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Everything posted by ToughButterCup
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The science behind sewage treatment plants
ToughButterCup replied to Crunchynut's topic in Waste & Sewerage
Diverter ordered (for the down-spout). Digger on site today for a dig-out tomorrow to redirect the piggery roof supply to the pond. The stupid thing is that, based on that BCOs (poor) advice in relation to the piggery, we created a small pond supplied by water from the house roof run-off (and a spring).The house roof delivers water to the pond. -
The science behind sewage treatment plants
ToughButterCup replied to Crunchynut's topic in Waste & Sewerage
The Poo Plot thickens. I rang up BioPure (ours is the 1- 5 version) and talked to their expert. Told him the whole sob story. After ruminating for a bit he said "Know what: try leaving your tank as it is. It might just get itself together again. Oh, and tell your BCO to - [ ... I leave the rest to your fetid imaginations ...] " Smart fella- because thats what I was going to do. Now - how long do you recon I can convince the two wimmin in my life (daughter / wife) that doing nothing is the best idea? Week? Ten days? There is ZERO chance that I can get them to read this thread. Lets pray for a windy week or two..... Please God - no blocking High pressure systems please. -
System designers - Mid Cornwall (Bit vague I know)
ToughButterCup replied to andy1300gt's topic in Boffin's Corner
We are too. 'S a tough ask mate..... -
The science behind sewage treatment plants
ToughButterCup replied to Crunchynut's topic in Waste & Sewerage
Luckily for us, we drain to a free-flowing stream. So the consequences - for us - of the over-flow are minimal. Pumping it out and a yearly service will sort everything out. But I feel a bit bad for the local wildlife. I had no idea how important a gentle slope to a stream can be in assisting the free-flow of foul water -
The science behind sewage treatment plants
ToughButterCup replied to Crunchynut's topic in Waste & Sewerage
Yes it does. The complaint was about their failure to do anything about the legality of the installation. The smell coming from their site was (and still is) incidental. -
The science behind sewage treatment plants
ToughButterCup replied to Crunchynut's topic in Waste & Sewerage
In our case the rainwater will have flushed much of the the foul water into our local stream. Albeit the effect of the deluge will have been mitigated by the sheer volume of clean water added to the liquor. It's really annoying : I used to trust BCOs. Not any more. -
Potential sagging on cupboard shelving
ToughButterCup replied to Paene Finitur's topic in General Joinery
18mm will always sag - even with an aluminium angle front - it just sags at the back, but not the front. 36mm kitchen top will sag less Almost Finished @Paene Finitur, almost ? -
The science behind sewage treatment plants
ToughButterCup replied to Crunchynut's topic in Waste & Sewerage
We recently had a large rain 'event' ( as the Met Office are wont to call them) . It rained hard all day - no wind just hard dense rain. All day long. A couple of years earlier, our BCO at the time - never had a visit from the same BCO twice - suggested we connect the guttering from one side of the Piggery (roof area 10sq m) to the foul drainage. "It'll just keep the foul drain wet and help flush stuff through" was her memorable advice. Good idea I thought. The tank has been ticking along nicely for the last three years. 24 hours after the deluge, the poo tank started smelling . I don't think her advice was a good idea now. I have no proof that the rain caused the change in the processes going on in the tank. But a few hundred gallons of fresh clean water must have changed something. Local advice "Yer wanna foind a good-n dead fezzunt and stick'n in lad... tharal sort it" (On reflection, I think that guy might have come from Somerset) -
The science behind sewage treatment plants
ToughButterCup replied to Crunchynut's topic in Waste & Sewerage
Exactly correct ( === ) . Here's a memorably informative post from a few years ago: it might help ....? Two authors ( @Jeremy Harris and @Stones ) provide really good summaries of the issues. The soft and smelly is as hidden as it can be in the UK. Vee Tschermans are not so skveemish. -
Do we need wired light switches these days?
ToughButterCup replied to The Reverend's topic in Lighting
My name's Ian and I'm 69 and eleven twelfths. I'm likely to die before anything new-fangled fails: so I wish I'd chosen to make a few really important lights and sockets to be hard-wired - and make the rest as sexy as I could get. I'm told that @SteamyTea controls many things in the house with his brain. And @pocster.... -
Trial pits prior to groundworks, how much £££
ToughButterCup replied to Post and beam's topic in Foundations
Any glass in that sample ... eh? -
Trial pits prior to groundworks, how much £££
ToughButterCup replied to Post and beam's topic in Foundations
Brilliant question. It's the key question to ask. So many tasks in house building are repetitive and simple. And that tempts so-called professionals to cut and paste text from one specification to the next. On our build two or three times a principal merely signed off a piece of work that was done by a junior member of staff. And in one case that error caused a fortnight's delay and cost quite a bit of money. The quotation that you've been given appears to me to be more about expectation management than a sensible evidence-based costing -
I'm rendering a wall in what proves to be the hottest day so far: despite a forecast of overcast. I thought it was an ideal day. But. The first coat dried faster than I thought it would: consequently the render mesh wouldn't embed in the mortar. Warran eejit - all I needed to do was put the first layer on for a meter or so and then press the mesh into that. But I had the bit between my teeth. Can I put the render mesh on the wall at the same time as the next 'layer' ? In other words put the mesh on the scratch layer at the same time as the render for the top coat?
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Piling and Insulated Foundation - combination possible?
ToughButterCup replied to AppleDown's topic in Foundations
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Piling and Insulated Foundation - combination possible?
ToughButterCup replied to AppleDown's topic in Foundations
Its no secret, loads of us have used them : Tanners in Eire. Superb. Saved the price of their fees many times over. -
Piling and Insulated Foundation - combination possible?
ToughButterCup replied to AppleDown's topic in Foundations
The set up cost for our piles was about £5000. The additional cost of (unplanned - 'where we might want to put a garage' ) piles was £50 each. We threw in a couple of others between our piggery and the house for when the piggery is extended 'into' the house Have a read of my stuff about piling. Overall cost for 146 sq m was £6500. -
The BCO himself agreed with me that if I did as suggested above - fit and later remove - was fine: he had fulfilled his duty. He did not encourage me or condone removal. He then, with a knowing grin, also said that that was exactly why Grand Designs generates such howls of derision from most builders. How many non-compliany staicases are featured on that program ?
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Hope Festool does their own version. Bet there'll be a spit-roast in there, chip frier, pizza oven, a slow cooker, a waste disposal unit, anna drinks chiller OK, it'll be £7000 quid, but think how much @SteamyTea could earn going round self-build sites. It'd keep him too busy to post on BH ....😝
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Really ? I asked him for a concise problem statement ... and that appears to me to be (as above). The statement is concise - but importantly NOT precise. Because, as @craig says he has sent the documentation from the manufacturer. But the BCO does not say how or in what way the documentation is insufficient - thus He is asking us to trawl through all the documentation from the supplier and map that onto the relevant Building Standards. Now call me old-fashioned, but should that task not have been done at Building Regs submission? Or the previous BCO? We've all got too little time. I have a strong feeling that I'm just going to get a bit of 2 by 4 and screw the damn thing onto the window frame (via a threaded sleeve or dowel screw) , get it signed off and then take the protection down.
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Have a read of this from my BCO ... Our wonderful treble glazed windows upstairs go floor to (almost ceiling) Yawn. I feel like banging a piece of 4 by 2 on the wall in front of the windows , getting it signed off and move on.... Write to the manufacturers asking for certification ? ... life's too short. Now I know how Grand Designs stair cases become non - compliant.
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Saved for a good read later this evening. Thanks Damon. Ian
