty accurate. Pretty soon we will be ready for the steel and shuttering for the slab and some serious concrete. It is amazing to see how fast this moves forward and how big and deep the base is when you get to stand in it and look up. Also exciting to start to see the layout of the two houses being defined by the services that map onto the floor plans we have held in our imagination for such a long time. An interesting development this week was the concrete filled trench you can see being dug an then filled back in with our first concrete pour. The SE originally wanted this 1m deep below the slab, but the BCO was not even sure why you need anything under a 300mm steel reinforced slab (and the G/Ws have never seen it needed before). The SE wants it to protect the front of the slab from frost damage and expansion and contraction in the area where it comes out at ground level and is not insulated underneath. Some negotiation resolved this to 300mm of concrete under the front of the slab as 'sufficient', and then the ground workers said it would be a real pain laying the drainage pipes through the concrete so we have a deeper section where the pipes go that will be filled in with dense concrete blocks around the pipes, and then have the slab poured on top. A bit more complex but it saves a bit of digging and concrete so everyone is happy. We seem to end up steering these type of these things between the G/Ws, the SE, the Architect and the BCO, but rather than being a nuisance it is really interesting to see how this all comes together, and we would much rather this than the G/Ws blindly following the plans. Pete (the Gaffer on site) often says, "Chris come and look at this - I am not sure this is the best way to do this" and we really do listen because he has done this at the sharp end for years, the voice of experience! Also there are a load of other things to figure out in term of suppliers and lead time - like front door, lightwells etc - when you have 12+ week leadtimes these decisions get critical pretty rapidly and staying on top of it keeps us both pretty busy! See https://www.dropbox.com/sh/th9f6e3cel5dm1q/AAAfsWdAH184J75bCNUUtzVra?dl=0 for the week by week video diary - Week 5 ?

Can you let us know as well as we need some thanks

All, thanks for the comments - it seems like there is no clear cut answer here (perhaps in Scotland) - and at the end of the day its all about risk mitigation and recovery. As we all know claiming off a Structural Warranty or a SE's PII would be almost impossible - but NOT following them would make life very difficult IF anything went wrong in the future. So as will all of these things it was down to negotiation - the strip foundation is down from 1m to 300mm deep - and everyone seems happy! I am still not convinced that you need anything under a 300mm RC slab (unless you are expecting bunker busting missiles!) but IF there is ever a problem I can prove I did 'the right thing'. And in the scheme of things what's a few m3 of concrete here or there! The other concern from the BCO had was from a H&S perspective was how deep the guys would be working - this is resolved and they will be working at about ground level. This was one I was not prepared to compromise on - making sure the folks on site are safe to work trumps absolutely everything in my book. Plus I believe it gets really messy if you have preventable accidents on site, and though I am not the main contractor I do have (at the very least) a moral obligation in this. I always make a point when I visit site to look around and ask the guys if everything is safe for them to work. For example there is a little bit of mud (amazingly small) coming off the site during the day - less than the farm gateway down the road - and they sweep up at the end of the day, but I suggested a couple of 'mud on road' signs, So just in case anything happens we can say we made the effort - a simple CYA strategy. I know Elf and Safety sometimes gets a bad rep and the micky taken (rightly so IMHO when it flies in the face of common sense), but as self builders at any level of involvement we do have a very serious duty of care. Sorry rant over - I will now get off my soap box!!!!

I wish!!! If you can figure how to magically get rid of muck-away then you have it made and lots of folk here will beat a path to your door! Trust me those super quick lorries are really expensive- money gone in the blink of an eye?. I think there is an expression "where there's muck there's brass" - no more true than when you build a house - but I believe that a portion goes in tax so at least I am supporting a worthy cause!

Interesting scenario - my SE has designed in some strip footings under my slab and says they need to be there for frost protection. However by BCO says he is happy if they are not built as he is happy with the ground and the slab (300mm RC) on its own. So who wins? and am I OK to go against my SE and follow the cheaper route OK'd by the BCO? Any thoughts or experience? Thx

And when the Pro came with lasers and GPS etc to set out our site he bent down to spray the accurate position of the front corner of one of the houses and saw a nail about 5cm in one direction and spot on in the other from his mark. He said "whats that?" "Mine" I said: - done approximately with a builders tape and no real though to accuracy. I was pretty pleased and it just goes to show that even on a slope you can get pretty close with simple tools. Now if I had spent the time I am sure I could have got it much closer. However when I see the contractors out there all day with an auto laser and measure checking and re-checking everything I think that probably the initial setting out is the least of the problems. Probably what you will need is a quick way to check as you go along so I would be looking for the right tools, or be prepared to spend a lot more time.

Digging is progressing well despite the rain - they had to pump out a bit as we had that swimming pool we wanted! They had no muck away on Monday so only 4 days and the bulk of the big dig is complete and you can start to see the scale of the project. They have done the rough dig and are now levelling out the bottom and starting to place a layer of stone that will then be concreted over to form the slab. The hole is actually bigger than the basement by about 1m all round so they have room to work so it will get smaller! You can see that they are laying a gravel filled French drain all round the back to collect the water that runs out of the clay in the thin layers of sand, but given the rain we have had the water is not at all bad. We have to say the contractors are absolutely brilliant - very pleased so far, but for them this is a relatively small hole - hate to think what a big one looks like! Now the big dig is done we can heave a sigh of relief because there were no 'nasties' underground to cause us unforeseen problems - one of the advantages of such a huge excavation - so we are technically 'out of the ground' (it might not look like that though) and past that big landmark moment. Its taken a lot to get to this point - its really good to know we are moving forward and been a long uphill struggle to this point - now we should coast downhill all the way!!! The Building Control Officer came out this week and brought a couple of his graduates (who like the BC Officer really loved the project which is really encouraging) as they dont get to see this kind of construction often (or ever before if I understood right!), probably because not many people are as insane as we are! He was really happy with the soil conditions and the works so we can proceed with the slab and he will be back when the steel is in and we are ready for the first pour. He is really helpful and supportive and a complete contrast to Planning (the less said here the better), we get the feeling his goal is the same as ours - a really great building. We had some discussion about a window from the garage/ workshop into the pool room - it needs to be fireproof as its between a garage and habitable space, and its also through the thermal envelope so it needs to be thermally efficient. Now these two requirements (FR 60 and PH) clash and we have struggled to find anything that does both (at any price). We batted about some options and he made some good suggestions to mitigate the problem. But in fact I think we will follow the Architect who said - its only a workshop and you can buy an awful lot of lights for the cost of a very special window! So artificial light in the workshop will be fine. We have also finalised the windows because a 12 week leadtime means they need to be in production in time for the TF. After much research / quotes and head scratching we selected Internorm for two main reasons - firstly they do a really neat integrated Juliet balcony that was proving very tricky for the SE and Architect and was going to be really expensive to do any other way (though the Internorm solution is expensive its really simple). Also we were going for wood/aluminium on both houses, but they do a PVC/aluminium range that is 15-20% cheaper, has the same external appearance and performance and looks really pretty neat on the inside in dark grey (not at all like your typical uPVC windows). So Plot 1 will go that way and this brings the cost down. The only concern is the quality of the fitting (we are assured that they now have this under control) - the quality of the windows is amazing. We just need to bottom out on front doors - any suggestions as the Internorm option was pricey. Also signed Nick (from Wales) up for M&E - looking forward to that and he does seem to be one of the few people who knows exactly how to integrate all the bits and pieces that come with PH levels of design. So that's it for another exciting week - hope you liked the videos atmospheric look as the digger appears out of the mist/rain at the beginning of the day - we worked so hard to achieve that effect. Seriously does anyone have any suggestions on how to solve the problem of overnight condensation on the camera? See https://www.dropbox.com/sh/th9f6e3cel5dm1q/AAAfsWdAH184J75bCNUUtzVra?dl=0 for the week by week video diary P.S. seem to have solved the battery problem for the TL camera by using Energiser Ultimate Lithium AA's - at least they do more than Duracell - appreciate the suggestion on external battery pack and will go for that if the Energisers dont prove to last long enough.

Internorm have big discounts at the moment but no Marju!!!