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Greetings all, I was an occasional 'passer by' on the old site and like many others have now found you again. I used to be an NHBC registered Builder/ Developer so have, as the name suggests, built a few, but I took shelter from the recession by getting a 'proper job'. Currently work as a Clerk of Works, mainly employed by Housing Association Clients to inspect sites being built by the big PLC House Builders, quite an eye opener what they try and get away with, although to be fair to them most of their staff are so under qualified they don't even realise they're doing it wrong.

We've just finalised our window order with Velfac. We managed to secure a substantial discount from the original quote mainly by procrastinating for weeks and occasionally namedropping other manufacturers. The last straw seemed to be when we mentioned we were going to the permenant exhibition at Swindon to check out Internorm. I don't know whether what we got knocked off the total is better than usual - probably not - but we're pleased as both of us are usually rubbish at negotiating.

Boys and their toys!! Christmas came early............... And my new bedtime reading!! Not sure which of us is happiest - is that sad or what?? and for those intersted its a DeWalt (naturally) DCS355D2 Brushless Oscillating Multi-tool 18 volt with TWO batteries.

We have real switches too Went one step further and put PIRs in the hall with low level LEDs so if someone nips out at night they don't need to find the lights.

BBC1 Scotland, Monday 22nd August 7PM (viewers outside Scotland will need Sky or Freesat to view it) Last year there was s spate of school walls collapsing on PFI funded school buildings, due to inadequate wall ties. This program investigates what went wrong. They now think other public buildings as well as schools may faulty.

That's very helpful, thanks. Riser is going to be painted along with the stringer. Going to go 30mm Oak (not a huge uplift) and the pine riser.

Out fishing this morning, a rising tide, light breeze assisting my cast - 12 cracking Mackrel the result. We even had a brief period (30 seconds literally) when the water next to the pier was 'boiling' with fish, as a small shoal of Mackrel came in and fed on whitebait. A single cast out (3 hooked) before the boiling ceased and the Mackrel disappeared! An amazing sight seeing the Mackrel hunting their prey. Mackrel fillets with lemon & garlic mayo on a roll for lunch , a freezer stocked up with fillets and a healthy store of bait for next time.

If they run their own path eg away from the nearest Ufh pipes then they won't benefit from any warmth, they'll be providing it. Thats will dissipate heat from them before its reached the zone it's meant to be heating, so I say super insulate any transitional pipe work so the heat only goes where you want it. A sun room or conservatory will be quite dissimilar to the main house in terms of climate / heating patterns, eg the sunroom heating may be running longer into the evening whilst the house is satisfied, and may not be required in the morning / midday when the sun is warming / overheating it. Therefore there is a good chance that the slab these pipes traverse through may not be 'warm' when the sunroom is calling for heat, IMO reinforcing the need to insulate them accordingly. As you can't increase the flow temp for a single zone ( when sharing a manifold ) you will probably benefit from pulling the pipe in at smaller centres so you slightly increase the W/m2. Having its own manifold would allow you to have control of the flow temp but there's only so much higher you can go so I'd strive to connect to the main manifold and ensure the produced heat is delivered to that area, at as close to the temp it was generated at as possible, and flood that area with extra pipe.

Further comment. If you put your pipe work in the patio now, you will have to spec the slab to be conservatory-suitable and insulated, as you will not be able to add anything under the pipe work later. That may limit your conservatory options - dwarf walls need nearly normal foundations etc, and digging those round an existing floor is fiddly though possible. A slightly thicker slab and full height panels may be preferable. That may all be doable if you plan ahead, but think through the whole process and do a full cost model as if you were building the conservatory now. Further options could be a full sun lounge with a real roof, or a Crocodile style enclosed veranda with sliding glass wall(s) and a patio heater setup when needed, but there are imho better suppliers out there. You want to pay for your your house not other people's TV adverts. Perhaps the thing to focus on is your intended use ... Full room implies sun lounge or good spec conservatory, dog pod or plant winter space implies something cooler that could be less heavily protected and outside the thermal envelope. If you want 4 season use and it gets sun then you something radical in the roof to protect it in summer, or you may roast your occupants. Ferdinand

Here are a few of my 'money well spent' items : boiling water tap in kitchen - how did I ever manage without one? Oak frame from these people. Wasn't cheap but they did a great job. Oak glazing panels by these people. Walk on basement ceiling windows from here Custom oak kitchen and lots of built in furniture from here High end LED strip lighting. At the time I wondered if cheap stuff would be as good - with hindsight I think it isnt Steel external fire door to garage from here . Looks good and seems very secure. Heavy duty racking for garage and store room from here Copper guttering Vast number of CAT6a cable runs throughout house. Should have done more though :). Wood burning stove in living room. Is nice to have all the time - but has saved us a couple of times when gshp wasnt working. - reddal

I had fun with some timber merchants the other day. Managed to persuade one company (who have forklift offloading so for my site quite an advantage over the HIABs of the other guys) to come down to within £10 of their competitors. Then agreed to go with them and reminded them that I had several hundred pounds in credit with them. Thought it best to leave that wee nugget of information out until after the haggling was done