Nickfromwales

Just buy a stopcock key ( around 1000mm long iirc ) and you shall never lay on the pavement ever again. https://www.screwfix.com/p/faithfull-stopcock-key-universal-1140mm/656RH?kpid=656RH&ds_rl=1244066&gclid=CjwKCAjwo7iiBhAEEiwAsIxQEdTh58QlJMtgXjKI7eQqETR6Nq7CqmY3F4KvCvpcOzG9-xfOaW0I7RoCIPIQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

We will never see eye-to-eye on that theory. Being dry on the inside stops the building from being saturated, and the effects of that saturation cause issues for MONTHS after the externals are rain / weather tight. If you're building through the summer then not so much of a prob, but during and after winter it is an absolutely royal PITA, just like prince Andrew, lol.

Yup. At 18 you'll be miles away from issue, the reason being is you use this to prevent not cure, ergo the delta is never huge

? It sits on the edge of the concrete raft? It site over a narrow 50mm of perimeter insulation. Lets remember this isn't a heated slab Or is it? I'm putting a split A/C for heat / cool, plus an in-screed heater wire for when I just want heat but peace and quiet so I can speak with clients. Screed heater will be set to keep the room at 19.5 and A/C will be for auxilliary heat / cool aka "comfort". Was considering a Chinesium spa / hot tub heat pump to go into wet UFH, but you've gotta stop somewhere!!

OK, more thoughts and planning are afoot! I've decided on the "twin 3x2" separated stud walls and a decent insulated slab. I'll go 200mm EPS, but will focus on sound insulation* as well as thermal insulation. Pre-insulated metal profile sheet roofing, and a layer of acoustic batts ( 100mm ) will get bonded onto those, ideally, but then the question of getting plasterboard or white PVC cladding boards installed to the ceiling. May screw through the metal profile sheets from outside, with the proper screws, to grab a perpendicular batten at 400mm o/c and use that for mechanical fixings under the sheets. *Reasons; DJ decks to go into this room for me to mess about on and relive my youth, in-between dealing with clients and being a grown-up, ergo I will need to keep the sounds ( not noise btw ) inside this room; so there's little to no sound pollution from it to piss the neighbours off ( well the ones who aren't bell-ends anyhoo!! ).

Sad, true, and paying my kids through college!!

Use Hep2o on the potable stuff? Much more forgiving to get about the structure. Use Pex for rads upstairs by all means, but using it for hot and cold water is a bit OTT / logistically problematic ( IMO ). I install at 100mm o/c to maximise the volume of water in the slab. It is my preference based on the great results I've always had, and as it is a little expensive to dig the slab up and alter it, I prefer the added insurance. I'm responsible for the outcome, and am not a DIY-er btw. Also, another reason is that I cool most slabs via the ASHP and am 'playing' with having a second, significantly smaller buffer that services 'cooling mode' vs the 100-120L one that would normally be advised and utilised for heating. Also best to appreciate that I design a lot of my installs to have incoming air tempering too, via AHU's, so the buffer temp cannot be as low as the UFH flow temp or the AHU's will be nigh-on ineffective. The advice here needs to always be apples for apples which it sometimes is not.

With an EPS based ICF block you will become water-tight almost immediately, and getting a crazy-good AT score is almost guaranteed, even for a novice. There's enough support on here to get you through this, if you want to completely DIY it, but you will 100% need to prop or the walls will go to shit when you pour. Suppliers will offer training, and iirc you can hire the props etc. Getting a masonry build AT is easier if you DIY, with a bit of basic understanding of course, but almost impossible if you employ a general builder and "pop in every now and then" to check how "things are going".

Yup, we try to avoid providing bullets for you to then go and shoot yourself in the foot with. The best thing done here is that you decided to start a dialogue, where the advice is impartial, but this is an internet forum and I am typing all of this from my clean, white, padded cell.

Yes and no, as they will likely go nuts on this to cover their arses. Expense. If it was me, I'd just dig down a bit deeper "there", buy a pair of 3600mm pre-stressed concrete lintels, and lob them in during the pour with the middle of the lintel at the centre of "operation stumpy". Treat it as a set of services that you are bridging, like a clay soil pipe and water / electric. This has the potential to grow an unnecessary set(s) of horns £££ Reports of how the neighbours have managed fine fortifies a cheaper 'sensible' solution AFAIC. Seems to work fine; when a row of builders at the pub bar at 8PM all get a text. One look and they all drink up and scarper. One assumes a woman was involved in each instance

Because a terrifying amount of them don't have a clue, and some are just utterly clueless. I've dealt with both ends of the spectrum, and everything in-between. Working with a great one atm, but last one allowed zero plant spaces, not even a place for a hot water tank....

If you're really pooping it, dig 50% more out from the far corner back to the near corner, where it passes "stumpy", and drop a few 3m lengths of steel re-bar in at the 33% and 66% depths of the concrete. Seriously doubt you'd have any issues, but steel is too cheap to not lob some in for belt n 3 braces

I knocked this up as a demonstrator. As Dave says the panels become the roof. This could have been a finished article and the gaps would then have been closed with black CT1 and some powder coated aluminium T sections.

Pointless getting your knickers in a twist, as it should be dealt with case by case. This one could have just been "Pay the man for the ground as it is a fair and pragmatic resolve". End of issue.

Welcome to Buildhub "We'll learn you good".

Yup. Needs digging out and the roots to the neighbours side cutting and leaving there. Extra-deep fill trench where you dig down to the bottom of the root ball. Not a place to skimp on detail as you'll not ever get back in there after building.

More likely a visual warning that they are scalding hot to the touch, perhaps!?! around 85-100C. Infrared panels perform much better when either ceiling mounted or mounted at picture level on walls. The other thing to be aware of is the surface temperature. Herschel infrared heating panels have surface temperatures of around 85-100C. This makes them hot to touch.

Was the smallest one he could buy, and installed at wall > ceiling junction height.

Nope, just a friend who put one up and used it whilst in his home office. Decided it was 'terrible' and swapped back to his oil-filled convector radiator, iirc. Would be good to get feedback from people who have fitted these throughout for 'central heating' on the advice of "experts"..

You should have 22mm pipe from the cold stopcock, all the way to the last cold water T-off before the combi, and only reduce to a 15mm cold feed from there > combi. That will give the combi "cold mains priority".

For 7m 10mm would suffice, but won't give the welly that 15mm would. The issue with manifold systems is the large bore pipework upstream, so folk / other plumbers may not factor in getting that additional volume of dead leg out and thorough the small bore pipe, also. As for the above drawing, why do you have a manifold tap feeding the 2 downstream manifolds separately? Why not just use a 4-port for the hot and put the DOC ( drain off cock ) on the end of the manifold; with a 3/4" x 1/2" bush and a 1/2" threaded DOC. The 2 outlets "front" and "rear" will be restricted to the output of "garden" so is not the best layout IMHO.

My work colleague had one at his station ( mini-home office ) and had to bin it as his eye-lids were drying out and his skin was breaking up. Horrible things IMO. The rep's are just pre-programmed commission seekers in most instances, but there are a few on the shows where they are impartial and open / honest and I have passed / received work with these accordingly, with great results. There is snake oil everywhere, and will be for the rest of time.

They will likely use trading names to disjoint the company names from the name of the company(s) people will see / connect with. Quite telling interesting that 2 companies have needed to have been formed....

After the meter it's yours. Before the meter it's the DNO's. Simple.

Yup. I've seen the tape systems, but if you are tiling then you either need these applied to the rear surface of the item that is to be sealed and then to offer that back to the wall ( or often walls ) which is a PITA. I've been fitting bathrooms for over 25 years, prob a bit more tbh, and good old sealant and tanking wins every time for me. A lot of stuff on YT is promotional / sponsored / non-impartial. I get quite fed up with some of the vid's, so rarely go on it tbh.