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Plaster dust is the main thing to be careful with, because it's slightly abrasive and goes a bit like cement once it gets wet. So don't go straight in with a wet cloth. Vacuum again with a soft brush attachment, paying attention to the drainage slots and the corners of the gaskets, then go over the frames with a dry microfibre cloth, lifting the dust off rather than rubbing it in. After that, use warm water with a drop of washing up liquid, a well wrung out microfibre, and a second cloth to dry as you go. Change the water often so you're not just moving grit around. Avoid scouring pads, solvents, anything with ammonia, and cream cleaners, as they can dull a matt or textured powder coat, and black shows every mark. If there's any plaster splatter, let it dry fully and ease it off with a plastic scraper or a fingernail, then wipe. Norrsken should have care guidance for the interior finish, so it's worth checking that so you don't affect the warranty. Before the spray painters start, make sure the frames are properly masked with low tack tape and film. Overspray on black frames is a real pain to get off.

That sounds very similar to my quote. Like you, 3 phase was near. In fact 50ft away on my own land. Unlike Badger Bodger, they point blank refused to budge. Theres lot of talk about them not being allowed to charge the end user for "upgrades that are required". As i quickly discovered, that statement was largely PR and government spin and only applies in certain very specific circumstances. The book of exemptions from that policy is considerable. They did confirm had there been 3 houses on the supply, not 2, it would have been just a minor cost. Book of excuses deployed succesfully there. I didnt go ahead as i have a limited 60a single phase supply any way. Its just means i need to stick with oil for some of my heating requirements and i cant use the 3 phase equipment i wanted to use. If the barn is yours, i cant see why you cant use that? Its probably on a commercial suply (ie much more expensive) but in my discussions with DNO, they were quite happy to change that to domestic if it was. This would be my line of attack in the first instance.

Nobody with half a brain would consider doing this without moving both the supply pipes to the outside of the footprint of the new extension. Pipe is cheap, get two new supplies run in, they will probably damage the existing pipe whilst digging anyway so better to move them. What does it say in your deeds, do you have a right of passage for this pipe or was it just a handshake type arrangement years ago. The time you talk to a solicitor you could have chucked a couple of hundred quid at the builder and got a new one put in.

Loads and loads of glass cleaner and a soft cloth.

Which is an entirely artificial construct by government. To deliberately drive up prices?

You may may need an MCS noise certificate, but zero reason not to do that yourself, MCS provide all the guidance. But don't provide it not specifically asked. What does you planning permission actually ask for?

No issue if you comply with building regs! For a heating system you'll likely need a part P spark to sign off electrical work or ask and pay for BC to inspect it. If you're installing an unvented cylinder you'll need that signing off by a qualified plumber. No MCS cert needed but it would likely be accepted by BC as evidence of compliance with regs Whether you can get tradesmen to sign off work they haven't done is a different matter!! BC are obligated to inspect electrical work that you've done but I don't know about pressurised cylinders.

We are at a stage where we need to have another cleanup. Plaster board guys just finishing upstairs and we will be having it spray painted. I don’t want to slosh too much water about or scratch our lovely Norrsken windows so looking for cleaning tips please. The frames are very, very dusty. They’ve had a careful vacuum with a brush but need washing. Not too bothered about the glass until the end of the build but really want to see my lovely shiny black frames again. TIA

I assume you have raised it with your Party Wall Surveyor ? That would seem to me a reasonable mechanism to address it - providing you have a good one. When you say it is a private water supply pipe, what exactly do you mean ? That it doesn't connect you to a standard mains water supply provided by a water utility company ? Is there a different route on your land only that could be used for the water supply pipe ? It sounds like the pipe may have been in place for a very long time - perhaps even a 100 year old lead pipe ? So you could consider this an opportunity to relocate the supply pipe onto your land and to upgrade it to a modern MDPE pipe with a larger bore than an old leap pipe, and to do away with any lead contamination to your water supply. As they will be digging trenches for their extension, your neighbours could be agreeable to digging the trench you would need on your land for the new pipe routing. After all it benefits both properties by removing an awkward interdependency. As you would benefit from an improved supply, perhaps you could pay some of the cost e.g. for the pipe, and/or the reconnection charges.

We own a house in England that is approximately 100 years old. Our neighbours' property was built after ours. Our water supply pipe runs from the water main, across our neighbours' land, and supplies our property. We understand that it is a private supply pipe. Our neighbours are proposing to build an extension over the area where theirs and our pipe runs. We are concerned that once the extension and foundations are built, the pipe could become inaccessible if it leaks or needs repairing or replacing in the future. We do not know when the pipe was first installed, and we are considering whether older deeds or historical records might establish any rights. A Party Wall process is currently underway, and both surveyors are involved. We want to make sure the water pipe and our legal rights are properly considered before the extension is built. Our questions are: If no easement appears in the current title registers, could an easement still exist because of older deeds, the circumstances in which the properties were divided, or long-term use? As the neighbours are proposing to build over the pipe, should they be expected to investigate whether their proposed works would interfere with any existing legal rights? Can the Party Wall Award require suitable measures to protect the pipe, or is this entirely a separate property-law issue? Would protective sleeving or ducting be an appropriate solution, and how can future access for repairs or replacement be secured? If the neighbours refuse to investigate their legal position, would we have to pay for our own solicitor to establish our rights, even though the issue has arisen because of their proposed extension? If the pipe needs to be relocated because of the extension, under what circumstances could the neighbours be responsible for the cost? We do not want to prevent our neighbours from extending unnecessarily, but we also do not want to be left without a reliable water supply or with future repair costs because the pipe has been built over. We would particularly appreciate advice from anyone who has dealt with a similar situation involving a private water supply pipe, an extension and a Party Wall Award.

If I do some form of DIY install is there any issue with getting building regs sign off for a new build? That was my plumbers excuse. Is the BCO going to demand an MCS cert?

Put that on a separate circuit - is your pool actually coming through the main house internal stop cock?

Good real world example HerbJ. Notification devices are fine when you are around to act on them, but for a house that sits empty for weeks I would still want the automatic shutoff on top. That 50 minute run from one toilet cistern would have been a very different story if you had been away on holiday.

Makes install super easy but also makes long term maintenance hard and expensive by locking you in to the manufacturers proprietary parts (and likely approved service network). While it might be a bit more labour to install, going with off-the-shelf multiple source parts for as much of the system as possible will likely save you headaches down the line if you are someone who wants to get into the detail/wants flexibility in who you choose to do servicing. If you are completely non-technical and want to pay for the approved service/oem parts then the integrated stuff can make sense.

A 12kw heat pump for a new build is a lot. What's the size of the property? Minimum/regs insulation or a higher standard? What's the size of the existing 3-phase? I wouldn't be surprised if your overall energy estimates are pushing the DNO to overspec your needs and you couldn't just get away with sharing the existing supply with no upgrade at all. You have a lot of solar going in and if needed you could likely leverage that + batteries to offset peak demand if it's borderline. Some inverters will have a mode to allow this (ie, it will use power from the battery to limit the overall draw on the utility) and if not then there are plenty of other options if you can redirect some of the 16k into solar stuff. If the current spec is minimum insulation then bumping that to high spec might cost a few k extra but reduce energy requirements and long term bills. Not done this myself but DNOs tend to get quite concerned when you say 'workshop' and they tend to want to specify the supply to power everything at once whereas for a hobbyist/one man small business it's unlikely you use more than 2 machines at once.

Me too. Building projects can have quite a tendency for 'unplanned arisings'.

Not directly relevant or anything to do with us, but just to introduce Otter South West When we moved here (South Somerset) in Oct '25 we inherited a Daikin ASHP which we decided we'd like serviced and they are one of the local approved co's... But the point I wanted to make was that the guy Chris who came was professional, extremely knowledgeable, helpful and did a great job for us well beyond a service. If you need someone like that then you could ask them if they could help...

I had a similar initial quote and quibbled it it came down. Read up on what should and should be chargeable on the no-contestable sometimes some costs of upgrading which should not be charged to the customer are slipped in. There are some good threads here already to assist with this. For the contestable we made some really good savings doing dig and duct ourselves and then finding suitable licensed contractor for cable install and meter works. Ended up paying roughly half. All in. Not actually finished yet so there could be some surprises.

Size for heating not cooling, you will regret the higher running cost of running a oversized heat pump. UFH in screed is a huge buffer of heat and cold. If you peak cooling is 5.5kW that heat demand can be spread over many hours. Example I removed a 6kW and installed a 4kW in January this year. I was getting CoPs between 7 and 8 this summer doing cooling. This time last year doing heating my CoP 3.72 for the month, due to very light heat loads and plenty of standby hours, same house, same plumbing a CoP of 5.15 this year with the 4kW heat pump. With 192m² of UFH your volume of water is huge and would prevent short cycles. Unless you want to zone every room. Your fan coils are constant water flow and variable fan speed based on room temp. Cooling via UFH is no issue as long as you don't force 7 degs water through it. Run between 12 and 16 degs in the UFH loops you have cooling. Pre plumber cylinders are a waste of money for a heat pump as they have lots of stuff you don't need. You can spec the kit you need for under half that if you eliminate all the things you don't need. I never bothered with a grant, don't believe they should exist, they don't add value. I did it DIY. My view Direct cylinder heat via immersion. You make it smaller and heat hotter. Charge with solar an ToU tariff. Heat pump to direct to UFH to heat and cool. No buffer, house ideally a single zone, no buffer. If you are desperate for room temperature control gets an Adia Thermal. If you want fan coils get ones that run from the same flow temp that you should flow through your UFH in cooling mode

I would not double up on UFH and fan coils. In the basis heat rises and cold falls, I would fit UFH downstairs and fan coils upstairs. Assuming you only intend to heat the HW in the tank to a low temperature (for best COP) I chose 300L. No point in pre plumbed, there really is no advantage and it constricts your ability to plumb it the way you want, not someone else's idea of how to do it. Don't put the HW tank in the plant room, find (or create) a cupboard for it somewhere central to points of HW use to get the shortest runs and thus quickest time to HW out of the tap.

I'm designing the heating and cooling system for my new build. I've done the thermal modelling, and my peak heating demand is 3.7kW, peak cooling is around 5.5kW. ~190sqm of underfloor, no radiators. I'm thinking roughly this kit: Monoblock ASHP, 6-7kW. >250L DHW cylinder. Pre plumbed. >80L buffer tank Heating emitted by UFH Cooling emitted by fan coils, with insulated supply loop. Modulated by fan speed. Valves to switch between heating and cooling and prevent cold water ever entering UFH loops I plan to run most of the pipework in advance of the equipment being installed. My electrician to do all the high voltage runs ahead of time too. I will supply and fit the fan coils further down the line. I think the remaining work for the heating side will be: (1) physically installing the ASHP and hot water tank, (2) plumbing the bits together in the plant room, then (3) testing, programming and commissioning the system. I've seen kits (Stiebel Eltron has one) where the DHW, buffer tank and ASHP controller are all integrated into a single unit, which seems like it would make install even easier? Are there other kits like this? I chatted with a few MCS installers who quoted figures pushing towards £20K for supply and fit, which seems wild when so much of the work will already be done. I can spec high end kit for about £10K all-in -- and these quotes were not high end! Am I underestimating the install? What's the most cost effective way to do all this, and still get the BUS grant (if it still exists by then)?

4kW Hiaer heat pump £2050 incl VAT from Wolseley (you may need to buy an indoor unit also now). You will 2x anti freeze valves an isolated valve and couple of flex hoses. Install direct to UFH manifold. Buy a direct cylinder and just heat via immersion about £500. Any plumber can install your cylinder. About £3k for parts plus labour to install.

Is the barn yours and on the same site ? If so I do not understand why you cannot come from there. Is it worth talking to your electrician?

Hi Everyone, Received quotes back from DNO for New Build, they have come in at over 16k for single phase, 23kVA import capacity with 25kVA transformer or over 23k for 3 phase, 40kVA import capacity with 100kVA transformer. Both require a post and relevant transformers. Power lines run along one side of our plot so distance isn't a factor. Our set up will be 12Kw ASHP 21 x 510w solar panels 12Kwh back up battery Fast charge EV charger Induction Hob Small workshop Usual household appliances etc. These costs seem excessive, frustration is there is already 3phase to existing barn but we cannot use this to reduce cost according to DNO, their quote to upgrade existing transformer came in more expensive. My question is, do we go with the single phase or 3 phase given this is our only source of power and we want to future proof as much as possible? Quote between contestable and non-contestable costs are less than 1k so not sure where savings can be made.

I think the core point is that the majority of the rise in electricity prices is down to the rise in gas prices rather than "net zero"