Grand Designs 25/2

[scotal]

Dave_ST220 said:

scotal said:

shirt said:

as this was a repeat, was there anything of worth during the last 5mins - i.e the re-visit? what was the damp like?

This was a brand new one.

with damp.

I can understand the damp coming out of the clay, they were pretty think walls made of wet mud, and they'd need to dry naturally to prevent cracking,
I also suspect that apart from the not very eco slab, there was maybe some not very eco proofing going on behind that back wall to prevent more seepage from the surrounding earth.... either that or baldyman was a thick as the mud he built his house from.

[shirt]

SJobson said:

shirt said:

as this was a repeat

It wasn't.

are you sure? i didn't watch the program but the build is familiar, what it looks like, why they built in france, the paying help etc.

guess i must have seen it somewhere else.

[sleep envy]

scotal said:

I also suspect that apart from the not very eco slab, there was maybe some not very eco proofing going on behind that back wall to prevent more seepage from the surrounding earth.... either that or baldyman was a thick as the mud he built his house from.

sure, cement has a very high embodied enrgy value but how would you form the substructure without it?

I'd be surprised if there was much tansfer of moisture from external to internal faces - not much diffent in construction technique of stone buildings built 140 years ago

Edited by sleep envy on Thursday 26th February 13:14

[cardigankid]

Herman Toothrot said:

fulham911club said:

cardigankid said:

When you see people getting others to work for them for free you know you are dealing with rogues. A fair day's pay for a fair day's work, it's fundamental.

For goodness sake. The house was in Brittany, it was summer time, they got fed. And more to the point the people agreed to give their services for free. Grow up for goodness sake. You only don't like the guy becasue he decided to try and make his house as ecological as possible.

I can quite imagine people going and doing this and having a good time, group of mates want to do week camping and drinking with like minded people but a bit of graft in the day to give you that feeling fit and strong mentality. I bet they were stoned and pissed everynight having a right laugh, not having to worry about the french family camping 2' away or the 20E a night fee for the campsite. For the students with nothing better to do for a week at the end of the summer why not?

One born every minute I suppose.

If she was asking them to pay for SALAD at lunchtime do you think she was out at night serving them Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding with Spotted Dick and Custard to follow, passing round the spliffs and standing the drinks?

[robinhood21]

Adam B said:

agree it was a con not to show the concrete base if there was one.

Am sure that there were tamp-marks in the concrete in one of last nights shots. They also installed underfloor heating of some sort, so lots of concrete to store the heat in. As I and others have already stated; there were no shots of the concrete being laid, and one has to ask why this was omitted from the programme. Was it to appease the green brigade.

[Dave_ST220]

cardigankid said:

Herman Toothrot said:

fulham911club said:

cardigankid said:

When you see people getting others to work for them for free you know you are dealing with rogues. A fair day's pay for a fair day's work, it's fundamental.

For goodness sake. The house was in Brittany, it was summer time, they got fed. And more to the point the people agreed to give their services for free. Grow up for goodness sake. You only don't like the guy becasue he decided to try and make his house as ecological as possible.

I can quite imagine people going and doing this and having a good time, group of mates want to do week camping and drinking with like minded people but a bit of graft in the day to give you that feeling fit and strong mentality. I bet they were stoned and pissed everynight having a right laugh, not having to worry about the french family camping 2' away or the 20E a night fee for the campsite. For the students with nothing better to do for a week at the end of the summer why not?

One born every minute I suppose.

If she was asking them to pay for SALAD at lunchtime do you think she was out at night serving them Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding with Spotted Dick and Custard to follow, passing round the spliffs and standing the drinks?

She might have done

[scotal]

sleep envy said:

sure, cement has a very high embodied enrgy value but how would you form the substructure without it?

They may have used that eco concrete the bloke in Kent used last week. I suspect however it was an issue that was avoided because it was a bog ordinary concrete slab and baldyman didnt want to damage his green credentials by admitting that.

sleep envy said:

I'd be surprised if there was much tansfer of moisture from external to internal faces - not much diffent in construction technique of stone buildings built 140 years ago

How many of those are half buried Ric, and how many houses have you seen where earth is banked against a wall and that has led to damp penetration in the past. Unless there was somthing behind that house to shield the walls form damp or effectively remove water, there must be some transfer surely?

[Herman Toothrot]

Dave_ST220 said:

cardigankid said:

Herman Toothrot said:

fulham911club said:

cardigankid said:

When you see people getting others to work for them for free you know you are dealing with rogues. A fair day's pay for a fair day's work, it's fundamental.

For goodness sake. The house was in Brittany, it was summer time, they got fed. And more to the point the people agreed to give their services for free. Grow up for goodness sake. You only don't like the guy becasue he decided to try and make his house as ecological as possible.

I can quite imagine people going and doing this and having a good time, group of mates want to do week camping and drinking with like minded people but a bit of graft in the day to give you that feeling fit and strong mentality. I bet they were stoned and pissed everynight having a right laugh, not having to worry about the french family camping 2' away or the 20E a night fee for the campsite. For the students with nothing better to do for a week at the end of the summer why not?

One born every minute I suppose.

If she was asking them to pay for SALAD at lunchtime do you think she was out at night serving them Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding with Spotted Dick and Custard to follow, passing round the spliffs and standing the drinks?

She might have done

Indeed, maybe she asked for a contribution towards food as she underestimated how much booze the workers could put away. End of the day they did they work and didn't walk so they must have been happy.

[cardigankid]

fulham911club said:

cardigankid said:

No, I don't like the guy because he was a hypocritical self publicising twunt. Anyway, he's got bigger problems than me with that harridan he's with so good luck to him.

So I take it you don't like anybody that is on reality TV type programmes (especially the abundance of property related ones) and everyone that has ever been on Grand Designs?

cardigankid said:

The 'house' if that's the right description was about as ecological as the Battle of Stalingrad.

Are you a builder, engineer, architect? In other words qualified in anyway to comment on the ecological soundness of his build?

1. There are those who are clearly using the publicity to market their services, like last night's pair, not that it was much of an advert. There are some who may enjoy the fifteen minutes of fame, but are not.
2. Yes, however I am not here to promote my services I am here to take pot shots at targets which voluntarily offer themselves.

Edited by cardigankid on Thursday 26th February 13:26

[SJobson]

shirt said:

SJobson said:

shirt said:

as this was a repeat

It wasn't.

are you sure? i didn't watch the program but the build is familiar, what it looks like, why they built in france, the paying help etc.

guess i must have seen it somewhere else.

Yes, certain - how do you know if you are familiar with the build if you didn't watch it though, Doctor Who?

[Dave_ST220]

/\, she asked for ££ towards food when phoning people to invite around, ie, BEFORE any work had been done.

[sleep envy]

Dave_ST220 said:

/\, she asked for ££ towards food when phoning people to invite around, ie, BEFORE any work had been done.

so what? if they didn;t want to offer their time to help I'm sure people wouldn't have gone

scotal said:

How many of those are half buried Ric, and how many houses have you seen where earth is banked against a wall and that has led to damp penetration in the past. Unless there was somthing behind that house to shield the walls form damp or effectively remove water, there must be some transfer surely?

I've seen loads of damp penetration but none where the wall was made of tyres

the site looked reasonably flat and the wall was over 500mm thick - I also seem to recall seeing in an overhead shot a 1200 guage sheet on the external side of the wall

I doubt they'll get a river pouring through but maybe the odd smell of damp in the winter months

bear in mind that this type of dwelling is common in more arrid parts of the world

[cardigankid]

And they were on TV, of course they were smiling. It's a miracle noone shouted 'Hello, Mum!'.

I didn't really see enough of the construction to comment on whether it will keep the water out, but I think you have probably got it about right SleepEnvy, when you say that mud huts are more normally built in arid climates. When it gets wet it moves around. A 19th century stone built tenement is typically two leaves of stone with occasional ties through, and the middle filled with rubble and sand. If water gets in at the head, the rubbish in the core has been known to turn to mud causing the outer skin to fall away and if its really bad the building then falls down. That's why its a good idea in most traditional buildings to keep your wall heads dry.

Edited by cardigankid on Thursday 26th February 13:38

[shirt]

SJobson said:

shirt said:

SJobson said:

shirt said:

as this was a repeat

It wasn't.

are you sure? i didn't watch the program but the build is familiar, what it looks like, why they built in france, the paying help etc.

guess i must have seen it somewhere else.

Yes, certain - how do you know if you are familiar with the build if you didn't watch it though, Doctor Who?

just what you guys were describing sounded familiar, and i had an image if what it looked like in my head that matched up with reality when i googled GD. iirc the 'volunteers' were there to gain experience to build their own earthships.

i must have seen it elsewhere or in a magazine.

[princeperch]

It amused me that in a property that was almost certainly uninsurable they activly made provision to accomodate naked flames in the wall.

It must have been a bit of a kick in the nuts to have to find the extra cash to build the place - especially as the property would be unmortgagable....

[anonymous-user]

shirt said:

SJobson said:

shirt said:

SJobson said:

shirt said:

as this was a repeat

It wasn't.

are you sure? i didn't watch the program but the build is familiar, what it looks like, why they built in france, the paying help etc.

guess i must have seen it somewhere else.

Yes, certain - how do you know if you are familiar with the build if you didn't watch it though, Doctor Who?

just what you guys were describing sounded familiar, and i had an image if what it looked like in my head that matched up with reality when i googled GD. iirc the 'volunteers' were there to gain experience to build their own earthships.

i must have seen it elsewhere or in a magazine.

On a previous series, a chap who was building an eco house in the woods did have quite a few swampy types helping him out..

[Xaero]

I liked the house, it had some nice ideas, but I wouldn't call it complete.

The solar panel roof should have gone all the way to blend into the circle'd roof.
I quite liked the tyres for walls idea, would never pass in the UK though.
The whole house seemed quite small, and as someone mentioned, garage like.
I did wonder how they would do the floor, then all of a sudden it was concrete,
The stone wall outside looked fantastic.
I can't help but feel it would make a great hostel, not sure I'd want it as my own house.
Budget was stupid, why not set it to £130k if they had that to start with?
Chemical toilet is wrong for a home.
Apart from the one right at the end (seperated by colour), all the bottled walls looked crap, should have put more thought into it. It was a good idea having a bottled wall for the bathroom though to let light in a room at the back of the house.

[shirt]

Jimboka said:

shirt said:

SJobson said:

shirt said:

SJobson said:

shirt said:

as this was a repeat

It wasn't.

are you sure? i didn't watch the program but the build is familiar, what it looks like, why they built in france, the paying help etc.

guess i must have seen it somewhere else.

Yes, certain - how do you know if you are familiar with the build if you didn't watch it though, Doctor Who?

just what you guys were describing sounded familiar, and i had an image if what it looked like in my head that matched up with reality when i googled GD. iirc the 'volunteers' were there to gain experience to build their own earthships.

i must have seen it elsewhere or in a magazine.

On a previous series, a chap who was building an eco house in the woods did have quite a few swampy types helping him out..

woodsman's cottage, not the one. this is going to bug me....

[Plotloss]

shirt said:

Jimboka said:

shirt said:

SJobson said:

shirt said:

SJobson said:

shirt said:

as this was a repeat

It wasn't.

are you sure? i didn't watch the program but the build is familiar, what it looks like, why they built in france, the paying help etc.

guess i must have seen it somewhere else.

Yes, certain - how do you know if you are familiar with the build if you didn't watch it though, Doctor Who?

just what you guys were describing sounded familiar, and i had an image if what it looked like in my head that matched up with reality when i googled GD. iirc the 'volunteers' were there to gain experience to build their own earthships.

i must have seen it elsewhere or in a magazine.

On a previous series, a chap who was building an eco house in the woods did have quite a few swampy types helping him out..

woodsman's cottage, not the one. this is going to bug me....

Do you mean the mad woman with the straw bale house?

Not the Woodcutter's Cottage but another similar one.

[Mike400]

Re their budget - if the money was held as sterling, and anything they bought in was sourced in france / europe, and the electrician / roofer / stonemason were payed in euro, then perhaps the tanking pound meant they had to find more sterling to acheieve the same result?

i.e. £75k budget was arrived at while the exchange rate was better?