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ToughButterCup

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Everything posted by ToughButterCup

  1. ToughButterCup
    @Onoff, tell me its easy make something like this ....
  2. ToughButterCup
    @oranjeboom, shhhhhhhhhhh.
  3. ToughButterCup
    Right Men! This is what I want, and I want it now.
  4. ToughButterCup
    Trip to B+Q or Screwfix coming up then: 240 square meters to do on the main house. Thanks for the nudge @Declan52.
  5. ToughButterCup
    Well, here's the first go at rendering Durisol for airtightness. I used a 4 :1: 1 (or more) mix and applied it with the only brush that was lying around on the site stillage - an old house broom; There's a degree of sloppiness in the mix that's just right It's a very therapeutic process. Until I noticed I was rendering our car at the same time as the wall. She's going to kill me. (If you are reading this Deb, sorry love. I've got some flowers from the petrol station for ya!)
  6. ToughButterCup
    I have, Mike, you are right. And listening to the stories the roofing rep (he was very diplomatic; no names, no pack drill) told today, every last ounce of my cynicism is more than justified. Being both optimistic and cynical is useful. For me, cynicism informs but need not temper optimism.
  7. ToughButterCup
    Compare the risk of doing it early next year with those related to doing it now. In terms of frost-free days, the consequences of getting the timing wrong are....
  8. ToughButterCup
    Naturlich Junge! Deutsche Firmen sind immer zuverlassig! (Reine Quatsch)
  9. ToughButterCup
    Welcome. I am sure your perspective will be a valuable addition to many of the discussions here. PHPP eats time: perhaps it might be more cost efficient to get someone to do it for you.....? I bet you knew that.
  10. ToughButterCup
    How steep is the slope @Dee J I have a gentle slope... no need for any adaptation, @JSHarris blog details how he dug into his hillside, @Bitpipe took things a step further. There's a thread which details a really steep slope (search > funicular or railway) @jamiehamy has this...... Ian
  11. ToughButterCup
    So, it's back to the 1950s / 60s is it? Mac, bless him (reminded me of a puffin for some reason) got on with the job like the gritty leader he was There are some lessons in this for the modern day. Macmillan showed that the ruthless application of political will, along with businessmen employed as fixers, could achieve a surprising amount. He had no qualms about arranging for the building of vast numbers of council houses: Labour was to some extent beaten with its own weapons. (Conservative Home accessed 04/10/2017) Ah well, that's the end of Building Control then. Remember how long it took to rip those dreadfully built houses down? Not long. If you are a BCO, you might as well get another job.
  12. ToughButterCup
    That type of worry was precisely what made me delay sacking our builder - and now I have to grit my teeth every time I look at our front wall. The errors will, over time, be moderated by other trades compensating for the poor workmanship, and then forgotten by everyone else other than me. Debbie winces every time I told her about delays earlier in the build. Now we'd rather pay for mistakes we make rather than pay for the labour to make mistakes for us. Tell it it like it is @lizzie The in-built owner's desire to push on to completion is one of the dynamics that fuel acceptance of poor workmanship. We'd now rather live in a caravan than accept any more poor workmanship.
  13. ToughButterCup
    I had a visit yesterday from a member and his wife who, in fairness to them both, must remain nameless. He took a huge weight off my shoulders by explaining how to mark out for the wall plate properly. And when he had explained it, he showed me how. Since he does this job commercially, I am not left wondering whether competence was an issue. I feel like I have had a bag of cement taken off my back. I thought that to ascertain wall plate level, all I needed to do was to measure from the existing level (DPC) to the bottom of the wall plate (rim joist). I had the odd niggling naggling doubt though. What would happen if the subfloor was not level? (It isn't) Ya just can't know what ya don't know. And that's why I spend hours 'wasting time' reading round the subject, hoping to hit a gold mine of information. But 'Tinternet is full of shared ignorance, misinformation and waffle. So, I'll stop waffling for now and post pics and method a bit later today. A big thank you to the big lad from Preston and his wife and his HILTI laser.
  14. ToughButterCup
    Ditto. To mitigate that little annoyance, I have taken to spraying half the tool with yellow marker paint. Now I have to remember to put it down yellow side up; and to respray when the yellow wears off. I don't like Stanley Fat Max tools (for no good reason: they are OK) but I buy some of them because they are yellow.
  15. ToughButterCup
    There was a relevant experiment in Lancaster: it may still be ongoing. Small trees in planters were placed on the pavement such that a screen was formed between the houses and the (reasonably) heavy traffic going south out of Lancaster. Initial unconfirmed reports have been good: there is some suppression of pollutants. But I am not sure whether there is a causal link between the pollution reduction and the tree screen. There trees are no longer there, which is a pity because the Silver birch trees were a very welcome screen for people walking north towards Lancaster Infirmary.
  16. ToughButterCup
    Scanned the thread quickly this afternoon. Strikes me that a little bit of creative thinking and co-operation might easily mitigate the problems: baffles, diffuser, of some sort perhaps? But it looks as if this has gone too far for much to change.
  17. ToughButterCup
    With a southerly, we get precisely that acrid stench from our 'neighbour'
  18. ToughButterCup
    Let me help the relevant official at the relevant department draft a response to the very sensible question posed by the member above. We are working with our partners and others towards a resolution of this complex problem. We are mindful that many people derive a good deal of wheezy pleasure staring into their log-burners at the end of a long hard day chopping wood and scavenging skips. It is our contention , based on scientific evidence provided to us by Quinetic and the Association of Log Burning Fanatics, that it is not the burning of the wood that causes the problem, rather the burning of the volatile compounds such as paint and asbestos adhering to the wood that cause the problem. Given this complex mix of claim and counter-claim, we intend to proceed on an evidence-lite basis. Accordingly we intend to examine this matter in Royal Commission which is tasked to report in January 2100. Until then, we advise caution in this matter. It is therefore imperative that people who own wood burners in inner cities should put aside at least one bedroom in which they should hoard any wood that they find, keeping it as wet as possible to dampen volatility.
  19. ToughButterCup
    Well, since you ask, and you appear to live not so far from us, you are most welcome to come and see my installation. PM me @Triassic: we're around all the time. Ian
  20. ToughButterCup
    We are 2 whole minutes from J33. You will always be welcome.
  21. ToughButterCup
    Story of my life....
  22. ToughButterCup
    Oooooo errrrr.... Have to ? Sure?
  23. ToughButterCup
    Ermmmmm.... 600mm....
  24. ToughButterCup
    Quoting from this afternoon's email exchange with Sam our architect..... '...The FFH we've shown is to the presumed finish of the flooring. The 255mm for the floor zone is made up of 15mm plasterboard and skim, 202mm posi joists, 38mm in total for sheathing and floor finish (i.e 18mm flooring OSB 3 and 20mm total for the bamboo flooring and underlay). And, while we're at it , what's a TOC value? @MikeSharp01 ?
  25. ToughButterCup
    WPH = wall plate height (yeah, yeah, I know) FFH = First Floor Height. You are right about headroom. It was forced on us by the planners. Bless them.
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