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I researched this about a year ago but wondered if anyone had bought the various components needed and installed themselves and could recommend a good supply option? thanks

My instinct is for beam and block as the slope can stay put. The void may be usable as a small store, accessed from outside. Or as a big store for long thin things.

I wonder, if it is possible, to put a lubricant in the flushing water. As long as it is environmentally benign, it could reduce water usage. Those of us that live in wet areas really should be using captured rainwater, should not be hard to design a roof with a gutter halfway down it that runs into a loft tank. Today I would have had about 100 litres at least. I had to unblock the car park drain today. Every so often it get blocked and floods. You may never need to clean a toilet again, thanks to a new material that keeps the bowl free of any waste By Alex Wilkins 21 August 2023 A test of the miniature toilet using dyed honey Bin Su et al. A 3D-printed toilet is so slippery that almost nothing can stick to it, even after heavy use, meaning it could massively reduce the amount of water used for flushing. There are many kinds of slippery toilet surfaces, like Teflon-coated bowls, but they all suffer from a lack of durability. The more they are used, the less slippery they become, so the coating or toilet needs to be replaced for it to remain effective. Now, Yike Li at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, and his colleagues have developed a toilet that is extremely slippery and remains so in the face of abrasion. Li and his team made a model of the toilet, around 10 times smaller than a full-sized version, by 3D printing a mixture of plastic and hydrophobic sand grains, using a laser to fuse the particles together and create a complex structure. They then lubricated the surface with a kind of silicon oil, which also penetrated below the surface because of the toilet’s material structure. The researchers tested the toilet by throwing muddy water, milk, yogurt, honey, starch-filled gel and synthetic faeces into it, and found that none of them stuck. In fact, the toilet was just as slippery even after rubbing it with sandpaper more than 1000 times, which is a result of the lubricant oil sitting below the rubbed-away surface, says Li.

My understanding is that Orcan is not designed to be used as a sealer in this way. For our front door I used this - https://www.ecomerchant.co.uk/interior/airtightness-products/blowerproof-liquid-airtightness-system/non-shrink-gap-filling-mortar-5kg.html - with a home made thin spatula to push it in. Then taped over but you can also use the blowerproof paint. A complete pain but got the job done I think.

I thought Orcan F can be used as an airtight bead. 🤷‍♂️ can't you just tape down to the sub-base though with Tescon Vana using a concrete primer to aid adhesion? you could do both I guess!

Yes, in a signed witness statement, deployed in litigation.

You need three diggers. 1.5, 5 and 16 tonnes. If your experience is anything like ours, you'll get your money back on each of them.

Skip loader taking afternoon nap. Volvo still upright. Haven't got my knee down on a digger for 30 plus year's

Well, I only have a little one 🙄 But of course it's how you use it that counts, isn't it?

Or maybe it's been lying in the ditch for two weeks since?

Any size machine can cope if you know how to use it. This was my 1.5T Volvo 2 weeks ago. The bigger and more powerful the machine the more damage you can do unintentionally. If you have the space a JCB or Massey with a back actor and 4 into 1 front bucket maybe a better choice.

I am more than happy with the offers of help and have been corresponding with someone via PM. As well as trying the suggestions above. You might have noticed my offer in my original post. See here....

@oliwoodings Thank you. Tiling starts on Monday so we are on the home straight! I fitted our ceiling light today in the vaulted ceiling. Been putting it off as a combination if a wobbly tower that’s a bit too big and high for the space and delicate glass shades isn’t great. But lights up and working and tower down without any problems.

My only advice is to avoid this type of low height wastes https://www.hartplumbingspares.co.uk/product/slimline-90-hi-flow-shower-waste-extra-low-profile/ They aren't very good the "reed" type valve restricts flow - they are most definitely not hi flow!!!!

Get a large excavator if you have the space. 8 tonne would mean you could load the muck lorries and not need grabs. It will also be good for materials handling. Hire it with an operator.

Detached structures fall under Class E (Outbuildings) so that can be done via PD. Refer to Page 8 for the different classes… https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d77afc8e5274a27cdb2c9e9/190910_Tech_Guide_for_publishing.pdf

I have just had some Velfac windows supplied and fitted. I noticed there was an obscured glass window in a kitchen area which I wanted clear. Looking at the signed order it did specify obscure so I thought I would be on the hook for the cost of a replacement. I contacted Velfac who apologised and said it was their error and they will send a replacement sash FOC.

Have to offset the standing losses, which may, or may not, be useful.

Not sure what the purpose of your thermal store is, unlike electricity the oil is the same price day or night. However assuming you can get reasonable stratification I would think the way would be to allow the rads to deplete the store until it is all at 45C assuming they will provide useful heat at that temp. Then run the boiler at 70 to recharge the store until the return to the boiler rises to 50 or 55 and stop at that point which will ensure a good long condensing run.

>>> Looks like they’re gonna get away with it No, they don't have to. The OP should at least (a) send them a firm 'final demand' kind of letter with a two week window for reply, (b) then file a simple county court case. If it can be reduced to a simple 'money claim' e.g. just claim a refund - then it can all be done online in 10 minutes. I don't recall that the OP mentioned a £ figure, but I guess it is in the £5K range? That generally means no legal costs ever awarded unless someone is being a complete idiot. A lot of suppliers will fold once they figure (a) they want to use a solicitor, (b) they will have to travel to the claimant's local county court, (c) they're risking their own legal costs. Of course, the direct cost of discarding a panel is only a fraction (30%?) of the customer invoice amount, so it's not such a big deal to write it off.

Having lost family members during our build and having been made redundant myself and turned 60 last year, I know how you are all feeling. You'll get through it, and the build is a great way of re-focusing. Keep going

Never one to miss an opportunity for analysis:

We are quite luck in the sense that we have an upstairs plant room that is about 53m2 (9.5mx5.6m). It was designed to be right in the centre of the house, so wiring, plumbing and MVHR runs are radial in nature, hopefully keeping the length of runs minimised. The area was completely clear so I’ve created some skeletal walls from unistrut, with traywork to carry the wiring, plumbing and ventilation. This saved drilling holes in the plastered walls, which is my airtight barrier and the architectural brickwork. Plus if you have to move anything, you aren’t left with an unsightly hole. I’ve also started to create some partition walls (out of unistrut). It also means you have access to both side to run cables etc. I’ve only got the plumbing in so far, but it seems to be working out quite well (see pics). I don’t see why it wouldn’t work out in a smaller area.

The man’s a gambler . We await a photo soon of digger in trench

(Expletive deleted) you're brave!

Yes we all need to keep in mind the length of @Pocsters tentacles (I checked the spelling of that very carefully) when closing in on Bristol - best go incognito or an Abrams tank! So welcome @Brizzol but beware some of the locals can be seriously 'interesting'.

Welcome fellow Bristolian. My first suggestion is you knock it down , piss your neighbors off , then build a mega underground sex dungeon .

I remember the day when I instructed my labourer to fill in all the holes in the joist hangers with twist nails. I told him that if he ran out there was another bag of nails in the shed. He got the wrong bag and despite nailing a hundred or so twist nails continued with galvanised roofing nails. He will remember the day he had to pull them all out again.