ToughButterCup

@WalterB, I'm not an expert . Merely fairly acquainted with local prices. At a guess without VAT

If anyone is going onto a roof ridge, you might as well get everything done: inspect, re-bed. Price too high? Lets assume good H&S practice: Ancillary works £200 ( 2 * half days, set up , pack away) Materials £100 Scaffolding £600 ish Day rate £200 per person ( *2) =£400 Profit element 10% £130 Its a little over the top for re-bedding, and probably overpriced for re-pointing... It's easier and might be cheaper to dry-vent the ridge

Talk first. Listen. Pay based on the listening exercise. Its not easy to hold that kind of conversation, which is why most people try to avoid it. (And why many contractors and customers don't answer their phones) Not talking makes the problem worse. If you don't talk first - the whole thing risks escalating out of all proportion. If (say) this issue gets worse still and lawyers get involved the first question they will ask is - did you talk to the contractor first? By the time things get to paper, nobody should be surprised. When things go wrong its ALWAYS a first class opportunity to show some character. Or guts if you like..... Here's a framework to help you think it through for yourself. Its a ten minute read.

Hello. Welcome Hold on to your dream. No matter how long it takes. The world isn't ideal for anyone . You might have to compromise.

Describe the research you have done for yourself .... please

Have you tried talking to your architect about the problem yet? I mean really talking?

'... The dried out walls .... Took a lot of additional painting to deal with the enormous amount of locked in water ...' Woodcrete ( as in 'Durisol' ) drains itself ... Not one block outline is visible anywhere on the inside ( and parts of the outside) of our house. But in our piggery - even though its been rendered, you can see every single block. Because its not plastered or clad. (yet)

Exactly right. It's one of the many compromises made when choosing any build system.

Think about airtightness too @MCoops. Durisol is 80% ish air. So on my own, I rendered outside and in first ( and had the shoulder muscles to prove it ) Battened and boarded the wet room (+ tanking membrane (3) and tiles). Elsewhere plastered straight to the pre-rendered wall . BTW we found a plasterer who was a magician - needed to , the walls were all over the place(ish)

Just for the record... We have a few bits of Durisol left lying around uncovered and outside ( for at least 4 years). It's drizzling now, so the few blocks I have are wet. Tomorrow will be fine, so by lunchtime the face facing the sunshine will be dry. I'm considering using them to build the base of a static workbench. (Because the blocks will be filled with concrete and thus immovable). We have a piggery next to the house. 8 years after it's construction the piggery is still unclad. Exposed to the elements. It looks horrible. But it's bone dry. Durisol is hydrophobic. The 'weave' of the fibers means that it's mostly made of air. Durisol is just like a Landrover: water flows out of it as fast as it flows in.

£1000 quids worth of pure joy sorted it for us. A small TEU ( container). Sales rooms for internal furniture £100, made other stuff from scrap wood. And stored my cement in there too. Simples! Cheepls!

I think the issue you raise in this thread is a fairly common one. At its heart, its really simple. There's a problem. Both systems and people show themselves for what they really are when things go wrong. Not for when its all OK - or just jogging along So this gives you a first class opportunity to engage carefully with the architect, and turn the whole matter on its head. Pitch it as a joint issue that needs to be worked through together. Success here often forges much deeper, more meaningful understanding. What's the architect's point of view? Put the horse in front of the cart - what's (was so far) missing from the dialogue? Does the architect know what you think? People are allowed to make mistakes. They are normal. And so are yours. If you are to work together plan for mistakes together Listen deeply. If you must part, then do so respectfully and on good terms. Its a really small world. Have a quick look at this. Its meant kindly, and I apologise in advance if you're already aware of it. Other readers may not be. Good luck Ian

Thats how they make Durisol innit? No? Oh, sorry my mistake. Happy Friday everyone.

Welcome. Well, the first mistake was thinking we can stop you making mistakes. We can slow them down -slow--motion---car----crash-----like . But there is one trick you can try. Its hard, though. The trick? Ask the right questions well before time. How? We can't help you with timing. But we can help best if The questions are clearly expressed The questions (not the context) are short ( less than 10 words) One question at a time helps readers focus You evidence what you have done to help yourself before asking here You have looked through this site to see how many threads there already are about what you want to know Your post links to those threads and explains simply why your issue is different You add images and diagrams to your post See if @Pocster has already made the same cock-up but worse - so very much much worse. Happy Friday Ian

One bridge at a time.

1. No 2. Whats the point of being livid? Eyes on the prize- the house. Value engineer. 3: Think, Talk. Compromise 4 '... I would have much preferred an approach of transparency. ...' Have you tried talking? Why not?

😔

Welcome. What a gorgeous photo. By .... outer ... do you mean with ICF in between the oak timbers ( bit like a half-timbered house ) ? In which case we need photos of the plans ( or pdfs.) We're nosey you see. ( Well I am ) Anyway, good luck. Here's a link to a search for the term ICF on this site. I suggest it because the site-search takes a bit of getting used to. A bit of quiet fire-side reading if you have time.

Our lad - a copper - says he sees this sort of thing so often that; "Its the compelling reason for insurance: personal, possessions, contents, car and property"

Excellent. Trouble with the (my) planer is that trimming the 'grot' off the wood stored outside means it's (often) just a little too small 1.75 inch by 3.7 ish instead of proper 2 by 4 (nominal). The wood is - as you say - sound. Looks like my 'leftovers' will need to be used up in my outdoor workshop. I look forward to being able to store wood under cover all year round.

... And hence the expense, which makes it unviable. Settlement, however only needs expenditure once - a second tank(let) which needs cleaning every once in a while. And a chlorine ( Chlorox ?) tablet once in a while, dropped into the settlement tank.

That is exactly what it is @Alan Ambrose @Temp needs to add a settlement tank to his set up with a 3 foot sump at the bottom of it so he can use a standard 2" pump to get rid of the sludge - once very few years. And have an overflow into the operational tank of course...... in effect, a skimmer. Sorry @Temp, talking about you .....didn't see you standing there 😑

Yep, ventilate your roof space. Look at the eaves Can cold air get in here ? (If so, good) Can warmer air rise and flow out of the top of your roof space (If so, good) here's an image stolen (fair and square) from 'fixmyroof' that illustrates what we mean. Its common for the roof space airflow to be blocked off by added insulation ... not to worry, its an easy fix.

The Wedgie that Trump has already shoved into Zuckerberg's et al's underpants is there for all to see.

I'm trying to work out how best to build a path with insufficient paving stones to cover the desired area ( 10 sq meters) . My daughter's partner ( a builder ) would be able to do it without much thinking - because he's experienced, and an all-round nice guy. The only thing I'm experienced in is getting-it-wrong-first-time. Lets give AI a go at solving the problem Process I fed each AI with a data sheet - each paviour was identified with a number and its dimensions The total maximum area that could be covered is 6.11 sq meters The AI was asked to derive a pleasing pattern within an area 10 meters by 1 meter Problem Statement I have about 6 square meters of York Stone. And 10 square meters of path to cover Design a visually pleasing pattern of paviour layout to stretch across the 10 square meters of path. (to the left of the red smudge in the image below) ====================================================================== NotebookLMs response DeepSeek's response Now, I dunno about you, but DeeSeek appears to me to be the most helpful because it offers me a simple recipe to follow. I can now go and lay that out in our yard and see if SWMBO likes it.