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ToughButterCup

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  1. ToughButterCup
    The house next to ours is one door and one window wide at the front, and a narrow door wide at the back.
  2. ToughButterCup
    That's what Debbie's got her teeth into. An uncomfortably sharp mind, a job where she spends a good deal of time giving difficult messages to stressed people. And doing so quietly and dispassionately. It's essential for us to proceed in a manner which engenders the least defensive responses. I quote from the met report we asked for from the local Met Office (Lancaster University Met Office is round the corner from Debbie's office on campus) [The wind] seems to have been averaging up to 11 m/s (~25mph) during the night. We no longer measure gusts but looking at some older data with the wind in a similar direction, you can be pretty sure it would be regularly gusting at least 1.5 times the average. From memory, it was particularly gusty, so the highest speeds may have been more like double the average. This is pretty unusual for July - especially from that direction. (Signed Dr. xyz) We've sent that to the Insurers. In addition the topography locally (here's the image: there's a steep ridge just out of sight by the pond next to the road) adds to the turbulence. Any glider pilot would recognise that it's a perfect slope soaring ridge. We'll keep you all posted.
  3. ToughButterCup
    Looking passed pissed-offness is hard, I accept there is a good deal in what you say. What I appreciate much more is the confidence you have in telling me what you think. I hesitate to use the phrase 'thats what friends are for' but if it isn't that, then its something close. ================================ PS: Garage? That's the size of our house!
  4. ToughButterCup
    Well, this is what we have decided to do. Get on with it. This spat is a side-show Pursue the Insurers Pursue Durisol. Negotiate an orderly parting of the ways with the builder In short, take a bit from everyone's advice. Handled carefully we can turn this whole thing into something which reflects well on everyone, while acknowledging that we're all a bit wiser. And that's Dr Debbie Simpson's job. Now then, where's that sheet of OSB? Make us a cuppa, sweetheart ! ? [..... Whaaaa....?] No need to be like that about it!
  5. ToughButterCup
    Thanks everyone. A quiet pint and careful thought is what's needed now. I feel very supported, and very, extremely grateful for all your responses.
  6. ToughButterCup
    £1200 plus fiddling and messing about. Yes @Onoff, that hadn't escaped our attention. Inclined to do a head-down-arse-up-bye-bye-DIY..... But stuff site insurance from now on.
  7. ToughButterCup
    That's not far off the mark, Clive. The holes do not need to be drilled by a German; you are allowed to be a couple of mm left or right of bottom dead center (but no more OK!)
  8. ToughButterCup
    If you haven't read the backstory, it's here. and an analysis of what happened is here Quick Summary One turbulent night a little while ago, our wall blew down during a newbuild. It was unlucky: just the wrong weather at just the wrong moment. Our builder says that there was no guidance on the ICF producer's website. Verbally , the MD implied that the builder lacked common sense in building so high without pouring to stabilise the build. The production company give no specific guidance on how high to build before pouring or propping. The Loss Adjuster visited last week, and today, the Insurance company has sent me this email: in brief, it's the builder's fault. He should have braced the build,or poured. Here, verbatim (anonymised) is the response from the Loss adjuster. Following a review of our Surveyors report I note that the blocks had been dry stacked. The builder appears to have laid out too many course of block, without being filled with concrete or propped in the interim whilst await the concrete pour. Our Surveyor states that the safe working method would be prop any loose block work when dry stacked and that this ought to have been done until the concrete was poured. The policy provides cover on an All Risks basis, subject to certain exclusions. One such exclusion has material relevance to the claim at hand:- 7 Defective Property Loss of or damage to and the costs necessary to replace, repair or rectify the Insured Property: a) which is in a defective condition due to a defect in design, plan, specification, materials or workmanship of which Insured Property or any part thereof Based on the information available to us the only reasonable conclusion is that the wall would not have collapsed had in been propped. Following my verbal explanation as to the lack of policy cover available you advised that further information will be made available to support the claim, specifically weather records from Cambridge (sic!) University confirming a gust of 70mph was responsible for the wall being blown down and a time lapse video to show the wall had been built correctly. Ok, folks if this had happened to you, what would you do next?
  9. ToughButterCup
    I'm almost there J. No contract: day rate. I greatly value Debbie's opinion. She knows the local trades folk well. She has long experience of dealing with and for them. What we need now, I think is a bit of vim and vigour in terms of networking to find two or three people (I don't expect to find just one person who can help all the time) willing to give me a general hand for a fair reward. This thread has already offered some simple ideas, and I'm getting on to that in 't mornin'.
  10. ToughButterCup
    ...... I'll just have to JFWGOWI won't I. How many people would love to have the chance of the problems I have? There must be thousands who'd give up a good deal to be able to do what I am. Ian
  11. ToughButterCup
    We've already had one of those about the 'blow out' It's the desire not to repeat that incident which makes the decision so sharp. One more turbulent easterly and is it bye-bye west wall too? I have made to my mind: if he's not onsite by Friday, then the risks of collapse are too great. Quite apart from anything I expect the Insurers will want chapter and verse... Ian
  12. ToughButterCup
    I don't see him as dodgy. He's likeable, personable and -in relation to most things- straight. No different to many local tradesmen here. I like him a lot. But organisation, and being open about difficult issues isn't one of his strengths. And that's how most trades are innit? On his own with two of the permanent lads around him, all would be well; nearly. It's the oafs that are the problem, and the pathological inability to provide even simple paperwork on time. He's under pressure during this boom time. Sure as eggs is eggs the bust is coming. And then he'll be scratching around for work. @Construction Channel, you are, of course, absolutely right. I need a bit of luck with the 'pal', if only for the sake of safety. It's a remote if about folk coming up to help, but if you do, we'd arrange to put you up somehow. I really appreciate the kindness. Ian
  13. ToughButterCup
    If mine had done a similarly excellent job, I would not have started this thread. It's several things all put together; Patchy performance Inability to give difficult messages, or act appropriately on being told about unsatisfactory performance Lack of proper paperwork, delivered on time I understand the pressures that contractors are under. I want them to earn a good living. We all benefit by a healthy building sector. But people machine gun themselves in the foot when they don't face difficult problems and talk to stakeholders, and then do what they say they will do. Everyone understands that situations change. Debbie hits the nail on the head thus; "By paying promptly to an agreed price and off invoice, you have enabled him to over-trade. No local traders ever expect that". That's another scale ripped unwillingly from my eyes then. And what healthy partnership is for. @jamiehamy, It starts today with the Piggery. The builder is off that job. That's final. And it gives us all a face saving mechanism. I won't have it finished by the end of the week, and he might be back for the main house later this week. But if there's silence until next week, even Debbie will have had enough by then. Shuttering the Piggery gable ends today and tomorrow. Hmmmmm, never done that before. Should be a laugh.
  14. ToughButterCup
    What a good idea! Thanks Ian
  15. ToughButterCup
    Thanks, @JSHarris and @Nickfromwales. It is abundantly clear to both Debbie and I that we would not have got this far without BH as a resource. This place is a real example of the internet at its best. My instinct is to get on with it. Meanwhile, this week, I'm using the Piggery rebuild as a pilot project. It's been left incomplete and -to an extent defaced- by the re-build so far. The gables need shuttering and pouring. The the roof needs building ( @Construction Channel, please watch my back with this one). The joke is that the rear wall is badly out of line: I'm talking about an inch or so out of line (photos to follow). But that's just a bit of fun because nobody'll ever see it. And solving the problem of the out of line wall will be interesting in terms of building the roof. Think, network, rethink, plan, head down, arse up, go, rethink replan, rinse repeat. Photos to follow. PS @PeterW, thanks, yes, that's the model, I think.
  16. ToughButterCup
    October (Ha!) January Yes No Do it Good idea @'king good idea Done that. He's hitched to a local lass who's got a dog which was once owned by a farmer who had a goat, that in turn was once owned by a distant relative of the business owner. So I wouldn't want to embarrass him by asking.
  17. ToughButterCup
    I know the answer is ours and ours alone to make. Testing my thinking is what this post is about. Am I too involved; missing the wood for the trees, too cross to make a sensible judgement? And if I am minded to go it alone, can I follow through? Writing about it will help me think too. Our builder is being evasive. Over promising. Disorganised or absent paper work. Withholding vital information until a few seconds before disappearing from the site. Some aspects of the work have been excellent, others not. He struggles to retain staff. Some are oafs. (Oaves?) Others the opposite: accurate workers, polite, funny, interesting. We've had some meteorological bad luck. But that hiccup has been overcome to the extent that the replacement blocks are here. Calm analysis and talking to the loss adjuster has been reassuring. I have (until now) had a misplaced faith in the value of a promise. I had a verbal agreement to pay, and did so when I said I would. I accepted that detailed invoices to substantiate the charges would follow. They haven't. In simple terms, we've paid a good deal on account. We are now at least a month behind schedule. "... We'll be down towards the end of the week..." Right. That's been said so often now, it's hollow. I know enough about Durisol to - with the help of this community - to build the shell myself. On my own. Very often there's a gale at the beginning of September. And I do not want the rest of the 'unpoured blocks' on the floor. That's the real driver Do I sack them and get on with it? In an instant I would if I could get one reliable, thoughtful, fit building partner. I'd be pushing it on my own. But it can be done. Just. What needs to be done? Blocks laid to just above first floor: skill level - very easy And then poured. (tricky, but I've seen it done three times now and I am not stupid) Rest of the blocks laid and poured : skill level easy to tricky (trimming the gable will be interesting), but not impossible. If I do it slowly and carefully its well within my fitness and competence level If I do that I will have taken this mess by the scruff of the neck and got on with it. Yes, it's our decision. But poke my thinking, ask uncomfortable questions. My deep instinct is to get on with it, while seeing if I can recruit someone to work with me - for safety as much as anything.
  18. ToughButterCup
    Hi Mike. I try to encourage people to tell it like it is when appropriate, and here, it is. The wall in the photo above needs one more course and a fiddly bit (some insulation to prevent cold bridging). The wind force needed to topple that would have to be high indeed. Thanks anyway. Ian
  19. ToughButterCup
    At last, someone who is clear about the need for concise problem statements. What a relief. I'm going for 2 and 3, as well as a bit of the addendum. And I'm going for @Onoff's puffer and @PeterW's Hilti '...solution....' (Christ how I HATE the abuse of that innocent little word). I'm going to trial the use of resin because I'm going to need to fix the first floor POSIs, and they need to be 'resined' in. And for that I need clean holes. ================================ Monday morning: HERAS unlocked, 0700. PC's arriving today. Cos He Told Me 0900, a quick polite text to the PC: 'You coming today? 'I'm going to be with you erm, ahhhh, mid-week, Ian' 'And you knew that you were going to be delayed yet again by Wednesday of last week didn't you?' 'Er, well, yes' If you can't take a joke, don't self-build
  20. ToughButterCup
    The only puffer I know is the fish that stings like mad if you touch it and a lens puffer. Enlighten my darkness, I beseech you. Please
  21. ToughButterCup
    Tell me more, please! Dowels: pieces of rebar cut to short lengths and popped in the holes? Workmanship: thanks so much for pointing that out: I thought it was OK. But thinking about it using your comment as a starting point , that's very helpful. Whassa 'concrete chair'? '... dowels are what should be needed if you want peace of mind...' yessir 's whar I want what I really really want. Give us a hint of how to sort it, please!
  22. ToughButterCup
    This is what we've got: The insulation is 'backed up' as it were by the concrete-filled holes. Tanners suggested every fourth hole ought to have a bit of rebar sticking up, ie. one piece of rebar in every other block. The bit of rebar you can see is the one strengthening the soldier course at head of a window. This section of the build only needs one more full course (plus a bit) to sit on the top of the existing blocks. So, not much needed here, but it needs to be 'reet' as thyey say up here. Ian
  23. ToughButterCup
    Right, I'll go and take a photo of it: worth a thousand words and all that. There is a point in sore points. Learning. And in my case hand over fist. Not before time either. Ian
  24. ToughButterCup
    You'd have thought that it would already have been cast in wouldn't you?
  25. ToughButterCup
    Yes. Absolutely right
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