Russell griffiths

Post Crete will be a very expensive way of doing it.

roll of wire and a pair of nippers also.

Was just going to say the same as nod, silver sand is gritty so the lime makes the mix more useable, liquid plasticiser will tint it, you will need to make a gauge box to get the mix the same every time.

I do agree that plot prices are crazy, but you need to compare apples with apples, that plot by me would be £100 grand more, and in Surrey could well be double that. Its really down to if you like it and can afford it.

We have looked at Rationel windows and have been pointed at one of their distribution partners, has anybody had quotes from more than one distributor, my pricing is far higher than I expected and wondered if I just had a bit of south east England mark up added. I have not been back to them yet to ask if any discounts are available as we are still waiting for another quote to come in from another company. Bit baffled TBH.

I could tie up a joint with a pair of nippers quicker than that. Sack ties and a twist tool are very quick if your inexperienced. I have a couple you could borrow, but you can probably buy one cheaper on e bay than the postage.

If access isn’t a problem, you just need a pair of nippers and a roll of tie wire. Simple job to tie it all up and then add your panels mine had to be threaded through the internal webs.

Your rebar in icf is dependant on span, openings upto 900mm require just a couple of bits of 16mm bar straight across opening, larger spans get a bit more detailed. My 4m openings had 4x12mm straight bar, with links every150mm but my cantilevered sections had 16mm bar top and bottom the links are the smallest my rebar supplier could bend on their machine.

Poor picture

dont buy a tool you will never manoeuvre it in the wall it is a major pain in the arse, what you use are cable ties, you thread your links onto the bottom two bars and lift up as high as you can, insert a couple of chunks of 4x2 to keep it lifted high, then tie all your bottom links with the cable ties, when done remove the 4x2 and lower the cage into the wall, then slide in the top 2 bars and tie them. My longest lintel we made on site was just over 9m long with 16mm bars top and bottom, you would never lift it without mechanical assistance. Give me a call if you need a better explanation.

@redtop and @colin7777 I have seen this system in oz many times, it is very robust.

Metal joists are common in Australia to combat termite damage, I wouldn’t consider wood in your situation, have a look a bit further from home, we really are stuck in the past here.

Your right to be honest our piles where actually not that expensive per pile, one or two extra would not have been a problem

What will happen @sean1933 if you dig to your stated depth and bc come around and want another 200mm how will you get a machine around it, I would get bc involved straight away and get a site visit the first day you start digging. Many years ago I had an extension passed at 1.8m, I decided to dig to 2m for safety sake, when bc came around 2 days later he wanted another 300mm down, I had to hand dig it. I would check they are happy before you start splitting hairs over a few mm here and there.

We dug out an old pipe a few years back as it was blocking constantly we then cut the ends off of 3 45 gallon drums and chucked them in the stream so the water flowed through them, cover the top in two layers of reinforcement mesh and 150mm of concrete, as the drums rust away it leaves a perfect shuttered round pipe.