ToughButterCup

Welcome here. I used to teach in Bicester way back last century! God, I'm old.....

Hello Vijay. Here's the original post on the matter I have a 2 tonner. The thing that nobody tells you is the way your mind changes as you come to start thinking about how to solve problems with a digger - as opposed to without a digger which for me was the normal way until a few weeks ago. ConstructionChannel puts it best: '...See a problem, turn the key...' Jobs which in my minds eye would take a whole day (move a newt hibernacular) took 10 minutes with the dozer blade. Jobs which were impossible on my own - make a woodmill work-bed out of two large (500+ kg) tree stumps took me an hour on my own. I've always wanted a land drain across our lawn - but couldn't face the job with a shovel. It's a nice-to have, but not essential. It took an hour.

This checklist is copied from a post we made on ebuild. It is a summary of the authors' collective wisdom. Unfortunately the links are dead - but the author's name is always listed. And since most of the usernames have been preserved, they are still relevant. This (and every) checklist will benefit greatly from your comment and experience. Bring a tame fitter with you / or ask for a recommendation from him or her. (Triassic#10) A digger from a hire yard will be better looked after and will have always been serviced. (Declan #5) Stolen? Paper work, service history: check serial numbers (Declan#8) Cab? (Ed#9) If so then : window covers (GRP / metal) Hydraulics Pipes will burst; local hose supplier - easy to swap, you just need big spanners. Have a 25 litre drum of hydraulic fluid as a second hand digger will leak Check track depth : new tracks cost about £200: (proDave #3) Check teeth on the Drive Pinions (proDave #3) Track Motors: Hydraulics Leaks? (proDave #3) Engine service history ? None? Immediate service (proDave #3) Pins: play? If an old machine re-bush. (prodave#2) Joints: play? Slew: play? If it's going you will hear grinding, popping or clicking noises. Check the grease on the bearings. If it's got metal filings in it then it's been grinding. (Declan#8) Check for clean grease around nipples, all the pins should look like they have clean grease on them. Over-greasing is good! Check it will hold the arm extended/bucket raised for a length of time, if hydraulics are on the way out then the arm gradually lowers. (proDave #3) If you have a choice, get one with the main boom ram mounted on top of the arm - the older ones that have it below the arm are prone to damage and bending when something gets caught between the bucket and the ram. (PeterW#3) Fully extend Spool valves and Rams - you may need an assistant to push the levers as far out/back as possible and look for weeps on the joints and also on the ram end seals. (PeterW#3) Equipment: What does it come with? Quick hitch? Right buckets for your needs (Ed #9) Need to buy a bucket? Where from? Check before purchase (proDave #3) Check engine start FROM COLD; easy, hesitant, non-starter? Get the seller to show you how to drive it. (proDave #2) Can machine easily lift itself off the ground with the dozer blade lifting one end and the bucket lifting the other? (proDave #4) Water in fuel? Check fuel filter Water in the oil? Look for mayonnaise-type emulsion on oil filler cap Use red diesel - and don't be tempted to use it in your car. Leaks of oil and hydraulic fluid : get a drip tray Keep it (and spare buckets) secure

Well, Barney, if you don't get a tipper - or have a digger- (and up til recently I didn't) I found myself choosing easier-to-shovel stuff if I had the choice. In terms of reversing, I have a Defender. The standard mirrors are poor. A wide-angle view mirror will help I'm sure. Twisting round in the seat is OK, but reversing while scanning both wing mirrors is much easier. So, wide-angle mirrors for me if I can source them. Just a quick note on straps and chains. 5000Kg straps are excellent - nobody taught me to use them, until the other day at the wood yard. The hooks seem to be the sensible way to attach the strap to the hook on the trailer bed. But if , on the strap, you use the loop of metal from which the hooks are formed, there is no chance whatsoever of it slipping. Strapping in a zig zag fashion (cross and re-cross) the bed is a nightmare. Because the strap loses it's tension in the first section of the strapping. So, where 1 strap will do (with a zig zag hookup) I use 2 straps instead. Chains are much stronger. I use them for the trees I buy (2 tonnes each). But it's hard to tension them evenly. But by the ends of the build I'll have got it right - I hope.

Thank you very much. So many people made so much effort to help produce the list. It would be a great shame to weaken the resource. If I can, I will as a matter of course, always reference the original post and author. And if by chance I forget, please dig me in the ribs. Ian

Meta-discussion. Aha! One of them!

CIC online offers a really well collated set of information But, I get the feeling that, since it's a project funded by several Higher Education Institutes, the project is likely to be pruned. The site isn't as useful as it might be because there's no site-based search facility. For example, I'd like to have researched 'Thermal Mass'. Purely for reference and research purposes you understand. However this page was the most useful starting point for me : it lists a set of relevant categories It's best to register (they'll ask you to do that for some resources -not all)

Thank you. That's that issue on my list ticked off. 'Nother 3,456 to go. Ian

Hmmm, good to know that our feline friends have not been forgotten. My favourite bit of that exchange was the technical discussion of how to make sure the feline's entry or exit did not 'waste' (Oh God, I have to be careful now) erm... heat. And since a cat is worth about 10 Watts........

This post appeared on ebuild, and since it is the work of many people, I reproduce it here. It's a shadow of its former self because I can no longer make the links to the comments to which the bullet points refer. Some you win , others you lose. So, because the text without the link is useless, I have deleted some references to the authors. I have not deleted the names of the original authors who registered with us in the hope that they can provide us with a link to relevant material The checklist is not definitive. Over time I will link this checklist to comments on (buildhub and elsewhere) which substantiate the point made. Your comment on this list is particularly valuable because any work done here improves the validity of the list. And so is likely to save you time and, hopefully, money. Heating Checklist Background reading and considerations Fundamentals Get a feel for what you already use Consider applying PHPP to the design to derive a heating requirement Use J S Harris spreadsheet{J, got a link to that for us?, Ian} Play with PeterW's FingerInTheAir MVHR Checker (PeterW#5) { Peter, got a link to that for us?} Heat Calculations Passiv? Do you need heating at all? Look for Thermal Bridges in your design How are you going to manage cooling? Consider Phase Change Material Storage. Stitching ASHP and UFH together On mains gas? No brainer - it's cheapest Cost benefit analysis. KISS Separate out DHW. Use instant water heaters Selling your house on? Higher temperatures needed? We are all getting older Higher lower occupancy rates in the future? Which thermostats to fit? Smart? Analogue? Radiator? It's not easy. But KISS - off the shelf. (jsharris Blog whole entry and discussion ) Underfloor Heating (UFH) DIY or not? End of lay (Nickfromwales#7) Plot the loops out on graph paper (TerryE#12) Best layout (NickfromWales#15) Useful summary (Alphonsox#17, and Nickfromwales commentary on that #27) ) How to deal with the pipes to the manifold before second fix Testing for leaks (declan52 #25) Avoid piping under toilet and sink traps (nickfromwales#29) MVHR By definition, MVHR = air tightness Forget a traditional fireplace, therefore. MVHR wishlist Where to put the vents? (jsharris#10 et seq) Keep pipe runs to a minimum (PeterStark #10) Minimise 90degree bends (PeterStark #1) Insulate all SUPPLY ducting (PeterStark #10) External Vents at least 2m apart (PeterStark #10) External vents slope downward (PeterStark #10) Fitting metal joists? Fit rigid ducting first (PeterStark #10) Supply to living and bedrooms (PeterStark #10) Extract from wet(ish) rooms (PeterStark #10) Mind yer bonfires ( jsharris#3) Location of MVHR unit Noise concerns: fit attenuation boxes (jsharris#11, jsharris#2) Type of ducting Radial design explained (jsharris#6, whole thread worth a read) While you are at it, try this (jsharris#6) Think through the cooling issue (jsharrisblog 38, 03:48, 1andR whole thread, jsharriswhole thread, TerryE, whole thread, hazymat, whole thread ) Bio Mass / Wood burners A cautionary tale (Steamy#1) The British Medical Journal on the subject (Steamy #1) Heat Pumps (ASHP GSHP) What's your heat load going to be? (Steamy#2, DeeJunFan#3) Are they worth it? (jsharris #4) Caution (jsharris as above) ASHP and DWH (jsharris #7) No need for DHW feeds to all rooms (jsharris#13) jsharris blog post(s) (jsharris) but see recent entries (part 41 and elsewhere) in relation to DWH Controls, how? (jsharris blog 38) Run slab from room stat? (jsharrisblog 38, 03:48) How to cool the house? (jsharrisblog 38, 03:48) Solar: Thermal or PV? FIT considerations RHI considerations Which Solar or PV? (Declan52 #1) PV for Hot water (recommended by jsharris, Ed Davies Blog, accessed Jan 2016) *But* consider separating out DHW. Use instant water heaters (jsharris#5) It's (PV) a no-brainer (Nickfromwales#6, jsharris#8)

I needed to do a bit of research about my local area and bumped into this site. My motivation was to research the relationship between GCN (Great Crested Newt) distribution and temperature. The reason the site is useful is because it refers to other data sets, and either draws on them for 'its' own use or hyperlinks to other useful sets (like this one)

Terry, I can't wait for the bit about levels: and particularly the bit about establishing a reference level. In relation to the traffic survey. I used to do the '...rat run...' into Oxford every morning (round the back through the lanes via Woodeaton). The local residents were so incensed by the volume of traffic that they decided to do survey to make their case to the LPA. So between 07:00 and 9:30 Monday to Friday they ran a video camera on a tripod, abstracted the stats from that, and presented them to the authorities (all written up in the local rag). Illegal? No, they filmed in a public place. Idea?

I am not sure. What i do know is that there is a condition on my EPS Licence which states that the hibernacular must remain in place for 6 years. And as that means no gardening in that particular area, what's there to worry about?

Oh, the Gold-Plate Status Quo has just started to pop (in relation to newts). I have never not paid a bill promptly in my life: this will be the first time I have been on the receiving end of unprofessional conduct, and possibly unethical conduct - where I have had to pay for those services: I am taking advice on when and how much I should pay, and indeed if I should pay. By the time the LPA gets round to discharging the condition we could be into August. For an agreement to apply for the licence before November 2015 - so it could be approved during GCN dormancy, and not to do so despite numerous prompts from me until April 2016 is at the very least unprofessional. He even had the gall the other day to remind me that I should order the TAF fencing and get ready to dig the TAF trench This organisation is one that our ecologist says he belongs. Well, he needs to do more than pay his subs. The gold plated status quo is startling to die. I still really like newts. But I loathe and despise professional people whose personal and professional standards make them unable to face the result of their own behaviour - but then The market knows best.......... Not always.

Hesitantly, I offer this checklist because the subject matter is often deeply sensitive: there's so much at stake during the meeting and the build up to it may well have been fraught. Indeed, this blog entry is a pen-portrait of a recent Planning Committee Meeting in my area All the more need for a rational, carefully structured checklist, therefore. This list appeared originally on the ill-fated ebuild site. Each comment was referenced to multiple threads, thus adding greatly to its validity. This list is offered as a help to those who are considering going to Committee to make their case. I am almost sure that -since many of the ebuilders are now here at buildhub- that any questions you may have about this checklist will be answered promptly. List the facts, assemble the evidence. (Basic procedure for problem solving) Councillors may ask for applications to be called The process in a nutshell Scottish Regulations differ to those in England Dig out the NPPF read it, which paragraphs refer to your case? The value of an accurate drawing Conservation Area? Other local decisions Scale model Size matters, (footprint) but you need evidence Micro-politics: architects - planners - county councillors - parish councillors - neighbours; strategy for dealing with each Is needing to Appeal so bad? Going to Committe or Going to Appeal Manage your Planning Consultant Check the fees situation in relation withdrawn applications What is a withdrawal? You may withdraw DURING a meeting Manage your emotions: don't show people how upset you are What to say and how to say it If you're worried about that, employ a professional to present for you. Going to Appeal needn't be as bad as it may sound

Dads all over the world do this job.

Erm, I wonder how Nora Batty feels about your comment Nick?

I am so tempted to abuse my rights as an admin.

Thanks for this topic Hugh (again) . I'm foaming at the mouth about our EPS licence delay - almost everything else has been sorted out . But the LPA has still to give us their decision on a few things - and I'd forgotten about default discharge. We must be well over the time limit now. Thanks again. Made my day! Ian

Welcome. It's good to see you back! Progress, as long as you can see it, all's well. Nothing depresses me more than coming on to our site and seeing exactly what I saw last week. That's when I've had my head in a spreadsheet for too long.

Thanks Crofter. This is exactly the sort of information which we need to collate and keep as a central resource. As the Americans say " Good jaaaab man" Ian

Exactly what I need to think through next Hugh: I have some steels which need to go between the two containers. Thanks for the prompt. Ian

Oh God. Oh God There's an object lesson in why openness is a bad thing.

The chant "Yer wanna get a digger mate!" started in 2014, and I finally got one two years later. The chanters were right. But what I didn't hear was what they were chanting (sniggering) under their breath. "You're gonna get covered in grease". Let's start at the beginning. How much does a digger cost to hire? £70 per day. How much does it cost to transport it to and from your house / plot? £25. All plus VAT. Bang goes £300 / £350 per week. And it rains, or there's a delay, and it sits there leering at you like some hideous demented mechanical giraffe whispering softly in your ear Use Me Use Me If You dare. But you can't because it's hissing down. And suddenly it's Friday, a couple of hundred pounds has flown out of the window, and two of the jobs you had planned haven't been done. And soon you're driving around noting every single digger sitting there idle in a field or on the roadside and NOBODY'S USING IT. It shouldn't be allowed. Diggers are expensive; they should not be left idle. Or rather those ones that are idle should be loaned to you the second the owner decides to have a day off. It's OK, you'll come and fetch it and bring it back when the owner needs it. Anything but let a digger be idle when you haven't got one. And then you do a bit of maths: how many jobs around the site do we need a digger for? And the list gets longer by the week. The children start muttering about dad being on about a digger for Christmas and birthday present all wrapped into one. And then you start noticing things like zero-swing diggers, and that's a 22 tonner, and is that a 2.6 tonne or 2.5 tonne digger? Soon, you know how to tell. The next thing is: JCB or Kubota? Or maybe Volvo? Hmmm. Well Kubota have reliable engines (other companies fit Kubota engines) JCB - well, a bit sloppy round the edges. Looking on Tinternet for prices and maybe the odd trip out -just to look, no more you understand. A budget number bubbles up in your spreadsheet against the Heading Plant and Equipment. Suddenly there's 10K more than planned. But, you can re-sell it at the end of the build. So nett off the cost against the hire cost (minus VAT) and you're in profit (Ha!). The digger duly arrives. And suddenly a whole world opens up. Move that Cherry tree, no problem (that wasn't on the list), shove those steels through your son's windows (after he takes them out) no problem; move two tonnes of stone quickly from one place to then other - well not quite no problem, but you aren't sweating. See a problem, turn the key. Dig your SuDS drainage in less time than you thought. Move that newt hibernacular three meters to the right: done. The dozer blade is awesome (I hate that word: but here it's the right word). And then there's the maintenance schedule. A Kubota has more nipples than a prize sow. And God can they suck grease. And I'm not the best at changing grease cartridges - when I'd finished I knew what the phrase Grease Monkey meant. I will not want to sell it. How on earth am I going to get that past Debbie?