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It's time to insulate water pipes and I am looking for the best options given the vast array of products out there and where to insulate, we have several water mediums to consider, some like anything to do with hot water - including UFH, are obvious but the cold water supplies not so obvious. Should I, for instance, routinely insulate mains / softened potable cold water to taps, basins, cisterns etc? The house is very well insulated and air tight.

Did make me laugh this morning I think the wording goes “ I’ve got a massive hole that needs filling , I really need a big load “ ” get it from earth works “ I laughed anyway

A joint between civil engineering and building. You're right. This sort of thing goes wrong through lack of forethought or understanding of the power of water to get past an obstacle. Easily designed out but difficult to put right after the event. Then someone wants to cut holes through it. Was expensive tanking the solution?

Why not as a matter of interest. Quoted scops at a FT of 45 or below are well above this figure and 45 is surely generally achievable with radiators which is the typical retrofit scenario. Is it just the fact that too many installs are rubbish (oversized heat pumps, buffer tanks and external controls) or something more fundamental. Most boilers that are being replaced will not be running at optimum anyway, because of previous poor commissioning, so there is some leeway there from the get go. Seriously, it seems to me that the industry has talked itself into predicting and accepting poor performance because of its past mistakes made in the early days (when few people understood the practical application of the technology). Instead it should, it seems to me, recognise past mistakes and move forward. Shame on the industry if that is the case. My 7kW retrofit Vaillant achieves a SCOP of 4 and a cost saving relative to my gas boiler of 20%. It runs at 42C @ -2 on radiators. I have done almost no tweaking other than to get the WC curve optimised, neither did the installer, and there is absolutely nothing clever about the system design. Why cant all systems be like this? With the new Mitsubishi 2 compressor (2+6kW) heat pump you dont even have to get the system sizing particularly accurate!

Do all your neighbours hate you ?.🤣🤣 could you park it around the back of one of their places in exchange for some beer tokens.

Hire a machine for a couple of weekends get your pad down for the static caravan, get some services run to it, hire a septic tank that sits under a porta cabin. move into static buy own digger put in sewage treatment plant off hire septic tank. or buy a trailer and take your digger home with you.

Here https://www.jcbinsurance.co.uk/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1508918350&gbraid=0AAAAADnpox4SddR7DG583GDQX5rhwyRtt&gclid=CjwKCAjwn6LABhBSEiwAsNJrjltOHLE6MrY2E_qua6IEefdP_eu84Miy0Iv-pTQMIFx82tyLune2XBoCSjMQAvD_BwE

I just hide mine best as possible from eyes on site. and I paid for JCB insurance which covers theft. Was about £300/year which is quite reasonable. Call them up and get a quote.

Da Bungalow we've demolished shows evidence under its layers of its configuration at birth. No wet stuff in the main part. An outhouse at the front had a potty (plumbed in and connected to the sewer, a bit of a wow for Suffolk in the 1920s), and some short, buried lead piping presumably for the scullery. So there really is nothing new under the sun…

It doesn't - look at my image, that's hot, cold distribution and all UFH

It simply wouldn’t be the same. We’ll do it another time, maybe near someone’s site when they’ve something for us all to gawp at. Either that or we could have an activity thing like a steel lifting party or a team basement dig…

What about the GPS tracking devices, that alert you when the excavator is moved. You pay a monthly fee, but that is something I would do if I could leave it onsite before we have moved on it.

I didn't realise the manifold setup had to be so complicated. Last place of ours I did manifolds and just had a hot and cold one. 10mm to basins and 15mm to everything else. No non-return valve or pressure reducers etc. Tbf the pressure in that area was rubbish and the hot was fed off a combi so only had a certain flow rate anyway. 22mm soldered copper from the mains under the kitchen sink to the manifolds and boiler in plant cupboard. Kitchen tap direct off mains for cold with 15mm from manifold for hot. All seemed to work well was goos when occasionally had to turn something off at manifold quite easy.

Kids, say "no" to drugs

It's never too late.

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I came across this on a 4-storey dwelling with a walk-out basement job that I was associated with a while ago. ICF, and a few steep learning curves for all professionals around it (including the 'architect'.....). This had the "change" between poured and laid products, and the results were the sum of zero joined-up thinking. There are so many ways to avoid issues whilst the job is still on paper, just choose well the folk who you trust to advise you and what their ACTUAL experiences are. Needles to say the basement leaked, at the change in disciplines, simply because those closest to the client didn't appreciate how water moves (hydraulic something or other, it's late) but it finds a way trust me! Mixing shuttered concrete and ICF needs a wise head on experienced shoulders. I tried to advise, but was shot down by the 'almighty' as I'm just a plumber.. Good job my pipes didn't leak like the basement did, lol. Was painful watching 2' of water getting pumped out whilst they figured it out.

Nope. Just some basic 'next-level' plumbing from Obi-wank Kenobi for some chap called Darth somethingorother......

Thanks, much appreciated.

Seriously though - is that for an 8 bedroom 5 reception room grand design type warehouse?

Thanks dude, i had an idea but abstained from suggesting it.

The Lidl one is a wet spray so graphite in a carrier. It's good. I usually hold a rag behind if spraying on window hinges. If doing a door, open it ajar and place some rag or something absorbent on the floor. The powder one is this sort of thing that you "puff" in: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/376002352482?

If I told you, I’d have to kill you. Nothing personal of course

There may be a dust cap on that, but there’s your ‘drain’ point. Only apologise when you’ve done something wrong 😜.

Is that dry graphite powder in an aerosol? This is at B and Q so might be easier to get. Also it's a known brand, and not Amazon.