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2 days in. I am worn out and my arms ache. Was a short day today due to the way the ground floor is divided up (28 m^2 so only 4 tonnes of barrowing). Last day tomorrow and I can go for a long lie down. Just under 6 tonnes to go!

Unless the joist end/s are not supported then I would say the post is not needed. A single nail is sufficient as the post would be in compression so that isn’t a good indicator. for piece of mind you could put an acro at the side, remove the post and then lower the acro a small amount (loose nail at top to stop it walling over). You may find the floor above a bit springy without the support

Just spoken to BC and they have confirmed a Landlord's Safety Cert will do. Phew!

I echo markc, all the shower trays I've fitted, the seals underneath, most of time the top part is a bit of foam or plumbers mate, it does nothing. The only exception are former tray wastes, impey, akw etc, that's not this 👍

Hi, drains are usually a two part affair where you screw top part into lower section trapping the tray and seal between. They rarely start to leak unless disturbed. main seal is under the tray … seams strange to many but the top one does very little. Any water getting under top seal drops into larger bowl underneath, when this fills it’s seal should prevent water escaping under the tray.

Check water level, may be that the cistern is not filling correctly and this is causing the poor or non existent flush

Don't forget plenty of older houses never had doubled up joists around openings like stair wells, and they don't often fall down because of that. As above I would try it and see.

Are you referring to RHI? With RHI you can install a ASHP with cooling enabled, we did and also declared it as such. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-and-social-schemes/domestic-renewable-heat-incentive-domestic-rhi/applicants/eligible-heating-systems. Also, MCS 020 (permitted development guidelines) doesn't say anything about cooling from what I remember either. Indeed since at least 2017 RHI did not disallow cooling (it just did not include estimated cooling demand into the payments, and if they required metered for billing the meter had to be setup to record heating only). I think more practically, MCS training does not cover cooling and/or gives some dire warnings about the complications. So most installers refuse to touch is as they don't want to willfully install something they know they've not been trained in. No amount of people on here declaring how easy it is to DIY will move the liability factor someone trying to run a company will have on their mind. So between permitted development, historic RHI limitations, and the above MCS reluctance means any manufacturer selling into the UK needs a way for the installer to disable cooling (or it be disabled by default) so that it is not violating planning laws, grant conditions, or the installer's own contracted agreement with the customer. Thus all these dip switches, hidden menus and silly coding resistor. As for the price gouging by Valliant, I know it's easy to assume some mastermind conspiracy to extort their customers, but I'd be willing to bet they have a single UK distributor that has decided to try given the current heatwave and/or "supply chain issues", and found at this moment some people willingly paying it so they are leaving the prices there. Give it until winter and I bet the price will settle again. If you think about it even the 50 EUR prices is extortionate for the manufacturing cost of the part so everyone is just playing the game of charging whatever the market will bear.

I am still waiting for this forum to do it's public service and determine without any doubt the exact value of this very expensive resistor.

I agree that this is borderline criminal from Vaillant and its UK Suppliers. It would be nice if someone were to request an explanation from Vaillant as to the price disparity from Europe in particular! It would be good to setup a table of pros & cons for various heat pumps for future reference. Recently this forum discovered the high standby electricity use of certain systems and now this from a different supplier. These are certainly points that savvy interested prospective buyers would like to know about.

go with board on board, no gaps, no issues.

Your house will burn down in the blink of an eye. The only reassurance is looking at the numbers and then the probability. How many houses in England ? how many houses burnt down this week ? calm down a bit and have a think. I lived in oz and they made some significant changes to building design following a major fire and many deaths. So you can design it out if you want, but you will need to scrap your design and go back to the drawing board, or look at the probability of it happening and carry on. A friend of mine had a whole house external sprinkler system set up on his roof, you could do that or again look at the odds, he was in a mountainside location where temperatures reached 30 plus for 3/4 of the year, a whiff of a flame and it would rush up the mountain. I think what happened yesterday was just very unfortunate and probably very unlikely to happen again.

they are all the same - difficult if you leave it to dry out, easy if you don't

I believe they only module down to a certain point though. If that point is too high, you could have cycling problems.

Thanks guys, cladding with cement board, or hardie, and so on sounds like another level of complicating it. Adds to fitting time / fiddliness, and costs as much as 25% to 30% of what I paid for the charred wood. I think good UV membrane is going to have to suffice on this one. Perhaps I will adjust my gaps to something like 5mm, so that come Winter cold, the gaps become wider.

the joist forming the opening (trimming and trimmer) look to be a size larger than the joists, as they should. this being the case the newel will not be load bearing, but as mentioned previously the joist may flex a bit more though shouldn't as there is no reason/need for that point to be supported as opening correctly formed.

It can yes. Although the two parts become difficult to move over time so a bit of fiddling shouldn’t disturb anything, in reality they can be a pain to remove without breaking them

👍 Think your right. Good to check options first though.

I can't remember, that was just what he gave me, and BC accepted it. I did think it strange as (in this instance) I am not a landlord. It seems if you are selling a property and want the gas checked for the buyer, you still get a landlords certificate. It is as if the "system" is not geared up (like the electrical regs are) for a proper general purpose test report.

My discharge application has been submitted and paid for today, I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, this just came up... https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/housing/norfolk-homes-nutrient-neutrality-breakthrough-hopes-9159928 Progress....

Think I found it but reached out to them... https://www.plumbers-mate-sales.co.uk/dudley-dio-51mm-dual-flush-pneumatic-push-button---08001374-288-p.asp

Ours (Siberian spruce) contracted (is still contracting?) a little. The original gap was 8mm: it is now 10 or more. 'Butting Up' I take to be laying the planks flush, side by side. If I'm right and your wood also shrinks then, over time, I think a small gap will open up. Thats the rationale for board on board cladding. In relation to @Russell griffiths post above, here's a YT link to a superb Kiwi craftsman whose work I have come to admire: sometimes he uses shadow gaps in his ply - but inside. He 'makes' his own shadows like this ..... He calls it negative detail

Can you take a photo showing the flusher system?

Our design flow rate is actually 285m3 for some reason, not sure where they got this from! We are 315m2, but ceiling is 2.5m downstairs and 2.4m upstairs making the total volume 780m3 (excluding loft). If you average you room heights, your volume seems to be around 775m3, so almost excactly the same! Building regaulations requirement would be 340m3h based on area for our house (or 310m3/h in your case). Passive house guidelines give 230m3 for of us (300m3/h boost and 120m3/h miniumum), So, looks like it makes sense to reconfigure ours to use the passive house numbers, and then (once I get the Loxone integration working) use the low setting more often e.g. when we are out.

I think the words load bearing are confusing. Its not holding up the roof its not holding up a jumbo jet but I definitely think it is assisting that joist and helping with removing flex. Remove it then go up stairs and jig about a bit, I bet that joist has an unhealthy amount of bounce.

Can you get under the tray? 1, to see if it is leaking and 2, to assist or enable replacement. seal shouldn’t perish but as this appears to have squeezed out the trap may have been turned, tearing or distorting the seal. replacement is pretty straightforward if you can reach under to clean up around the hole and hold bottom of trap while re tightening.

Yes that’s the idea, removes water from the wall but leaves the founds as they were.

I believe cooling is allowed by the government rules: The ASHP must be able to supply the full heating AND hot water needs of the property, but what else it can do beyond that is not constrained in the current published guidance https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/boiler-upgrade-scheme-guidance-property-owners The only wrinkle is it does require the ASHP to be MCS certified, which runs into the MCS reluctance to support cooling I mentioned up thread.

I had my simple LPG install connected and signed off by the local gas safe installer. All I got was that rather pathetic looking Landlords Safety certificate. Building control accepted it. He seemed to do all the right checks, drop test, tested flame failure devices etc.

I don't think its that simple. Landlord safety cert is just that - a safety check on existing gas pipes and equipment. The Building Regs require something very different for the install and commissioning of new kit, My understanding is the certificate is supplied by the GS engineer via Gas Safe and then Building Control (see gas safe website).

Assuming your concrete floor is dry (DPM underneath) then the wood fibre is fine straight on top. If it’s an old concrete floor with no DPM under then I would use a underlay with membrane.

That is an excellent suggestion. I should have thought of that, since I have done it occasionally that way on the electric side. Do you get LGC certified plumbers from the list on the regulator website, if such exists? Where would @Jilly find the register?

No pressure test of incoming mania vs sum output of the control group > UVC. I always fit a secondary pressure gauge after the control group so the client can simply glance at it to confirm correct / safe function of the control group. Easier then, than checking the oil in your car. Installers taking unbalanced cold feeds to mixer taps allowing at-source incoming mains pressure to back-feed into the UVC via the hot feed. Insufficient EV capacity for larger systems and those with an HRC. EV’s not inspected regularly to recognise when one has lost its pre-charge. Same with rusting EV’s which then just pop. List goes on…..

Somebody "encouraged" you to support the cause?

https://www.resol.de › 48005...PDF DeltaSol® BS Plus - Resol

Are you referring to RHI? With RHI you can install a ASHP with cooling enabled, we did and also declared it as such. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-and-social-schemes/domestic-renewable-heat-incentive-domestic-rhi/applicants/eligible-heating-systems. Also, MCS 020 (permitted development guidelines) doesn't say anything about cooling from what I remember either.

Have you tried working from the other end and asking the folk that are doing the superstructure who they recommend and like to work with. By "like to work with" I mean things like how what do the piling folk leave behind in terms of setting out, finish etc.. are they on the end of the phone and so on if there is a query. Have confidence in yourself. Yes it's not a box but you can set stuff like this out ok with the right approach. Ring beams / piles are generally designed assuming the top of the piles are up to 75mm off the intended line. Great interesting ground in Norfolk by the way.. you are lucky. Keep us posted.

It's not "sneaky" it's extortion. £5 I could accept, just. If they are going to charge £300 then they should expect to be outed for that and not surprised when someone offers "unofficial" alternatives.

Seems a bit odd at first glance that the outer blockwork support is not designed and detailed. But if the TF company have just designed the TF and the steels directly associated with it they may have put a bit in the fine print that the blockwork lintel over the sliding doors is to be "designed by others". They may have done this to avoid what can be complex to design calculation wise (you need to do part of it by hand rather than being able to use standard SE software, or you can do it all by hand if you have time), time consuming and a challenge wise to detail.. a cost is a attached to this. To explain. After making sure the inner steel (portal in this case) over the doors can carry the loads safely and does not deflect too much to jamb the doors you also need to make sure that the outer leaf intel will also deflect by roughly the same amount give and take. What you don't want to see is a bow in the outer lintel over the doors, no unsightly cracking of the blockwork or of the mastic joints and over stress any wall ties above. Now at 5.0m span things like a sensible cost "L" shape Catnic / Keystone single leaf lintel is ruled out. The next options are.. weld a plate (bottom plate) to the bottom of the inner portal header beam or try to use something like a 200 x 100 x 12 /15 galvanised angle if not too much load above, tight on 5.0m but that is one starting point. There are other ways if the angle does not work out but I'll stick to this solution for now. Go back to the bottom plate idea. What happens here is that the plate acts like a cantilever and introduces a twisting (torsion effect) in the portal header beam. This twisting force needs to be resisted. One way of doing this is to use the floor say above the beam to resist the twisting.. but the floor needs to be right over the beam top flange or very close to it.. then you need to design the top flange connection to the floor diaphragm.. not in the TF manual and it can be hard / sometimes not possible to do.. it's tricky! You'll see in the regs that floors can bear on beams.. simple bearing and be ok but not for beams subject to torsion. You can maybe see that the TF company are thinking the same thing? I'm talking about a pretty stiff connection here.. bespoke. not available off the shelf from say Simpson or Sabrefix. Now if you can't connect header beam to the floor to resist torsion you need to design the header beam to resist the bending / shear and torsion forces. Some SE software packages do torsion design and you can do this by hand if need be using the Blue book with a few extra steps to check torsion. But if you can't rely on the floor the torsion ends up at the beam ends where you have to connect it to the columns. This is where the TF folk probably don't have the time to design a portal frame type connection by hand to also resist torsion as it's a non standard connection and not really covered in the design codes.. which refer often to "Engineering judgement" and "first principles" fine if you have time on you hands but for a TF designer they are working on the clock. What often happens is that you are tight for space to get a 5.0m spanning beam to fit in head room terms at the outset. You want to keep a nice clear square opening for the doors for the fitters and so on.. @Marc can probably fill in on the detail. But when you need to design the portal header beam end connection for torsion you sometimes need to extend the end plate. It can be extended up.. but this can breach the continuity of a TF head binder say, or you can extend the end plate down and put bolts below the bottom line of the underside of the header beam flange.. fitters not happy! In other words you need keep iterating and refining the detail so the structure works and the fitters can do their job. Below is some info showing a couple of way I have done this. The first is from an extension job where I used a single portal frame to support both leaves of the wall with different loadings.. which introduces torsion just as above. This shows a connection that is designed for torsion with the end plate extended upwards. You can equally extend the end plate and bolts down but you then have to check the door detailing and fixing method. This is a box frame that is doing quite a lot of "other things" which is why I have used this for and example.. will expand if there is interest from BH folk. The second detail is where I have used an inner beam with a steel angle on the outside probaly akin to what @Ericneeds. It's not a portal but has other stuff and shows the gusset type connection between the angle and the inner beam. Yes there is a cold bridge but cut me a bit of slack? , the bridge was mitigated in the insulation details. The angle is about 4.4m long and supporting a storey of single skin masonry above. To stop the angle from twisting it's connected back to the inner portal header beam with bolted gussets plates at the ends and in the middle. All these are doing is to stop the angle from twisting and this way you get the best performance out of the angle. There some other what is called "second order" effects happening.. for another day. Again this second detail has a bit more going on.. maybe a bit more interesting? @Eric Hope this helps, post a few more details if you want to follow up.

I hope you'll excuse me. I was really quite angry about yet another big rip-off with people owning heat pumps.

Contact an LPG certified plumber to come and do a Landlord inspection and issue you an appropriate safety certificate .. then give to BC…

Looked into this a bit futher. Vaillant have used these "code plugs" in their gas boilers to switch between gas type; G20 (yellow), G25 (blue), propane (yellow) for some time. These code plugs sell for £5 in the U.K. What they've done here is is they are selling the same thing, under a different product code for a huge markup! Sneaky! Mine is already installed. No idea what installer paid for this "chip", I don't think he itemized it.

Vaillant UK clearly (as two different suppliers have quoted £300+). This sells for €40 in europe. That said this may well be the same thing (probably is), but they are using a different part numbers. https://www.heatingspareparts.com/boiler-spares/partno/0020266328/517003. Google that part number and you get a pircture of what I have here: https://www.glo24.de/vaillant-stecker-kodierung-0020266328

Plain hole all the way through, threaded rod, washer and nut on each side to clamp the whole lot together. Try to miss the rebar.

At the time you "occasionally" connect to the grid to charge flat batteries/deal with a failed inverter, its a grid connected system so needs G98/G99 compliance. I think the wiring regs apply to surprisingly low voltages which would include your off grid PV output if its series wired. Youve stated theres an occaisional grid connection so any of that wiring falls under the regs TBH its one thing installing stuff for yourself when theres a bit of uncertainty, but doing it for someone else is a different kettle of fish.

You having a dig? Come up the Rising Sun Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun night and say that! 😂

I built (not yet finished) this thing. It’s timber framed and clad in steel and leftover larch. Has a concrete floor. Due to budget restrictions I hand built it myself, and I’m not a tradesman but ok with joinery & diy. It’s 8m x 4m x 3.9m high. I had pp for garage so got the vat back on materials. Inside the rear half has a loft space - storage and the front half is a vaulted ceiling, for a workshop area. Never built a building before, so I followed building standards for a dwellinghouse and tried to copy what my proper builders did in our actual house. Idea being if I built it like a house it would take me way beyond min standards for an outbuilding. So it has DPCs, breathable membranes etc etc. it’s even plaster-boarded inside. I bought heaps of 4x2 in a builders material auction and built modular 2.4x 2.4m osb clad frame panels for the walls. Shopped around for everything to cut costs. My budget was as cheap as I could do it to the best possible standard. I didn’t keep a running total but think I’ve spent around £5-6k on it that being current lockdown/covid costs. I think I’ve ended up with a circa £15-20k building. It was hard work but good fun learning new skills etc eg building the roof. I did consider buying a metal frame to be installed but by the time I factored in everything it was obviously more expensive. We were hit hard by Storm Erwin etc but the building was unaffected. Which was reassuring. Hope this helps for ideas.

Looks like I have managed to find an option 2 based solution. My preferred sand and cement based screed layer has a delayed job so if I add some labour to the team we can get everything done in a couple of days. With any luck it will all be done (and I will need a chiropractor) by this time next week.

Now that I have completed the taping around windows I am looking at potential plastering issues!.. in some places the window straps sit out a little from the block/insulation so the tape whilst good , as it goes around the straps creates an air cavity in behind the tape.. will this create a plastering issue?