Cpd

Been there got the badge. Nearly six months of being pretty much bed bound with a major back injury 10 years ago. Nothing was working for me even though a visited the best back people in Sydney, had private medical and did everything right. In the end I read a great book (can’t recal it’s name.....) and it was based on a stretching protocol, this linked with serious meditation and a change of attitude made things turn in the right direction. Within six months I was back to full time stone work and have never looked back. I personally don’t do the bending knees thing by habit , never have unles it’s a massive stone...... but just make sure I pick things up without being twisted. This works for me but I am not advocating it as best practice. Hope you get yourself sorted out.

From the very dizzy heights of 23+ I am on the very far extreme.... I like to sleep in a room of about 16c Max and could not be in the kitchen if it’s over 21c without Windows and doors being opened!

You can get pretty much anything made up out of plastic coated alloy, CladCo would be a first website that comes to mind. @pocster was using some flashings recently. Lead is supper expensive these days..... yes you can make use of it in really tricky spots but the modern equivalents are cheaper and look much more crisp.

What a fantastic little cabin, well done, you must be stoked.

Caravans.... I was building mountain tracks in northern Scotland and was living in a caravan on one job, it was on a very exposed carpark with no shelter for miles around. One night I awoke to a terrific wind and was very aware that the caravan was about to blow away.... I jumped out got the work transit and parked it within an inch of the caravan up wind, I lashed the transit to the caravan with a load of rope and went back to bed. It looked a right mess in the morning.... some of the worst rope work I have ever seen. But it kept me safe. I now live in the most exposed location on this island, I like being right in the guts of the storms when they blow in, it’s exhilarating. Just got back from taking the kids on the quad bike right down to the ocean to watch the waves crashing in and get covered in sea spray for little tots (2 and 3) they did really well.

Yup getting a bit blustery here on the west coast.....

Looking good. That’s the hard part done. Don’t rush the last bit.

Following...... I have a massive amount of landscaping to do in a few years and would really like to mock it all up before getting the digger in.... multiple levels / Terraces.

I used one of these, admittedly it was not in the splash zone.... I am very happy with its somewhat diffused light. My shower light is built into the extractor fan. Not sure if it would fully stop the shadow but something along these lines might work.

Like your thinking mate. Ice cubes will suffice..... i would not usually use a trolly but from the door I would build a set of timber rails 6x2 and I use 25mm metal tubing as rollers. Keeps everything close to the ground and spreads the weight. You then just tip / Slide the stone of the end of the 2 inch high timber onto the ice and into the position. Moving it on the rollers is so easy you can Push it with one hand and it turns corners easily. The 6x2 really spreads the weight and if you have a delicate floor to go over you can carpet below the 6x2 to protect floor.

So get it close and then build up timber blocks both sides of the trolly, gently leaver up and put wedges in, lower back onto blocks and slide out trolly. Repeat process for lowering it to the ground. Lever up one side put in some smaller blocks and lower down. Work both sides down evenly in small increments. When your near the final floor level put a bunch of ice cubes under the block, lower it onto these. Scatter some ice cubes into the recess and slide the slab into position. Wait for the ice to melt. Job done.

Great link thanks.

Really happy that you’ve had a little bit of a good run and at last found some honest folk to do a good days work for you. I totally feel your pain on the budget and like you am a bit traumatised by lack of money to complete my build..... I am fortunate in that I have many fairly decent skills related to the building industry and only have to work out where the money for materials needs to come from rather than the very scary labour component. It’s looking good and I hope you have smooth sailing for as long as possible.

Yup..... new tracks. I was borrowing / hiring a digger the other week to dig out some of the silt in my pond.... popped a track off..... try refillting a track under muddy water as the digger continues to sink...... got it done but what a job. You could look at second hand if your going to be selling it on soon... going to be a big chunk of cash for new ones.

Fantastic job, well done I am so glad it all worked out for you. If only I could be that productive ! Bravo

I think the smaller stoves look good without a hearth...... mine sits on the floor like your talking about but my floor is solid uninsulated concrete........

Tanking the inside would only delay the water problem if it’s not fixed at it’s starting point. It will just take longer to become an obvious problem but when it does the fix will be MUCH more work, much more disruption and expense...... and will send you mad !

I think your getting to the root of the problem with this statement. Get those windows in really well, get that flashing on and hopefully your there.

That’s the same process I used, 22mm chipboard flooring fully glued and screwed along all joints. I also added “no squeek” silicon along the top of the floor joists (had been given this product as it was out of date!) still perfectly good. I also put 4 lines of noggins in (solid wood timbers joists) totally overdid it but I wanted something seriously solid ! I got it. I then proceeded to put up not one.... not two..... but three layers of plaster board...... the first was normal (a mistake on my behalf) the next two were acoustic plasterboard. 3 layers of different density acoustic rock wool went in between the joists and a 50mm air gap below the chipboard flooring. All gaps were meticulously sealed with acoustic sealant as each layer enter up / down.... Still got to put final covering on ! I wanted to create as much separation between. The two floors for both heat tranfer and of course sound tranfer. It’s only a tiny cottage so material costs are much smaller than a “normal size build” whatever that is !

Thats what I was getting at. Yes fill up with ct1 or foam etc and then a serious tape exercise to give a seemless finish

Ow man ! These windows..... sorry to hear that you have water ingress.... I was worried about it leaking around the upstands and that’s why I asked on the previous post if they were fully bonded. I think you need to look into what “serious” waterproof tapes are available. Is there a way to tape between the bace unit and the upstand. Yes CT1 first as a back up but then tape to protect the ct1 between the lower section and the upstand. Belt n braces.

Haha..... well my current kitchen is made from reclaimed scaffold boards and gymnasium floorboards with a bit of reclaimed laminate.... then there’s the kitchen table made out of larch cladding ofcuts and topped with a piece of shower board ! Not for most folks but It’s functional and cost me nothing and I don’t fret when the kids do something crazy like write on it with permanent marker...... recently I acquired 5 big marble tops about 1m x 600mm and some pretty amazing slate slabs at about the same size but 50mm thick. When I eventually do the cottage kitchen it will be a right old mixture.... done well it should be quirky and fun but functional.

Ok....... trying to download this latest version onto my iPad......but to no avail. What am I doing wrong ? (Except not owning a normal computer.....)

If you can adapt an old file they give a great long lasting edge once sharpened up.....

Unstoppable!