Leaderboard

Civil action, very costly and hard to enforce. We used to get cars dumped in our carpark. Tried all the legal routes, took months. Finally, as if by magic, some evenings the cars got moved and placed across a side road junction. No idea how it happened, but on the same nights our fork truck was moved as well.

Then the installer needs shooting. There should be some kind of access panel, Nothing from behind in say a cupboard?

Do some careful and accurate measuring to locate EXACTLY the opposite side of that wall. It might be the lesser of 2 evils is then cut a section of plasterboard out of that wall to give you access. Much easier to replace the plasterboard and fill the gaps than replace a tile. Or better still create a proper access hatch.

There's a plastic lock nut on the back of that, so if you keep messing with it the push button will be dangling by the pneumatic hose and the locknut will be swinging around on it behind the wall / tile. Q: Has anyone actually been behind this and looked PROPERLY for any form of secret / hidden access?

Have your installers agreed to doing this as it seriously limits the time they have to get the windows in and fixed.

Just drag it out of the way.

Fair play, we have all been there🤣👍

About £4k installed as part of the window package, without the door. Quote was from 2021

This is one of those posts, I wish I hadn't posted. I'll get my coat.

The law is the law. Government 'guidance' is often an imprecise approximation (during COVID it was sometimes just plain wrong!). In this case building control and planning, which are two totally separate branches of law dealing with different aspects of development, are being wrongly conflated. Its best to keep a clear head and separate them. So to unpick this "Thanks, IIRC the Planning Portal says that any ASHP installation can fall under Permitted Development if the installation complies with MCS 020 and part of this standard requires that the installation must be carried out by an MCS approved installer" 'Can' is not the same as 'does' The actual law on permitted development (in England), which is definitive, is here. See specifically Schedule 2 part 14G. There are quite a few requirements beyond MCS-020. "Without a PD exemption, normal planning and building control applies. " Without a PD exemption, normal planning applies, however building control is a separate and parallel branch of legislation to planning. It applies whether or not the development is done under PD. Building Control doesn't say a lot about ASHPs but what it does say is totally independent of the planning regime under which the development takes place. Building Control rules do, however, depend on whether it is a retrofit or part of a new building/major refit/change of use. "This is all a lot simpler if the installation is done as part of the initial build and part of this planning and building control approval, but in our case that was over 6 years ago." Yes, because in this case the Local Planning Authority (LPA )focusses on the bigger picture not the minutiae of the ASHP! The Building Control regulations in this case are, however, much tighter, but in most cases easier to achieve because you are not constrained by what is already there. "As a post sign-off install, this control itself introduces a shed load of bureaucracy and costs. In the case where the proposed ASHP is to the rear and within the property curtilage, you would need to demonstrate to BControl that the installation complies with gas-safe, positioning and noise regs." No. Gas safe regs are irrelevant because there is no gas. Building control doesn't care about positioning and noise regs, that's a matter for planning. " In this last case it would be practically impossible to get BC sign-off of your calcs unless the ASHP unit is an MCS approved model." If its done as a retrofit BC has very little say about efficiency or anything else of relevance to swapping fossil fuel heating for ASHP (other than G3). BC doesn't care about MCS, its not even mentioned in the BC rules. If its a newbuild then BC does have quite a lot to say about efficiency, but it says nothing about MCS or any of the MCS rules that appear to be troubling you..

Its a house that has been cut into two so I think the storm drain might be in the other property. The old block paving patio didnt suffer any drainage issues so I think it should be ok. I think I will just dig a deep trench as you say and fill with gravel to at least allow some sort of run off. You mentioned you would use a wacker plate for the soil before the MOT 1. I guess if I just have clay and some sand left over from the block paving would a mix of the two suffice if packed down enough before the MOT1? Thanks!

OK, I'm watertight - and it is very conveniently raining, so I'm just sat waiting to see if I get a leak or not . The dry ridge membrane is less sturdy than I imagined, but in fairness it's designed to go under a real ridge, rather than being the ridge itself. I'm happy enough leaving it like that until I can get back in the summer with the real metal pieces, though. The bargeboard is really just a placeholder, below that very skinny wood will go some 8x1, and if I'm lucky that might hide all the missing render - if not, there'll be a small patch to reinstate. Since i need to cut away some of the other render to install it, I won't be getting to it on this trip either, but I'm happy to call it a success overall. Take that, chimney!

This graph was presented by a timber frame company at a recent demo day. Prices of CLS timber are back to where they were 4 years ago.

Wouldn'tcha just luve to talk to the dick'ed who left the system like that. Now, there's an exposed summat or other yes? Is soem sort of push-rod visible?

75mm of eps is basically nothing. you need roughly double the thickness of eps to achieve same as celotex.

Hi Can you drop me a message with how many metres you require and I'll give you a price direct from Illbruck and a timescale. Thanks Craig

Kaput eh? You sayin' German engineering is Scheisse? Or wot? Seen summat like this in The Fatherland. Does the button unscrew? If so Bingo. Access to the wall behind (as in the room behind) the assembly : in other words a service void accessible from a room adjacent ? Wenn nicht, dann ist hier Alles Quatsch. If not, sure as Hell a German didn't have anything to do with the design.

Thank you Steamy, although I can’t pretend I really get those numbers I do understand that such a unit would need to draw its air from outside to work, so I’m no longer contemplating a connection with the MVHR unit. So it using direct air means no efficiency advantage over an external monoblock ASHP methinks. However it still has cost and convenience advantages potentially for us. But, worryingly, a hunt around the net last night (guess who couldn’t sleep) yielded no noise figures, and given Steamy’s numbers I’m wondering if the unit will end up sounding like a chip shop extractor when running due to required air volume, which would not make for happiness.

As @Dan F says, it’s usual to use operating modes for this type of control. Operating modes are hugely useful for lots of stuff. I use them for whole house evening and night modes, individual bedroom modes, heating/ventilation, guest mode, at home, away, holiday etc. They can be used with schedules, triggered by other logic or using switches and other inputs. Incredibly useful. If you used the config planning tool and auto config then it will create a whole range of operating modes automatically.

(A few other disadvantages of pocket doors: (i) they tend to negate the acoustic insulation in the wall that is the pocket; (ii) they are slow and more cumbersome to operate, so better suited for occasional use.)

If you have not built anything yet then yes. Get your bricklayers to overhang the brick panel 15mm from the block work. if you don’t then the brickwork will look like it’s stepping back from render when it’s finished and I’m sure that’s not the look your going for.

When we design prefabricated roof trusses we sometimes use a thing called a "superchord" which is basically a sistering thing which strengthens the rafter locally. If you look at the stamping on the timber main truss rafter in the photo copied below, the web, rafter and sistering.. all have similar markings in terms of print colour and text layout. What you see may be part of the original truss. The timber use for a trussed rafter in the UK is not that available "off the shelf".. usually a UK truss timber grade is TR26. Thus it's not a common timber that you would use to alter a roof. It may well be that what you see (sistering each side of the rafters) is part of the original truss and that could be assocaited with say an extended eaves or a series of point loads say from another roof framing into it as other have mentioned I would go back an look carefully at the timber stamping and the eaves detail etc before jumping to a conclusion that says the previous owners have been mucking about with it.

I had a similar problem a few years ago, water board came out (Bristol water) used a listening rod and found a leak right in the middle of my lawn, repaired it FOC and even estimated the water loss because of the leak and back payed me fir the lost water. I was amazed as I understood it was my pipe on my land and I was responsible, they did say however that if it happened again they would not do it a second time. So see what they say then come back to us. It depends on length of pipe work and whether lawn or concrete/tarmac as to severity of the job.

It isn't by any chance, all one access panel? If it's like my concealed systems, the cistern is behind there and linked to the button by a plastic tube the diameter of a drinking straw. That simply puffs some air and releases the syphon. If the tube comes loose on either end it doesn't work. Maybe the button can be removed very gently. Just maybe the tube will still be loosely attached to the button or visible through the hole.

Angle grind a slot in the wall - on a downward facing angle. Fit lead. Bead of lead sealant.

It's worth unpacking that. BUS requires MCS and both space and water heating by ashp Building regs do not require MCS or that dhw is heated by ashp Planning under express consent does not require MCS unless your LPA make it a condition which is unlikely. Under permitted development MCS is required (there is a possible argument that if you install to equivalent standards it's ok, but if you wish to deploy this I'd get a certificate of lawful development in advance because this argument is untested (and in my view shaky) and, more importantly, the burden of proof if your LPA disagree lies with you). Either way planning doesn't require dhw by ashp I'm not sure whether the MCS standard actually requires dhw to be by ashp (it's worth checking MIS 3005-d), but many MCS installers will insist anyway on ripping out whatever functional dhw you have so their rookie plumbers can fit a pre-plumbed cylinder. However there are some that are more sensible. Depending on your situation you may be able to circumvent the grant chasing vampires, but most can't. And yes it's crazy but it's what you get if you don't have the necessary skills in the civil service, have politicians almost none of which have any engineering or science qualifications, and thus are entirely reliant on the industry to advise on regulation without any meaningful ability robustly to interrogate them. Of course I'm not suggesting that is what we have!

You have full PP? Or Outline permission? Have you submitted your plans to BC for approval? (Often called The Building Regs Application) If so ( and they are happy) , then No is the answer. No (as proof) is the answer to the second question too. One quick way I have heard of as showing commencement is to install a temporary electricity supply (you may already have one?). Photograph and date the installation. Send via email to Building Control. Job jobbed. As usual @Temp (above) has the definitive, official, water-tight answer. It's a bore though. And costs munee.

Don't get hung up on U values. There's really very little in it. The actual performance will be much more affected by the airtightness and wind tightness. Have a look at these examples. As the timber is such a large factor the type of insulation makes much less of a difference. If you were able to break the thermal bridge of the joists with a continuous layer you would fare much better but as you're limited with space no such luck.

The xgimi aura is a very capable projector. The Texas Instruments DLP Chip 0.47” DMD is in a lot of these short throw projectors. This guy does a good projector ladder where he covers what you get for the more you pay. There is really only 3 price bands for USTs, sub £500, £1500-£2000, over £2500. He also does a good round up on the various screens. If you go down the AliExpress route you should be able to get a pretty decent screen, just make sure it is for UST, these have different requirements to long throw. UST needs a lower gain. I prefer a fixed screen, but this is so room dependent and not SWMBO friendly. In the projector community they tend to upgrade their projectors a lot. But the screen is a long term investment. Try searching AVForum.co.uk for any successful ALR AliExpress outcomes. Or you might be able to get a 2nd hand screen on the AVForum classifieds, these don’t often make it to eBay.

You get pretty good thermal bridging mitigation too.

Thankfully the majority of people consider living in a housing estate box with a small garden and lots of neighbours in close proximity and insufficiant parking to be "normal" and all they aspire to. Right from an early age that was not what I wanted and I am finally living where I want in theo cuntryside.

I think not as there's no way of knowing how close the battens have been fitted to the ufh pipes; it would only need one slip with the saw to cause irreversable damage.

Could make for a very expensive project. It's the unknown factor. Specialist tree surveys by a company who knows what there talking about could be of some help, but it's not guaranteed.

The above worked out fine and has been accepted by our building control company. If anyone needs help with it in future tag me.

The man has spoken, and his words are wise ones. "Heed" y'all!! Airtightness is the money shot here for sure, but if possible also put some 10mm (or thicker) Marmox / similar insulation board between the flooring and the joists to kill the repeat thermal bridging, if you can lose that slight gain in floor height?

Have the council said you can have a white line painted across the dropped section to prevent cars parking there? Kind of moving the problem sideways as they'll just park it right back there after the crossover is done. Last resort; Ask a kind Pikey to 'collect' it......

It’s too late to wind Jeremy up, he left ages ago, but his “Dr Sidekick” will be along shortly to explain the science and maths 😴

Yes very likely the mechanism will drop in to the wall if it's like ours. Time to find out if those tiles are still available 🙂

Only got 1 guy on my job . He’s slow , lazy and been on it 11 yrs . Rubbish ! Might sack him …

Ideally is an understatement. Thats the only way you can do it and not lose your teeth swearing.

Thermal mass!