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It's nothing like creosote in terms of colour, but SiOO:X should give you 10 yrs + without re-treating. Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea, but I've used it on the house cladding, and I'll be using it on the garage when I get round to building it. Planed timber might need a rough sanding first though.

Rye oil - Cedar Cladding Oil / Decking Oil. https://www.ryeoil.co.uk/shop/deckingoil/ Have done all my cladding with the above, one heavy coat, 12 months on as good as it went on. Very easy to apply, with a wide brush, soaks in over the next couple of days. Not expensive and goes a long way. I will be doing our log building with it, in a couple of weeks.

whatever you use, see if you can spray it before you build it. Then spray it again once you have put it together.

St. David's Day today. The 'neighbours' have even upset most of the English listeners by singing on Radio 4 FFS.

The norm is to keep any sole plate at least 150mm above the ground to prevent any splashback damage. The OSB will be a structural component of the building too and longterm fairs even worse than timber when exposed to wet. I wouldn't have them that close to the ground. For the roof you could do a 100mm insulated panel at 5⁰ slope. Even with a 150mm floor that would give you 2m head height at the low side. To drop the floor any further I would have a very robust perimeter drain and a blockwork cavity outside the timber.

Yes that would be correct, if well made, as reservoirs can be waterproof without any tanking. It is just cost really, Brick would stop water flowing in and through, even if it wasn't static water, which most floods are. Any dampness would be under the dpm and would dry out eventually. If the fill is clean stone it won't subside due to wetness. 1mm settlement should not occur. Agreed though that not all construction is well done. So this does need supervision or a trustworthy contractor who looks at drawings (2 big Ifs) I had an old project subjected to about 300mm of flooding, and it was at a fast flowing major river, so not just static water. It was surprising, and pleasing, how well it performed. The walls up to slab were single block footings, simply to contain the slab. Using steel mesh instead of fibres does give some more security but again at a cost. Fibres would save 200m2 x £10 here.

Take it you have never had twats as neighbours. A few years ago, had a small time drug dealer as a neighbour. When they eventually got thrown out by the landlord for being obnoxious, the real evil one said 'no one ever said anything to us'. The English don't. Silence is not acceptance. There was also the case that the other, slightly less evil one was a convicted arsonist. Got locked up for it a second time not long after leaving.

So an unvented thermal store. Hidden behind a lot of flowery talk. And a time of use tariff. To have any useful energy for CH you would need a big cylinder.

Thanks Bozza Another point we've agonised over! In the evening, there should be some light coming into the corridor from the open first floor living room at the west of the house. Originally, the corridor extended all the way to the eastern gable, so it would have morning light too. That reduced the size of bedroom 1 though so we decided to ditch that idea. Then, we thought about a large (4x10ft?)obscure glazed internal window in place of bedroom 1's door, moving the door to the adjacent wall so bed 1 was accessed through what is now the dressing room. Then we ditched that idea too Another thought was a series of sun tunnels just to the south of the roof ridge, into the corridor. As far as possible, we're trying to work with the walls of the existing house (at least, the good bits that won't be removed). I'll mark them up on a sketch. Me, wife, two kids and other animals. One is at university and another will be heading off to do 'something' in a couple of years. I wish we could have done this years ago, like most self builders I imagine, but obviously that's not how life works. We are trying to design for the future... we'd hope to see grandchildren and would like it to be a house they want to visit When I was young I had one set of grandparents living in a small suburban bungalow and another in a large, old, rural house they'd renovated, with a cellar, turret, massive gardens and woodland. They were less than five miles apart, but my sister and I would never want to spend time at the bungalow... there was nothing to do. All our extended family gatherings were at the old house... it had the capacity, but it was primarily a wonderful place to be. Maybe it is mental and a waste of money but we live quite modestly and would rather spend it on bricks, mortar and a lovely garden than extravagant holidays and shiny things Also, it's quite a good size plot and a small house would seem to be a wasted opportunity. That makes sense. We've naturally gathered loads of pics on pinterest and from magazines and there are several styles we're drawn to, so that would work well. The interior design is probably my main concern... it would be a shame to have this lovely space and squander the potential with poor decor. God yes. When we renovated our bungalow we added them everywhere, along with eighteen CAT5 sockets that I insisted on. I think we use four, but the others are there if we need them

Waterless trap straight into the soil stack should do the job.

I would have a duct from the road to your house so that you can accept fibre to the property - FTTP.

If flooding is really a significantly risk I would be drawn towards shuttering and pouring a reinforced concrete perimeter wall. Especially if it's a simple shape. Much stronger than blockwork and no more expensive. Hollow core planks on top and a void underneath may be cheaper too depending on how much it costs to import hardcore. There is a risk of differential settlement of such a large mass of compacted stone if not done really well.

It can happen even with mains water. Our supply went off a few weeks back due to a local burst main. Shortly after it came back, one of our toilet cisterns would not stop filling. Dismantling the fill valve revealed a similar sized "foreign body" that must have come in with the water jamming the fill valve open. It must have got into the pipe during the repair. Thames water are well known for their leaks, if they actually fix them, the same could happen to you.

Always useful, even if only used to fit an extra outside tap.

There is a Connectivity Plan example in appendix B You need to try to get to one of the exclusions by following the logic.:- c. The following applies: • At least two suitable providers of public electronic communications networks have declined to provide a connection free of charge or at a cost not exceeding the cost cap, or have failed to respond to requests within 30 working day. If you ask BC for advise what they need as they will be signing it off. An extra ducting never goes amiss.

I think there was a similar question on here a while back. Seem to remember that it was a case of running some ducts and terminating them in a suitable IP rated enclosure. May be worth contacting OpenReach and seeing what they say. People have found that the 'guys in the vans' are usually very helpful. Generally if you have approval before a rule change, you work to the older rules. There does seem to be a fair bit of paranoia about regulations since the Grenville disaster, which is probably a good thing. But with something like Part R, there is probably little difference as it is not 'safety critical' (except for fire alarm systems, but then if they rely on a cloud based system, they will become inherently useless).

I take it you have downloaded Part R and digested it. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1119957/ADR1.pdf Just tell them you use 5G Mobile Data.

Hi @Marvin I fixed my problem; it's @Wozewho has the issues now. They seem to have been badly let-down by their plumber who has installed or perpetuated some very odd pipework.

Correct. In the summer your heating will all be in the summer / off position, so I don’t get why your system would come on, to heat anything? Summer sees the ASHP > UVC directly, and the buffer remains isolated and dedicated to the heating primary circuit only.

Has to be spreader plates for the UFH. Doh, hit save just as I saw the post above

Yes that is aluminium spreader plates for under floor heating. The UFH pipes clip into an aluminium sheet that dissipates the heat.

grouting - I did, as there was a slight difference in level between the infill blocks at the top of the beam, meaning that the insulation rocked a touch (of course the screed then weighs it all down and flattens the insulation out, but being green I didn't want to risk it). I mixed it up as a really runny slurry, and poured over the whole lot and used it like a filling/levelling mix. Just make sure the blocks are wet. Cant remember the mix, but think it was in the region of 5:1 ish... I did my grouting after watertight, but that meant lifting the blocks to clean out all the crap that had accumulated.

Thank you all, I had my BCO visit today and he pointed out the butted tiles and suggested a splash strip which my builder agreed to do..... happy days!!!!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272103568671?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=Cj0KCQiA6fafBhC1ARIsAIJjL8l-jFSG51HVxQh3AIiWJdQrRvTPrSGE2t8IgfdmxbLxmKkg7CyDiuoaAis9EALw_wcB Use for studding in damp conditions, or framing, or as a DPC at the foot of wood studding. The possibilities are endless, and this will never rot. Use it once and never think about it again. Maintenance free!

The chimney if you look is two pieces one slides inside the other like a telescope. If they won't slide easily is there more paint / ither sealant got in the gap between the two parts? The bottom part needs to slide up, get a screwdriver, chissle etc under it to try and get it to slide. Only when you have lifted it a bit to clear the lip of the lower fixed part of the hood, can you spring the sides of the chimney apart and pull it forward to get it off. Watch out for sharp edges.

Thanks Jilly, we have lots of walls like this, and even our architect (off the record) said that no one would know if they 'fell down' when a new one was built. I'm just aware that the barn (old pig stys) can be seen from the road which is probably regularly travelled by planning officers. We did decide deliberately on private BCO just to avoid the above being quite so likely.

I'm going to be looking at going onto this. Smart meters being replaced Thursday as they stopped working last July, should be ordering the parts for my second 14.5kWh battery tonight, so will have plenty of capacity to dump in the peak periods.

In which case you should be able to achieve hot and cold water at similar pressures.

Where is the hot water tank in relation to the bathrooms? There is a trend for heat pump installers to fit the hot water cylinder right close to where the heat pump pipes enter the house, in many cases a very long way from the point of use. any plumber worth his salt would be advising put the HW cylinder as central as possible to the points of use to minimise the length of pipe and then use thinner pipe like no more than 15mm to minimise the volume of water that must pass through before the hot water arrives at the tap.

Hot water return circuit is NOT a standard install, you would have needed to ask for that prior to work starting. Pipe sizes depend on pressure drop. Why do you think you need 28mm. If it's 28mm on a domestic hot water feed to the taps, then you may get fed up waiting for the hot water to arrive, it would take an age. My feeds to bathrooms are 15mm, the furthest away can take a couple of mins for the shower to come hot. Pipe length and volume all have an effect on hot water delivery time.

I don't think it looks horrendous but It would be useful if you could separate out your ASHP usage and check your flow temps and weather compensation. That has made a difference to mine. I have noticed that there is big difference in KWh usage for the ASHP when the outside temp gets below freezing. I think my ASHP burned an extra 10KWh on a -5oC day compared to when it was 5oC. The weather compensation ups the flow temp on those days and you do notice it. As a very rough comparison I've divided my total usage into the seasons and averaged the usage per day. Winter is based on the last week when it's been -8oC so I'm hoping it will work out much less than the below. I work from home and we keep it pretty warm in the house. Season Average KWh Per Day Winter 40 Spring 11 Summer 10 Autumn 16

I spent some time reading this. As I understand it, moisture-open insulation is the recommended approach, with moisture-closed being 2nd best; Where moisture-closed insulation is used, a ventilated cavity should also be included on the cold side, however when that is not the case, a wind barrier should be used instead; So in a warm-batten method would that be; - solid wall - wind barrier (is this like an airtight vapour control membrane?) - couple of layers of PIR sheets overlapping and tapped (effectively the VCL) - battens - optional PIR infill (taped) - plaster board When it comes to floor joists, ideally the should be refitted on hangers on the warm side of the insulation; That's just not possible, I can't rip out upstairs floorboards up (again), the Mrs would go nuts As such, certain mitigations like injecting the ends with boron paste and wrapping + taping them in vapour permeable insulation instead; Should the joist ends still be wrapped and taped using vapour permeable materials of the wall is covered in PIR? There seems little point if it's behind an airtight wind barrier. I'm not really sure what that detail should look like here. Doing all this, plus replacing our windows/doors, should result in a pretty airtight building too. I assume at this point we'd need to be considering MVHR?

‘The finest form of defence is attack’ clauswitz A neighbour declared total war on me over an application I submitted. I did everything right, he repeatedly lied. Then he died of a heart attack. oh dear what a pity never mind. then our architect got everything we had taken out to placate him put back in and we built out and sold on. next………

All I hear of is neighbours being assholes, happens lots of times, sadly. Green-eyed monsters or just utterly miserable bastards each one of them. For some, death is a convenient end, but, ultimately, the only end that would ever be arrived at for peace to be restored. These think that perpetuating misery as a pastime is acceptable. What’s wrong with just getting along?

When we had a steel and timber erecting division, the vans and T shirts said “Specialist Erection Services” while working every night in Leeds on station upgrades we were asked constantly by (mainly girls) party goers to sell or give them shirts

Seen on a plumbers van: "Don't sleep with a drip, call me instead" Seen on an electricians van : "Let us remove your shorts"

Thanks @ProDave Im unsure Im in a position to comment on the "doh", after that question @markc

Beware of floating insulation if the predicted flood ever happens https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-37600533 If I remember from the time, the slabs of insulation was used as a cheap infill to build up the floor level and the flood in this case was a burst water main.

I would absolutely love it if my neighbour died (from natural causes of course).