Nickfromwales

There are ASHP’s which are on a specific list and those “that are not” No electrician ever stops to ask to fit a new huge induction hob or a replacement upgrade to a 10kw electric shower

So, just fit a £40 Willis heater to get signed off as a “3kW electric boiler”, and pipe / duct services in, in anticipation of the retro fit ASHP? TBH you’d put more load on fitting a big electric shower !!!! DNO’s need a reality check. The ASHP I fitted before Xmas starts at less current than a toaster.

Hi. Looking at the gap, and the fact that you no longer have any bevel to the face of the cut, I would just scrub these completely clean of any residual adhesive and fill and finish with clear CT1. No need for any super skills at all, just don’t cut the nozzle and use at the 3-4mm bead size it comes at. Start at the bottom horizontal ‘grout’ line where these meet the floor / tray / other and work that in vigorously with your finger, rubbing it in in both directions ( don’t worry about the CT1 getting over the face of the tiles / other as it comes off in seconds. Caveat is do NOT let it get on anything that is not flat and impervious ( like floor grout ) as it doesn’t like coming back off that without a lot of extra effort ). Once you’ve completed the horizontal application and your finger and wall / floor has CT1 all over it, use cheap baby wipes to clean the wet sealant off your hands first, then off anywhere you do not wish it to be. Use one BW just a couple of times and discard it to a bag, as otherwise you’ll defeat the object and start bringing it back to the surfaces you’re trying to remove it from. Finish this part of the process by putting a BW over your finger and sweep from one side to the other in one long slow movement ( all the way along the horizontal ) to leave nothing of the CT1 on the tiles or floor / tray. Do this long sweep as many times as is necessary until you’re happy with what you see. Then leave for 24hrs to cure. Do exactly the same for all the vertical lines, working from the top > down. Do one vertical line at a time, cleaning 90% of the residual away at the horizontal grout lines up the wall. Once you’ve done 3 verticals, get a BW flat on your palm and polish all the area of tile 1 top to bottom. When you’ve done he 90% of tile run 4, go back and polish up tile 2 top to bottom, then 5 > 3, 6 > 4 and so on. The idea is to be constantly working wet sealant over / against wet sealant and to not allow the 90% area to start firing before polishing with your flat palm + BW. That will be much better than grout, 50 times better than silicone ( which has a very short lifespan on surfaces which are regularly cleaned thoroughly ) and will NEVER attract mould / go black. ??

It’s just moss / other growth that hasn’t been hit by the rain. You’ll see it on many surrounding properties and is of zero concern.

I assume you know that the cold feed to the copper tank is gravity, and that the cold feed you need for a regular electric shower is the cold mains in the attic that fills the CWS tank? Do yourself a huge favour and leave the electrical connections well alone Run a 6mm2 from the CU to a suitable location for a surface mounted 45a DP switch, outside the bathroom ( uglier but much easier than fitting a pullcord ) and another bit of 6mm2 from that switch location to the shower area. Leave a bit of slack at the switch on both, a bit of length to connect into the shower, and a meter or so of slack at the CU. Then fit the shower and plumb it to the cold supply. Then ring an electrician to do the rest ( please ). Not worth dying before you move into the new house eh?

I'm doing the lighting design for one of my current clients builds, which also has a tall curved ceiling. I've suggested recessed wall uplighters to wash the ceiling area with enough upward light to allow sufficient ambient light to make its way down lower in the room, with the idea being to have light but not to see the source ( or as near as damnit ). No pics of that one yet, sorry, but here are some of the same I installed on another project.

Ah, ok. Then ignore my above rambling. I’ll get my coat.

Are the pipes down yet? If going under then you’re linked one is fine. Sorry. Just assumed this was going atop retrospectively for some daft reason. Been a long day.

Too thick. 500 is the thickest I’d use tbh.

I separated the pipes and marked the sole plate to avoid ‘unwanted water relief holes’. The studs all reside on a course of blue bricks, so there I just packed out with timber and punched 2x 200mm concrete screws down, through liquid screed and into the concrete slab beneath Trust me, with liquid screed the challenge is to stop it going anywhere it’s not supposed to It will have 100% encompassed those pipes with ease. The builder used mastic / sealants and I also used foam to create a dam in the openings where the flow of the liquid screed needed to be arrested.

Yup. I know of at least 2, with another one coming up in 6-8 weeks. A good blower team will ( should ) have a frame which goes into an opening which has no door in it yet, so they should be able to do this with a bit of ingenuity? 2” PVC electrical tape can be applied first, then AT tape onto that. There’s loads of ways to do this and mitigate against damages etc.

It needs to be a VERY thin membrane suitable for use with the liquid screed, so that it allows the screed to completely encompass the UFH pipe. Leave lots of slack / small folds in the membrane to allow it to be able to move and wrap as tightly as possible around the pipes. If you don’t leave this slack the membrane will tent over the pipes which you don’t want.

@Tom Easy to mitigate with insulation on the flow pipes where they congregate Don’t let them pick on you OK

Sealing the concrete with 50/50 SBR*water, by mopping the life out of it over a couple of days, will give you something to stick to.

Sikaflex would be my choice. Speak to their tech dept if possible. Used a lot of their commercial marine rated stuff and it’s ridiculously good.

Yes, totally agree. I’ve made no reference to VCL, as I’d need to know about detail of the rising walls too to be able to comment. If it’s a draughty shed, like my home office / man cave, I’d just deal with the worst of the cold bridging and open a beer. Adventitious airflow will do the rest. If folk don’t allow air through in winter then the ? will hit the fan regardless. I’ve gone with metal uninsulated roof panels, one piece 6.4m lengths, over 5x2’s @400mm centres. I used roof membrane 1500mm wide and tripled it ( overlapping every 500mm ) as I couldn’t get the metal in time. Bone dry atm, with joists ( treated ) exposed and painted with the grey floor paint. As it’s Baltic in there, during the warmer weather I will install 75mm in between the joists, with a 25mm timber ( like a doorstop ) to allow me to push the insulation up and prevent it touching the membrane. I purposely kept the membranes very taut during fitting in case this was necessary. I’ll then install 30mm PIR in 8x4 sheets over the joists and infill PIR to kill the cold bridge of the joists, and then foil tape, and prob then just paint white or leave as foil ( as both will reflect light ). Joints between 8x4’s of PIR will be foil taped for the hell of it. That will be my lot for the roof. I will then pull off the external membrane wrapped around the outside of the stud frame / walls, I’ve not yet installed the 150mm feather edge thankfully, and fill those voids with cheap rock wool and then reinstall the membrane and fit the cladding at the same time so it stays dry. “It’s just a shed, Rodney”.

That's how most SIP's roofs are done. There needs to be a solid deck to walk on to be able to EPDM a large flat / sloping roof, as the compressive ( point load ) strength of the rigid insulation would be insufficient to take a mans weight ( foot / knee etc ). Also a requisite when installing PV with Nickelson plates etc as you would also not want to introduce cold bridging through 250mm+ long mechanical fixings. The detail there needs to be; a compressed sandwich with layers bonded ( where there can be no ventilation to ridge etc, eg no gap between the insulation and the deck board + EPDM ) or counter-battens and a gap for ventilation and then the deck board + EPDM.

As oak does not compress under foot at all, nor does any timber for that matter, there will be no discernible difference to concrete other than the smooth finish which will make it feel 'nicer' under foot. Purely phycological imo. I would bond this floor down without hesitation, as the numerous new builds I have been in that have not done this ( eg floating ) have been quite 'noisy' to walk on, even in socks, in terms of the wood moving and creaking / groaning when walked across. Also, I have noticed where the floating floors meet the stairs, and other fixed junctions, the two can never be married successfully when finishing off completely flush. Instead, most floating floor require a timber or metal threshold to allow a fixed item ( such as the bullnose of the last step up onto the 1st floor landing ) to marry to a floating floor. That would bug the life out of me for the rest of my days. That alone would be enough for me to bond the floor down, point 1, point 2 would fortify that decision, eg the then far better heat transfer from the UFH to the wood. That would also lend itself, point 3, to a slightly lower flow temp for the UFH to run at, as the oak would then be 'thermally coupled' to the heated deck. +1 for bonding down.

We may need an translator ....

Don’t be surprised if the electrician asks you if want to take over the installation on his behalf!! The guy will be qualified, working to the spec of the fixed equipment and appliances that YOU have give to him, and will have installed what is correct. 2.5mm2 radial to each oven with its own 20a DP switch is absolutely spot on for anything up to the 16a requirements. Converting now to 4mm is just a waste of time and money. Now we’re getting silly ?. That’s for adverse installations. Never once have I heard any domestic sparky quote or install to that allowance. Cables for domestic ask for an ambient of 20oC to be used, then possibly grouping factors etc may then affect the outcome, but a good sparky will mitigate that simply with segregation. Stick with the 2.5mm and get yourself off to the pub

Not ever heard of cavities being filled with foams. Are we talking about cavity wall insulation here or just using this for crossing T’s and dotting I’s?

I install gate valves at regular / strategic points in my plant room installs, particularly where there’s an ASHP and antifreeze, so when needing to do routine maintenance or repairs, my clients only have to drain the bare minimum of primary water off. ?

My thumb still hurts.