ToughButterCup

For a simple selfbuild any spreadsheet will do. Cheap, universally available, easy to share.

That's not paranoia. It's sensible speculation.

That's such a truism that I'm thinking it would make a good signature line for a self builder. The simple discipline of habitually questioning professionals' (contractors) statements is one step on the road to due diligence . My god I have regretted not following my own advice.

? posted in error....

You can say that again. For a start, Hydrated, hydraulic or non-hydraulic lime? The following table comes from https://www.lime-mortars.co.uk/lime-mortar/guides/lime-hydraulic-or-non-hydraulic Hydraulic Non-Hydraulic Cement (OPC) Breathable Yes Yes No Setting Speed Medium Low High Flexibility Medium High No Durability Medium Low High Labour Low High Low Cost High Medium Low Shelf Life Medium High Medium Why do posts about succesful lime pointing always involve '... an old boy ...' eh?

In addition to @SimonD 's helpful post above, this post describes my ascent of the same steep learning curve. ( Pssst.... features a reply by none othe rthan J Harris ?)

That token barrier would need enough force to risk being splintered , perhaps?

I'll second that. Trouble is you spend a million dollars to make it look worth half a million dollars. And, in the words of our local friendly Mr Plod " ...make it worth knicking...."

Oooooofff. ? There isn't much wiggle room on this one is there? I suspect the idea isn't popular, but if you cant work the problem through, work with its weakness. Make rainwater disposal visual fun.

Building is the core job. But you (like the rest of us) need someone who will build and also communicate. Without that essential element, the 'job' gets too stressful. Its kind of OK for a small job - say replacing a few windows, but anything larger and life starts to be lived through gritted teeth. Politely decline the quotes to date and find a builder who will pick up a phone withing 24 hours of making contact. One technique that seems to work is to find out with whom the builder will always communicate: partner, subby, drinking mate - and make contact 'through' that person. Lockdown never presented anyone with the excuse not to communicate: in fact the opposite is the case.

Ughhhhh.... now you tell me... Scorched by the heat of my own misguided Europeanism, I went and bought Lindab. Metal, Bee Knees, Dog's Dodahs. Wont go into too much detail (yet), but you can hang from Lindab guttering by your own fingertips for a good few very l o n g seconds and nothing happens . The gutter squeeks a bit, but thats all. As I hung there flapping gently in the wind I found time to wonder why I hadn't secured the ladder better. What a waste of brain power. True enough, I got a bit wet, but not from the water spilling from the gutter if you know what I mean. And, as you say the water does make a noise in a storm - pleasant, soothing. You are warm and dry, its wet outside. Lovely. Except when theres a bit of a dew fall (AKA condensation) It drips in ones and twos. Drip drop....... drip drop. And it echoes in the downspout. Last night - well it was like the proverbial water torture. 20 - 30 seconds between drips. Cant take a joke? Don't self build. I have a cunning plan to cure it. I think.

I take it there is a flat roof above each window? Not sure this is clever: run the gutter across the windows (say the group of three on the RHS) along to the left-most (pair of?) windows and put your downpipe there. This would mean that rainwater disposal drives the window design - not clever. Might a rainwater chain be an idea? Might be clever. If you can't beat it, join it..... make the downpipes fun - interesting The idea is from Germany (sorry you have to get used to that from me ?) Clever but expensive.

Welcome and good luck. We've been at it for six years now and most months I still have to ask She Who Must Confirm to do just that because For example today: we have a Winter Garden 'inside' the house. " Oh, didn't I tell you, I need a seed growing rack just there..... " Trouble is, after all these years, I still can't resist the smile.

Correct.

Welcome. ' Murdered-in ' , or simply murdered?

Half a day on BuildHub to solve a foul problem. How much would you have paid an 'expert' to do the same eh? This place is addictive.

Neither. It sounds like it won't be easy. Good luck.

Yes. Here's why. A short playlist of all the videos Peter Millard has made about the issue of screws and MDF. Ian

https://www.pavingexpert.com/layflag1

We 'solved' (?) that problem by making sure that the slump was very low (high?) ... very runny. Weak Scotch broth the Durisol people like to call it. As luck would have it, a few months after it was cast, the beam had an interesting test - a good few tonnes of Durisol fell 30 feet onto it. (The beam is just out of site above the Acrows on the left hand side.) Nothing appears to have moved - yet.

PMSL .....

Now that, that's what I call a NeatOle. How young was the slave ? 8 ?

Ah, @Onoff, you noticed the shoring did you - in the photo - ? Whenever I work in Berlin, I look(ed) with interest at the way below ground public works are carried out with temporary shuttering. Nothing more than shortened normal scaff planks shaped (sharpened) at one end and supported with simple screw jacks. Quick, effective, cheap, sustainable. Since Berlin is built on sand, the shuttering needs to be spot on. Vorsprung durch Holzschalungsbretter

Just Bloody Do It. The amount of effort to keep this thread in existence far exceeds that needed to just blooooooooody dig it.

Yes. Here's the evidence. Just over 3 meters in one place. Glad most of it was clay but...... 31 cubic meters by hand during lockdown 1