chrisb

@Ferdinand What did you decide to do in the end? I have a 800x800 ish shower with walls on 3 sides (alcove style in bathroom-speak) that needs redoing after water got behind the tiles and rotted the tray support. I hate tiling, and also it's cold in there (2 external cavity walls) so I was thinking of removing the tiles, adding 25mm of celotex to the 2 outside walls and then panelling over the top.

My wife has just had a valspar match on a piece of 'picture' wallpaper - it's a lego pattern for our Son's room and he also wanted a green wall. Given we didn't want two greens in the room, the match seemed like the only option, and has come out perfectly. It's not a colour in their database, so it is now called 'Toby Green' in Reading B&Q ?

After a bit more eBaying, I've secured a H-T kit, brand new for £15 delivered, so all good! Resistor colour code is definitely there somewhere, but it'll soon come back to me ? I'll also pick up a pack of the marker cable ties as they will be useful for cables & pipes. Thanks all!

With the cable markers, is there a better type to get? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ovalgrip-PVC-Cable-Marker-Kits-for-electrical-cables-0-to-9-R-S-T-L-N-etc/153181666587 Appears the cheapest on eBay which is more like the price I was hoping to pay, rather than £££ for a Hellerman-Tyton kit or similar.

I did this about 3 years ago when I re-cabled an office for cat5. It all looked good when I did it, but the next time I saw it, all the labelling tape had fallen off (even when stuck round the cable back to back). I suspect it might make a difference if I used better tape, what type did you use?

What is the best economical solution to mark T&E cables? I guess that the best option would be a cable marking kit with printed sleeves that slip over, or a labelling machine that prints on heatshrink sleeving, but they are both out of my price range for the use they will get. Any other suggestions? White electrical tape & a sharpie? Thanks Chris

I hadn't thought about ASHP - we have mains gas, so I was only considering that and potentially PV in the future. I was expecting to run the UFH loops with regular CH inhibitor in them - is there anything wrong with doing this? I did like the idea of a coil in the buffer incase I wanted to connect another heat source of some kind in the future, but didn't plan on using it for now.

Is there anything to stop me using a small direct (or indirect, and not use the coil) UVC instead of a purpose-made buffer?

Lack of internets got in the way of replying - sorry. Wet trees are an issue if you have a wireless bridge providing your internet connection ? I've got an expansion vessel in the circuit anyway as I'm going for sealed rather than vented, so I wan't thinking I'd need another one? I was thinking about 120L originally, but space, cost and heat loss is a concern. The boiler, UVC and buffer will all be in the attached garage, which is underneath two bedrooms, but not the biggest space (16'x7'). I'm expecting to put decent non-leaky doors on it and treat it as a room, but with the UVC and buffer it will get hot. MVHR will take care of some of the heat, but I would like to keep waste heat to a minimum in there. That was the main reason for the UVC/Buffer option as when the heating is not required the buffer can be cold, and the UVC can be heated to a lower temp than a TS. Radiators-wise, we have never really struggled for heat in any of the rooms, and often have them switched off. I'm expecting the floor to run at no more than 25 degrees maximum (that was plenty last winter when we still had draughts and the floor could only get that hot with the 3kW Willis heater. It's pipes-in-slab at 150mm spacing, so once it's warm, it takes a very long time to cool down.

Has anyone used one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BUFFER-TANK-HEAT-PUMP-CE-B60/112659997759 in their installation? I want to use a buffer in my house which has a mix of rads, UFH and DHW by UVC. Boiler is a heat-only type, hence the buffer. I have enough expansion volume separately, so not really bothered about the integrated expansion option in the product above, but I think it would be daft to overlook the option of having an immersion available incase either the boiler breaks, or in the future when I have PV, I can dump it there. £316 delivered seems a reasonable price? Thanks Chris

I wonder if anyone has come across a supplier for a flexible (think roller shutter) sideways opening cupboard door? I am thinking of constructing a cupboard in the new utility room, approx 600mm wide and 800mm deep. There isn't a great deal of space for opening doors, and then putting things into and out of the cupboard becomes harder with the open doors in the way. To get around this I thought of using a retractable sliding door that moves around the side of the cupboard and out of the way, but I can't find a supplier. Any ideas welcome! Cheers Chris

The best thing I found for hip/muscle/nerve pain both pre and post op was a TENS machine. Can be had fairly cheaply on amazon, along with sticky pads etc. Ultimately it allowed me to do the physio that I needed to get mobile again. Without it, I'd have had to have massive doses of opiates with all the side effects that go with them.

Put in loads of cables to wherever you can possibly think they may be required. You don't have to terminate them with faceplates now, so long as you know where they are so that they can be done in future. WRT 'stuff'-over-ethernet/cat5 adapters, be aware that some require power too, and also some require more than one cat 5 cable. As a general rule I never lay/pull a single Cat5 cable anywhere that is going to get covered up. If it gets damaged, replacement can be a nightmare, so its easier to pull 2 cables in the beginning.

I very nearly bought the same tap @lizzie - Exterior fixings, door handles etc are all stainless, so I wanted it to match. The thing that stopped me was the exact issue you're having - they stick out too far when wall mounted like that, and I didn't want to drill a hoofing great hole through my nice new timber frame, and into the living area for the plumbing. I've gone for chrome wallplates with pipe entering at the bottom, and for now, regular brass taps. I've found some smaller stainless taps that look quite nice, so will investigate further, but really needed something quickly as the only other alternative for 'builders water' involved disconnecting the dishwasher to attach a hosepipe.

I can't add much I'm afraid. UPVC windows came from Merseyside in the end, and ended up having to get MasterCard to chargeback as they were faulty but the supplier would not refund me. I bought a kitchen tap from China on eBay - nice enough tap, but wrong colour turned up. Lots of typical Chinese seller rubbish about refunds etc. Ended up with eBay refunding me. The moral of the story I guess is to ensure that you have some kind of buyer protection!