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So in the last couple of months we've moved on quite a bit for us. We started on our next section of the build, to be the snug and entrance hall. This is the sticking out part of the 'L' of the build. We removed the roof covering some time ago, so at the start of July it looked like this. Then the 4 layers of floor and internal walls were broken down Then the walls came down and trenches were dug and filled up again Sometimes with building it looks like we do loads of work and then cover it all up again Once that was set, we started on the foundations and while we had access we had to build out the floor to the correct level for everything that needs to go in there. From the DPM we had to go down 650, almost as deep as the foundations at 750 While we were going down and starting to build the walls back, we had 100 ton of this. Crushed by this beast He was worried about our Suffolk Hill, aka a small slope as his machine is 24 ton and totally home made using his built in pecker for some of the tough concrete crusher.mp4 So, quite an active couple of months. Next is to build the floor in what will be our snug and hall, first hardcore with blinding sand layer (wackered down), then cellcore as we have some clay, then 2 layers of mesh and the concrete pour. The mesh and pour needs to be inspected by our BCO. Till next time Adios

There is a lot of that stuff up here, there is even a bridge over the river made from it. Galvanised steel walkways that probably originated on an oil rig or a ship. the pontoons at our harbour are made from it as well. TIP: if you need to kneel on it to tie mooring lines, take a bit of wood with you, otherwise it is like kneeling on a cheese grater.

Quite often, cutting a hatch through a board is easier than lifting an entire sheet, even if this just screwed down. 10mins with a multi tool and you're in.

If the back wall is external ? North facing ? Could be as simple as a core drill, and an outside and inside bug grill. A second core drill and a humidity extractor. Simple, but might work, although might be too cool.

I'm just about to do a round of descaling shower heads - as recommended by a 7x year old tenant and it seems to woek. Currently my only descaler in the house is the expensive one for the coffee machine. Can anyone suggest a good general purpose descaling fluid, or a la Harris something on ebay for thruppence which has the same active ingredient? Cheers F Medical update: docs are happy with current recovery and (as evidenced by this post) I am getting some energy back. Expectations are that I should be back at more or less normal energy levels by Christmas, which means I will be able to be as large a PITA as previously.

No, that says to me, the water is only slowly trickling IN to the saniflo and the pump comes on when it gets enough to pump for a bit. I would start dismantling the sink trap and pipework between the trap and the saniflo. I would have thought if the saniflo was full and only pumping out very slowly, it would keep on pumping.

I would say that’s a drain yes

It's pretty straightforward, seems like you've got it mostly sorted. I used 125mm branched ducting in my house changing to 204mm x 60mm for the rooms with vaulted ceilings. After it was all installed I set it up roughly to test it and then bought a Testo 405i anemometer to set it up more accurately.

I am a more practical sort of chap. I didn't do any pressure drop calculations, I just connected it all, then spend a few hours with the borrowed anemometer measuring flow rates at each room terminal, and adjusting the terminals and adjusting fan speeds until I got flow rates that met the BR required rates. In practice after that, I reduced the fan speeds as it was slightly audible. Several years on no ill effects from running at slightly lower than BR required rates. I gather passive house required rates are lower.

@Redoctober no I hadn’t seen that before that is interesting! I can’t imaging it works with mineral wool batts but it could be a good compromise on that part of the house!

Yes you can build over them. You may need some access, like a sealed lid inspection chamber depending on the pipe runs. Not an issue with carpet or vinyl as you can relay. Tiles can be accommodated almost invisibly. Timber floor you will need to get it fitted to allow for access.

TBH invest £50 in a bloke to grind it out in 30 minutes. By the time you have pfaffed for an afternoon it is worth it. Then leave the gap at the bottom of the fence for perambulating hedgehogs.

Don’t do what a bloke I know did. He put a circular saw blade in an angle grinder, took the handle off because it was getting in the way and a few seconds later he cut his leg off 🤮 He did get a free helicopter ride to hospital though so it wasn’t all bad.

There is 1 metre of attenuator in each duct before the terminals of each room, it’s the Nuaire attenuator that slides inside 1 metre of duct, heavy black rubber thing, looks like it takes up most of the area inside the duct, but I guess that’s what it’s designed to do?

There is some better stuff available. Will post a link when I get home later.

You don't need to be that exact, measure your house internal footprint multiple by height will be a near enough ballpark. Didn't mention your extract and supply rates should match each other.

The easy stuff 1. Work out house volume in m3 2. Divide to 3, that will give you a min flow rate in m3/HR. 3. Work out the flow rates to each area. Use attached as guidance.

Anyway, I think I might have got round the problem by swapping the showers between the en-suite and the main bathroom. The fitting for the other shower is not as tight around the pipe and I think that the end where the compression olive will sit is round so should seal properly. We shall see... (For info the very tight fitting was a Bristan shower fitting, the looser one from Mira).

Permitted development rights excludes and heat pump used for cooling, so you need planning permission even if this was your first and only heat pump. You'll need to leave it on 24/7. I don't know what the duty cycle is on a cheap a2a split unit, but I'm guessing you'll need to factor in replacing/repairing it more frequently than usual. Note the DIY install ones are hard to get anyone to work on (at least in my experience, I've spoken to 2 FGas engineers so far, and both gave me the silent treatment after they found it's R290) In winter, it'd be preferrable to have the "outdoor" unit vent into the house, so the removed heat is heating up the rest of the house. Or just turn it off and blow cold air directly in from outside per BJ

But yet migrants are still making a B line for the UK Worst housing Best benefits system I find headlines like this ironic Visit France and see all the migrants camped by the roadside

Specifically designed with extra protection, both mechanical and shielding on the data side. To my gate I've a bit of 2.5mm2 3 core swa in a bfo DNO duct (60mm dia?), then two 20mm flexible conduits inside that for camera, gate release etc.

And 2 hours to fix the leaking pipe when you "discover" an unknown pipe that is touching the bottom of the board. When boarding my new build with P5 chipboard, at each end of each room, I left a half board wide strip, that has part of the tongue planed off and cut into shorter strips that gives an access trap anywhere you want at each end of the room. It should be possible for example then to fish cables to anywhere in the room. The access traps are screwed down with no glue.

I’d suggest you creating a new post and include some drawings and photos.

What about a mini railway?

I think, if you order online, you are covered by the distance selling regs. 14 day no quibble right to cancel and return even if packaging is opened (you do have to pay for carriage) You have the right to handle the goods as you would in a shop, though not to use them beyond what you would in a shop. So you could wear some shoes and walk around inside a bit, or put some gloves on. But you can't wear the clothes out for a night or use the gloves for some gardening. For a HP I would argue you can get it out of the box, look at the connectors, go through the manuals maybe offer it to it's location. But you can't actually start to fit it, fill it up or run it. If you do, your refund right woukd be based on it being faulty or not as described.

Jolly good. If it ends up saving you a fortune consider a modest donation to the forum running costs, let us know and I'll send you a Buildhub key fob..

I'm weighing up Fgas as I have a large number of retrofits to do. The industry does seem to be heading for monoblock, the primary advantage of which is no need for Fgas. The supposed other advantage is that it"plugs in" to our existing dominant heating system (wet radiators), but that is debatable as many retrofits (which will be the majority) also require changes to that system (bigger rads, pipes etc) I can see that going the air to air route whilst needing a complete system install (all new pipework, emitters etc) would allow for "overlaying" the HP system over the existing boiler & rads setup. This has a couple of advantages - no disruption to existing heating hot water system, so can be installed in cold seasons - no need to wait until existing system needs replacement - no worries about new system being "insufficient" as old system is there as backup - for combi systems no need to install a tank initially - no worries about HP not being able to cope with cold snaps or being more expensive to run. - cooling in summer Our current antipathy to air to air seems to be born from a British distrust of air-conditioning rather than anything else.

But just a throw away statement, that just about meaningless. Without being matched to the heat loss calculation, that could be true for a new build or old build, equally it could be false for both.

It’s the little things. When we were setting everything out, which feels like a lifetime ago, we mulled over whether to set the garage and house perfectly in line or set the garage back. The debate was it either has to be bang on or the garage purposely set back enough so that it looks intentional as if it was marginally out it would long wrong. It took a bit of mocking up both structures to get it right. It’s spot on which always makes me smile because it’s only me (and the groundwork guy) that cared about it as we stood there in the rain and cold with a line and some timber.

I’d change that title ...

Rangemaster Atlantic Kube It has been in use for 5 years. The right hand side is the sink we use, the left hand side normally has a draining basket so most of the surface is much less scratched to give you a good comparison

The Police lifted the floorboard for me in my first house when I found bones under the suspended floor. Did a lovely neat job. Must have been proud of their work as they took loads of photographs.

I've always fancied a ride in a helicopter and i've got a circular saw but unfortunately I don't have an angle grinder

Well you can get wood carving blades for angle grinders (basically small circular saw blades) and I used one to trim a plastic drain, when I finished I went to put it down but the cord got cought on something and it turned back on my left hand almost taking my thumb off 😱, they managed to sew it back on but tendon damage has restricted its movement and it aches in the cold so the moral is always wait for the blade to stop before putting it down.

A friend who does gates and access often suggests wiring for a socket at the gate end. I think it is so he can plug in his charger and make tea when he comes back to service them!