Temp

We had several missing basins and WC. Had to seal the open pipes so the pressure test worked but otherwise our BCO was happy. Think he was more concerned about underground leaks.

Consider looking for "low efflorescence" bricks to reduce chances of getting white salt deposits. Get bricklayers to make a 1m*1m sample wall as a quality control reference?

Our SE recommended 2m deep trench foundation and we've had no problems. House a few doors down was recommended 3m deep trench foundation by different SE. As a result they got estimates for piling which were slightly cheaper. Problem is when they started piling they found they had to go much deeper than expected and it ended up costing quite a bit more. Don't think it occured to them to do a trial hole.

Learn something new every day here. I've always used wire wool but got into the habit of blowing off any wire/dust so perhaps that's why I've not seen this or just been lucky. There is something very satisfying about assembling copper pipe and just waving a blow lamp and watching the little silver line appear. Equally nothing as frustrating as trying to solder a joint with a bit of water in the pipe.

Was the same back in the 1980s when electric powered RC planes became possible. I was an early adopter and would turn up with charged batteries and be flying before others had got theirs fueled up. No struggling to start cold engines with ether soaked fingers in winter :-)

I should add.. No soldering near the valves as heat can damage the seal, do the compression joints on the valves last. Also do as many solder joints on the workbench as possible leaving just one solder joint and one compression joint per pipe to do under the sink. Do water before waste but mindful of where the waste pipe must go.

I like full bore lever valves for isolation. Much easier to operate than other types. Are both hot and cold mains pressure? If not then there are mixer taps with different diameter connections, (bigger for the hot) that can help improve hot flow. I've fitted both flexible and rigid tails to a mono block. The rigid type weren't as difficult to do as expected. I fitted them to the tap and tightened them up. Then splayed them out a bit to allow compression lever valves to be fitted, then made up solder joints and pipes to go between those and the rest of the pipework. With soldering it's essential to clean pipe and fittings with wire wool and I also wipe on some flux before assembly. Then if they are solder ring type you just apply heat. Sometimes twisting or tapping a fitting helps the solder to flow if you can't see that happening. Almost never need extra solder.

I read somewhere that the design of the truck might have to be changed a lot to meet EU/UK regs because of the sharp edge and stiff materials. Any news on that?

Would making yours 6.3m make it deeper than the neighbours? If not then perhaps point that out and ask the planners if they will accept a it as a non-material amendment.

Seems it's a bit lower at 150l/day but depends how many people share a house.. https://www.statista.com/statistics/827278/liters-per-day-household-water-usage-united-kingdom-uk/

I think average UK consumption is over 200l/day so I guess the answer is no?

Great website, lets you search by a bunch of different things. Thanks.

Anyone making something like an electric S-Max that you can put three bikes inside?

My MP told me they had/were making efforts but gave me no specifics. Then to day I see.... https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/government-accused-bungling-bid-bring-17807743 Government accused of bungling bid to bring mammoth Tesla factory to Greater Manchester Tesla ultimately set up their site in Berlin but Heywood was understood to be in the running. The government has been accused of bungling a bid to lure electric car giant Tesla to Greater Manchester. It is understood ministers tried to entice the huge American company to set up a huge new manufacturing plant at the ‘Northern Gateway’ site in Heywood. The 600,000 square metre-plot near the M62 is believed to have been the only UK site of the scale required for Tesla’s purposes. However, the firm, headed by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, ultimately opted to base its Gigafactory Europe operation in Berlin. The German city is believed to have always been the frontrunner - with Musk promising to reforest an area three times the size of that which would be lost in constructing the new plant. But those close to efforts to tempt the manufacturer to Heywood say the government’s handling of the situation bordered on the inept - claims a Department for International Trade spokesperson said “we do not recognise". Rochdale council leader Allen Brett said the borough had missed out on a huge boost to the economy, thousands of highly-skilled jobs and a new source of business rates. He added: “On the government’s involvement, I’ve not been assured the government has done enough to make this happen. Germany did a lot, and I’m not sure we did the same. “I think if we had a bit more of a push from the government we might really have got something.”

Another one https://job-prices.co.uk/new-roof/

I've never had a roof replaced but if they are taking off tiles and membrane I'd be concerned about the weather. Would you normally have a scaffolding tent/canopy over the house to keep rain out or just a few tarps thrown over the top? I'd certainly want to see their insurance (and notify mine). Bit of googling found quite a range .. https://www.mybuilder.com/pricing-guides/roof-cost https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/1679757-Is-it-normal-for-roofing-companies-to-quote-without-scaffolding-costs https://www.homeadviceguide.com/guide-to-re-roofing-costs-how-much-does-it-cost-to-re-roof-a-house/ Somewhere I've also seen an estimate of £10K to replace all the roof tiles on a typical house. Was made up of £8000 materials and £2000 Labour and taking two weeks. No idea how accurate these are. They will break quite a lot of tiles so I'd check that you can actually buy the type you have (or get them to provide a sample of a near equivalent). I'd also ask that all the replacements are used on the back of the house (so the front looks all original).

PS: If you wish you had mains gas for cooking consider a dual fuel stove with an LPG hob running on cylinders. Cylinder gas is too expensive for heating but fine for a hob.

We went with a thermal store which stores energy for both the DHW and UFH. That's because I was concerned our oil boiler would short cycle on and off too much without one. The burner in an oil boiler always runs flat out when lit. It doesn't modulate up and down like a gas boiler. So if you have a powerful burner to provide loads of DHW in a combi it might cycle on and off too much if/when the heating load is very small. Short cycling is s bit like stop start driving in a car, it's less efficient than doing fewer longer burns. That said you can lose a lot of heat from a thermal store and it's associated pipes and pumps. Who knows what the right approach is. We're happy as our TS gives loads of mains pressure DHW and the boiler doesn't cycle when just one loop is calling for heat. However our bills are still higher than I expected.

To be honest I've seen far worse lead work then that. The tiles are interlocking tiles not plain and.. http://www.roofconsult.co.uk/articles/tiling/tips29.htm So I don't think the top cover is wide enough but not sure if that's the problem.

Who owns that wall? If it's yours I'd be tempted to rebuild it now rather than wait for it to fall down in a few years?

I guess it might be possible to amend your PP to make it a phased development. I'm not 100% sure that making it phased would be enough. It would allow phased payments but not sure if they still count as one CIL. That might make your exemption a problem. Hopefully the council will understand what you are doing and see sense. Perhaps they would accept an amendment simply stating the grant should be considered to be for 4 separate houses each of which can be separately constructed with any conditions applying separately to each house? I think others in your position should put some words in the planning application that states the intention is for the development to be split and plots sold separately, perhaps even requesting separate CIL calculations. This sort of thing would probably go in the front of the Design and Access Statement.

Glass reinforced concrete bench.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3WpKI0YwNY

I agree with @PeterW that sounds more like a leak. Lead flashing isn't rocket science but its amazing how badly it gets done. Generally flashing should be made of separate sheets called soakers that are overlapped and interleaved with plain tiles so that water running down gets diverted to the outside. Sometimes another sheet of lead is put over the top of the lot but its the bit underneath that's the most important. With wavy pantiles you may only need the one piece top sheet but that's not sufficient with plain tiles. Go carefully in this weather.

You don't need to be totally finished to get a completion certificate. We had no kitchen, a missing wood burner and two bathrooms not finished when we got ours. The downside is you (probably) can't claim VAT back on anything purchased after completion. In my case during the final inspection they checked... Coated glass (tested every pane with a meter, didn't care one was wrong way around) Safety glass (kite sign or similar on every pane) Electrics (paperwork) Pressure tested drains (we had to provide the kit, think toolstation/screwfix sell one) Ventilation (some questions asked during walk around) Apart from a visual check I think that was it. These days you might need a bit more?

Looks like things changed back in 2014.. https://www.clarkewillmott.com/news/the-2014-cil-amendment-regulations/