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It depends what he is asking for, if its a detached dwelling he may be asking for test reports that show that the internal walls and floors achieve Rw 40 dB (this is a lab test). If he is asking for on site sound tests for a detached house he is very mistaken in what he is asking for.

There have been a good few posts recently about Permitted Development Rights. So, here's a link (below) to the most recent initiative for development under PD. Martin Goodhalls blog - for me at least - is as good a bible for PD rights as you can find. If you haven't read his blog, it's worth a look because he writes so well: clear, focused, authoritative. Here's the article in full.

The slabs work it's easier to have a "slot" than squares as you want to minimise the number of cables you lose. Your slab company will suggest what's possible. In our case, we left a few strategic gaps between slabs, and where we had a slab run parallel to a wall, leave the side of the slab short a couple hundred mm. When we've all our services though, we'll shutter the underside and pour some concrete in. I've left a gap like this along one wall of the main bathroom, so all the waste pipes, vent stack and MVHR ducts to the first floor will come though here. I'll then build a false wall in front of the gap to hide the services. Coring a 116mm or smaller hole in a 150 slab is easy enough, you just need to avoid the cables which are normally 150mm centre to centre.

Hello Moggaman. I take it that by HC you mean a hollowcore slab? You may be familiar with the design of these but if not.. and for all. Small occasional service penetrations (say less than 50mm dia) will normally be ok so long as you keep away from any additional rebar, main slab tendons. Once you go beyond this small opening size you need to look really carefully at what you are doing as you may start to get close to the steel and significantly compromise the shear / bending capacity of the slab. It needs careful thought and detailing. Also, once you start to take chunks out of these slabs you need to check the lifting points are still ok. They are not forgiving if they fall during lifting! It's worth doing some background reading on this, get familiar with the terms and talk to the manufactuer at an early stage.

Yes cut them at an angle so they fit flat against the wall plate

Yes ope, short for opening ...

Errr none ... wouldn’t pay up front for anything.

Based on context, I assume "openings".

Is it just me? or what is an OPE? Google does not help me.

I used Express Screed, based in Ripon. They will travel all over though I was told. Kingspan upstand as I am overlaying the studwork with 50mm more kingspan and that will tie in nicely. A useful tip is that when securing the plastic that goes under your pipes, and also comes up the wall above screed level, it is possible to simply use a few spare pipe staples and poke them through the plastic and into the kingspan upstand to stop it flapping down. Holds much better than tape- my tape anyway ! Simon.

For brick and block, 3-5 stage payments. First payment at DPC, nothing in advance. All stages written in contract.

Wouldn’t sorry

Firs payment Footing& Foundations to slab 2nd up-to chamber 3rd to watertight The rest you can agree between yourselves Say first fix joinery plumbing and electrics Then a payment after plastering Render if applicable You will probably be asked for the rest as things arrive on-site Kitchens bathrooms Boilers heat pumps etc The main thing is agreeing upto watertight I would be keen on anything up front You could offer to settle the concrete bill or bricks Once they are onsite

We did a 5% initial advance which I was happy enough with as the timber frame was quite expensive and needed paid in advance of delivery. I think a 5% to 10% deposit is not uncommon. After that it was staged payments in arrears.

Bit more detail pls TF or traditional Pile foundation House or extension

Here is a useful link about guttering layout design: https://www.gutter.co.uk/what-we-have-forgotten-about-victorian-gutters-and-drain-pipes/

If you're going for a (vaguely) airtight door, then the answer is - inward opening performs better - no. you can't easily reverse it. The issue is mostly the threshold. Making an airtight seal at the threshold is hard, making it on the outside of the threshold is harder, and reversing the threshold (non-destructively) even harder Full disclosure: we have a Moralt Ferro Passive garage door, made a last minute change to make it outward opening, and somewhat regret it.

You could remove the whole frame, turn it around and refit. or depending on the frame detail, leave the frame alone (fill the rebates and holes left by the lock/closer etc. and fit the door to the other side. ... this is so much easier to do than describe.

I had 50mm of Ahydrite screed poured last Thursday. 120 sq metres. It was fine to walk on after 24 hours although I waited 48 as per advice of very experienced screed chap. It was a joy to see it being laid, so quick, he took longer to clean up than pour and level the screed. It is dead flat according to my level. I did all stud partitions first, fitted kingspan upstands 50mm higher than the expected finished screed level, and then attached the foam expansion upstand tapes to these as advised. Worked a treat. Simon.

Quite a few of sites are doing a sound test on 1-8 I think he’s mistaken

Building control have been fine about windows just had to show they are pas 24 compliant and as most are fixed pain not to hard. I am doing as much of the work as I can, so apart from the sparky, I will be doing lots.

Get yourself a good plumber and electrician, they know how to set things out but in my experience they don’t like you interfering unless you know exactly what you’re doing so you might find they’re not too happy with you doing first fix yourself. We paid around £3k 3 years ago to have the whole house wired up ( we bought all the components) and it was money well spent knowing it was all done to regulations by someone who knew what they were doing.

This only applies to flats and attached dwellings. Not needed for detached. Has he been in the job for long?

Building warrant information is only to get a building warrant, it isn't construction information. For domestic projects the items you're looking at would just be done by a plumber and electrician to meet their relevant codes, if you want them fully designed and specified you'd need an M&E engineer, but they'd probably leave most of those decisions up to a subcontractor anyway!

Ahh - sorry - from your description which seemed to imply (to me at least) that people would be using it inc children that you had other intentions ?

Thanks Pete! I originally had one drawn in but I removed it as there is one inbuilt in the Pan ASHP which caters for up to 200L (part of the reason why I went with the Panasonic unit as I'm so tight on space!). Was initially going with Ecodan but this swayed it for me!

We made a last minute decision to put electric UFH in the bathrooms, previously had only allowed for wet towel rads. When I say last minute, we'd already completed first fix and started boarding out so a few had to come off to get the conduits and spur boxes etc in. Was a good decision and was not at all expensive. The budget Warmstar mats work well and I can't see why you'd pay multiples for the more expensive brands - they all do the same thing, resistance heat a wire in a mat in the floor. One thing to watch is build-up - you will add about 10 -12mm of additional thickness to the floor with insulation (6mm), the mats and a laytex compound to give you a smooth layer to tile off. One advantage of this was that the 25mm low profile shower tray in a room ended up flush with the tiles, which was nice. One disadvantage was the bathroom tiles were 10mm above the hall flooring (engineered wood) so the fitter had to build a little ramp from laytex to even the threshold. Worked well and you'd never know to look.

The important question: Is this an existing system that has previously worked but has stopped working properly? Or is it new and it has never worked properly? Important because at the moment we don't know if we are looking for a design fault or a part failure.

If you're only using it for cleaning access then just providing a secure fixing point near to the access is enough - you'd then use a "fall restraint" system (basically a rope too short to let you reach the edge) and no further safety provision is required. If you want to use it as a roof terrace you need a properly engineered system of barriers - nobody is going to believe a claim about using fall restraint for that - and then you need full planning, building control, etc.

@Ian When we modelled the 140mm option alongside the 300mm twin-wall, we were advised to use 0.17W/m2K Few reasons: - MBC calculation assumes external 100mm concrete. - MBC calculation assumes external 50mm unventilated external cavity. - Value of foil breather membranes is questionable.

Depends if the new build has certain withdrawal of PD rights. The guidance states... ”Although solar photovoltaics and solar thermal equipment (i.e. solar panels) are not permitted development under Class C, they may not require an application for planning permission if they meet the requirements set out under Part 14 of the rules on permitted development in Schedule 2 to the Order.”

Solenoid operated shutter will stop this or an iris shutter, you and millions of others have the same problem

I’m lucky- I usually breeze in and do the fun bit! planning officers- just have no sense of how the world works.

Just remember that PIR between studs had to be done very well (foamed AND Taped) if it’s done shite then it’s as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike.... Doing it really well is very time consuming (I am doing it right now....) and you should not “assume” your builder is going to do a pukka job if working to a set price or finds this sort of detailing “unnecessary” using a compressible insulation between the studs gives you a much better chance of getting it right and then stick as much PIR as you can (within reason...)on the inside to really bolster up your U-Values.

Which dries out nice and quick. MVHR removes the odour also.