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There are many on here who have done it themselves - so yes you can. This is one of the certs you can understand the need for because you don't want to asphyxiate anyone. You air tightness certificate will be a help in getting started as it will show how leaky, or otherwise, your place is when sealed up as tight as it can be. You can then go from there. here are some links to discussions here:

Apparently I need a "Ventilation Commissioning Certificate". Though if you have passive ventilation this is not required? I detest having to fork out for testing and commissioning, especially when the requirements are so basic. It seems to me that BC only exist to create jobs and empty my pockets! Does anyone know if I can do this myself? Either that or have a form I can plagiarise?

IPA is the safe pick on plastic baths, it cuts grease and flashes off without attacking the acrylic. I would avoid acetone or anything stronger, it can craze the surface. One extra that saves callbacks is filling the bath with water before you lay the bead, that way the silicone flexes with the bath rather than against it.

It can often be best to choose a centre line around a prominent feature - such as the recess or, indeed, the flush plate, then see what the consequences of that would be - you don't really want a sliver around them either. On my current project, the horizontal setting out line in the shower room passes through the centre of the shower controller, shower hose connector, wall-mounted taps and door handle, with the shelf of a recessed niche on the same line & the basin siting a tile lower. Though I'm making a compromise with the WC flush becase the centre of the mirror / basin is more prominent.

On my latest I'm probably going to solve that by running the lights at the back of the cabinets, including behind the integrated hob (which will be pushed forward by the width of the channel to allow that). On the wider question of where to put the lights, the safe option is towards the front of the cabinet, but mid-way is a very good alternative. However I have also run them at the back without problem. In part it depends where the under-cabinet lights are on the spectrum between pure task lighting -vs- pure decorative lighting, but also on how reflective the worktop and the splash back are, plus how visible the strips / lights will be from any seating position - for example it's easy to fully conceal them behind a pelmet at the front, but harder at the back. As @JpManning mentioned, choosing lights with a high colour rendering index is a really good idea. Also, make sure that all lights that are likely to be turned on at the same are the same colour temperature - 4,000K is my preference (not only for the kitchen).

And another yes here - 4 switches on my current project.

On a commercial job they'd be excluded from the site. That's not so easy when you'll feel the financial consequences, but if there's an accident the consequencs could also be serious - the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations still apply and, if you're managing the work then unless you have officially appointed some other competent person to undertake the responsibilities, you carry the can, which can include big fines and/or imprisonement. Yes, this is another responsibility - the Work at Height Regulations. Often the scaffolding copany will provide this as a service, but if you've errected your own then you'll need to find someone trained in scaffolding inspection, or get on a training course yourself.

Yep. And then each one on a smart relay so they can be linked if necessary. For example my beam lights come on with my kitchen spots, but can also be controlled independently from their own switch.

Yes all separate switches. If it is a dual use room, then separate ceiling lights for kitchen area, dining area, living area and even allow for wall lights.

It depends. If the wall is well built, rendered and not exposed to the weather, very little if any. If it is fair faced brickwork with incompletely filled perpends and exposed to the weather, then it can be a constant flow. Any water should be forced out of the weep vents and the cavity tray should have stop ends so that's the 0/7/yway it can escape.

We had the same issue, though I’ve nobody to blame but myself. Our SE came up with connecting the DPM to the little bit of DPC sticking out with Stixall. When our SE inspected he was of the opinion that yes, linking the two is now proper practice but in reality the two not being joined will never cause us a problem. So we got him to write a report with his recommendation, which we presented to our warranty provider, who then accepted it as a solution providing we got a grown up to check our work, which our SE did. Job done. Would have been quicker and a bit cheaper if I’d put a wider DPC in but don’t stress, in the scheme of things it’s no biggie and it won’t affect the build quality.

Provided you get confirmation from the BCO & your warranty provider, you could use a liquid DPM. See this thread:

It might be possible to take out a few bricks at a time, cutting out the existing membrane and replacing it with a different width, then mortar those bricks back in, then the next few bricks. Don't they do it that way sometimes to insert a missing DPM ?

Would adding some skirting at the bottom help ? Are you tiling the shelf tops too or could you put a trim or counter top in there ? Sometimes a row of a different sized tile giving a horizontal feature can help. It is that dawning realisation that when you position the first tile you are fixing the position of every tile in the room ! uh-oh ! I had to work it out for our bathroom tiled in 1 inch square mosaic tiles once. You are going to need a lot more beer, and a few hours on instagram, pinterest and Houzz.

Take it down and do it properly.

Thanks John and JP for your replies and some very helpful points there JP for finding someone to assess the system. The issues with the system are partly set out in this thread https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/43959-buffer-tank-hot-when-heating-mode-turned-off/ Potted History Builder subcontracted local plumber. Local plumber confirmed that Daikin (through their Sustainable Home Centre which is the local plumbers' merchant) would be designing the system and to obtain the BUS an umbrella MCS company would sign the system off and do the BUS paperwork. Daikin SHC provided a design schematic of the system. Once the system was installed I had some queries (mainly the sizing of the ASHP and why a buffer had been installed when it wasn't on the design) Daikin SHC turned round and said their design drawing was indicative and they weren't the designers (oh great I thought). When pushed further the plumber and Daikin ducked the issue by saying that as the system was signed off by the MCS company then it was all their responsibility and I would have to raise a complaint with MCS. I did that but in the period the complaint was being progressed MCS company has gone into administration and therefore MCS have stopped progressing their investigation. The builder and plumber have said they will put things right if it is needed but at the moment is it me with my limited knowledge arguing with the plumber with their limited knowledge about what is correct/not correct with the installation. The conversation from their side has largely been that I have hot water and heating... so where is the problem. Key Issues No Design - nobody has designed the system so I am not sure what issues there might be in addition to the below. Oversized ASHP - At the time of install Daikin calculated heat loss at just under 6kw but had no 6kw units available so provided a 9kW unit for the same price. I queried this and was shown their calculation/was assured that the 9kW unit was more efficent than the 6kW unit (which I assume had not allowance for cycling within the calc.). I am not convinced they took account of the MVHR correctly in that calculation either. In the last 12 months the flow temperature has not needed to be higher then the minimum setting of 25 degrees and on the coldest night last winter the unit still had periods where it didn't run due to inside room temperatures meeting the set point. Buffer Tank - I query the need for it (as did others on the above post) and note that in the MCS3005 is cautions against their use. Third Party Controls - the only thermostats are third party with no Daikin master, so modulation of the flow temperature isn't possible and cooling mode doesn't work through the thermostats

SWMBO not into the tiles going vertically I'm afraid. Setting it out central to the flush gives me 17cm tile at the top, 13cm at the FFL. The units will cover the majority of this wall but it will be on display elsewhere. HOWEVER, further along at the window this works out pretty much perfectly to the head and reveal. Is this the lesser of 3 (or 4) evils? Carling for scale.

Now added outrun, frogger, rtype, arkanoid,snake. Amazing stuff!

Title says it all pretty much. My sleepy bricky used 100mm wide DPC to the inner block DPC and now there is no apron to attach the DPM to. He’s build about 1.5M high so will be expensive to remove and rebuild. He says apparently he does this on a “a lot” of jobs and it always passes. It did with my BC inspector but not my warranty provider. The DPC is exposed now because I chased out 5mm of the mortar, so it is visible. Is there any retrofit that can be done? BC are useless they done an inspection and passed it, it was the warranty people and architect who picked up on it after inspection. Warranty didn’t say take it down but to provide a detail on how we intend to connect to DPM. Architect is pretty clueless and wants to seek BC advice, I’ve read into using a DPM liquid up the wall to bridge the seal. What are the solutions here, there surely has to be some?

With hindsight I'd have dropped the ceiling a tad more and ended up with full tiles top to bottom.

That's what I did

The SE specified Birtley thermally broken lintels for our build. Maybe I am worrying unnecessarily, but when I looked at the DPC cavity tray that the brickies installed. The DPC is sandwiched really tight between the lintel and the back of the brickwork. The brickies have done the tray correctly. It's the design of the lintel that forced this. Just out of curiosity, how much water does actually flow down the back of the brickwork? If it's a lot, then I suspect the water will literally collect and be forced to the ends of the lintel and out of the final weep vents where the tray is folded up in the perp. This defeats having the weep vents along the lintel. Has anyone else fitted these into a 150mm cavity and what was you observations?

Turn the tiles thro 90 deg and see what they work out when vertical?

Hi all, When planning lighting for a kitchen, do you normally put the ceiling lights, under-cabinet lights and island lighting on separate switches? It seems separate circuits or switching can make the room more practical, especially when you want brighter light for food preparation but a softer setting in the evening. I’m interested in how people usually plan the switching and wiring for these different lighting zones, and whether there are any common things worth considering before the kitchen is fitted. What approach has worked well for you?

So.... I got a bit carried away again and got Claude to add seasonal things and a few visual game mock ups - even an attempt at a cobra mk3 vector line ship! oh and scramble, defender,lunar lander, pacman, doom, tetris, lemmings etc etc etc etc etc......