ToughButterCup

We have three (one's a door) The whole house design relies on the light harvested by those three windows. Looking at them now (they've only just been installed ) I'm thinking about privacy: you can see straight through our house..... and my relaxed attitude to undress. Hmmmm.

I write to let everyone know that the Manager of Ecowin, Thomas Froelich sadly passed away on Saturday. Ecowin supplies Gaulhofer windows and doors Thomas came to visit us a few times on his frequent trips up and down the M6. He lived up to his name : Froelich translates to Happy in English. He was always cheerful. And I was always glad to chatter to him in German - we could share seriously politically incorrect jokes and compare notes about how in Austria and Germany things were done ' richtig ' (correctly) whereas in other countries (he talked about installs of Gaulhofer windows and doors in other countries), that was not the case. The sales team up in Dalgety Bay (the other side of the Forth opposite Edinburgh) are devastated. Despite that, Craig found the time to ring me and talk our install through this morning. I'm sure we all would want to express our condolences to Lorraine his wife and his children.

I never ever think of that............ Our site has a gentle slope: the tank is going in at almost the lowest point on the site - still some 10 meters higher than the discharge point 150 meters away. Right then, off to have a coffee and take some piccies and then get stage 1 done..... just need to check if the digger really will lift the tank. Its not the weight that's the issue: its the vertical reach.

Right, then, thanks. Obvious case for digging a trial hole today and watching what happens overnight. (Yes, I'll cover the hole, and double check nothing is in it tomorrow morning)

Folks, quick question: how do you define a high water table? How high, relative to a 3 meter deep hole, is a high water table?

And not one of them belongs to a teenager.

Exactly. We're two opposite ends of the spectrum : I clear up shared areas all the time (my office is a tip). That's why it's so important to have properly planned places in which we can store stuff. Which is why @Onoff , you scored a bull's-eye with S-Box. The eye-watering price, though....

@HerbJ's idea and yours has yet to be discussed. Thanks for the plan @HerbJ, you arrangement for steam extraction is very discreet: it is in the ceiling space?.... There's a better than evens chance of me having to be in a wheelchair, I think ; at least for short periods - new hips on order. So the clearance is an issue - quite close to my heart also because my mate is quadriplegic. She's changed her mind. ? We are for EVER charging something. If not the phones or tablets, then the external batteries that we need for the bloody phones. It would be great to hide the damn things while they are charging....... in a shallow drawer maybe?

@Onoff - Debbie says have you got any advice on childbirth?

Thats the sort of advice which is almost priceless. Ditto.

You are right, once you take the basic decision, sooooo many questions follow. Hence the post. Yes to in-island extraction. If we pop the hob off center, then that allows for 'placing' hot stuff. Maybe 1500 square would be better? Should we put the island on the slab, or on the finished floor?

Debbie's been really patient. And the moment we had our windows in , I thought it might be time to start a conversation about how she wants her kitchen to be organised. We get surprisingly little talk-it-through-time and when we do it's clear that mental pictures aren't good enough. There's only so much Pintrest sharing that anyone can stand. So, out of the windows packing casing I made this. The box shape in the foreground is the island - which we hadn't planned for. In an effort to reduce the amount of yet more piss-poor planning, I'd like to plan the island in detail. I've made a start, but what the hell do I need to do next? She wants a hob, an in-island extractor, a fridge, somewhere to charge her command and control device (phone), somewhere to eat, a built in place for hot pans, and a bit of storage. All in 1200 square. Yeah, right.

Exactly Gary. As a hairy sergeant once growled at me on a street in Norn Iron: Be grateful for small Murphys, sir.

I'll be talking to the company on Tuesday, @HerbJ. Gently does it initially, I think.

I'm eyeing up our colander. Stick some coarse sandpaper inside it..... could work a treat. Think she'll miss it ?

I was hoping you'd pop along @HerbJ. Bang on in every respect except one. I am not certain that the fitters were given the instructions to fit the windows using Compriband. However, they now know (because I've shown them) that the Compariband is there to be fitted (£600 quids worth....). They gave me a clear explanation of why it wasn't fitted, though. @Stones I've talked to the lads (one was the foreman) today and said that, if I have time, I'll rake out. On balance, perhaps I shouldn't have. But there is no rush on this one: the door and windows shouldn't take more than a day to fettle. So, until then, I'll keep hold of my retention fee. They are a really nice crew: there's a bit of a language issue , though. @nod, never mind. It's all coming out in the wash, eh? At the root of this thread is the same issue as occurs time after time here. Talking to people . Or not. And had I watched a few more videos about fitting Compariband, I'd have caught it - maybe.

I have been given (bought with the windows order) two types of Compriband. Wide and narrow. The narrow stuff fits in the gap between the window and the wall, like this, I think. The wide stuff sticks on the side of the window and the wider section of the tape, sticks to the wall. In which case I can't be arsed to pay. There is no outside handle: just a key hole. Because the company said it is what they require. In which case, the fitters should fit it no?

Our window fitters left the site without having fitted the Compriband sealing tape. Today they returned to fettle our door (sticky lock mechanism) and , so I thought, to fit the Compriband. They explained that the Durisol surface was too rough for the Compriband to adhere to - and would therefore not act as an efficient seal; so they hadn't fitted it. The day they were fitted, nobody said anything to me about it. This YT video makes me wonder whether the information I have been given this morning is quite as comprehensive as one should expect. Here's a representative example for how the job has been finished ..... The Durisol is indeed rough. The senior fitter says that we need to make sure that the reveal is a lot smoother before the Compriband will adhere to it. Presumably all I need to do is lay on a smoothe parge coat on the window reveal - or is there another easier quicker way of doing it? Clearly, I need to trim back the expanded foam before I coat the reveal with something. Another instance where simple communication has failed. it would have been easier if they had told me either at the pre-fitting meeting or on the days that the windows were fitted or during the week I have waited for them to return - and I should have asked why the Compriband was not being fitted. That said I'm super-pleased with the windows and doors themselves: Gaulhofer. There's just one niggle. It'll be sooooo easy to lock ourselves out. The doors lock automatically when shut.

Good point @MikeSharp01: 2.5 meters would bury me standing up with some to spare.

Right folks. Thanks. I'm looking forward to the job now. Time to grease my nipples (there's at least ten on my Kubo.... )

Need to think that through in detail..... There's a concrete-it-in kit you can get I think. The one thing that's sure is that the water table will rise. And for all the world the poo tank could have come straight out of the harbour master's stock of Starboard Markers couldn't it? It'll act just like a buoy if I don't get this right. Blade on the hole side? Wot, me, make a mistake like that? Well I did once; just the once. Oh, and I'll need a water bowser then wun oi?

Yer a star Russel. Piling matt? Yeah, with a 16 tonner. Oh, bliss, sheer bliss - proportional controls, a full-on sound system, pedal track controls, steel tracks ? Why am I worried? Because the more experienced I get, the more cautious I get but the more ambitious I get. Partly deliberately delayed 'til now because the water table will be as low as it ever gets this week, (I hope)

Well, actually, I have been avoiding it. Doing a Big Time @Onoff. Procrastinating a treat. This needs to go in the green space next to it. I have the guidance on how to do it. Here There's a couple of things that are making me eat too much chocolate today. The empty weight is only 125 kg: an easy job for my digger - But will the arm have the reach? The hole only needs to be 2.25 meters deep - But the sides of the hole won't be vertical so will the arm have the reach (to dig out the middle of the hole)? Which all comes down to do I hire a 5 tonner ? (Mines 2.6 tonnes) Where's Ed Graves ( @Construction Channel ) when you need him?

I started to try and be that person. Soon got it knocked out of me.

Don't you find that effort on someone's part is the most engaging thing? We had a delivery driver who - with me - had to handball several tonnes of blocks off his lorry. (His pallet truck went u/s) " 'S awright mate , 's a bit of chance to work me beer-belly off " I made sure I rang the the company and asked for the MD, and told him how pleased I was. Top bloke. But humble.