Nickfromwales

I can say this to you with honesty, openness, conviction, and confidence...... "It doesn't look too shit, to be fair mate"

Or you just buy it for them, if you like the guys, and they agree to put their big-boy pants on and suck up the babysitting approach? You deal with VAT, life goes on...

Yup. Give them the heave-ho now and get cracking. If you wake at 3am and see Bill Odie at the foot of your bed, you’re in trouble, if not, evict and block everything up to the hilt. Chicken wire, and not loose stuff that can be pecked out overnight.

The problem with learning to skim, was I couldn’t practice in customers homes. “Hi, the plastering will look like shit, but bear with please, it’s my 1st day” wouldn’t really go down too well. lol. Great if you can take it one wall at a time in your own home, and quite therapeutic when you get to polish up and take the credit. Also, if it’s a compete train wreck like my first few attempts were, you just PVA it and go again. One trade where practice certainly does make perfect. 👌

It's the natural light as well, which shows up everything on such a wall. Taper boards have non-tapered edges which have to join here and there, just too simple to say they won't exist or won’t be quite frequent (unless you are happy with huge amounts of waste).

They're actually very good value for money. @Andrew Jones (The VAT Man) will be buttoning some stuff up for me shortly, and he will very likely cover his fees in spotting what bits I have missed / misunderstood, alone. I always like hearing peoples thoughts on "VAT efficiency" too......

Why would it, it would state where zero VAT rate is applicable, and when reverse VAT practice is kosher. I do both, no issue. Never have I asked a client (new self / custom builds) to pay any VAT. If the VAT cannot be zero'd at the merchant, I just pay the VAT, I don't charge it to the client, I wait 3 months and get it back....simples. The wait to claim it back is probably an excuse and not a reason for these individuals to deviate from the norm, which stinks that they simply cannot manage their cashflow. For what they're charging they should be all over this like a rash ffs. 🙄

Plaster skim via a recommended and tried / tested spread EVERY DAMN DAY OF THE WEEK! Tape & Joint is for commercial / office / bean counters, and cannot and does not removed the 'bumps' in the walls no matter who says what (unless the installer had shares in Easy-Fill and sanded back very generous amounts of it). A bad trade will do a bad job, so let's play the ball here eh? Great trades do fantastic work, so find a spread who has pride in his work and survives only off his recommendations / word-of-mouth, and you'll be right.

I disagree. If this falls down from a vertically mounted orientation the damage to person and property will be severe, sorry, assuming of course you will have to make your own custom mounts and wall brackets for this. Also, the side wall is nowhere near as strong as the shared point load where the intended / correct feet attach, and, as your training will tell you, cast will just fracture and fail in one instant. Add to that, that this will be full of very, very hot water as they're very inefficient, and I (personally) would advise against this. You asked, so that's my answer, but of course 'fill yer boots' as it's not my house, and it's just my own opinion

This is all that matters. It is the force of the cold mains pushing hot water out of the cylinder that gives you the 'high pressure' (aka balanced) supply you need. I would not fit an electric shower here at all as it completely wastes the saving from all the expense you have gone to installing an energy efficient heatpump that will produce hot water. 100% use the cylinder for the showers, but my worry is that your plumber may not have plumbed this for "balanced" supplies (all mixer outlets like showers fed from the cylinder multiblock (aka control group)). Do you know anything about the install?

Hi. It just sounds dangerous tbh, due to the massive weight alone. Putting all the weight on to the side of the rad, an area never designed to take that weight, is a no-no AFAIC.

We’re very proud of our lost, prestigious housing stock with EPC’s of Z.

Wales is a very exclusive club, that'as all mate.

Cheaper again :- LINK

Maybe, possibly, offering up some slightly more productive comments would help, or perhaps no comments in the absence of? This is a new member and they need to acclimatise a little before we bite their arse, lol. @NIMAN, you'll get used to the folk here, just we've seen it all, heard it all, and the answers are just frank and honest, but are largely based on fact and knowledge sharing. Just slip your big-boy pantaloons on and take it as it's meant; just 'to the point' sometimes but not 'nasty'.

Also the boiler won't be able to cope with the short-cycling of supplying heat via the heat ex and this will further expedite it's demise.

They will just shrug their shoulders, and look at you blankly, at best. At worst they'll just tell you it's absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with BRegs and will simply dismiss you. For completeness, you and your questions / data will fly way over their heads / knowledge sets, so you are completely wasting your time engaging with your BCO for this. Apologies if the replies seem blunt, but you are making the most humungous mountain out of a molehill, and 30 years of data is a 1/3 of your lifetime! Because with a series of unfortunate failures here, you have a scald risk. Those that don't know, don't know, and they are the dangerous ones. A little like those who argue that doing your own gas work is legal, which on a dark day may well be the case, but ONLY if you are the sole occupant of the house and you have the only key to get in to it. Absolutely do not do this, it is dangerous as feck. Possible, but expensive and complex. The easiest, as it's what I do to top up the kids outdoor paddling pool to take the edge off the cold water it gets filled with after cleaning. However, this is done via a thermostatic mixing valve to prevent scalding water getting to the hose. Any instantaneous water heater carries a serious risk of delivering scalding water. OK, time for a reality check methinks!!!! Just go and buy a simple, cheap A2W pool / hot tub heat pump LINK and end this madness. Great CoP and you can do away with the relic of a boiler you are gambling all this cost and complexity on, as it will fail shortly and then you'll be kicking yourself.

That's the best question of the day!

You must allow for the worst case, which is that the hose has become fractured and you need to get it off the bellows as well as off the button, so it can be replaced.

The floor material (say 22mm P5) gets laid over the Marmox, and you screw through the 2 and into the joists. Use x thickness of Marmox to get your levels correct, and you're off to the races.

Yup, and if the OP bites the bullet and covers the whole area with it, not just the joist tops, it'll form the upper vapour barrier if glued and taped etc etc. Even a 6mm board will give excellent results, but for the minimal cost of going for the additional 4mm (or more if they can afford / fit) there will then be an uplift on that.

A bit like watching your house getting burgled on the 15 CCTV cameras you've installed.

Ok, well the tile in the sill is the one I would start with. Least amount of disruption. Then a call to the fitter to say "You, my friend, are a bell-end of the highest disorder. Are you of similar brain-power to a plant? Just asking, for a friend".

Often 'fitters' will set the window sill up so it can be removed so you can get access from the top down. Any pics of this?

There's a plastic lock nut on the back of that, so if you keep messing with it the push button will be dangling by the pneumatic hose and the locknut will be swinging around on it behind the wall / tile. Q: Has anyone actually been behind this and looked PROPERLY for any form of secret / hidden access?