Nickfromwales

Why not wood effect LVT?

That’s all good, but remember that you’ll need to install MVHR if you want to seal the place up well eg no trickle vents on windows or mechanical extractor fans for kitchen and bathrooms etc.

Insulate, insulate, insulate. Airtightness (killing off excess cold air infiltration) will trump 1000mm of insulation so we need to be practical when giving advice. Ultimately you should be putting 50mm of insulation (IWI) to the walls & floors and putting carpet down, and fitting radiators, if you want a comfortable home with reduced running costs.

Not really, if the softener of choice can’t cope then you’ll just fit one at the stopcock and then the factory one at the CG, as with a ‘second’ PRedV at the mains there’s no need for the one for the kitchen sink raw cold feed. IIRC most softeners can take >5 bar, just check the MIs of the one you want to go for. The Harvey for eg is showing options / models that state 6, 8 and 10 bar max inlet pressure (all WRAS approved stuff is tested to 10 bar max to get approval); note that it is the “working pressure” you need to clarify. If you can choose one that will take 6-8 bar then do so, and preserve as good a cold main as you can for as far as you can into the plumbing setup, to get you the best value at the CG. If you can choose a softener which allows you to avoid the PRedV at the stopcock (and have one for the kitchen raw feed etc) then do so, but I doubt it’s life or death as your supply seems to be very good anyways. Use larger bore pipework than normal for the cold if you reduce the pressure at the stopcock, which will help. If you drink water from the tap (not from a chiller type device) then also consider the kitchen sink pipe going underground and popping up out of the slab; then you can have cold (temperature wise) water instead of room temp water. For clients who had carbon filter whatsits with a little tap outlet next to (or incorporated in) the kitchen sink tap for drinking water, I put a second rising cold main directly under the kitchen sink so the water was at ground temp.

They’ll tell you to F O in the 1st 5 seconds when you tell them what your setup needs to deal with.

Agree that the 50mm of insulation would just be wasted head height and cost as it would add much value for performance numbers. At that thickness the heat will only penetrate downwards so far and then the whole thing becomes the heated emitter. One of those instances where “it is what it is”. With a heat pump and a decent chuck of slab you’ll get where you get to and just accept the losses, and then you can have less screed on top too as you’ll just want to cover the 16mm pipes by 15-20mm for a level floor to be applied. Definitely won’t be something to ‘turn off’ though, as you’re looking at days to get this up to a temp where it’s useful as space heating I expect.

Near impossible to see what you're seeing there fella

Odd, as in practice the difference when introducing water to the foam during application is night and day, and yields massive benefits / results.

Any need for A/C in the attic for your lad? My boys in the attic and without A/C he'd be dead by now, or at least a bit dried out and 'crisp'.

Our best waterproof adhesive is PU30. In a nutshell, it is a ‘half-hour’ solvent-free moisture curing PU wood glue. It is rapid-setting and the initial bond strength is achieved within 30 minutes. Because it has an open time of up to 20 mins (10 mins if glue-line is misted with water), it is easy to work with. Also, due to its chemical composition, it is ideal for bonding wood-based materials where a water-proof bond is required.

Why does the packaging say "moisture cure"? Pretty sure that's how 'they' word it.

https://www.sealantsandtoolsdirect.co.uk/everbuild-403-concrete-hardener-dustproofer-25-litre-chdu25?language=en-gb&currency=GBP&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADx-2OLrIkC4daQ0NqLgYUnTssPtD&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5azABhD1ARIsAA0WFUFtqNMjNcrv9P8SKoqAEHxhYsVajTwvU0afp-GwewtBqdGl2ITV5NoaAqyDEALw_wcB Although..... .....isn't the best news.

Saves you worrying about them asking to borrow stuff after you move in lol.

They refer to this as "thermal shocking", but tbh I think I've done this twice in 20 years and doubt it made any difference. Reason being is that the slabs / screeds have never been down and then laid on. Any that have I have just used a decoupling membrane to cheat the risk of cracks migrating through to the finished floor. At 6" of concrete (and assuming some mesh in there, if not 2 layers of?) and the fact it's been down for nearly 2 years means this has done anything it's ever going to do already, and I'd not even bother with expansion gaps at the doorways. As you say, the flow temp will be very low 20's so this will all expand and contract (if ever) at the same rate of knots at the beginning and end of each heating season and life will go on. Your tradespeople are 100% correct to follow the path of due diligence as you'd be the first to complain and sue if the 'cracks began to appear' so they're rightfully covering their arses as would I. Follow their advice and then you have full recourse. Just ask that they use a quality flexible adhesive, and that the slab is thoroughly cleaned / prepped / primed so the adhesive has excellent purchase on the concrete, after that I doubt you have anything to worry about here at all; sounds like you have tilers who GAF too which is reassuring.

Don't give him any more ideas......🙄

Contest the bill and ask for the cost of the traps and the fitting of to be deducted from it, if you've not yet paid it.....

If hot comes via the control group and the cold comes from the raw mains, and they converge at the same mixer outlet, then there is a differential there that needs addressing somehow. The MI's for the UVC will demand that the CG / PRedV is within close proximity (immediately off) the UVC, and this cannot be mounted remotely. If this was a retrofit then you'd have to install a second PRedV at the incoming cold mains stopcock, and still fit the CG as per, plus then you'd have to fit a single check NRV on the hot outlet of the UVC to prevent any chance of back flow (reverse pressurisation) to the UVC. If you have 5-6 bar coming in then I'd preserve that all the way to the CG and enjoy better dynamic flow rates, and then look at branching off that 6bar backbone for the raw (unsoftened) cold mains; these typically go to the kitchen sink for human consumption, but also to things like a Quooker tap or fridge dispenser etc, and also the filling loop for the heating system (as you're not supposed to fill that with softened water). Are you having a softener? Therefore what I have done above, is drop the incoming mains supply to match the value of the PRedV in the CG so the system has no unbalanced feeds meeting at any mixer outlet, so as to prevent the backflow issue completely (even in the event of the raw PRedV failing for eg). For that job the mains is around 2.5bar or slightly over at night, so neither of the PRedV's will ever tap out, they are there for any eventuality such as the network pressure getting hiked up as the surrounding areas get massively developed with new homes. Yes, it'll need balancing down to the same value as the CG PRedV.

Yup, needs a summer and a winter ideally, to ascertain if it’s going to last the duration.

Just how much and how well is the question. At least they did this, as proper shitheads would have just dumped concrete onto whatever was there and run off into the sunset. May be best to just 'polish' what you have as well as you can, but you can gauge what's lost here by the price per m2. No probs if you would prefer not to share that at this time, but you can reach out to reputable companies and see how far apart these are to se if you're way off or way over, as they may have priced it keen for cash and you still then have a hypothetical budget to remedy. Not the best situation, but really not the worst. The old boy could have given them a big cash deposit and never saw them again, for eg.

Citizens Advice Bureau would be your first phone call. Then escalate from there if they say you have a case / opportunity to go after these muppets. If it can be sealed / coloured etc then value your sanity before the pursuit of a long and painful (and possibly fruitless) process. If the prep work was done better than the presentation, then you need to pick your battles, but if the prep was equally shite then the only issue is that the slab may fail and start to break up / otherwise degrade. Feck..... How much and how many m2 plz?

I am no legal eagle, but that sounds like evidence to me. Were they paid in cash or BACS / cheque?

Ask me how many old radiator valves I have replaced lol. We all gotta start somewhere.

My company has an opening for this guy, he can start Monday

Which is worse for the chap as you can go for a charging order for any of his personal property / home if successful with a claim.

C'mon, we've seen better legs hanging out of a nest