saveasteading

I've just realised that you are the correspondent who distrusts science on principle, and purveyors of knowledge and expertise, as you think they always seek personal advantage. You may therefore prefer to disregard my advice , in case I have links to the pipes manufacturers, or the construction industry in general.

Have your neighbours broken them? You should get a formal proposal for the repair and have it supervised by their building inspector. Clay pipes are still available so a like for like replacement is better than repair. Alternatively there are adaptors from clay to plastic, and a plastic pipe could be inserted. That is trespass. The best time to remove it is now, before it reached full strength. Concrete gets hard in a few hours but increases in strength for about a month. Doing it asap will be easier and cause less damage to the foundation. Are you allowing them to work from your side? nothing should cross the boundary line so a wall on that line is likely to have a fascia at the top which will cross it. ie the wall should be set back.

I'm torn between turning off contributors with nonsense, anti-science and anti- fact beliefs, OR keeping myself aware that such people exist and interfere with my world. For those above who don't believe science or authority: On BH most of us giving advice know the science and/or best practice or practicality of the subjects on which we comment, and take the advice of others on other matters. If you don't trust experts then I don't know why you are on here. Don't go ignoring the regulations. Please. Otherwise things will likely go badly for you and others. I will now turn off 'follow'

I am also taken with some recent publicity on Beechgrove Garden and Gardener's World programmes of 'Prairie planting'. big area of daisy-like plants. I've got a few in pots that grow to 3 ft and flower for months...and produce hundreds of seeds. Brilliant colours, but subtlety and texture is also possible. So it is cheap too, and maintenance is easy. The aim is to have swathes of colours and textures that look natural but dramatic too.

I was liucky to be in spain during thd worst of it. If there was an outbreak they forebade travel to and from that community, except essential services. The benefit showed dramatically in the death figure. I try to get into deniers' mindset on this, but can't. The best i can manage is an extreme fear of science... people knowing things that they themselves can't begin to comprehend. I don't understand therefore it is conspiracy?

You could use a thin layer of concrete very locally, using grit or gravel instead of the usual ballast stone, to suit the thinness. Or if you have ballast, pick the big stones out. That will be as strong as the footing.

Meadows are the way ahead. So much more interest, less work and better for nature. Cut just once a year, very low, and all put in the compost heap. Mulching is good for the the lawn but feeds the meadow too much. Or have areas of both. Interesting flowers and grasses can be introduced. Yellow rattle is a must. Our small experimental area is now a favourite spot to sit. Leaving some lawn for kicking a ball about.

Make it so. Or use perforated duct. It doesn't need to be twin wall.

And yet the one i bought with the kiosk was white on the long leg and red on the short leg. It was too narrow for the big cable so I used a bigger black pipe without issues.

That's a very good point. But assuming all the ground is the same then the trench below the box should act as a soakaway as fast as it enters. At worst, the cable ends are well clear of such water and the box to base is not sealed so it would run out.

I mean that the cable comes down the pole into the ground, so they need a hole there. Then underground either alone or in a duct. Then at the box again it has to emerge from the ground and go through your hockey stick. In my eyes your case it is only 3 ft. Take away the hole at the pole leaves 18"? Leave hockey stick expose, another 1ft gone. So has a negligible trench so doesn't need a duct. But if you had a bit handy they could drape it over the cable if they wanted to.

A tactical withdrawal is preferable to suffering a massacre. Well done General.

No. If the box and pole were 20m apart then they would need an exposed pit at each. In your case they join so it is all pit.

Feel even better about it, as you are still overthinking. What comes next? Blockwork? As @nodsays, a bricklayer (you in this case) will use a string line and smooth that line out, and up. Relax, work out what level your first block goes at, and move on. If there is a high spot, you could regard that as your new datum and lift the building a few mm.

The point being that concrete is hard work, the workers are busy with what they do best, and not esp skilled with lasers etc. Ie do the precision at leisure. 10mm either way is absolutely fine though and better low than high. 15mm is probably typical of decent work.

For future reference, I tended to either bang pegs in the bottom and mark depth with a nail. In clay, knock nails or bars in the sides at finished level. Very formally for precision ( big structures) we would have T profiles along the side at say 2m above finished level and a 'traveller' a T that we placed on the concrete and lined up with the profiles by eye. A laser can replace this if used skilfully. Big IF. Hence the nails.

It's OK. I've seen very much worse. Lasers aren't always accurate and are only used approximately in trench footings. Successive processes get more accurate but For perspective: the published tolerances in timber buildings are plus/minus 10mm.

what you show was state of the art, but about 30 years ago. It's thin, irregular, and gappy. And there are old bridges from the room through the timbers to outside. Its a matter of balancing cost and benefit. Youll find much more previous dicsussion on here. I think, 1. keep what is there but straighten it out, and add an extra thickness... how much would it take? 20mm? PIR is best for insulation. Or replace what is there with PIR. BUT it is tricky to fit tight so maybe you'd end up pushing in the fibreglass again, or a boarded version. Then an insulating inner layer over the surface would kill the cold bridging.

I don't think so. It's great to think it through. You are now the world expert in this issue.

If it can get wet or is exposed to insects, then use treated timber. I suppose you could immerse your untreated timber in preservative, so that it goes into the end pores. But a tin of that is expensive itself.

Jam all the gaps with PIR and squeeze in foam, as above. 20mm will make a big difference, and the extra heat loss will be a few £ a year. 10mm tolerances are acceptable in house specifications... prob no blame.

An alternative. Use a screed mix, which is sharp sand and cement, low water content and probably fibres. You can barrow it for a few hours , while tamping it in place. I'd still recommend using professionals...but the pressures are much reduced. This also depends on the design as it isn't structural concrete, but fine for most domestic situations.

I've been a contractor for decades and seen hundreds of big slabs going in. I have seen enough to know that your plan worries me. I will step in to help or for interest in most processes but have always kept out of the way during this because it is skilled and brutal at the same time. Good points made above. eg the pipe is full of stone and is stupidly heavy as well as kicking around. The guy on it is usually a super-fit 30 year old. Consider buying 3 barrows and hiring 3 labourers instead of pumping.... you win control too and can compact and level as you go. You will need scaffold boards to move around on. Washdown at the end is a horrible, filthy job, especially the inside and outside of the pump pipe. I mentioned this post to my daughter (Contractor , Project Manager, Architect). Her jaw dropped and she immediately thought of the risks. One she added was how well your insulation layer is covered...… the membrane must be intact and completely sealed at all laps, otherwise the concrete forces through and the insulation floats to the top carrying your reinforcement with it. I have seen this happen. Check your laps and tape as necessary one more time. BUT seriously consider postponing this and getting a professional gang to do it.

This is a standard product and option, but more often for a screed than a structural slab. By default anyone offering a product at a show is not going to suggest other options. Tell us more about your intended project and get more detailed advice.

I'm panicking for you. That concrete will come faster than you can level it. Then it's too wet to walk on for a few hours for any precise work....until it's not, at which stage it is getting hard and difficult to improve. Cracking isn't your biggest worry. Di not allow any extra water in the mix. It will crack jaggedly at the doors but it doesn't matter.... or you lay a bit of hardboard in the surface to make it crack there. As above, fix level markers to the walls and also in the middles they can come out again. How many loads? 2 I guess. Give yourself at least an hour between them, perhaps 2. A shovel each and a bull float. Polythene over the lot once you can walk on it.