Dreadnaught

I'm doing this now. We will be boxing out the foul risers under the showers for the concrete pour. The pour will hopefully be next week or the week after once it warms up. I'm having wet-room shower formers too in my passive slab, which made things extra complicated. Probably wouldn't do that next time.

Yes, I'm going for the extra fat, super-insulated version in this design. 1.5m wide so a bit wider than in the image. Black escutcheon (yes I didn't know either: keyhole) unlike in the image. That's a bespoke groove pattern by the way.

Unfortunately not. The entrance door is close to 1.5m wide however, which could help. Do have a 2.5m x 0.8m roof window over the kitchen. Sofa delivery by helicopter could work if all else failed.

? Thanks guys. Now I have to work out how to convince RK Doors to lock-in the price for a year. Anyone tried that?

I am resurrecting this old thread as I am watching the cold weather now for my concrete pour for my insulated raft foundation. Anyone else doing the same? At the time of writing (February 2021) it looks like overnight temperatures will not consistently rise above 4ºC for another month (!?!) in Cambridge if long term weather forecasts are any guide. And then my concrete team will probably have a backlog of pours to do. Patience is a virtue – I need to be more virtuous!

I am just about to order my front door, an expensive RK-model. I am worried about this pricey door getting bashed and scratched during the build. Unusually, I only have a single external door into my whole dwelling – no back door. Would it be better to pay a chippy to put in a temporary entrance door now and delay the installation of the expensive one for a year, until the end of second-fix? Did everyone else do this? I have seen entrance doors covered with protective sheeting. Does that really work? How is it attached? (My current progress: just about to pour my concrete raft foundation – when the weather warms-up. Am currently ordering the doors & windows, etc., so they all arrive soon after the timber frame goes-up.)

Thanks @Timedout & @Russell griffiths! Helpful insight! I've think I have found a local air-con merchant that stocks it. I will pop over on Monday and see if they will sell me some. My concrete contractors are on site so I don't really want to wait for mail order if I can avoid it.

Does 10mm pipe-insulation exist? Neither toolstation nor any of my local plumbers merchants have it. They all only seem to stock 15mm. Is it that 15mm pipe insulation fits snuggly on a 10mm Hep2O pipe? (I will be using it to lag my Hep2O pipes as they emerge from my insulated raft-foundation.)

Thanks @Russell griffiths. As @DevilDamo says, in my experience the arboriculturalists have a way around every objection that a council tree-officer can raise. Ingenious fellows! But you are likely to get a long list of planning conditions related to trees to sign-off as you build.

On @dpmiller's ingenious idea of using a Urinal-PIR sensor to empty the dead-leg of water, how about a cobbled-together Smart-home solution like this: - a 15mm Solenoid Valve Nylon (normally closed), 230v version, like this, £21 - A smartplug (Homekit, Alexa or Google Assistant, etc.) - A PIR sensor (Homekit, Alexa or Google Assistant, etc.) ← I would have this anyway for the lights. The PIR sensor triggers the smart plug, which opens the valve for a set period. Could even program it not to trigger again for a set period. Why might that not work? I suspect there are some reasons. The solenoid:

Ah, I actually calculated it for 10m not 15m. Sorry. In reality the length is about 13m or so. Note that 15mm is the outside diameter. I think the internal diameter of 15mm Hep2O is 11.3mm (wall thickness being 1.85mm). (11.3/2)^2*3.15*13 ≈ 1.3 litres

I wonder if that would be audible.

Thanks. I like this solution a lot. Now, I wonder if I can convince my M&E advisor of its merits. By my calculations, a 10mm hot pipe would hold 352 ml of cold water. Or if I chose to use a 15mm pipe, and included the shower in the arrangement too, then that would hold 1-litre of cold water. Thus when you entered the bathroom a litre of cold water would go down the drain. I notice that the urinal-PIR-thingy has a settable timer so that if you walk in-and-out of the room 5x times, 5x litres of water does not head down the drain.

With such an Ali-Express-type PIR-flush-valve, where would the water discharge? I imagine it would go down its own drain connection, not visible (and audibly) out-of-the-tap and down the sink. Its an ingenious solution.

Battery powered – is it not allowed to have a mains version in a bathroom I wonder?

This discussion also makes me think of sensor taps too. Anybody installed those?

This looks good as a possible solution (and doesn't look hideous): https://www.washroomhub.co.uk/dvs-ac02-023-wall-mounted-brushed-stainless-steel-urinal-sensor-c-w-2m-extension-cable, £125. But seems to need an expensive handheld controller to program it (£250).

How does that work? Microprocessor controlled?

Yes, nice solution. But I am aiming to avoid the extra complication of a hot return.

That makes sense. Looking online, the lowest temp for a TMV I found was 30º. Google in my hands could not find one that went lower.

True, although I was told that Geberit cisterns, which I am choosing, are insulated anyhow.

If the bathroom is a long way away from hot-water source, I recall a post where @PeterW suggested connecting the hot pipe also to the WC cistern so that flushing the toilet would pull through the dead-leg of cold water in the pipe. (I searched but could not find the old post.) Is this still considered a good idea? My bathroom will be about 15m from the hot-water source (a Sunamp).

@willbish, beginner question. In your (splendid) photos, all the walls seem to run at 90º to your joists above. What what if a wall ran in-line with the joists but there wasn't a joist directly above, just a void? In your photos, is it only the second photo that has staggered studs? Are those 300 centres? These seems to be some sort of spacer at the bottom or am I just seeing things? Really great to read about your experience. Thinking of using metal studs in my build.

Welcome to BuildHub, @DeanAlan. I am in central Cambridge too. A new-build Bungalow near the river. I'm at the foundations stage still a long journey ahead. Feel free to touch and good luck with your project!

I signed up for Ebico just before the British Gas transfer. Electricity only. On Ebico I was on the "Ebico Zero Green Fixed v5". Britsh Gas have offered me ""British Gas Zero Fixed Sep 2021", with no standing charge. Furthremore, the transfer looks to be possibly slightly advantageous. Possibly. The ebico tariff had a "Minimum annual charge of minimum bill value of £52 a year including VAT". The British Gas tariff does not mention the minimum, even in the small print. In September 2021, I would not be surprised if British Gas withdraw that tariff and I am then left paying a standing charge. During the transfer, they did mess up my meter reading, but that's a different subject.