ToughButterCup

Root issue: there isn't one: there are many interacting with one another. High Wind and higher gust speeds. Lack of experience. Failure to communicate. Assumption of common sense. The pressure to take on too much work. The two other stakeholders would put a different emphasis on it. One would say; use your common sense and don't build too much height before pouring. The other would say; but you didn't tell us that. Had the wall been poured, and the concrete set, there would have been no problem. It is crystal clear to me that neither builder nor producer has been trained to communicate well. They do what they do. They don't listen well. They don't express themselves clearly. They rely on what is called common sense. But common sense isn't universal. Add a trusting (yes, naive - but not so naive now) Domestic Client , unseasonal turbulent wind coming directly out of the east (very rare here), a builder who is trying to do too much, and you've got an issue. And here's what's happening next. The replacement blocks are arriving tomorrow morning, (sensible rebate on that) and the builder is going to rebuild for free. Exactly as @Declan52 said it should last week.

@Ian, I have always been fascinated by microclimate; from competitive sailing (reading subtle changes in waves), competitive fell running (finding a few of competitors running in my wind shadow), to the downright terror of landing microlights in wind sheer . Never thought it would all come into sharp focus on a house build....

Cheap 'roll-end' astro turf. God send for us. £50 for a 5m by 5 m throw away bit. Ian

Time for a calm analysis of what happened here. If you haven't read the original post, please do so now: it explains a good deal of what I say below. The weather. That night, it was foul. 30mph+ steady wind and gusting up to 50. I know that at low level it was gusting at 40 + because our plastic guttering rattles at that speed or thereabout. In addition, there's a hiss in the phone wires which (I have tinnitus) is very very close to the pitch I hear in my head all the time. So, background noise instead of cancelling out (or distracting from) my tinnitus was accentuated for the odd second or two in the heavier gusts. The key determinant in the collapse was direction. Here's the view due east (from the top of the scaffold looking eastward) Those hills are the Pennines. Looking to the skyline on the right thats 100 meters away from Forton Services on the M6. The gap in the hills is the Trough of Bowland. The Hills on the left are Clougha and Ward Stone. The wind was from the east that night. Just out of sight between the pond and the hedge is a steep slope. Perfect to create a pressure wave suitable for a slope-soaring glider. By contrast look at our view West The view from the site westward. Four fields away is Morecambe Bay. Look at those wonderful energy absorption systems. Trees. I make this post because of what happened last night. Sailors, hill walkers, glider pilots, GA pilots will understand this all too well. A vicious thunderstorm went through at 21.30 last night. Preceded by a gust front from the west that would have done justice to a small jet engine. It hit the house with a sickening thud, instantly rattled the guttering, and I shot out of bed. Still half asleep I stumbled out into the rain hail and thunder with Debbie's calm words ringing in my ears.. "What do you think you can do about it?" Rushed into the container, dug out my laser plumb line and set it up to see if the blocks were moving. By the time I had fiddled, cursed fallen over, smacked my cheek on the door, trodden on the cat (bless him) woken the dogs and got the laser setup, the wind was abating, but it was hissing down hard. I could see the back edge of the front clearly delineated out to the west in the last of the failing sunlight. Standing out in the open in front of Salamander Cottage hardly a breath of air on the ground, the tops of the trees' west side were still rattling loudly. 10 minutes later, not a breath of wind anywhere. Wind direction matters. Wind strength matters. Local topography matters. Especially when a builder doesn't see the wider picture.

@Russell griffiths, when I go out to feed the dogs in a while I'll take one or two pictures.

Aye, Jimmy. Wan wee bit 'teach

Will you all stop writing interesting posts please. I need to stick to the knitting and get SWMBO's bathroom designed in Sketchup.

Fly over Germany some day: get a window seat. Have you seen it from the air? Did you know that self-generation is being reported in the German press as a threat to the traditional producers? Vorsprung durch Technik, na das ist kompliziert!

We've had the pressure, now the support I have gone out to the BM and (on a separate ticket) bought A builder's bag a two meter spirit level three different sorts of builders lines some chalk two disposable saws for the blocks some of those fat nail things to bang into the wall and tie the line to a few of those plastic corner things to hold the line a rubber mallet a short spirit level a plumb line or two and I will be putting my Bosch zigger zagger (chop saw?) with three batteries and some long Saxton blades in it too. I have one of those superjaws portable vices and a set of old pallets to act as a cutting bench. And apart form the Bosch saw, the cost will be deducted from the final bill. No more Mr retired Academic Nice Guy. Unless of course, simple basics are done correctly. The we can be all smiles, tea, coffee, bacon buttie, the odd joke and prompt payment. While I'm waiting for the builder to grace the site with his presence, I'm watching the wind gust forecast like a hawk. And feeling sick at the thought of Friday afternoon. 35mph. And just a hint of east (where we have little or no wind shadow) in the prevailing southerly, swinging round to west where there is at least some. I think I can say that scales have dropped from my eyes in the last couple of weeks. Some would say it's about time. And they'd be right.

Later. I'm going to be quite an unpleasant little bunny for the next few days. And as for paying promptly like I used to, well stuff that. Rationale? The additional costs the plasterers charge to straighten bananas. How did I find out? A European supplier with an interest in accuracy paid a visit on his way past J33.

What do you call, and where do you buy a simple big straight edge? I mean a big one for brickies, so I can lay blocks in a straight line; or rather check easily and quickly that blocks have been laid in a straight line? I am going to buy several builders string lines (or whatever they are called) and put them in the post to make sure builders have their own personal line that they can bring to work every day. Each morning there will be a parade and inspection. I am going to look in each ear to see if I can see daylight, and they will have to present their line thingamajig. And I'm going to give them DVDs about how the Egyptians managed to lay blocks in straight and level lines, and I'm also going to buy yards of clear plastic tubing and give them endless supplies of water and food colouring to help them lay blocks that are level. And when I have done that I am going to whisper Sweet Nothings to each builder's ear so loud that the whole village knows that blocks need to be laid level and plumb. And when I've done that I am going to use the broken record technique until they manage to shut me up by laying blocks straight and level. Do I sound peeved? Good. Wouldn't mind knowing what brickies use as a straight edge though. Ian (Peeved of Lancaster)

Welcome. You are welcome also to come and do our floors in a while.....

That's the top and bottom of it. Evidence-based argument. Add determination and tenacity and you have the makings of a case. Don't give up Ian

Welcome. Its sad to see a first post based on frustration. I don't have much time just now, but here's what you can do to start First rule: don't give up until you have been refused at Appeal Research the Appeals process yourself Read this board in a focused way: do a search for Appeals (Home>Search>'Appeal' or 'Appeals') Read your LPA documentation carefully, then search for similar refusals in your LPA Take professional advice: be very careful to research the adviser thoroughly before engaging him or her look for the advice given during similar applications Read widely about the local context. (Other members here (BH) would question that advice) I will try to find our checklist on preparing an Appeal. I can't remember where it is, but I will spend a bit of time today looking for it. Most important of all, do not give up. It took us 15 years of asking, wheedling, reading and thinking about it - not to say dreaming of the day when.... Finally, you might want to post a photograph (maybe Google Map) of the problem area. Although you may want to consider privacy issues before doing so. We'll cast a fairly experienced collective eye over it. You are not alone. Ian

Need German translation? Just ask. Ian

Welcome back (as it were). Tell us about the voyage.... Many storms? Hit the odd sandbank? Ian

Knocking down the old piggery means we have a good deal of our own local stone with which to make some stone slips. And very many of the original local bricks. Why slips? Well, the ICF which we have substituted for the stone is 320mm wide. So adding a stone 'jacket' would mean walls, half filled with concrete and overall more than half a meter thick. We aren't building an Observation Post for an artillery range. Here's what the piggery looked like I can buy stone slips. But. They don't convince SWMBO. Might we be able to make our own from our own 'stock'? I've done a good deal of research. I think the key problems I need to solve are Cutting the right quality of stone such that it doesn't delaminate (by cutting across-grain, rather than with the grain) Cutting the stones without wasting too much Finding the correct tool to cut them Using the waste stone appropriately I've looked at this tool to cut them. But it strikes me that the 'bed' on which the stone is cut is at least as important as the cutting tool. And it's expensive, but I bet I can hire one. I've spent hours on YooChube researching how to cut them for myself. Not a brilliant resource, but there are some nuggets of information. And didn't you @Construction Channel, do a video review of a chop saw that might do the job? Visiting Italy (Pisa) Debbie and I visited the marble mines nearby. They used diamond encrusted wire to saw the marble. Might there not be some low-cost DIY equivalent?

But not fact. I smell inappropriate pressure being put on you. Or perhaps understandable urgency on your part. Or both. I got planning permission, the guy 25 meters away from me didn't. To all intents and purposes we're on the same plot (almost) . The difference? A simple, very humble farm track. If I were not to point it out to you, you'd miss it. Rejected at all levels, right up to Appeal. There is some very hard-won advice earlier in this thread from people whose judgement I have come to respect and trust . 7 day completion really is nonsense.

We all wish you more than just luck. Success would be better! Your story sounds more than familiar. And this place is as good as any other to wallow in the stories that others tell. Nobody here has had a hassle-free build. Nobody. At the very least the avalanche of decisions we all need to make keeps most of us awake at part of the night; and then when you've been nagging at something for a bit, you realise - there's bound to be someone who has sorted it out one way or another on BH. Before you know it, a few ideas have been dropped into your head and you're a few steps further on, with, often, a laugh thrown in too. I have no idea how I'm going to sort out my stone slips. None at all. I'm just going to ask how others have done it. By the end of the week I'll have a sensible plan in place. Without BH, I'd have even less hair than I have now. Welcome. Lurk, read, ask. Ian

Persistence. Plan. Plan. Plan.

We have bought matting. It's flexible. It reduces the likelihood of slips trips and falls. Every single contractor on site has commented on how much difference they make. Wheeling a sack truck laden with tools.... and then bumping off on to MOT1 points up the differences. And I can re-sell them at the end. There is a secondhand market. We've reconfigured the area protected 4 or 5 times now. I have a quadriplegic mate who comes to visit, every time all we do is drag a mat to his van door. Easy. Cleans easily, wet or dry. But some areas MOT1 is best. It's neither one nor the other; it a question of deciding which is most appropriate.

Both.

The storage system isn't going to be the problem. It's the long term maintenance cost. Underground, away from light, refresh continuously - rainwater recycle tank? Filter the incoming free water. Two filters, one coarse, one fine. Occasionally (once a year) put some aluminium sulphate (spoonful) in the water : let it settle the rubbish out to the bottom, and then flush the tank out fully and replenish. Maybe think about putting a length of copper pipe on the supply side (copper sulphate helps clean the water) Main thing keep light away from it. Keep it child-safe. Make sure you can drain it completely and have access to clean it out. Dig a deep sump so you can flush it all away: every last drop.

A saving indeed. But remember it's from Rochdale. You might have run the gauntlet of the Rochdale Cowboy(person)

There's loads of those '.... Oh FGS why didn't we think of that(s)...' aren't there.