Leaderboard

Before you all bitch … 300 centres because plasterboard is only 9.5mm . Short boards as I can’t get full boards down my temporary staircase . So noggins at joins . Timbers deliberately left visible above ceiling line so I can a) fix any ha / electrics to them b) no need to “ hunt the timber “ when I need a wall fixing . So there !

For your next project, try some pointillism, then maybe work up to chromo-luminarism. Or just spend a week at Park Güell with a bag of drugs for company. Antoni Gaudí knew a bit about tiling. As does our @pocster, would set his OCD off bigtime.

TIL that SSRs don't work if you put too light a load on them. Specifically, wiring up all the Salus manifold actuators to be controlled from Loxone via 24V -> AC SSRs, they won't active. Putting another dummy load on the channel (e.g. a spare LED driver) and now they work. Fortunately I had a couple mechanical relays so swapped most zones out for those and working okay. More relays on order. But funny, I'd always thought of mechanical relays being necessary for really heavy loads, had never considered they'd be necessary for very light loads. It does make sense though when I think about how a transistor works for example.

Yup.

Run the 10mm W/C hot from the 22mm pipe All good otherwise.

Ignore the pair of them and get MCS involved. I'd be fairly confident they will advise on any and all remedial work that needs to be done and likely ensure that Mr forceful gets things done to MCS instructions or pays for someone else to sort it out for you. The only place Mr Forceful should be living up to his name is with his staff IF they are taking the p. As a lay customer, you shouldn't even be aware thats his character.

Their work looks great. Look forward to seeing what they come up with. Good luck.

my wife keeps one of these. basically a short sentence summing up each day. https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Line-Day-Memories-Rainbow/dp/B09MYXS2Z6/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=line+a+day+diary+5+year&qid=1677941670&sprefix=a+line+a+day+di%2Caps%2C202&sr=8-3 might be manageable for a self builder to write a line of a quick summary at the end of each day rather than worrying about keeping a full diary as that could take up a lot of time.

It takes a special kind of person to keep on keeping one. Four a couple of years, I was so deeply knackered at the end opf tghe working day. And now I really wish I had made the time

I use mine to impress my neighbours. Make them think I have aa friend staying. Of course, the French only wear the lower half at best.

I sympathise with the hassle youre having but don't waste your time with NICEIC as they're not the horse for this course. A complaint to MCS is the route you need to be taking as all the issues youve got will be dealt with by them. As youve now got 2 'professionals' arguing over whats right and whats wrong, you dont want to be piggy in the middle so a prompt complaint to MCS should get some expert help on your side

This sounds dreadful.. I think you can also contact the MCS as well I had cause to contact them once and here is an excerpt from their email I will send below the complaints process for you to follow, if you have already written to the installer with details of the complaint and what needs to be actioned please email back, and I will follow up with the complaints link. The first step in the complaints process is for you, the consumer, to contact your installer in writing with details of your complaint and an outline of what remedial action is being sought. Letter templates, if required, can be found here: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/template-letters/letters/ https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/information-centre/consumer-resources/complaining-to-a-service-provider/ https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/letters If you have not been able to reach a resolution with your installer within 14 days, then a complaint form, along with evidence and the installer's response, is referred to the installer's Certification Body and/or Consumer Code. MCS will facilitate this. Certification Bodies, independently accredited by UKAS and working on behalf of MCS, are organisations responsible for certifying installers against the MCS Standards, publicly available on our website. Installers must also be a member of a CTSI-approved Consumer Code. Certification Bodies and Consumer Codes perform different functions on behalf of the Scheme. The nature of your complaint may dictate which of the two organisations will be involved in handling your complaint. Sometimes both will be involved. MCS can identify your installer’s Certification Body or Consumer Code if you need assistance. As a final option, you can escalate your complaint to MCS if you are still not satisfied following the Certification Body/ Consumer Code’s investigation. MCS can only investigate a complaint once the complaints process operated by your installer’s Certification Body and/or Consumer Code has been exhausted. Different Certification Bodies and Consumer Codes operate slightly different complaints processes, so we ask that you familiarise yourself with the complaints process your contractor’s Certification Body/ Consumer Code operates. You should also have the opportunity to challenge the Certification’s Body’s decision if you are in disagreement. Please note that in undertaking an escalated complaint, we will be holding the contractor directly to account, which will require allowing the contractor to access your property if necessary. Our ultimate sanction is removing a contractor from the Scheme. More information regarding the complaints process, as well as the role of Certification Bodies and Consumer Codes, can be found here: https://mcscertified.com/complaints-compliance/ Kind Regards, Hope it helps

So get your architect to make an offer to you to buy the plot "subject to planning permission" Architect then applies for full planning and once granted the sale completes. No more cost to him as he has to do the plans anyway, and if he is quick he gets the reserved matters application in before the PIP runs out. Then he can do the dig a trench to "start" if he wants to lock in the planning for some future build date. Almost exactly what we did with our plot.

ahh its a outline only plot. You could still comment but the council would likely enforce against you.

What makes you think in X years planning would be refused? Planning was granted for 2 houses when it was a bare field. Now one house is built why do you think it less likely the second would be approved again? So wait until you are ready. If it was refused then you have good grounds for appeal. Digging a trench and pouring concrete does not constitute "starting" as you have no approved plans to build from (reserved matters) and I bet there is a "development not to start until approved matters are agreed" clause.

Well, we called out the owner or another solar installation company and he has found multiple faults on the system! I have taken advice from another MCS Approved Installer, who inspected the installation, and gives me the following information :- 1) There was not a MCS/RECC approved quote a) Shading issues were not noted - I believe this has led to an installation not fit for purpose as the tall trees in the immediate vicinity will cause heavy shading issues. b) Annual yield was not noted therefore the customer has blindly accepted the quote. 2) The installation has been installed wrong: a) The panels on the south facing roof have been connected to form 1 x string. This potentially will create a voltage far higher than the inverter is designed to take. This should have been connected to form 2 strings and therefore halving the voltage, and increasing the annual yield. b) There is no RCD protection for the solar PV system. c) I question whether the installer is qualified - the overall job would suggest otherwise! 3) The MCS certificate has the wrong details. a) It has the wrong installation/commissioning date. b) It states only 1 system (should be 2 as the install covers two roof spaces. 4) There was no handover pack issued - the client therefore has no warranties, guarantees or any information about the system. I got a reply - 1) There was not a MCS/RECC approved quote a) Shading issues were not noted - I believe this has led to an installation not fit for purpose as the tall trees in the immediate vicinity will cause heavy shading issues. Panels were installed where they are as you did not want to see them from the Garden. b) Annual yield was not noted therefore the customer has blindly accepted the quote. 2) The installation has been installed wrong: a) The panels on the south facing roof have been connected to form 1 x string. This potentially will create a voltage far higher than the inverter is designed to take. This should have been connected to form 2 strings and therefore halving the voltage, and increasing the annual yield. This I agree with an needs to be looked into & corrected if the case. b) There is no RCD protection for the solar PV system. – Incorrect c) I question whether the installer is qualified - the overall job would suggest otherwise! 3) The MCS certificate has the wrong details. a) It has the wrong installation/commissioning date. I will look into this b) It states only 1 system (should be 2 as the install covers two roof spaces. Incorrect 4) There was no handover pack issued - the client therefore has no warranties, guarantees or any information about the system. This is normally sent via email, I have requested the office put together a hard copy and post out to you asap or I can bring with me on Thursday. I did not say that we did not want to see the panels from the garden! I commented that I thought all solar panels went on the South facing roof. If shading had been explained to me, and if I had got a proper estimate, as required under his registration, I would have happily had them on the West facing roof. He came out to talk things through with us. He apologised for all the errors and offered to change the inverter from a Sonus to a Huawei free of charge, retrieve a whole load of strings that were hanging down behind the felting and, therefore not connected (!) and compensate us for our electricity costs and loss of FIT. He glossed over the shading issue from the mature trees on the South side saying we would generate enough for out usage even with the shade. Our advisor came out again with his shade measuring camera and stood by his claim that the panels would not generate optimum power in the shade. He then looked for the RCD unit for the solar system and confirms that there is not one. We do have one large one for the main supply but not one for the solar. He still maintains that the paperwork is not correct. He tells us that the Sonus unit is the best one and cannot understand why they seem obsessed with changing it. My thinking is that they have a Huawei hanging around and hope fitting it for free will appease us. My thinking is that I should go to the NICEIC and ask them to do an inspection and then take over the arbitration in the matter. I feel drained

Dig a single wall in have it inspected. or roll the dice on a planning refusal once it expires, £4k will seem a pittance then.

Vert verre ver

Yes, triac-based SSRs have a min load current. They also can have a leakage current which means they may turn very light loads on by default. You might be able to find photo-MOS based products that work down to zero load, but I don’t know what voltages are available in this type.

I have a couple of silverline's surveyor's tapes and I swear they stretch when pulling the tape straight.

Generally people aim for 50Pascals of air pressure, which is 50N/m^2. That's equivalent to the pressure exerted by just 5mm of water imbalance. It's not a lot! What I would suggest though, is have the water in a loop all indoors, then measure the height difference between the levels. The ends of the pipe need to be at different pressures - so put one end indoors, the other end outside, and make a loop with fluid all at your side. You can put the pipes at an angle (say 45degrees from vertical), so it's easier to measure as the fluid levels are further apart, even though the height difference is the same. I'm glad you said it was food colouring 😝

Rented this for the weekend, €90 quid, it’s the same one Urban Plumber uses.

Hi @dpjjones Aim to go APE It worth considering all the AIM and APE elements before making decisions. That is Airtightness, Insulation, Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery OR Heat pump Ventilation, and Air Source Heat Pump, Photovoltaics and Electric Vehicle. Some of these will not work properly without the others, and some will complement others: A MVHR will not work properly without Airtightness. An Air Source Heat Pump will have to compensate for the lack of Airtightness and/or Insulation to the degree that the benefits become questionable, especially during winter, without them. An ASHP uses electricity and Photovoltaics can supply a little during winter and a lot during summer when cooling can be a problem and an ASHP can supply cooling. PV can supply a little to an Electric Vehicle during winter and plenty during summer if your vehicle is at home during sunny days. Extending a property and only doing AIM works to the extension will be no good, you have to do all the property within the thermal envelope. And thinking of running costs: a) Airtightness and Insulation should have no running costs and last (Well, loft insulation lasts over 40 years, in our experience) with the exception of UPVC units for windows and doors, but that being said it will last 30 years? b) Our MVHR unit servicing 100m2 floor sized home uses about 260kWh a year; far far less than would be used to heat incoming cold fresh air in winter, and we clean the filters twice a year. c) ASHPs are, in my opinion, still in their infancy but we are now in the second year of use here. We were very careful to follow best practice in the design and installation of our system, did a lot of bespoke tweaking, and we now have an upgraded 1970’s timber framed bungalow that uses less than 20kWh per year per m2 of floor for heating. d) PV would be a lot less attractive if there is no ASHP or EV (or battery backup) or diverter to the hot water immersion. In my humble opinion, if you have a suitable roof you should install as much a physically possible. Electricity production costs (cost per kWh) are difficult to evaluate because it depends how much is used and how much is supplied to the grid. We decided to go with the PV cost divided by 7 years, which for us works out at £1.60ish per day. Yesterday the PV produced 12kWh all of which we used. Remember, 5kW of PV panels will not produce 5kW because you would have to have: i. No shadowing of any of the panels during sunlight hours (like trees, buildings or chimneys. ii. All the solar panels face exactly the right angle in relation to the summer solstice midday sun for their position on the planet. (Perfect angle facing south and perfect slope) iii. solar panels completely clean iv. the sun is completely unobscured v. the Inverter is 100% efficient vi. all the other losses due to cables, and equipment, and so on. e) Knowing the above PV limitations professional installers often add extra panels to make up for these losses. (Our inverter allows us to add roughly 28% more panels than its kW rating) f) PV panel installations will produce about one fifth of the power in December compared with what is produced at the peak of summer. g) The electric vehicle and charging from the PV only really work well together if you can have the vehicle plugged in during the day and supply over 3kW from your PV (or a large proportion of that). This is why we went for the biggest PV that would fit on the roof. We then installed a system which 95% of the time only charges the EV when the PV is on and generating over 2kW in winter and 3kW in summer (we have a 13amp charging system). So, if finances cause you to have to consider only a few in my humble opinion AIM first and go APE later. (But prepare the property for the APE works as much as you can). Best of Luck Marvin

I loose track of time, but it's probably been treated for about 3 years. Most of the silvering happened in the first 12 months I reckon.

If you buy a handful of Tek screws They will screw straight into steel

Self drilling screws might work if the steel is thin enough. Pilot hole helps. Out of interest, how much insualtion are you putting in? Only looks 25mm battens? Assuming insualtation boards over them, then plasterboard?

megastick. make sure the timber your fitting in the web is a tight (hammer it in tight) fit and plenty of megastick.

If the steel face is in line with thd wall then probably better and much easier to screw into the masonry but project the timber over the steel, and glue to the steel. If there is the typical recess in the steel, you may be able to fix vertical timber studs or ply that will pack out to the wall face. They can be wedged or glued or screwed on with special steel screws, often called tek screws. Then fix studs to that.

Just tell them the L in LVT is for luxury. Can't argue with that. We got argued off LVT because our architect has a fear of VOC gassing, but I honestly think from a practical point of view I'd have liked it more than porcelain and bamboo mix we have. (The bamboo is gorgeous though, just wasn't practical to extend it through the open plan kitchen). My least favourite is the engineered ash upstairs but that's just because it was installed "floating" which means it shifts under foot and squeaks like hell, amtico would have felt much less "cheap" on balance. One other consideration is if you have any thresholds from amtico to carpet (bedroom?) you'll need to think about relative floor heights. Ply under the LVT maybe necessary to avoid a step.

UPDATE: I rang SunAmp technical (since we bought directly from them) and they were very helpful. After isolating and looking at both the temp sensor on the top and the service cover on the front of the unit, it turned out to be a tripped Overheating Cutout (little red brown cross) which I have since reset. Before this I didn't even know that the front plate concealed a cutout, so I've definitely learned something in all this. Now everything appears to be working again, so I can't fault SunAmp on their customer support for this issue. Oops, sorry I meant Jeremy Harris (I knew it was someone from the other building forum). Thanks again for all your input everyone.

Thank you @Iceverge that makes a lot of sense. From your comments I done a bit of Googling and found this video, which demonstrates exactly what your say. Interestingly after air testing the blocks, they apply a liquid membrane and test the improvement, but their final comment is that a render, as you suggested, is the best method.

ASHP is a heating appliance so I’ve seen it covered as “notifiable works” before but if you have it on your building regs application then you’re covered already - just make sure the BCO knows it’s part of the sign off !! The point up to the isolator outside should be done by the sparks but other than that you can crack on. So the quote is about £3k more than I would expect but it’s from “that” supplier so I’m not surprised … you don’t need 14 zones, so 14 Neostats is overkill. I don’t like their clippaplate system as you end up heating a lot of air under the floor space and if you install it as per their spec then you end up with a lot of easily damaged pipes as it loops under the joists. They have also not bothered to include any mixers, there is one pump for 2 manifolds and 1400m of pipe, and it will be a complete nightmare to commission as @Nickfromwales has had bitter experience of and so have I..!! 12kW ASHP is overkill - they haven’t done the heat loss calcs as 10kW is barely building regs losses and you’re going better. No-one gets sacked for spec of Nibe ASHP but they are expensive. For supply only that is about £4K over the odds.

If this meter sits between the Solar PV inverter and your house mains wiring, then it's showing the power you're generating - which necessarily supplies your house consumption, and any excess which goes out to the grid. Only if it were connected to the wrong (incoming) side of your utility meter could your Solar PV be not supplying you at all. This would be an unlikely mistake to have been made by the electrician, but not impossible. Can you post photos of the contents of your meter box?

You can set a lot of those values via the regular interface, but there may be other settings hidden behind a service interface. Panasonic had to talk me through setting the internal pump speed, because it was set too low for our situation and changing it isn't in the installation guide or instruction guide that came with it. I also understand that there's a setting for having the internal pump come on for a few mins each day to stop it seizing during periods of non-use. I suspect it sitting still doing nothing for over six months last summer encouraged the pump failure that our ASHP experienced.

Does that imply they don't last twenty years!

AKA a wanker.

I calculate that you have about 15 years worth of tapes to loose at that rate. Retired 10 years (Assumed) 4 tapes lost therefore 6 tapes left = 15 years worth of tapes and I didn't have to ask Chat GPT.

Like a Persian carpet there should be a flaw, as only God creates perfection. Good job mortal.