ToughButterCup

Swallows arrived today: it's all going too well, innit?

Of course, it helps greatly when, during a delivery this morning, the driver of the 20 tonner with a HIAB, from the local timber firm (PM for details - a large well known national company) mentions casually ............ "When we deliver yer wall plates on Wednesday, I'll pop that beam on the ridge for ya, mate" If there were an emoji for the Hallelujah Chorus I'd use it.

A sense of humour.

And We all need to know a @nod, who knows a Russian taper, who knows a ..... and so on and infinitum. For me part of the issue is having the guts to be and the knowledge skills to spot poor work in progress. And the balls to draw it to the workman's attention. "And what the Hell do you (I) know about it?"

We intend to raise the beam up the outside of the tower with the digger and put it on the top working level. Yes, the tower will be tied into the house with separate bracing scaffold and or two-tonne strapping. We intend to make a series of vertical holes in the concrete , each the diameter of a piece of rebar. As we raise the beam (as you say) Alaskan style, we'll drop in a piece of rebar so that it's held fast by it's own weight. As to needing a winch from gutter level, ..... we have an internal scaffolding tower (on casters) so we can lift the beam by hand and meter or so each time, dropping a piece of rebar behind it in a series of pre-drilled holes. Planks are at the ready as a skid.

Our ridge beam is a glulam, about 7 meters long and weighing 160 kilos: not that much as far as beams go, I would think. The sensible answer to problem of getting it up to the ridge is to hire a crane and a guy who knows his stuff. Cost £500. In the current context, that's a bit of a problem. This thread will simply document what we did, the problems we came across and how we sorted it out. We would not have considered doing this had we been richer, not had a digger, and not had some form of scaffolding under our direct control: in this case Kwikstage - other types are available. Our aim is to do this exercise in a completely safe way , lifting it, one small bit at and time such that one person can lift it on their own, and lower it to a position where the beam is completely safe. Your comments and criticism is more than welcome. In fact, it's part of the process. The 7m beam hasn't been delivered yet: I want to trial the whole process with a smaller 5 meter beam first. The 7m beam will stretch from the ridge peak at the top right, to the peak you can see on the left - the steels peak. This is a general view : first we need to lift the beam from the ground up to the level of the guttering This first photo shows the first of three bays of Kwikstage being lined up carefully outside the house. I found that setting the feet level across the entire 'installation' with a batten and a level helps greatly if you do that before putting in the standards. The construction process is greatly helped by putting in the diagonals before tightening up the pegs. (It also helps greatly to do this when you aren't tired) ( ) Doing a quick check just before coming in for lunch -luckily- I noticed these...... Notice the pegs (at an angle at the back of the staging) not hammered home. It's so easy to forget one or two: I always forget at least one. Now I touch each peg before finishing any section of the build. More to follow later this afternoon, and subsequent bits of the experiment. PS I would have used the digger to hold the standards while building the staging, but Debbie popped out to help.

An obvious first answer - Lack of access is the issue @RichS Off to buy some potassium nitrate. As so often, thanks @JSHarris

It has to be removed..... part of the roots are cuddling the manhole access to a sewer.....

It's in a residential area.....

Ideas please. We've had enough.

Took the words out of my mouth, Ed . As in '' Ask Albert ' Maybe a PM to him would help.....

@Dee, I think we all need to be gentle with you on this one..... First step, look at and find out the size of the job. A small sharp screw driver and a good deal of prodding (nowhere near wiring). Look at where you get some healthy resistance. That will tell you what needs further detailed examination and what likely doesn't. A simple list of the rotten (soft) areas posted here will give us clues as to where to point you next. Friday night is forget-it-go-down-the-pub-night. Might be a good thing to do tonight, eh?

This is the local technique ( much cheaper ) from my direct experience. Buy a trailer load of pig manure. Tip it in the pond. Wait a year. In public meetings, express sorrow at the absence of GCNs

God help us . We're all doomed, doomed I tell ya.

Right, well watch out for low-flying Welsh plumbers then welcome. Ian

Thanks. Yer a star @bissoejosh I'm going to use this weekend to do some thorough research into the detail of how, where, and how much. The YT videos point to the tape being made in Germany. Vorsprung durch Technik and all that. There's very little stuff in our build that can't be traced back to Tchermanee.

Exactly. But in this process is, for me, just-in-time-learning. I really do not know what I am doing - but I do understand the reasoning behind it. I am also parging the outside of the building as you can see above. A la @Nickfromwales belt and braces job.... The strong cross-light in the photo emphasises the outline of the blocks. So easily said. But. Quite how I am going to get a sand and cement parge coat to stick to the plastic inside the wall I don't know. It was drafty here yesterday, so I couldn't photograph the membrane on the inside of the wall (It was flapping about). I'll try and take a photo today to illustrate the point. (And I thought I was retired, this is just like being back at work, but in this case the only line manager is an accurate cost-to-completion spreadsheet)

You learn some stuff on BH don'tcha? How have body driers passed me by? Can't wait to hear Debbies reaction when I get her one for her birthday

I'm finkin'. Loads of reading to do....

I'm bumping this because I have a piccy or two for ya. I have mocked up my Tony Tray thus : taking a sparrow's view along the wallplate.... and from the outside it looks like this My chippy (very nice man, very very nice man) hasn't seen a Tony's Tray before (well that makes two of us). And as I suspect there are more than just two of us I thought I'd write this post. This is the original article which for members considering Durisol will be of interest. (scroll down to 'wall plate' ) It illustrates the concept of wrapping the ends of the rafters in polythene. I wish the author had done a before and after shot..... The chippy's question was: Do we seat the wallplate and plastic sit on top of a layer of mortar as usual to ensure the wallplate is level? Of course I didn't know (what do you expect?) My instinct says yes because there's no point in a wonky wall plate is there? The architect says the wall plate must be anchored to the concrete core. Quite how isn't specified. This where I found the idea Do we bed the wall plate and plastic on mortar? How do we fasten the wall plate to the concrete core? Top- down, or with wall straps? Or both? (PS, the forest of KwikStage standards were erected by yours truly, now past master and lone scaffolder - got the bruises to prove it)

Thanks @albert, your post bears reading a few times. My SE has specified 4 meters of GL to support a non-opening roof window: I've gone and bought the beams now, but I'll file your idea away, and next time I need it, try and pass your idea off as my own .

Well, as our chippy asked politely when he came round to look at our roof; Hmmm, the steels for the winter garden roof are set at a different angle to the house roof. Shouldn't they be in line? Look closer and you'll see the steels are about 200mm higher than the house overall. I replied. Ah well, we'll soon sort that out, he replied. Patience Ian, patience.

Our steels were put together by a set of left-handed gorillas who used guess work and what was left of their intuition to make estimates of the likelihood that some random bits of steel would fit together on a Friday night after they had got back from the pub. There's another fine invoice we haven't paid for until they decide they are going to come and uncock their cockup

Thanks J Ian

The architect was thinking about the difference 25mm would make to the way the house looks (not having counter-battens under the panels) Stuff that. (For all the reasons you outline above) The common-sense way forward. Thanks very much indeed J. Right: got it clear in what's left of my frazzled brain. Nearly Friday night. 'S a bit of a marathon innit? Seem to be hitting 'The Wall' these days. If I cant take a joke, shouldn'a started should I?