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@Roger440 I think we've both made the points that 1/ the risk is low, 2/ the cover is cheap and 3/ that it doesn't cover defective work. Isn't the only point of difference that one of us would ask for the cheap policy and the other wouldn't bother?

Bloody well hope so! I’ll be installing the unit in the next month so we’ll start to get an idea then.

Hi just hoping the forum can help shed some light on the building regs after full approval. i have full planning approved and then my architect submitted building regs. I was initially given a refusal on one of the discharge conditions on materials. i resubmitted materials and council provided an approval on the the materials discharging the conditions. Am I now good to go? Or should the council be providing some form of building control approval on the construction drawings? im not using my council for building regs im using a private company. im demolitions a bungalow so have submitted a demotion notice Many thanks

Ive had several mortgages and not once has it ever been raised. And all the houses affected has some degree if non compliance. The indeminity insurance is so cheap, because the risk is essentially zero. The cost of any insurance is a good clue. Even in your hypothetical example, there is no chance of enforcement action. None. An insurance claim from next door, possibly. If everyone followed your line of thinking, no houses would ever get sold. Fortunately, your approach works in favour of those of us able to take a more pragmatic view . Especially as most BC sign off isnt worth the paper its written on. Anyone thinking it gives any kind of gurantee or the standard of work should think again. Of course, for works done after october 23, things are different. I can get 2 years prision for fitting a window myself!!!

Just to echo @JohnMo's comments on towel rails as heat emitters when running on low flow temps (Sub 35 Deg C) they really don't cope very well - the design of most towel rails allows short circuit at low flow temps so even if the heat requirements (in a well built house) are really low they almost have same flow temp as return and the heat doesn't rise up the rails it would in a higher flow temp situation. I moved my bathroom towel rails to a downstairs toilet and a utility room and replaced with both with vertical rads (same size but much larger surface area) and fitted with diverters to ensure the flow was spread around the whole rad - heat loss in both bathrooms at -2.5 Deg OAT is ~200 W and at that temp 35 Deg is my target flow temp and the bathrooms comfortably maintain 21 Deg C At T50 the current rads are rated at 900 W at T15 they are 220 W

Eh? You mean weathertight?

Why don't you use ubbink foam duct? Ubbink website states Designed to fit Aerfoam 160 mm & 200 mm, with adaptors available for 150 mm and 180 mm

I've seen someone do it by making the jig stationary and pushing the xps through it. Like a tablesaw/bandsaw. Vaguely remember that the standard wire was too flimsy to do at any speed but with a bit of juice and a thicker wire was able to get through it quite quickly. Thinking more, I have very vague recollections of someone using a welder as the power source (not sure it's the same one). In which case this is maybe not the easiest route to go down.

Nope but I am going to - in the near future. So I can perhaps share the journey. Let's hope we can get advice. In our case we don't yet have the slates on so that I am hopeful that will simplify things.

I cant get the saw moving after a foot or so. Has to be a circular saw I think. BUT we have professionals doing it on Monday Monday EPS Tuesday PIR, so I will be watching closely.

Loving those duct pipes. Brings back happy* memories. Well done! *Happy once they are in, not while they are going in. Huge amount of 3d visual imagining required in our experience. Worth it though.

Good point about wall ties. I had thought about those, then forgotten about them… Reporting back: + wavy Bahco saw hard to push through XPS even with wax on saw to help. Possible, but hard work and needs some skill to keep the cut flat - the saw tends to bow and then the cut ends up bowed. + wavy jigsaw blades also dodgy - causing lots of vibration presumably due to friction. Was actually melting the xps. + hot knife works ok but I need to think out some sort of jig to cut a uniform profile.

Congrats - any tips you can pass on?

Maybe watch the news. Everything else is going up, looked earlier in the week, the panels I bought were £76 including vat, today £88, when I bought £67 and the prices dropped the next day.

Energy and transport cost increase being passed on?

As long as there are wall sockets in the vicinity that comply with the height guidance then floor sockets are allowed

A hot knife is good for polystyrene. They just dont cope with PIR. Someone may be along to explain why. Most guidance for cutting is sharp knife, jigsaw or handsaw

… and made it an airtight seal with the roof. This guy: https://www.ubbink.com/gb/products/building/roof-terminals/pitched-roof-terminals/roof-terminal-insulated-ub48-180mm-black/ Best idea we have is to cut the pipe, install in the roof, and then use a SC200 rubber pipe connector to join the stuff above - assuming we can get to it.

Yeah if the ‘minor amendment’ is a variation of condition, my LPA makes a new planning ref which then requires the cil commencement thingy. Total bollox - I have 3 VoCs in, none of which change the floor area and therefore the CIL amount doesn’t change - so we’re going to play this stupid game at least 3 times. Tell me again how LPAs are short of resources…

>>> Messy but a hot knife won't work. Why not? Otherwise I would suggest a Winons hot knife.

Very appreciative of this thread as I have been hugely paranoid in this area. We have our exemption and have submitted our commencement notice, however are due a decision on a minor amendment next week to firm up some window positions. Due to the timing, I think we may therefore need to resubmit/update our commencement notice once we have a decision. This whole area is a minefield for legitimate self builders it seems.

Guess I have to ask - why would panel prices be going up?

Cheap stainless steel pot scourers scrunched in and foamed. Crushed, broken glass is good. Round here it was de rigueur to lay bottles down if building a shack, smash them all and cast the slab on top. Just to stop the tunnel bunnies gnawing their way through.

@Iceverge IMO rats, and mice, love a bit of sand to dig through.

I was wondering about that and, as I am a fantastic procrastinator, I've gone and bought 5 x DMEGC All Black 515W Bifacial panels from PlumbNation as City Plumbing are out of stock of what id like and can afford. The only downside I can see is that delivery takes 8 days ☹️ But I guess that gives me some time to run the cables as they need to go in/under the concrete yard base.