OV9

This weekend I started building a sawmill shelter. It’s 14 metres long and I made moulds to pour concrete in levelled to the top of a string line so the posts will all be level and above ground so they don’t rot.
Similar to this if you look at the base of the posts

Right so all goes well, get all the holes dug, moulds level, concrete mixed and poured.

Even manoeuvred the sawmill in place - and was pretty pleased with myself until I drove over the chimenea - that’s fvcked, although impressively only the legs snapped off and it held the entire weight of a Defender on it.

So I drive home to London, accidentally brought the string line levels with me and they’re still in my pocket

What the absolute fuck is that
Now I’m just upset and annoyed.

You’re not going to be straight with us from now on.

Send the apprentice to get a new pack of bubbles!

Two rules with spirit levels:

1) Always check your levels- they should read the same when you spin them 180 degrees

2) where possible buy stabila

Just use a water level with rubber pipe.

It’s how we set 30 foot foundations and works perfectly.

Dave!

Or hire an optical level, they're cheap and accurate (and the correct way to do it).

I am a bit confused though, are those little squares of concrete all it's founded on?

You might get lucky...

The picture has them sitting on the little feet at the back - they might all be level when hung from a string, just not level when left sitting on the bench - or an iPad in this case.

duncs500 wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:16 am I am a bit confused though, are those little squares of concrete all it's founded on?

I watched this video last night - I'm sure it's not news to you, Duncs, but seems a really efficient way to get a decent sub-base for the foundations:

dinny_g wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:37 am You might get lucky...

The picture has them sitting on the little feet at the back - they might all be level when hung from a string, just not level when left sitting on the bench - or an iPad in this case.

That is exactly what I was thinking.

I’ve ordered a Stabila line level now, if it’s too bad I can adjust the height of the posts to make it level but that would be much more work.

Those concrete squares go down about a metre so they’re below the frost line and there’s an anchor bracket set in each one https://www.toolstation.com/concrete-i ... ket/p75498

I didn’t want to use floating concrete blocks as the building is open on 2 sides and has a large roof, I could see it flying away on a windy day

Jobbo wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:50 am I watched this video last night...

I rarely use YouTube but I have to say - that was excellent.

What struck me though was that the traditional sand & hardcore profile allows for good drainage whereas this doesn't so I was surprised when he said it was used for such a huge area at Heathrow T5. I guess drainage is an entire project in itself on a project that size.

I could probably ask around here at work, we do have quite a lot of runways. We get all posh and call them Air Operating Surfaces though.

Sundayjumper wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 9:33 am

Jobbo wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:50 am I watched this video last night...

I rarely use YouTube but I have to say - that was excellent.

I do like his stuff. It was @Simon on here who posted a link to him a while ago and I subscribed because he's enjoyable to watch even if you don't want to do the same thing yourself; entertainment as well as instruction.

Jobbo wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:50 am

duncs500 wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:16 am I am a bit confused though, are those little squares of concrete all it's founded on?

I watched this video last night - I'm sure it's not news to you, Duncs, but seems a really efficient way to get a decent sub-base for the foundations:

Yeah, that sort of thing can give you a good surface to bear on, but it won't help you much with wind loadings. I'm glad they're a metre deep.

Having finally had some time to watch the video I think you’d struggle to use that method in the Kent Downs. The soil here is a shallow layer of clay mixed with flint followed by chalk.

Jobbo wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 11:12 am

Sundayjumper wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 9:33 am

Jobbo wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:50 am I watched this video last night...

I rarely use YouTube but I have to say - that was excellent.

I do like his stuff. It was @Simon on here who posted a link to him a while ago and I subscribed because he's enjoyable to watch even if you don't want to do the same thing yourself; entertainment as well as instruction.

Stuart's good because he used to be an actual Engineer (civil? Structural?). So he knows what he's talking about when he's talking about this stuff. Also has a 'nice' new build with a decent plot, which is rare nowadays and good to see what he does with it.

Civil engineer I think - he’s talked about constructing Heathrow T5 and stuff in Dubai, IIRC. Good bloke, anyway.

A man with one spirit level always knows how level and plumb something is. A man with two spirit levels is never sure. A man with three or more is fecked!

Stop looking at them resting on a surface, when they are intended to be used hung on string/fauxstring/twine/skinnyrope etc.

I'm officially in a Schrodinger's cat paradox. You're not meant to hang more than one string line from a string, so I can't test them to a sufficiently accurate degree all together. The levels are both accurate and inaccurate at the same time, and I can't handle this