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Am easy Internal paint job for a magic man type mobile painter.....and you'll be better off for it without the risk of wet wood from condensation. We went through similar, wanted one large single pane of glass and some bastard stuck central mullion in them all... Was devastated for weeks, but on the survey paperwork it had been added and builder had missed it. Builder paid for whole new windows in the kitchen where the mullion was in your face, and was apologetic and mee and we accepted the rest. We just ducked it up, and 2 years later it's not cross my mind for weeks. We could have gone to war with the builder, but whichever way you cut it... We'd have ended up paying one way it another.

I doubt they want detailed design, just calculations that shows conformity with building regs i.e. heat losses at -3°C is 5 kW, here is a 5kW heat source.

♫You see rooms. Sole plates. The structure is hybrid. What a wonderful life.♫

Where the confirmations before or after the signed order? It’s what is on the signed order report that’s important here. Clearly they have ****ed up and not followed instructions. As for extra costs incurred for two tone, I still don’t get that tbh. and I’m in the industry. Timber is sprayed inside and out the same colour/lacquer. Aluminium cladding is from their supplier and powder coated. Different colour costs for two tone, just don’t make sense. They don’t have to change the spray booth to paint the cladding a different colour. Trust me, sanding, spraying will not be done or offered. The costs alone are prohibitive. It’s make a deal on what you have, they accept and make new windows or a legal battle.

You see rooms. Sole plates. The structure is hybrid. The portal frame stays in place and already has a new roof.. The existing slab is 175 thick. Rooms internally will be timber stud and the external walls are being studded too, as the photo shows. 6x2 joists and a few steel beams over big spaces. One great first floor deck will then receive walls and ceilings. The sole plates are packed up to level and will then be grouted, but they are not fixed yet as can be seen. Due to kicking and wind that will have to be done again. The timber house industry works to +/- 10mm, which appals me. We are working to +/-2. ie try for 1mm but accept that a few will vary from that. We hope the early precision makes everything that follows fit better and not squeak.

Sounds like a recipe for harmony! Oh it isn't

I do get that but if you are fitting longer rads you can always raise the rads slightly and run the pipes from the original exit along the back of the rad hidden from view Issue for me with the K33 was wall space was at a premium - french doors at one end - fireplace in the middle on one side furniture on the other side - leave one wall with a doorway to fit a rad that just meets the requirement... It's thickness wasn't a problem as nothing else is there.

Is this actually a requirement now? I cant believe everyone designs all that before you even start work on the house.

Well, yes, if you're not going to do it yourself, then you'll have to pay somebody to do it. You could get an M&E consultant, such as @Nickfromwales, who posts here a lot, to do the whole lot, or you might get one company to deal with CH & hot water, & a separate company to deal with MVHR, if that's what you're having. & if you're not having MVHR, I should think you just need to mention the trickle vents in the windows & give the spec' of the extractors in the bathrooms & kitchen. Somebody who knows a lot more than me will be along to help you out tomorrow.

Recently my wife asked me to replace all the mounting boxes in our house. They're all pretty old and it seemed like a good idea. I bought new boxes for all the sockets and light switches in the house and although I'm not an electrician I did go to college to do level 2 electrical installations so thought this would be easy. It turns out that all the premade holes in the new boxes are in different positions to the old boxes. So it's not just a case of removing the old ones and screwing in the new ones. I'd have to drill new holes for every single one. The thing is when I started drilling all the plaster started breaking away in big pieces. I guess my question is can I just fill in the cavity with filler and screw straight into that? What would an electrician do in this situation? Thanks in advance

Thanks for the information Kevin, much appreciated.

On an old house like this, the gains really start showing once you combine airtightness work with decent insulation boards rather than just weatherstripping. I’ve been doing similar bits room by room and finding suitable materials locally was a pain. Online Insulation had the sizes and densities I needed for retrofit (rockwool slabs, PIR, insulated plasterboard) without having to deal with the DIY sheds’ limited stock. Worth a look if you’re going that route.

Thing is, im not sure i actually want "change". Just people that can govern, honestly, in the best interests of the people and country. Where they sit on the political spectrum, actually comes a poor second. Id hapily vote for someone/people who i disagree with politically, if i thought they were honest and had integrity. Indeed, doing so might not even be good for me personally. I suspect you are right that the the majority will vote for alternatives, probably ever more extreme. But thats simply a response to the abject failure of those who do win to actually do anything. Anything other than enrich themselves that is. Strangely, they, mostly, seem quite good at that. Some of them exceptional. Shame they couldnt put those talents to good use for the benefit of all of us. Im not angry. Just resigned to the inevitable. I recognise and appreciate ive lived through the good times, probably the best times. But i think im ok to be "unhappy" with where its going. Though i guess i do get a bit worked up when they take my money, that ive worked so hard for, to try and provide for my impending retirement by continously moving the goal posts, at a stage of life where there is little i can do to recover it. Id imagine most people would get a bit annoyed by that.

Hi All, Just a wee update, after equipping myself with enough confidence of eligibility and knowledge I contacted the company that completed the drilling and requested kindly that the works be zero rated, I provided them with a certificate (adapted from the HMRC one advised in VAT Notice 708), along with a copy of my outline planning approval. They kindly obliged and we have 0% VAT!!!!! For anyone who it may help, I have approved outline planning only, with full planning being submitted as reserved matters in the next few weeks. This is reasonable to meet the VAT notice 708 ‘in the course of construction’ requirement. What I’ve learned! A Water borehole commissioning is eligible for VAT adjustment as long as they are for an eligible VAT notice 708 buildings water supply and completed ‘in the course of construction’. Water boreholes completed before or after construction are not eligible. Survey boreholes are not eligible. Thanks again for your help everyone, 3k saving!!! I hope this helps somebody going forward!!!!

As they're aluminium clad, it should just be the aluminium portion that's grey - it would probably end up cheaper by not painting them.

Hi everyone just broke ground yesterday for our self build. I Informed the building control that we should be ready in next 2 weeks for the foundation inspection. I had an email from building control to say they will not come to site until they have receive our M&E design (heating, ventilation, hot water) is this something I would get a company to do? We are having a Grant ASHP and the manufacturer has designed a suitable tank and cylinder etc. we are also having UFH. Please can anyone advise on How do I go about getting an M&E design? Is it one design or does it require multiple plans from various trades? thanks for any replies in advance

If I increase to a 300mm I-joist, the U-value comes down to around 0.129 W/m2K. The arch tec’s roof is just 290mm thick, which is useful. The notes say it has a U-value of 0.11W/m2K. Actually, it says “0.11/m2K”, because he missed the “W” (Watts). Another thing he’s done, just to confuse us all, is he’s used label numbers that don’t correspond to the positions of the materials within the roof make up – so number 1 is the standing seam layer, on the outside, but number 5 (50mm air cavity) sits on top of the rafters (number 4) & the insulation between the rafters (number 6). Confused? I am. I think he’s drawn the Tyvek membrane on top of the 50mm cavity, rather than beneath it, & he hasn’t spec’d the battens for the 50mm cavity; should he have? Perhaps, 50 x 50mm C24 battens should be specified? I don’t know. I can’t find K107 & K118 in Ubakus, so I haven’t checked the arch tec’s 0.11W/m2K U-value for his roof design. I don’t like the look of the arch tec’s design. I don’t like the idea of cutting boards in between the rafters (ie relying on somebody else to do it properly) & I suspect the K118 might be off-gassing more poison than my design too. I think the arch tec’s roof may be more expensive (just on materials) than the design I proposed, & it will be significantly more expensive once the labour is factored in. Have I got that right? So far, I haven’t found time to get all the prices & work it all out. What do you think I should be saying to the arch tec about the roof make up?

I’ve had a go at plugging my I-joist based design into Ubakus. I couldn’t find most of the materials I wanted to use & Ubakus won’t let me have my battens for the interior plaster board running the other way from the joists, unless I pay a subscription, but this gives me a rough idea of how my 240mm I-joist roof option might perform:

I’d very much appreciate some opinions on this roof design please: I’ve designed a house myself (with no prior knowledge). I have planning permission. An architectural technician has recently prepared a full set of building regulations & construction drawings for me - ie one set of drawings will go to the SE for his input, then to BC for approval, then to builders. Now I’m working through the draft drawings, to make sure I’m happy with all the decisions the arch tec has made. My brief for the sloping roof sections was: standing seam on special SS membrane, then OSB, then 50mm air gap, more OSB, I-joists at 600 centres & Warmcel blown cellulose in between. I suggested 300mm deep I-joists or next size down (240mm), if we’re struggling to make everything fit (there’s a PP ridge height restriction). Also, I’d seen some of the arch tec’s drawings for another project (with phenolic everywhere) so I told him, to keep costs down, we should only use phenolic in one very small area where we need to avoid bulky insulation. He’s specified two layers of phenolic, over the entire sloping roof. My own (240mm I-joist based) roof design would be about 354mm thick – so, compared to the arch tec’s roof design, my design significantly reduces the space in two of my in-roof bedrooms, which don’t have dormers. The extra depth of the I-joist solution will be why he’s done drawn something that doesn’t fit with my brief. Here’s the arch tec’s design:

I've used Illbrück expanding tape instead of Compriband. Seems good.

If I decided I wanted to target full low temp system (ie, support low temps year round) I expect I would look to install wider radiators rather than go to triples. Triples will eat into the room in a negative way, longer rads not so much. But would involve redoing the pipework around the rads (and breaking into the plasterboard to do it). Having said that at this stage I think it's very unlikely I'd go that route. Sounds like a recipe for harmony!

Hi @JohnMo Thanks very much for your reply and the solution regarding a separate manifold pump with blending valve makes sense to me. So just my benefit/understanding the only option is the to set the temperature of the blending valve so GF would have to run off fixed temp? If the temp was lower than the temp set on the blending valve i am guessing this would just not add any cold etc. so i could use the blending valve as a limiter? As i would heating my water to upto 45 deg and then effectively cooling half of it on purpose would this cost a lot more to run? Its frustrating as the higher temp is only needed when its probably colder than 5 deg outside so this is why I still need some sort of WC control

I agree that it looks like water splashing, mostly below DPC level so nothing to worry about. No harm adding drainage channels - it should reduce the splashing. They're just common bricks, intended to remain invisible below the ground level. The mortar was almost certainly never there in the first place, though if a tidier brickie had done it then it would be.

Ahh my error 800 wide 600 tall K3 Steelrad is 1911 w at T50 T50 to T30 = 1911 x 0.515 = 948 w so even two of them won't crack 2 kW heat loss although you could run them a little warmer 800 wide by 700 tall K3 Steelrad is 2170 at T50 so 1117 w at T30 OT My K33 1400 x 700 is rated at just over 4kW at T50 - it'll happily keep the room at 19 deg C running WC flow temps I'm running it at DT11................... I need 660 w in that room Add two squidgy people in the mix and the temp climbs to 20.5 (which is about the limit of my comfort and the bottom of Mrs Alien's accept zone)

They have put bigger radiators in the kitchen area which also has high heat loss. I suspect it's more of a screw up than deliberate undersizing. When I bought there was a big delay because the plans on the lease didn't reflect reality so had to be amended. So I think the design of my flat was changed at a rather late stage and I'd guess heating not reviewed after. Yeh, I don't think I'm going to be making the changes necessary to run at low temp all the time. If I change the rads I'd be aiming for it to be enough for low temp heating a large chunk of the time but require high temps during the coldest. 800 wide, 600 tall.