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Yes, @Big Jimbo. Here's how it works: The screw piles are inserted and capped. (Which interestingly does not count as excavation for Party Wall purposes.) Then the EPS is built up as follows: The lowest level is CellCore HXS, which is a sacrificial honeycomb heave-protection layer (not primarily for insulation). This is in place of a void. Then on top of the CellCore goes EPS for insulation forming the usual polystyrene tray with edges in the usual way for a raft. Then rebar and mesh is arranged inside the tray for structural support. (And UFH pipes are attached to the mesh). And then, crucially, the rebar is welded to the top of the screw piles. Then finally concrete is poured in to the correct depth and levelled to form the raft. Thus the weight of the structure built atop the raft is transmitted through the piles, and not on to the ground surface. Makes sense? The various foundation companies have standard details for this. And interestingly one of the timber-frame companies I contacted was keen to do my build because they hadn't had a chance to use this approach so far, and it was attractive to them because they thought it should have wider applicability than it currently has for sites with difficult soil make-ups.

So am I, if for no other reason than the fact that Tesla's attract geeks who like nothing better than to find flaws in their systems. The fact that the car runs on Linux, though, and that much (supposedly all) of the code is open source means that there are a lot of people playing around, amongst both the white and black hat fraternities, so as long as the white hats are better than the black hats things should be OK. As an aside, I've just finished getting a Raspberry Pi Zero W to work as a USB drive, that will automatically dump TeslaCam files (both DashCam and SentryMode) to my home file server as soon as the car is within range of our wifi network. It also stores all my music files, and keeps them synced to a directory on the file server, so the car will always have an up to date version of my music library onboard. Premature, really, as I don't get to test it until I get the car on Friday...

FYI Attached is the price list from ABC Anchors 143-SCREW PILE PRICELIST Apr2017 (2).pdf

Quick comparison for anyone who is interested. PSW vs Wunda is £208 vs £274, that is for an IBO pump on the PSW and a Wilo on the Wunda. Cheapest Wilo Yonos pump I can buy today is £79, so that makes the PSW set up £287, vs £274 for the Wunda. PSW comes with a 1 year warranty, Wunda comes with 5 years. PSW Pex-Al-Pex is £54 per 100m, Wunda Pert-Al-Pert is £63. So for a 300m 3 port setup, with 300m of pipe, total cost like for like (Wilo) is PSW £449, Wunda £463 And that doesn't include delivery which makes them basically the same price....

A shower head cannot improve water pressure over that from the supply, All a shower head does is trade off pressure for flow and change your perception ... a) With no holes in the shower head you would get best pressure but no flow. b) With lots of holes or one large one you would get no pressure but best flow. In between there are a range of possibilities. Shower heads with a few small holes tend towards a) where as big rain type heads tend towards b). A "good" shower generally needs adequate pressure AND flow rate, a combination that may not be possible from the supply. In which case improvements to the supply can be made (fatter pipes, pumps, accumulators depending on the cause). Before going down that route measure the static pressure and separately the flow rate (in L/Min) with NO shower head connected. If they are both good then it should be possible to find an acceptable shower head without needing to improve the supply. Some/many heads have restrictors or restrictions in them that effect both perceived pressure and flow. Some can be removed some not. In one case I took apart a shower head and drilled out a hole in the swivel ball to reduce the restricting effect it was having. Last time I looked a few advertiser's on Amazon mentioned they had removable restrictors. Some heads also have filters in them that get blocked/scaled.

You need to do a crocodile cut in the back of the insulation. Take thin wedges out of the inside of the curve to make it conform to the bend.

So the white one that went a mucky colour and got resprayes is still white after 2 years. The one we painted dark green was fine a few months ago which would be about a year after it was painted. Just have to watch for scratches as they show as white.

I use cable ties, but just pulled up tight enough to grip without cutting in, and aluminium tape around the joints (not sure there's much of a benefit to that, but it makes me feel better!)

It does make a difference as the wait is typically more than a few seconds. In our house, if I'm in the kitchen running the tap in the morning (before the boost/dhw return pump is running), it can be a good 2-3 mins before I get decent hot water to wash up - it's not even coming that far. If I've triggered the pump by using a bathroom, its a few seconds. I suppose it depends on your plumbing schema but I know @jack didn't do it (we used same plumber) and he does regret it. Not expensive really, price of a pump and a few extra m of piping.

I've always found the longevity of woven duct tape to be limited, particularly in exposed environments or heat. Aluminium duct tape ought to last longer, or at least I would hope so given the reliance on it for gap sealing etc, and so I tend to use that.

A new technology coming to mobile devices soon (already in the latest iPhones and maybe non-Apple ones too, I don't know) is a more accurate way of positioning devices in 3D space. It is known as Ultra Wideband (UWB). Rather than measuring signal strength it measures round-trip time. I suspect it will have a wider and a more fundamental impact that we can presently predict. It could, for example, allow highly precise indoor mapping. I suspect home automation will eventually be transformed by it. The technology adoption cycle: the impact of technology is generally over estimated in the short term but under estimated in the long term.

That's how Tesla's lock, unlock and start now. They detect BT at a range of about a metre, and unlock, set the driver profile, etc, so by the time you've opened the door and climbed in everything has booted and is running. They do the reverse when you get out, detect that your BT device is outside the vehicle, shut everything down and lock the doors. This needed a BT enabled device ('phone, tablet etc) either Apple or Android, but they've now released a hands-free remote that does the same thing. It seems to just have a very low power BT device that works the same way as a 'phone, with the same sort of encryption, that's just paired to the car, like any other BT device. Supposed to be secure and immune from a relay attack, although whether this remains true is anyone's guess, knowing how good hackers are at busting into stuff like this.

These were a water saving idea. They should have been a soap saving idea as you learnt the first time that there was not enough water to wash it all off.

In my last house build (okay it was 10 years ago) the MVHR was the best investment I made. Reading all the above posts has highlighted many things about the installation I took for granted at the time: 1. It had the silver flexible pipes on all connections to the unit which led onto rigid ducting throughout the house. I didn't realise they were silencers! 2. It was mounted in the loft but not directly on the ceiling, but on two A-frame horizontal joists. I plan to do the same - if there is no available joist I would add it just to mount the unit. 3. It was an Orcon HRV unit and ran silently, with the loft door closed we never heard it in operation on any setting anywhere in the house 4. It had no remote controls at all. It was a 'set and forget' on the internal control board dip switches. 5. Its humidity sensors only worked for about 2 years. When I tried to get replacements they implied the things never worked properly and they stopped supplying spares. Might it still be the case that humidity sensors are flaky? 6. It did need an annual clean/service/filter change. In spite of pretty dense filters dirt built up over time on the fan blades which were a b*ger to clean. I am now planning to install an MVHR in the next house and love the idea of the PIR to control the velocity in the bathrooms - and the DHW return pump! In the last house the DHW return pump was on a timer and although very convenient was probably quite inefficient. I am looking forward to much smarter MVHR controls in the next build. The interaction between MVHR and kitchen extractors has been covered in other threads, IMO you can't rely on increased velocity MVHR to take the place of the extractor, it simply wont be powerful enough.

We use the same circuit to trigger the DHW return loop pump so that when you walk into the room there is hot water near the tap when you need it.

We have that as well on our Sentinel but it proved too fussy to implement - would have needed a current detector on the CH supply to trigger the dedicated terminal on the MVHR controller. Didn't want a dedicated switch as all of our MVHR boost is automatic - motion detectors in bathrooms & also triggered by light switches in bathrooms plus the RH detector in the unit itself. We have a MVHR controller in the utility so I just nip in and hit the boost there - although don't get the benefits of the dedicated CH mode.

Kinetic B plus. Looking at the installation and commissioning document though the same control board and logic should be on; Kinetic B Kinetic BH Kinetic FH Kinetic B Plus Kinetic high flow

To support the point made earlier about other types of pile being cheaper than screw piles, I just had a look through my piling quotes and one company kindly gave prices for multiple systems for the same job, as follows (2018 prices; rough estimates only; only the piles themselves, not installation or other services): Screw piles: £8,400, requiring 30 piles to 4m. Steel cased driven piles: £4,600, requiring 20 piles to 6m. But vibration and noise. Hollow-stem bored grout injection system: £9,000+ and require 20 piles. As you can see, screw piles needed more piles as the shaft in comparatively quite slender so can take less of a load. It is also worthy of note that a ground beam, if needed, can cost more than the piles.

As I've mentioned in another thread, I went for vent-axia because of the controls functions, seemed to be way ahead of most of the others yet simple. Main thing for me is looking at mvhr all started due to the cost and disruption of getting an extractor over an island hob. The vent-axia unit I chose has a cooker mode which, via switch in kitchen will turn on to 100% extract and only 30% supply, you can change these figures to whatever you like though within reason. Critical thing is it opens the summer bypass to prevent fouling of the heat exchanger. It also humidity controlled which now fitted seems brilliant, jump in the shower and senses the moisture incredibly quickly and it progressively self manages the flow rates. I've wired in boost capability to the lights in the shower, but in retrospect it wasn't needed.

Which is exactly why Screw piles should be used more often. Ie; good ground but lots of trees. My point is that down south,( where we always seem to have to pay through the nose) A screw pile at £1k each ! I was told that they cost less than £300 each to buy from the supplier. A contractor told me he could do all 20 of mine in one day. £14k gross profit !!!!!! for a day

Piles are normally used to go down, often a long way, to a solid bedrock. Screw piles do not go the the bedrock but are held in place by the large surface area acting on the underground material. As piles are installed the torque is measured to determine the depth that is required.

Yes, in the example I watched welding was indeed prior to UFH-pipe laying. Yes. Its modelled thermally so the heat loss is quantified and the piles can be sheathed for their first section if needed.

I looked very long into screw piles. I think the same then you. They might be a decent idea if they where cheaper, but atm in UK they are just silly expensive and your much better off doing driven. Also H&S, plus mortgage/insurance/BC rules mean you need specialist contractor to help drive screw piles in (unlike US, where you can get away with installing them yourself with a 3t digger and a drill attachment). Had a look at ordering the screws themselves and they are fairly reasonable in price. Not much different then driven piles, material wise. But rules and regulations stopped me and when you look for screw pile contractors, you talking BIIIIG £££££. I also think that driven piles are a bit more solid than screwed, as concrete is much more difficult to fail then metal. I would always trust a RC pile to last 100years over a metal pile.

Ok I'm going to muddy the waters ? , I'm not a brickie and would be interested in anyone else opinion . Would it not be possible to cut existing blocks out on the window ( to make a proper bond ) then rebuild up the required 230mm ? It doesn't seem to be that big a job imho.

We bought a house in the late 1990s that had the loft converted into a large bedroom, complete with dormer window looking out over the rear garden. The survey revealed that this was boarded out with hardboard (covered with wallpaper), that the electrics were definitely DIY and dodgy and suggested that our solicitor checked the position wrg to planning and building regs. There was no record of either having been obtained. The vendor sorted out the planning with a lawful development certificate, we refused to accept this was a habitable room, and the vendors estate agents negotiated with their client to change the description of the house so this was no longer a bedroom, together with a price reduction. I was planning to rewire the house, fit a new kitchen, bathroom etc, anyway, so we went ahead and bought it. I never got around to making the loft room habitable, but this didn't matter in the end as we sold the house to an architect who was going to knock the house down and build another one on the plot... I would guess that stuff like this probably only comes to light when a house gets sold most of the time. As above, I just doubt there are the resources to go around looking to enforce breaches of building regs. In the case of the house we bought, the uninsulated loft bedroom had been used for two children, who'd since grown up and left home, so it had been like that for well over a decade.

@Big Jimbo It s done like this

Did you mean to type "The heating light is on"? If so that is your problem. Either the programmer is faulty or your times are set wrong.

I kind of get it, but this may help more. https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_difference_between_piled_raft_and_pile_group2

Though not clear, this is what PVGIS has to say , and show, about slope angle.

One should be careful of what one wishes for!!!

@BotusBuild Best plan is to buy a site loo from ebay. Renting one is very expensive. I bought mine for £500 delivered & have just sold it on ebay for £425 buyer collected. If I had rented one over 3 1/2 years would have cost a fortune. I used accompany called D-tox to empty, clean & refill it for £25 =VAT As my build has been sporadic there were long periods when it wasn't used so it didn't need servicing that often.

Thanks all! Good advice. Just spoke to the MD of a different timber-frame company this morning. When I mentioned this choice he also said emphatically to choose the concrete slab every time as it gives a much better result and he said it won't cost much more. And his company offers joist-floor solution! I will be visiting him next week and he said he has test-built examples at his factory of houses using both floor types to show me.

It seems to me there could be more potential problems with a metal web joist ground floor than concrete. So I would use concrete.

It is a combination of pipe diameter, cumalative resistance and pressure. There are two pressures, static (tap closed) and dynamic (tap open). https://www.copely.com/tools/flow-rate-calculator/

Go with concrete every time i'd say. I have timber joists in ground floor, and though i'm very thankful with it being 1960's, that i don't have to dig up old concrete to insulate it, you always have thermal bridging with timber, which you wouldn't with concrete, plus the thermal store as you've said. With timber there is also the element of ventilation to consider, which you wouldn't with concrete, and depending on what timber they use for it, the chance of insect attack, woodworm is horrible!

Says the person who doesn't bother actually researching such things. Why not get off your backside and go find out for yourself. Your apparent laziness is beyond belief. I do wish you'd stop treating our members with such contempt. You're not happy to be proved wrong in anything. You know nothing about building a house but act like no one else does either. I'll keep sniping here for as long as you are so rude and arrogant. I wouldn't put up with it face to face and a forum is no different.

we had to use them as a divider in our workshop -up to 8ft with butress --then metal stud wall up to roof absolute back breaker to work with blocks on the flat would be easier in hindsight

Starting to put in the exciting stuff. The stairs measurements were taken back in August and we then had to have a good think about what type of timber and finish we wanted. The vaulted ceiling had a bit more structural work and being the most interesting feature in the house and we decided that this would be good place to invest in a high finish and we decided go with a solid oak stairs and balustrade with toughened glass panels. Like many self builders we have adopted a fabric first approach and although not part of the building a good stairs to us is worth investing in. Before we could install the stair we had to get rid of the internal scaffolding and before we could do this we needed to finish any awkward decorating. In the summer I tackled the external painting and my wife is going to be doing the internal decorating. These bits were probably the most awkward in the house and with the caulking and painting done, the scaffolding could now be carefully taken down. I was working on the day of the stair installation, but had a quick glimpse early in the morning when helping to lift it into the house. The installation of the stair and balustrade was done in a single day by two joiners from Inverness and the following morning I was excited to see what had been done. When I went into the house my eye was more drawn to the velux windows which were all covered in the most amazing frost. Here is the best photo I could take on my phone. The three velux windows were like etched glass, hopefully this will happen again. And here are some of the stairs and balustrade taken today. We are very happy with the installation. The stairs feel solid on your feet, easy on the eye and pleasant on the hand. Finally, just to provide an update on my last entry regarding the stove. I did the first burn and was pleased with the results. The render/blockwork surround heated up well and retained a good temperature for a while afterwards. The air feed for the stove also worked well. Our house has a suspended timber floor, but hearth/stove are supported on a small slab which had a pipe buried into the concrete to allow a direct air feed to be drawn from below the floor. A bit different but work well for us. What’s next. At the point of posting this entry, as you might see in the photos, the kitchen and ground floor flooring are being installed and this will be covered in the next entry when this work is finished. Thanks for reading.

Wow - time goes fast! I guess I'll say that again....and again! We submitted the revised planning app - free as within a year - and that was approved with no comments. The revised design removed a couple of windows which has pleased the neighbours. Engineer co has been working with the architect so we have made a lot of progress in design terms while we did the planning app so had building regs design approval ahead of revised planning approval! In prep for the demolition I (with my helpful neighbour and his digger) sorted the services which included stripping out the front garden and some trees (these ones without TPOs!). We managed to have a lot of the house re-used by people building near by - internal doors, UPVC patio doors, kitchens and bathrooms - trading for some labour later. Plus my neighbour fancied the 20+m of balustrade - he's got the digger so that + some of his time and experience is a good trade! We have a pump station serving the lower 2 floors, sadly the location needs to change but the pumps and control system will all be reused so need to get the pumps out - pretty sure the tank will be wrecked coming out but that if that's all we need to replace that will be a good result. Demo firm engaged and they are fantastic (so far anyway) who have stripped out the inside while I worked frantically to get the pre-commencement conditions satisfied. My helpful (seriously) planning officer confirmed by email that we could do trenches for services, strip out internals etc without being classed as having "commenced". this week we had a meeting with the tree police to inspect our tree protection measures and check the working arrangements - I prepared a nice report for them and that went well so we can officially crack on with the demo. Time lapse camera installed on neighbour's roof (Brinno - seems a great product). Currently harassing engineer to provide reinforcement detail for floor so I can get quotes in for steel and ground works. Next week the demo then will be underway and I'll be trying to finalise the drainage design + spec for the floor slabs... Oh - CIL rules changed so our liability would have tripled! But all sorted now and next form for them will be after we finish.

We have a UNiQ eDual12 pcm58 which we use with a myenergi Eddi. We had a lot of early problems, partly poor communication with Sunamp (now a lot better) and partly with the controller, now replaced. Once fixed we have been 100% solar powered with only one recent tepid shower because we were seeing how long it would last without charging (4 days) So now all is happy with that, and a lot of thanks goes to JSHarris! We also have 2 x Dual4 pcm34 batteries, heated by a low temp Daikin ASHP, that went through the same problems as the pcm58 battery, but are now working with their new controllers, albeit never used in anger. In retrospect these were a mistake for various reasons (some ours), especially as each one was comfortably more expensive than the big battery. However, now we’ve reached the week when there is typically going to be insufficient solar to power the big battery and we’re starting to fire up the ASHP again for ufh, we’ll be experimenting with using the smaller batteries to preheat the water heading to the big battery. Will report back..... (Situation is a new energy positive certified Passivhaus)

It’s the crap LS-X or whatever you insist on using on joints...

Those pics show an area that is so tidy. I love it. You could always empty the contents of the hoover over the area to make a few of us feel better. Go on, i dare you.

Inexperience, got the same when I was a lad.

With all the energy to drive that lot, be better off just opening a window.

I wish I could add something constructive to this thread . It seems possibly plausible that @zoothornmight be interested in some walk on glazing ????

One should be careful of what one wishes for!!! Yes, it's just in the preferences; I'm still here though - as it's better than eastenders. I can't see a reason other than cost that you needed the collars lower. With more thought you could have insulated under the slab, but that's hindsight for you. I've got loads of issues on our gaff that aren't perfect, but its better to have it 50% right than 100% unbuilt, that is the only way of getting perfection in this game.

Frozen! I've never seen it.. prob only chap who hasn't.Ive moved on then.. but still on same window/ got this opening to remedy.

Your still clinging on for some reason trying to find a major structural fault with something which isn't an issue. For the sake of your own mental health and ours just move on.