iMCaan

Thanks @Canski and @LnP Only if I knew about moling companies before it may had saved me a bit of money. Yorkshire Water want the blue mains water pipe on the other side of the garage, about 5 meters away from where it is located now. This would mean it can be placed in the same trench (still open) as gas and electricity. Furthermore, the gas engineer suggested this from day one. He said it'll be better for the water stopcock to be next to the unvented cylinder in the garage then under the sink in the kitchen. Looking at the architect's drawings with a bit more experience now, the builder has placed the water mains pipe in a wrong place. The builder run the mains water pipe from the front garden through the foundation to the kitchen at the back. However, on the drawings the stop tap is in the utility room, adjoining kitchen and behind the garage. Furthermore, the mains water pipe is not long enough to reach the footpath. [trying to keep calm]

I had something similar planned. I wanted Northern Gas Network to dig the trench and leave it open for electricity. However, NGN cancelled their visit because two scaffolding poles crossed the trench path and their were some concrete blocks close by. The rescheduled appointment was after Norther Power. All this meant, I had to pay the builder to dig the trench for electricity cable. It was left open for gas so that they could do their work. NGN subcontractor did minimal fill. They said I would still had to do a lot of fill anyway as part of the driveway. I contacted Octopus for the meters but they said it'll take several weeks for engineer to come out install the meters. Will go with Scottish Power who said it'll be 2 to 4 weeks.

I'll speak to him

Both refer to the current application as well as to previous applications. No-one else is affected. My house is the last connection to the sewer. It ends there. It was in general terms as to who would be responsible. I think there was a man-hole on my site for the sewer. I've noticed one in my neighbour's garden so the other would likely be in council property. Time to contact YW, architect and the builder.

Yes, I did see the work. If I remember correctly as it was two years ago, it was a clay about 100mm radius orange pipe. He capped it off close to the neighbour's boundary wall. I remember him saying that he will connect a new pipe once the shell is up. I don't think I'm being misled. I hired him because he does a lot of groundworks for council and schools.

Hi We have a existing combined sewer in our back garden that runs down through our neighbours' back garden to council owned property and then to the public road. My builder re-routed it in our garden to avoid the foundations (back wall). It's not yet connected to the house. Was the builder right to re-route it without consulting Yorkshire Water? We submitted a few planning applications and Yorkshire Water commented on two of them: 1) A public sewer crosses the site in the area of the proposed building. The sewerage undertaker (Yorkshire Water) must therefore be consulted for any layout constraints and for a view on the impact of the development on the public sewerage system (Attached sewer map is for information purposes only). 2) no observation comments are required from Yorkshire Water. There is a minor S24 foul/combined sewer recorded crossing the site. In this instance, YW would look for this to be controlled under Requirement part H4 of Building Regulations 2010 Who's responsibility is it to maintain the sewer in our garden, me or Yorkshire Water? Who's responsible for clearing the sewer blockage in my neighbour's garden, me, neighbour or Yorkshire Water? My neighbour is unaware of the sewer through his garden. He said he's sewer goes from the front garden straight to main sewer in road. Thanks

Yorkshire Water informs me that the water supply for the demolished houses would had be disconnected from the main pipes on the other side of the road. it seems like I don't have much of a choice but to pay out the 5k. One of the sub-contractors (can't remember whether he was for electricity or gas) told me there are 5 companies involved, security fence, digging on public highway, making the connection, putting flags down on public highway, and trenching on private property.

I had a look around, there's no metal box. My neighbour's supply is a meter away from the boundary fence, they too don't have a metal box. When we dug the trenches for foundations, we did find a disconnected gas pipe but not water pipe. This is where the drive would had been for the old house. The neighbour's water supply too is next to his driveway. I'm quite hesitant to start digging there close to the footpath for water connection just in case I find live gas line intruding into the garden. Gas connection including trench in garden was ~£600 - adjoining footpath with 13 meter trench in garden. Electricity ~£1800 - adjoining footpath, no trench in garden

Thanks Conor, I'll speak to the plumber.

Yes, full road crossing on a quite a wide road. Not sure what you mean by open cut. There used to be houses on site before I purchased the land that were demolished in 80s by the previous owner.

(apologies if this is not the right place for this post) Just received a quote for new water connection to a self build detached house, shockingly it's £5.5k from Yorkshire Water. The house is fronting onto a street in a residential area. The plan shows the water mains are on the other side of the street and approx. 19m of excavation is required. Is this realistic cost £5.5k, which includes £1.5k Council & TM (not sure what TM stands for) Charges. What are you're thoughts on this. Anyway to get a new water connection for less? Thanks

Will give the Ikea portable inductions hobs a try subject to big boss approval. Let's see if they're fit for our purpose.

The heat that is generated by the induction hob, is it as hot as the gas hob heat? Can you cook those tougher meat/veg on induction hob (not that I'm a cook)?

Thanks I'll check it out.

Thanks JohnMo, I'll get couple of quotes to see what it'll cost to install ASHP. We have planned to use the boiler unvented cylinder for UFH and hot and cold supply to the bathrooms. Does it mean that we don't need a boiler if we go with ASHP?

ASHP for £3k is that including installation? and does the installer needs to be MCS certified?

Not disagreeing with induction hobs being better but unfortunately, I don't have no choice it has be a gas hob. My other half demands it. On social media people are saying ASHP cost around £5k that's with government grant (I'm not entitled to it). Just want to know what is the life expectancy of an ASHP and how long does take to get the money worth? Thanks JohnMo. That means cost is the only issue. Does ASHP really cost ~£10k?

Thank you. We need gas in the kitchen for cooking. We have no gas fires. Before the build, I considered all kinds of renewable energy systems. I was considering ASHP and Solar Panels but took them off the list as most of my budget was eaten up by long delays in building the shell. Furthermore, I'm not sure what the return on investment is on ASHP. However, that was then but now, I've been reading up on ASHP again and was considering getting some quotes. What are the drawbacks of placing ASHP 5 meters away (near the boundary fence) from the house wall? Or does it has to be next to the house wall? It'll be in way if it on ground next to the wall and will spoil the looks of the stone built house if it's on the wall. I prefer it to be away from the house, near the boundary wall, surrounded by hit and miss fence. Thanks

We need to install a gas meter in a new build. We already have a supply from footpath to the meter box. I contacted a Scottish Power for new meter connection. They asked whether it's Low or Medium pressure. I didn't know so I contacted Northern Gas Networks who said it's Low pressure. What does Low pressure actually mean? Should I be requesting Medium pressure (the more the better)? Thanks

Thank you

Good thing I asked the question. Thank you. Is SMETS2 a dual rate meter?

Hi We just had services connected to our self build and was applying for a new electricity meter. One of the options on the form, is type of meter required, 1 or 2 rate. After some Googling, I think this is economy 7 and 10 meter types. Economy 7 makes sense since different rates are applied as to when you use electricity (day or night (cheaper)). Is economy 7 an old technology replaced by smart meters? Should I request a SMETS2 meter? Thanks

Thank you. Will play around with some spray paint.

Thank you We were too considering large 1200mm porcelain tiles. If 3.6 meters is sufficient space, it'll leave just 1.5 meters to the fence for plants and path. I'm not sure whether this will look good from patio? Currently, the garden is pretty much level right up to the fence. Thank you

I need some opinion on a (about foot and half) raised patio size please. Our back garden width is 5 meters. The length isn't an issue as it spans the length of the two sliding doors about 10 meters. The architect's drawings show that the patio width is about 3 meters, which seems quite small. It doesn't seem like they'll be enough room for people to walk around a table and chairs. If we extend the patio to 4 meters then it only leaves a quite narrow 1 meter strip to the boundary fence. Should we go all out 5 meters to the boundary fence or is 3 meters or even 3.5 meters enough? Thank you