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+--- Thread: What made you feel good today? (/showthread.php?tid=79263)
Re: What made you feel good today? - mtread - 08-12-18
Quote: It was the wink that I took the wrong way - not your fault. It if would of been a it would of came across as more jokey
No problem. My fault, bloody emojis! Crack open a Czech beer together :thumbup
Re: What made you feel good today? - agricola - 08-12-18
(08-12-18, 01:24 PM)fazersharp link Wrote: Me to - love construction. About 30 years ago I did a night course on bricklaying, it was for big diyers like myself who wanted to learn some basics and since then have done loads and loads of brick projects, the first one was demolishing and rebuilding some out houses at the back of a terrace house to go from a loo/ coal shed/shed to one large shed.
Interesting about the DPM between the new and old, a few years ago we had an extension built and were made to have the front of it 1/2 brick back which then made it as you describe so that 1/2 original brick then becomes the internal wall further on and we did not have any cut and DPM as you describe. I would of worried that the front of the house would fall off if it was cut :lol It was signed off with regs all along the way and I was there every time.
I chose size bricks that matched the original and they were toothed in. But because it was set back 1/2 brick maybe we could of got away with miss matching heights (don't know)
The nasty bricks in the picture are from the previous Lord of Sharp Halls extension effort which are now hidden by the new stable block.
Yes, before I turned a sod, I too went to the local shool who were running a basic brick laying course in Adult Education. Started of with a simple straight wall a metre high, finished up with a small archway. Great fun
Re: What made you feel good today? - darrsi - 08-12-18
(08-12-18, 11:55 AM)agricola link Wrote: Building construction fascinates me. When me and the wife go to stately homes, old buildings, etc, I always end up looking at how they've been constructed. I spent hours looking at the framework of the Eden project when we went there. I spent 48 years as a mechanical crafstsman, and in the early 90s decided I want to replace the old concrete garage that came with the house and build my own with a proper pitched and tiled roof. Never done any construction work before, but hoped my engineering background would get me through. Got some books from the library on brickwork and roof construction and drew up my plans based on their simple design principles. All passed by the planners. Sloping site so stepped foundations. Took me 2 years, but I did it all by myself with a hired mixer. The planner came around to look at he walls before i could go ahead with the roof, and praised the quality of the brickwork he thought a "professional" had done. I said to him that I was a little disappointed because it was 2mm wider at the top on one corner, and he pissed himself laughing. "You wouldn't be a mechanical engineer would you?" he asked. "I bet you've laid every brick with a spirit level haven't you". Well, err, yes. Great fun though, really enjoyed it, wouldn't think twice about doing it again, and saved half the cost of having done professionally.
They're building what i can only describe as a new small town near where i work, a huge construction site. And as i ride past it 5 days a week i am truly amazed at how quick it is taking shape. And they have some proper boy toys on site as well, like cranes that are simply massive. The ingenuiety, planning and organistion behind these constructions just astounds me, but is a joy to see it take shape every day.
Re: What made you feel good today? - tommyardin - 08-12-18
(08-12-18, 11:55 AM)agricola link Wrote: Building construction fascinates me. When me and the wife go to stately homes, old buildings, etc, I always end up looking at how they've been constructed. I spent hours looking at the framework of the Eden project when we went there. I spent 48 years as a mechanical crafstsman, and in the early 90s decided I want to replace the old concrete garage that came with the house and build my own with a proper pitched and tiled roof. Never done any construction work before, but hoped my engineering background would get me through. Got some books from the library on brickwork and roof construction and drew up my plans based on their simple design principles. All passed by the planners. Sloping site so stepped foundations. Took me 2 years, but I did it all by myself with a hired mixer. The planner came around to look at he walls before i could go ahead with the roof, and praised the quality of the brickwork he thought a "professional" had done. I said to him that I was a little disappointed because it was 2mm wider at the top on one corner, and he pissed himself laughing. "You wouldn't be a mechanical engineer would you?" he asked. "I bet you've laid every brick with a spirit level haven't you". Well, err, yes. Great fun though, really enjoyed it, wouldn't think twice about doing it again, and saved half the cost of having done professionally.
Well done Sir, I raise my hat (Crash Helmet) to you.
I loved construction work and I can hardly recall a day that I did not want to go to work, its creative, builds homes for people and I met some of the nicest people ever working on sites.
Sadly I retired 4 years ago with work related damage to my wrists, would still love to be doing it even now at 72.
The crack on site was brilliant non stop piss taking and fun, yet we got the work done and earned bloody good money.
I finished up four years ago on £180 a day, what not to like? The guys that I worked alongside are now on £205 a day working for my old guv. :lol My mate Terry
AKA: Wildplumb.
Re: What made you feel good today? - tommyardin - 08-12-18
(08-12-18, 01:24 PM)fazersharp link Wrote: Me to - love construction. About 30 years ago I did a night course on bricklaying, it was for big diyers like myself who wanted to learn some basics and since then have done loads and loads of brick projects, the first one was demolishing and rebuilding some out houses at the back of a terrace house to go from a loo/ coal shed/shed to one large shed.
Interesting about the DPM between the new and old, a few years ago we had an extension built and were made to have the front of it 1/2 brick back which then made it as you describe so that 1/2 original brick then becomes the internal wall further on and we did not have any cut and DPM as you describe. I would of worried that the front of the house would fall off if it was cut :lol It was signed off with regs all along the way and I was there every time.
I chose size bricks that matched the original and they were toothed in. But because it was set back 1/2 brick maybe we could of got away with miss matching heights (don't know)
[color=rgb(255, 0, 0)]The nasty bricks in the picture are from the previous Lord of Sharp Halls extension effort which are now hidden by the new stable block
The bricks you mention above are a LBC (London Brick Company) brick, They were very popular in the 60's right up to the last 10 years or so but have fallen out of vogue recently, they are cheap and nasty to be honest, they do several patterns and finishes but are all the same brick (Used to be called Flettons) but with different sand faces on them and then fired.
They were OK in houses where there is an overhang (Soffit) to protect the brickwork, but in garden wall they just soak up rain until they are saturated, it then freezes and the bricks spall. See picture of spalled bricks.
Re: What made you feel good today? - tommyardin - 08-12-18
LBC bricks used to be made from material dredged from the Thames and were manufactured aroundBattersea area.
On cutting a brick with a hammer and bolster you could smell sewage gasses emanating from the cut surfaces. Hence the expression 'Shite Bricks'
Thankfully Old Father Thames is a lot cleaner now than he was years ago, but the bricks still sometime have that smell to them, I guess with hundreds of years of raw sewerage being pumped into it the sedimentary bottom is still contaminated with the stuff.
Don't swim in the Thames LOL :eek :thumbdown
Re: What made you feel good today? - tommyardin - 08-12-18
(08-12-18, 04:20 PM)tommyardin link Wrote: LBC bricks used to be made from material dredged from the Thames and were manufactured aroundBattersea area.
On cutting a brick with a hammer and bolster you could smell sewage gasses emanating from the cut surfaces. Hence the expression 'Shite Bricks'
Thankfully Old Father Thames is a lot cleaner now than he was years ago, but the bricks still sometime have that smell to them, I guess with hundreds of years of raw sewerage being pumped into it the sedimentary bottom is still contaminated with the stuff.
Don't swim in the Thames LOL :eek :thumbdown
With the tide coming in and going out I would not mind betting each turd travelled up and down the river like a river bus 20 or 30 times before coming to rest on the bottom LOL
Re: What made you feel good today? - ogri48 - 08-12-18
as another bricky with over forty years of slapping the old Work Hard and Starve about, I gotta say summat about LBCs. Coming from cambridgshire thats all I laid for the first twenty years or so As you say a horrible cheap brick back in the day, now a horrible expensive one. Fired from Fuel rich clay out of the fletton/yaxley/whittlesey pits, they only had to be burnt so much when the clay itself would then burn to finish te job. That meant an incredibly porous brick that wont survuive even one frost/thawcycle. As im sure Tommy can verify..stick a dry LBC in a bucket of water and yu can hear and see it sucking the moisture in..pull it out and its instantly dry. So not only have you got one useless turd of a weak brick, but it sucks the moisture out of the compo before proper "hydration" (the chemical reaction by which any cementatious mix ie compo/concrete/render hardens) can take place.
They used to be cheap but ae one of the most expensive bricks you can buy now, especially considering theres always about thirty in a pack of 380 that are broken..not funny at approx. 40p a brick. Id never use them nowadays to get a match with old lbcs..they never look right anyway, lighter shades, smaller bricks, and with rustics a completely different scratch pattern.
I'd go for an ibstock or summat that contrasted well..or even one of the matching bricks that other manufacturers use..Ive used another firms "heathers" tied in brickbond for instance, and they were a perfect match
Re: What made you feel good today? - ogri48 - 08-12-18
on extensions id have the labourer spraying water over the pack of LBCs for ages afore I laid em, gave me a chance at least to get a few down before I ponted up without the mortar turning to dust because the suction had killed it..
as fr what made me feel good (aside from talking about bricks lol) I had rotator cuff surgery a few years back and havnt bothered to try to get my shoulder strong again or even just exercise and loosen it, but last night I enrolled at a gym and im gonna sort the bugger out over winter, as well as getting fitter and stronger. im 59 now and mates are dropping like flies around me. im going down fighting at least lol...
Re: What made you feel good today? - tommyardin - 08-12-18
(08-12-18, 04:40 PM)ogri48 link Wrote: on extensions id have the labourer spraying water over the pack of LBCs for ages afore I laid em, gave me a chance at least to get a few down before I ponted up without the mortar turning to dust because the suction had killed it..
as fr what made me feel good (aside from talking about bricks lol) I had rotator cuff surgery a few years back and havnt bothered to try to get my shoulder strong again or even just exercise and loosen it, but last night I enrolled at a gym and im gonna sort the bugger out over winter, as well as getting fitter and stronger. im 59 now and mates are dropping like flies around me. im going down fighting at least lol...
[size=1em]Ah the old WHS eh! Used to swing the 12inch Broadheel, that was before Marshalltown took over the market. I still have an old Work Hard n Starve in my tool bucket in the shed, although it is only about 8 inches long now and decidedly bull nosed. I still have a couple of old Marshalltowns in the bucket keeping it company. One with the leather ringed handle and one with the red plastic handle.[/size]
[size=1em]Hey Ogri WTF is going on? I see 10inch Marshalltowns are being used more and more nowadays, the brickys are obviously not on a price per thousand if they are using them little babys. [/size][size=1em]But then on the other hand, you say you have rotation damage to your wrists, same as that, was diagnosed with rotation and impact damage about 8 years ago, they wanted to do bone fusion on both wrist over the course of a year so it would have be one handed for six month with each wrist, fuck that even at my old ripe age I still need to swop hands [/size] :eek
[size=1em]Plus it would at the very least hinder me from riding the old FZS with both wrists fused.[/size][size=1em]As you say the old LBC dropped into the water butt used to sizzle as it took on water, leave it there for 3 minutes, fish it old and watch in dry in you hand as if by magic over 2 or 3 seconds.[/size]
[size=1em]During summer before knock off time I used to get Keith my Labradog to strip the poly from the pallets of LBC’s and spray them with copious amount of water to make them usable in the morning.[/size]
[size=1em]I remember doing soldier courses with contrasting LBC bricks and having to dip each one individually into a bucket of water a second before pugging it up and laying it. [/size][
[size=1em]You remember the Golden Buff and the Dapple Grey LBC’s? Scaffolder only had to tap one when lowering the lift and bits of the face would fall off them, leaving Fletton pink chunks of brick showing. Fucking Hate them.[/size]
[size=1em]Ibstock are a great brick, they lay easy and look good when laid.[/size]
[size=1em]One other thing WTF is all this 25 Kilo bags of dust about? LOL! When we had dust delivered years ago stacked on a flat bed we used to lower out shoulder to the bed and the driver would lay two bags of dust on your shoulder stand up and march off to the cement shed with it, they were one hundredweight bags (112 pounds) each, that’s 224 pound weight, now they weigh 25 Kilo a bag = 55 pounds and you are only allowed to carry one FFS.[/size]
[size=1em]Hard hats and fluro waistcoats, keep your legs covered and no short sleeves, I hope you have steel toenails on. It’s gone mad.[/size]
Re: What made you feel good today? - tommyardin - 08-12-18
Just to get this post back on track
I'M FEELING GOOD
Re: What made you feel good today? - ogri48 - 09-12-18
(08-12-18, 06:28 PM)tommyardin link Wrote: [quote author=ogri48 link=topic=23732.msg288621#msg288621 date=1544283640]
on extensions id have the labourer spraying water over the pack of LBCs for ages afore I laid em, gave me a chance at least to get a few down before I ponted up without the mortar turning to dust because the suction had killed it..
as fr what made me feel good (aside from talking about bricks lol) I had rotator cuff surgery a few years back and havnt bothered to try to get my shoulder strong again or even just exercise and loosen it, but last night I enrolled at a gym and im gonna sort the bugger out over winter, as well as getting fitter and stronger. im 59 now and mates are dropping like flies around me. im going down fighting at least lol...
[size=1em]Ah the old WHS eh! Used to swing the 12inch Broadheel, that was before Marshalltown took over the market. I still have an old Work Hard n Starve in my tool bucket in the shed, although it is only about 8 inches long now and decidedly bull nosed. I still have a couple of old Marshalltowns in the bucket keeping it company. One with the leather ringed handle and one with the red plastic handle.[/size]
[size=1em]Hey Ogri WTF is going on? I see 10inch Marshalltowns are being used more and more nowadays, the brickys are obviously not on a price per thousand if they are using them little babys. [/size][size=1em]But then on the other hand, you say you have rotation damage to your wrists, same as that, was diagnosed with rotation and impact damage about 8 years ago, they wanted to do bone fusion on both wrist over the course of a year so it would have be one handed for six month with each wrist, fuck that even at my old ripe age I still need to swop hands [/size] :eek
[size=1em]Plus it would at the very least hinder me from riding the old FZS with both wrists fused.[/size][size=1em]As you say the old LBC dropped into the water butt used to sizzle as it took on water, leave it there for 3 minutes, fish it old and watch in dry in you hand as if by magic over 2 or 3 seconds.[/size]
[size=1em]During summer before knock off time I used to get Keith my Labradog to strip the poly from the pallets of LBC’s and spray them with copious amount of water to make them usable in the morning.[/size]
[size=1em]I remember doing soldier courses with contrasting LBC bricks and having to dip each one individually into a bucket of water a second before pugging it up and laying it. [/size][
[size=1em]You remember the Golden Buff and the Dapple Grey LBC’s? Scaffolder only had to tap one when lowering the lift and bits of the face would fall off them, leaving Fletton pink chunks of brick showing. Fucking Hate them.[/size]
[size=1em]Ibstock are a great brick, they lay easy and look good when laid.[/size]
[size=1em]One other thing WTF is all this 25 Kilo bags of dust about? LOL! When we had dust delivered years ago stacked on a flat bed we used to lower out shoulder to the bed and the driver would lay two bags of dust on your shoulder stand up and march off to the cement shed with it, they were one hundredweight bags (112 pounds) each, that’s 224 pound weight, now they weigh 25 Kilo a bag = 55 pounds and you are only allowed to carry one FFS.[/size]
[size=1em]Hard hats and fluro waistcoats, keep your legs covered and no short sleeves, I hope you have steel toenails on. It’s gone mad.[/size]
[/quote]
bang on tommy. that which kept us fit and strong when we were younger is taking its toll now mate
Re: What made you feel good today? - tommyardin - 09-12-18
:'( I know
Re: What made you feel good today? - steve 10562cc - 09-12-18
I still can't work out how brickies can lay bricks in foccing gloves didn't even wear gloves when laying Staffordshire blues those used to wear holes in your finger ends, glad I'm retired now. We were topping out a 3 story gable when we took our hard hats off (middle of summer) site agent came and gave us a bo**ocking the only thing that would hit us up there was a plane told we him f8ck off, and lick em and stick em.
Re: What made you feel good today? - tommyardin - 09-12-18
(09-12-18, 09:17 AM)steve 10562cc link Wrote: I still can't work out how brickies can lay bricks in foccing gloves didn't even wear gloves when laying Staffordshire blues those used to wear holes in your finger ends, glad I'm retired now. We were topping out a 3 story gable when we took our hard hats off (middle of summer) site agent came and gave us a bo**ocking the only thing that would hit us up there was a plane told we him f8ck off, and lick em and stick em.
S[size=1em]taffy blues, fuck them things, 12 of them buggers in a hod you knew about it, how heavy :eek and how dry did the pug have to be. :'( [/size]
[size=1em]Yeah never understood the glove thing myself, I recall years ago a internal block called Lignacite that were made from cement and sawdust or fine wood chippings, if they were even in the slightest bit damp the tips of you fingers would be bleeding with a few hours after the midday mess hut session you had to wear Marigolds or you could not grip the because of the pain, but that was blocks I can not imaging spinning a brick around on a finger to select the face side with gloves on, let alone the buggers getting hung up on the line.[/size]
[size=1em]Modified: Just as i posted this I remembered a bricky (Jonny Ward) that I worked with many, many years ago (70's) that used to pick up and lay 6 inch (150mm) concrete blocks with one hand and would butter the end of the block while holding it. I'm afraid I was a two hander on 6 inch, but saying that I tried to move some 4 inch (100mm) blocks a couple of weeks ago as I was having a tidy up at the end of my back garden and there was now way I could pick one up one handed now, In fact I find them quite heavy two handed. That's 72 year old knackered wrists for you.[/size]
[size=1em]I dont feel 72 in my head and my friends say that the years have been kind to me and I think they have when I look at my old building mates, but the reality is after changing a light bulb at home I jump off the chair and almost shatter my frame when I hit the ground, there is no shock absorption left in my body and getting up off the floor nowadays is a major event, roll over into the kneeling position and slowly get up from there. If I came off the Fazer now I am sure i would end up in bits, don't bear thinking about.[/size]
[size=1em]And this post is called 'What Made You Feel Good Today' [/size] :'(
Re: What made you feel good today? - ogri48 - 09-12-18
lol im the same mate. I went back on site three years ago after the shoulder op, but all these three storey houses they build now have high density concrete blocks in he jack walls, and working off the deck on the ninth and final course I was pushing the mortar off the top of the eighth course coz I couldn't push it high enough with my weak shoulder. I was twice the age of the next oldest brickie in the gang (it was a 6 and 2 doing a lift a day), and trying to prove I could still cut it, but after three months the decision was made for me. Id been to thetford and paid fifty quid to take a fifty question test for my general site safety ticket, but it only lasted three months then I had to get a bricklaying specific one. conversation between me and the spotty young HSE officer on site went as follows..
HSE "you need to go back to Thetford and get your bricklaying site safety ticket..2
ME "Really? Christ anither fifty quid!!"
HSE "Actually its £1200 if you've never held one before, unless you can prove your qualifications"
ME "I did a three year ****ing apprenticeship with my dad in the seventies ..good enough?"
HSE" was it NVQ learning pathways?"
ME " Oooh..sounds pretty f***ing fancy...I have no idea what that is, though to be honest im fairly sure such a thing didn't exist back in the old days when you was judged on nothing more than how reliable and clean a trowel you was. It was City and guilds, which I thought was pretty much the benchmark"
HSE " Err no...not any more. the only way you could be accepted now was if you submit to ongoing NVQ site assesments of your work, which you'll have to pay for"
ME " Wel..B***ocks to that old son!. ...over the last forty years I've built more houses than you've had w**nks you irritating little twat...best for both of us I go back to jobbing I think…"
Im fairly sure he thought it was best I did too..
Re: What made you feel good today? - celticbiker - 09-12-18
Being told I didn't need surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
See attachment
Re: What made you feel good today? - celticdog - 09-12-18
(09-12-18, 03:30 PM)celticbiker link Wrote: Being told I didn't need surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
See attachment
Ouch! I broke my ankle 2 years ago but I wasn't as lucky as you- I've got a plate and four screws in there now. Hope they've given you some strong painkillers!
Re: What made you feel good today? - tommyardin - 09-12-18
(09-12-18, 03:27 PM)ogri48 link Wrote: lol im the same mate. I went back on site three years ago after the shoulder op, but all these three storey houses they build now have high density concrete blocks in he jack walls, and working off the deck on the ninth and final course I was pushing the mortar off the top of the eighth course coz I couldn't push it high enough with my weak shoulder. I was twice the age of the next oldest brickie in the gang (it was a 6 and 2 doing a lift a day), and trying to prove I could still cut it, but after three months the decision was made for me. Id been to thetford and paid fifty quid to take a fifty question test for my general site safety ticket, but it only lasted three months then I had to get a bricklaying specific one. conversation between me and the spotty young HSE officer on site went as follows..
HSE "you need to go back to Thetford and get your bricklaying site safety ticket..2
ME "Really? Christ anither fifty quid!!"
HSE "Actually its £1200 if you've never held one before, unless you can prove your qualifications"
ME "I did a three year ****ing apprenticeship with my dad in the seventies ..good enough?"
HSE" was it NVQ learning pathways?"
ME " Oooh..sounds pretty f***ing fancy...I have no idea what that is, though to be honest im fairly sure such a thing didn't exist back in the old days when you was judged on nothing more than how reliable and clean a trowel you was. It was City and guilds, which I thought was pretty much the benchmark"
HSE " Err no...not any more. the only way you could be accepted now was if you submit to ongoing NVQ site assesments of your work, which you'll have to pay for"
ME " Wel..B***ocks to that old son!. ...over the last forty years I've built more houses than you've had w**nks you irritating little twat...best for both of us I go back to jobbing I think…"
Im fairly sure he thought it was best I did too..
I left school in 1962 aged 15 did a year as an improver tool maker, but the soluble cutting oil did not suit me and made me poorly.
I then did a 6 month trial with a building company on approval as a bricklayer, then started a full apprenticeship in my trade, working 4 days a week on site and one day a week at Guildford Technical College.
My apprenticeship along with the 6 months approval was 3.5 years, I continued working for the company for a year after finishing my apprenticeship before going self employed and chasing the £'s from site to site.
My qualification now according to NVQ is worth very little, not that I give a toss one way or another as I haven't laid a brick now for 3 years and no one is going to offer an old git like me a start on a site now anyway. :lol
Re: What made you feel good today? - tommyardin - 09-12-18
(09-12-18, 03:30 PM)celticbiker link Wrote: Being told I didn't need surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
See attachment
Ouch! get well soon buddy.
I tore a flexor ligament in my right ankle a few years ago and was given a prosthetic ankle brace that I was supposed to wear for the rest of my time, I wore it for about 4 days and it rubbed in a couple of places, one place sore the other place bleeding, in the bin it went.
Was called back to Haslar Hospital a year later for a review and was asked how I got on with the Prosthetic brace, I told them I had stopped wearing it as it made me sore. They said bring it back next appointment and the can adjust it, I said that I did not really want it as I had learned coping strategies that got me by.
I was told to post it back to them, as it had cost almost £2.5K :eek to build it for me (I knew carbon was dear but WTF) they gave me a postage paid bag to return it.
I never went back again :lol