ToughButterCup

I think I know what you mean: but in the case of Durisol - provided the contractor acts with due caution - there is no need for shuttering during the pouring process. In the sense that the material containing the concrete (compacted , treated wood chip) is never removed, you are correct. Normally a customer would never see the concrete. Normally that is...?

I offer the following; my experience is very limited indeed, it extends merely to Durisol. Our house has been 'up' after a fashion for a year now. The raw blocks - before they were parged - never leaked. The blocks are hydrophobic. When they get wet, they dry out pretty quickly. After parging (sand, cement, lime) they are bone dry (to the extent I can tell). Cloeber Permo Forte NG and cedar cladding to be added later this year. Our window openings are massive. No issues have yet come to light in the terms you outline above. Care in fitting kitchen and bathroom units is a vanishing commodity in any build if my recent conversations are to be believed. The argument presented above hints that simple shelving heavily loaded might also be a problem with ICF. Really? I mean really? Our ICF supplier provides a simple (very poorly worded and structured) technical support manual. Why should manufacturers know how to produce excellent written instructions? Low level skills are fine, provided they are accompanied with personal integrity, attention to detail, persistence and the determination to do an excellent job. My skill level was nugatory. It isn't now. You can leave a five mm gap in Durisol and the concrete will seal it. Looks bloody awful, but...... Rebar frameworks - I know less than nowt: our team came from Latvia. Concrete pumping companies seem to have at least some experience of working with ICFs. Locally, we had three - no four - pump sessions, each with a different operator, each did as he was asked (including the Italian pump operator "Eh magnifico signore, magnifico") The commentary you were sent (above) seems to me to have been written by an SE that has little or no experience of the ICF under consideration. We asked our excellent SE (Tanners from Eire) to do bit of work in relation to Durisol. When we submitted that work for review by an SE who works for Durisol, 50% of the rebar was removed, saving more than three quarters of the total SE bill. Choose an SE who knows the product and can demonstrate a successful track record with it. Do your Due Diligence.

Rumbled.

'S a steep learning curve for a first time DIYer innit?

Fanx Dad!

I'm desperately to fit my wall plate. To do that I need to drill into concrete that was poured on Sunday. Please can I try today? Please daddy please!

Baden-Powell, Hetreed, and Ross ( 2011) Architect's Pocket Book Routledge, 4th Edition.

Thats it the last pour this afternoon. As usual, there's a twist..... We (Debbie and I) had about a tonne of concrete to mix, haul up to the parapet and pour by hand to finish the house. As usual it took longer to prepare for it than to do it. But hey, used to that. All tested, all checked. Thoroughly. It rained last night didn't it? Tidy drop of rain in fact. The rope on the pulley was wet. Hemp rope. Got a suspicion yet? Me, up on the gantry, her indoors hauling the pulley (I'm not stupid) First 50 kilo bucket hauled up by one of the fittest wimmin in Lancashire. Helluva lass. On an Italian pulley system that automatically locks when you let the rope go. Well bugger me, 50 kilos of concrete went straight back down from whence it came. Cue old-fashioned look. Cue lively discussion. Several hours later, it came to me why the brake system wasn't working. The rope was wet. I'm really quick like that. The big big BIG mistake I made was, just as we were finishing the job, to tell her why the pulley brake wasn't working. Anyway, doesn't matter, no more concrete to be lifted. Might have a drop of giggle water tonight.

Standing in a line of proper trades folk all waiting to be served - if I don't have a written list I've had it..... Even worse when this happens

This might help. Hope so.

Or get told to go away in short rhythmic jerks. The Full On DIY experience is almost as painful, just as slow and costs far less. 1000 times more fun. I could not contemplate DIY without knowing BH is just a few clicks away.

Welcome. Have fun while you can. I sense that you've earned it - waiting til our time of life to do something is a harsh discipline. I echo @Lesgrandepotato 's note of caution. Our build is a case in point. Get the purchase under your belt. The self-build process hardens you. Your only defence is preparation and research.

Do you know the name of the official coming to meet you? I ask because if you do, and you can read some of his or her decisions online before tomorrow, it means you have time to get a feel for all sorts of things in advance of the meeting. And if you can mention (provided it's relevant) one or more of the decisions he or she has made, then that will, at the very least, cause an inner smile. And so oil the wheel a bit. The micropolitics of the meeting are critical. Professional, polite, attentive, listening. Find out as much as you can about the planner before tomorrow. Do not be afraid of silence. Every Planner is used to Mr and Mrs Grumpy. Its normal.

Run , run for the hills! Here's no different : here be nuffin but draguns, wailing, gurnin' and gnashing of teef. And if you follow @Onoff, procrastination too. Despite all that, you couldn't be in better company. Welcome.

Here you are son; just what I'm planning to do as well.

How many builders in your bunch then? Need to know because our spell-checker could fail under the increased strain. Welcome!

Already got one. They are all harnessed in the engine space of my Meat Head Wagon As to Earthing Therapy: FGS lads, you are talking to me - the AntiSpark. It doesn't take me long to earth myself to a lively wire.

.... Instead of a shower... and no wonder it's wet under there. At eye level with the sealant between the bath and the tiles for the first time - you guessed it. There's a gap. For water. Which is why its why the low-level isolator switch (in the next room) is also wet, and why there was arcing on the negative line IN, which caused the blue sleeving to melt ... and smell. And harden. So I trimmed the Line IN back, made a new connection (Yes @Onoff and @ProDave I bought one of those bleeping testers (Bosch of course) so I am still alive: not like last time when I got near a live cable I wondered what the BANG (but no smoke) was) . Re- connect: nothing. So I had a bath. Which is why before doing anything else I thought I'd ask you all "What next?"

Exactly what we plan to do.

As written that's unkind. And I'm sure you don't mean to be. The fundamental issue is parity of esteem. Qualified German builders are held in high regard. As are their trainees. What irks me is the key role the British had in designing the training regime at the end of the war.

+1 . Mine get nicked ...☹️

My money is on this one....

We've had a new heating system installed. Tickety Boo. Every time we open or close a cold tap quickly, there's a brief knocking sound. Anything I can do?

Wot Dave said. We are either retired or about to. That makes using our own power easier

If the criticism is thoughtful and skillfully expressed, then ..... but mostly it isn't. Its an unkind way of expressing a hidden agenda. Its also a very useful filter.