ToughButterCup

Interesting @joe90. My 'neighbour' has applied for planning permission, was refused, and the subsequent appeal was rejected. There is an Enforcement Notice on the site still under consideration by the Council's Legal Team. On the face of it, he has no legal right to be there. He continues to live on site in a caravan, discharging raw sewage to ground. The discharge is so big, you can see it on Google earth. His claim to a 'right' to live in the caravan is at best questionable. He has built a wall just high enough to hide his caravan from casual view from the road. Ian

Hmmmm, Yes, the wind will circulate. No need for 2 or 3g Why the top to bottom overlap, Pete? I cleaned windows for seven years to pay my way round my first degree. Should be fun doing the insides at that height. Ian

Thanks folks. Now over to the Clerk of Works @MrsRA

We plan to have about 5 square meters of roof light. It's above our Winter Garden. (1720 by 3200) On a partially protected South West face The darkish area below the roof is an open, barn-style set of baffles. ... I'm thinking about our equinoxial gales, and the occasional hoolie. The area to the right of the glazing is meant to represent solar PV I'm wondering whether polycarbonate is the best choice? Or maybe 4 toughened glass sheets? I have no experience of polycarbonate at all. I've looked at too many videos. I'm all over the place and wonder what your experience is? Ian

Is it worth the cost?

Almost always, smile - chat if the person pauses. One who cycles by most days now works for me : a great young lad with lots of fizz, does a few hours cleaning up and light work each week. To those (often local worthies) who openly opposed the development, I reserve an especial smile. I may be wrong, but I sense a slow thaw in relations. Intruders: hmmmm, it works well when your lad's the local copper, and his partner's the one of the local CSIs. I just wish they'd park their Police van outside more often

Here's chapter and verse Ian

OK @swisscheese, at this stage the only thing that's important is the piling mat level isn't it? Because you can tinker with other levels afterwards. Right so far? Answer these questions, and you have your answer: At what level does the piling company require the piling mat? Do the piles need to be trimmed after insertion? (mine need to 'lose' the top 600 mmof the stone column - the ToP level [Top of Pile Level] is 600mm lower than the raw stone column) Ask for a copy of the piling mat calculation: that will tell you the difference between Geotextile added to the mat and raw stone only (mine appended as an example) Piling Mat Calcs.pdf (look for the 'Required Working Platform Thickness' section) Do a simple table with all your levels on it from Ridge level all the way down through FFL and top of pile cap down to top of pile: makes the whole thing much clearer. PM me or ring me to talk it through if needed Ian

Hold on, where's that supply of pull-through I managed to appropriate while in the army? I knew it would come in useful.

So popping a few piles (the engineering aspect of the work) under our piggery (demolished for an exact rebuild) could be a '...separate activity of substance...' and '...not part of the process of constructing the piggery...' Lucky we got it through on a Non Material Amendment, then.

@Stones. That'll do for me. I have been warned.

Smile graciously, and then agree.

@ProDave, yes we are. But our architect left it to us to decide what build system to use. We came up with Durisol and the SE confirmed that it was suitable @Ferdinand; you are right: easier to traverse than climb. But hey - imagine being able to sink the vertical sections of my MVHR in the voids and then back-fill with concrete. I feel a quick chat with our SE (Tanners) coming on.

Erm, I'm just wondering whether your SE can present the BCO with some calculations?

Better revise my target down a bit then.

@Declan52, notice how little there is on the worktops. If your house is anything like ours, a few seconds after cleaning the worktops, the surface is cluttered with God knows what ... Now how about that in the smallest room in the house? Splashback....

Project Management is a well-understood role within construction - read the job ads. But, listening between the lines, you are concerned with continuity of guidance for the subcontractors on your self-build : you might not be on site as much as you'd like. North Lancs is heaving with new-builds. And as luck would have it, I met a semi-feral project manager a few months ago. He was putting some stick about in public on a building site - insisting that all the contractors remain on site for the time they were contracted to be on site, even if the job had been completed. The exchange was lively. And mildly entertaining. 'So, when I'm finished putting in those piles, what do you want me to do with my piling rig?' asked the grinning rig driver. The response was too fruity for this site. The RICS have a sector for project management: but I'm wincing even suggesting that: cost.

We are building with Durisol. Why? A balance of price, simplicity, build time and thermal performance. This is how they go together.... And concrete gets poured inside the holes. A weeks ago, I bumped into this video and fell to thinking (I really wouldn't mind a few days off that obsession) What if I were to embed my electricity ducting in plastic conduit within the concrete? And so I spent hours digging around. Got nowhere. The videos on YooChube don't allow comments or questions. Rang up the company, spoke to one of the Directors (Tim Bevan) who talked about the sites where he had seen it done. So it can be done. Do you hear the 'BUT' yet? Well I've been trying to think of one, or a few, or some, and got nowhere, except thermal breaks: use plastic tubing once it's in, that's it: not very flexible need to be damn sure the placing is exact : plan properly concrete etches, and eventually destroys the conduit: really? BCO might not like it : ask What might the benefits be? No wall chasing First fit easier Save space in the planned services 'slot' (hardly worth thinking about) I'd dearly luuuuurve to stick my MVHR ducting in it. Now that: that would be brilliant. What do you think? Ian

Thing is, we get something out of all of them ; even if it's negative. The program may have one particular focus, but you take what you can get from every resource - not always what the program maker intended. @Construction Channel's videos have taught me huge amounts of stuff. I look at those I think are relevant to me. But almost always I have learned other things by accident: how to stack wood : how to shift 20 tonnes of hardcore with a small digger : how impossible it would be for me to construct a roof : how tight a level line needs to be : whether to hire or buy a material handler : how to get a pretty young woman to mix your cement for you. Ian

Welcome to the club then .... in more ways than one. I don't think there's one person using this discussion group that hasn't been held up for a whole host of reasons. Ian

@ProDave, Push, shake, rattle and roll roller.

Oh Gauuuud. Three doors down from me is the trendiest of Trendy Shepherds Hut. Been up for a year and nobody has used it

Too embarrassed to take photos. Glad that I had the digger to nudge it upright, and two hefty Lancastrians too! Ian

Yep; you guessed it, I can. Lucky the digger was next to it and available to put it back on its feet. One of the lads working with me pointed out that it really wasn't necessary to go everywhere at full revs and full speed. I am making a nice little car park for @MrsRA so she can drive in and out of the site in first gear - same for deliveries: safe off-road, off site parking. No need to access the site itself. Good CDM2015 practice, so I read. And big stones hide under the hardcore and tip unsuspecting rollers over - right over, half way down a bank Such fun self-building innit?

@Onoff, you rarely manage to give back to those whose generosity you receive. That's one of the excuses I have for trying to be generous: doing that helps spread it around a bit more. And so assuage the guilt.