Over-thinking required (this time)

[ToughButterCup]

I have been politely and probably correctly been  taken to task on these pages for over-thinking stuff. And, I have responded

 

Today, luckily, I have been found guilty of the above crime. 

Going over and over the levels for the piling mat and subsequent foundations - and getting errors - I decided to do some of the simple things that coders are taught to find errors in JavaScript or Flash Action Script.

 

• Print the levels out on a separate piece of paper. Read them 'differently'
• Make a separate sketch diagram : compare that with what you've got
• Annotate the diagrams you have got : use a pencil - don't look at the screen
• Go away and have a cup of tea and walk the dogs : forget the damn thing
• Sleep on it: and try not to let the niggle keep you awake : fail
• Sod it: email the architect - 'I expect I'm making some sort of stupid error, so would you help me .... this is what I have done to try and solve the problem for myself.....'
• 'Yes, here's the diagram... not to worry, this has the correct levels on it' 

 

I had been  looking at 1100.D.7 for a few weeks.     The correct file to look at was 1100.D.7B

I know all the levels off by heart now........ FFL 27.650, Piling mat level 27525, Top of Pile 26925, Top of Pile Cap 27225. I could go on.

 

Good for the soul this kind of stuff. Good for the soul.

[Nickfromwales]

There's so many different disciplines in a build. To be a master of them all would take a lifetime of learning. 

Success, certainly in my game, comes from adventure, failure and then success. Hopefully not too much failure to recover, but you can see why others get it so very wrong. 

The stairs for my boys attic room. A right hand winder going to a straight flight but steeper than the roof so two 'double depth' step-stroke-landings on the last few treads so as to not get any 'swede bashing' on the ceiling. 

Measured and marked it all out, didn't work ( no saw out yet btw ). Marked it again and again and then said bollocks to it its going in. 

Only cock up I made was the stringer should have finished flush with the attic floor but it was to joist level, oops, so 18mm short. 

Not the end of the world, bit of pine strip scarfed in here and there and bingo. Fact was, this was my first staircase and I'm happy I stuck to not ringing my Chippy mate to dig me out of it. 

Now i 'understand' stairs, "tread" / "riser" / "rise" and "going" / "squeaker blocks" / "toe" and the such I am now confident to get more involved when such jobs arise. Newels will be the next nemesis but one 'step' at a time. 

Definitely a good feeling when the not-knowing turns into clarity and you say to some inanimate object....."Bingo......have that you bastard". ?

 

 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

A couple of weeks or so ago I sat down and worked out my "over-thinking time", as a rough estimate.  I reckon it was over a year of working time, just spent either finding out how to do things, or doing things, getting them wrong, and having to do them again.

 

The problem is, even having done one self-build doesn't give you more than about 20% of the knowledge you need, just because every house and site will be different, and pose different challenges.

 

One thing I can understand a bit better now is why the developers build boxes that are very similar, and will only build on clear and easy to access sites, with known ground condition.  It means they don't have to deal with the wide range of issues that most self-builders have to deal with.

[Redoctober]

Excellent. Looks like the "clouds" are drifting away, paving the way for finer weather! Long may it continue I say.

 

PW.

[jack]

12 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

A couple of weeks or so ago I sat down and worked out my "over-thinking time", as a rough estimate.  I reckon it was over a year of working time, just spent either finding out how to do things, or doing things, getting them wrong, and having to do them again.

 

I don't want to know how much time I spent/wasted thinking about this blimmin' house!  I'm a thinker rather than a doer by nature.  I'm certain that there were days when I just wandered around the house for several hours absorbing what was going on and pondering.

 

Even though we moved in over a year ago, there's still time being spent/wasted on figuring out how to approach what's left.  Worse, because the easier stuff gets done first, it's the "hmm, how best to do that" stuff that ends up filling your remaining to-do list.

 

I'm at the point of just asking a builder in and paying them to do the rest, because I simply can't face any more decisions!  The problem is finding the right builder 

[ToughButterCup]

20 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

A couple of weeks or so ago I sat down and worked out my "over-thinking time", as a rough estimate. 

 

That is the most reassuring thing you have ever posted.

[Redoctober]

Is it "over thinking" or just "thinking" time? Either way, having the time to do "thinking" has been a real benefit for me. I started out about 2 years ago and still have about 12 months before the development starts but Boy ! the things I have thought about as a result of reading magazines and being a member of this [& the other ] Forum has proved invaluable.

Any thinking time shouldn't really be considered a waste.

PW.

[TerryE]

This is a classic dilemma, isn't: under-think or over-think -- 'cos you'll almost never get it just right.  When you've got a lot of experience then you can do a lot on "instinct", but most of us are doing so much for the first time, or maybe for the second or third time but everything has changed since the last time that we did it.

 

So yes, I also tend to overthink stuff -- Jan calls me anal (which I hope just a familiar abbreviation for analyst, but I think it has something more to do with something else).  But when you overthink, you are just inefficient in terms of your time.  This is a lot better than under-thinking and missing something fundamental that will end up causing loads of grief.

 

One other think about trusting other people's instinct: this can be seriously wrong.  For example, most builders don't appreciate the true consequences of designing the heating system for a house that needs about 1kW heat to keep it warm in the depths of winter, or the consequences of cutting a few corners in doing the insulation or airtightness.

[ToughButterCup]

@Redoctober  I was concerned not to be more of a PITA than I need to be when talking to professional colleagues. Going over and over something a simple and trackable as levels and getting it 'wrong' made me think I was being stupid. Fear of exposure as an eejit...... The last thing I want is for an email from me to cause colleagues   inwardly to groan at my stupidity, grit their teeth and wait for 48 hours before they  reply. That's why I usually explain what I've done to try and solve the problem myself.

 

As it is, Sam emailed me back within the hour.

 

[SteamyTea]

" Then, I stand up from my desk and try to get real work done "

[Construction Channel]

nothing annoys me more than people coming and asking me questions before they have even tried to work it out for themselves. My governor is a prime example, he will be on the phone asking every tradesman he knows within seconds of coming up against an issue, 

 

then again i did have to go and sort a door lining out for him on friday and TBH i wish he had never even started

 

I suppose i can't have it both ways, 

 

[Declan52]

Nothing wrong with over thinking as long as it doesn't get to the stage where it's border line obsession. Nothing worse than lying in bed trying to sort out stuff in your head about what is going to happen the next day. I totally understand why some people just pay a builder to do a complete build just to be done with the stress. Some people just can't handle the stress that every build brings while others love it, freaks!!. 

Me I loved the dirty bit of my build right up to where the choices for kitchen and bathroom stuff needed made. Not my cup of tea all the tramping about showrooms being asked do I know what I want. Give me a deep mucky hole in the ground any day.

 

[joe90]

I think it's all about learning, I know, I love it. I love to solve a problem myself but the wonderful thing about this forum is we are all still in the same boat, or were. We all have strengths and we all gain from sharing that knowledge pool. By the time I finish my build I will be an expert ?.

[Simplysimon]

4 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

 A right hand winder going to a straight flight but steeper than the roof so two 'double depth' step-stroke-landings on the last few treads so as to not get any 'swede bashing' on the ceiling. 

Newels will be the next nemesis but one 'step' at a time.

congratulations @Nickfromwales, not the easiest thing to make, however, how did you manage a winder stair without a newel? on the inside corner the treads/risers need to be attached to something.

 

simon

[Onoff]

I'm not sure why I tend to over analyse things. It's not a fear of getting things wrong as I often only get whatever "new" thing I try right on the second attempt. If anything I've gotten worse as have had a tendency in the past to "read the instructions later", waste materials, buy the wrong stuff. I've done "it" all in the past but look back with embarrassment on a lot of stuff.

 

I do feel quite guilty at times on here gleaning people's hard earned knowledge on new techniques / stuff I'm not familiar with. Believe it or not that often puts me off asking questions. I remember reading a thread thinking htf can a Passive Infra Red detector have anything to do with insulation. "PIR"  

 

Now I like the idea of NOT having to revisit something mainly when I'm older and more decrepit.  

 

Edited January 16, 2017 by Onoff

[ToughButterCup]

12 minutes ago, Onoff said:

I do feel quite guilty at times on here gleaning people's hard earned knowledge on new techniques / stuff I'm not familiar with. Believe it or not that often puts me off asking questions. I remember reading a thread thinking htf can a Passive Infra Red detector have anything to do with insulation. "PIR"  

 

@Onoff, you rarely manage to give back to those whose generosity you receive. That's one of the  excuses I have for trying to be generous: doing that helps spread it around a bit more. And so assuage the guilt. 

[Nickfromwales]

Bugger......confession time. 

This seemed like the cowards way out

( so naturally, I went with it  )

Coupled with this

 

In my defence, ahem, the templates went straight in the bin as the rise and going was not on there for my particular requirements. 

Also, for anyone considering one of these DIY / flat pack staircases, they're the dogs bollocks. Stairs for idiots made simple. 

A word of warning, with the winder box if you've not got a perfectly flat floor to come off you need to adjust all the stated dimensions accordingly.

Also, the underside of each winder was marked for 650 700 750 800mm etc and I wanted 700mm so duly cut along the lines. Ended up with chuffing 625mm width !!! , work that out. 

Fwiw, the instructions were less than great so I binned those too.

Do I still get a Blue Peter Staircase badge?

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

Sorry Ian, this could be one of those tangents we promised not to take threads off on..........?

My bad. 

[Nickfromwales]

2 hours ago, recoveringacademic said:

 

@Onoff, you rarely manage to give back to those whose generosity you receive. That's one of the  excuses I have for trying to be generous: doing that helps spread it around a bit more. And so assuage the guilt. 

In fairness, it's a two way street here. 

For every golden nugget I've given away I must have had at least two or three in return. It's quite difficult to get free, impartial and, most importantly, honest advice, but here it's plentiful. 

Regretfully, I'm unable to help with your sausage guilt. Maybe eat less bacon? ?