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For my 240mm cavities I found that Varty Engineering were by far the cheapest for unusually long wall ties. http://vartryengineering.com/products/extra-long-wall-tie-large-cavities.html

Hi folks, Any recommendations for good value wall chasers? Just need to do one to do a single (largish) house, so nothing too expensive. But still want to own one rather than rent. For some reason Screwfix don't have any available in my area, even for delivery, not sure why.

I spoke to Ecology on the phone, they want min 12 months as well...

So, despite initially being agreeable to my employment terms (new job 6 months ago via an agent, officially 'temporary and self employed' but with no end date to the contract or indication that it will not be ongoing) our potential lender has said that I would need to be in the position for 12 months. This is more than a little problem now that the walls are half up ?. Now in the search for a lender that is willing to take us on. Any clever ideas/recommendations/suggestions folks? Thanks,

That is another option, but means buying another boiler when I already have a boiler here ready to use. It just happens that the one I have is not an external one so needs a little house for itself which I reckon should be a lot cheaper than buying a new external one.

I will need to house an oil boiler on the exterior of the house, and am mulling over the options. It's the type that would normally be situated in a garage. I know that ASHP and other renewables are gaining popularity for new builds, but I happen to have this boiler so for now it is being fitted. I am also wary that the way things are going it may only a have a life of 5, 10, 15 years maybe, then it may be more cost effective to move to ASHP etc, so need to bear in mind that it and it's 'house' may be removed at some stage. So far my thoughts are: 1. build a small block housing against the house wall, then have the lot rendered. Not so keen on this as if its removed then render needs patched 2. build a small block housing 100mm away from the house wall after the house is rendered 3. buy a steel enclosure like this https://www.haldane-fisher.com/galvanised_boiler_house_enclosure_standard_770_x_770_x_1220mm_penc00200.html 4. make a steel housing like the above This is surely not a new problem... Any thoughts, advice or alternative options? Thanks.

You could move it down and use a ridge cap like this, if the gap is not too big:

Thanks for suggestions. What narrows the potentials is that one of the stoves is to be a boiler stove. Can't find anything with a direct air supply (even if slightly questionable) other that Arada's offerings...

Having provisionally picked a stove that is combatable with an external/direct air feed I was wondering what happens to the primary and secondary air vents on the front of the thing. Perhaps slightly naively I had assumed that with the air duct kit the stove would become a room sealed appliance. Not so, the man in the showroom tells me. Apparently the external air feed supplies primary air, and secondary is still needed from the room. Additionally, the room vents are just sliding plates, so who know just how well they seal... I have a similar Arada stove in my current house, I quite like it though you can sometime hear the air whistling through the 'closed' vents on a windy day. I wonder are there more suitable stoves for a house with a high level of airtightness? (ps. not intending to raise the debate on whether this will overheat the place and become an expensive ornament, which yes it probably will...)

Just wondering about what folk aim for when deciding on stair angle, how high the steps are etc. Obviously the particular situation dictates certain constraints, and it needs to meet building regs. But there's often still some room for personal preference. I'm provisionally going for 40 deg, with 235.6mm going 197.7mm rise. What did you do and were you happy with it?

That's interesting. My recent updated quote is double what it was this time last year and now has '3x95mm WF to service joint' from pole to just beside house, then '1x35mm' from this service joint to meter box. Last year the quote was all '1x35mm'. I'm not expert enough to be sure, but that sounds a bit like they want to run 3 phase right up to my house? I must enquire to confirm.

Yes, 10mm for everything except showers, baths and probably kitchen sink. I'm running mine in service void under ceiling. Not ideal to get at, but certainly easier than being buried under concrete. Hopefully never have to access again either way! I'm not going to. Relying on small bore pipe (10mm) to reduce time for hot water getting to where it's needed.

Sounds like a home made manifold is the cheapest, and the most fun. Copper Tee, full bore 1/4 valve, then 15 or 10mm JG pipe. Just thinking of how to go from the 1/4 turn valve to JG pipe, can you put the male stem end of these fittings into a compression joint? ie at he outlet of the brass 1/4 valve.

Largely thanks to this forum I am a definite convert to a manifold system for hot a cold water. But which manifold to use? Hep2o ones look good but are expensive. What other manufactures/brands are there? Or it is as cost effective to make up one's own?

+1 for a contract. We used a RIBA template. A bit like insurance, hopefully you never have to look at it again. However, in addition to providing an agreement, the act of going through it line by line raised a few points that needed a bit more discussion and it acted as a good check list of items to review with the main contractor.

I see that you can also get 'silicone silicate' render, for example from the EWI store. Is that a mix of the two? @MarkyP (and others) what is your opinion on that?

Thanks @MarkyP

We're provisionally going with K-rend thin coat which I believe to be silicone, as builder reckons it is better than their monocouche. We have found many and varying opinions though, so hard to figure out what is best... Out of interest, what exactly is a 'film based paint'?

Thank you for the suggestions, have sent some ideas to SE and was hoping to get a response by now but he's been busy on other site visits so will now be after the weekend. I originally favoured slab on top of insulation, tho can't for the life or me remember why I moved away from it. Someone somehow convinced me to do so. Stone blinding already laid at the other end of the build, so need to consider a way forwards that either integrates with original plan or does not require excessive re-work.

Not getting anywhere on this. Yes I can make 2 applications I am told, one for disconnection and one for new connection, but the latter won't even be quoted on until the disconnection is performed. I was kinda hoping to have both disconnection and new connection done on the same day. Even a day without electric we could live with. Is that too much to ask for...?

Great stuff Yes! I 100% share your sentiments. And they say harvesting your own wood keeps you warm more than once, so true. Thank you for sharing the book recommendation, that'll be next on my list. Have you read 'Norwegian wood'? I was recommended it a couple of years ago and found myself obsessed with growing my own firewood and went and planted 900 willow and poplar to coppice for logs. I've been warned by several people that a stove in a well insulated house is an expensive ornament. You've clearly done it and made it work. Do you think that surrounding in dense concrete block helps dampen the heat release to the house?

Yeah a slight slope, about 1m from one end to the other. I wanted to dig in a bit more at the top end but the founds got poured...

In fairness the builders already have fine stone on site rather than sand. Yes floating slab for new build. So far the footings have been built to top level of slab, as per sketch below. I like the idea of more insulation as its adding something that will have more useful purpose. Only thing is to do that would mean slab top level to lower then where the footings now are so maybe not the easiest to level the slab? Proposal with lean mix concrete something like this. Think I'll need about 11m3:

Funny enough I tried that about a year ago. Started of by phoning up NIE to ask if that could be done and was told yes of course, so I did the application showing the meter to go in an 'outbuilding' (would have built a 1m square block kiosk) only to be phoned back and then told that the days of putting meters in garages/outbuildings/kiosks etc are over and they must be on a wall of the house. Turns out the person who first answered my call wasn't really the right person to advise, and only said yes as they had their meter in an outbuilding that was installed years ago... Would have been really handy, as I would then have been in control (via electrician) of swapping over to the new build as and when required, and could even had a temp supply.

I have on my drawings the following make up of the ground floor: screed insulation 170mm Concrete 150mm sand blinding 50mm DPM Type 1/hardcore compacted min 150mm, max 600mm I understand that there should be 600mm max infill. So does that include the 50mm of sand blinding? ie should Type 1/hardcore be max 550mm? Reason for asking is because top of founds to underside of slab goes as high as 950mm, so trying to work out how much lean mix concrete would be needed to back fill trenches.This being one of the structural engineers suggestions, and I suspect the cheapest. Cheers,