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Is that all you @SteamyTea do in a bathroom? We .... read doze think drink answer email surf BuildHub be sensibly merry do our online banking do our weekly shopping order from Aldi (Vorsprung Durch Einkaufen !) listen to podcasts and the radio waterboard grandchildren read them stories duck and dive to very loud music too.

It seems noise is a major downfall of the aluminium cills, so will probably swing towards concrete. and good to know this is an option Thanks all.

Update to this we have had a conversation this morning, which has clarified our concerns caused by former a employee of past dealings and fingers crossed we will be able to order what we wanted. Our only motive in this whole thread was wanting to see positive progress! We have as many of us here invested heavily both spiritually and financially into our design. Thankfully the Andy Norris the UK sales manager of Insulhub has took ownership of the account and is taking huge steps to help us get our blocks, simple really.

Both me and @LA3222 used a Kore system, albeit set up by ourselves it wasn't made out of standard EPS by ourselves, the edge profiles with the upstand are supplied pre cut. I would question anyone's sanity fabricating their own EPS profiles for the upstand section, seems madness when you consider there would only be say £1k saving. The inner section is just standard EPS sheets.

Here’s a clue, look at the sink...

I think I’d make the shelf, place it in position with some packers underneath, 3mm or so, put a stop bead in flush with the top of the shelf. Remove the shelf, get the plastering/painting done and then put gobs of glue down and refit the shelf.

I did ask before, have you found out if you have legal cover with your house insurance/mortgage???

More like an insulation material that goes underneath. I’ll get the detail to show you.

Mine were meranti, routed to make it out of one piece.

If you want to send shivers down the spine of a plasterer, let him know where the wall lights are going.........

With a chalk cob wall I would want a decent cavity.

https://www.bes.co.uk/copper-monobloc-tap-tails-m10-x-15mm-19800/ copper tails- still available

Oil burners are very simple engineering, easy to repair (unless its the water jacket etc) fans are nothing special, burners are much easier to fix and service that gas

Why did he contact the oil supplier when the oil boiler backed up? A heating engineer experienced in oil boilers would be my choice. Almost certainly the boiler can be repaired for a lot less than changing anything.

The room looks lovely, it would bother me initially then I would forget about it as not important in the grand scheme of things but endeavour to make sure I didn’t do it again!

Generally LPG is more expensive than oil. And you can be locked into a single supplier. But has he considered an ASHP?

Put a safe plate over any studs you drill! https://www.screwfix.com/p/sabrefix-protecta-safe-plate-galvanised-90mm-x-45mm-20-pack/30038?tc=MC3&ds_kid=92700058021678484&ds_rl=1249407&ds_rl=1241687&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1245250&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrdbDl6fO7wIVibbtCh3_kgr3EAQYASABEgKmhvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Single sheet. I was really surprised that no-one's ever mentioned this in the past, although it's interesting seeing in this thread how many others apparently have similar issues.

Glad to see progress - it's always a relief. Now, make sure you get the order right - estimating breakage is a difficult one. So work out how - when you are unexpectedly caught short (as it were) you are going to obtain ' just a few , please '

Glad you are getting somewhere, I have been conversing with Andy Norris, he has been very helpful

That makes sense, and i am actually planning for extruded ones

This tile / basin placement highlights the difficulties of getting different trades to work together. To get that "right" you would have needed the tiler to plan it in detail and mark out exactly where the tile joints are going to be. that would have to happen before the plasterboard when on, so the plumber could then centre all the pipework with respect to the tiles. then the plasterboard could go on and the tiling commence. And if the tiler then changes his plan.......... These things are a lot easier to get right if you DIY it and the tiler and plumber are the same person, and you don't mind it all taking longer.

Something quite rigid like Rockwool slab?

One thing that annoys me a bit about aluminium cills is that they're noisy when it rains. Big drops fall off the head of the window onto the cill. They're more annoying than the general sound of rain because they're a lot louder, and they're intermittent.

I have a 5kW Panasonic Aquarea that's about 6 years old. You can't hear it when it's doing UFH. There's a slight noise when it's doing DHW, but it's still pretty quiet. To minimise noise, it's important that you mount it properly (ground mounting much better than wall mounting for noise) and connect it with flexible connectors to avoid vibration transmission to the house.

UFH - Wunda will do all this for you for 1/3rd of the price of the “specialists” for a better product.

Not really a crime against humanity compared to the f**k ups I see from most plumbers.

Where do you live? The English average temperature for the winter months is closer to 4°C with the odds spell a few degrees below zero. -20 °C would produce Texas style strain on the Grid; however assuming continuity of supply, the heating could always be supplemented when the temperatures do plummet - for example I use an oil-filled electric radiator in the coldest month to add a little bit of extra heat for my top floors. IMO, you need to do the sums (perhaps assuming that you can do most heating overnight on E7 rates) and work out what your annualised eating building will be at a CoP of 1. An ASHP will give a CoP between 3 and 4, so you can calculate the annual saving if you add an ASHP, and this will give you the investment case to see whether it's work while installing one.

We managed to keep the room that the planner was concerned about, but had to step it back from the front facade and paint the external wall grey to break up the massing of it.

Hmm, can't find it at the moment. Pretty sure it was a video about Mike Whitfield building something designed by Janet Cotterell (who co-wrote "The Passivhaus Handbook"). Saw it around 2014 or 2015, but it might have been a year or two older than that. He showed how he built up a passive raft using just sheets of EPS. It was something like these: https://tdscustomconstruction.com/blog/passive-house/the-foundation-system/ https://terrahaus.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/frost-protected-shallow-foundations/

I remember reading about a builder who did this years ago. Let me see if I can find the site.

Thats the bedroom?

I don’t see how you’re making this cost comparison ..?? Decent Viessman with all the toys is just over £1500 and then needs install etc so add £1000. Rads aren’t expensive but install of pipe work, TRVs etc you’re adding say £1500 to do a decent job with quality kit. So £4k all in. You now have to service the boiler annually (£100 or so) rads will need painting and replacing at some point, and you have an ongoing rise in energy costs which you can’t offset. Flip side is UFH on 2 floors (not really necessary but for comparison) would be £700 for materials, couple of towel rails is £200, UVC (which could go in the attic) is £850. UFH is probably £1200 to install and zero maintenance thereafter. UVC is £400, annual check should be £50. So that’s £3350 all in. If you can follow a plan then you can even self install UFH - saves you money. Now look at heat source for that and you have choices. Small ASHP would be £3500, install another £800. Potential to offset this using the carbon grants and you’re now looking cheaper than your gas boiler. Also you can self consume, with summer months PV straight into the hot water tank as you’re not getting any FIT worth talking about.

The sink is squint? the sink isn’t centred on the tile? the plumber didn’t remove the packaging from site? There isn’t any roses covering the hole coming through the wall? There is no local isolation under the sink? The sink hasn’t been sealed to the wall? ?

No worries only trying to help i think you have a strong case

@SuperJohnG's blog maybe? Pretty sure @LA3222 answered some of John's questions with how he did it previously. Seem to remember he posted up some cracking pics of his super tidy EPS detailing...but I can't find them?

Basically it's not his site, the location plan is below. Seeing this i can understand why the committee came to the over development conclusion, though I am surprised the planners actually supported it. It's a super compact site and not well orinated to other properties. I really struggle to see how any house would get permitted there, then again I am not a planner.

No need to assume. Look up your LPAs Enforcement Policy. And then look at Enforcement Notices and subsequent Appeals. Dates, and thus time lags, will become clear.

Combi boilers have to have a high output to produce hot water quickly for your hot water (around 30kW), which is going to be much higher than the output you need for your heating your house (which I suspect will be less than 5kW even in the cold weather). If it can't modulate (reduce its power) down this low then it will cause the boiler to cycle on/off/on/off which reduces its efficiency and increases wear on the boiler.

Good call Tony. A few pendants but no downlighting. Found some old plant pots to sit above the couple of lighting junction boxes though

He will loose

Section 10 seems worth a look again

Have you chased up the builder you've already paid? It sounds like things just went a bit wishy washy and he drifted off to something else. I'd try to get him re-engaged to finish off the work before making it formal with a letter before action. With taking things the legal route too quickly and too soon, you'll harm your position if and when you need to take things forwards legally and you'll likely get the back up of the builder. You also loose more control of the situation. You have to give him the opportunity to come back and fix/complete what was agreed. I'd make a list of what was agreed, what was done and what is remaining so you can get both yours and the builder's minds clear on what is outstanding. Then write down exactly what you want done by him and when. Then get in touch with him with some clear instructions and ask him to provide a reasonable timescale. This is a step you'll need to demonstrate you've done if you try with a letter before action. If the other builder is part of the same company that you originally contracted, you're fully in your rights to ask him to complete the work as you'll have paid the company not an individual/sole trader - assuming that's what you did? As others have suggested, I wouldn't get the other builder involved to do any other work than what is outstanding right now as it just muddies the waters and if they don't get on, it may add friction the situation. You also want to avoid paying out any more money to anyone else until you know more about getting things on track, or if you've really got a serious problem with the builder who's gone AWOL.

Your neighbour is a bully and allowing him to get away with this just reinforces his behaviour. You must take legal advice. If it were me I'd be very much taking him to court to remove his extension from your wall as the facts are indisputable. It's shocking that he thinks he can get away with it. If he is an Architect or Chartered Surveyor (you state both so not sure which) and relies on that accreditation for work, then I would also complain to the relevant RIBA/RICS professional standards office about his behaviour. And unfortunately, even if you do nothing now to resolve this issue, you will still have to declare this if you sell the house. You may not be "in dispute" with your neighbour but you are now aware of this.

tbh i would go away from a set designs and go for something that you actually want and reflects the site. There are a number of timber framers locally to you that would be able to provide bespoke factory made frames to you design. http://www.alltimberframes.co.uk/ https://www.allwoodtimber.co.uk/ http://www.westructure.co.uk/

150mm of decent insulation is probably fine, there is a law of diminishing returns, where adding more insulation only makes a modest difference. If the loss is under about 10% then realistically that's about as good as it's reasonable to expect. Worth just doing a quick check to see how hot the floor is likely to run and how much heat will be lost. I wrote a simple spreadsheet to do this that may help: Floor heat loss and UFH calculator.xls To put our floor heat loss from the UFH into perspective, in very cold weather (as in -10°C outside), then that ~8% represents about 128 W, so about the same as us leaving most of the lights on in the house, which isn't a lot to pay for the convenience of not having radiators cluttering up the walls.

Ahhh the lovely “flachten turden inspektion platten”

Why should I suffer alone?

We've got Rationel aluminium cills, and I've never noticed any rain noise. If this is one of those things that you can't ignore once someone has pointed it out, I'm gonna be well pi$$ed off with you lot? Back to the OP; if you're having a timber frame with brick outer skin, then I expect the cills will go on after the brickwork. (My windows didn't go in until the brickwork was finished).

Is it David Blunkett complaining.