Nickfromwales

The replacement MDPE ( blue pipe ) stopcocks out at the street are supplied with about 300mm of pipe each side. These get couplers on them to whatever they existing supply pipework is, as most are designed to be retro-fit upgrades and need to be able to couple onto whatever they find is existing.

But it’ll be lead all the way to the street if so

Looks like copper everywhere, but sometimes there can be other “interesting” pipe material rising from the ground. I’ve found all sort over the years. TBH if it’s not leaking, leave alone. When the time comes for you to expose it all and replace the stopcock we’ll still all be here to answer. We’ll all be a bit older, and a bit grumpier, so please make allowances

It's not going on Grand Designs lol, looks quite nice thought! The 2x 3x2 walls are for separation for sound and it would be fully filled with acoustic batts ( 75mm between first studs > 50mm continuous layer in gap between > 75mm between second studs - so 190mm of acoustic ). Speakers will be on expensive heavy metal speaker stands with ground plane spikes on rubber pads. I'd sister the 3x2's internally, and install at 400 o/c, and have a single synthetic 'strap', eg to tie the internal and external stud walls together whilst still maintaining acoustic qualities. Won't be flimsy at all, 'cos I'm making it and I "have the technology" I'm not in love with twin-wall, just seems a very good solution considering I'll be "in the mix" and will need the thickness and acoustics to work well. I'll be able to stick-build the whole thing in less than 4 days including the roof on my Jack Jones. Labour cost = 2 weekends. I 1,000,000% will NOT be putting a ring beam in. That's one thing I've been reading and cannot agree with. This is a single storey wood structure, and the loads will be the square root of F - all . FYI, I'll be cutting the fingers off the edges of the mesh sheets to give me a linear re-bar along the perimeter of the slab, 4 sides around, and if that breaks then I'll buy everyone a drink. Also, I'll be using EPS 100 everywhere and simply use a run of 89x44 as the soleplate atop the 100mm EPS100 upstand. That will still leave me a 25mm gap between the two soleplates at ground level. End of Aloo Chat. I'm off to start my cutting lists and order me some materials. "The time has come for action, people!!!!".

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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.