Ferdinand Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 2 hours ago, PeterStarck said: That's how we built our house. One step at a time The staircase technique ?. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patp Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 Brickie went off to help a long time client, who lives opposite us, out of a muddle. It was a large warehouse project and they had been let down by their brickie. Turned out that much of the blockwork was below ground level so he, at 67, was lugging wet blocks of the cement kind, and having to place them below ground level. They all needed disc cutting too No wonder the site owner could not get a brickie to turn up! The week that he was gone from our site was a week of good weather that we are still waiting to return. First it was rain that stopped play and now it is low temperatures. I send evil looks to our neighbours over the road because they have stolen our brickie several times now. They are safely ensconced in their lovely self build mansion while we sit looking at our half built bungalow that we started in 2019. We were so hoping to have the roof on by Christmas. It is still a possibility that, if the weather cooperates (!) we could have it on for the new year. Sigh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 43 minutes ago, patp said: Brickie went off to help a long time client, who lives opposite us, out of a muddle Ask the brickie if he knows anyone that can help. I have always liked the saying: "Graveyards are full of indispensable people" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patp Posted December 6, 2020 Author Share Posted December 6, 2020 23 hours ago, SteamyTea said: Ask the brickie if he knows anyone that can help. I have always liked the saying: "Graveyards are full of indispensable people" We could but he is known to be the best around which is why he keeps getting poached. The good thing is that, at 67, he is going to retire soon. He was looking for bungalow only builds when we heard about him. He prefers to work alone :(. He turns up dead on 7.30 and doesn't stop when you take him a cup of tea or try to chat to him. This last time he went off it was at the request of an old team mate and he told us that the mate would come to our site and give us a week's work. I won't hold my breath. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patp Posted February 11, 2021 Author Share Posted February 11, 2021 Good job I did not hold my breath waiting for the brickie's "mate" to repay the favour Was there ever a worse year for bricklaying, weather wise? If it is not peeing down (the worst for a hundred years) then it is below 4deg C so no bricklaying can take place. Now we have several inches of snow! All this has left us with several inches of water, which turned to ice, inside the build. Pre covid we could have had an ice skating party! Bless our bricklayer he has soldiered on, when he can, even doing Sundays. Good job he did because we finally have the carpenters here to put up the roof trusses and fix the soffits where they can. Just been hearing about their "little job" in Buckingham Palace! The guy we chose as our roofer has been absolutely amazing in organising an electrician to quote for solar panels, the carpenters to quote for the trusses and now he is here, on the day he said he would be here, to fix the felt! The carpenters worked in a snow storm to make ready for him. The only hold up we had was down to the, usually very good, supplier. The roofer even went round to give them a good ear full about some scratches on the fascias and their tardiness in sorting it all out. He missed his vocation as a project manager! It is feeling such an achievement to get the bungalow water tight. Sods Law means that not another drop of rain will fall. Well, not until we start building the garage or landscaping anyway. If you want prior warning then let me know Feeling a bit nervous about the prospect of installing the windows which have been in storage for nearly a year. Roof tiling first, though, so that the scaffolding can come down. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daiking Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 3 minutes ago, patp said: If it is not peeing down (the worst for a hundred years) Is it me or has it been really wet? I wasn't sure but our garden has been sodden this winter unlike the last few years. For the first time. water pouring off the patio onto the grass has ruined it. Not happened before, will need some drainage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 One of the wettest around here for while. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 1 hour ago, daiking said: Is it me or has it been really wet? OH YES, I managed to get the plot roughly flat and made the mistake of getting it power harrowed (big tractor with huge rotovator) which did a good job but the rain that followed turned most of it into a paddy field. I have been told by a local gardener/landscaper not to go near it till the middle of next summer when it “should” have dried out. It can then be rolled. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patp Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 That's interesting joe90. We have been wondering what to do about the awful mess that the plot is in now. It seems it is best to let it all drain away first then? It makes life so difficult, moving about the plot, when it is just full of huge ruts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 1 hour ago, patp said: That's interesting joe90. We have been wondering what to do about the awful mess that the plot is in now. It seems it is best to let it all drain away first then? It makes life so difficult, moving about the plot, when it is just full of huge ruts. It depends on you soil makeup, mine is thin soil over solid yellow clay so nowhere for the water to go but evaporate. Getting machines on already wet ground is not a good idea although a tracked machine will make less mess that a JCB like I have. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 Grow rice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patp Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 All the top soil was scraped off the actual site and sits in a pile. The soil that is left is clay and that is being churned all the time at the moment by a tele porter. I assume that, when the time comes we will flatten the ruts out and over lay with the top soil. Going back to the amount of rain we have had. We have some bricks on a pallet that have sunk so far into the mud that the teleporter can not access them. We will have to handball them all onto another pallet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 9 minutes ago, patp said: All the top soil was scraped off the actual site and sits in a pile When you get the sub soil levelled it might be worth getting some land drains put in before putting the top soil back. I was advised a shallow trench filled with drainage stone and a membrane over the top before replacing the top soil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patp Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 Cheers, will think about doing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 It has been sub zero here since Christmas. The ground has been frozen solid for weeks. Today it has jumped to +10 and feels positively "warm". All the snow and ice is melting but is not soaking into the frozen ground. It's running off the fields in places it does not normally and running down the road and presently down next doors drive into his garden. Thankfully I saw this possibility and installed a drain channel and pipe to catch the water running down the road and pipe it down to the burn, that is working nicely. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianfish Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 I have written up design and specification briefs. Attached drawings which while are not fully spec but are scaled. I send an email or call and follow up with the attached drawings. Seem to have a positive chat, then nothing or offers of yeah course we can do that give us a week....best so far a quote from mid January which only has half the detail. Most are referencing COVID and working from home , as I am but I don't take three weeks to reply to an email. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patp Posted February 27, 2021 Author Share Posted February 27, 2021 As predicted - the rain stopped as soon as the Brickie topped us out! Little celebration. Roofers were already on site and working like men possessed! Solar panels fitted and today will be their last day. All of a sudden we are back to making decisions and chasing up suppliers! We now have to get our house on the market as we are fast running out of money. Anyone want a completely renovated (new roof, rewired, completely re plumbed throughout,) clay lump cottage in Norfolk? Plenty of room to extend 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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