ToughButterCup

Buy a set where the treads are set so your feet are comfortable. In other words where the tread has a bit of grip, but most of all where the treads are flat when the ladder is in use. Makes a huge difference....

Thanks. Might as well fess up ............ look at this complete mess...... Error list: Getting out of bed that morning Mixing render in hot sun Mix transferred to the barrow far too dry initially Didn't pre-wet the wall enough Allowed the already dryish render to dry further before trying to put the mesh on Not laying the render on thick enough (not fit enough) Applying mixture in harsh sunlight Not going to the pub early enough

"Oh, we'll just render it" I said - four years ago. Then I tried to get someone to do the job : our excellent plasterer looked at the job, winced and said - honestly - No. DIY then innit. How hard can it be? We have a short bit of wall that I can use as a training ground. Here: look - This shows all three states of that wall Raw at the bottom, parged on the left, and rendered and two coats of exterior silicone paint on the top. Tickety Boo ....... until you look more closely. ChristOnAbike I tried hard. I made errors that I haven't even got the courage to show you here. ( @nod has seen them - too polite to say anything) My shoulders have only just stopped aching. Now I know why many renders are textured like this ( the right hand side of the image) The images shows an ideal build-up - rendered by someone who knows what they are doing. In another ten years I might just about have got it right. Right then, next wall, where is it ......😠

Dunning Kruger Effect Stage 1 (I think) .... Unconcious Incompetence. Or perhaps, simple laziness and mendacity: as in I'll tell him he hasn't sent that document to us (when I know he has) just to piddle him off

I suffer the same generic problem: uncomfortable jobs - once easy - need much more preparation now - I used to be fit enough to work at awkward angles. Not any more. Make yourself a safe working platform. It'll take longer, but be safer and there'll be less swearing.

Where - roughly - are you @CalvinHobbes? Asking because it might be worth asking our contact..... Apolgies, I've just checked online - the company I dealt with is in Administration ......

Knowing what I now know, I'd contest that 9% - if the claim for that 'bit' is valid. They are consistently inconsistent, work sloppily and some of their staff are poorly informed.

Not sure that the idea of 'one discipline versus another is helpful . The architect probably hasn't ever lifted a trowel or dried out a wet wall, or the builder had to create a scale drawing or buy a decent pair of trousers to go to work. Trades and professions often 'dis' one another - especially when they are on your payroll. I got really fed up with that. If you want them cleaned, get them cleaned . If they won't, then DIY. If you don't, you'll be watching the bottom of your walls for water marks for ever and a day.

Who's doing the cleaning? You? Somone else? The simplest rule is - Don't think: clean. Just bloody do it.

@Tom, decent weather forecast for today.... May I suggest a hose pipe and a lawn sprinkler spraying such that small sections of the roof are sprayed - and the others not. And a look-see underneath while its running ...... Looking at your images - how about 'creeping up' on your valley? By that I mean trying to find out if one side of the valley leaks, but the other doesn't?

Spelling mistake there..... should have written '... credibly...'

My sympathy. Loads of us here are wincing with you. There is a positive angle on this ..... It doesn't matter what the issue is,... there will be many more. The process of dealing with them is important. They train you (us, all of us) to supress the emotion - anger often - and become analytical. And to realise that there is an answer to this problem. You will solve the problem. And after you do that a few times, you can start to draw on the confidence engendered by the experience of getting it right. Especially when you've rescued a sh!tty situation. All the panels? Every panel? Everywhere? Doubt it. Focus on the section that is leaking. The drip will be lower than the water entry point. Focus on the upstream area above the drip. Wait until the rain has stopped (important) Up on the roof strip back that section of felt - carefully, slowly Look for drip marks on the top of the composite panels The leak(s) will be above (higher up the slope) than that spot Hold the felt up to the light - your looking for a small tear or set of tears My suspicion is less than careful handling of the felt...... Forget it until tomorrow's sunshine : go down the pub and forget it til then. Good luck

No. We need to know the source - one small tear is enough to let in loads of water. Photos from under the felt will help greatly. The felt itself (if its a common branded felt ) is highly unlikely to leak.

A fit teenager and a bow saw. 'S what they're for innit. When they can do that properly, teach them how to use a splitter wedge and a sledge hammer. When they can mend the sledge hammers they have broken, teach them how to earn enough money to put themselves on a chainsaw course and a first aid course. When she's got that far, you'll never want for firewood again.

Wrong brand of Babycham ,.......

And midge resistant eh @Grian....?

You tryin' to put us down @SteamyTea? Just because we get around? [...] This is our generation baby ...... An' I'm NOT sorry.

Well @BartW, yer tryin' , tryin' 'ard. I'll give ya that. Next stop: the BCO's office with a bottle of Babycham - see if that works .....

So does SWMBO. She now really HATES our BCO because ...... she now knows what the regs are .... How about - get it signed off as as cheaply as possible and as compliant - and then change it to what you want? Who's gonna know? Ceramic tiles outside + rain+ oil spots + dust = broken hips

Long shot ...... Geese?

Yes. "Wir haben das Geld weggeschmissen.... " (tr. We have thrown our money away) was a common phrase chatting to both both East and West Germans . I think they were referring to spending priorities other than those with which they agreed. Germany has had to absorb absolutely massive infrastructure costs making good the GDR's inability to update its sewers, roads, phone network and underinvestment in heavy industry. Attitudes though, are still very strained between the two blocks. Schade.

Just in case some readers aren't sure what 'meshing' is, here's a photo in this case applied to an ICF. The mistake I made initially was to try and apply the mesh when the first coat of render was already too dry, and the other was trying to apply it to a too first thin coat. Oh - and the weather was way too hot, and I didn't pre-wet the wall enough. Anyway .....

Heard lots of moans and groans about it last week - possibly especially so because I was visiting the old East germany. Money has dried right up : some blame the influx of migrants to Germany, others the war, some still blame Angela Merkel. But its patchy. Hamburg, for example, is a forest of cranes.

An interesting thought: We have a partially shaded 'Winter Garden' that has just been rendered. With all this sun and the recent render, we've been looking at the wall more than normal (glad not to see the blocks any more) - and realised that one area of the wall (2m sq?) gets full sun in the afternoon. We have embedded that thin pink plastic grid stuff (forgotten the trade name) in the render to help absorb movement in it. But didn't think at all about temperature variation within the same area of wall...... Probably overthinking it as usual.

Interesting comment. For us, your comment come just in time. What rouses your suspicion, and - let's assume your suspicion is correct - which paint (or type of paint) would you suggest? Is there such a thing as breathable paint ? PS Apologies: I've asked a question I could have answered for myself Here's a list of external, breathable paints https://ggle.io/5uX3 Thank you @larry very much indeed for raising the issue. Helped me avoid a possible error.