bankhouse builder

I run a Takeuchi tb016 had it 8 years and never been a spot of trouble well built machine with fantastic reach and dig depth more stable with the expanding tracks and no fancy electrics to go wrong I looked at them all before purchasing and have been happy with it since the day it came. They do hold their money in the second hand market which is a good thing when you want to move it on . I would definitely not go for jcb very poor build quality heard some bad feed back on them that is probably why you can pick them up cheap second hand. I also went for the cabbed version fantastic in the winter.

Those slabs look more like 18inch square which would make it 15 feet but I think the photo my distort things but IMO its a minimum of 12 feet

looks really good wish I had gone now instead of working all day doing jobs around the farm to keep the missus happy was a good show last year did they manage to get the 1200 fergies there and break the record. Vintage tractors and steam have been a passion of mine for over 30 years bought my first tractor at 12 after spending my school summer holidays painting corrugated sheets by hand to clad my uncles barn peacework 10 p a sheet. Them days a pound was really worth something still got the tractor and appreciate the mundane hours that went into getting the money together to buy it. Happy Days

Hi I might be interested what is your postcode so I could get a quote for transport what do they consist of hardwood softwood etc and what sort of price would you want and lastly would there be a loader available to load cheers john

looks like a double yoker We were doing a job some years ago and client was a bit of a big head all mouth and not much at the back of it. Every morning he would go in his hen shed and come out with his eggs shouting up to us on the scaffold look at these bragging his bantam eggs I ll go and get the frying pan on. Well it got a bit boring after a few days so I thought its time for a bit of fun so I put a couple of duck eggs in the nest box well he came out of the shed chest stuck out struggling to contain his excitement shouting look at these we were in stitches after he'd gone round the corner we still laugh about it now.

Done quite a bit over the last 30 years the price has so many variables brick type and style they can vary in price from around £8.50 to £25/£30 m2 ex yard is it permeable or standard type edgings are you working up to the existing or have you got to install new drainage does the area require any form of drainage channels gullies etc base if it is an existing drive allow for a full dig out as some of the old drives only had a scattering of stone under them if it is new ground allow for teram if it is especially if it is clay area to be laid the bigger the area the cheaper you can do it for direct loads of bricks base materials in tipper loads use of plant to prepare base. I would also hire a brick barrow if you haven't got one speeds the job up no end Also when you quote give the client a sketch plan of the job marking on it as much detail as possible saves confusion and give a detailed spec of the works and get them to sign an acceptance of quotation agreement

white over with snow here is it may or march next week

Hi I am glad you have taken this one on I think this will prove to be a worthwhile exercise especially if you have obtained a good reduction on the asking price. My advice now is that I would carry the works out in the following order this how I carried out the subsidence job I did a few years back and it was successful. This will not be a quick process but it takes time to do the job right so you don't have problems later down the line 1 remove the trees immediately as you get possession . 2 Employ your engineer to fix tell tales over the cracks and take readings we took them once in spring and once around second week in September your cracks should start and close up immediately only by a small amount but they will close up gradually. 3 You could help matters along in the first year by diverting fallpipes so that the water soaks the affected ground and allows the soil regain its structure. 4Once your engineer has said the ground has stabilised (the soil will still move seasonally but you have removed the factor affecting it abnormally the trees) and the cracks closed you can then and only then do the structural repairs and any cosmetic repairs Good luck

Hi I know this is a big decision for you to make and there are factors like it is the area you would most like to live you really like the house schools family ties in the area and your budget. You have to look at this property in a different perspective ie a property developers view. Choose which ever property you buy there are always risks the vendors could have bodged the cracks up put it on the market and they may have got away with it especially if it was over the winter months you may have paid full asking and then be still left with this problem to sort. My honest and professional opinion on this one is. It is no surprise that there is movement with that species and size of tree that close to the property they look like they were planted after the house was built and that they are definately the cause of these problems. The damage from the photos looks repairable and over the years I have seen far worse. I would ask your surveyor/engineer to provide a schedule of remedial works and to give some budget costings this will give you some idea of what you are letting yourself in for. With that information to hand you are then in a position to negotiate with the vendors on price but always start low you can always work up to what you are prepared to pay. The only stumbling block is the mortgage surveyor unless you are a cash buyer? they may retain part of the funds until the work is completed. I personally would take this one on it doesn't look that bad it wont be a quick fix you will have to wait for the cracks to close up once the trees have been removed and then you may have to stitch the cracks with helifix bar and may be rebuild the boundary wall but I am surmising as I haven't seen the job your engineer will give you the right guidance his report sounds sensible and practical. Please pm if you want any further advice Good Luck

It is hard when you are just doing domestic work as householders will more often than not go for the cheapest wether it is the better job or not price is usually the deciding factor . Why don't you do what a carpet fitter mate of mine did he had 3 businesses running all under the vat threshold as all his work was for domestic customers.Why become an unpaid tax collector. The only upside of being vat registered is that you can claim vat back on inputs which sometimes can be a big amount on machinery and plant. You've got to do what best works for you

I had sight of our first 31st of march just flitting about at dusk couldn't believe my eyes as they usually arrive 12th-14th of april religiously however I have not seen it again think its gone down to lower ground for a while. Love to see them I feel summers on its way when they arrive.

Have you thought of a diesel yanmar or hatz are quieter but the old listers and petters go on for ever and you can still get the parts I have a couple on some mixers and they are probably 35/40 years old and they will run all day on less than a gallon of fuel . If you don't want to go down this route then get a Honda good starters and very reliable.

Thanks for the replies to date I will forget the idea of the Chinese ones I will keep looking for a good quality second hand one or if anyone on here has one for sale then please pm me Cheers

I had something similar come in some softwood this had been stacked for a while on the rides it was only in a few pieces which luckily I spotted early just dragged them out of the heap and burnt them on the bonfire worried me for a while thought it was going to spread through the rest of the timber stack. It wasn't visible when I picked the timber up around april time by june it had appeared and was chewing away at an alarming rate.

Hi I am considering a buying one of the cheaper chippers ( as listed on ebay ) I only use a chipper probably 5 days or so a year but they are only in single days so my local hire place want 130 a day for the first day then 65 a day there after I do try and do a couple of jobs at the same time but as you know it doesn't always work out that way. I have 2 tractors 1@25hp and a 65hp available I would prefer to use the 25hp one as I could transport it to jobs on the trailer. The chippers that I am looking at are between 1300 to just over 1500 so 10/12 days work they would be payed for. Am I barking up the wrong tree so to speak or is this the way to go? I would only chip up to around 4 inches as any bigger goes for fire wood Your advice would be appreciated Cheers

Hi It depends on what truck you have a chap I had some dealings with years ago had a light cage made up bottom sides and barn doors front and rear he supported this on jacking legs about 3 inches higher than the bed on his transit tipper. he used to undo the barn doors at the end which would be at the head board of his pick up he just backed up to the cage and threw the rubbish in when it was full he just closed the doors backed under it lowered it down on to the truck strapped it on went to the tip undid the barn doors at the other end of the cage and tipped the rubbish out a good simple and not massively expensive way of reducing the number of trips to the tip. It was only light box and weld mesh this let any rain soak through and as it was only a few inches higher than the bed of the truck it was easy to fill as you just walked into it off the back of the truck he made this after getting stung buy a skip firm with some over exaggerated weigh tickets

Its not just me then peasgood who thinks the lovely Nicola has had previous Tv career. Used to love the Rab C Nesbitt great programme ask him if he fancies relaunching the programme would make a change from watching axemen on quest

Hi If you go on openreach website you can get plans by email they also do a click before you dig service were they will come out on site.

Further to the varied posts about this subject. Yes if you remove the trees you will get heave but this heave will close the cracks as I suspect the trees will have probably been planted after the property has been built so the ground will only go back to its original state of when it was constructed. I have seen the results of heave when a large number of trees had been removed just prior to the construction of a garage which was built on a highly shrinkable clay it had lifted the floor slab by 75mm and pushed the foundation blocks out by 25mm water is a powerful thing. With regards to the insurance issue if no claim has been made for subsidence on the property then it will not be blighted it is only like having a dinted wing on your car and you pay to have it fixed. The property which I discussed in my previous thread was bought at auction by a developer I work for he paid £175 k spent £20k with me and £6k with the engineer he then sold it 4 years later for £350k nothing flagged up with any mortgage surveyors and he insured it over the four year period at not an inflated premium. The property was a self build and the previous owners sued the engineer who designed the foundation for bad design he paid the difference between the auction value and the value if it was perfect. Its your choice but if you can get the property at the right price which means a serious reduction from the price if it was perfect then its worth a look at . Me personally would have ago but this sort of thing is my cup of tea though it may seem daunting to others. Is the property detached? this helps reduce complications.

Hi Damage to foundations by trees can usually be easily put right but it does take time may be one or two years. There are a lot of factors involved the plasticity index rating of the material which the foundations are built on, the species of tree and there water intake and the foundation type. The projects which I have worked on involving tree damage all had there challenges. One involved a property which was built on a raft founded on a clay subsoil. There were 2 large oaks and a chestnut on the property which were removed but the worst elevation affected the trees were on an adjoining property so a root barrier was installed this involved excavating a trench close to the boundary line going 1m deeper than any roots found we were 18 foot down the trench was then filled with concrete to within 50mm of the ground level. The engineer supervising the job monitored the cracks for 3 years at which he was happy that the property had stopped moving season to season we then went in and patched the cracked bricks and made good the cracked plaster. Your problems could be getting it past the mortgage surveyor if your a cash buyer? then I would take the advice of a practical and sensible structural engineer as to a scheme of works to put the damage right. They do go back but I would be getting a vast reduction in price from the vendors if you do go ahead. I f you want anymore advice please ask. Good luck

Hi You have two options you could mount a forklift mast on your dumper take the skip off and use he tip ram to tilt you mast then you would need another spool lever to control the up and down or even two and add a side shift at our local scrapyard they used to get quite a few forklifts in with perfectly useable masts you should get set up for a few hundred pounds johnsons used to make a humpa dumper which was basically a demountable skip and a demountable forklift my mates got one and its quite a handy bit of kit. Your other option would be to get a donkey engine to power your processor the chap who I bought my processor off had a smiley face transit engine and gear box set up it had to be in reverse gear to be in the right direction for pto but it worked fine and he said it was very economical on fuel you could mount this on a stand that you could move with your forks on your tractor again with a bit of tinkering you could get set up for a few hundred pounds good luck

Hi what quantity have you left could arrange transport what part of Sheffield is it you can call me on 07977 915448 cheers john

Hi My advise would be get planning for an agricultural building that you could convert at a later stage don't make it too domestic looking at first if you use a steel frame get your designer to beef up the frame so that it would convert to a domestic dwelling (wind and snow loading). I have said steel frame as our lpa tend to refuse anybody wanting to build a traditional looking stone barn as they believe that these will be converted but usually if taken to appeal that gets overturned but they then apply a raft of conditions to make life difficult for you. With the acreage you have you should be able to get this on an agricultural determination . This requires you to give the lpa 21 days notice that you are intending to construct the building if they don't respond in the 21 days then you can just go ahead and build it. Once built give it a reasonable period of time then apply for conversion as the building is already there it is harder for them to refuse permission but make sure you have put in any openings for windows and doors prior to your application for conversion as they try and refuse any additional openings in the structure I would probably just apply for a simple open barn roof and no side cladding and then put the side cladding/walls in over time. If after all that you didn't get permission to convert you still would have a usable building and you wont have wasted your money. Planning is like a game of poker keep your cards close to your chest and be 1 move in front of your opponent. Hope this is usefull