ToughButterCup

Oh yeah? What are you looking at now?

Realpolitik in action. Do as I say, not do as I do. At some point everyone has to come into stark contact with reality. The question is, how well is reality hidden? And from whom does it need to be hidden? Daily Mail readers for a low-level start.

Yes exactly @Ralph . The slur's the thing isn't it. If it sounds nasty enough that'll do fine thanks. Performative politics isn't confined to Marjorie Taylor Greene or Alexander Johnson Your comment made me think. I should have written '... nominally Communist ... ' above rather than merely Communist . I worked with nominally Marxist Leninist Communists every day in the 80s. You couldn't have wished for a better or more capitalist business partner . Except when it came to the final contract financial calculations. There, the simplest, crudest of arithmetic miscalculations always fell in their favour. One day, I lost it, and in a formal business meeting and in the presence of someone whom I later found out was a KGB operative, asked why the miscalculations always favoured their Peoples Own Company. My East German colleague flushed red and answered , "In the final analysis, sir, your company is a Class Enemy, because Capitalism has to be replaced." Later that day, I got a good kicking from my boss for asking that question in a formal context: our business partner could only ever have responded as he (they) did. With his political boss in the room, he had no choice. The slur's the thing, even at national level. Class Enemy indeed.

Ugh. Move North young man, move north. Beer's better, wimmin don't complain, fish and chips are better , fewer speed cameras, land is cheaper and neighbours build houses INSIDE their caravans. Honest.

Maslow's heirarchy. If you can't live safely, then financial well-being has to assume a lower priority. I worked for a good few years in a Communist society before the Berlin Wall came down. 30 years ago, Erich Hoeneker and his cronies were every bit as venal, mendacious and manipulative as our current crew. Absolutely nobody believed anything coming out of Erich's office

As so often, you are right. Here you are old fella: LABC guidance Its from their Step-by-Step Guidance booklet. Who says builders can't crack a joke? Ian

I remember that episode. I watched it again the other day, and laughed out loud. That was a leak, not a blow-out. That was a leeeeedl peeeeedl .... This, this is whatcha call a blowout. And yer right, it would have had a bit of an effect on the airtightness. I came as close as I ever have to pressing criminal damage charges on the facking bain-dead twat who knocked the blocks into line with a lump hammer. Had it all on time lapse camera. But I hadn't reviewed the film for a few days ..... Thats 5 year old news now. Moved on - so much wiser and such a lot nastier now than I was then.

Gaulhofer for us too. Quick heads up Jane - who is fitting the windows? Be sure to ask the manufacturer who is fitting them, and do your due diligence about that particular team. Verbal reassurance is just that - hot air. And watch them every second of the way. I'd video the fitting if I had my time again.....

Of course it will. And that delay leads to retrospective applications, and more aggro. So round here (deepest darkest West Lancashire) its common to '... just do it ...' Unless someone points the variation out to the Enforcement Team . And then they have a statutory duty to investigate. And that leads to - well if they do it and I keep schtumm, then when I vary something minor - they'll keep schtumm too. The only loophole I can see to that (just do it) method is the possibility of HMRCs team noticing a large item on the list of invoices: a claim for slates instead of metal roofing for example. (HMRC require a full set of building plans) Within limits, just-do-it is a sensible reaction to pifflingly niggly-naggly bureacracy. But there's always someone isn't there......

Ask a few....?

Something's not right here...... They agree to you replacing it you do so, and they say it looks ugly. The neighbour comes back and you've done what you think is the bee's whatsits.... what if they say it's even worse ? We'd all like our build issues to be sorted now , I've a list as long as my arm on our site. Sometimes - if you have to co-operate - then things take longer. This website is full of stories of people who have bent over too far to live at peace with neighbours. I'm not arguing you should just get on and do it, but I am saying only you can judge whether or not just getting on with it will NOT cause more aggro.

Well now: super-rich, mega super rich, ultra mega super rich, google, amazon ....

Hmmm, I think it did Gary.......... The bigger the handout, the more palatable the claw-back. Still, we've all had a good look at what old-style Socialism would do for us in the 21st Century. Now, no politician can ever argue that money cannot be found for [...]

That, lads, is why I suggested it. If Mr. ClaireB can hack scaffolding, he'll '... be a man my son...' quite apart from be able to throw a hefty punch when needed. As @Bitpipe says, money, if that's the focus, is in strategy-level choices. And @Claire B has that already. Which has me thinking about RICS..... Worth more than a passing thought Claire. So, how about a year getting his rough edges knocked off while applying for an RICS course? Now there's a thought.

Tiler extraordinaire, glazier with no fingers left, naturist and frizbee lover

Nooooo..... nooooooooooooooo..... Your lad will come back home with half a tonne of walk-on glazing - and then try to sell it. @pocster would become even more insufferable

Hmmm, have a read of the series of posts I wrote about 'Rollo'. I suggest you start at the first episode here The rest are listed here 'Rollo' is still around, so is his family. See him in the pub : a nod and grin (followed by a quick sneeky gawp at the latest squeeze - often stunning) He is a really smashing lad. I've watched him grow from a wet-behind-the-ears neo-builder to someone who is holding down a builder's job. He's as cut-glass as you can get. Takes the merciless teasing in his stride - but he's stuck with it and I respect him for that. His family is rumoured to be among the wealthiest in the county - matters not a jot. Except I suppose that he knows that he has 'in depth' backing. But the point is he's stuck with it. Give your lad five years of rough and tumble on building sites first. Don't bail him out: that will be the greatest compliment you can pay him. May not feel like it. If he can stick it - then he will have gained some solid self-respect, secure in the knowledge that nobody could treat him worse than those in the building trade AND he's survived it. No difference between that and the process of doing a doctorate, or getting into the Marines or getting a CPL or getting through Medical School. They are all unpleasantly difficult hardening off processes. I wish him well. Does he want a job on my site?

This is going to sound brutal: the intention is the opposite but at this remove, it's impossible to judge. I do hope what I write isn't interpreted as such. And your post is obviously written with kindness and concern. He starts by making his own mind up. And researching for himself: he's over 20 ... The research process will teach him a huge amount. This sector is about as dysfunctional as it's possible to get. The image on old maps with 'Here be Dragons ' on them could not be more apt. @SteamyTea's advice above is sound. If he has a degree consider a Degree Apprenticeship. He will have to start by showing willing and real keenenss to muck in, do what he says he will do, turn up regularly, be on time, and be prepared to take all the nonsense that customers and explotative employers throw at him. He will have to work in teams where it common to have lazy non-committed colleagues, watch sharp practice in action and keep schtumm. Have smoothe edges roughened. If he has an appetite for extremes, get a start with a scaffolding team.

Hi, I'm quite annoyed on your behalf. They talk of a 10 year guarantee here. The issue is '...if ...' isn't it? If the leak is actually in the unit. Can you verify that the leak originates inside the unit, and not (say) the flashing....?

I hesitate to use the word comparable . Durisol is, within the class ICF, a contrast..... And here's all I've written about the stuff. I'm not saying that Durisol will suit everyone, it suited us at the time. And it would do so again primarily because we know all its wrinkles. Experience is priceless, almost.

Congratulations. Your comment, quoted above echoes our experience. I think you'll hear this remark regularly... " 'Ow many more ya gonna puron 'ere then? "

You 'bin lookin' while I wuz ablutin' ?

Ok. Can I ask you for a formula that I can apply to those numbers, please? I know that the HansGrohe is pre-set at 40 , and the input temp is about 18ish....... Flow rate is 18 litres a minute or thereabouts....

Owning a SunAmp , for me, is a bit like a Guess-The-Weight-Of-The-Baby competition. You've had a rubble of your own babies, looked after God knows how many other ones, so you've got a good 'feel' for how much the little tike weighs. Oooops, a bit less now - sick down the back of your shirt. You know the routine. Same routine with a SunAmp: it makes you guess how much (be gentle @SteamyTea) energy (?) is left in the bloody thing after SWMBO has had one of her bath-of-the-century incidents, and the daughter has run the shower for gaud knows how long.... ( ask @ProDave, he knows the score ?) Mine's (SunAmp) a 13.7 kW machine. And up to today, I've assumed that the average bath gets rid of about 5kW, and a shower 3kW. Roughly. But today I thought I'd try a bit of slewthing. When the SunAmp's full, you see this on the Eddi thingy that shunts energy to the SunAmp From this image I can see that its taken 3.38 kWh to heat the PCM from what it was to 'Full' ( hmmmm waasat mean?) Quick sprint to the shower, play with my ducks and have rub down with the Sports News. A bit later that day (today) - no other hot water used Another 2 and a half kWh or more have been sucked into the SunAmp. Does that mean the shower I took earlier today consumed 5.82 - 3.38 kWh's worth of energy? Or am I missing something? Put differently, is my assumption that one of our showers consumes about 3kWh's worth of energy per average shower correct? (We have a quite powerful HansGrohe 'rain' head)

I think I weigh about a stone less than I did this morning. Honestly, I would rather have climbed a Lancastrian Mill chimney a la Fred Dibnah, no safety gear, no clothes on, a woodpecker snapping at my withers on a freezing morning before dawn. Here's why. Back in the mists of time, 6 years ago now, we got Outline Planning Permission, and then Full PP. We went throught Outline and Approved Matters route (2015). Then it was Head down Arse Up Go wasn't it? A few light traumas on the way - nowt like it will be for all those brave souls starting out now - but traumas there were. Successes too. And like the diligent person I am, I save all our invoices in a folder just like I was advised here. And promptly lost them in the move into our as yet unfinished-but-habitable house. Cue an extended office exercise, culling as many invoices as I could get by begging, cajoling (the people at the Screwfix head office are NASTY) and a bit of banter and using online accounts where I had had the forethought to create one. Local BM , Haldane Fisher were smashing. This time, all saved on my computer. VAT refund looms. Read the Application Form first page (VAT431C) , got the spreadsheet all bright shiny and accurate, skim the Notes - nay borra tae the likes o' me Jimmie Time to fill in the declaration and Checklist Nice people at HMRC, they give you a Checklist. This is what caused a sharp exit to the smallest room in the house Just about to type an X in the box marked Yes when I read '...and Approval of Reserve Matters...' Oh (expletive deleted)ety foockety foockety foockinghell. I have never even seen that document . Ever. Ever ever ever. And I'd downloaded all the documentation from that cursed website for future reference onto my hard disk. Hadn't I? Back onto the LPA website, that's where it'll be: (wyre brorough planning website) that den of juvenile web design, that fantasy playground invented by a demented drunken Planner. The relevant document MUST BE THERE musn't it? Oh Please God it is. Nother trip to the smallest room. On the website. Huh? Won't let me in ... need to register .... Whadya mean you twats, I've friggin registered years ago . Arghhh, you barstewards, you f.....ers New website Design. All over the place. Beads of cold sweat trickle down my face Decision Notices. Earliest ones: 2016. Panic is now real - a calm decends. Thats it, no time now before my submission deadline (next week). Oh Hell, how do I break this to Debbie? Divorce? Cat jumps on my lap. Starts to purr. Calm. A moment to think. Ring the architect. "Reserved Matters Approval? Yeah, why, haven't you got a copy? " 15 long seconds later it was in my In Box. The re-designed website had no documentation on it earlier than the summer of 2016. Our Reserved Matters Approval, August 2015. So if anyone wants to refer to a Planning Application before 2016 in Wyre Borough, yer stuffed. I hate Planners, I hate webdesigners, I hate the people who don't know how to handle Databases efficiently, and I really deeply loathe those lazy bastards that learn just enough about database normalisation to falsely claim they know how to design a Content Management system. There ought to be a law against it. Goin' dahn da pub ternight..... Coming?