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Hi all. For the self builder here are a few practical observtions. Can anyone else chip in? If you are self building your frame will often be out in the rain a lot longer. Engineered joists require a lot of other stuff to make them work and you need to know how you supervise that to ensure you have all the other bits that make a long span Engineered Joist work. One reason they are cheep in terms of spanning is that they they are working a lot harder / efficiently, they rely much on bracing, stiffeners and so on. In summary, they are very much less forgiving than a solid bit of timber. There is a big difference between the self build and the major house market. If you are self building it maybe takes you longer. Also, you could be employing a general local builder rather than an experienced specialist kit erector with all the site / quality controls in place... yes there are many large house builders that don't deliver on this. Say you have an Engineered joist where the web is glued to the flange... then although the manufacture's say they use water proof glue they caveat this a lot in terms of what you need to do to look after them during construction. Perhaps take a 1.0m length off cut of a glued Engineered Joist, soak it in a barrel a few times to reflect a self build application, take it out and hit it with a hammer... then decide if that is the right thing for your application. You may find that the flanges separate from the web pretty easily. The ones with the metal webs are essentially mechanically fixed and seem to be a bit more forgiving in terms of the self build where things might be out in the rain longer. Russell makes a good point on the deflection /vibration so consider his advice. A 10.0m span is not small so be very careful! In summary, sometimes for the self builder perhaps look at your own circumstances in terms of budget, programme and then match the materials to give you the best outcome and reduce your financial risk?

Good. Ask them if they can do a screeded pitched floor and do away with a lot of the expense. All you need then is tanking and a waste / trap. Give them the money you would have spent on the tray, and I assume you'd be screeding anyways so 2 birds ( lol ) one stone.

Oddly, if it is spanning over a load bearing wall it may improve the structural strength as you will transfer the tension in the chord past the wall into the next room. I would still be checking the pricing though as the variation sounds too big. Some builders like JJI joists as they can be adjusted on site - a luxury you don’t get with a posi joist.

You should have a starter track to start the cladding, this is a metal trim with holes for ventilation but stops bugs and vermin. You can can make your own with stainless steel mesh or wool. Must have ventilation and be able to allow any moisture to escape. Lots on here have clad the bit below dpc with either a cement board or upvc or just render.

You need to look at the standard deflection rates, then specify you want it better, I wouldn’t want anything at a 10m span, and I would also really look at avoiding 600 centres. You are only going to get one chance to do that floor, spend your money on that and take £2000 out of your kitchen budget, you can always upgrade that, but you will hate a bouncy floor forever.

While Oak is expensive Iroko is long lasting and looks similar and less expensive I used Idigbo for my gates for the same reason Looks very similar to oak Or you could use pressure treated softwood But won’t last

Thanks, that’s good as I have the Wunda pump set (as yet uninstalled) which has a mixer with a lowest temperature setting of 30 degrees but plan to run the ASHP a bit less than that when in UFH mode. I like the idea of keeping the mixer as a protection for overheating the floor just in case something goes wrong. Of course, wasn’t thinking.

You can all go and do one! It's the one half decent bit of this place! ?

I did seriously look at those click together formers. Really, really happy mind with how mine came out.

You're telling me it's finished? *faints*

Sorry, misplaced sarcasm on my part, as @Onoff's bathroom in fact took longer to finish than some of the wonders of the ancient world.

If that happens when you have used Speedfit it must just be lack of experience. It's not a problem I've found using it. Set and match.

There are 2 options available; 20-60oC or 30-50oC @Russell griffiths You need the 20-60oC @PeterW These drop down very low and are super-reliable too. A standard thermo-mechanical(?) TMV struggles at 30oC and starts whining and strangling the flow the second it runs out of cold return water to use for blending. I've been fitting these Ivar's on just about every project so can vouch for them doing what they say on the tin, and reliably, particularly on low-energy & 'passive' builds. Pump UK Mixing Kit £243.36 inc VAT Ivar Uni-Mix Underfloor Heating Pump Mixing Kit This is a well engineered Manifold Pump Mixing Unit manufactured in Italy, offering excellent flow rates, with an adjustable water temperature range from 20° C to 60° C making this perfect answer when commission the underfloor heating system for the first time and need to build up the heat very slowly and avoid cracking on a screed floors.

The OP is proposing a building... attached or not that exceeds 30sq.m so all the other ‘exemption’ criteria is irrelevant. But yes... for conservatories under 30sq.m would need to meet the other exemption rules for them to not require BR approval.

Just divert the rainwater from the roof to a different soak away, job done. https://www.eden.gov.uk/planning-and-building/building-control/building-control-guidance-notes/rainwater-soakaway-design-guidance/

Welcome.

Ask them the minimum temperature the valve will go to - I think it’s 42c from memory which isn’t low enough for ASHP and a decent insulation level.

Backlit niches are for Abigail's Party and nightclubs run by Michael Flatley.

Yes . They are expensive for what they are but takes 5 mins to install

To minimise any moving of walls/ doors etc, and still keep a tray (if you don't want tiles to a fall as recommended above), then like this. Linear drain in the tray can still be applied against the top wall. Then it's up to you how you screen it off with shower screens, can be creative here to make any shape.

You can either form them yourself like I did: Or buy them ready made like @pocster has just done. (I was limited on depth).

That may be good enough for the SE providing they are deep enough and don't show wild variation. Boreholes don't usually measure the load bearing strength of the ground though, we had lots of dynamic probing - basically a small rig progressively whacks a metal rod into the ground up to 10 m deep and measures the resistance for each whack. Some of these are then bored to about 4m to get the soil analysis. You need both sets of data to really know what you have going on, plus a desk survey to understand what's been there before. We waited until after planning was achieved before commissioning SEs etc and we got quite a few related conditions that were addressed in the subsequent GI report (mostly relating to soil contamination reporting etc.).

Could you move door D4 to the right so it opens towards the window? That'd free up a square corner in the bathroom for a decent sized shower. I'd still square off that V though. With hindsight I might have had the wc on my squared off corner and had a walk in shower in the adjacent corridor through the old doorway!

Do keep in mind that the SE need never come to site and can be based anywhere. They just need the necessary data - detailed site survey, ground conditions report (best to ask them in advance what they need to see in it) and the detailed design of the above ground structure, point loading etc. and the below ground layout from your architect. You can use one SE do do the whole house design or use one for above and one for below ground. If you're doing a timber frame package, they will provide their own SE for that bit - in the MBC case, they also use the same one for their slab design. The challenge with basements (and groundworks in general to be fair) is that you don't know the actual cost and whether you can afford it until you know what's under your feet and that will involve spending money, some of which may be a bit speculative if the final numbers don't work in your favour. However that is much cheaper than the alternative of committing to the project and having an unpleasant surprise mid construction.

We went straight to the SE specified comprehensive GI survey, boreholes & dynamic probes. Historical maps showed that we were on the edge of an old landfill site so potentially made ground (which would have meant piling). Old house was also in situ so we needed to pick areas right next to it that were representative of the basement footprint. Was not cheap and we could maybe have done better with another contractor but we got there in the end. We were also clay over gravel over chalk the latter can be like Swiss cheese (as its soluble) and it bulks up crazy when excavated. When you understand your ground water conditions, you can decide on the waterproofing strategy. 3 options really, 1) External membrane - works but needs to be carefully applied and protected during backfill. If you get a leak then will be hard to find out where it is. 2) Waterproofed concrete, water bar on joints etc (we used this system) - reliable but should come with an insurance backed warranty, ours was Sika and their rep was onsite regularly checking quality of work. Works well with ICF but you can't see the quality of the pour due to the insulation. 3) Internal membrane with sump and pump - needs a good backup strategy if pump fails (sometimes dual pumps are used), power cuts etc. Best practice is to have two of the three but as our water was low (6m) we just went with option 2 and have had no issues. Backfill is also key - we used clean stone (fist sized) with a land drain to soakaway at the bottom - means any rain or surface water won't hang around.

Less than 10%. We are limited by dno export capacity to 3.64kw. The small increase pvgis showed in winter by altering the panel angle still amounted to bugger all in an absolute sense.

I fitted the the clips and as you say I used different colours. That is the reason I like Speedfit for DIY because it's foolproof. If you haven't tightened/twisted the fitting then you can't fit the clip. The clip isn't needed from a safe fitting point of view because it requires some effort to untwist the fitting and knocking it certainly won't release the pipe. It's funny nobody mentions the fact that you need a special device to undo Hep2O fittings.

If you are attempting to use PV to run a stand alone system ALL year then you will be sizing it for Dec/Jan insolation (In the UK at least). You will obviously capture more energy if the panel angle is optimised for those months. About 75 degrees or so. PVGIS is the way so model these things.

Square the corner off, put the toilet on the squared off wall (could use a back to wall frame) and then put the shower where the WC should be and move the basin left ...

Every UFH manifold needs a pump and a TMV. TMV’s cannot be pumped through, they have to be ‘sucked’ on, ergo a pump needs to be downstream of a TMV in a heating setup. TMV caps the max temp the floor will ever see, I’m sure there’s a reg there but moot unless you intend to not fit one. You should not ( cannot ) rely on an external Ctrlr to guarantee that the slab / screws won’t see the max temp of the heat source, so if said Ctrlr failed, on an ASHP, you could get up to 55-60oC floor temp which will cook anything that’s not high-temp tolerant, plus it would be a health hazard ( if a toddler or elderly were to end up on it ) or if anyone walked onto it barefooted etc hence the reg. UFH manifolds need the local pump to circulate water through the loops, and the ASHP circulation pump send the water to / from the manifold. Think of it like a figure 8, with the two circuits being connected but hydraulically separate eg both pumps can circulate at different flow rates without conflicting with one another. The IVAR blending set also has an inbuilt bypass ( so the ASHP pump never sees a closed circuit ).

When the snow starts, Heidi will be moving in ....

I demand a re-match !!

Made to measure.. https://www.versital.co.uk/bathroom-products-2/bespoke-shower-trays/ No idea of cost. Oops just seen they start at £650.

It's definitely a niche thing...

Then do it to the walls and as remarked but shelves in. Or a corner shower seat for when you become old and decrepit, and to sit on to clip your nails and shave your pelt.

Think I fancy pixie Lott - just saying - bet she knows everything about ufh .

Just imagine what you could cook up in @JSHarris garage with his collection of ex military submersible spare parts..