ToughButterCup

Second thoughts Gary. The roof isn't flat enough. Think about it - if the photos are to be believed, you get your other half to do the roofing, so she'll appreciate a flatter roof now wouldn't she? I mean, think of the Brownie points.

I dropped in to our local firewood merchant the other day. He has transformed the way he works and sells wood. All the wood is stacked so that it dries better - by coincidence in the way it has been in Germany for many years. He's done it not quite as a Holzhaus (wood house), but very much neater, split into Toblerone shaped chunks, and stacked so that the air gets to his stock better. Yes, he'll still sell you a 1 tonne bag of random chunks of wet wood, but it's a start. In Germany, there's a kind of pride in doing it more neatly than your neighbour. And in the Black Forest, (outside towns) it is still more common to see wood stoves than any other heating Couldn't find an image on German sites, but this is the idea.....

Go fella, go! If anyone can make a success of it you can

Excellent. Now, off to cook HerInDoors' supper. Grilled goat's cheese and steak burritos. Trying to keep the cooking-disaster-level low this week. ?

Bad day @SteamyTea ? In one or two places (where I laid the blocks) there are 15mm gaps, which didn't matter, because the 10mm chippings in the mix blocked the gap easily. I am no sales person for Durisol: it's one of a few similar products. But it shouldn't be criticised on the basis of my unprofessional work. If memory serves me right, I was totally knackered while building the parapet along the top of our flat roof - the 'outside' temperature there is always the same as the 'inside' . Had the gap been 30mm, it would not have mattered.

For us, inaccuracy was the biggest issue with the second batch delivered. And I think that large demand for the product was the pressure that caused quality to slip. I went to visit another build after ours was finished: the quality of the blocks was noticeably better.

Here you are: some gaps caused by the usual issue - lack of care with the blocks : dropping one on the corner, or poor product handling. This image was taken after the pour. As you can see concrete hasn't leaked. So, foam gun in hand, I beetled round after the pour shoved some foam in where I thought the gap was excessive. As this photo shows, I missed some bits To the extent that my limited experience of one ICF is correct, gaps, if they occur are all remediable. There is no good reason to state that all Durisol has a problem with gaps and (and is claimed above) no grounds whatever to say that, where they occur, gaps are a major problem.

Precisely the question that I asked, spent about a week investigating. I'm on a phone now, when I get back to the office I'll dig out some photos, and come back. The short answer is that gaps up to about 15mm mend themselves during the pour: the stone jams itself in the gap. Bigger gaps need a bit of old board screwing on the outside, and the pour jams itself tight in the gap there. I'll be interested to see what @Adrian Walker has to say on the matter.

Could you explain the comment about gaps, please @Adrian Walker, thanks. Could you explain; where the gaps occur, the extent to which the gaps are problematic, and if it is possbile to remediate the gaps? Ian

I think your post should be pinned.

Here you are: have a read . What you @Adsibob are experiencing is normal.

Search Durisol on this site.

Welcome, @Adsibob to the norm in this sector. Nothing in your post above is new here. Your gripes are understandable, and almost universal. A quick read of any post on BH with the word 'rant' in the headline will attest to that. I would have thought (I'm almost sure) that very many of us here also have that sickening clunk in our stomachs. We are all Domestic Clients and therefore at a significant disadvantage over Clients. Established builders are in the technical sense of the word an elite. Acceptance in their Inns of Court, Dreaming Spires, Operating Theater, Cockpit is just as hard as entry to a profession.

Exactly ! And why our newbuild has but two bedrooms. Grandchildren welcome - others can sleep on the floor

I love spare ovens because they work even when they aren't working. The stuff you can hide in an oven: pots, pans, left-overs (found some Christmas cake t'other day) . . . maybe not chocolate treats though

Ditto in darkest flatlands of the Fylde, West Lancashire . Where tattered Brexit and St George flags and warm beer are most common. And farmers who moan like there's no tomorrow... Ah'm mekkin proper mune fer 't fust tahm lad, proper mune.. He's a mate of mine. Can he hire me a machine? Can 'ee fook.

Quite.

Our entry-level Bosch makes me cross MODS please delete this thread. If SWMBO reads it, we're done for ?

@Adsibob, there you have it: @gc100's response sums up my experience beautifully. I get the strong feeling from your posts that you are bringing hard won experience in a professional context into your house build planning. Perfectly understandable. And it's infuriating that the building sector operates so - apparently - casually and - actually - casually sometimes. Its also common to find building wolves hiding in sheeps clothing. One or two have flirted with BH in the past too. I bet if your customers had to be like that with you in your business, you wouldn't last long. Welcome to BuildHub reality. We need the support and (technically) the Community of Practice that BH is Community of Practice

Talking to the same builders as me then? Its a shame for everyone starting out now: I feel really sorry for them all. I mean its not like self building is easy is it.....

Snap. (Well, almost - we started hoping in 1985) Welcome

Depends on the qualifications @harry_angel.... Very useful thread. Thanks.

Due Diligence. Look hard at things like CCJs. Pay by results , on itemised invoice and in arrears.

You have a way with words @pocster ... ?

No. SWMBO bought the land (then an orchard) for £1000. Took Gorgeous George to change one sentence in Planning Law ... in favour of sustainable development.... to make us believe we might have a chance. Honestly.