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Ok so another visit from my welding friend, and we still aren't finished... ? Making progress at least : The old temporary status have been dismantled and the tread supports are now welded on fully. The "square" section for the landing is warped though - the top flight is 900mm apart from the top to the crank point, and then is 15mm too narrow where it goes into the wall. Rather than try to straighten the cranked beams, we are just going to pack off the face before the last riser. Next up is the handrail - we are going to place 1.5m lengths of 50mm box section welded to the side of the cranked beams on the right hand side (going up). 5 lengths, spaced at around 1 apart, should be good enough to attach a timber and plasterboard wall to...

I take it they are talking about the fire stops that go in the cavity between a timber frame and it's outer brick cladding layer, in some cases missing or with gaps. If they are found to be missing that is hardly an easy thing to put right. It's not as it it is an expensive or difficult bit, and there would normally be plenty of chances to spot the problem, even the bricklayer building the outer wall should notice it, stop laying bricks and bring it to the attention of the site manager? To not do so shows the root of the problem, NOBODY cares. It's not a private BR issue as this fault has been found in Scotland where the local authority still have the monopoly on building control. But they don't make that many inspections. Perhaps if the MD of the building firm faced a manslaughter charge in the event of a fatality, they might start to buck up their procedures a bit?

Scary, isn't it? It does really emphasise just how poor the building inspection system is, something that I think we already know, from the many other stories of new builds that don't comply with building regulations, let alone tragedies like Grenfell, where the building inspection system should have picked up the problem of spread of fire from adding flammable cladding. I think there's a damned good case for scrapping private building inspection, making it a well-policed, central government run, function, and instigating a root-and-branch reform that ensures that work is always inspected properly for compliance with the regulations.

... or the people having to buy new charging cables every 6 months as the ends fell off ...

It sounds like it is time to say the sample inspection has failed and "trust" has been broken by the large builders. So now it is time for the building inspector to inspect every house with additional costs to the builder.

MBC don’t bother, just whack the pipe in and away to go. There’s too much going on on a new build to risk fitting delicate things like manifolds ( flow gauges are very easy to damage ) so I only ever do that now if there’s a pipe been damaged & repaired and it needs proving. Tbh you can just do that with a temp rig anyhoo, so as long as there’s no excessive foot traffic / narrowing then I would say don’t worry. Thats re Pex-Al-Pex with the aluminium liner. It’s tougher than Charles Bronson and Jean-Claude Van Damme’s love child. ?

I think Central Vacuum is a bit like fully-integrated-rainwater-harvesting, much vaunted but the reality does not match the promise. For your list (and there are lots of threads on things like "what would you do differently"): - Provision for your dotage (eg downstairs full shower room, potential granny flat, strengthened space for lift shaft). - Appropriate access to flat roofs for maintenance. - Outside taps and power points where they will be needed, - Charging facilities for electric cars when they are all electric. F

I had a conversation with my brother yesterday - he has just invested in some electric vans for his team to use in the new London low emmission zone (it appears a no brainer as the fleet hire and electric cost is less than the zone charges after about the first two weeks of the month - some incentive that!) Anyway we chatted about the vying power technologies and wondered if we are not in a VHS vs BETAMAX situation where the energy density by weight of Hydrogen (BETAMAX) was loosing out to the much less energy dense battery technologies (VHS) perhaps all because of the cost of producing the hydrogen by one or other of the routes available. Suffice it to sat that we concluded that both these technologies are dead now so we might as well go with the flow and hope we live long enough to see the DVD of car power systems. The good old S curve strikes again! ?

Thats a contract law scenario. In the event of a failure to meet a statutory legal requirement, the liability is immediately transferred to the installer. We contract subs to install to G3 BRegs requirements - if they fail to do so, and in the event of an installation failing as it was not installed to G3, liability passes to the subcontractor. We are not G3 certified so cannot be liable for the install. If we didn’t check they were correctly certified then it’s our responsibility.

Ok - a suggestion if you can afford it is to rebuild the wall double thickness and put a 3ft fence on top. It’s dog proof but also as “permanent” as your original.

just asked my better half, who has run a powder coating coy for 30 years. It used to be the case that they used marine grade paint for stuff going near the sea. More recently paint has got better and they tend to use architectural grade for everything (industrial grade is cheap and rubbish). They supply to mcdonalds, airports, glazing for boats, etc. Apparantly it all comes down to the pre-treatment; they use a chemical wash while some only use a water wash which produces a much less robust finish. All that probably doesnt help one bit ?

991 is nice. Porsche prices have gone crazy over the last few years. Out of my price range now unfortunately. Model X makes the most sense of all the Tesla’s imo.

I am annoyed this morning. Once again my washing-up water - the first hot water I have used in the kitchen today - is running warm then cold then hot. And the cold water is running warm then cold. This probably means that the last people, who renovated the house, did not insulate the water pipes where they pass through the zone where there is underfloor heating, and the water standing in the pipes has heated up. A small annoyance due to lack of sweat applied to the detail. But one that is noticeable and about which I can do nothing practically. Boo !

My in-laws built their own place from a Scandia supplied frame only. The fit out was done by my FIL. He was a very deep thinking and logical person and posed the question regarding the insulation of what was a fully pumped circulating hot water ring around the whole house. Hot water was there at the turn of the tap. Unfortunately it was also there at the turn of the cold tap and although cooler obviously you could never make a cold water based drink without having a filter type jug in the fridge. The in-laws sold the house after 20 years and that issue with the non insulated supply pipes for both hot and cold annoyed him until he passed away last year. It does go to prove that the planning detail for even such seemingly mundane situations will haunt/annoy forever.

Look at the difference in the core bit you have and what @Onoff has. It must have 3 times the amount of cutting edges. That's your problem. What should take 30mins is taking 90mins.

The cost of random, unannounced, periodic inspections wouldn't be that high, though, and may well be enough of an incentive to mass builders to cause them to do their job properly. I doubt it would take too many cases where an inspector caused a mass builder to stop work and immediately rectify defects or non-compliances before the message got across that proper works oversight would reduce cost.

As a general rule, pressure tests on pipelines are generally X1.5 the anticipated max operating pressure, or the max pressure rating of the system, whichever is lower. I'd expect the pressure on a domestic system to be no more than 1.5bar at the highest point and 2bar at the lowest. So test pressure of 4-5bar is adequate.

Hi everyone I'm Jez. I'm in the very early stages of my first self-build, which I'm planning on being a "log house" of some description. The first thing that's become clear is the difficulty I'm having finding a plot! Restrictions of Neighbourhood Plans and Council Plans, restricted usages, competition from others, and of course the mortgage-busting cost of some of the plots I've seen are all denting my belief that I can actually find a suitable plot. But it's only been a few weeks so the search continues! The forum is great by the way, it's a fantastic way for a "self-build community" to share experiences, knowledge, and thoughts. There doesn't seem to be much else around like it. Jez ?

First stop is check what your insurers will accept ...

I have an RK front door with automatic motorised lock. We have an external call point intercom and handsets on 5 floors. The motorised lock completely locks / unlocks the door. We have set the handsets so they can talk to each other. We have a special signal for mealtimes etc. so saves yelling.

the present inspection system is like allowing any garage /mechanic do an mot .

Ewi adds an 8 inch shell outside your house. Everything like satellite dishes and gateposts and lights and drainpipes have to move outside that shell or you get holes in your ewi and changes add costs. You do things like mount several things on one panel of wood or avoid things on Walls altogether eg roof mounted flues for your boiler. All about time to think first and sweating detail. F

Reading this thread reminds me I should take some unconscious bias training...

I've been trying to figure out what this is, and good info is actually hard to find. It's about drain smells? Can you elaborate? What's the alternative? Sorry I am too much a newbie to understand apparently. What do you mean 'clean walls' in context of insulation. Good point, even if you initially don't think you need water, prepping it might be useful. In the same vein I was thinking about getting a gas line to a spot in the livingroom where a gas fireplace could be placed, if I don't do it during build. How large is yours currently? How much redundancy would you recommend then? Clearly a single line to each room makes sense, but how far would you go? Yep. Powerful idea to be able to add new cables on demand. Maybe in-house fibre will become a thing in 10 years.

We didn't and didn't have any problems. The MBC crew that we used said that they'd never had any problems with any of their slabs. We use an up-and-over pumping system for pour so we didn't have any material issues with heavy barrows over the pipe runs. So IMO, the risks are low and if at all they are during the pour itself. There are two other factors that you need to consider: We were getting our slab laid in early Nov, so there was a real risk of the slab going below 0°C with water in the pipework. Really not a good idea, so you should really blow out the water after the test. Doing the pressure test involves fitting the manifold (and possibly needing to reposition and refit it when you have the TF adjacent wall in place), as well as the test itself. This is going to man that the MBC crew is going to have to schedule a gap day between completing the UFH (typically the last thing that they do before the pour) and doing the pour itself. I did do a pressure test (IIRC, about 6 months later in the early spring) and cranked the loops up to 5 bar with no problems. We run the UFH at 1bar now.

Depends what you mean by "really" hard. If you're using money as a proxy, then insulation. If you're meaning bother, time and disruption, then air tightness. All uses of plumbing for both air or water, e.g. ventilation, heating pipes.

Had a central vacuum in the last house but we will not be having one in the new house. Although they have improved the hose storage capabilities the damage it used to cause dragging it around corners and doorways is not worth imho. As @PeterStarcksaid technology has moved on and we will be buying a Dyson at some point.

Plenty of focus on it, here. Laminated advisory supplied with the TF kit, all installed by the erectors, and then confirmed by the BCO for the blockworkers as it was a while since they'd clad a TF.

That's what the Welsh Wizard told me to do. @Nickfromwales ?

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No guru, but we did the pressure test before screeding.

Harry is the only name I have so far, I'll let you know when I meet them tomorrow. ~~~~~ Doh! There you go, two Guru's with polar opposite views.

We actually had a RAT get in an old sofa when we first moved in. Gained access to the lounge from under the floor via oversize pipe holes in the walls. Give the cat it's due it did sit and point saying "Oh look a RAT!" Missus moved out to her Mum's for a few days with the baby. Anyone know where I can get another rat?

I agree with every word of the first response in this thread. We didn't want the "line of stools" approach, so the dining table side of the island is cupboards and shelves along two thirds of its length. The remaining third is completely open on both sides (and closed on the end by a vertical support), so four people can sit comfortable facing each other without banging their knees. There are double power points underneath this section that can't be seen, but are easy to get to from both sides - good for plugging in a phone or a laptop (on the table side), or a kitchen mixer. We have the hob on the island and the sink against the wall behind and slightly offset so both can comfortable be used without standing back to back. It's planned so that you walk into the kitchen from one side with plates etc, scrape into the bins in the cupboard on the left of the sink, rinse if needed, then load into the dishwasher immediately to the right of the sink. Cups, glasses and crockery can all be put away from the dishwasher without any movement other than bending and pivoting. We've lived in the house for over three years, but it took us over two years to find stools we didn't hate that were the right height for the space under the island. Since getting them, we hardly ever sit at the dining table any more. It just seems more social to sit up at the island. In fact, we had a couple of friends over last night for supper. We all sat at the island with drinks and nibbles while dinner was being made, then it just seemed natural to stay where we were rather than moving everything over to the table. Obviously we're limited to doing this when there are only four people eating, but that often works out just fine. You do need to be scrupulous about not letting junk accumulate (we don't really manage it), but to be fair this is going to be a problem with all horizontal surfaces in a kitchen.

Cut them 10mm narrower, fit the whole lot, then foam them all in. Next day, trim surplus foam and tape joins. Tape to the studs as well. Wear a dust mask and goggles. There is no shame in using the rips up, if you foam them in and tape them.

I'm another fan of adding 5 A sockets switched from the wall. In our bedrooms we have double gang 13 A outlets either side of each bed, plus a single gang 5 A outlet either side, switched from the wall, so that bedside lights can be turned on as you come in the door. We also have 5 A outlets in the living room for incidental lights, again switched by a wall switch. We find we rarely use the main lights in either our bedroom or the living room, instead we just switch the incidental/bedside lights on from the wall. The only thing to remember is to leave the switches on the bedside lights turned on in the morning and turn them off at the wall switch ready for the following evening.

doing well if he can get through at that height