ToughButterCup

A similar google search this time with the word 'edging' added

Here is too much detail

Hello @DevonKim Its good to hear the fizz in your 'voice' Hold on to it, because you'll need it later. Nervous you say? Good, you're normal. And as for moral support here - here - really?

As @Thorfun, we put together a mood-board. The interesting thing was that as soon as we went through that process, we found trawling through relevant books and YT videos was so much easier. You can also find plenty of ready made mood-boards online. Grand Designs episodes help - a bit. We also assembled a 'scrap book' of the things we liked about the houses we saw: anything at all - and thats how we came to ask for a timber clad house, and why knew we wanted a large area of glass facing south. The scrap book helped us show other people what we wanted. And there's a good deal of value in that.

Ughhhhh. I hated this job so much, I came to love it. Strange, but true. Two chippies helped me on our build for a short period: one sloppy as hell, 'tother, well, finicky is an understatement. Each had a different approach to the same issue. They only worked for a day or two, the cladding took me a full month (on and off) 2mm should be achievable quite easily: and less than that with a bit of care. For me the key thing is - while working on your own - it takes time. Soooooo much longer than working with someone who can share the job. And by that I don't mean a willing but disinterested / clueless / completely unskilled / person. I'm trying not to say - partner. (She won't read this, I hope) I found that battens need to be held by the head of the screw: not the whole of the (in our case) concrete screw. So the batten needed to be pre-drilled. That means that you can vary the tension by a mil or less quite easily - and fookitrightup if you don't predrill the hole. Because when you come to fit the counter-batten, the process of backing off a screw on an under-batten which has not had a pre-drilled hole, it pulls a large section of the batten one way or the other. Cross-making. One of our walls, in profile, bears more than a passing resemblance to a propeller. Excellent training for battening. I ended up making my own shims (modelled on trouser shims) . Thats when I learned (from the fastidious chippy) you can use multiple layers of DPM to get the battens lined up to within half a mil... He was on day rate. I feel almost nostalgic about it now @Dreadnaught: if you weren't so far away, I'd come and help ya......

Join the club. Bats. Anyone can make any claim they like. And Planners know that. If there's no evidence or likelihood of bats being present, then show them photos of the inside of the building. You could also look up whether any other local planning applications required an ecology survey. If surveys have been required locally, then you're likely to be subjected to the same process. This is what happens locally: I'm not condoning it, but this the reality round here. I know because I've seen it happen. A year or so before some local farmers make applications to the planning department, they deliberately destroy any wild life - pig slurry in the pond where newts are , bat roosts destroyed, badger setts dug out, rookeries shot out, foxes hounded to death. Not all farmers do it, but some do. Talking to them about it, their argument is that the bats'll be back, as will the newts and badger. They're likely right.... Submitting a Planning Application can be a nasty process. I've come to think of it as a useful filter: you find out what people are really like. Those you thought at least friendly and civil can show themselves to be harridans and foul-mouthed, brain-dead eejits . Neighbours once thought neighbourly , aren't. Planners have seen it all. Your biggest defence is - evidence, and calm analysis based on thorough research of similar recent applications. Know both why - and why you shouldn't - be given permission based on detailed knowledge of what has happened locally. That way you are less of a target for random silly, evidence-free comment. It's a toughening up process. Stick with it.

BioPure Why? Minimal moving parts. Reading your post, it occurs to me to ask why are you fighting with a septic tank that doesn't work? Ignore it. How? Install some other system in parallel , and then redirect the flow to the second tank. Remove the original, fill in, dispose of it at leisure.

Remember this :the VAT reclaim car crash in the making ? Well the claim has been accepted. Today. 9 months after the claim was submitted. Accepted maybe, but not accepted without a fight. Lesson learned? Some Inspectors do not follow the guidance given on the application form: that one simply beggars belief Take note of these key dates and record them formally: the Date of Entry Into the Valuation List, the date on which the Local Authority was informed of Entry into The Valuation List, the date [of the document, not the posting date] the LA tells you that your property has been Entered in the Valuation List I should take my own advice (in my signature line) more often than I do. @SteamyTea's right: I'm cross quite often. My defence? I am cross usually only when justified - and I try to use that crossness to get Scheiβe done. For the Hell of it now, I'm going to submit another claim. For all the stuff I could have claimed for in the last 9 months. See @jack's last post on the subject. HMRC Inspektoren sind Scheiβefresendearmleuchter

On our build, we had to knock down an old chicken shed. It had been repurposed to a workshop, where, occasionally an old codger used to clean out his paint brushes by shaking the contents of the brush onto the ground. He'd done that for years - many years. The ground report survey found some lead - from the paint - one part per million over the actionable threshold, at the very spot he used to clean his brushes. Cue gnashing of teeth, wailing and booing at the added expense. I was all for digging out round the spot, and re-test. Until the architect pointed out that the spot in question was going to be covered with 1.5 meters of MoT1. Can you cover up the problem area with a deepish layer of earth?

And sometimes one BI says one thing (about a potentially expensive decision) one day, and the same BCO unsays it another as in "You need to coat that cladding with NonCom fire retardant" and a month later "Naaaaah, it'll be reet wiout it mert " . The NonCom fire retardant is sitting in the site container waiting for me to get round to coating the cladding: TBH, if the scaff had still been up, the job would have been done long ago ..... Cant take a joke? .... etc

No, you aren't worrying about nothing. You are understandably concerned. First, backfill: the pressure of the backfill is designed in to the product: think about it for a moment - if it weren't , the tank - ie. not just yours , but all tanks - would implode. And thats a sh1t situation to be in as a manufacturer. The manufacturer is correct ground conditions do differ: but theirs was a mealy-mouthed response. They could have asked you what your ground conditions are - the one thing to be concerned about - slightly - is the water table. A high water table means a higher likelihood of a buoyant tank. Yes, improperly anchored, they do pop out of the ground. Spectacular when you see it happen. IF thats the case for you ( high water table) , then simply anchor the tank with (say) a cubic meter of concrete , and top off the rest with normal backfill . We did, and for good measure threw in some concrete fence posts at the bottom of the pit, chained them to the periphery of the tank, a bit like an emergency anchor for a boat. Our poo tank is going nowhere in a hurry. Makes for a really secure feeling that when seated on the throne.

You dont sleep do you Gary.....

What a damn good idea. Whoever sorted that one out: thanks very much

Welcome. Have a look at the Funding Self Builds section of the site. Lots of people have lived in really quite difficult surroundings while completing their build. Caravans can be made 'nice', but at the cost of diverting effort from the build. It's an added stress that should not be underestimated. The process wears everyone down. Except @nodwho has too much energy and determination.

Morning! Good to have you with us. Can I bag the first question to you please? When wind turbines rotate on their vertical axis, why doesn't the 'flex' (?) taking the power to the grid get all twisted and tangled up - wrapped round the vertical axis? Oh, by the way is this you really ? - come on, admit it.......

@Chanmenie, could I nudge you please to respond to @Temp ?

Land Access to the land Planning Permission A clear Design Statement Permission to dispose of foul waste A well thought out financial plan A rock-solid partnership Everything else is optional. Everything

hello @Carpy. Welcome Wot him above ⬆️ said ... +1

DURISOL 🤣🤣🤣

Top guy. It's done me a lot of good to read that Gary. THANKS.

You have an agreement, and it must be honoured. You can only challenge the agreement on the basis of evidence. Pay him some money with a retention until the roof is properly inspected for the quality of the workmanship. Tell the builder what your concerns are and say that you are going to get the work inspected by either another roofer - whose work you know and trust or an independent inspector or a drone (video) inspection I suggest a drone inspection because on our roof, one tile cracked in such a way that - from the top of the scaffolding - you could not see it had cracked. It was in the layer of tiles just below the ridge. I didn't have any scaffolding or crawl boards at the time. A drone video would have picked up the problem. Have a look at this post The key thing now is speed: the scaffolders could well arrive and take the scaff down .....

There's a difference between inspection for Building Regulations compliance and inspection for the quality of workmanship. Yes, it's a head-slapper, but that's the way in this dysfunctional sector. In building compliance terms, your roof is now signed off ( probably). The BCO was concerned only with compliance. To verify the quality of workmanship , it is normal to appoint a building surveyor. If you do that, please be sure to check that the surveyor is qualified, competent and has a good reputation locally. Get 3 quotes for inspection. It is common to do a visual inspection of a roof with a drone. This forum has many stories of BCOs not doing their jobs thoroughly. It's the norm. To balance that comment, I suspect BCOs are being asked to do more work with less resource. There will be some slapdashery of course.

That bench looks perfectly well organised to me @zoothorn Everything visible, everything to hand, plenty of light, electricity on tap. Wait until you feel ashamed - unprepared to show BH members a photo - of your tool bench before you decide how to organise it. The longer you wait, the better and cheaper the design. I can just about walk into my workshop - almost.

Without evidence, this forum isn't the place to speculate about why Durisol isn't doing well. Lets hope for the sake of all those jobs in South Wales, those in the company, and just as importantly that those jobs in the company's supply chain can be secured. The last thing anyone needs at the moment is the loss of income through no fault of their own. In relation to the point you make above @SteamyTea, lets hope just the right person has been waiting for the chance to lead the company to success.

There is a difference between a product and the way a company conducts itself. Yes @Russell griffiths, there are far superior products out there, yes @SteamyTea many have had difficulties with the product. But as many traders have found - not least those who post very regularly on BH - businesses fail for all sorts of reasons. You may not like a product . Then don't buy it. Poor products deserve to fail. Just as poorly administered companies need to be reminded about the realities of the marketplace. A series of recent international events may or may not have contributed to the current situation. We just don't know. Yet. I am keen on evidence-based comment and discussion. Thats why I have written (perhaps too much) about Durisol. But I know nothing at all about the financial conduct of the company . And so, in my view the Schadenfreude above about Dursiol's descent into administration is entirely misplaced.