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No excuse for breaking the law, it has to go otherwise a pressident will be set.

movement joint at every door, purposely set off centre to line up with under the door, so when tiled the movement trim is hidden under the door. This one has a sliding door face fitted to that wall.

No reply to email so I phoned and spoke to a very nice Joseph Unlike us he did have somewhere to live but was very sympathetic. I told him that we are in our seventies and that Chris has been diagnosed with cancer. The house was sold and we were being forced to live in a caravan. He was very sympathetic and treated us an "emergency". An engineer was despatched the very next day but brought a single phase meter. He organised for a three phase meter to come the next day which it did and is all fitted and working! The electricians were very good and came the same day to finish off some bits and pieces so that we now have lights! Sockets also work but not the heat pump yet. That is Chris's job and he has been otherwise engaged lately.

I arrived here looking for information on the same application that OP was interest in. I came across a new Johnson Controls six-port valve that would appear suitable. I know the OP will have solved their problem by now, but wanted to leave some details here in case others found it useful. The valves are VG1611BL (3/4") and VG1611AF (1/2"), and the actuator is VA9905-KGA-1. www.hvac-sanitary.co.uk have them in stock, and the price for the 3/4" valve and actuator is about £450 (inc VAT). This valve is somewhat novel in that it rotates 270 degrees to switch between the sources/destinations. Johnson Control have a video on YouTube that explains how this allows them to get more flow through the valve than competitor products. Not cheap, but a good solution if you need to switch both the flow and return lines of your heat pump between two destinations.

As above, you can't really tell what's going on until you measure it. From memory, you can set extract and supply fan speeds independently I think, to compensate for differences in resistance in the ducting. For info, we've got a single unit, and the humidity sensor (on factory settings) kicks in within a couple of minutes of turning the shower on; never have to use the manual boost.

The crazy thing is, this is in an area with very low density scattered housing, and there is a fair chance it would have actually got PP had he applied for it. but I guess now it has been built without, it's removal has to be enforced so as not to set a precedent. I also guess by building it on timber bearers he thought it might be classed as a portable building, but that does not avoid PP, just building control, but as a 2 storey house it would fail that as well. Someone has wasted an awful lot of money, either through ignorance, or arrogance?

I considered doing this in my house, rather than pull up all the concrete. In the end, i ripped it all up. When we first moved in the damp was terrible. Room always at 90% plus humidity. Started outside reducing the soil levels, then stopped the rain coming in chimney. That helpd a fair bit. Since then, plaster all removed. This had the single biggest effect. Within 3 months, the walls were dry. I could drill into them and dust would appear. Previously it was a slurry. But even then, you couls still see a darker patch at various points just above the floor. 4 months since the floor was removed, everything is totally dry. Walking across the bare earth floor creates dust. Humidity generally 65-75% .Lime crete goes down mid Jan As this is the first time getting involved in a non DPC property, i was sceptical about the theories put forward. Given where we are now, frankly, im amazed at the speed it dried itself out. Scarecly believable considering the state when we got it. The socket back boxes which are 600mm up from the floor had corrided away completely, they had been that damp for so long. As above, causes were, concrete floor with plastic underneath, modern gypsum plaster and excess outside soil levels. The thing is, every house is different, soil conditions, water levels all different, so you cant ever be 100% sure until its done. But id say, bite the bullet, take it up. Bear in mind, that any remaing concrete will still act as a barrier pushing the moisture sideways, so the limecrete section will need to disperse all the moisture from the floor are, but through a reduced footprint. Plus of course you can then install underfloor heating.

Report it to your DNO as a DANGEROUS condition. Important you use that word to get their attention. And don't touch it or poke it while you wait for them to attend. Their cable, their responsibility to fix it, but expect part of your garden to need digging up to feed a new cable in.

We Installed one of these. Seems to work ok. https://www.naber.de/en-thermobox-150-s13027/

What are you “painting” anything inside a stove or boiler soon burns off or acts as an insulator.

There looks to be a (probably plastic) terminal enclosure on the side of the compressor. If you can get the lid off that and take a photo of what you see inside that might help.

It's tempting to substitute airtightness products for others when you're building. The difference is only apparent months later. The flexible airtight sealent I used, (blue from a sausage) never really truly sets. Its like chewing gum, nasty if you get it where you don't need it or try to remove it. My brother looked over the scaffolding one day and declared it the worst thing he'd ever worked with such was its limpet like adhesion. Also for airtight tape. It seems to completely weld itself to any well prepared surface. Not instantly, but after a few weeks trying to remove it is almost completely impossible. I was so convinced I used it to seal our shower tray and bath. No leaks so far. I'm sure someone will tell me off....

We had no cooker hood for about 6 weeks, no issue with smells etc, but we didn't fry. If you are frying you need something to extract the grease that become airborne. Otherwise you will be trying to clean your ducts to the MVHR in a year or so. You also need a filter in the mvhr duct to catch the grease the cooker hood doesn't extract.

You want to do it properly but you're looking at caravans?! In all seriousness park the idea until you've got a realistic budget and cost expectation... or until your Father in Law has accumulated enough materials to do it properly ? wanting to do it properly but avoid planning and warrant because they're expensive is a complete misunderstanding of why we have those controls and what doing it properly means!

My "add an earth rod to your PME" was intended to apply to a situation where you are allowed to use PME. e.g. the sub main that feeds our house is PME and I have an additional earth rod at the house reinforcing the PME earth.

Slightly OT, but my "new" EV Charger is an old school design that requires TT earthing rod (much to the sparky's disgruntlement). It was installed with the SWA earthed at the meter head end, but not connected to the TT earthing rod at all at the charger end. The armour and spare earth core from the SWA are isolated floating loose inside the case. This is the correct way to provide a TT earth I understand?

I assume the intention is to cut through the crust of screed smeared over the separator shim already embedded at the door threshold. My guess is that if there is going to be movement a crack will open at the shim despite the few mm of screed over it. Maybe the objective is to provide a visual guide for later tiling.

Benefits Of Specifying Cemfloor Liquid Concrete Screed • No shrinkage, cracking, or curling. This quote is from the Cemfloor website. Therefore it seems that there should not be any cracking, and that this has been laid wrongly. I have not used this screed but responsible for thousands of m2 of concrete. With concrete, (which always shrinks) uncontrolled cracking is mostly down to 3 things. 1. too much water in the mix, for the ease of the workers. 2. absence of crack control 3. reflective cracking from a slab beneath, or some other weakness. 1. Is the likeliest in your case as it has happened so quickly and very wide cracks in the time. 2. Almost certainly, and would have allowed the cracks but in a more controlled fashion. 3. I don't think applies as you have poured onto PIR (?) As Nod and others say, this could come through any tiling /vinyl flooring you may install. I predict that your installer will say it is a) normal: refer to Cemfloor statement above. I'm surprised at other comments that this is normal. But normal is not the same as right. b) not a problem. In which case why is it a selling point with Cemfloor. c) easily remedied by filling with some cementitious stuff. I don't think so: other cracks may come later too. It is impossible to fill a rough crack unless it is wider, and they will likely just smear some stuff on the top. (Fill should mean to the whole depth. The cracks are extremely rough and jagged and liquid or paste will not pass through.) At the door, this cracking could almost have been guaranteed. The screed shrinks away from all the walls and of course fails across this weak line. The UFH pipes will be helping somewhat as a light weight reinforcing mesh, so it would probably have been worse without it.

Buy a small, cheap one. Go carefully.

Another with a recirculating hood and mvhr. We did use the kitchen for about a year before we installed the hood, it did not seem to cause a problem, but it just looked wrong without it.

Now that @Jilly, thats below the belt. Having watched a couple, the only peron I would wish such a procedure on is Donald Trump. Follwed by a prolapse and an anal fistula or two

You've never been in a house in the UK that you thought was too hot? I find that surprising. I've been in several. As for cooling the floor, to save me repeating myself, have you read any of the several threads on floor cooling? Having worked in air-conditioned offices for many years in Australia, I find floor cooling to be a much more comfortable way of cooling a space than air cooling. One hot day is fine. A couple is okay. It's when you get a run of several hot days that the heat gradually creeps up. Having cellulose insulation in the walls and roof is a blessing and curse - it buffers heat really well, but when it eventually warms up, it has a lot of energy to re-radiate into the house. It takes days to heat up, and days to cool down. We don't have insect screens (something I'll definitely be addressing eventually), so we can't ventilate at night. We do have an ASHP and concrete floors with UFH, so it makes sense to cool them. We also have a lot of PV, so on sunny days, cooling is effectively free - I only tend to run the cooling during the day when the sun is up. These are more interesting questions imo. This year, much of summer was mild and very overcast. We only used it for maybe a week. Maybe two or three years ago we had a couple of multi-week hot, sunny periods with high overnight temperatures. I believe we ran the underfloor cooling for at least a month or maybe even six weeks over the course of three or four months that year. At a guess, I'd say we've averaged three or four weeks of cooling across the summer over the last six summers since we moved in.

I doubt we can do that. It will be 2 out of several connections to the compressor. If you can post some more close up pictures of the compressor showing all the different connections going into it, then it might just be possible to identify it, if it happens to be on a separate connector, but it could well be all the connections go through one big multi pin connector. If I were going to try energising R1 to try and dry it out, I would be attempting to make the connection for the temporary power at the unplugged relay.

My previous post gave you the cause of the problem. The compressor is working but an internal heating element in the crankcase is faulty (R1). Obviously replacing the compressor would clear the fault but may be unnecessary if the heating element Insulation Resistance can be restored. Leaving relay KA6/2 permanently out of circuit will clear the fault but may compromise the operation of the compressor in the long-term. An electrician who has an insulation resistance checker could monitor the actual condition of the element and if not too much leakage current, could power the element in an attempt to dry out the moisture that's causing the breakdown. That would be my approach.

R1 is listed as compressor crankcase heater. Seems as though there's an Insulation Resistance breakdown in the compressor housing. Running that heater element in isolation (not via an RCD) may restore its integrity. Moisture may have been accumulating and now we're in the colder seasons the heater is coming on and tripping. Infrequently used cooker elements have the same habit of tripping when used for the first time in a long while.

Fault finding by substitution rarely works. You are suggesting replacing the most expensive part, that requires an FGAS engineer to degas the system, swap the compressor, leak test the reworked pipework and re gas it. And all that might prove is there was nothing wrong with the compressor. Please seek out a better electrician first, someone that has experience of machinery / control systems would be good.

No, this is permanent kiosk. It's all staying here. It's about 40 metres to the plant room for the planned house and 45 metres to the caravan (which of course is only temporary). The kiosk was positioned 35 metres from the pole, being the furthest it could go without needing a 'mains extension' and lots of extra cost apparently. I already plan a TT earth rod at the caravan, which will be within about 3 feet of the CU. As I said earlier, the SWA will be terminated via a gland to a plastic junction box just underneath the caravan CU, so as to isolate the earth. So, back to my original point, can the SWA for the caravan supply be earthed to the PME supplied at the head? In the longer term, more of a plan will be created for what will be connected there and if an earth rod is needed at the kiosk, then so be it. In fact, if I'm better to install an earth rod now, then I will, it's not as though it's very hard, is it? As a further point, the 2 meter boards that are fitted into the kiosk were supplied by UKPN. They are fire retardant chipboard and have been spaced using spacers they provided. I now want to add a further boarded area to fill the space in to the right, but my local leccy wholesaler told me that I'm not allowed to space the boards off any more and that they need to be direct onto the brickwork? Any intel on this? It'll obviously make the install a bit of a shyte show.

This is an extension, so anything attaching to that would also be considered and dealt with as a side and rear extension. So it looks like you have two areas in which it would not meet PD.

@Jamier Have you seen this.. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/158/additional_storeysextending_upwards

I would ask him to check with his accountant who will (should) confirm that it should be zero rated and if he does get him to invoice you correctly and refund the vat to you. HRMC will not refund what they class as your mistake.

You will have to persuade them. Perhaps issue them a "certificate" as mentioned in VAT 708. HMRC don't require one but it sometimes help convince trades.

VAT708 isn't an easy read but para 2.2 says.. So an Electrician or Plumber doing "supply and fit" should zero rate both labour and materials. In your case a lot depends on the invoice.. 1) If its just for screed then it should include VAT as that's materials and you can reclaim it. 2) If it covers screed, pump and operator then the whole lot should be zero rated to you. As per para 2.2. 3) if two invoices (screed, pump & labour) then screed would be inc VAT. Pump and labour zero rated. 4) If three invoices (Screed, Pump hire and labour). The one for screed shoud include VAT which you reclaim. The labour should be zero rated. Pump hire should be standard rated and not reclaimable.

Came across website by misttake- Brilliant! Starting our second new build with a lot to learn!

It could not have been good quality tiles, my neighbour (a tiler by trade) tiled his garage with porcelain tiles and he jacks his cars up, does his own mechaniking etc etc and apart from oil stains in the grout it still looks good years afterwards.

Will check Dave but I think it’s the angle I’ve taken the photo at with regards to window. The plan was 2 courses of brick over the top windows as I also hate the windows touching the soffits. Not sure what went wrong but they had it done as you said. We compromised on cutting back the roof and using at 150ish fascia and soffit to give 1 course over the windows. I think it looks good but may not be able to see it in the pictures remove duplicate elements

Both (/all) access points need to be on the same phase! Ideally, on the same ring main / breaker. Don't plug it into an lead/socket with any sort of surge protector / conditioner / isolator. Plug directly into the wall socket, not an extension lead/splitter. Finally, throw it out and run some cat6. A bit of cable stapled to the skirting never goes out of style.

Ubiquiti +1

I'm not sure I agree with any of that! For our new build, £14k for a full plumbing + ASHP installation vs £11k for Gas boiler from our builder. Have mains gas as an option but both builder & architect strongly encouraging ASHP, hoping with the £5k grant to smooth the transition. My research suggests they are entirely appropriate for certain properties, entirely inappropriate for others - our new build being an ideal case for ASHP. Whilst no expert in heating systems, I am a Mechanical Engineer with a career in Energy Sustainability - long term Electricity is the answer -vs- Fossil fuels, from a political point of view (Russia & OPEC) from a sustainability point of view (cheap Renewables & self generation). Throw in storage & Nuclear and 'green government taxing fossil fuel' vote winning its a no brainer over the next several years. Hydrogen is a laughably hopeless cause for anything other then large industrial equipment.

Is there a soft-start device? Have you any way of testing the capacitors? (top right of first piccy) Try seeing where that orange wire on the relay socket goes to..

Hi SBMS Having renovated our bungalow 4 years ago and installing an LPG boiler at the time, and then converting to an ASHP this year, I would say that if you are going to "leave the door open" for a future ASHP you'd better do a dummy run of the requirements before hand and prepare, because retro fitting one through your new building could be a right pain in the backside. @joth is of course completely right. Your only fighting to keep the heat in. If the building is resistant enough you can get away with very little heat. The additional cost of insulation and airtightness versus the cost of installing and running heating means that as my brother says either way you pay. But the difference is if you stay to reap the rewards. The ASHP, MVHR, PV and EV combo suits us.

Welcome @SBMS, unfortunately @Dave Jones must have had a bad experience with an ASHP as he is very negative about them, and don’t we know it? however there a quite a few here that have them and are very happy with them. Yes they are not like gas and produce hot water slowly but if designed correctly work very well. For example my house is well insulated but not quite passive levels and my 5KW ASHP keeps the house at 21’ with UFH downstairs only and a couple of electric towels rads upstairs. You will need a larger DHW tank and mine is full of 48’ water which is too hot to shower under and quite adequate fir all other uses. Mine can hardly be heard. Yes teamed up with PV would be a good as well. I bought my ASHP on EBAY cheap and installed it myself. Others will be along shortly with their experience.

I wouldn't. But try to get rid of most dust on the surface, and wet it. Then try to force some mortar into all the surface and corners you can, before mass filling. If you keep the mortar on the dry side at first to see how it handles, it will then stay in place. but if too wet it will run and slump. You can either fill it flush and trowel smooth ot leave it shy, and later add a finish. Don't over worry.

It’s just shrinkage I normally put an expansion joint in all doorways Or at least cut a line across the opening with my trowel

We initially employed an Architectural Technologist who presented a number of design suggestions, none of them worked for us as they were very unimaginative. None of the ideas would provide us with the functional family space that also gave us a design that inspired us as a place we wanted to be in and spend the money developing. Because we were starting off with a bungalow, all the AT did was set in his mind we needed a loft extension. We live in an area where the planners are very particular because of its world heritage status and Georgian architecture and this AT was just too worried about the planners. We sacked the AT after a very frustrating 6 months of messing around with ideas only to meet with an architect who within a week sent a scanned sketch of his proposed design that would transform the house in exactly the way we wanted, giving us a full two storey house with loads of space. Then we discussed the planners and he listed all the design elements he would add to the planning application that would distract the planners enough to ask for changes to the application that wouldn't impact our designs very much, if at all. And because he understood the nature of the local architecture, he was able to talk with the planners to explain how our design incorporated influences from the historical nature of the city in such a way as to complement existing architecture. Our application did go to planning committee but he presented at that committee and the application flew through. From a design perspective, our architect got it spot on and he suggested ways in which we could use the landscape to enhance the house. We are on a fairly steep slope and he designed the house upside down so that we have a bridge going from the living area straight to the level of back garden, for example. The design also fully takes advantage of the views we have over the valley, which the AT never even considered. So the architect considered the context of the design. One very interesting thing I noticed recently was that the asymmetrical design of the house means that the windows follow the shape of the landscapoe they're looking out on - which makes the space much better to be in. Design wise, I wouldn't hesitate to use an architect again. From a technical detailing perspective, however, he was incredibly frustrating, but if you use an architectural practice, you should be able to get someone onto the detailing.

This is a bug bear of mine on this forum - I have two. The first is how some go on about how 'perfect' and 'precise' their slab, frame whatever is. This caused me a.lot of stress early on when things weren't quite perfect. I now know enough to know that building ain't perfect - it doesn't matter as long as the end result is correct. I.e. insulation, air tightness and look. The second is costs. I think people like to delude themselves/be able ro brag how little their build costs and kit all sorts of things such as plot etc. How can that not be included- its a build cost. Yes it will vary depending in region (which is the excuse most use for ommitting) but then so do labour costs, do they omit those? Nope. People on here love to massage the numbers. Not many will give you a true 'total' cost. My dislike for this stems from the fact that the unwary will.read this and factor it into their costings and come a cropper. For myself, every single spend I have that would not have arisen if I wasn't self building is a 'build cost'. Simple. 'Sat quietly now waiting for the I built my house for less than £1000/m2 people to pipe up?'

A quick update. Just finished attending to the Sunamp PVs and I now have hot water! I can only speak as I find and Sunamp have delivered with fantastic customer service, admittedly they could not recommend a local service engineer, but talked me through the process including FaceTime. Far too often support from companies are promised and often fall short, not Sunamp. Maybe I was lucky. Thank you to all here and I hope I have saved Nickfromwales writing lengthy instructions.

I have been through the process. Instigated a Stage 1 Complaint over the council's handling of a parking issue. It hinged on them saying I hadn't supplied required evidence with an appeal. I had via emails and recorded delivery. They chose to ignore this and escalated the matter and costs until bailiffs were threatened. This was pre Covid and it was pretty grim dealing with them, receiving faceless letters with no point of contact. I won and got a formal, signed apology but it was pretty stressful and something of a hollow victory. Helped no end having a brother who's a barrister and had worked for an LA in that capacity.

All I can say is I am glad my build is finished, missed planners not talking, missed shortage of materials and high prices, I am very lucky, I don’t envy anyone trying to deal with any of the above.

No, this covers existing Septic Tanks. There was talk about it being unlawful to sell a property that didn't conform, but that got reduced to a contracted agreement that the new owner would fulfil the obligations as soon as reasonably possible. Edited to add: This is how it is specified in England. Existing systems are those installed prior to 2015, they get relaxed rules, but the drainage field requirement is still required. Existing discharges: what this means You have an existing discharge to ground if all of these points apply to you: the discharge was already happening before 1 January 2015 you have not changed the discharge from surface water to ground you have not moved the location of the discharge or, if you have, it is still within 10 metres of the previous location you have not changed the volume of the discharge or, if you have, it’s not more than 2 cubic metres (2,000 litres) to ground If so, check if you can meet the general binding rules for existing discharges. You will not need an environmental permit if you can Rule 5 of the General Binding Rules for existing discharges: Use the correct treatment system (rule 5) You must use a septic tank or a small sewage treatment plant to treat the sewage and then discharge the waste water to ground through a drainage field. A septic tank is an underground tank where the solids sink to the bottom, forming a sludge, and the waste water flows out to a drainage field. A small sewage treatment plant, also known as a package treatment plant, works in a similar way to a septic tank but uses mechanical parts to treat the waste water to a higher standard before it goes to a drainage field. A drainage field, also known as an infiltration system, is a series of pipes with holes placed in trenches and arranged so that the waste water can trickle through the ground for further treatment. The system you use must meet the relevant British Standard. Discharges through drainage mounds can meet the general binding rules as long they are not in floodplains and they are located, designed and constructed in line with the recommendations in British Standard BS 6297:2007. This is a link to the English General Binding Rules https://www.gov.uk/guidance/general-binding-rules-small-sewage-discharge-to-the-ground#existing-and-new

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