ToughButterCup

That the kind interpretation. Debbie agrees with you. Thing is, trades get the bulk of their repeat business from farmers round here. Hence the availability issue.

OK Ferdi ? Anyone else got a view? Do your worst

Wonky? Me ? Moi? Probably.

@nod. honorable, decent blokes like you are increasingly rare.

No, perish the thought: closer to a major war victory. And war Prime Minister. And drug-addict wayward scion.

Way back when I cleaned windows to pay my way round my first degree. After a year or two, things were going well. I was beginning to get a lot of top-end customers; including the landed gentry from West Oxfordshire. Think of the biggest, famous estates with big open parkland: the kind of place that you can visit and get lost on the estate. We did parts of his pad, and all his family's local houses. Tucked away, out of sight, pieds a terre with interesting architecture and decor. Very very interesting. A couple of times a year, I'd pop into the estate office and get paid. One year, however, I met His Grace at his (what I called) Passion Pad. and since I needed to be paid, I asked him to pay the bill. I told him how much. He pulled a roll of £20 notes from his back pocket, counted out about half of what I'd asked for, and told me he'd owe me the rest. I won't repeat what I said. That's beside the point. The next customer was the Lord Lieutenants house. Super bloke: one of the best. He sensed instantly that I was furious. So I told him what had happened. "He's frightened you won't come back, Ian". I have recently paid two trades folk in full as soon as the job was done. Between them, they've agreed to do another few grand's worth of work. Months ago. I'm frightened they won't come back. Should'a learned my lesson from all those years ago eh?

Have you worked out yet whether you are likely to be covering your clay with (say) MOT1? Our site is on a slight slope; we needed a piling mat: that is built up on MOT1. So despite lots of clay (alluvial till), in a real sense, the problem disappeared under 400 tonnes of MOT1. As soon as you step off the foundation build-up you can see the effects of the clay: bogged down Land Rovers and Great Crested Newts, waltzing to their hearts content.

I'm no expert in heaving or subsiding, but I am good at searching for sources of relevant information

So who won? Me or her?

Busy putting up our Kwikstage scaffolding. I've looked for guidance on build tolerances for scaffolding , but can't find any (scaffolder forums). SWMBO says 3mm on the horizontal diagonal in any single (2.44m) bay is fine. I say less than 5 is fine. Result: polite war. Am I dead? Ian

Hello Ian. You are very welcome. I think that members who could possibly be interested would want more detail......

We bought a digger with tracks. But I still lust after a JCB with front and back 'tools' It was the first machine I drove as a kid, learned the 'trade' made lots of (lucky) private mistakes in a field miles away from anyone's view: the farmer who got me clearing ditches would have been in jail for child exploitation and modern slavery these days. £1:00 for a whole week's work (1964. I was 11)

And this explains my mistake.... In short, lack of contacts.

That makes good sense. @DundeeDancer, you are not in a therapeutic relationship with this builder: you aren't responsible for pointing out poor practice. And he (or she) isn't going to bother about 2K.

Move on. That was then, now is now. Look forward.

Before I forget, here's a checklist for you

I did a lot of local research a couple of years ago. It may not apply over the water. If machinery is cheap, it is cheap for a reason.....

You've seen this haven't you? And this too?

Clear it. Wait. Watch. Think. Ask. Act Ian

Sensible lass.

Yes. Walk round the corner and ask. But you ask with care. After four or five pints. In The Patten. Brilliant pub

@nod, you are booked for my place later this year OK?

OK boys, tomorrow.

Oh dear, what a shame, never mind. I'll try again on Friday. This is the problem. Talking to Durisol about it: ' just back-fill it with some slurry. Cement, PVA, water mix' Tickety Boo. Let's get on with it then. So I made this (chopped up block) as a face-piece. and put this on the back of it (the insulation) and mounted that on a piece of OSB. I cut the corners so that I could guarantee the insulation didn't catch on the corners of the hole. So far so good. Now let's screw the lot to the wall, and drill the hole for the 'slurry' Now, just pour in some slurry. Whassat? Water, cement, PVA And I pour it in and it comes straight back out Oh dear, never mind. What a shame.

SPONS references: Section 3 Demolishing Parts of Structures (P213) And read this, not because I wrote it, but as a Cautionary Tale Familiarise yourself with the General Binding Rules It's a huge amount to take in, but it will help stop the charlatanism referred to above. Ian