ToughButterCup

So, @Incipiens Mox, in line with your forum name: get on with it!

Well, I'll add some lime to one or two areas as a test (in the piggery rather than the house). And wait.

Ahhh, the more the better......

A wise old bloke came a' visiting last week. Looked at this and said Tha'll need lime in that , fella. 'S Gonna crack, else. So when both @MikeSharp01 and a wise local both say the same thing, I think I ought to take some notice. (All it needs now is for @JSHarris to pile in and I'll have to ) I am using plastering sand in a mix of 4:1, and adding a bit of plasticiser. If I were to add some lime how much should I add?

Right, @Onoff, I really like that approach. So, I'll mock it all up today, take some photos and post them here later. It's the journey (code for 'learning') that really matters. It takes a huge chunk of time, but sod it, I enjoy learning for myself. Even falling walls can teach you stuff.

Hmmm, excellent idea(s) @Onoff The roof will be vaulted, so no need for trusses. I like the projecting studs idea. I'd have to set them in some kind of 'chair' so they are perfectly vertical.... I like the idea partly because I have about a mile of threaded bar left over from the shuttering. The other thing is the the wall plate can be tweeked perfectly level with that system (- I suppose: never been here before as usual ) Thanks for the photo @Alex. I like that corner detail. Makes sense.

Avoid, avoid, avoid. He's either the PC or he isn't. He's either in business or not. His being over the VAT threshold or not is completely irrelevant

@Hecateh, how about £7,000 up front Monthly detailed invoice How are you going to manage quality control (to give it a pompous name) ? Thing about people like @JSHarris and others like him, they know what they're doing. I don't....

£15K up front sounds (feels?) too much. But, but but.... You want to start, you need , neeeeed to get started, he's been good to you so far. There's tremendous pressure on you to get going. Won't it be good to get into the new house? I'm new to this lark too. And if there's one thing I have learned it is that this sector takes the mickey if it can. Self-builders are often seen as a money tree. Trust your instinct.

Ian

I'm about to pour the last bit of concrete before putting in the wall-plate on the piggery. Have a look at this; Once I have poured the last 100mm or so of concrete, (in the holes you see) I will need to fasten the wall-plate to it. Should I run the wall-plate right the way through the gable, or cut the wall-plate flush with the gable and fill that with concrete? The image below should help explain.. I have deliberately not poured concrete into the gable block in line with the wall-plate - just in case your advice is that the wall-plate should run all the way through the gable Maybe it doesn't matter, and both options are reasonable. Just for information, this building isn't subject to Building Regs: it replaces the old piggery which has stood there for about a century or so.

A delicate one this: your 6th sense is a good a guide as anything. However, as a starting point, you might like to consider the following 20% of what? Is that figure reasonable if you were to source much / some/ all of the materials? How will that figure ('of what' above) be evidenced? How will you deal with poorly executed work? Who will judge the standard of the work? What level of detail will be included in the invoices submitted to you? Does the contractor have an account with the local BM / suppliers? If so, why should you pay more frequently than he pays his suppliers? I used to settle bills very promptly indeed. Until this tale of woe. Luckily, Debbie (SWMBO) trod on my foot before I paid the final invoice. She put it very neatly "Why do you think you should enable him, by paying up front, to over-trade even more than he is?" Be very circumspect until you have good reason to trust one another. Little steps. 20% is a big step.

This series will start you off Treat yourself to a small hand-held router first. Here's an example of what I mean. Routers are addictive.

You've lost that one. Durisol is dusty. And covered in cementitious material. Lots of chasing out to do. I now never go into the house without eye protection. That'll be a four pack of Hogoblin please.

It's been on the bottom of a long list for a long time.

Blimey lads! I write a post, go for a blow on Arnside Knott overlooking Morecambe Bay - hang on like grim death to my wig - and come back to all of this. Thanks very much. Least I can do now is to make a pucca job of the repair. Having isolated the circuit first

Being a responsible builder, I installed our eyewash station in the most used room of the house - the kitchen. Right where everyone can grab it easily and quickly. Put it up, right pleased with myself, until Debbie asked why the kitchen lights weren't working anymore? I've put a screw right through a cable buried in the wall haven't I? Right here..... The right hand screw is the culprit. The mood-o-meter says it all. To repair it, I need to isolate the circuit, prove that it is is dead ( a la John Ward) Dig the cable out, and find the break Then what? Help please....... I know less than anyone in the world about electrics. Thanks Ian

My experience of ours went like this

Just like buses; when you need one etc.......

Location, location, location. Our estate agent mentions that simple fact every time he visits.

Hard work rewarded. I'm sooooooo jealous. Well done Ian

Let's see if I have understood this correctly. You have written permission to site a caravan on a semi rural site. And you'd like to live in it pending the outcome of a possible full planning application - right up to the outcome of a potential Appeal. In my view, and direct recent experience, there is no down-side at all, until you are forced to leave the plot.

And that, that's the first sign of a self builder. Sort that out and you won't fall in it, as it were.

Welcome Do check the drainage thoroughly first. No foul drain, no house. Personally check every ground survey in detail. If you can, watch it being done. Why? Read this. Forewarned, forearmed. I like cold coffee, iced coffee even more. Ian

Exactly. I made the mistake (sometimes fatal on BH) of assuming an architect would be involved. My apologies @Jml.