ToughButterCup

Wilkomen! Essay? Essay! You wanna see some of the stuff that people post. That @Onoff bloke for example: 80+ pages ......

Because if eventually all goes pear-shaped, he cant be blamed......

Have a look at this list: it should help.

ICF? Its not the answer to every problem, specially not if you lay them in the nude.?

@Roz I would suspect the tradesman is trying to save you money: fitting the barge board later might involve more labour. Its as well to check here, though. I'd wait for other folk to offer an opinion before deciding ... said he cautiously. Well, I'm hardly expert am I? Chatty, yes, expert, no.

If it can't be fixed after the slates, I'm stuffed @Roz .

The book (and the online version) don't go into all that much detail Gary.

That's a bit cheaper than I would have expected. (NW , Lancashire)

Sleepy-eyed, I read Wench vs piles Wench every time......

I could do better myself, Lizzie. Says it all......

'... sounds more like...' and that's the thing we can't be sure. There's a lot of hubris in the ICF world, add to that poor practice - which in the case of ICF - you can sometimes get away with.

Hmmmmm. Not sure about that. On my build, if I knew that there was to be a longish gap, I always built a lot of rebar into the original pour to key the next layer in. Durisol do not make any statement about long gaps between pours. I wholeheartedly agree with @jamiehamy's comments throughout this topic. I have seen two separate whole walls (one internal, the other external) rocking to and fro (not on my build but at a pour to which I was invited) because an inexperienced pump-man had not fitted (or been directed to fit) a 100mm restrictor in the final section of the 'snorkel' . The sheer volume of concrete falling (in that case just under 4 meters ) made the wall rock a good 100mm left and right of the center line. I did not stay to examine how much the variance there was in the final line of the wall. The person supervising the pour was very experienced indeed. The owner was not present at the pour. I pooped myself. There was no burst. I went home sweating : two years later, although healing, the memory of our bursts is still very raw.

Hoots mon! Dont do it: there's only wailing and gnashing of teeth in self-building. ? But hard as it is, it's equally rewarding, and the welcome here as warm as the job is difficult.

How to put this? Ermmmmm, mind if I hold on too? It's really difficult to get some trades to come and work, unless you're in their networks.... so here are we with exactly the same problem. Slightly different starting point but essentially the same problem. I've forgotten how many times I have looked at Clive's thread ( @Onoff ) about his ablutions. Let's try and get ours done before he finishes his, eh?

The relevant information. For us the sources of that information were[ the architect, the ground condition report a few photos a quick annotated sketch the technical details of the build method The initial design needed input from the architect, the ICF producer and the ground condition report. During the build a few hiccups occured so he needed a sensibly produced relevant brief. We learned that SEs that specialise don't over-design, and so save you money. In one sentence in a letter one SE saved us £16000: in another instance later in the build he over-specified , and so would have cost us several thousand pounds: the eventual solution (supplied by a specialist ICFSE ) cost a few hundred. There's a moral there.... find a specialist. Good luck Ian

Cheeky boy.... ?

Thats all that needs to be said. Put the guy with the GPS / Total Station in touch with the architect. Thats that job ticked off. Loads more for you to be getting on with....

So, keeping your nerve worked, then. Good. You'll need that level-headedness many times over the time of your build. Enjoy the anticipation, and relax a bit before diving in. Good luck.

Well Russ, funny you should ask. I'm dabbling with the idea of doing some (repeat some) of my own plastering. Softly softly catchee monkey.... ?

B+Q had none in stock, Wickes had a big notice on the plastering section : 10 bags only Chatting to the manager, it became clear that demand was at an all time high. Is plaster in short supply where you are?

In this case, I was lucky enough to have a grinder with an auto - stop function. And stupid enough to work when really tired.

At this stage of your build, is £200 - £300 going to make a difference? I get the DIY fun stuff. But the fact that you're posting here hints at slightly unnecessary risk

I sympathise. Greatly. I ended up paying a man with a Totalstation a few hundred quid. And checked his work 'by steam'. Found one error of exactly 1 meter. More by luck than anything else.

Include in that process a clear, practical, policy on how to deal with bursts. As an undergraduate, I was lucky enough to have been taught by a lecturer who taught and whose research field was Accident Theory. In brief: accidents are normal, so prepare for them. By the end of the pouring phase, I had developed a really quick and efficient burst-mend process: a type of accident kit if you will. Bits of wood and sheeting of the right size, screws which had an unfailing grip in the Durisol , wood ready cut to size for the most common burst (one block). Shovels ready, two wheel barrows, and a pre-dug pit for the waste concrete, hose ready to sluice the fine bits out of the house. Didn't stop the sickening big-girls-blouse sensations as the pour progressed. It got to the stage where I'd almost have been glad of a burst because I'd have had something to do. We had 7 in all.