Nickfromwales

For completeness, I have always managed risk pragmatically, wherever a client has expressed any such concerns. For one current project I spec’d all the ‘wet plant’ to be housed within a newly created GF plant area, and in that footprint I specified a recessed area in the concrete of 30mm. In the middle of the recess, back to back with the utility wall, sink and washing machine, I installed a trapped gulley with a back inlet for 50mm waste to feed in. Note: the white self-adhesive stuff is Radon rated peel & stick barrier, as there was a very high Radon risk here. PITA to do but very necessary. Here is where the washing machine up-stand will eventually connect via 50mm waste. Then I shuttered it with EPS / tape / foam (mummified it) before the pour. The idea being that this can be easily moved / removed after the pour if needs be (for fine tuning height of gulley etc / wiggle room). The finished article, post pour. Note the sand shuttering around the UFH pipes, cheap and simple / effective; just hoover it out after the pour, final fix the manifold / pipes in their forever positions, and backfill with cementitious SLC LINK This was an MBC raft, so they pour the SCC concrete and then return the following morning to cut / scabble the recesses out very accurately, so in that area we now have a 30mm L-shaped recess as a bund for management of any leaks. The plan is to use moisture resistant cement board for all of the wet plant room walls and ceilings, caulking joints etc with intumescent acrylic sealant to attain A1 fire rating too. These bottom of the cement boards will go down past the DPC under the stud walls to meet the concrete in the recess (eg TOC -27mm) where I’ll use 3mm packers to hold the boards just above the rough concrete to create a void for the SLC; this is to ensure the SLC will completely envelop the boards to arrest any future movement / feck any waterproofing up. The boards will effectively be ‘submerged’ in the (~5mm layer of) SLC, and the SLC will naturally run back under them to fully close the purpose made gap. Belt and 500 braces for £2 worth of packers. This will also detail airtightness at the external wall, where the tapes are meant to meet the slab at TOC; plenty of CT1 behind the cement boards at DPC level +/- 15-20mm. Then I will self-level the whole recess, banking it up at the far ends of the room by just 1 or 2mm max, to create a smooth graded surface which arrives at the gulley pot from all corners; The walls will all get smothered with liquid tanking solution, and left to cure fully for a couple of days. No need for steep falls like a shower tray, as gravity and a 25/30mm bund means water can only go into the gulley. Aim is for a burst pipe or failed EV etc to be nothing this room cannot handle. It’ll all get painted with heavy duty 2-part garage floor paint, white on the walls and grey on the floor to make my OCD happy, and lots of it, to create a fully maintainable and presentable, watertight finish. The trap in the 100mm gulley will need to be maintained (kept ‘wet’) to prevent stench; in this instance this will be topped up routinely by the washing machine output. Note: the utility sink will NOT discharge into that 50mm up-stand and into the same gulley, but instead into the adjacent foul pipe rising to the FF, which will also collect the kitchen sink from the adjacent room. This means zero food solids or other stinky stuff will ever sit in the gulley in the plant room floor and create a stink; the only thing the plant room will ever give off a whiff of will be laundry / washing powder. The fact that folk use their WM’s every day, or every few days minimum, means the trap will be wet year-round. If the topology doesn’t lend itself, then you can run the water softener regen discharge into it instead; as a source of daily, clean water. I prefer to not rely on a self-sealing trap in the slab, as I will always want the full flow potential of an uninterrupted 110mm arrangement, vs water squeezing through these socks. Such units are available from decent manufacturers if a retrofit is your only option LINK. Avoid cheap / unbranded units as they’ll let you down eventually.

No, it doesn’t get left plugged! What would be the situation at each basin / sink / shower / bath? This is what the water in the throat of the trap does, so you need to chill out sir! If you’re considering bunding a room to accept 300L of flood water, forget it. Typical leaks are slow, progressive ones which often go unnoticed for days / weeks / months or even years.

And a fire extinguisher in case the water catches fire as it leaks out? That’s a new level of belt & braces lol

Can you share the link to it here please?

+1. Lots and lots of small gentle taps with a claw hammer, to turn the plaster to dust, and let it fall away as you gently follow the cable. Don't use a chisel, as that can damage the cable if it turns or isn't at the same depth etc.

Glad it was saved at some stage. I have tweaked many an architect's final design, countless times, and they often don't care much for my input as principal consultant / pro-rata consultant, as they feel they are far better qualified and I should essentially go mind my own business. Unfortunately for them, they soon realise I don't just go away. A good architect accepts challenges or interjection, a poor one barks and bites, but all of it goes towards getting the client the best possible home, built without compromise, and that should be any professionals focus when they have been paid good money by said client for this 'privilege'. FWIW, that architect, who was too far up her own arse to come to site, would have been binned at the start line. In terms of pain; before you abandon a standing seam roof, check with several membrane installers for issues caused by heat and cool (stretching and quilting) as the roof is a long run and that's not without it's own issues. None of us want to see you back here because that went tits up.

Primary current client and I have been detailing all of these things intensively, for just over a year before the concrete went down; from the orientation of the new house, grounds / founds / superstructure, and everything from the interior architecture to the roof. Night and day difference in how other projects are run to this, with near zero stress or surprises; doing things in the 11th hour sucks, yields poor results, and causes stress / expense / delays. In this additional slack I have come up with many other ‘new’ ideas which would likely have never had a chance to materialise if issues were popping up weekly / monthly which consumed us all. The aforementioned roofers have brought all sorts of value to the project, including innovative (proven and approved) methods for bespoke flashings, how to detail gutters and facias, and more, including providing examples. They’ve also helped the client to detail the DIY roof prep-work ahead of their arrival. There’s plenty of good (and very good) people out there, but too many people leave this vetting and selection process until it’s too late to book these busy / good trades, and the low-hanging fruit as it’s often bad. Use the time you have before planning wisely folks!!!

They travel. I’m contacting them for 2 of my current clients projects. I’ll PM you.

Could be more of a "self-destruct" button here lol, but give it a push anyways and see what happens; I am safely outside the blast radius

You "might suggest".....?!? Jesus. It's in the MI's so is a required standard, not bloody optional!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is an utterly shite installation, and without the clamps and the bends ALL secured with tek screws, it's dangerous. Who's going in that room? Are they expendable? If so, ignore my advice and plod on. :shakeshisheadindisbelief:

Standard detail tbh. IKEA do more about utilising every last mm, literally, but apart from that this is the norm.

A lot is mis-management of expectations, which is why I always hammer home what I don’t do in equal proportions (or greater) than what I ‘do, do’. Shame you’ve been through this stress, and I’m currently (and have been) detailing everything like this way ahead of boots on site, so as to avoid anything going tits up or having been “overlooked” or done incorrectly. Client here has found a good metal roof installer, give me a shout if you want contact details.

Yup. Even 1/4 - 1/2 a turn back off can cause it to leak. Needs taking off, cleaning, re-taping, and doing again if so.

PTFE tape, applied so turning the tap in doesn't unravel the tape, and stop turning it into the fitting before it gets completely fully home. 21 full turns on a 3/4” thread should be Ok. The thread is 3/4” BSP, none of the threads you’ll see are metric ; 1/2” (15mm) > 3/4” (22mm) > 1” (28mm). Check you're not cross-threading the tap into the plastic fitting, as it should be straight. PTFE is forgiving, so even if out a bit you should be leak free.

We haven't seen what happens when he hits the flush button yet.

I've had 3 beers, but ???? I am referring to the underside of the first floor, eg to prevent nuisance noise / sound from the FF affecting the GF. Do we have some crossed wires here?

@jfb, This is amongst the laziest installs I have ever seen. Near zero GAF. The open connector off the SVP is just comedy meeting shamefulness. Absolutely horrendous. Do you have some pics of the flue in the attic, with clamps / brackets etc? Most of my concern will be seeing sufficient support and self-tappers securing every single flue component to the next. In the room I see 1 such fixing, whereas there should be a minimum of 1 more on the 90 bend heading vertically. The lack of clips overall is poor, but the condensate is just utter wank.... What consumer unit is in the house? If it's anything predating 18th edition then they should have erred on the side of caution and added cross (equipotential) earth bonding to the 5 pipes under the boiler (the 6th is the PRV which is discounted for bonding). Where the gas pipe comes through the masonry wall, is that sleeved? Overall, it's a 3/10.

It helps massively. Best to get some up under the FF floorboards, and then run all services below, makes a horrible job soooooo much easier / tolerable.

Tres bien, Rodders. @Gone West, you can see the difference in the two branches, with the above being so much better for 'flow'.

The feckin walls!

The perimeters are secured by scrim and plaster. Moot point afaic. These don’t (can’t) move.

There’s not enough sweep, and there would be a lot of ‘matter’ going to the right as well as flowing away to the left. If a T is laid horizontally with a good fall then you can get away with it (just), but I avoid using them tbh. Not such a worry if theres a flushing WC upstream, but here there’s just a 40mm waste which isn't sufficient to ‘move things along’ (if there are any stragglers ).

Yup. Bin those off, as a box of 10mm nail clips is change of a tenner

“By Jove, I think he’s got it!” 🤝👍

Sounds like you should have done the job first as last lol! Get a friend or two around and crack on 🙃. I once asked the plaster-boarders apprentice, why are you using the wrong length screws (using 55mm when I had requested they used 32mm MAX to avoid all my LED multicore flex’s in the swimming pool walks)….. He replied that “these were already on site”. After plaster and paint we fired up the LED’s and POOF! Found a screw right through 2 of my 5-core cables for the RGBW stuff. Cheers. Only took about 3 days worth of looking / fault-finding at a cost of ~£2k to the client. Then began the patching back in and fully repainting the walls etc. Why are people generally just such lazy dicks???