Nickfromwales

Solarwatt are offering a guaranteed 80% minimum capacity at year 12. About as good as it gets. Also, afaik, they’re the same cells that they’re using in the cars (Solarwatt is owned by the folk who own BMW) so should be very robust. Any manufacturer should have a statement for recycling / end of life practices etc so just ask whoever you decide to go with for their info / policies.

The apprentice has become the master....... 👌🙏

I didn't look into it too intensively, just inherited some of it from jobs / surplus stock etc. Yes, if you lose the app / cloud then no way to view cams or save footage is a ballache, but was (is) quick & convenient which is the market it is pointed at I guess.

Ring cannot be networked via LAN, they’re WiFi only, which is a piss-you-off tbh. I’ve got 6 devices and they’ve been pretty consistent and reliable over the last couple of years, decent wide angled view that zooms in pretty well for not much money). The floodlight ones are shite for the lighting, nearly 50% of the lamps are now dimmer or dead, so beware. If you’re going for one that takes an USB (C?) then you’ll have to generate that remotely and fire it down 2 cores of your CAT6 and use a soldering iron to splice. None of the Ring devices can run POE afaik.

I’d be checking for a DPM, as you may find damp is something of an issue here. Maybe you’ll need to apply a liquid membrane first and then level it. I always use a 2 part self leveller (Ultra Level It) which comes with a 5L tub of solution which mixes exactly 1 bag of compound, so you get consistent mixes. You can lay this up to your max thickness in one sitting. For areas where it’ll be 5-6mm or less, you need to add 1/2 pint of water into each mix to allow it time to flow and to improve the viscosity so it’ll run out to the thin areas before biting and refusing to move any further. For those areas you need a spiked roller (google that and you’ll see examples) to help disburse the compound uniformly. Its not a job for the front hearted btw, and defo you’ll be better off with 2 people and to mix 2 bags / tubs up at a time for the thicker areas so you get a good spread and fill, plus it’ll go nice an level then too. Just be sure to mix the compound with a machine and only put the water into the mixed compound immediately before pouring out, mixing it again thoroughly after adding the water, so the heavy stuff doesn’t have time to settle to the bottom of your flexi-tub. Use decorators caulk or other mastic sealant to make sure the compound cannot disappear into any gas or voids, as this stuff will just vanish before your eyes if there’s any small hole or crack it can go into. For the floor area, spot fill with rapid set tile adhesive for divots, cracks, voids etc. You need to tick the ‘DPM requirement check box’ first to see if you need one. If not, then priming the surface will be the next bit of advice. If you have to use say black-jack as a liquid DPM then this needs sand to be thrown over it as you’re putting it down, to provide a key for the leveller. Simples, eh?

Who’s is the hedge / fence? Can it be put behind the fence? Even if you have to pay for it I think it would be sensible for any possible resale to go advantageously, as you say. Other than that they’ve prob ticked every box tbh and have no further obligation to you. A tricky one to squabble out in honesty.

You’ll need to check if FR plasterboard was used, or if there are sufficient layers with plaster skim to provide the FR you will need in order to store combustibles / vehicles back in there. Spotlights all other penetrations in there etc, will all need to be reviewed for compliance, so maybe not as easy as it first appears. Domestic garages are usually 2 layers of FR PB or 1 layer plus skim, but iirc 1 layer of standard PB plus skim will not suffice. One for your building control officer to answer properly, methinks!

Almost no sites have any kind of running water in portaloos, let alone hot. You can hire ones which have a 110v wall mounted water heater, and then just hook up power and water, but then they’re littered with stickers saying you have to prevent freezing (?!?wtf) or pay for damages. You stand more chance of getting your ears bent for having a hot water ready unit on site that’s not hooked up than having a regular portaloo on site that’s clean and well maintained. Hot water in the welfare yes, portaloos no. Just ignore. And make sure you proactively enforce clean behaviour on site, as some people are just horrifically stinky bar-stards and will leave U571 in plain sight for someone else to deal with, which is disgusting for anyone else on site. Plenty of loo roll on site and some hand sanitizer is appreciated, as nobody wants to use one tbf, but using a clean / tidy one is tolerable.

There is no shortage of overzealous architects and structural engineers, so I’ve seen a few!! All domestic residences. 🤦‍♂️

Doubt that required at this thickness. Only ever seen this with a 100mm thick raft tbh.

My go-to stuff is, https://www.solseal.co.uk/building-products/primers/ultratile-proprimer-advanced-polymer-primer-5l/?gad_source=4&gad_campaignid=18660036211&gbraid=0AAAAAC6dNVJMz5_DklvkI8Cb7s5WA0_vQ&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_dbABhC5ARIsAAh2Z-Szkw_J1yfigRCTCR-KcSqzIKRHp74qcZ292_5C6y0OlxwMnUEPySsaAu-HEALw_wcB Just buy it wherever is the best price obvs.

As long as you leave for at least 60 days, preferably 90, for the concrete to 'go hard' then you'll be fine without the decoupling membrane. The important part is to use a good quality flexible adhesive, and prime before laying, and also as you lay. I clean / decontaminate the surface of the slab with a 50/50 mix of primer / water, and scrub this into the slab with an old school janitors mop, until the surface is saturated. Then leave to dry after you back mop any pooled solution. Then I put 75(w)/25(p) mix or just neat primer onto each m2 with a sponge as I lay the tiles. I don't ever put adhesive onto 'dry' concrete, ever. Primer NOT PVA

@Tony L, seems like @Pocster is offering to come rebuild your walls just for tea, biscuits and to get some experience 👍👍👍👍👍. Send him your postcode 😜

Yup. Leave it there, install the nice plaster-in one as shown, and go put the kettle on. 😉. You ‘may’ notice a bit of a dust line over 6-12-18 months of operation, but if you use a Ken Dodd stick to keep those walls clean as preventative maintenance I seriously doubt this is any issue whatsoever. ’twill be fine

You can also use T&G pine floorboards for the area under the bath, as bare P5 will cave if you get any kind of moisture under there, and DEFO do not use OSB(3) either. Are you tiling in here? If so, you’ll be fitting plywood and spreading the point load with the tiled floor, and at that point P5 / ply / tile will be plenty here, with a couple of noggins obvs.

100mm in general will be much better, 200mm is passive levels, and for the areas with 50mm I guess just suck it up. Yes to the 100mm centres for the 50mm insulated areas, 150mm everywhere else may make it tricky to balance without zoning and putting stats per room / space. Consider running some numbers for going 200mm in the areas with 100 and 200(?)mm of insulation so you don’t get overshoot in those areas for the same flow temp.

Cool. 👍. Just wanted to double check you’ll have the depth. By the time you board and tile (?) this you’ll be good. Prob on the cusp of getting away with that angle / offset, but it’ll work.

You'll JUST get that on imo, so put the pan connector onto that elbow with a bit of silicone lube, and then when you go to fit the pan do the same on the pan outlet as well as the seal on the pan connector. The issue is that the centres between the flush outlet and the soil outlet on the pan are set in porcelain, so you have zero tolerance here other than the flexibility of the rubber seals. On the pan connector you'll have JUST enough wiggle room methinks. Have you got a pic face on and face/side on plz?

Apologies, I was referring to upping the one on the main, the CG at the UVC was left stock, as when I put a 3bar PRedV on the mains the flow rates through the UVC CG suffered a lot (poor design and pipe size / layout) but upping the one at the main slightly made a huge difference; the mains there was crazy so needed the second PRedV fitting by myself after plumber #1 had ‘tried his best’.

Good idea, just know with every improvement you’ll then be using less and less oil per annum. Solar would never contribute to heating so that’s put to bed, but solar PV is an absolute no brainer so pursue that asap. If you defo are going to do PV then avoid going to an oil combi, as you won’t be able to store excess PV as hot water (via the immersion). Reducing draughts from the house will outshine thickening up any planned insulation, so spend smarter

I Fink that’ll work. Or get on the roof and dodge the core drill with vent tiles / slates?

I bumped everything up on a house with massive showers and big baths, body shower jets and so on. I set that around 3.8 bar iirc as the dynamic flow rate through the CG was hugely different with just that slight nudge up from the factory 3 bar. I was asked to resolve retrospectively so the options were limited, plumbing was shite so I’d have done it all totally different from scratch but that house was large, expensive, finished, and “not great” for M&E.

Yup. Been on that in most hotels on tap, but not so good from a can I found. Prob not helpful to the OP, unless they like ipa. If they drink enough cold beer they’ll be able to cope I guess! 😜

After years on a core drill I never got blowouts tbh. Just have to use lots of revs and near zero forward force and let the cutter do 100% of the work. The ring is a good 60mm all round, so covers everything when it is in position.

Likewise, as the levels in the STP surely would be above the bottom inlet (outlet) as per the pic. The pic doesn't really correlate well and doesn't appear to show the vertically dropping pipe into it? I'll admit to being a bit lost when looking at the photos vs the SketchUp stuff? @d438a1?