saveasteading

Who me? Yes and I'm quite good at it. But deadlines, the 4 hours a day stamina, and the family veto are the issues. It's a point though that perhaps we ask elsewhere. I expect the same from any floorer except that 'abort and charge' threat.

@Alan Ambrose points are excellent. Most builders have one trade account because of convenience and that a decent turnover gets good service. That might well not be the best for price. I happen to be very happy that our chosen merchant always gives the best or near best value without ever haggling. All we buy elsewhere is specialist stuff or pallets of eg screed where the middle merchant is missed out. That can save 10%. I forgot a big one. Cashflow. You will be paying 20% vat and not get it back until your claim at the end. Materials are typically 40% of a job. The contractor reclaims vat every 3 months so also has cashflow and admin issues. They are entitled to more than what you call a "tickle". I'd want 20% on top. So our decision us that we are buying materials , having long experience of best value. But the plasterboarders are supplying their own, as this reduces handling, waste, (and skips). Ditto electrician and plumber for their tech stuff but we buy the appliances.

I made a pergola with a Glulam equivalent. The main difference being that this was in Spain. So termites and heat were more the worry than wet. After 7/8 years it's good. In UK conditions I'd ve worried about the effect of prolonged dampness on the wood and the glue. So my suggestion is to get treated timber, preferably choosing the lengths yourself. Now would be a good time because they might be dry. I'd want to set them aside with air flow and a cover for a few weeks. If they distort then get them changed because they are not supposed to. The timber association TRADA says they should be kept dry but no merchants pay any attention.... I had 50 big pieces exchanged without protest. Then bolt them together at 500mm cc max and perhaps add nail plates.

A letter from whoever saw it being built, ie SE or Arch, saying that it isn't usual to require this and it was 5 years ago but from visual inspection at the time this was industry standard material. Bco can file that.

No. Cash would come back in a big way and not be declared.

I rescued some packaging from the skip so I'll see. That's the skip which is not to receive cardboard or timber and especially not empty boxes! But they 'forget'.

Reminder to self... look at the socket for the cable before proceeding any further. The antenna was fixed far too early and is now a nuisance. That's a downside of family democracy.

I'm going to look for the screed manufacturer's info on this. I noticed that they had about 8 products and they will all have different absorption properties. We are currently measuring the air humidity in the enclosed space of the testing box. That must be an approximation. A probe will be another approximation as the free moisture content must be linked to the amount of impermeable aggregate in it. The only real test is to take a core and heat it and measure the water evaporated off it. That isn't going to happen. The floor will be engineered timber, and the manufacturer has nothing to say on the matter. The contractor changes his requirements when challenged, as in the initial post. Wants to seal the screed or charge an abort cost, so I have no trust in them. I will be there on the day and the poor chap may have a hard time if he plays at being technical. What I don't want is them walking off because the scam hasn't worked.

I've always found that they give the correct advice and don't sell for the sake of it. That's good business too as they started with just the one passionate inventor: was it 25 years ago?

So we found a moisture meter and set it up. currently saying 53%. I just know it can't be any drier than it is now, but it will be interesting to observe any changes with time or temperature. AI says 50% max for flooring on anhydrite. Other sites give very different numbers. But I came across this erudite site. Perhaps in the toilets. I'd take their site even more seriously if the page headline didn't use the word Moiture. Rhymes with voiture?

5% on a conversion. One big advantage of that is that the builder can own or hire equipment and it falls within he one invoice. VAT reclaims do not otherwise allow tool hire or purchase. But otherwise...NO. There is nothing to stop you buying materials, and the only downsides might be if you get it late, or if there is a problem with quantities/ waste.

Although I'm qualified I still engage expert SEs because I can't keep up to speed on all aspects. I might 'know' that something will work but have lost the calculating skills and haven't kept up with the changes to codes. It is normally prudent to engage a local practice because they know the ground, the local preferences, and are available for site visits. Equally an Engineer doesn't usually want work far from home, for the same reasons. That can change if the work is purely academic as in the analysis of a beam or truss. But that will be an unuusual case. So we can rest assured that Chartered Engineers are not going to use BH to tout for business, and free advice should normally be received as well intended and without any strings .... with the unstated subscript that the project has not been visited or examined in detail and no liability can be inferred. Which leads me to emphasise that a concerned owner might not be noticing the underlying problem or cause*, and a site inspection is recommended in mot instances. *That's why we ask so many questions which can annoy some correspondents who simply want an easy answer. Gus is not touting for business, but his advice is rounded and pragmatic and up to date.

I liked someone's advice in a prev discussion. Buy a German or German approved one. The quality will be good and safety thought through.

That all seems sudden. I know we discussed it on here a few months ago, but I've not seen anything in mainsream media. So perhaps HMG follow BH for balanced and knowledgable advice.

The issue is the height. That's 6m so needs a cherry picker. What's that £350? We will have one there but not fir a few weeks and I'd like good wifi on site and the camera working. As long as an attempt at a plug doesn't do any harm I'd like to go for it. If that's no good then we need a new cable and to fit it when the mast goes back on. What I haven't said so far is that we will also move the mast 3m to the left, as there is an office there. Where it is was to suit the scaffolding at the time. I guess it would be prudent to buy a ready made cable.