iMCaan

@Temp We planned to have a raised patio, ~2feet, before the build started. There are some concrete blocks showing at the moment. To be fair, the building inspector never said he wants a level access at rear. He saw the ground level, which is about 2 feet below bi-folding doors and he said he either wants patio raised or steps to be put in. Due to financial constraints, I plan to have the patio raised but a step below the bi-folding doors. Hopefully, once the VAT money is realised I'll level the patio with internal floor so that the floor looks seamless from inside.

Thanks all. @JohnMo perfect. Thanks for the photo. I think I can just copy this design. A platform outside the front door and footpaths leading to the driveways. The front door is the principle entrance. Always wanted the raised patio. The building regs officer said either to raise the patio or to put steps in front of the bi-folding doors. I will hardcore the patio and compact it so it's just a step below the bi-folding doors. This will give us enough depth to play with in case if we want to have the patio level with inside floor.

Thanks for that @JohnMo Any suggestions for edging?

Hi Due to financial constraints, I will be undertaking the upcoming external works on a self-build/DIY basis. To achieve building regulations sign-off, the immediate priority is to satisfy the compliance requirements for Part M (Access to and use of buildings). Specifically, this entails constructing a compliant wheelchair-accessible (no wheelchair user in the family) entrance at the front elevation and a raised patio at the rear elevation. Given the extensive nature of the external works, my strategy is to execute the absolute minimum scope required to secure regulatory approval. This will allow the remaining landscaping works to be phased and completed at a later date. Front Entrance (Accessible Route): Installation of an ACO threshold drain, lay weed membrane, MOT Type 1 subbase, and lay paving slabs flush with the front door sill to provide a level threshold. Rear Patio: Construction of a structural retaining wall, installation of an ACO drain against the house, lay weed membrane, lay and compact MOT Type 1 sub-base one step below the bi-fold door threshold. (Leave paving for later) I have no external work experience. I welcome your guidance, comments and suggestions. Thanks

Thanks @John CarrollI will test that tomorrow evening. As we have not yet moved in, I turned the hot water off earlier and the boiler went off It didn't turn back on while it was off from the programmer. The flow rate started to go down. I will do some more testing tomorrow.

Thank you for the replies. Apologies for late reply. It's a Vaillant ecoTec Plus 635 system boiler. I've attached a photo of the system. It's a few months old but nothing has changed. @SteamyTea thanks. Will see if I can find similar settings on my boiler. @Nickfromwales thanks. I don't think there will be enough space left for the car if fit an insulated boiler cupboard.

Hi I've noticed our boiler is continuously showing water flow temperature of ~64c whether we are using water or not. Shouldn't the flow temperature on the boiler drop down to around 20c when the water temperature in the cylinder reaches it's set temp? You can hear the boiler coming on and going off but the flow temp, though it drops by a few degrees when boiler is off, it remains around 60c. The flow and return pipes to the cylinder are hot to touch. The cold feed is also hot to touch but less hot then flow and return. Shouldn't the cold feed be cold? I got to say, the garage where the boiler is located is warmer then other rooms. Thanks

I got an email from the assessor. It all passes. Yepeee.

Yes, we started ground work in 2021.

Hopefully, the as built spec. is sufficient. Will see by end of next week.

See as design and as built images attached. It doesn't appear to be a big difference in u-values or is it?

I don't think anyone intentionally decided to change the specification. Let's say it was my inexperience. I would have stuffed the house with insulation had I known what the SAPs were for. I think we mainly followed the architect drawings instead, which stated the insulation required. I still added more insulation then what was stated on architect's drawings. I remember tradesmen saying why so much insulation. Luckily, adding more insulation as got the house spec. closer to the SAPs spec (I think).

Thanks guys, let's see how heavy the punch would be.

No, there's no mention of the photos in the email or on the form.

For clarity...We have two attic rooms. In the eaves (unusable space), it's 200mm earthwool in joists. The vertical and slopped wall of the attic rooms are 150mm PIR boards. There's some unusable space on top of the attic room ceiling and that has 400mm earthwool. Within all cavity walls, it's EcoTherm 50mm PIR board insulation.

Yeh we used 50mm pir insulation in walls. The cavity walls were 300mm with in total (100mm blocks, 50mm PIR insulation, 50mm cavity and 100mm stone). 100mm PIR insulation on ground floor for UFH. 25mm PIR insulation for first floor UFH. 200mm earthwool between joists. 400mm earthwool above joists. 150mm PIR insulation for slopped roof.

It's just frustration. I asked the questions to hear the truth. Besides solar, how long would you have to fit the solar? Can they enforce adding insulated plasterboard, which would mean a lot of work?

I was hoping you would just say just sign the form without amendments. How would they know what insulation you have used? arggggh I don't have the funds for the solar After 5 years, we just want to move in.

I hope this thread is in the correct section. Hi The company that is doing our house as built SAPs as asked me to sign and return Part L1A 2013 Specification to sign off the dwelling, see attached. My concern is we didn't use as much insulation as stated on the form for walls (stated 100mm but used 50mm PIR) and floor (stated 150mm but used 100mm PIR for UFH). Therefore, the house won't achieve the stated u-values. Any suggestions as to what to do? We are ready to move in. Should I be concerned? Oh boy this feels bad but I must ask, should I sign it as stated should I amended it then sign it? What are the consequences? Thanks

The electrician swapped the two room wiring around at in the wiring centre on top of the manifold. All seems to be working as it should now.

Boiler - Valiant ecotec plus 635 I've found the exact cause of the problem. After weeks of investigation, I found that raising the temperature on the thermostat in Sitting room didn't trigger the Sitting room zone instead it triggered the Lounge zone. However, raising the temperature on the Lounge thermostat didn't trigger the Sitting room zone. Furthermore, I noticed, the Sitting room zone's three auto actuators wouldn't come on now. They came on before. One of the thermostats must had triggered them on/off before so why not now? I started focussing on the Lounge zone. If the Sitting room thermostat is triggering the Lounge zone then Lounge thermostat is the likely one that should trigger the Sitting room zone but why isn't it? So I finally did what every computer user does, at least once in there life time Reboot. I pulled the Lounge thermostat out of it's casing on the wall and then re-seated it. Recycling the power to the Lounge thermostat resolved the issue, well, I mean I found the actual problem. The Lounge thermostat switched on the Sitting room zone and the temperature of sitting room slowly started rising. The problem: The Sitting room thermostat is triggering the Lounge zone and vice versa. So in conclusion, the Sitting and Lounge room zones wiring need swapping. The technician is coming out next week. Thanks to all.

There's no thermostat in the garage. I'm not sure whether the controller has a built-in thermostat.

No, it's in the garage. It's a big house (so he says) so don't want to heat up the entire house/floor. Will test and remove the zones as necessary. I did notice this morning that in the Lounge (L shaped), the dining and kitchen were also warm by couple of degrees. So it's likely, I reduce that one zone instead of three.

A little bit of progress. Could well be a wiring issue. I've found that the affected room (let's call it Sitting room) thermostat triggers Lounge zone. The Lounge room temperature keeps rising even though the temperature is set well below the actual room temperature. The Lounge thermostat only triggers it's own heating zone. There's only 5 zones (including sitting and lounge rooms) on the ground floor. I've tested all 5 zones, one at a time, but none of them have started the Sitting room zone. Also, turned on all the zones on the first floor (each floor is a separate heating zone), radiators in the attic and hot water but not triggered the Sitting room zone. Investigation continues.

Thanks, will read the manual