Lou's Studio - Construction Phase

Discuss studios designed and built by others.

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Lou
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Post by Lou »

Evening Chaps! What a weekend! God only knows, I’m definitely one of the club now – loads to show you, loads to tell you (good and bad! progress and aggro etc) but, as you all know, high-info posts take time to put together so, if you don’t mind, it’ll have to wait just for the minute!

Glenn, really great to hear from you, dude. Hope you’re OK.

Keith, thanks as always.

Jwl, No, mate – I don’t mess about! Let’s face it, if you’re gonna do it you might as well do it properly.

Now for the high pressure, high stress, dumbass question: Can I run my speaker cable (for all five speakers in the control room), through the same ducting as I want to run my audio cable? I think not but, if not, no probs – I can just run another duct north-to-south on the plan with a T connector coming up in the control room floor alongside the tie line ducting.
Rod, if you catch this, all mains will be above grade - which I assume you to mean slab (concrete/screed etc) and all LV - which I assume you to mean low voltage (audio, midi, tie lines etc) below grade.

I am intending to book the RC35 concrete pour for the studio floor this Saturday morning but I still have a building site instead of an oversite and intend, quite obviously, to make sure that I don’t screw up now!

Regards

Lou 8)
sharward
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Post by sharward »

What kind of "duct" are you using for your audio cables?

I hope it's not ordinary PVC normally used for water... You shouldn't (can't?) use regular PVC plumbing fittings for wiring conduit.

See "Kathy's Barn Conversion" thread, page 2 for discussion on this. She made the same mistake and corrected it before she got too far along in her build.

See also fender1973's "Mic Cable Conduit Help" thread.

And absolutely don't miss andy_eade's "Warning - Audio Cable runs also subject to code / inspection" thread.

Hopefully you're not, but since I'm not sure (yet), I figured I'd better post this, just in case, because you move awfully fast, mate! :twisted:

--Keith :mrgreen:
"Converting a garage into living space requires a city permit . . . homeowners insurance won't cover a structure that's been changed without a building permit . . ." --Sacramento Bee, May 27, 2006
Lou
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Post by Lou »

Hi Guys – What a weekend we’ve had! Some really good stuff, and some really bad stuff.

Keith – thanks for looking out for me Mate, please feel free to do that anytime you see fit, two heads are always better than one. :wink:

Re: your point, I have a Mate who works on the ground work side of a national cable t.v. company, he has kindly offered to source my ducting from his stocks. It’s green heavy duty plastic tubing specifically designed to carry low voltage cables under the ground, and meets all necessary regulations.

Now for the good and bad news – here comes the update, enjoy!

Well as you can see, I definitely over-ordered on the Celotex. I also over-specified as well since this is 100mm, and the regs’ only require 75mm, so this is all being returned.

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There’s a story to this shot. On Friday evening we all met up for a drink, and Phil bet Span that he wouldn’t be able to get that manhole out in one piece.

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Dumb bet – it was out in 15 minutes! :shock:

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Then it was straight on to the chill-out area soakaway.

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Top soil backfilled behind the retaining wall, and the central ground level brought up.

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Span loads me up with shingle.

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Mind those patio doors Dude!

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Then we’re all in such good spirits, (lovely weather, job going well etc), we decide to swap places! :lol: :lol:

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Soakaway backfilled, and the adaptor to take the chill-out area downpipe is in its final position.

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The front of the studio gets the backfill treatment.

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Then on to relocating the storm water manhole.

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I get to rod it through.

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If you recall, there used to be a dwarf leylandi above that drain, there was so much debris in there, that this pipe has been blocked for years. The most boring pic of the thread, yet vitally important that this pipe is clear.

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Pete gets on with prepping up the base for the new manhole in its new location.

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Everything gets connected up.

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Voila, all in position!

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And working perfectly.

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Time for yet more backfill on the new manhole.

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I had to move those bloody blocks again.

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This is the current patio area at the rear of the studio, as you can see it’s around two brick courses too high and so…………..yup, had to come out.

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Yes, he did manage to get both machines around the back of the house!

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However, not without nerves of steel. There’s safety stickers all over these machines, one of which (on this one) warns that the vehicle must not navigate inclines greater than 20 degrees – unladen, btw, I’ll let you Guys judge for yourselves. :shock: :shock:

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Very little room to manoeuvre round here.

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However, we now have the side and rear of the studio all the same level.

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And yet more crap to get rid of!

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We’ve never really been keen on the look of this, and of course it doesn’t match the retaining wall.

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Guess what? You guessed it!

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Introducing Span’s little brother – Jamie, who popped round to see how we were getting on.

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The last bit of patio to go.

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Now we have a real mountain on our drive – time for grab no 6 and probably 7 as well!

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This area to the left of the studio front will, (believe it or not), become a central single width set of steps, with two gradual ramps with handrails either side. This is to allow for disabled access, and heavy amps / drum hardware cases etc, to be wheeled round to the back entrance where of course the live room will be.

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At this point, we were all feeling really good. Pete, Span and me had had a great day Saturday, Span and I had a laugh talking over old times and cracking on for most of Sunday. The weather was with us again so we decided we’d do another hour and rip out the last remaining area of patio when – disaster struck.

I was driving another load in the dumper ready to tip on the pile when I looked to my right and saw an irate neighbour at the end of my drive with a look to flatten an army.

"What the bloody hell’s all this noise? It’s Sunday, we don’t need this aggravation, I’m not happy, I can’t even open my windows" etc, blah blah.

Obviously this put me in a very different mood immediately. Span said "what’s up Mate?" I told him and he said. “Ah don’t worry about it – She’s just being bloody awkward.”

Well I did worry – so I stopped both machines, sent Span home, called it a day and went over and apologised. I thought that was enough, but just to be on the safe side, Monday morning I wrote a short letter explaining our predicament with the appalling weather, budget and timescale etc, copied it to every neighbour in the close, (13 to be precise), and thought no more of it.

Well, no more at least until I had a visit from my local Environmental Heath Officer at 4.30pm Mon afternoon.

“Are you the owner of the property Sir?” :evil:

I thought, "here we go!"

“you’re building a Recording Studio aren’t you?” :evil:

Oh bollocks!

Well as it turns out he was actually a nice enough bloke and fully understood my predicament, in fact, he even told me he’d had a go at voice overs and was well aware of the way studios were insulated for isolation and absorption, so I guess that was something. However, he was of course duty bound to explain that now complaints had been received, the position was as follows:

Keith – I’m sure you’ll want to excerpt this one!

The permitted hours of (so called noisy) construction work in a residential area, are:

8.00am – 6.00pm Mon to Fri

8.00am – 1.00pm Sat

Nothing on Sun.

What this means in reality my friends, is that my whole project has come to a grinding halt! I’ve had to ‘off-hire’ the machines because there’s no point in them being sat idle, far worse still, is that last night I had to tell Span that he and Pete were now ‘off the job’ since they’re only able to help for a couple of hours in the evenings, and at the weekends. All this aggro because of one petty neighbour, and we’ve only actually worked for part of just two Sundays since the project began!

Everyone involved is gutted, this sequence of events has totally screwed me, and needless to say, driven a temporary rift into a 34 year old friendship. We were doing so well. :evil: :evil: :evil:

I’ll update more when I’ve figured out the best way to get around this, but as I’m sure you can appreciate, I now have the annoying task of finding builders that I don’t know as well, don’t trust as much, and who certainly won’t be working as hard. Furthermore, you can bet your arse they’ll be more expensive. :evil: :roll: :evil:

Yours thoroughly ‘pissed offly’

Lou. 8)
kendale
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Post by kendale »

Aloha Lou,

Man, oh, man! You were making some incredible progress up until now!

I am so sorry to hear about the latest development with your neighbor, but even more so about the strain on your lifelong friendships. It's rare thing to have those one can truly call friends. I truly hope that things will work out with them for you.

As for your neighbor, I'm afraid I can relate a bit, as after 10 years of living in peace, we now have a new neighbor that has begun to make demands of us after only a couple of months of moving in. Argh! :evil: :evil: :evil:

Take a deep breath, and may you have even more success after this slight setback, my friend.

All the best to you and yours,

Aloha 8)
Jerry Maguire: Help me... help you. Help me, help you.
studio911
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Post by studio911 »

All this aggro because of one petty neighbour, and we’ve only actually worked for part of just two Sundays since the project began!
WOW..what a story :evil: ...... But if it makes you feel any better, after I got done framing AND sheeting all the 2nd floor walls for my studio a couple weeks ago, my neighbor went on basically the same type rampage (except mine wasnt noise, it was the size of the building). Anyway, after much thought, and not wanting to put up with her BS, I totally tore down the back half of the 2nd floor and moved the back wall, moved the already framed windows and redesigned and rebuilt the 2nd floor just to keep her happy. :roll: :roll:

Afterwards, her husband saw me and said 'The way it was didnt bother me at all, she is just like that!" :evil: plus then my building inspector came out and said "yea, she called us and complained,,,if I were you I would have kept it the way you had it, and just told her to pound sand!" :roll: :shock:

So,,,yes neighbor ladies can be a pain in the @ss. lol :lol:

As far as your building,,,,how much more do you have to do with the machines? Cant you patch it up with your friends and knock out the rest of the work that requires machines (noise makers)on a Sat AM as best you can? I would almost bet, once that Pile in your driveway is gone (the mess), and the machines are gone,,,,,the neighbors will calm down a bit.

I found that depending on the neighbor,,,,sometimes the word "too much noise" translates into actually them just hating "the mess that they now are seeing in their neighborhood" due to construction.

Good luck,,, and I would shift the building schedule around as much as possible, and use your friends. They will probably be much cheaper. But before that, I would have those friends over for some beers and drinks and patch things up.

Again,,,good luck!!

AJ
rod gervais
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Post by rod gervais »

If your friends are really truly friends - then this should not be an issue with them.......

They should rally behind you to help work out a way that they can be the most beneficial to you in your time of need.

They certainly should not hold you accountable for either an irate neighbor - or for the regulations that exist in your town...........

Sincerely,

Rod
Ignore the man behind the curtain........
Lou
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Post by Lou »

Ken - AJ - Rod

I've just taken a bit of time out, and fully intended to come back and post an edit saying something along the lines of:

Span and Pete are off the job - For a few hours at least.

In short Guys - you were all thinking the same as me: I cannot and will not use anyone other than these Guys to finish the groundwork stage, it's just not bloody well fair - they've both worked far too hard already and don't deserve to be put in this position. :evil:

I will re confirm my legal position and of course try to patch things up.

Now my Gemini (hey Keith) tact is gonna be stretched to the limits.

Thank you Gentlemen - you've no idea what a boost the last 10 minutes of reading and writing has been. Well actually of course, as Keith has already pointed out, - you do.

Kindest regards to you and yours, (what a bloody forum!)

Lou. 8)
sharward
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Post by sharward »

Late for a meeting... Gotta run... But just have to offer my support to you, Lou! So sorry you're having to go through this.

I had previously looked up construction noise restrictions in my city, and they're much more liberal than the ones you have.

You might go look up the language yourself to see if there are any exceptions under which your situation may fall. There may be some kind of "unless necessary" and/or for owner-occupied properties or something.

Gotta go!

--Keith :mrgreen:
"Converting a garage into living space requires a city permit . . . homeowners insurance won't cover a structure that's been changed without a building permit . . ." --Sacramento Bee, May 27, 2006
SquarePants
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Post by SquarePants »

Lou,
My City Council actually included very similar "Hours of work" in the Development Consent paperwork they sent me, including "no work Sundays"...

but I jackhammered 2 hours on Sunday just to get the job finished. "Residential" type neighbours are quite far away, though...

Looks to me like your neighbours will have to put up with noise etc. longer than would have been the case, given the pace you guys normally work.

Too bad they couldn't have had a friendly word before going to the authorities... oops, hope I'm not stirring the pot!

Good luck with your more "routine" hours! :)

Geoff
Lou
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Post by Lou »

Hi Guys – hope you’re all doin’ ok!

Possibly the briefest yet maybe the most important update so far.

First off :

Keith – hope the meeting went well Mate, and naturally thank you for taking the time to post when you were clearly in a rush, and of course for the support.

Geoff – You’re absolutely right Man, why the hell didn’t she just have a quiet chat before getting her arse in a cramp? :evil:

Anyway, as you and others have suggested Keith, I’ve re-checked my position legally, and basically, well, I have no choice but to abide by the rules. There’s no second chance on this one. The Environmental Heath Officer concerned has let me know that my neighbour has his cell phone number, and if She is in anyway concerned that I might be infringing her rights as a public citizen to enjoy the piece and tranquillity of her own home blah blah blah etc, then all She needs to do is contact him, he, in turn will be around to witness, and I get a £1,000.00 noise abatement order slapped on my doorstep!

So, now on to much more important stuff. I met with Span and Pete after they finished work this evening. The long and the short of that meeting is that we both understand each others position, we’ve patched things up and they are due back here 7.45am this Saturday to give me a blitz until 1.00pm, then a break, followed by an hour or so hand-tools only tidy up/finish off.

We obviously won’t be pouring this weekend but are now scheduled for the final pour on the studio floor next Saturday. This gives me plenty of time to organise and position my ducting, chairs, and mesh.

First job is to get the studio floor prepped ready for the Building Inspector to check the oversite at the beginning of next week.

Chill-out area glass is being fitted from Monday, so I’m pretty sure that this time next week it’ll all look totally different again.

Meanwhile, two really miserable pics to show what we’ve been up against, and to prove that this ain’t a bed of roses……………………………………YET!

Dave on the all new 20 tonne Grab Lorry in the pissing rain again!! :(

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First shot of Studio 4’s iso booth, back right of control room, and brand new kitchen facility! Honest!

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(Well we Muso’s have gotta have vision – haven’t we?) :wink:

One more off-topic pic but it’ll put a smile on Keith’s face……speaking of license plates, check this out, Dude, bearing in mind we in the U.K. are really restricted as to what we can legally display! :)

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Stay tuned

Thanks as always, guys

Lou 8)
sharward
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Post by sharward »

Lou wrote:. . . all She needs to do is contact him, he, in turn will be around to witness, and I get a £1,000.00 noise abatement order slapped on my doorstep!
According to Google: UK£ 1 000.00 = 1 991.5 US$

Yikes!!! :shock:

But, to be honest, if those are the rules, then those are the rules, and, yes, the lady is entitled to her peaceful enjoyment of her home... :roll:

That is, after all, why I'm going to such extent to build such a soundproof drum bunker, eh? ;-) :twisted:
Lou wrote:One more off-topic pic but it’ll put a smile on Keith’s face……speaking of license plates, check this out, Dude, bearing in mind we in the U.K. are really restricted as to what we can legally display! :)
:D :D :D

--Keith :mrgreen:
"Converting a garage into living space requires a city permit . . . homeowners insurance won't cover a structure that's been changed without a building permit . . ." --Sacramento Bee, May 27, 2006
Lou
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Post by Lou »

Hi Guys

Hope you’re all OK. I have to start this update with something of an apology because, basically, I have been so wrapped up in my own project and its setbacks that I haven’t had time to try and offer help to others. :oops:

For what its worth:

Ro – what a project, man. And I’m no structural engineer but I would have to concur with John that the crack in that wall is almost certainly due to movement in the foundations, which is not necessarily a bad thing but still needs to be sorted.

Eric – thank you for the kind recommendation, sir. But I assure you that my organisational skills are nothing more than ‘satisfactory’ for the job in hand!

So, you all know I was feeling really down last week. Grumpy neighbours, miserable friends, unhappy workforce etc, but its all turned out reasonably well as you’ll see. Enjoy!

First off, total proof that Span was right to get rid of the patio at the back of the studio. It was simply too high. Check the damp here:

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The manhole still has to come up 60mm to equal DPC

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Studio toilet waste at correct level, gas and electric still to come out

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Woke up Thursday morning (da-da-n’da-daaah!) and the Ducting Fairy had been in the night! (and the right thickness of Celotex had turned up!)

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I got this lot out on my own, so if I ever stop earning as a musician, I might be able to become a digger driver!

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Span and Pete show up at the crack of 11.30 (!) and start to whack out the studio oversite, bearing in mind we have an hour and a half before the machines have to be shut down

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Old gas supply has now gone and the main house DPC is in line with the shovel handle which will give you some idea of the topography of the property

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Oversite now down to five courses and the studio kitchen waste still to be concealed

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Then we put the sand in via wheelbarrows so as to not upset the neighbour :twisted:

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As you know by now, it’s then just a case of laying out the membrane. BTW, the spots on the picture are yet more bloody raindrops!

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Then Pete cracks on with the Celotex

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And this is where we ended up Saturday evening

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With just this little bit to do prior to Building Inspector’s visit yesterday morning

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You know me for my “arty shots” – so I thought I’d prove that Celotex is waterproof, cos it was bloody well raining….again :roll:

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And our house is a building site once more

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Time for me to make tidy for the Building Inspector

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Then I get to practice my digger skills again, tidying up the drive

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Trev and I crack on with finishing the oversite floor

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Reinstate kitchen waste to 5mm below DPC (I did this!)

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Then on to taping all the joints on the upstands to match the floor

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Job Done!

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X marks the spot, my friends, and to tell you the truth, whilst I was feeling down at the beginning of the week, I went back to my Sketchup file and checked the measurements of the exterior walls; north-to-south, east-to-west, then I checked the building that I now have and they were exactly the same. 8.12m x 4.77m. Yet, I still didn’t trust where the X had to go because that X will be coming straight up through my control room floor. I’ve checked it 8 times so far and it’s still coming up in the same place. Wish me luck.

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This is the control room cluster of ducting (which is only held together with gaffer tape for ease of placement etc).

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The five pipes that you see are as follows (clockwise from right-hand large pipe): audio tie lines to iso booth, speaker cable from control room to speakers left/centre/front, computer peripheral to Mac display monitors, audio tie lines control room to live room, speaker cable from control room to left surround/right surround

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All ducting in place

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Chill-out area framing shows up

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And starts to get fitted

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And really taking shape

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Introducing Steve and Phil, 2 cracking lads who are great at their job

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Presenting the ancient art of Step Flashing, something native to our shores, a dying trade and a total work of art. This all started as a roll of lead.

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And this is what it looks like when it’s fitted

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Meanwhile, here’s the end of my steel tape (sticking out of the narrow ducting)

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And here’s the other end

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Final shot for this post. Steel arrives tomorrow – concrete booked for Saturday. If any of you guys see any problems with any of this – PLEASE TELL ME (no, I’m not shouting!)

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Stay tuned

Lou 8)

PS The Building Inspector signed off the oversite with flying colours! :D :D :D
kendale
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Post by kendale »

Aloha Lou,

Hey! Glad to see that things are patched up with you and your mates. :D

Great progress! I was starting to wonder what you were up to since it had been five whole days since your last post. :wink:

Be safe, and keep up the great work!

Aloha 8)
Jerry Maguire: Help me... help you. Help me, help you.
Lou
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Post by Lou »

Thank you my friend - all back on track!

Regards to Mrs Kendale of course! :)

Aloha!

Lou 8)
SquarePants
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Post by SquarePants »

Lou,
You were just about to tape up the ends of your ducts so "stuff" doesn't fall down them?
Who am I to say? I'm learning so much from your build! My steel and conduits arrive tomorrow :)
Geoff
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