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Hey, go easy on yourself. S**t happens. Nothing and no one in life is perfect. Ever. You can only do your best. Try to shrink things down in your mind and imagine you are advising a friend. Sure it's annoying and very unlucky, but it will get sorted out and repaired. And it will look absolutely fine. I bought a little endoscope in anticipation of problems like this, to help diagnose things, but have only had to use it to look at spiders so far. I think self building does your head in a bit. 3am is a bad time.

It should pump up to and hold at the level of "seal" in the smallest trap. Any attempt to go above that just blows bubbles through the trap. I think 80mm was my smallest trap. If you can get to 20 and it holds where previously you got higher, go and check ALL the traps in the house are full, by pouring some water down them. If one has not been used for a while some of the water in it may have evaporated.

Tiled/cold bridge/poured in situ concrete sills removed, cavities stuffed with some more rockwool, windows fitted with compriband and fm330... Making the best of a bad situation.

I have to say though that the Scottish Larch from Russwood is lovely stuff. It wasn’t cheap but really pleased with it.

I bet the pipe was kinked / pinched at some point before install and the water pressure has gradually pushed through the weakened points.

I watched it and thought it was just the usual, glossy, made for T.V crap. Explained very little if anything.

As the self proclaimed Totally Incredible Tiler - with loads of experience; I never thought of this … I use the Rubi system ; clips and wedges - it’s ace . But at a days end ( got 100 m sq floor to do ) what should I do with the last exposed clips ? What I mean is ; next day they’ll be gone off and therefore can’t move to level with the next new freshly laid tile . Previously I just left them and they become that level as they are fixed . But sat here thinking ; I thought I should ask . It’s called doing a @Thorfun I.e ask question avoids doing work 👍

Very much so, but different things cause different people stress. I found my build completely stressless but a different aspect of my life ( @Adsibob knows what that is) caused me much stress leading to yet another cancer. It’s very difficult to do but try to be pragmatic about it and if necessary find someone else to act on your behalf when dealing with the roofing company.

Pass on above the plasterboard stuff but on the surface you'll end up getting a wee residue of crystals as the moisture dries which can be easily painted over - personally I'd save any hassle of waiting for trades and jump on a ladder with a brush and get on with your life once the roof is sorted.

getting there ! It’s tough on my own 🙄

I think it will be very doubtful that you will get permission. Put in an application and see. That is the only way you will find out.

You're describing a Rotex HPSU. Matey in Lithuanian countryside has an old one. Outdoor unit is tiny because it's a split rather than a monobloc. (done to avoid freezing and to make routing there primarily pipework a piece of push) Indoor unit is a thermal store with ALL the valves and gubbins on top. Daikin bought them out. They appear to have done nothing with that business/product line. Low volume to them. Too much mucking about with plumbers for the to respect it. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.daikin.ch/content/dam/document-library/installation-manuals/heat/air-to-water-heat-pump-low-temperature/hpsu-3xx-h/FA_HPSU_compact_4_0081414544_12_0615_web_GB_Installation%20Manuals_English.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwif0Mf64b6AAxUyS0EAHatMDm4QFnoECA4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw3onoP7Ujj8OQACfr5HaoZs Bit crappy because coil type heat exchanger for DHW. Simple but poor performance. Also the outdoor unit is a long in the tooth R410a product with meh performance. As a concept though, a split system with thermal storage rather than hot water storage has many plus points. Samsung TDM style systems that add in a fan coil to deliver heating/cooling would be even nicer perhaps. https://www.samsung.com/uk/business/climate/tdm-plus-specifications/

I made exactly your argument on behalf of the Parish Council, with drawings of the turning circle proving that the applicant may be trapped in or out of their drive OR that 3 street spaces must go.. (It is the case that fire engines (remarkably small and maneuverable really) sometimes can't get along the street. Council accepted the argument. At appeal it went the other way, with the only justification really being that neighbours would have to sort it out ! The yellow line, and loss of perhaps 6 spaces, is always an end result. Might not make for comfortable living either, if the neighbours have to park elsewhere. But usually people wont park the car out of sight, so I don't know what happens next.

I have had a cheap One from Screwfix go in about 2 years.

It’s so beautiful and rustic. It’s exactly what I hoped it would be. Better in fact. You know what it’s like when you make these big aesthetic decisions, it’s really hard to visualise what it will all look like together. But the combination of the standing seam roof and this rustic farm building board on board cladding is perfect.

Update I finally have BC approval of my spreadsheet. They accepted my first spreadsheet and the only condition was security on ground floor bedrooms, that are open at night, which I expected. The approval has dragged on due to a very slow architect. I shall write more in my blog.

Update I finally have BC approval of my spreadsheet. They accepted my first spreadsheet and the only condition was security on ground floor bedrooms, that are open at night, which I expected. The approval has dragged on due to a very slow architect. I shall write more in my blog.

I still wince at the moment ( a year ago) I lost my temper and threw away stuff '.... we can't throw away ...' Not a peep out of anyone. If it ever gets to that I'll just say that I might have, but that I was in such pain - from my hip - that I couldn't remember. And go down the pub.

What covenant do you think you might be breaching? We extended a previous house in breach of a covenant "No building without the permission of xxxx Council" I mistook getting planning and building regs from that council as having their permission under that covenant. It was not until we sold the property that the buyers solicitor said we were in breach of that covenant and that is when we bought the indemnity policy to allow the sale to proceed.

It’s the temporary kitchen … The 65 boxes of “ important stuff we can’t throw away “ The 160kg fridge/freezer The massive mame arcade unit The dining table and eight chairs The tools for the build And now ; the 100 sq m of tiles at nearly 3tonnes I moved Apart from that ; it’s empty 😢🙄

Its the shifting stuff around isn't it. And its shifting the same sheet around - never yours - always the children's A Level notes or some such rubbish (They're all in their 40s .... ) Told them their stuff is on Death Row. You ought to have heard the bleating....

Average punter doesn't buy their products, installers do, they most likely will do a one stop shop anyway, one invoice. Poor punter that gets the final bill will be given some claptrap about being matched units, so really efficient. Hence the high price, and your grant is paying for it anyway.

We asked for this from the seller of a plot, where they had already got outline pp. The whole area had similar non development covenants dating from the 1930s but were never enforced. They are often used during development / sale of new estates to protect the sale values.

This of course show the "replace gas boilers with a heat pump" is NOT a simple swap in the majority of cases. I think most of us new that, but it is not the impression being given to the general public.

It really did do a good job of showing just how hopeless the present plan is. No hope of getting enough heat pumps installed and houses insulation upgraded. No hope of getting enough green energy built in time and the electricity grid upgraded to cope. No hope of getting enough new nuclear built on time. No hope of Hydrogen ever being a viable green energy source. The spokesperson they kept putting these points to had no answer other than waffle and pretend all was okay.

If we can't sell it I have a flat that's been empty two years and in need of a new kitchen and redecorating. I'll have to see which route works out cheaper - DIY and 20% Vat or a builder and 5% Vat.

For a program hyped as about heat pump, most the program they spoke about the decades it takes to get nuclear and onshore wind on line. If the whole program was about heat pumps and the detail, that for me would have been good, but for most of the public, they would turn over and watch something more interesting to them. Alway a difficult balance act, too much detail people turn off, to little, it's sh*te.

Work harder ya lazy B_hubber !

I did it like this at the top: And like this at the bottom

I have just watched the whole meeting and my take is, the objections are not based on planning but “we don’t like it”, the chronic parking already exists, you don’t need planning fir removing the fence, concrete slab or converting the garage. However, as raised in the meeting it is county that grant dropped kerb permission and there appears a reluctance from them to issue them. That point needs clarification. I do think the OP has been badly advised on what he needs planning for and what is permitted development. I don’t blame them from deferring as the rear access is all dependant on dropped kerb permission. I do wonder if the OP should apply fir a dropped kerb to county first, if granted he has a chance to park to the rear. I don’t see what he is actually asking for planning for? p.s. if a bin lorry can’t actually get down Milton road then can a fire engine?. My brother lived in a narrow road, a fire engine could not access so they double yellow lined one side of it. Their answer to critics was “parking is not a right”.

Nope, I really have a problem with being told what I want or whats good for me by others In some cases yes, and in some cases (as @MikeSharp01 points out) no, it all depends on the customer situation. But that isn't actually the point, the point is about how its sold and the customer right to make their own decisions based on their own circumstances. Today we are invariably told that we must have a cylinder change to have a heat pump. That's not true in all (perhaps most) cases, but that's how its currently (misre-)presented. If, as you now seem to accept, the argument is based on lifetime cost then present it that way and let the customer make the choice. Its not for the installer or the heat pump industry to make this choice, its for the customer. Many customers will make the choice to take the upgrade, likely more comfortably than if they are 'told they must do it'. Others will choose differently for all sorts of reasons which the installer cannot know and has no right to know. Neither installers nor the heat pump industry in general have the right arrogantly to tell the customer what is 'right for them'. Even less do they have the right to hide their view of what is 'right for the customer' behind a technical falsehood.

Yes fitting a new cylinder and all the ancillary work will make for a more efficient set up in the long run. But the question is "better rather than best" The high level goal is to swap out as many gas boilers HPs because that will reduce the consumption of gas. The additional upfront cost that required moving from a typical existing system to the ideal system Vs going part of the way is a barrier. Would you suggest that MCS mandating UFH being retro fitted throughout is a good idea? UFH has superior performance to radiators for HP installations in every way. It is very expensive and disruptive to retrofit though Or do we say "ok UFH is best, but upgrading one or two rads is good enough" The same logic applies. By all means change the cylinder if the householder is prepared to. But don't virtually mandate that you do unless the existing system is so subpar as to not function at all. At a high level, swapping lots of gas boilers for HPs with CoPs greater than 2.5 is better than a few with CoPs of 4

Then, if borrowing to do this work, you need to factor in interest on the loan as part of the cost - which simply, as in easy to understand, pushes the payback time out. People generally don't do a full cost accounting job on such purchases so Net Present Value (NPV) and Rate of Return (RoR) calcs are not performed.

Disagree here. The efficient cylinder is the CHEAPEST solution. Over the product lifecycle. I think the REAL issue here, base install cost (less cylinder replacement) aside, is people simply not wanting to spend the money upfront on what is overall the best value solution. For some, it's because they're planning to sell within the product lifetime and the new buyers wouldn't value the energy efficiency measures. (I'm in that boat) For others, it's because they're not credit worthy/are already living beyond their means, so can't borrow the money now to save themselves money later. For others, it's simply that they're mean, and have access to the money, but don't want to spend it on heating and hot water. Most owner occupiers are in group 1 or 3. Same issue with insulation etc. Bit they're quite happy to buy anew kitchen or a new car regardless of the economics.

No cycling in DHW, just poor performance. If it's not the low COP that would drive you crazy, the reheat time will do for sure with a minuscule coil. https://emoncms.org/app/view?name=HighbanksASHP&readkey=a6242a5576f8fa23493b70dad6c7d9fe https://emoncms.org/app/view?name=MyHeatpump&readkey=23437bdf4c5212a780f9bcf6f03cc688

I wouldn't use OSB, it'll flake apart with wear. I'd use 18mm ply.

Yes you can engage the services of a traffic consultant to look at splays and parking. It is evident the parking is somewhat variable and snapshots over a period may be helpful. If you took the residents argument to another degree, they wouldn't let any of their kids pass the driving test and buy a car and park it in the road. There is often a lot of hyperbole spoken as was the case here "extreme problems" etc, get the professional opinion and survey to counter.

https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2002/mad-bad-and-dangerous-the-cult-of-lord-byron @Ferdinand@joe90sorry to hear about your illnesses, glad you’ve had good treatment experiences

Started cladding. The thing I’ve looked forward to most. I’m glad I stuck to the deeper reveal for ingo. ‘Everyone’ was saying not to do it. The cladding has been treated to silver evenly and relatively quickly.

It's unlikely to be a problem I would guess for that thickness. Many insulation companies will do an interstitial condensation assessment free-of-charge. I had one done for the roof build up when I decided to add another layer of insulation underneath. I added an extra 100mm of woodfibre insulation beneath a warm roof of 200mm of PIR. It wasn't a problem. Good airtightness will help of course as the main source of interstitial condensation is warm moist air migrating in to the fabric from within the building.

@Archer The controls are basic but sufficient. These are similar to commercial units you might see in offices. You can set the temperature and turn on / off. It feels different as it's always running on low setting once temperature is achieved instead of on/off like radiators. The way I analysed it if it was sufficient was to compare it with existing system. Our exisiting unit was Johnson Aquair S20 which can push 1224m3/h. Mitsubishi FDUM 140 can push 2880m3/h (Max) and 1320m3/h (Min). We found that it's better than previous unit in pushing air to furthest outlets and much quiter. For heating capacity analysis our previous boiler attached to Aquair S20 was 20kW, which was not running all the time. I did a basic heat calculation using the spreadsheet available on the forum and asked the installer to install one size bigger than calculations. AC installers always over spec and use rule of thumb. Also they calculate based on cooling load. AC unit heating capacity is higher than cooling, so if you spec for cooling it would be over spec for heating. These units do modulate a lot so overspec is not bad, e.g. our 14kW Mitsubishi can modulate 5.0 to 14.5kw We haven't used heating much on the unit since install. We have just moved back in the house after renovation, we turned the heating on yesterday to heat the empty house and it was working well. We are still to test in full winter

I also had a planning officer from hell, fought us all the way, I went to appeal (easier to do than applying fir PP) and won hands down, the appeal officer even told the planner they were not abiding by their own policies. From what I know the planners can only be fined if they have broken the rules and decisions are classed as “opinions” so very difficult to get re imbursed. I did my own appeal and found the Secretary of State office very helpfull.

Brickwork tomorrow / Weds depending on when everything arrives on site. Wellies are at the ready.

No one can supply you materials at the 5% rate. This is for labour and supply & fit arrangements only so the only way you can benefit from the reduced VAT is to instruct a VAT registered builder unfortunately. On a ‘more DIY-led project’ you can’t benefit from the 5% rate unfortunately for work that you are doing yourself. The exception is for houses that have been empty for 10 years that are eligible for the VAT reclaim scheme.

In case others read this in the future.. It's important not to move in until you have started work on the renovation. My understanding is the moment you move in the reduced rating is lost. However you can move in after work has started. It sounds like you are OK because you've already had a builder do work before you move in. If they are VAT registered their labour and material should be 5% rated to you exactly as per your builder. You have to persuade them that's correct by referring them to VAT 708. In some cases giving them a homemade "certificate" may help. This is essentially a letter formally certifying that their work is on a qualifying dwelling under VAT 708. If they aren't VAT registered they won't be charging you VAT whatever it actually says on their invoice. So there is no VAT to be reduced to 5%. I don't think it matters much who buys materials because neither you or the trade can reclaim the 20% VAT paid. I think VAT431C only covers the 10 year 0% scheme not the 2 year 5% scheme. In practice both may quote you about the same so you really want VAT registered trades and get them to 5% rate it.

Hi Susie, Thanks for sending the info through, I'll have a look into this but I really haven't dealt with this much but haven't read what I have and know what I know, this new part O is a pile of shite (excuse the French). Absolute joke and from reading others with a substantial amount more knowledge on this than me, they're of a similar opinion & the simplified method is far from simple.

We had a Triflex ProTect “fully reinforced PMMA resin roofing system” installed about 18 months ago as well as a modular sedum roof on top. The roof pitch is about 20 degrees, but we were advised to go with this specialist system instead of GRP because apparently the angles and profiles were needed for parts of our roof were not suitable for Grp. The Triflex ProTect is fully BBA & ETA approved and certified and are covered by a 20 year guarantee. Today we spotted two damp patches about 5cm apart from each other. They are both quite small. One is very small, about the size of a 50 pence piece, the other maybe 6 or 7 times that. No drips of water that I can tell, just patches. The two patches are on the same perpendicular from the external wall, so I’m guessing the weakness in the membrane has occurred where two boards of OSB meet, as that is the substrate that the triflex liquid membrane was applied to. I emailed the installation company at 6:15pm to notify them of the issue, with a photo of the damp patch. Owner called me an hour later and tells me he’s never had a leak with this product in over 10 years of using it. He has agreed to send the original installer back tomorrow. I’m not very good in these situations, because things like this make me quite upset and irrational (the roofing system cost a fortune, about £8k more than if we’d just used GRP. So that I can stay as rational as possible, what some I expect the company to do? The internal decor of the ceiling is exposed clay plaster, which might look ok when the damp patch dries or it might not. We have MVHR so I’m expecting the plaster (which is incredibly thin, about 2mm on top of the plasterboard) to dry quickly once the source of the ingress is rectified. If the decorative plaster ends up stained, is it reasonable to ask for that but if ceiling to be replastered? What about the structure of the roof itself and the insulation? Should that be replaced or is it fine for it to just dry? i haven’t got the exact build up in front of me, but I recall the roof insulation here is a mix of PIR and superfoil. The rafters are timber. On top of the rafters, plywood was laid, then the OSB. Then the triflex liquid membrane. Once that membrane cured a geotextile membrane should have been laid, to protect the triflex, then the modular boxes of Sedum. I didn’t check that they put the membrane down, but they certainly specified and charged me for it, because they said it was important to protect the membrane from being damaged by the Sedum boxes. Shit like this had a tendency to push me close to the edge. Not healthy I know.

You are the absolute b*llocks

Ok . Will try later when SWMBO is here . Then when it does go wrong I can blame you 😁

I installed it so there’s zero chance of that amateur error 🙄