ToughButterCup

Thanks everyone. Ian

Oh Fer FooksSake.... 😑 I'm a Bear With A Very Small Brain. Thanks @Russell griffiths

I'm just about ready to put some garden steps in. I'm following the published guidelines for Accessible Garden Design. Context: Old - replaced hips - reasonably fit - tow ramp access to other house doors Spec: 1200 wide ( minimum) handrails risers 150 ish. tread (going) 700 or maybe a bit less but not much fall of (max) 1:50 on each tread step lights ( in the risers ) So far so good. But do I need to put in a ramp to one side? What have you done about that ?

Could not agree more. I use it every day (as does my OH) She is resposible for Academic Standards at an HEI in the north of the UK. AI is a complete and utter nightmare. I always mistrust AI responses - so to check I skim them and run them through another AI. And then compare . And do another check. In this case less than 5% difference, and in this totally routine - Raise a Complaint - process the content stands up to quick inspection. In terms of the mere typing It makes the difference between making the time to help anothe or BH member or not.

Yes, OK. Lets reframe the issue and attempt to turn what I suspect is something like irritation into something posistive. Lets start with an End In Mind: To Determine whether or not HMPI is unreasonably delaying the Validation beyond the stated timescale of [.... I've forgotten ...] weeks Because I haven't got the time, and this sort of issue is probably about information handling - and standard stuff at that - I ran the issue through ChatGTP. Other AIs will probably do a better job: but 'tis what I've got easy access to..... Here's the ChatGTP response (My emphasis for those who want to skim) https://chatgpt.com/c/6729ef30-bb14-8004-b20b-ebae04634a7e downloaded 05/11/2024 We (BuildHub) have about 5,000 (?) members, of whom some at least have experienced delays - unreasonable delays - in the processing the paperwork. See Point 2 above. How about starting a thread on BH asking directly and succinctly about the time it takes the Planning Inspectorate takes to validate an application? Thanks @Tetrarch Take it away @Alan Ambrose

Got a part time job as a standup comedian then have you? Earlier in the build, I walked round the site and quietly cleaned up after every single tradesman Until the money ran out. When all is said and done I pay for their skill. That said we currently have the sparkles in. Two smashing lads who work for a local company; they hoover up after themselves! Christ on a Bike! All those thousands of little bits of copper wire. They get everywhere. Found some in my knicker drawer. Ouch. They illustrate the rule. Owners clean up because customers pay for the skill - trades untidiness is an honourable tradition to be held in great esteem. Because it reminds us that we should bother about them. And know sod all ourselves.

Early on in our build I would occasionally go and stand outside the HERAS of a local building site. And I would look really carefully at what everyone was doing there and see if I could apply any of the things that I learnt on our site. Occasionally I would pop in and see the s ite foreman and ask if I could have a look to see how the site was organised. As a result of those visits I; Made myself a site stillage Made a site storage plan. Made a scaffolding store. Stoned the walkways around the outside of the build Bought track-mats to put in front and behind the stillage so that access to the contents was quick , easy and cleanable Kept the road outside our site spotlessly clean no mud, no dust, no stones. Put some flood lights up, battery ones with a Bluetooth connection so that over the winter they came on and switched off randomly. (Bosch) We could also switch them on from inside our house. Made a concrete overspill 'pond' for the when the concrete wagon mixer needed to flush its pipes. Later I turned that concrete 'pond' into a flat area for storage and for a temporary work surface. Stupidly I put a whole load of waste rebar in it without thinking through the consequences of what would happen when I came to break it up. Live and learn eh.... I put some wheels on the bottom of for HERAS panels so that moving it was quick and easy at the beginning and end of each day. I also made a safe place for van drivers to pull off the road and make their delivery in safety.

'... How do people in their 60's even do this?!!...' By planning for it. I don't know of one builder over (say) 50 who isn't careful with their upper body. If it's not backs, then it's shoulders or necks. And I'm just about the same as you are: cursing quietly when [...] clicks in. That's what young folk are for - saving our backs. Learn the warning signs, sign off straight away, not '...Oh I'll just [...] ...' For me, it's the single hardest lesson of the build so far. And nobody can see anything except my refusal to get on with it. SWMBO notices the analgesic consumption, but that's about it. Now I look at jobs done in both haste and pain and repent at leisure.

Tanners - did a superb job for us.

Indeed you have. And deliberately, politely we ignored it. We have about 16 square meters of glass facing south west. And every single person who visits us comments on the large expanse of light, the views, the engagement with the colours and shapes in the garden, the easily visible bird life, the sudden but brief shaft of golden sunlight at the end of a depressingly grizzly, grey day. I'll pay a few extra quid for that. Houses are for living in.

Metal gutters. The noise the rain makes on the roof is lovely - soothing. But the the piddle, the tinkle, the widdle, the weewee, the Jimmy Riddle sound..

There is no such thing as a bad builder, only a builder who has not met expectations - yet. Christ, did I just write that ? Bloody Lefty Liberal. Just sack 'im ( her)

Morning. Advice it is eh? Well ask @Pocster for a biscuit. Just see what happens.... just for sheets and giggles..... go on, dare ya.

Very trendy in Germany. 😑

The Enforcement Officer who worked on an Enforcement issue with our neighbour dropped in at our place to have a chat last week. He had recently retired. Over a coffee we talked through exactly the issue you raise above. The picture is messy. But broadly he sees colleagues in our LPA and in East Lancashire (where he has friends and ex- colleagues) being expected to be more productive with less resource. To an extent that has been achieved. But our area is booming: the A6 Development Corridor. Planners are running to stand still. Lancaster itself (neighbouring authority) is fizzing with development. The picture is indeed muddied by (as you hint) some poor practice, and - in my direct experience - sheer unexplainable laziness. But the bigger picture is one where everyone has to do more with less. That's now the norm. If as has undeniably happened, LPAs budgets have been cut so much that they fail, it is easier to argue for privatisation. I have in mind the leaked video of Sunak addressing Conservative Party activists talking with pride about deliberately withholding funding from Labour controlled areas. Behaviour like that is inexcusable from any political party.

Used the site search facility yet? Or Google or any other search engine - as in google [....other search engine...] search> G98 g99 site: buildhub.org.uk

In our case, the location was chosen by the Planner. We have the same 'issue' as you have withour Piggery. The easiest place for the Planner to measure the height was right where he got out of the car. There, it was a few cm too high. Everywhere else, the eaves height was below what was required. Man I was cross for a bit. If I had the same challenge again, I'd change the ground level all round the building to make the problem disappear. The consequences of not doing that are expensive.

Just incase anyone would like a bit of support with ratchet-strap-wrangling, here's an online resource I found https://www.instagram.com/spanngurtcoach/profilecard/?igsh=MWFleWtoYjJwaWdrbg== Yes it's in German, but a ratchet strap in the UK is the same as one in Germany.

in which case the price of the house becomes more flexible too 😉

Because?

We're all doomed to be in your Shadow mate. Doomed

Not really: 83.995 % is more like it.

@BotusBuild - that's the one..... Thanks so much. @G and J highly likely to be correct. Add that to me needing to get something strapped quickly, doing it up a ladder, cross and tired at the same time, sure I'm going to mess it up...

Yes. Exactly. Invariably I'm fiddling about up a ladder, loose end in hand but drop the standing end - (or some other variant of that) , swearing under my breath . I'll try putting it on the ground first, take up a bit of the strap first and then hook up. Thanks Ian

Ok, but - which way up?