Temp

Could you offer to collect the doors or is it a problem getting them to meet English standards?

The plumber might tell you that rads and UFH need different temperature water (rads hotter than UFH). That would be the case in a badly insulated house needing high output but with luck your rads will be sufficient operating at the lower temperature of the UFH. If in doubt perhaps make the rads bigger than they would normally be so they work fine at the UFH flow temperature. The plumber might suggest running the rads off the boiler rather than the TS. I don't think I would do that but perhaps have him do the layout so you could switch the rads from the TS to the boiler if things really didn't work out and you needed to boost the output from them.

A correctly set up TS will stop short cycling. When a room stat calls for heat the system draws that heat from the TS without firing up the boiler. After some time this cools the TS and the stat on the TS fires up the boiler topping it up with heat again. The two sides operate independently. The room stats can come on and off many times before the TS cools far enough to trigger the boiler. Once triggered the boiler runs in one long burn until the store is hot again. This way the TS stops the boiler doing a lot of short burns. This is more important for an oil boiler than a gas boiler. Gas boilers can turn down ("modulate") the size of the flame to reduce the output power. The vast majority of oil boilers can't do that, they can only turn the flame on and off (cycle). We're glad we opted for individual room stats as it allows us to switch off/down spare rooms and have better control over the temperature (some rooms have more or less solar gain than others). Some rooms we have warmer at different times of the day etc. We even put separate stats in the bathrooms (Heatmiser with remote sensor). Great having the floor warm first thing. Remember that for each stat you need an additional zone (separate floor loop and actuator on the manifold). This might add to the cost but it depends on the size of the house. If you are building a big house then you may need lots of floor loops anyway. Normally each loop is limited to 100m of pipe including the run to the manifold. Really big rooms sometimes have two floor loops controlled by one room stat.

My local garden centre sells several different types. Some can be installed fully submerged. Some say they should be fitted to the side of the tank with the top inch or so of the heater above the water line and the rest below. However even this latter type are pretty well sealed for safety reasons. There are also pond heaters that are designed to float - these aren't intended to heat the whole pond just keep a hole open in any ice that forms. Some lower power heaters might survive drying out (eg water knocked over). The higher power ones probably not. Use an RCD.

To be safe he should also wrap the cables if using expanding foam as most of that is polyurethane based... http://www.generalcable.co.nz/getattachment/0ebda90b-b4f8-43ae-b622-c9280295116b/PVC-Cables-in-Contact-with-Polystyrene-or-Bitumen.aspx

Never used them but Google found a possible.. http://www.stoneandtimber.co.uk/ranges/external-doors-r28/ See "ECO or Passive Door Range U-Value 0.6 88mm thick

I was a small scale buy to let landlord for 20 years. I would steer well clear of that deal. A chunk of the rent you receive "goes" on tax, agents/management fees & VAT (even if it's only your own time - are you working for free?), insurance, maintenance, wear and tear and compensates you for loss of interest on the capital that you would otherwise get investing elsewhere. None of that should come off the purchase price. It's like they are asking for an interest free loan and some. Consider what happens if interest rates have to rise and that causes a drop in house prices? Potentially you loose two ways. There would be a greater lost interest and a lower eventual purchase price. If this was just a house I would strongly recommend sticking to a standard Assured Shorthold Tenancy even if they want a longer contract. However because they want to run a B&B you will need someone with relevant experience (solicitor or letting agent?) to draw up a different sort of contract. Either way I would stick to a standard terms that courts have previously deemed fair and reasonable and which gives you strong powers to evict if necessary. I would want to know if the house was being rented by them personally or by their B&B business and does this make it harder/easier to evict and get your money if it all goes pear shaped? Suppose you had to evict them in a years time and found there was a little old lady in room 27. Would you legally be able to evict her as well or could she have acquired some legal protection? Your contract would need to cover the terms under which they let rooms to said little old ladies. We had to evict two tenants and one of those was having his rent paid by his employer. They paid the rent regularly but the tenant caused too many problems with the neighbours and the police had to be called several times. Fortunately we never had to go through the courts but that can be expensive. The fact that you already own the house shouldn't affect the investment decision. If you walked into an IFA and said you had a few hundred thousand to invest I doubt they would recommend you to put it all into property on those terms. They are much more likely to recommend a balanced portfolio of stocks and other investments. Especially as you already have money invested in your own house.

"Nickel" covers a range of finishes from real nickel plate to a "nickel effect". We used nickel plated taps and fittings in a WC after seeing some at a show. Not sure if I would do so again. They look fantastic and have a warmer/richer look to them than chrome but they can/do tarnish and there are other issues... It's quite hard getting everything in Nickel and a mixture looks odd. For example you start noticing the loo seat hinges are chrome. There aren't many sources for things like a real nickel plated WC flush pipe and they are expensive by comparison to chrome.

Our carpenter insisted I buy handles that had a good return spring in them so they don't rely on the spring in the latch mechanism to raise the handle. I thought all handles had a spring but apparently not.

I've used small aquarium heaters to keep duck and chicken water from freezing. That type are supplied prewired to a plug. You just plug them in and stick it to the side of the tank. I imagine similar plug and go heaters are available for larger systems but this probably isn't the best forum to ask. Not quite sure what you mean but I would be inclined to keep the water in the two systems totally separate so that any problem/bugs/PH issues in one don't spread to the other. Use separate cleaning tools for each tank, wash hands between working on each etc etc

Yes I didn't really look for one device because it made sense for me to put the timer in the garage and obviously the light sensor has to be outside. One thing I've noticed is that the light sensor gets quite warm. I'm using one like this.. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dusk-to-dawn-sensor-photocell-auto-light-NEMA-socket-outdoor-day-night-detector-/272308765621 I've not measured the power consumption but I would guess it could be 1-2W. If it turned out to be 3-5W then it might be cheaper just to leave the LED light on all the time!

I have an outside lamp set up to do this. I connected a separate programmable timer and light sensor in series. Programmed correctly the light goes... On at dusk. Off at midnight (programmable by the timer) On at say 6am (programmable by the timer and if still dark) Off at daybreak In short the light only comes on when both the timer and daylight sensor agree it should be ON. The connections are basically... FSU -> Timer Power FSU -> Light sensor -> Timer relay contacts -> Lamp The timer I used also has automatic daylight saving time so I don't have to put it forward/back an hour twice a year. I haven't incorporated a PIR (eg to make it come ON at 2am if someone arrives late) but I don't think that would be impossible to do.

Do you want the trees to survive? Deep trenching close to trees can kill them. Not always immediately but slowly over several years. Looks like we might loose one or two. I was told that piling can work out cheaper if your trenches would need to be more than 3m deep.

In a word, Yes. PVC reacts with EPS and Polyurethane. That's why mains cables are frequently wrapped in plastic bags before they are put into the EPS packaging.

I would go and see them to say hello. Make sure they know that you are building the house to live in yourself and that you're not a developer. Ask about schools, village life, pub etc etc. so they know you intend becoming part of the local community. Find out a bit about them and what they do for a living. Tell them you will try to keep any noise and disruption down to a minimum etc. I would mention that you plan to change the design and reassure them you don't plan to build anything ugly or out of keeping (unless you do!). To some extent you can joke that the design won't be entirely down to you as the planners have so much say these days. I blamed the planners for a change that I secretly wanted and got away with it. You will probably have to go down the pre-application advice route with the planners. Most likely the planners will want to see some initial drawings and these will get iterated and changed a few times. I would NOT involve the neighbours in this discussion phase at all. Don't send them copies of any drawings. Once you get to the stage where you are ready to submit the formal application then I WOULD go see the neighbours. Take a set of drawings with you. Do it in person. I think this is better than letting them find out your application has gone in and having to get their own drawings. Our architect created a "street scene" drawing and some pen an ink/watercolour sketches that showed what the house would look like from the road. This included trees and hedges that obscure part of the house and gave a much better impression than the raw elevations. We left the neighbour with the best of these sketches not the elevation drawings.

We ended up with a policy from the Halifax. Was cheapest at the time and it was virtually unlimited. However our house doesn't have any flat roofs and is all traditional construction.

Advantages.. http://www.ustudy.in/node/3601 Lower losses. HVDC can carry more power per conductor No need for the ends to be in phase/synchronised so may improve system stability. DC needs inverters to convert the AC to DC and back but these can also be used to provide better control over the amount of power flowing = Improved stability. DC better for interconnects (eg point A to Point B only). AC better if you want to tap off at lots of sites along the way.

I don't think anyone has mentioned GRP/fake cast iron.. http://www.rainguard.co.uk/guttering/grp-glass-reinforced-plastic-guttering/?gclid=CjwKEAjwgo6_BRC32q6_5s2R-R8SJAB7hTG-uzWcSXbQL_wWVPjUriyZTwp8jaccoRdvzmG-oQcOLhoCba_w_wcB

That's possibly good news. If you try to push things I would round up dimensions to the nearest brick/block size rather than just adding an arbitrary 150mm. Usually there will be a scale rule somewhere on the drawing but that can also get stretched when drawings are photocopied. When you submit an application they want several copies and one is stamped "approved" and sent back to you. Depending on how the copies were made the one the planners keep can sometimes be slightly different to the one you have. It might be worth a trip to see the planning file at the council and making some careful measurements to see if your or their copy of the approved plans is slightly more favourable to you. As I recall photocopiers typically shrink a drawing by a few percent to ensure an A3 original always fits on an A3 copy.

Sometimes there is scope to get a refund if other houses are built that connect into your sewer later. Nor sure of your exact situation but might be worth exploring.

Most of our oak (eg floor, skirting stairs) was done using Osmo Hardwax Oil. Been dome 10+ years and had proved very hard wearing even in the entrance hall (family of four inc teenage rugby players). highly recommended. Have recoated the WC floor and that went down very well. We also have some indoor oak beams done with Danish oil and that has darkened slightly. Still very happy though. Has a more matt finish than the hardwax oil. Overall I prefer the finish on the Osmo but I would paint up samples with both and see which you prefer. Have some outside oak done in Danish oil. Looks great but loads of work to maintain. Needs loads of coats and recoating ideally twice a year. Once a year minimum or it will go black.

Some 10+ years ago i think our cheapest quote came from Milbank Floors/Milbank concrete products. However they were a long way from us and after transport costs a nearer supplier was a bit cheaper.

What Barney said. Normally once Building Control have issued a completion certificate the house is considered complete on that date. At least as far as the VAT man is concerned. After that you can no add new purchases to your VAT reclaim.

Normally you can service them (change the valve seals or cartridge) through the cover plate.

Tesco sell thin bleach very cheap. I dilute it 50/50 with water and put it in a Hozelock plant sprayer. Use it regularly in the shower and it stops mould forming on grout/silicon. Don't use a sprayer with brass parts or the bleach will corrode it.