ToughButterCup

Well Nick, (Welsh one) if the contractor gets up and goes off to another job with 30 minutes notice and stays there for three weeks - several times- you get used to making the down time work hard for you. Hence the Piggery thread Perfect little pilot study of all the decisions needed; gives me a good view of what needs to be done and space to make a few mistakes, correct them and then be able to talk to the trades folk with a bit of authority. @Lesgrandepotato, do drop in any time, we can't take down what's already been concreted, and the guys that are sorting me out are Durisol trainers.... They know their oats. And they've just slotted me into their schedule next week because of a cancelled contract. We'll see. Meantime, ah jus' lurv ma digga man! Ahhhhhsum

We are operating a day rate. We have no contract or quote. Just a guesstimate, reviewable at anytime by either party. And regularly discussed. A very loosely itemised invoice (I hesitate to call it that) has been submitted, but not paid yet, on Debbie's firm advice. So there's a largish block of money waiting to be paid. Itemised, well-documented remedial works (images, video, time lapse, and documentary) are currently in train, and we'll see how much that amounts to. We're determined to be open and fair. And everyone involved knows the score. My learning can be summarised easily. Watch more closely. Don't be embarrassed to do so. Trust my instincts more, think, ask for advice, question, act. Act much earlier.

Well, that's a good start to the day.... Thanks @Ferdinand. Now, where are the digger keys? Time for a bit of digger therapy. Ian

@Alphonsox, this is a very positive thing to have happened. I shudder to think of a dotage saddled with worries about why and how three walls were gradually parting company with their buttress counterparts. Yes it'll be a few grand. It'll get lost in the general melee of finishing off I expect.

I rang Jon day today, to delay his visit @craig. He sounds an interesting guy..... Hmmmmm Ian

Thanks folks. I'm just lucky. That's all. Lucky to have found @JSHarris, @Declan52, @Nickfromwales, @Onoff, @Stones, @PeterStarck and his Admin side kick @PeterW and many others .... @TerryE EARLY enough to read what they wrote. And be able to absorb what they wrote over a long enough time to build a slow, almost smouldering confidence. There's not a great lot that can't be sorted if you are prepared to be appropriately open about stuff, and careful to be diplomatic enough when things go pear shaped. Like when @Nickfromwales delivers yet another one-liner. God his kids must be long-suffering, patient saints.

Thanks @Stones and @Declan52. We have the admin side of it looked after with some care, I think. Durisol are going to write to me itemising the issues, and I have second by second time lapse video and stills ready for examination, and possible publication. It might not get to that. It may, let's hope for the best, and plan carefully for the worst. Ian

Nahhh, that's his screw box.

I'm not fully calm yet. I had a tearful wobble (out of site), and as soon as that happens, I start to remember all the really truly dreadful things I have seen and experienced (worst Warren Point, Rotten Row - for those who are old enough to remember) and think of our lovely little grandson who has at less than 11 weeks had two lots of heart surgery and will have the next good few years in and out of Max Fax surgery. So many people would give their eye teeth to have the problems we do. I'm fuming, quietly. Oh, forgot.... Recourse to the builder? We haven't paid his latest invoice yet. And I have Debbie to thank for that. Bless her. Ian

At this rate @PeterW and Boy Wonder, you just might.

.... to jolt me into reality. Now, I'm glad the wall blew down. Here's why. In case you missed it, here's the backstory. And the analysis of why it happened. But the Loss Adjuster didn't agree (despite being a very nice man) And you might know we parted company amicably enough with our builder. My remaining 8 fingers have been sizzling over the last few days. I worked right over the weekend and looked at what I saw. Hard. Little worrying hints about this that and the other, not quite obviously wrong with the build, but probably wrong with the build. Why was most of the rebar still neatly in its place in the stillage? Is that wall 'out' by more than a country mile? Why is there quite so much shuttering? Why am I noticing and mending quite so many saw cuts in the blocks (they should be perfect)? Why did the pattern of the blocks change mid-course? (Exactly the same error-smell you get when checking a bit of JavaScript or CSS) Peering down corners showed a worrying absence of rebar Why could I see all the way to the bottom of an empty column (no concrete in it yet) of blocks in some corners, but not others? A little bell rang in my mind. What would I have done had I had been similarly worried at work? Ask for a properly constituted Professional Review, that's what. Taking courage in both hands, I rang the Durisol rep, and he came out straight away. The message was not good, not good at all. So bad in fact that I had to struggle to hold back tears. Tears of rage and disappointment. Real, cold rage. So I did what I always do when that happens, did something approaching hard work, and in doing so got really sweaty. Then talked it through. The catalogue of errors are not for telling here. I'll do a full blog about that. Long and the short of it is...... We're taking the house down. I kid you not. Block by block, course by course. We've taken a good 6 feet of it down today, more to come down on Friday. The build restarts on Monday, and ought to be finished Thursday of next week. Know what? I am soooooooo relieved. There were several patches of good work, but lots of bad workmanship. Just bloody laziness and lack of care. Enough to make one suspect that much of it needs ripping out and doing again. And that feels strangely 'dirty', sort of disgusting, revolting even. A careful still and video evidence trail has been created with official written assessments of the work done to date to follow. New blocks ordered and on their way up here. If we had concreted on time, we would never have seen the errors, never seen the cockups, never seen the stuff-it-I-couldn't-careless about building to a line or a plumb line. The blown over wall did us a favour. We would have first realised something was wrong when the cracks started in the corners...... You know the kind of thing. And then where would we have been, bills paid and settling in to a few sunsets on the terrace? Thank God it blew over. So, a quiet pint is in order. Debbie, if you are reading this, we're off down the Patten Arms. Ian

Have I got this right? You want to lay tiles on a concrete base. The 'sub-base' is level-ish. Construct your wooden shuttering (sometimes called formwork) at the level you require. Pour the concrete. Here are too many YT videos for you to review on a wet Monday evening

How? Watch.

Have a look at John Ward's YT Channel . He explains the issue In haste. ian

That's good standard practice. In effect, you create an index. Next problem: what you call (say) 'foundations' should contain the contact details of your builder....? Answer: get into 'Tags' or 'Key Words' (meta data) Ian

Yes, here they are. I'm working my way through every single John Ward video to check that his stuff contains no advertising. I'll lionk to them by Friday of this week, I expect. I forgot to add that I have a £180 worth of pure joy: a Box account (doesn't need to be Box, any of the others will do) in which I put all live information. I do that because I need to share loads of stuff with people. I give everyone who needs it editing rights. Then all they need is the relevant link. This puts an instant stop to massive email trails with dizzying numbers of files attached and therefore a huge versioning problem. On our build the ONLY place the latest version is kept is (for security) on my hard disk and the live version is online. The online folder structure mirrors exactly what's on my hard disk. There was some resistance to this way of working from some companies ("That's not how we do it..."), but after a bit of support and hand-holding from me they found that they could do it (Amazin' innit?). I sometimes had to put their resources in the folder myself and then talk through how to do that on the phone with the rep who found the process a bit challenging. I blame the teachers.(Again) Rain tomorrow. Hard at it today, then. Ian

Well, went to visit Cumbrian Nicks build yesterday. Straight out of Beatrix Potter, site to die for, so secluded I couldn't find it when I was a few hundred yards away, innovative design, more cabling than a Google Data Centre, and within walking distance of a hidden gem of a village. The kind of place where every winter you'd fervently wish to get snowed in. It was a real treat. Thanks Nick. ===================================================== The deed is done, we parted company with the builder on Friday on good if not cordial terms. I went straight out and bought £300 worth of safety gear: harnesses , strops, carabiners. I feel so much better for having done that. Watching the builders waltzing nonchalantly waltzing around on the scaffolding with an unprotected 30 foot drop on one side made my fingertips sizzle. I did point it out several times, but got laughed at. I'm mulling over getting a safety net or two. Durisol Rep is coming on Tuesday, plus one of his mates, and we are pouring at 11. O'Reilly's pump is arriving at 10. I'm busy today making a 'Flush-Pond' for the excess concrete from the next two pours. At least then, we'll have a nice hard temporary working surface for the rest of the build. Builder's mate today? Debbie . Prettier than all the others.

Hmmm, didn't know that. They are coming out on Tuesday to help with the build (pouring on that day). Our instinct is to tread softly and diplomatically despite our irritation.

Genuinely curious. The end in mind is to temper my ambition with realism. Concrete fascinates me. So much really interesting stuff can be done with small amounts of the stuff; make a garden seat, a small table , a worktop, a garden toy, a base for a dog run, used to make a vehicle inspection ramp. It can be coloured, textured, shaped, filled with glass beads or broken glass, formed into elegant curves. And can be extremely strong - I'm thinking of ferrocrete boats: I sailed on one which hit a partly sunken shipping container in the Clyde: the hull was hardly scratched.

Churchill was reputed to lay 200 a day, and to write 2000 words a day. A healthy blend, I feel.

Now there's a question. I think the answer is complex, idiosyncratic and depends what you want to track. I have met many female teachers who seem to have sponge-like memory for the finest detail about many things: getting used to carrying huge amounts of information about 30 or more young people is a mind-stretching thing. I think of a build as about 30 or so tracks of important information, of which 5 are really important at that time and a good 10 or more need close attention I find it fun to try and systematise information streams as far as possible. Why keep a Site Diary when you run a site CCTV or time lapse camera? Its easy to work out a day rate wages bill if you scan the time lapse; it's also easy to tell exactly what time the [xyz] was delivered. Lists of lists with reminders are essential. Google Keep works for me (it won't for many) Every expenditure heading on the master Spreadsheet has its equivalent linked File Notes file and Google Keep note (because I can write content to it by dictation from my phone if necessary) Copies of essential reference documentation are stuck to the wall in the kitchen on magnetic clips. A white board is full of (to anyone else) incomprehensible scribble and phone numbers. I keep a current notes board on the site noticeboard outside. I wish I could find a china graph pen. So notes don't smudge so much in rain. (must sort that) Almost all of this stuff Debbie keeps in her head. She doesn't need those props. I do. It is so damn annoying.

When should I make my own? When should I order it in? Or rather what's the maximum amount of concrete you can sensibly make on your own? My mum taught me how to deal creatively with anger: she scrubbed the floor with varying degrees of fury. The cleanliness of the kitchen floor was an indicator of her mood. Super clean - beware, modestly so - all was well, dirty - she was on holiday. Then I had to do it. I inherited that gene from her; but I've got several similar ones that all deal with the urge to cope positively with stress. There's one that sends me running, another that leaves me cold and silent, yet another which makes laugh nervously. Yesterday was a bad day (well the first bit of it was). Thinking about it, I got this sudden urge to mix a load of concrete and pour the gable ends of the piggery: about a cubic meter. Mixing that much (and humping it up a ladder and pouring it) should take the edge off my annoyance shouldn't it? And then the thinking gene cut in. Tell me; what's the most concrete you'll mix and pour by hand on your own? No help, no cheating, no fantasizing, no fibbing allowed. No Welsh one liners either @Nickfromwales

Just trying to ring you, Nick. Ian

Ok. But @Vijay, what if you turn away the concrete and you have a pump sitting there charging you money for doing nowt?

To pump an ICF, you need two things: a pump and concrete. Pumps cost £550 +VAT. The concrete costs what it costs. What do you do if the company sends out concrete that's too stiff? Durisol needs to be of Scotch Broth type consistency. I'm trying to avoid wasting the poor pump driver's time, and lightening our bank balance by £550 at the same time. And how -on the spot- do I judge what the correct slump is? The only way I can think to get it right, is to order a small amount of concrete at XYZ slump and see if the company actually delivers it. Concrete's interestingly tricky stuff innit? Fascinates me