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Frankly Jamie very do-able and I am doing mine as you propose above, although I think I will do our toilets also in 10mm. It's been recommended on here by some Welsh bloke ? To use hep2o and if seems good kit ( I got a sample sent). I will watch this thread as I want advise on manifolds and specific parts. Go for it, over to the professionals:-

As above, it really is a very straightforward DIY job I found. I know that some have reservations about plastic plumbing, in fact I did, and needed some convincing that it was OK. But, having plumbed a house with a manifold system, pretty much all in plastic except for the heating and hot water stuff, then I'd have no hesitation in saying it's a very easy skill set to learn. It was very quick too, because of the long pipe runs and the need for very few joints with plastic plumbing. That not only made the job quick and easy, it also gave peace of mind, as we have no pipe joints anywhere than aren't easily accessible. It's very reassuring knowing that long lengths of pipe buried in walls and ceilings have no joints that could fail at some future date.

You move into a house that is maybe 90% of what you have always wanted a house to be to work for you and how you live. Or you buy a standard builders house and spend the next 20 years rearranging it to get to maybe 60% of what you want and then realise it just doesn't work so have to move again. That's why we self build.

I don't normally do plugs or reviews for companies so if the moderators are unhappy with this please delete.. A short while ago I needed to hire a tall scaffolding tower. These things are quite expensive to hire from the big companies like HSS even if you haggle so I was looking for best price when I found this company... https://www.lakeside-hire.co.uk/ They are a long way from me but they claimed to deliver nationwide so I gave them a go. I think what they actually do is subcontract the hire to a more local company if you are some distance away, but the price charged was much better than I've been able to find locally. Obviously the actual service you get may depend on the local company they use but I was happy. I know list prices are negotiable but for comparison.. A 6 meter (platform height) Boss tower 1.5 * 1.8m hired for 7 days is currently £148 via Lakeside and £332 from HSS , both inc VAT and delivery. If nothing else you might be able to use a Lakeside quote to beat down your local suppliers.

This tallies with our recent ordeal in getting our VAT reclaim sorted (finally resolved by a letter received yesterday, nearly 4 months after I started the process). There seems to be a central government drive to get all departments to focus on collecting as much tax owed as possible, which is a laudable aim, but the way some departments are going about it is a bit OTT. I've already related the tale on Ebuild about out Council Tax snoopers, breaking in to the site at night, climbing fences, ignoring PPE warnings and (not wearing any PPE!) to look in through windows and see if the house was habitable enough for them to start charging Council Tax on. I got annoyed enough to formally complain, send a copy of the CCTV and legally deny access by the council or anyone they employed without my express written permission, saying that their breach of site safety rules jeopardised my site insurance premium and therefore constituted aggravated trespass. The stupid thing is that it meant that I had helpful advice from many forum members, including some case law on when a house became a "rateable hereditament", and so liable for Council Tax. I could then easily delay paying it by making sure that I didn't officially have a potable water supply in the house until just before completion. That meant they probably lost a years worth of Council Tax, simple because they'd annoyed me by breaking in.

Skimmed plaster board is airtight and would work but when it starts to crack then your relying on pollyfiila to keep the heat in.

Hmm. It's more of a business question than self build I suppose. I would go with accountant guidance tbh - they know more. Ultimately it may be a grey are but caution should be exercised - erring on the cautious side.

It can be quite hard to make a profit building houses. Hope you have a good handle on the likely costs. I purchased a plot from a builder. When I asked him why he was selling he told me that he didn't think he could make any more money by actually building the house. We got permission for a different/better house for us to live in. I reckon we broke even at best and probably made a loss. The builder was right. Clearly we overpaid for the plot but it was/is a pretty special plot and there was a lot of competition from other self builders. Pretty sure you will also have to register for VAT and submit quarterly returns as the self build VAT reclaim scheme isn't available to you. Do not be tempted to rent out the houses if you can't sell them as that may mean the VAT has to be repaid.

I don't know many people who've bought new build homes but the last three I talked to said it was the worst decision they had ever made. Self build is the way to go, at least you get closer to your ideal, budget permitting!

Just to add I can "copy" the regs / OSG / guide to the building regs all day long. These pearls of wisdom aren't mine. They're just engrained for the most part. Underpinning knowledge is vital which you will only get from a learning medium like an apprenticeship or college. Even then you need practice ideally under the supervision of a good mentor to get the manual dexterity to do a neat and tidy and above all safe job. This right down the basics; how to unroll a reel of armoured, how much wire to strip off the core, how to strip it and fold if necessary, natural lay of the cables, leaving enough slack for later cut backs / alterations...... FAR easier then plumbing though!

@MrsRA don't listen to the boring old farts. Colour = good.

(Off-topic.) Many areas of the world have not banned CCA, eg in the USA I think you can use it for foundations but not for picnic tables or climbing frames. There seems to be some work around suggesting that the risks have been exaggerated (see Wikipedia). And Cresosote is not banned. Though you may not get stuff quite as usefully 'orrible as the byproducts of the gas works. AIUI Creosote is merely restricted to the trade and may not be advertised to the general public, and is not allowed in domestic settings plus some other bits and pieces. You can buy creosote pressure treated fenceposts with 25 year guarantees (and also utility poles) for use on farms etc There are fencepost brands such as Fence and Forget. The EU has a habit of banning things without adequate evidence on occasions, and not taking the level of exposure (rather than the existence of exposure) into account, or ignoring if a very small number of people are affected, driven by powerful lobbyists imo abusing the precautionary principle. The latest victim I have seen was the traditional perfume industry. Now that we are escaping I wonder if any of this will change. If I were doing a self-build in the country with a 'paddock' I would be very tempted. But most of my fences are for tenants, and I do not play games in that situation. Though if for example I was renting a field I might use it if allowed after an analysis / risk assessment. Ferdinand

Why make it complicated. Where you want to cut the armour, run round with a hacksaw through the sheath and part way through the armour. Cut the sheath off to that point. Snap the remainder of the armour off there, already weakened by being cut part way through. Strip sheath back a little more and fan out the armour strands as above. It really is not difficult. This method and using the blade runner as above result in all strands of the armour being exactly the same length, which is crucial to getting a good clamp in the gland.

Set it up for now with the bath being the only thing that uses tank fed cold if possible. ? If that's ok I'll continue to add to this accordingly. ?

Hi. We used Total Concrete eventually. Lite Cast were a bit cheaper but waiting time was longer and we needed it fast.