ToughButterCup

I can hire one.....

Right. Live and learn.

Yep. All neatly stacked like you told me.....

Covid-19: an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Suddenly there are trades folk all over wanting work. All over Salmander Cottage. I told one that he could have four weeks work, day rate. So three weeks ago he started. Two weeks into the four week period, (and just fully paid on the day his invoice was submitted) he tells us that he now has too many of his normal customers and it will be mid August before he can come again. You could not make it up could you?

brick and stone. ?

but the thing is there's only about 50 mm of space on the edge of the foundation - just visible above the yellow radon barrier. So it'll have to be slips, I think.

Yes, I was wondering how to camouflage the 'join': maybe some plastic (?) ferns or run some ivy up the wall......

< Then Now> I want to have a go at copying the ramshackle style of our old piggery with stone and brick slips. An ask too far?

An interesting idea. Could you develop that idea a bit? How might it be possible to discriminate in favour of one group or the other (taking individuals to be a group) ?

But Gollum is notorious for his poor eyesight.....

Thats very interesting @Temp. Thanks If you have time, could I ask for a link to a pressure regulator please?

I have one of these and need a single, table top (sometimes called deck mounted) mixer tap. The sink height is 144mm. Is there a recommended height for a tap for a sink of that height?

But energy requires effort. More commonly, I see stasis. Its easy to do nothing. So, more often than not, that's what happens.

Exactly right. And that's what hooked my interest. Because doing that isn't easy. Snatched moments reading here and there point to hints that may help answer your questions. My aim is to beat @Ferdinand to a well argued answer for you. You up for that F?

You are correct. As in Here be Dragons. What an interesting question. You have me hooked. To help unravel this type of complex problem I always resort to Martin Goodhalls blog. No guarantee of a definitive answer but always interesting, always evidence based. What more can a boy need? This link is a search to mentions of the term derelict in his blog Just found this .... in farminguk.com

What a fandamntastic place for a build..... I am soooooo jealous. Port Patrick is a really beautiful place. Some photos would be wonderful, but appreciate you may prefer to keep those to yourself. Swum to the other side yet?

There is no hard and fast minimum time between pours. I have personally heard more than a little bragging about complete houses done in one pour. Complete expensive stupidity to even try. The workflow is (often) build to first room height, pour, continue building to second floor, pour and so on. So the gap between pours equals the build time between first and second floors. Concrete maximum strength occurs after a good few years.

Forgive me, I'm tryung to save you time and money. To Bowdlerise Eliot (Gumbie cat?): Cats will do what they do do and there's no doing anything about it, so If the cats have been walking across the material, then their feet aren't so hot that they won't use the roof.

Welcome. East Ayr - that's where the Jock side of my family comes from (half Jock, half Bosch) Precisely our motivation too. Still building after 4 years and I'm 67 ... and its still worth it, provided I dont pop me clogs soon. It took 35 years for the Planning framework to be right for us : a bit of a wait.

Heres a site search for which icf A lot of tripe is talked about in ICF comparisons. Each has strengths and weaknesses. And your situation is unique. So go and look at a range of methods being built. Come back with a shortlist and ask us again. In the meantime use the site search facility for each type. There's a week's reading waiting for you. The question you ask is well rehearsed here. Ours? Durisol. Yes. Because it suited us.

I'm really tempted, sorely tempted but my better nature prevailed. Just. ?

I went to the factory to see ours being made. Talking to the lads, the key thing they pointed to was the quality of the timber : before use, they dropped each piece into a former - a sort of guage - and if it didn't fit, then it was rejected. Without the jig for both the timber and the assembly, I would hesitate even if I were as Just-Bloody-Do-It as you are John.

The dogs sort everything - everything - out. Bar their own. And that's my fault.

You just might find too much advice on BH, but you won't feel anything like as 'exposed' after submitting your plans to the Commentariat sometimes called Hive here. I have a strong feeling ( zero evidence - just a feel) you need to network: find out who's good, whose bad, who's indifferent and who to stay the Hell away from. Network, with the emphasis on work : Its hard work.

Here's a really good breakdown of how to both spray and roll at sensible prices. Top bloke is Peter Millard, top bloke.