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no, Howdens is never cheaper than the better quality competitors online, but they will (with the right technique) price match or beat the price. if you're not getting any joy, however, don't waste your time. for every item they sell, there are better and cheaper options online. for example, if you need kitchens, DIY kitchens beats any supplier in the UK in terms of everything. worktop express beats anyone on worktop. national skirting beats everyone on skirting boards and architraves etc. ... you get the point

Good luck trying to find a plot in Bucks at a reasonable cost. Join the queue behind small developers and investment companies. Best option is probably to buy an existing house and demolish it.

That’s infuriatingly awful. Builders like this should be hung out to dry. It’s worse than incompetence as they just don’t care from the guys installing it up to the people running the company. If it’s like that in your house your neighbours will be the same I expect. It might be worth pulling resources and engaging someone to do a full survey. I had a similar issue with my insulation but fortunately caught it early enough to fix and ended up doing half of it myself. The lack of care seems endemic unfortunately.

For a two-storey house - no. Just emergency egress windows and a smoke alarm within 3.0m of a bedroom door.

Equally: Where doesn't it? Bco doesn't look at every thing on every part of a project. Choosing a sample is essential, but that can be samples of one, or several, or every unit. Thinking back, we requested visits, so it wasn't random. I wanted any errors spotted, but the developes don't, and it will always be easy to fiddle unless random inspections, with clout, are permitted. I should say mandatory.

There is no PD fallback position so you have no choice but to apply for Planning. Tbh, I can see and agree with the LPA’s decision. It makes it worse that it’s attached to the neighbours’ garage.

No,I just know it is common knowledge the big house builders are only sample inspected. There are no end of complaints and newspaper articles about defects, missing insulation being a common one. As I say, they have proved themselves untrustworthy and whoever allows this sample inspecting should disallow it and make sure every single house is inspected.

Do you know where in the regulations it says that only a proportion of houses in a development need to be inspected for a completion? Where I am we inspect all works for a completion. We do have approval type for air tests and sound tests but not completions.

I don't think bco have the authority to demand a certain unit is inspected. The 'sample' units are agreed early, so will be done better. I'd like to know how long is the chain of subcontracting. The site will have the developer's name, but they deny being contractors or project managers as soon as there is a problem. There is seldom a board with the contractors' names. I'm guessing there is a main contractor, but maybe it's all packages at the cheapest quote with little control. They must pay the site managers a lot. Not for skill but for doing just enough, and without pride.

My understanding is building regs in Scotland is changing such that every house must be inspected to address exactly this type of problem. House buying/building ought to be an exciting fun thing to do. It just seems so crap in the UK. You seem to have a handle on it so good luck in getting it resolved.

Depends on how big the envelope they leave on his front seat is .

63mm x 38mm is 3x2. It starts 3" x 2" rough stock and is machined to the finished 63mm x 38mm. It's pretty solid for your suggested use. I'd be happy to make a table or chair out of it. I'd expect 50x25 batten to be strong enough for boxing in and that is essentially 2" x 1". I wouldn't go that route myself though unless space was tight.

Yes this is a big issue, big housing developments only a sample are inspected by building control. That needs fixing imho they have proved they cannot be trusted so every single house needs inspecting and defects corrected before sign off.

Yes, first dose (daily for a week until it started to turn brown) appeared to work. Then a month later a few shoots appeared again, only in 1 of the three places, so daily does of Gallup XL for another week until they turned brown. Finally 1 month later just 2 shoots which got the daily treatment for a week again. I expect that is the last I will see of it this year as it's turned cold but fully expect to have the sprayer on standby ready to pounce in the spring and just keep at it.

That's GB excluding Highland and Aberdeenshire from what somebody said earlier. Thats a crazy loss of business potential or genuinely uneducated on the nation I can't say. Amazon, Sainsburys, John Lewis or Screwfix etc will deliver to the door but they won't. Because??

Some very good suggestions on here and some no so good. It is Marestail / Horsetail and you do need to keep on top of it. Like Ivy it's best sprayed young before the wax coating hardens, bruising the leaves (weed wiping) is the commercial way of treating it using Glyphosate 360 and an adjudicative like Validate. I have had good results with SBK brushwood killer and Validate but it is suggested to use Kplus(https://www.progreen.co.uk/blog/how-to-get-rid-of-woody-weeds-with-sbk-brushwood-killer/) Burn the weeds and please don't put them in the compost or council green bins as this just spreads the problem.

Soakaways (depending on soil), french drains, rainwater recycling. Plenty of content here on Buildhub if you want to do some reading.

38*63 (2*3) would be fine. What i used for this

yep, can't fault them. Connect wires, screw to wall, done. The're pretty slim on the wall. Haven't had any failures yet/ The USB ones seem to charge stuff ok. on the lightswitches, the actual switch can be removed from the faceplete by undoing a couple of tiny screws. This makes it handy if you need to have (say) an intermediate or an illuminated 20A switch in a double or 4-gang faceplate, or want one dimmer in the mix. Like a gridswitch kinda. 3-gangs are different as to cram the three into a single, the switches are in one housing...

DP Miller did and I kind of included them in 'anything German for best quality'.

Buy and knock down is an easier route, pay a bit more but likely less issues with planning, services and timing. Virgin plots will be fought over.

I've enjoyed dipping into this Norwegian build: https://www.youtube.com/@mindsparx1/videos to see the way a carpenter orders the tasks.

I wouldn't necessarily knock Grand Designs - there's quite a lot of projects on there that are fantastic examples of good, simple architecture that can be built at a good price and timescale. If you go on the Channel 4 app you can find all the old episodes to watch there for free (though I think £3.50 a month for ad-free watching is well worth it). These are some episodes I like for their simplicity and being good examples of straight-forward good architecture without ego or bling. Leominster 2018 North Cornwall revisit 2015 Woodbridge revisit 2013 County Down 2017 East London 2017

I suspect a threshold and parasitic loads.

Is there a threshold (W) where the Eddi starts heating water, mine not an Eddi, doesn't make hot water until the export is over 100W.

Thanks very much for the link to Booglehead's videos. YT isn't to my taste: but that said I spend some time on it every single day, and hours on it when - as normal- I have no clue about to do [....] The issue of shared bad-practice does rear its head now and then. But often that's as instructive as the opposite.

Well much sympathy, some of us have been there before... Yeah, suggest, in parallel, (a) appeal the current design making much of 'I can't actually stand up in the current garage' and (b) submit an alternative design which works under PD and apply for a Lawful Development Certificate. I'm not sure I'm terribly impressed with your advisers for ending up at this point.

When you say 'pitched warm roof' I think you are referring to PIR board fixed *inside*, under the rafters. Strictly a 'Warm Roof' is where the insulation is *on top of* the roof structure, just below the membrane and slates, thus all of the roof timbers are within the thermal envelope. Can you confirm that you mean the former (or that I am wrong in my supposition!)? Either way, pre-June 2022 (target 0.18W/m2K) you'd have just scraped through with 125mm, provided the 'timber fraction' (the part of the 'insulation layer' which is actually wood, not insulation) is not unusually big. As far access goes for the remedial work how deep are the rafters? Common practice since 2010 regs in retrofitting roof insulation to sloping ceilings has been to fill rafter depth minus 25mm, leaving a 25mm vent gap between the membrane and the insulation. BEIS Best Practice guidance now states 50mm as the ideal, so you might, if your rafters are less than 175 deep, find that you have to fit insulation under the rafters too (which is in any case good as a cloaking of the thermal bridge - if you don't do that then add up the width of your rafters to see how much 'full-depth wood' is in your insulation layer. Anyway, yes, ceilings down - no way you could do it properly without. If you try, and can slide the insulation in easily then it is too loose. Sounds like you have a really irritating issue, and I wish you luck with the remediation.

RESULT!! Supply moved on Thursday morning, CU and sockets moved, and CU tied to new earthing rod (previously tested by electrician), then E.On contractor moved the supply, tested connections and decided he could connect the tails from the CU to the isolator. We have power into the house. Time to start cabling I suppose 🙂

Thanks, it's my go nuclear option, given how much it could upset the other neighbours. I've emailed the third party building control. This week will also email their regulator CICAIR plus the Local Authority Building Control. We will likely be pursuing a complaint through Build-Zone (the warramty provider) and then the Financial Ombudsman Service due to other issues like bowed walls and wavy floor screed on the ground floor, which the developer is ignoring and the roof insulation may well be added into that. We are also getting other firms to quote to do the work, as the homebuilder may not do a decent job on rectifying this. Given access to the loft is through a narrow hatch how would one go about doing this remedial work, would it be remove plasterboard in vaulted ceiling or would it be remove the roof tiles? Does anyone know what the minimum thickness PIR board should be in a pitched warm roof for a new build? It's pre 2022 part L update as notice was first given in 2018. The developer and builder are visiting this week, we plan to ask them for: - A written report on what they think is wrong with it. - An intended plan of works with timescales. - Their plan to mitigate any disruption to us - alternative accommodation / workspace. - A commitment to compensate us for increased heating bills. Anything else I should add? Thanks so much.

Consider getting the papers involved if it drags on, very bad advertising for the developer and private BC and may make them get off their asses if they don’t get on with it.

Depends on the windows I would have thought. They may need pre drilling if there is metal reinforcement in the frame. She could always use windows straps but if she doesn't want to then something like this maybe.

You could use a multimeter to check if the control signal to the radiator valve is going live or not, and then if the valve is moving when it gets that live signal. What you described sounds like a dodgy valve actuator and/or valve. Regarding your expansion vessel, I assume you mean the one for your hot water tank. The pressure on that should be set when the mains are shut off and the pressure in the water system is relieved. The "at rest" pressure can be calculated by your plumber.

You may need Planning and Building Regulations… https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/doors-and-windows/planning-permission https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/doors-and-windows/building-regulations

It would be the submission date of the Initial Notice. Your property would have needed to meet the old regulations.

Never going to happen is it. At best, all you can hope for is that insulation is there. No one is going to check that its all sealed up and air cant get behind it. No BCO is ever going to do that. The builders know that, and the above is the result. And good luck with finding a builder that even grasps that basic concept. Only today a video popped up on facebook, of a builder doing a short tutorial video on wall construction, cavity with PIR boards. Made a point about saying you need to tape the joints, whilst clearly showing significant gaps between the boards just taped over! The system of building regs is broken and utterly pointless.

YES. They would get it right next time. When I last had a proper job, the industrial unit I worked at was having an extension. A big gable end of the building had been built of brick and block cavity wall. A few days later they were taking the outer brick wall down and then re built it. Building control had failed it for the wrong cavity width or some other detail. If they are made to put incorrect work right, it will focus their mind to get it right first time.

But until BC inspectors have the balls to go up into a loft like this one and say "Sorry chaps, that insulation is not installed to an acceptable standard, it has to be re done properly before I will issue a completion" then mass market builders will continue turning out sub standard rubbish. Most self builders will do it properly because we are mostly self building to get a good house at the end of it. Mass market builders need to be forced to do the job properly.

might as well sling this here My return temps are still too high IMO even at 52 deg flow temps Add to this one of the new vertical rads isn’t heating up very well The en-suite one warms two vertical bars up before the warm water returns via the other six vertical bars Flow temp in 44.0 deg and return is 35.2 so nearly a 10 deg drop The bathroom one (identical to the en-suite) just seems to heat the bottom of the rad and the flow and returns are nearly identical. So I thought I’ve clearly dropped a clanger and fitted it upside down so the flow is short circuiting the rad (there is a blank in the bottom rail that stops this happening) I drained that rad and took it off the wall - shone a torch in the bottom and the blank was at the bottom so I hadn’t fitted it wrong. I was confused and I’m still not sure what made me do it but I looked thro it with a torch on at the other end - this is what I saw https://thumbsnap.com/s/Dgccj4CJ.jpg And from the other end https://thumbsnap.com/s/muHuRPpG.jpg That’ll be a gap round half the blank leading to a short circuit - raised the issue with the supplier as I’m pretty sure that’s the issue with poor heat output and very little difference between flow and return. If I up the flow temp to 70 the rad heats up well but I think thats just a consequence of heat rising much faster at higher temps. Either way I think I’ve found one reason for my higher than expected return temps The other reason was my own fault one rad had been left with the trv body set to six when I thought I’d set it to two. Left the bathroom rad off and isolated - fixed my error on the rad with the wrong setting and hey presto knocked 3 degrees off my return temps compared to earlier in the day when I was checking flow and returns to tweak a few rads that were heating up rooms faster than others

When you read up on passivhaus design, they explain why different concepts developed, where the U values come from etc. One of the topics is glazing, and how the glazing affects the way the room feels. Across the glazing there is a temperature gradient between inside and outside air temperature and depending on the U value, is where the inside of the glass settles temperature wise. The lower the U value the closer it is to room temperature. The glass can suck the heat away from your body. Imagine an Infrared heater in reverse, your body being the heater the window being the body being heated, the lower the glass temperature inside the more it extracts heats. Same is true for the external walls also. Passivhaus push triple glazing because irrespective of outside temp the inside of the glass is alway within a degree or 2 of the room temperature. So the window doesn't affect the way your body responds to the actual room temperature. That is the principal reason why we feel can feel differently in the same room temperature, the heat is being sucked out of you.

My advise is don't connect to the same heat source as the house, unless usage patterns and heating rates are the same. I tried it with a summer house and the flow temperature required were too different. So although hooked up and flowing water, not much effect on the heating. We are using an electric heater at the moment, but using more electrical energy heating a well insulated summer house, than the main house. As @saveasteading says above would be my vote for heat. @zzPaulzz Dust extraction is another question, for a different section on the forum. I would raise a specific question on that.

I vote for this sort of thing, and plenty of insulation. Simple, efficient, diy, cheap and will quickly warm the air.

I don't think that is the case. It is still transmitting loads into the ground, to the complete length of the screw and on the end. You're right, there is no banging. Also some 'banged' piles simply displace the earth and don't remove it. But some screw piles do remove earth...its complex. Party Wall involvement doesn’t mean it can't be done, but an independeng SE, paid for by the developer, makes the judgement.

I have screw piles and was advised when doing mine that this form of piling (as it does not remove any soil as such) did not trigger the Party Wall Act. My piles produced almost no vibration so it sounds like yours are not screw piles. And if yours are not then there is a good chance (as described by others above) that the type of pile that your neighbour is using may well fall under the Party Wall Act. In which case you would have plenty of powers to respond.

What is the piling method? Even if the works do not fall within the Party Wall Act (within 6m of your building) your house should not be "bouncing". You could get in touch with the LA Environmental Health and complain about the excessive vibration. They could do some monitoring.

Up to 6m or within 6m? The Party Wall Act does include a requirement to serve notice if your are excavating for foundations within 6m of adjoining properties if your excavation will intersect a line drawn at 45 degrees down from that neighbours foundations. Deep piling could well do that. I'd need to check my references if this is driven piles as no doubt there have been court cases to determine whether that is "excavating". Could be worth a quick google for a local party wall surveyor and asking the question.

I think I would find a friendly local structural engineer to pop out and see you, agree a cost for visit and a cost to record findings, but not necessarily present, at this stage. If anything happens you have the ability to have a before and after report detailing any structural, or other related damage. I would inform the main contractor immediately of the steps you have taken. You may also check your legal cover on your house insurance - they may help here because if your house falls down they won't be best pleased at having to cover the repairs! Photograph your home - have a means of proving things such as show a plumb line hanging adjacent to walls to prove plumb etc. (don't use a spirit level, the accuracy can be argued against easily). Submit these photos on the date taken to your SE and someone else, ideally a consultant or your insurance company or something (find someone who will agree just to receive them and file them so you can prove dates taken.

The best bit of buying your own digger is it is there, all the time. I had mine about 3 years, not only did it get used for all the digging tasks, foundations, drainage, treatment plant, landscaping, it was damned handy having it there to be used any time you wanted it. Often it would just get 5 minutes work to move something, you can't hire a digger in for that.

Mares tail it helps if you bruise plant before spraying. I normally stamp through it before spraying, then leave it to die off which is normally a few weeks after its rained.

Put some washing up liquid in the weedkiller. Helps get it past the waxy coating on mares-tail. You might also try walking on it to crack the stems. Let the weedkiller do its thing for a few days before cutting..