Nickfromwales

When will folk realise that the patch panel is way ott. Making off the cat6’s to RJ45 plugs and pushing those directly into the switch………works perfectly. Less gin, more tonic, folks

Maybe start at the BM and ask for contact details for the rep of the membrane supplier. Pick their brains for a top local installer.

I used those piranha ones on the last job, much easier imho.

Same as the screwfix and plumbers forums, fecking boxing rings full of big egos..... Buildhub is a joy in comparison, which is why we sometimes shoot first and ask questions later, lol. "Just keepin' the patch clean guv!"

Will be dependant on what is tapped (tee'd) off the rising cold mains, before it gets to the attic. Ideally the stockcock will supply the outside tap and cold water appliances, then you'll have a second non return (single check) valve to keep the stored energy in the accumulator for use with bathing etc only, as you don't want things like the washing machine and outside tap using the stored energy and then the shower being starved when you need to use it. All the info you've provided says to me an acc'r on its own will be plenty enough additional potential here, to provide short-sharp boost for showering, and to bridge the times of less than brilliant pressure / flow from the network.

I'd love to have the capacity to go on to one of these jobs with the same budget available to me, and run a close-knit team of trades to build the same thing for a decent chunk of profit.....but it just doesn't ever seem to work out unless the jobs are back-to-back and are rolling out of a conveyor belt. MBC have a near unique USP, and their prices reflect this; if you go to the local corner shop for a pint of milk it'll cost you way more than going further for a supermarket, so the convenience factor is at play here. When entrusting large sums of money you want reassurance that you'll get what you were promised, another USP for any worthy supply & fit company, so best to be honest here and say those who don't have time or knowledge will give up the extra fees to have someone to be held accountable for any issues, minor or major, which brings a lot of comfort and reduces stress and anxiety 100 fold vs 'going it alone'. There's a hell of a lot to go wrong, if coordinating and leading a project such as a full new build by one's self, and some think they "got this" (a lot soon realise they "don't got this" btw...) and then are left holding a very expensive baby. You can buy a load of car parts off eBay and build a car by hand, or you can go to a car sales and drive off in less than an hour, depends if you've got the time/space/tools/knowledge, same as anything else. I've seen a lot of self builders go massively over budget, purely by misadventure or having balls bigger than their brains.

And you have to remove all the installed PIR to fit it. Chillax peeps, a good afternoon with some 330 and a bit of GAF and this can be brought back into 2025 without having to re-mortgage . I would say that the above is good advice; buy the 2 layers of PIR, and then tape the joints, then install standard plasterboard with long screws.

Just ask (tell) them to make sure not to squirt loads of foam in and that then gets to the felt, you just need the gaps filled slowly and with the minimal amount of foam getting behind the boards. They'll need to leave it to expand and cure, and then for it to be cut back flush, before the next layer of boards go on.

Looks a very neat job done by very conscientious workers. And kudos to the 1-man ply-boarding machine...top guy.

Every gap needs to be foam-filled. Clearly there's too much product been installed for these guys to go removing this and replacing with new stuff, cut better, but TBH if they do the foam work meticulously then you'll be fine. It is sloppy work, so time for a cup of tea and a chat with them to say this won't fly. With the second layer, this can be saved, but ask them to take more time and cut this lot in much better from this point forwards. Tell them you absolutely must be given the opportunity to check this has been done properly before they even think about covering it over with the next layer

I've seen this in action with previous projects I've been on where MBC were the package provider; problem arises, they respond immediately, positively, with zero friction or delay. Folk are only human at the end of the day, so it's inevitable something will go squiff, just refreshing to see it put right quickly with the minimal of fuss.

Pilot drill the screw holes obvs.

Yup. 👍 If you do it as I say to do it, the glued joint will be stronger than the wood. Get the paint off, glue and clamp it as best you can (clamping over a straight edge such as a good box spirit level is best) and make sure to leave for 48hrs for the glue to go off completely. Try gluing two bits random bits of pine together with the same method, and then trying to get them apart, and you’ll have your answer

Hep2o these days is just wonderful stuff, but ironically they’ve made a new range of twist-to-lock fittings, methinks because the fit and forget fittings I’m used to were a pita to decouple, so marketing prob got involved to help folk who are fingers and thumbs.

Loose:

Done lots of these where the raft went on to piles, very quick and simple to do, again with an SE who gets down to business and takes control of the BCO. SE overrules BCO btw, so be careful where you take input and instruction from as some just seem to always err on the side of caution, often costing you more £xxxx. Geotechnical surveys are a must, and I always recommend getting independents in for this, so the aforementioned finger can be pointed at whomever was responsible for that specific element. Each to their own afaic. Defo the right option there! The number of doors and windows packages that we've had to sort out and iron out wrinkles with is simply staggering, all the way down to removing completely doors and windows that have been installed, to do them again (properly) at the clients cost/request when I've pointed out the faux-pas. Folk may say this can't possibly still be happening in this day and age, yes it bloody well is!! Not so sure that's true tbh. Gaps are below the DPM, if any, and the installer should be using the U-pins to secure everything in place. I think this one is down to the individual experience of the installer/groundworkers, not the type of system, sorry. Often a lot of self builders see something progressing, with a big smile on their faces, and think it's all going well. Then someone in the trade arrives and says "that's not been done properly, tell them to do it again". Often that's a conversation I have to have, but still hate seeing the look on peoples faces when they get the news. There's lots of good people out there, it's just hard to discover them is my direst experience, ask me how I know...

Yes, they seem to not like the friction of self-builders being 'involved', and prefer to just come in, whack the rubber stamp into the ink, and smack it down onto the paper, then leave asap. Nothing wrong with that as it's a fast and profitable business model, just non-sympathetic to the self-builder who wants to make material and fabric choices beyond the typical comfort zones that these folk have come to enjoy. They we're near impossible to talk to when looking to change from a crappy B&B foundation to a raft, with details and proposals for input air for a WBS (I convinced the client to ditch the WBS eventually, but the journey was difficult to bring in any such changes; more so to my disbelief as they we're not doing the founds for this particular client due to "difficult" grounds conditions on a sloping site!). My founds guy and my favourite SE seem to take these things in their stride, so it's down to GAF and a bit of tenacity IMHO, to raise the bar and get the client something better, hopefully for the same money (or less as of recent experience). Also have a great architect to reach out to which oils the cogs massively; have met some clueless and even obtuse ones along the way, and they've been flushed and replaced. I've gone through the filter with a number of TF suppliers/erectors and that's taken a long time to do, to see the good/bad/ugly, and the excellent, same with ICF, but for self-builders they need to get it right 1st time so a bit difficult when you only have one roll of the dice and then you're left with what you're left with. Research, research, research, but you don't know what you don't know, and I've been around long enough with these types of projects to see 1st hand what a good project looks like. PM me if you want some details for the good ones .

Loose: Tight:

Yup. JG invented a fitting which slowly undoes itself over time.....when installed without the clips @Gone West refers to. The shroud around the fitting, the twist-to-lock piece should be closed tight to the body of the fitting eg no gaps as you see top & bottom in the OP's pic.

I've not seen, literally even ONE, installer/plumber EVER fit them. Most merchants look sideways at you when you ask for them....and you always hear "never been asked for them so we'd have to get them in for you..."

Good, so you're not got the very worst of problems there to be honest. I defo think an accumulator, and no pump, would get you over the line. Pumps add ballache, and need replacing, so KISS imho. Remember, if you want super-fast flow rates and a shower which exfoliates you then that potential has to come from somewhere. My 2 cents is be happy with a sufficient shower experience, ditch the pump idea, and just go for the uplift that a 300L acc'r will provide. I have had fantastic results adding a simple 300L or 500L acc'r into a domestic residence, and swear by them. The good news is you can fit the acc'r and trial it, see how that goes, and then add the pump set retrospectively if you think you need it. I'd say 99% sure that you don't/won't

It is, but if that means longer runs to satellite loops/zones, it makes zero sense. They should state that the loops, can be 120m, if the pump potential is suitably increased, but then you have to balance it all down and risk the temp of the delivered water to the furthest zone being reduced over distance. I had to put right a design from Nu-heat in a £4m house which had a double-decker manifold doing 17 loops, the one I stated had 31 in total, and getting the heat and flow balanced out was a total PITA; to the point that NH stated that they were only in for supply and fit of the pipe and manifold, and the rest was someone else's problem....ffs. If nobody has a polished scrotum, don't invent a scrotum polisher FYI, these are the pump sets I use for all my clients projects: https://underfloorparts.co.uk/product/ivar-uni-mix-underfloor-heating-ufh-pump-mixing-kit-underfloor-heating-manifold-control-unimix/

Same with any manifold from 2 ports upwards.

Thanks for the additional detail. Respectfully, I think they're talking bollocks. I've been installing CH/UFH for decades, and every single manifold I have ever seen has a 1" inlet, this is in absolutely zero way any type of innovation. My issue is, unless you put a monster pump onto this monster manifold, to deal with the uplift in hydraulic resistance, then you're going nowhere fast, literally.

Get some 60 grit sandpaper and sand the pipe so the rubber seal can grab onto a roughened surface vs the shiny surface it's currently trying (poorly) to cling on to. Sand around the diameter, not up and down the pipe, as you want 'rings' of scratches so the seal can bite into them. Oh, and tighten up the two John Guest Speedfit fittings in the background. Righty-tighty, as they're both nearly fully undone! JG stuff sucks badly.