ToughButterCup

Arrrgggghhh, there ain't nothin' like a self-made planter ter warm the cockles.....

Got a concrete pour coming up? Use the excess. We have the screeders coming next week: I'm trying to find time to make a simple shallow 'tray' to absorb some of the excess. Got an old, shallow metal kitchen bowl? Force some sort of container into the bowl during the pour Got an old 25 litre liquid container? Cut the top off and force a couple of empty 5 litre containers into the 25 litre container during the pour. Pop a bit of scaffolding pipe through the bottom (drainage) Etc.

How much water is there in a transformer then, eh?

Yes. The discipline in our case wasn't the engineer, it was the ecologist. And the consequences cost us £6000. How to deal with it? Fulminate, swear a huge amount, get pissed. Calm down. Move on. When I see an opportunity for revenge appropriately professional feedback, I might just take it

I have 8 fingers left, of which 6 work well: the other two are only good for hooking underneath a pint glass and emptying the dishwasher - I can hang four cups on each - and I can hang unbelievably heavy weights from them - cant feel much. Used to teach: to base 8, not 10. Great fun watching kids count and re-count my fingers .....?

Before I forget, beware of the dust caused by trimming the blocks. It gets in your eyes - and its vicious. Get an eye wash kit. And some form of eye protection.

And level (or laser) or taught string line, or all three. Check every single block for line and level.... Twice or three times.

All I'm saying @scottishjohn, is that I've become much analytical - not to say critical- about what suppliers (of anything) send me. In this case, the lack of accuracy in something as simple as a building block causes significant amounts of aggro downstream. For which I, personally, this time, have had to compensate. Less aggro sending it back and insisting on accuracy next time.

Evidence? I'm not sure that one can distinguish between the level of inaccuracy in all three dimensions : because the inaccuracy to which you refer may well be caused by the variation in drying rates (I think). I say that because I have seen the production process in detail and looked at the drying process on the same trips to the factory. My guess is that inaccurately dimensioned blocks would be more likely to have been stacked on the edge of the drying stack. The drying process - after an initial drying period, takes place in stacks of blocks . Blocks on the outside of the stack cannot but experience different drying conditions to those in the centre of the stack - the production manager's argument was that all blocks are stacked in the same atmosphere - which was true. It would have been churlish of me (at the time) to push the point any further. But blocks on the outside of the stack would have been subject to drafts and local variations far more so than those inside the stack. All the blocks come off the (Austrian) block-maker correct to the millimeter. I know, because I measured a small sample in front of the manager. But to claim that there is (will be) a significant difference in contraction (solidification) in one dimension rather than all three needs evidence, please. Full disclosure: my house is built with Durisol, and while I would build another using the product I would sample delivered blocks at the time of delivery and reject pallets of blocks that vary more than a few ( 3-4) mm in any axis. Why 3-4 mm? Its a real pain in the Botticelli to compensate for more than 2mm variance in a layer of blocks.

Ed, I knew there was something I wanted to tell you.... These people also formed a consortium They are very approachable, friendly sometimes garrulous people. Idea?

OK Ed, how do I digitally sign an email?

My signature line says it all. (thanks to @TerryE) Good luck Ian

OK, send me a PM as soon as ya like. Ian

Exactly. Some feel that, others don't. At least now, nobody is forced to explain anymore.....

I think that that's brilliant. Among other things, it'll be a good quick visual guide about the level to which you are building The only thing that makes me wonder is the (sometimes) corrosive effect of concrete on some metals. I can't for the life of me remember who knows about that - was it @Ian perhaps or @readiescards ? Hope they bump into this thread.

If the stanchion crosses from outside through both the insulation and the concrete of a block, then you have a cold bridge through the Durisol. The only way of designing out the cold bridge caused by steel is to build the blocks round the (outside of the?) frame. What did the Durisol trainer suggest when you asked him (Durisol is the most overtly sexist company I have ever met) the same question?

@cloughapike, welcome! Especially welcome as I live within sight of Clougha Pike (and Steel Fell and Ward's Stone). So, you feel like an newbie.... hmmmm. Join the club. As so often happens, you are suffering from mission-creep. There are a few on here ( whisper the name @Onoff - but he also manages prevarication verrrry well) who suffer similarly. You are in good company. Ian

Typical ? just keep yer nerve, do as asked, and keep busy with other stuff. Distract yourself.

You are right. It feels dreadful: we've all been through it - some more than once, and a good few through Appeal. Its a horrible process, but its the only one we have. I mean this in the kindest possible way. Grow a thicker skin. There are people with whom I am in regular contact who, when we applied for PP, were just about as rude as you could get in public - and now smile, wave and pass the time of day. There's something about the application process which brings out the very worst in people. Your post reads to me to be very close to the average kind of feedback that we've all had. And we, all of us, looked for the very worst interpretation of all the feedback we got. We are just like you. Welcome Deuce to the club. One of us. What can you do about it? Read widely. Read every decision made by your planner. Attend Committee meetings. Listen to County Councillors. Talk to your neighbours (if you can). Talk to the local Councillors. Accept some level of compromise. Be patient.

I'll try reading, and summarising, this today. Want something done? Ask a busy person. Pete, I think the army did us both proud in terms of injecting energy into difficult situations - wouldn't mind some more of that now.

Mine is holed -badly- below the water-line. So, a la @epsilonGreedy its DIYMax (but without his careful analytical approach), and TBH I go to work everyday needing to grit my teeth because I know SodAll about almost everything. But, slowly, too slowly, I'm getting more confident. In the NW @K78 ? I'll come and help with the Durisol if I can. PM me if you like. Ian

How much can you tolerate - of which type and what volume for how long? I suffer from Tinnitus, and have had to learn to tune that noise out - works mostly. But I love the sound of rain and hail on glass, but can't stand the noise of turbulent easterly winds (caused our wall to collapse in mid July a couple of years ago). I lived in Berlin, right next to a main road - couldn't sleep properly for the first week - by the end of the next I'd learned to ignore it. Noise tolerance is an each-to-their-own thing.

How about; a row of piles 120mm 'out' - (allowed tolerance 130mm) meaning our front wall needing some creative thinking later this year [surveyor error] ICF blocks laid - over a few meters - more than 20mm out of line causing significant expense and aggro extending the first floor joists walls built and left without concrete in them for 5 weeks, blowing down in a turbulent easterly gale in July ( cost several thousand ) wall blocks hammered into line (rather than being relaid) thus causing fractures in the ICF and a huge blow-out - ( cost a few thousand ) steels manufactured 300 ish out of line at one end, correct at the other, meaning several weeks delay and about £1500 of remedial work concrete slab laid to 25mm below FFL - GOK how to sort that - posts to follow Getting out of bed in the morning feeling cheerful. BIG mistake. (PS, apologies Ferdinand ...)

Until lawyers are forced to draft T+Cs in a legible, readable form, your assumption will be wrong 99.9999999% of the time.

Jungs, ich bin doch 'n Deutscher. Bosch tool fanatic too. It fits dunnit?