ToughButterCup

Ha! That's tomorrow morning sorted, then. Thanks.

Well, I use a cart already and I'm sixty something. It's brilliant. It can take 100kg, has flop-down sides, and front or rear (depends how you look at it ) steering, just the ticket. If it was stolen I'd order another that day

I got some inspiration from you all....... I bought another container yay! Trouble is it's a bit rusty in parts. So, scorched by the heat of my own brilliance at welding , I got the grinder out and had a happy half hour getting this far.. Now even I know that ain't good enough, level enough, bright enough, so I chickened out I am deeply ashamed and am off to the pub early to drown my sorrows and incompetence. Thing is, do I cut a piece out, and then weld over the top? Or do I just grind away until there's enough bright metal to which to weld (I'm stick welding)? Please tell me foam will be fine. Have a productive weekend. Ian

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Durisol. If an idiot uses it badly, it breaks. Just like a BMW breaks if you smash it against a wall. A disaffected oaf beat the hell out of the blocks to line them up instead of laying them carefully in the first place, or relay them properly. When I challenged him, he stopped belting them for a few minutes. I have video evidence of him beating the hell out of the blocks and of me telling him not to and, subsequently when he thought I was not there, of him ignoring my instruction. He knew he was being videoed as he had had been videoed every day he came to Salamander Cottage . He just couldn't have given a toss. Thank God for @Stones advice about Brinno time lapse cameras. Properly laid and handled Durisol is fine. But if you beat the shit out of anything for long enough it will break. When the oaf told me directly "We don't do Durisol" and refused to lay blocks to a line, I sacked him on the spot. And sacked the company the next day. If Durisol was unreliable, the product would have failed long ago. There's just about nothing anyone can do about the coincidence of an absent, uncontactable MD and a disaffected, idiotic member of staff. What he did amounted to criminal damage. Cost overall? 2 weeks' delay and a few hundred quid.

Well, there you have it. Worry-free and expensive. Or cheap and potentially ruinous. Ian

Pretty standard stuff. A few of us on BH use pumping stations; use the search box and look for posts that contain terms related to pumping, or pumping station or similar (put in the odd deliberate spelling mistake) Whatever you do (and the pun is not intended, but it's apposite) bottom this out before submitting an application. It is not uncommon for people to build without giving too much thought to their foul drainage because it stinks. And so place themselves in a world of soft and smelly stuff. It stinks not to think it through that's what. You have to follow the  General Binding Rules. Take it to bed with you and read it thoroughly, read it on the loo, read it on the train, read it on the bus, read it on the beach, and be sure to refer to it closely when talking to company reps. That'll keep everything smelling sweet. Ian

Caution, caution, caution. Interesting issue to get my teeth into when I have a spare few minutes today. To start with I'll ring my scaffy's boss, and see what he has to say Get back to this sometime today Ian

Woofers here

@PeterW Top Banana.... waragoodidea!

You are in the risk reduction game. The evidence base does not have to be perfect, but you do have to have a clear tipping point. A moment you can without too much financial damage simply stop. If we were to do that now, it would be very damaging indeed. But how many thousands spent working out how far to go down the runway before aborting the take off is a matter for each individual. Never underestimate the determination of a committed self builder. Get all the family onside if you can. Network like hell. Go down the pub and listen to the response you get from those whom you trust when you tell them you're thinking about it. "Ah, I've always wanted to build my own house [....] It must be brilliant to be able to even think about it" Don't underestimate the huge amount of support you'll get here. This group of people has saved us many thousands of pounds. Emotional, technical, hysterical, and then of course there's plumbing. We apologise in advance for @Nickfromwales. He's tame really

See, told ya! If you sing the Hallelujah Chorus @Onoff performs well. Even if he did half inch his best mates post knocker to do so

If they are saying that, sing the Hallelujah Chorus. No poo disposal no house. Its that simple,

And that's why the more quotes you get, the better. And, good luck with that process. I got a scaffy by accident after trying hard and failing to 'connect' as opposed to speak with someone who was even slightly interested in quoting.

Hmm, @Pete, our scaffy offered that route, for a much higher initial price.

If outgoings reduction is the real end in mind, and you can make a compelling evidence-based case for doing so, there is no question. The only thing to worry about is your evidence base. If you are certain of your facts, Just Do It.

To do what? Act as a walkway? Enable access to work on a balcony? For how long? There will be an initial price, and a subsequently a hire price - often chargeable after the first month. In our case 5% of the initial cost per month. Part of the cost (the hidden cost) is the mess scaffolders cause on their way in, and out of a job. To be polite, they don't ever give a flying fig about anything much. And there appears to be good reason for that round here. It is fairly common (on the Fylde anyway) for half their wages to be paid in currencies other than cash.

Quite. Lets try defining the following Working height Platform height Tower height 'Lift' Working height = does this assume a standard human height above the platform? Does that height exclude above head height working? Platform height = simple, exact, measurable (is this the only measure we really need?) Tower height = with or without adjustable feet? And does this include the guard rail height? Lift = one complete section which could form the base for a platform? I have tried to find out the answers for myself by doing a Google search, but the results always disappear into way too much discussion of detail. And so I also looked for images which might simplify the answer to the questions posed above. As ever, just trying to keep it simple............

Yes. I'm fitter than I have been for a good while, hands harder than they have been for many years and my back seems to be holding up well. My hips are giving notice of their intention to quit in the near future, though. Anyway, stuff it, I'll sleep very well tonight. Ian

This post is part of a series (I will write it all up as a blog one day when I have had time to develope a sense of perspective) ; but now I am raw - angry, knackered, wiser. After we had parted company with the builder, a specialist Durisol company were given a brief to take down any face of the house which showed any evidence of poor building practice or any other error. Down came the west, south, north walls: the east wall, bless it, was the one that got blown down: so we just built up the bit that fell down. Massive, massive error when the original builders (I now know having reviewed the time lapse imagery) had spent a significant amount of time hammering some of the east wall Durisol blocks back into place, when they could have re-laid them with some care in the first place. We poured the west, south and north faces (the ones we rebuilt completely ourselves) with no problems at all. You can hear this coming can't you? One whole section of the east wall just burst during the pour. About a cubic meter of concrete landed on the floor from two meters up. Cue an hour of shoveling. And swearing and murderous feelings channeled into demonic shoveling. I used to think that I wanted to spend our money locally. And since very few companies 'do' Durisol, most building firms were going to need training. Which we attended. And here's the thing: the company staff didn't. The MD did, but the staff didn't. And frankly they couldn't have given a stuff about the build. So when the boss absented himself for extended periods, it was a recipe for disaster. Worse, even his staff couldn't contact him by phone. Sadly, my little attempt at investing in localism died a death today. Garstang and South Lancaster does what it does. If something isn't known or isn't always like it has been, and forever will be, they don't want to know. I suspect that's not unique to Lancashire. One potential roofer came round late today, and sneered gently at everything we showed him. Passiv? Whassat? MVHR whaaafor? He'd never seen a roof designed to our spec - no call for it; shakes? Good luck with that; Sikaflex? Never heard of it (its the brand name of a Preston-based roofing materials production company; local people in the village work there); vaulted ceiling? Don't have much call for that. "But I've been roofing round here for 25 years and I'm sure I could do an excellent job." I'll bet. But not on our cash. Yet another post that has to end with..... Still, if we can't take a joke, we shouldn't have started should we?

Hmm, well, I've got shed envy then. I could just about put both our houses and shed and cars and garden in the section of shed shown in the photo. Well, nearly. The answer to life is excellent storage.

In that case, you need to read this document, the General Binding Rules, and follow them to the letter.

Hello, welcome. One step at a time. Pre advice is just that; advice. Permission doesn't automatically follow. And the Conditions relating to the granting of permission seem to me to be hinted at in your post; That bit about ALWAYS nature land might well be important. The bit about levels is -really is- important. Why? Foul drainage. No foul drain, no house. 11m square. How are you going to organise foul drainage? Where are you discharging to? Welcome to the Sleepless Nights Forum There will never be a day or night from now on that you don't worry, fizz, think, hope, fantasise, agonise, hesitate, procrastinate, fulminate, dream about your house. Making a compelling case for permission to build is important. Assemble your arguments, choose your planner carefully. Ask focused questions here - that helps us think with you. Good luck Ian

You need to meet Debbie.... Her idea

Let's say the worst comes to the worst and we have to pour (Tuesday and Wednesday of next week - architect's on holiday and so is Tanners) without a decision on placing T pieces inside the ICF . Could we 'bolt it on' (the Wintergarden) from the outside? For the sake of interest I attach the Briefing Pack I prepared for expressions of interest in doing the steels and the cladding WinterGardenBriefingReducedSize.pdf

Forgive my lack of understanding.... racking?