Declan52

As I said above keep it on topic and have the debate about how green a certain renewable technology is by all means. Fill your boots. But you then went and took exception to a post from another member and made it personal.

Final warning. Debate a topic to death if you want but personal attacks on a member just because you don't agree with a post they made won't be tolerated.

But it's the access to specialist equipment like a drone and thermal camera that you do need. They could also give next door either side quick check to prove that it's not just your house that's a mess which would help your claim by proving total incompetence by the builder over a number of homes. Surely they are worth at least a phone call.

Before you start you need to know what's down there. A site investigation would be needed to determine how far you need to dig out plus how deep your piles need to go. You can't have the piles sitting on ground material that isn't strong enough to hold back the force of what's on the other side. So the site investigation will determine the depth of the pile which will effect the size of the rig needed to push the pile into the ground which will then add more £££ to the bill. If your going to do a basement that requires sheet piling due to close proximity of neighbouring houses and not get a site investigation done your being very very foolish.

A few pics and even a rough sketch of what components are in your system would help a lot.

I used these guys for mine. Not sure if they have a base on the mainland or the delivery costs though. https://www.mcmonaglestone.com/professional/stone-cladding-and-building-stone It is real stone. During the very long research phase I went and seen a few builds that had used the concrete dyed option and you could see that the walls that got hit by the sun the most had already started to fade.

But the original joiner didn't want to come back to complete the job so has lost that right. @Andrew has then had to source another crew who have spotted the errors and need paid to put it right. This extra money then comes out of the £800 invoice. As above photos and an explanation of the issue would really help when the arguments start.

Your invoice should read. 4 units X £200 per unit =£800 Minus 4 units needing fixed from bottom to top X price added on by new joinery crew. = £800 - £xxx.

£93 but you need to tell me quick as NI is in lockdown from Fri 6pm so need somewhere to have a nice cold pint.

Do all the ground work. Put in kerbs etc to form the road in. Sewer and rain water runs. Any ducting that you need for electric, water etc. Basically all the dirty work. Sparks and joiners don't like getting dirt on their moccasins. If window sizes upstairs aren't too big to cover in then cover them with polythene and Then you can do first fix joinery. Unless the site is very very secure then I wouldn't put anything in that couldn't be lifted by those who creep about at night.

If as it looks that you have used full fill cavity boards there is only a few mms gap from the fins on the board to the outside bock work so would be impossible to get all the gaps filled in by blowing beads into the cavity. On Amazon prime day today they have this on offer. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Android-Thermal-Imaging-Resolution-Connector/dp/B0728C7KNC/ref=mp_s_a_1_6_mod_primary_lightning_deal?dchild=1&keywords=thermal+camera&qid=1602665321&sbo=Tc8eqSFhUl4VwMzbE4fw%2Fw%3D%3D&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&sprefix=thermal+c&sr=8-6 It's just a question of do you buy this or use the money to get a heat loss survey done to prove the insulation in the cavity is not up to standard. Can you remove the filler piece in that gap and see if the wall is tied to the return skin or is it just standing there. There should be at least some sort of metal tie in a sleeve.

When doing your test if you don't buckle up as soon as you sit down is a fail before you even turn it on.

What about the gaps in the insulation. How are they going to fix that. Have you access to a thermal camera. You could turn the heating up full tilt then go outside and use the camera. All the cold spots will be easily seen.

You need to think of it as a completely different method than using rads. You can't just click the heating on and bang 20 mins later you can feel warmth in the room. Depending on how thick your slab is and the amount of insulation under it you could easily be waiting 2 hrs for any heat to come through. But the slab will then stay warm for much longer after the heating is turned off compared to a rad. I basically have 2 set programmes in my boiler, an autumn spring setting and a winter one. The autumn spring one comes on about 6am and the boiler runs for 3 hrs. The first 2 hrs is to heat any zone of my ufh that is calling for heat. The next 30 mins the rads upstairs in the kids rooms get a 20 mins blast and then the last 30 mins is used to charge the tank back up for showers etc during the day. The winter setting will do the same run in the morning but also come on around 7 for 90 mins. If it's really cold and any zone needs heat it gets it and the rads upstairs get a 20min blast as well. With the way our climate is there are days in autumn spring where it gets really cold in the evening and you have to manually start the boiler to get some heat and the same goes in winter where you get days where you don't need the extra boiler run. Any time the boiler fires up and there are no ufh zones calling for heat it will just run until the tank has reached its set temp, 63 degrees, and then it will power down. At the minute the boiler is still not set to come on as the house is still sitting at 20 degrees. Ufh does take a bit of getting used to but I much prefer it to a full rad system.

Without doubt that is rotten work. You would expect to damage some blocks removing render but to find that many means that's how they where built. Gaps, broken blocks, very poorly fitted insulation and who knows what else is yet to be found means you have no other option left apart from what @PeterW has already said. No amount of patching is going to fix that. Honestly your really looking at a taking it down each side at a time and doing a full rebuild of the outer skin. That's the only way your ever going to fix the gaps, broken blocks and the insulation. Probably not what you wanted to hear but it's realistically the only solution to fix that mess.

When your nailing it to the outer frame it gets punctured plenty of times. Without doing it you would never get it down the cavity.

Put some sand over that water pipe to protect it from a sharp stone bursting it. Then backfill the trench with whatever you have a hand. If you have some loose bricks then put them in. Will save on gravel. Then fill the rest with gravel and the top in what ever decorative stone you like.

Think he is maybe worried about what else he will find if he starts to remove mortar. If the lead is ok, no holes and nailed with copper nails, and it's turned up properly under the tiles then it's only some sand and cement. A string line from top to bottom would have been a good idea to keep the edge straight. That's been done by eye and that person must have a squint. The problem is the mortar is hopefully packed in enough so it will last a few years so its just a question can you live with it as it sits as long as the rain will run down the lead. Or every time you walk by will you look up and get a tad angry with yourself for not fixing it.

That's not pointing. That's smoothing mortar with the back of a shovel. Not good and For the few seconds extra it would have taken to smooth that out.

Is this at one side or in the middle of the wall.

The brickies would use them to build to a line. You have one pin at each side of the wall and the line is tied to the pins. https://www.toolstation.com/line-pins/p85832

Line pin holes maybe.

The team that built the bottom half probably asked for more money as they where worth it and the boss went no and got someone cheaper in.

The joy wears off really quickly when your listening to that banging every hour of every day!!! But I did get to travel all over the country.

If he reappears then with the new roofers bill you can show him what he will need getting paid. His original bill minus the new bill. If it's £5 then that's what it is. If it's nothing then tough. Stand your ground even if he gets angry. Just say no and walk away and if needed phone the police of the threats escalate.