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Our blockwork started three weeks ago. This was always going to be weather dependent and it was mixed for the first two weeks in November but since then we have had a really good weather window where its been calm, sunny and not too cold which allowed the remaining work to be completed. Our brickie was fitted a temporary gutter which could be taken off when required. This gable end is where the prevailing wind comes down off the mountains, we have shelter belt here but its nice to know that we now have a solid concrete wall. Next on the list is fitting the concrete windows cills which should be next week. The sections that don't have blockwork will be fitted with the remaining Siberian larch cladding in early December.

I was recently supplied incorrect grade of steel reinforcement mesh for my slab. It was discovered by BCO during pre concrete inspection, after discussion with the SE the only sensible solution was to take it up (two layers with UFH pipes tied to the top) and replace with correct grade. After much back and forth with the supplier and some excellent advice from Citizens Advice, the correct mesh was delivered free of charge and £1k of credit put on my account for the consequential losses I suffered.

Update to this thread - we had our Air Test carried out today - 3 days ahead of our moving in date - We achieved a score of 3.9 which we were most impressed with. This figure was a touch "tight" for us as we have no MVHR and do not wish to install one. We needed to get the figure nearer to 5 so the seals around the loft hatch, letter box and flue were "loosened". Final recorded figure came in at 4.9. The test cost us £245 which included his travelling costs from Perth to the Borders.

I still say it’s the suppliers problem, why should you have to make more work because they cocked up?, simply tell them you want what you ordered, joists THAT FIT.

@Jude1234 one thing to be aware of is that it takes quite a while for a house to stabilise so whilst you may have got the air temperature up, the fabric of the building may not have reached equilibrium especially if you are pushing short sharp pulses of heat into the building. The decrement delay of the insulation will affect the swing of temperature too. May be worth setting it on constant but at say 18c for a week or so and seeing how it settles.

Well, he keeps telling me that he's living the dream. Clearly, I'm paying him too much.?

I had always understood demolition to be considered somethjng which does indeed mean development has started. When I previously asked a local planning officer they printed this page from the Town & Country Planning act off to show me that it was. ===== 56Time when development begun... ...(2)For the purposes of the provisions of this Part mentioned in subsection (3) development shall be taken to be begun on the earliest date on which any material operation comprised in the development begins to be carried out... ...(4)In subsection (2) “material operation” means— (a)any work of construction in the course of the erection of a building; F4[(aa)any work of demolition of a building;] (b)the digging of a trench which is to contain the foundations, or part of the foundations, of a building; (c)the laying of any underground main or pipe to the foundations, or part of the foundations, of a building or to any such trench as is mentioned in paragraph (b); (d)any operation in the course of laying out or constructing a road or part of a road; (e)any change in the use of any land which constitutes material development. ===== So I would say development has commenced, but there is then a question as to whether there is a breach of the planning consent by commencing development if all the pre conditions have not been satisfied. Irrespective of a planning consent do you not usually need a demolition order for demolition of more than a certain cubic meterage? Do you not also need to submitted a demolition methods statement as a pre condition. Randomiser.

We have a similar arrangement. As a precaution I fitted an inline direct heater to bedroom MVHR supply. I think it is 1kW. It is controlled by a thermostat on the landing. So when very cold the inline heater will fire up and works well. I also leave bathroom towel rails on 24 x 7 at the lowest setting, maybe 30C, this works well.

My tape is now firmly zipped into my left hand pocket: nothing else ever gets put there. And it gets put back there every time. (well almost) Course, it's been through the washer now and again....

I used this Supplier and never lost a patient yet

That’s what I was going to suggest, ie spend 100 quid or so for 3 plug in heaters and decide whether you want to do anything better in the warm (hopefully) light of day.

Leave doors open downstairs, although that does increase the risk of fire spreading. Electric wall heaters range in price enormously. Personally my feeling is that it's hard to justify the high prices charged for some of the more expensive heaters. In the past I have filed complaints with the ASA over some adverts and had them upheld. So I would look at exactly which heaters you were quoted for carefully. You can get some with a thermostat and programmer for under £100. There are also some that that come with feet and a plug so no installation cost at all, just plug and go. You may also find some have mounting holes on the back so you can fix them to a wall and wire them in more permanently later.

£1500 is way too much unless you have a lot of bedrooms. Leave doors open to allow heat to flow upstairs by convection. Our house is perhaps a bit like yours. Whenever the bedrooms get down to 17 degrees we give the wood burning stove a blast with all the doors open to help get some heat upstairs.

Who balanced the MVHR ..? And how many rads upstairs ..??! It should take a sparky about 30 mins to fit a panel heater to a wall - you are only probably talking about needing 300-400w so these would be fine. (That’s just the first one I found ..!)

I'd still be unable to find a tape measure by the end of day one.

I ordered a sample from ledkia.com to see what they are like. Think it is coming from Spain

Did you find a solution? If not how about this that just popped up in CPC's offers comic https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-elec/pel00550/13a-socket-remote-controlled-1/dp/PL1502507?ost=pl1502507&krypto=VmhK8VsP%2FAlNYDqoJUdgcNtLcm%2Bg9AE83IgIEN86EAZkAAEf0JJfc%2F7h5%2FunKIMXZ2Ztyb7jVhta1wquNKnsk5ZpNOgRpz%2FJMSbxdONiKWK8IhjGUgguocHlODWtw6sI9FfdG%2F96Yez0FgVljoVKhsOgc1D2a19I5I%2Bvxp%2BEbx9Tmier7F%2F%2FSTxZNdSn8xKv5%2FSG0xUgNq0C5CO4m6Z7fP8ZAdnLOYjo3EtKqxbjfYgRqOrInf7O8%2F9XbXDS4PzE4bi8E9R0kbdVb4R%2BxOD1dgRYQTVhR%2FHGn9zTLLddO0FARi1CPYjhAPXfsrBjbu24STsCVMs2lsnjfgjvQK1rs%2FMpcRLm%2BZE%2Fsu3vXvaRctLRWgUmJ%2Fvxucz%2B8n2JBmeisn62oldTg3qp9n8HExZTg4n2f%2FH75yAzWKeoiyN8x68MsWuxMkt3eJf0itDlz9134%2FcbkTFidy8JIOHdCrdSaw%3D%3D&ddkey=https%3Aen-CPC%2FCPC_United_Kingdom%2Fsearch Butcher the remote control so that a relay operated by your light switch operates the On and Off button contacts

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Lights.co.uk have plenty of options. LED Ceiling light

It was the ebay link you gave. Yeah it's loose as anything no friction at all. Not happy to have a 'join' anyway. @ProDave think that might be a better idea; will remove it tomorrow - happier I think with 1 continuous pipe....

I think the 1 bar is worst case senario, we were told water pressure out here in the sticks was not good and we get 6 bar !!!!

Alternatively detach the hose from the washer and just get one the same but longer.

@epsilonGreedy sounds like you have 4-5 bar which will need dropping for both the van and the house. I've got a spare PRV that will take it down to 3 bar but you would need to wrap it well in insulation if its not inside the van over winter.

Timing flow into a bucket can't measure pressure, only flow rate. To measure pressure then fit a pressure gauge, ideally with a non-return valve in series, as that will then capture the peak pressure available (there will often be a significant difference between the minimum and maximum pressure available at the main supply). It's not uncommon to get a pressure as high as 5 or 6 bar on a water supply, so I'd suggest getting a 10 bar gauge.

They have misread both dimensions, including the ones that they added... I would go back with the actual dimension, the dimension between wall plates, and then the dimensions from the plans (both theirs and yours) What it will show is what they have supplied doesn't actually meet any of these and they need to re-supply...

No, the pump is there to get the accumulator up to pressure, and is turned on and off with a pressure switch on the output side that will typically have around 1 bar of hysteresis. Typical settings would be to have the pump turn on when the accumulator drops to about 2.5 bar and off when the accumulator reaches about 3.5 bar. These are the settings we use and in practice you can't notice the 1 bar drop before the pump kicks in. The idea is to make sure the pump only operates when needed, and to let the accumulator do the task of maintaining a fairly steady supply pressure to the outlets. This also means that the pump doesn't have to be sized for the short duration, peak demand, as the accumulator will have enough reserve to meet that, and can deliver a flow rate that is probably an order of magnitude greater than that of the pump for short periods.

On this basis: You provided a larger dimension than they were expecting. Anyway that is irrelevant as your diagram above is perfectly clear. You have told them that the width of the room is 3646 (in block 1 for example) and they have decided to provide joists that are 3560. Which is obviously going to be too short.

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As @joe90 but aluminium scaffold tower. Deck at any height from just off the ground to 5 metres in increments of 250 mm. Handrails both sides at height, usually just one side as convenient when low down. Decks have a trap door to climb up through when high up but when low down (metre or so) it's easy to just clamber on or step off a step ladder holding on to the scaffold itself. Set up a bit oddly but only photo I have of it with the deck at one metre attached. The posts are each a one metre section on top of a two metre section. The top one metre is only really there 'cause that's how I'd had it set up earlier.

Right, I don’t do CAD but here is a sketch of the block I made for each newel post, it’s tapered in two directions so it needs no fixings like screws etc, a friction fit only. A corresponding hollow is created in each end of the hand rail so the rail can be lowered onto the blocks and tapped tight. I used oak, yes it would not take lots of dismantling but for the odd occasion I think it will work fine. The spindles simply fit into square holes both top and bottom so fiddly to line up but again worth it IF you need it too.

An E7 or E10 supply has a single dual rate meter so you should be able to switch to any supplier that offers E7 or E10 But the rate they are charging you you might just as well have a single rate ordinary tariff? Does your boiler connect to a buffer or thermal store? The ones that work best with E10 are storage boilers.

I am guessing you must be on Total Control tariff to get a 24/7 "cheap" rate for heating? That is a long discontinued tariff and I thought it came with a high standing charge. E10 may well be a better bet if you align the boiler times to the off peak times which come as a morning, afternoon, and late evening burst. The only problem time with E10 is early evening where if you need a boost then it's peak rate. I did predict a while back that this cap would spell the end of a lot of the cheap deals, a case of "be careful what you wish for" I would also be having a stern word with your supplier, explain a "cap" means that is a price that you cannot exceed (and your tariff was not exceeding it) It is NOT a price you have to raise all tariffs to reach.

We pay 27.95p standing charge + 12.327p per kwh. For my electric usage of around 5700 kwh per year (DHW/Heating is gas), it works out at a blended rate of around 14.45p per kwh. This is with Pure Planet in the central belt.

Worth looking at Economy 10 to see how that would work. Get an E10 meter installed by SSE and then switch to a cheaper provider. Fairly easy then to time all the heat inputs however I would think that there will be some supply side rewiring only. Worst case would be E7 and top the TS up at night.

It's the same in the rest of the UK, too. Be aware that you cannot (at least under water regs that apply here) fit a pump directly to a main that could lower the pressure to an excessive degree (specifically cause suction in that main that could suck in contamination through any leakage in their system), either. If you fit a pump there is often a requirement for a break tank that's filled by the low pressure main, then a booster set and accumulator can draw from that to feed the house. If a break tank is fitted then it is very sensible to also include water disinfection, as the sealed supply will have been opened to air, residual disinfection provided by the water supplier will be lost, and airborne contamination is a real risk (same risk as having a cold tank in a house and not using it for drinking water). There are booster pump and accumulator sets available that include supply-side pressure monitoring, I believe. I've not used them, but they may be a solution that satisfies the water regs and also avoids the need for consumer-side disinfection. Before you do anything, though, I would get a peak reading pressure meter and fit it to the supply where it comes in, via a non-return valve, as that's a cheap and easy way to tell you what you really have at the incoming supply. If you get a peak reading that's well over 1 bar (and I strongly suspect you may, as pressure increases a lot at some times of the day or night) then an accumulator will fix your problem with no requirement for a pump or further disinfection. I'm really impressed with the pressure and flow stability we get from our accumulator, it really does make a big difference, not least of which is in reducing interaction between outlets (so no problems with shower fluctuation when a toilet is flushed or the washing machine turns on).

Somehow, I will miss the tinfoil look.?

All I want for Christmas is.......an ASHP and a re-wire! As an aside, my energy supplier at thr current house, Extra Energy, recently went under so even if you do get a decent tariff there's no guarantee that they will be around for its duration.

Yep step ladder dont buy a crap diy version solid yellow fibreglass version, should spend at least £80 to get a good pair.

We finally received the damaged doors and trims from Nolte and was able to get the quarts worktops on

I’m guessing from the aggressive attitude of the rep that Nolte are having issues with their quality control I don’t think he would have contacted me if I hadn’t of kept on contacting the factory direct

that would be a good idea Moonshine, but apparently not what she wants. For the record - I plan on fitting an outside mixer-tap to hose my mutts off before they even get near inside! Jack. I'll definitely do as you say and mock up the walls, units and island to make sure it functions as I hope. thanks.

Glad the old house has finally gone. Always a weight off your mind once completion day is over, and in your case without the stress of moving out of one home and into another all on the same day.

I'm no expert but I would respectfully encourage you to closely examine the suppliers fitting plan for the posijoists to rule out any misinterpretation. I hope my concern is ill founded given all your hard work fitting the wall plate. IF you mean your posijoists are designed to be top hung surely you should have more length on the top chord, but they don't look like they are anyway to me? Are there joist hangers in the case of top hung? I do actually have some posi's where they are in hangers that are 'free' at the bottom but the hangers are bespoke, much heavier gauge and coach bolted. My SE and Crendon (posijoists) were quite specific that its the lower wall plate of the two (image attached) doing the work, and the upper one is relatively speaking just a filler. Hence the bottom of hangers match bottom of wall plates and the 'excess' height of the posijoist protrudes above top of hanger (in my case to match top of concrete). Regarding the 100mm short issue, I don't think you should even begin to put your own thinking cap on.....Posi's are an engineered solution and the supplier needs to warrant the integrity of the solution so the answer surely MUST come from them...to that end I don't see bco wanting to stick their neck out.

No need, I bought one of these out of Viz: Made in Wales...

Swap the wall plate for one 50mm thicker each side...they pay. Maybe...?

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I did this, but bought two short staircases and built the half landing myself, originally it was two quarter landing with a step between them but this was expensive and difficult to build, making my own half landing in situ was easy and fitting two short staircases to it a doddle.

It is all down to the local plan. In my case the plot I found was in open countryside and not zoned for housing, so there would be a general presumption against development. However crucially there are 3 defined exceptions in the local plan here that would allow it, and my plot satisfied 2 out of the 3 (it only needs to satisfy one)

Mind bleach! Can't erase that upskirt reflection!

Make friends with the Coddy or the forklift driver. Think you will find materials rather cheap! labour only might be the way forward for the quotes