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Get some tape on the ends of those pipes as you uncoil it before any shite gets in them.

You don't need to split, you can take flow to the first manifold and out the other end of the manifold to the next manifold. The return the same thing. Your flow meters split the flow as you need just the same as a larger single manifold would.

That sounds suboptimal. What size are these pipes? I'd try and pick up the phone and talk to a few installers before you screed unless you want a significant chance that the installer doesn't want to use what you put in.

Fair point, and having thought it through you're right. With no upstand on the tray there's nothing for the board to lap over, so boarding the walls first and bonding the tray down tight against the board gives a solid, fixed face to seal to. @junglejim I'd go with that order then: floor backer down, walls boarded, tray bedded fully and pushed back to the boards, then tanking tape lapped from the board down onto the tray edge before you tile, and a good flexible silicone at the tray to tile joint. Thanks both for putting me right.

Presumably there'll be a supply and return to/from the ASHP, how are these usually split to feel 2 manifolds, as I have?

That's something I don't yet know. I need to get properly engaged with an ASHP supplier, but am trying to get the screed in first. I will leave 2 pairs of MLCP pipes unterminated in the Mech room in readiness for whatever is used to split them. Is this not a common occurrence?!

Funny you've said that, I'm back here with more questions. I have opted to do just that, I've chased the pipes into the lower layer of insulation. I decided that I would prefer to lay the 80mm top sheet of PIR in the more reliable way and being able to go straight over the pipework sat better with me. In fact, chasing the grooves for the pipes to sit in has been pretty easy. Messy, but not that hard. Here is the first pair curved up the wall in the Mech room and heading off to do the longer of the 2 runs... ...and here are those pipes passing into the adjacent room. I cored each pipe individually through the blockwork internal wall. I have begun the chasing for the next pair that will run alongside up to the point seen here, but will veer off the other way towards the second manifold.... From there, they pass through a third room in the same way, but then have to turn up and into the adjacent space, 600mm higher. I cored through the wall diagonally to reduce the amount of bending needed... Here, they're left long in the Kitchen because I've not put any insulation down yet. But they are pointing in the direction of travel according to the red-line sketch I posted earlier. I set my Circular Saw to 45mm cut depth and made cuts 45mm apart. Cutting the majority of the material out with a wood-saw, then following with the little yellow Surform seen in the first pic, which fits nicely in the groove and makes short work of really tidying the grooves. I have left 40mm between the pipes where possible. Messy, yes, but very do-able. I hope what I'm doing is OK, and yes I'm thinking of pressure-testing the pipes and am researching how that's done, so any ideas are welcomed. I think I need to link the MLCP pipes together at the "manifold end", then pressurise at the other end, presumably with some sort of blanking arrangement with a gauge and schrader valve built in?

Quite, I hadn't reckoned on a meter but was looking for a stopcock. It seems when it suits their purpose a utility can find the will to do anything......................

It's the Quattro. But you can do it on any 48v system by wiring a separate battery charger direct to the batteries (requires buying the 3kw charger though)

The OP needs to get clarification as the purpose of the request. There is often confusion between the requirement to limit the spread of fire across boundaries between buildings and limiting the spread of fire across surfaces within buildings. In the former the construction of the external wall, it's proximity to the common boundary and the amount of openings are the key features. These are set out in Requirement B4 of Part B of the Regs. The latter is more about restricting how quickly flame can spread across an internal surface and whether it will contribute to extending the fire by perhaps dripping burning droplets or particles. Requirement B2 controls this. I suspect from the very limited information given, that BC are concerned about the amount of plywood exposed on the walls and ceilings may not comply with the limits set by Table 4.1 on page 43 of the Approved Document. Whenever you get a request to do something by a BCO that you do not understand it is sensible to ask for an explanation and (politely) request the basis of the request so you can at least see if there are any exemptions or minor changes that can be made that have not been made clear to you.

They are also often a pig to wire. LOTS of cables in the back box, probably fed from multiple circuits, some quite large cables. Each row of switches are on one plate and some designs require you to pull that whole plate of 4 switches forward to get to the terminals. I hate them and would never fit them to my own house.

I pick up various tips and tricks from around the Internet (and especially on this forum) and keep them in digital notes. Keeping a spreadsheet is a good call, but it also relies on you having access to the spreadsheet at the right time and remembering in that moment. My top tip would be to create a header sheet on A4 paper where you can check things like should it have been zero rated, is the invoice in your name, does it split things that you can claim VAT on and things that you can't, is there a company VAT registration number, legal title, address, etc. Put tick boxes on your header sheet, and then every time you get an invoice, use the checklist to verify it and then staple the checklist to it and put them together in a box file. Correct any issues as soon as possible - ask the supplier to list the full name and address, split things, etc. If the invoice is electronic, print it and attach the checklist. Then save the digital file to a folder with a reference number, and add the reference number to your checklist. You can then update your spreadsheet from the box once a week or whenever it is convenient. The form at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65858474fc07f300128d46e8/VAT431NB.pdf gives you the headings you'll need to submit a VAT claim, so it's a good basis for keeping track of everything, and you can add fields that are important to you if you want to do things like calculate all groundworks costs, or costs for particular stages. My other tip would be to keep a daily diary of what's happening, what deliveries you have, what decisions have been made, who they were communicated to and how, etc. Then you can look back on things without relying on your (or someone else's memory). Also, communicate any decisions in writing (electronically), even if they are initially made verbally.

Worthy aim: I hope you can make it work. I tried - hard. And failed, not entirely because the bank balance is always a good indicator. Here I sit 10 years on in a self-build, and I'm not sure how much I've spent. It's a bit like a child on whom I dote - I like it too much to care how much needs to be afforded. I now know that one day, with a bit of discipline, we'll save up and sometime soon we will be able to afford it. So we wait. Not having enough money can be thought of as a real advantage : it makes us think really hard about doing stuff efficiently It was maintaining that wheel (book-keeping) - over an extended period - that I found impossible. It is (or becomes) a demanding task. Self builds have a way of grabbing you by the throat and shaking you. To the point of distraction.

The size of the bodies is generally visually different between full-bore, standard bore, and reduced bore for the same fitting sizes.

I'm with Gus on this one too. Oh, and please buy some branded stainless pan head screws; the quality from Aliexpress can be variable to say the least! I'm a big fan of SPAX screws, although they are at the pricier end of the market. https://www.spax.com/gb-en/p/stainless-steel-screw-full-thread-pan-head-t-star-plus-4cut-stainless-steel-a2.html

100% agree with @Nickfromwales here - boards on the walls first, tiles over the top (or whatever finish is going over the boards).

thats got a lot going on...

@Alan Ambrose posted an image of one above. The back box is a grid formation available in many different variants, but that all take the single switches you can see in the image. Often used for when you need more than four switches (as that's generally the 2G limit). They also come laser engraved with lettering for things like DISHWASHER, TUMBLE DRYER, etc. making it easy to identify individual switches you might not use often.

@Spinny go and open one of the open-ended ones in your kitchen, and see what happens. The water will come out of that faster than it’ll come out of the tap / other, so it exceeds that requirement. There is no call for full bore here, unless (as said) it’s on a gravity hot feed. The time to ask this question was obvs as the plumber was doing the job, but the question I would have asked is why some numb-nuts fitted a pair of 1/4 turn (full bore) lever valve isolators 6” from all of the ballofix isolators (the 1/4 turns tick your box so I’m lost as to the logic here)??? Remove the ballofix valves and just keep the appliance isolators (DW & boiling water tap?) if you have access to the lever valves?

So dumb question what is a mini grid? Why do you you need them?

If someone fitted those on display in my house, they’d get 50 lashes, 5 mins to recover, and then 75 more. Yuk. I hide groups of switches in cupboards etc, when doing kitchens, or even in an adjacent room, as reducing the number of such wall-warts in a domestic dwelling is high up my list.

You take out level changes and uneven areas with self levelling compound. Liquid dpm. Then an even layer of the insulation across the whole floor area.

There maybe others but I think Victron do an inverter with a genny input that could be hooked up to an EV V2L output...maybe Victron Quattro or Multiplus?? I think it was discussed on here a while back??

Well, I started with "Insulating suspended concrete" and ended up with "cheap & easy way to install click flooring on uneven surface while also getting marginal insulation benefits" 😬 I think this is quite far down the daft spectrum tbh. Thanks for the MArmox heads up - seen the name mentioned while lurking around this forum, but didn't know what it was. Marmox offer "Sound Multiboard" that's specifically stated as suitable for laying laminate on top, but it comes in 12mm thickness and is about £20 per sq m. Might be a solution for the corridor if I need to raise it just a bit to match bedrooms. For regular multiboard the kpa is impressive (400kpa) - 3x higher than floor-rated PIR and 2x higher than regular XPS, but again, they specifically state that it is not designed to resist point pressure. I couldn't find any mention of people successfully laying click on top though and manufacturer does not list it as designed for click flooring. The former is particularly concerning. So, seal all gaps around the perimeter; paint DPM, (check floor unevenness is within 3 over 3m), lay marmox foam-down, lay laminate on top?

Questions are seldom daft. Keep asking. Marmox etc are not eps and are robust. I've seen an eps equivalent and it isn't, but might be OK under flooring. I'd probably paint a dpm first.