CC45

Been away for a few days..... my plasterer said he'd prefer to skim 'fresh' board - he said it gets too dry - he said around windows is the worse. I put some screwfix / toolstation scrim on - he wasnt happy with it, said it wasnt sticky enough. I let him buy what he wanted - not much £ at the end of the day. Don't skim yourself - at £200/day you're only looking at a max of £400 incl materials! You know it makes sense.

My chap prefered board finish. No idea why.

Will find one tomorrow for you. Stay tuned.

I did cut mine out - if I ever need to do it then I'd rather just take the face plate off and not have to start cutting etc. Hopefully it will never need doing!

You might find the coil in the tank has a rating - ours was 18kw max so there isnt much point massively exceeding that.

Hi @joe90, any update on where you've managed to find some? Need to get some myself now. Cheers

Code 4 lead. Game over.

Are you going to use a cavity tray? this should slope down to the external dpc if you are using one.

It needs to start off fairly liquid - sloppy even - its got to run down between the blocks. Wet blocks first so the mix doesnt dry out too fast, then armed with a stiff brush spread the liquid around - encourage it to pack down between the blocks. You soon work it out.

I found that I had to wet the blocks throughout the process - otherwise your sand/cement grout just dries up and refuse to slip down between the blocks. You soon get the hang of it.

Def grout now. The blocks will drain ok. I spent a few days cleaning crap out of the joints pre grouting - never again.

Virtually no trade - you doing the vast majority of the work - £1,000/m2, if your role is 'project managing' - £2,000/m2. It takes some real effort to get below £1,000/m2 - Q a few on here will be in that area but they are the exception and def not the norm. Its not cheap & I suspect the total spend can be very close to the finished value - the adv is that you get to design your dream house.

Get someone in with a Total station. We did twice - footings set out (sprayed on ground) and then again to mark out the corners of the house. No stings / profile boards etc. Simple and well worth the cash. You might find someone who wants a few hours at a weekend - for cash. Plenty of opportunities to save cash in the future. Get this detail right - its important.

What about a Hep2o if you are worried about traps drying out?

It looks like too much heat. Brush flux up the outside of the pipe a bit so the solder has a chance to run to the edge of the fitting. When I went to lead free stuff I found the solder less meltable and was tending to overheat joints - now I keep the solder near to the heated fitting and check it frequently on the fitting itself. I sometimes feel that a fitting once cooked once never is the same again. Still end feed a yorkshire fitting - you will soon move onto normal (cheaper) fittings. I would take that joint apart, bin the filling, really well clean the pipe (unless you can see the ends are well tinned) and give it another go. I use the same flux and solder you do but I dont put anything else on. Never had any probs. Personal preference I guess. Plasterboard makes a good heat shield (paper does burn a bit).

id want to see a good ring of solder at the ends of the fitting. That looks a bit mean to me, it will prob be OK I guess. I use wire wool - outside of pipe & inside of fitting - do fitting first, blow clean of wire bits & flux and put down. Clean pipe, blow & flux - slip on the fitting, clean etc other bit of pipe connect it all up. 15mm pipe does not need that much heat. I think you really ought to get that mechanism for the shower head done first! it won't help you much but the anticipation is killing me.

@Cpd fantastic views. Truely awsome.

We will be under £1k/m2 but its at a cost. I'm doing the majority of the work. If you are going to pay others to do most of it then you will have to keep it a very simple design and settle for lower end kitchens etc. You must design cost out before you start building. Good luck with it.

We have added sound insulation onto a party wall - def worth it from a sound perspective. Cant tell about heat loss. £300 isnt a lot really....

you will need to solder the T piece at the same time as the elbows. Personally I'd take it off and lay down on a flat surface then solder & lift back unless you are doing a shape that needs to be help in position to get an accurate fit. No chance of burning wood or melting the clips then.

we paid ~ 50p/brick and about 70p for laying - 3 years ago. Shocking to see how much they've gone up by. Around here now I hear brickies getting up to £30/hr. About £180/d gets a good brickie normally.

are you sure? it would be a lot easier in a decade or so when you get around to the UVC.

not an artist but I guess this is understandable?

'Turning' the T piece is going to be a pain later - cant you tweak the design so the incoming h2o for both hot an cold comes in on the vertical and then both existing and proposed feeds come in on a horizontal run. When you upgrade - cut through the old supply and connect to the new one. Will sketch a pic if necessary tomorrow.

board adhesive - my skimmer seems to use Q a bit of this to create curves etc. He also adds a bit of cement into it - speeds up drying aparently. Looking good.