epsilonGreedy

The housing crisis is just a symptom of a deeper problem. We are a second world nation but don't appreciate that fact yet. Our middle classes have become clipboard huggers who assess the work of imported foreign workers who do the real work. We are an overcrowded nation with net immigration levels that require the building of a new Coventry each year. We embark of fanciful expensive national projects that we can neither afford or have the competence to execute, look at HS2 and the two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers which in military terms are little more than expensive formula milk delivery cargo vessels. The ruling Public Sector elite has not done anything credible since the just-in-time creation of the RAF's early warning defence system in 1936. And we cannot even afford to repair our pot-hole blighted roads. FX Private Frazer from Dad's Army "We are doomed, doomed I tell you".

@PeterW While talking with a local artstone cill fabricator I have be told the order to delivery duration is constrained by their policy of letting all newly manufactured cills rest for a minimum of two weeks before they are shipped. Their standard cill has 4 stainless reinforcing rods embedded but even so they like the concrete to fully cure over two weeks before being subject to delivery and fitting stresses.

I got a requote from Protek last month, 12 months is their current sweet spot for best value/policy duration. I think the 12 month extension was slightly cheaper than the first year of cover.

Ok I am learning as I go. SP just disconnects the live and meets regs whereas DP disconnects live and neutral for true circuit isolation safety. I also assume cheaper CUs just have a couple of RDCs protecting multiple circuits each and basic overload breakers on each circuit. Combining the RCD and overload protection into each breaker means it is less likely the whole house will plunge into darkness when single light bulb or gas hob ignition fails and causes a residual wobble.

Thanks I will bookmark that site. Looking at the individual RCBO prices at your link and then multiplying by 16 plus a basic case it makes the fully loaded units look like remarkable value. I must be overlooking something basic about the technical elements of a fuse box.

Does this shrinkage characteristic rule out using PIR as underfloor insulation? I am imagining 50mm of flow screed sitting unsupported over shrinkage pockets and eventually giving way.

I purchased a box of 50 for the brickie team after calculating how many for the window and door lintels but for got the 50 or so also needed around the cavity tray at the DPC perimeter. A point had I missed completely. Fortunately the architectural technician produced a couple of house cross section diagrams showing every brick, block and floor joist, so this will be simple to to check. As a general point my brickies call these modern cavity lintels "tin lintels". I can see their point because they seem too thin to last 100 years even from the major brand names in the lintel business.

I have fallen into a pit of consumer unit research this morning which was prompted by a need to instruct the brick layers where to position a recess in the wall to accommodate a unit. Now my mind is buzzing with issues, like split load CUs, dual bank, fully loaded units, mini switches, RCBOs, surge protection and 18th Edition. For a new build 3 bed house, 100amp single phase supply what should I ignore while selecting a unit? These options look interesting... https://www.consumerunitworld.co.uk/hager-vml118spd-18-way-main-switch-consumer-unit--surge-protection-3622-p.asp Fully loaded at a good price! https://www.consumerunitworld.co.uk/hager-vml916curk-16-way-high-integrity-fully-loaded-dual-100amp-rcd-metal-consumer-unit-3567-p.asp

Yes got that covered but thanks for cross checking my thinking. I am taking masonry aperture dimensions off the technical drawing for building control and the brickie team has started creating openings using the same dimensions.

Now you have got me thinking. To bump up my wall U values (brick, 100m Drytherm-32, medium/light block) I am costing out 32mm PIR lined plasterboard. Since the rear entrance lobby can run a couple of degrees colder than the main body of the house perhaps I could form a service void within a battened wall, PIR sheet capped with regular plasterboard. Ok so my latest thinking today is: A small concrete lintel (100mm x 75mm ) over the box that forms an oversized the recess for the CU. Brick up the back with regular coursing bricks on their side = 25mm recess. Batten the internal wall with 2" x 1 1/2" wood += 62mm recess. This wall is 2.6m long. Create a service void within the inner batten wall for circuit cables running up to the ceiling void plus another for the incoming supply from the meter in the cavity immediately outside.

I thought recessed CUs were the height of self builder trendiness, particularly since the updated regs require the circuit breakers to be at wheelchair reach height? I would not have a problem with a conventional surface mounted CU box if it was located just below ceiling height. The natural location for the CU is in the rear entrance lobby which will be the daily entrance to the property. The cavity wall mounted meter box will be less than a meter away on the outside wall. Cable runs for the high amperage circuits from this CU location would be 10m to 12m. It is a 2-story 3 bedroom house so I was expecting to get away with a smaller unit, this feels like another question about whole house circuit planning. Funny how these questions stack up as only yesterday my house rose from DPC to about 8 courses high along the utility wall where both the meter and CU will be located. My electrical extras will be ASHP supply, patio infrared heaters, electric oven, DW tank heater element, garage spur plus the standard stuff. I assumed it would simply push into the block wall opening, perhaps your concern is with the back of the unit plus cables pushing up against the cavity batt insulation?

I would like to fit a consumer unit mounted within my inner block wall (100mm cavity), however I assume the fitting of the this will not happen until my house has a roof. Will the hole in the wall require a lintel?

I am putting together an order for the all the lintels required in my house. There are no fancy steels, just basic window and door 100mm cavity lintels in a 2-story brick & block house. So far in my order I have added 200mm extra to each window width for a 100mm lintel seat each side but then I thought is 100mm just a barely acceptable minimum that I should try to exceed? Background: My inner block walls are 3.7N medium-light Fibolites and the rural farmhouse heritage look is achieved through narrow aspect windows where most are 1248mm or narrower. There is a french door opening that is 1810mm wide.

I am glad you asked because now I know the difference. The request for quote I have emailed is for a special sash window slip cill that reaches back 3/4 into the cavity to support a full brick reveal inset mount of the sash window. These culls are 225mm deep.

Yup for 20 minutes when the cold front arrived we had thunder lightning hail and monsoon intensity rain. The driveway entrance speed bump anti flood design got a major test and passed. The structural static caravan skirting also passed, not a wobble or shake during the strongest gusts.

I will be ordering 15 of these next week with an average length of 1.4 metres. Can anyone suggest a target price?

How large a job before staged payments are expected. I have agreed to pay my brickie team in 4 stages as the house goes up.

I suggest today is a write off unless you are on a deadline with a contractor booked.

I visited my beam & block floor supplier last week to exchange a box of vent grills for another colour. While chatting with the manager/owner he said things have gone slow since the heavy rainfall that started in October. His business has been manufacturing but stockpiling floor beams for the last few months. All the other trades then back up once the big commercial sites declare a digging halt for a few winter months. Two brickie teams reestablished contact with me in late November and I got a great price on DryTherm yesterday, U 32 for the price of U37.

Indeed Lincolnshire is in the firing line for this storm, forecast is for gusts up to 70mph on Sunday. I would be alert to potential vortices forming across footing walls that might lift the insulation panels due to low pressure.

I am planning to route my mains supply cable up through the cavity to the cavity wall embedded meter box. This cable will enter the cavity 450mm below ground and then rise vertically 1.2m up to the base of the in wall meter box. A technical diagram showing how to do this mentions a 38mm conduit for the cable within the cavity. Does this conduit need to be armoured?

If the OP upgrades to an ASHP later would this come with its own pump and make the second pump just mentioned redundant.

There is still some external ground pressure on the cavity from outside. How deep is the cavity from where the beam ends sit? Be aware the cavity fill should not be brought up too high, 200mm below the beam seat height is typical.

Neither did I and had 7 years trouble free usage without even an annual service. The next 7 years cost about £500 in adhoc repairs. My current plan is to plumb for either ASHP or LPG, but experience two winters using just those inline electric heaters and get to know the thermal performance of my new build before deciding. One downside of that plan is missing out on reclaiming the VAT.

One thing that shifted me towards considering ASHP is gas boiler servicing contracts. Over 15 years of ownership you can use typical boiler home care contract monthly rates to get an idea of cumulative costs plus if you eliminate a gas connection by all electric cooking then a gas daily standing connection charge goes as well.