Neil

Mine is approx 5 metres from the house and has been in for just over a year and is located in / under the lawn. I have never heard it running and there is absolutely no smell coming from it. The drain run is ventilated with a soil / vent pipe at the house. The holding tank is approx 1000 litres so it only pumps once about every 2 or 3 days. The 'contents' travel about 80 metres to a sewer connection. No specific sign off was required. (in England).

No, I don't think that they will sell direct. Went through a company called City Plumbing, who I think are a subsidiary of Travis Perkins.

Sorry I can't tell you much about the internals as it is completely encased. I bought the cylinder 3 years ago and paid £757 plus VAT for the 250 litre size. If I remember correctly there was very little difference in price between the OSO and the other more popular makes which were all B and C rated. Almost forgot, I also got a £100 cashback from OSO as they were running some type of sales promotion at that time. Running it with a solar PV I-Boost at the moment.

Have you looked at OSO Delta Coil. This claims to be the only A - rated HW cylinder available in the UK. I went for the 250 litre version. Although I have no detailed measurements, it appears to lose approx 1 degree overnight. https://osohotwater.co.uk/product/delta-coil/

I used this company a couple of years ago for both pre-build and post build assessments. Very good to deal with, (all by e-mail). Completed reports were produced in 3 to 4 days.Current cost appears to be £90. https://sapeasy.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw0pfzBRCOARIsANi0g0sBB4Edui1eo6FafgHc083V9gwsavZtKEjOiMVdNqSUb_iUPB8WcpoaAhflEALw_wcB

I went with a 32mm stop tap in MDPE then reduced down to 28mm and into a pressure gauge / regulator. Then reduced down to 22mm before heading off to kitchen, hot water cylinder, bathroom etc.

I am approx 100 metres from the main supply and was advised to use 32mm. The flow and pressure are both very good. You would need a 32mm stop tap in the property, but everything else would be stepped down to 22 or 15mm to supply the various outlets.

Something else to watch!! I had some 110mm drainage pipes in the stone layer within the house footprint. Both ends of the pipes had vertical upstands to rise above the finished floor levels. Following very heavy rain these pipes 'floated out'. Although I had them weighted down it took me a few hours to re-instate and get the correct falls again.

.....I have pinged the laser around and marked my mounting heights at 400mm...... I thought that the minimum height for sockets was 450mm from finished floor level,

@zoe61 - the strings are 38mm thick and 250mm deep and the treads are 50mm thick. It looks quite 'chunky' and solid which is the look that we wanted. There is no movement at all in the stairs or glass, however be aware that the glass is extremely heavy. There are lots more photos if you look on the Ashington Timber and Joinery Facebook page.

A local joiner has just made and fitted a staircase for me. The glass balustrade is 'bolted' to the stringer. The glass is 15mm toughened, there is absolutely no movement or flex in the glass. A small handrail was fitted to the top of the glass which adds some overall rigidity, however the handrail is really intended to keep the glass from getting marked with loads of greasy / sticky finger marks.There are a lot of photos on the joiner's Facebook page, I have attached a link to the photos which give a lot more detail.

I have used XL Joinery veneered Oak doors. To be on the safe side I contacted the Technical Dept at XL in view of their 'do not use oil' warning.They advised that it was quite acceptable to use the Osmo Door Oil on their doors.

@nod Thank you. Marshalls have an E-Bay outlet that appears to sell their end of line stuff, will have to start checking out some prices.

Just weighing up the merits of block paving compared to Indian sandstone. I need somewhat over 200 square metres and am leaning towards block paving as I am assuming that it will be easier to lay. I suspect that laying on a bed of sand will be easier / quicker than bedding slabs on cement and having to point all the joints. Just out of interest @nod which pavers have you chosen and why did you source them from Ireland?

I wouldn't be too sure about that. I had one complaint from a neighbour during my build. It was about 9.30am on a Sunday morning and he complained that I had woken him up. A few days later I received a letter from the Environmental Health Dept at local council stating that they had received a complaint about my 'activities'. The letter went on to warn me that I was only allowed to work on the site from 8.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday; 8.00am to 1.00pm on a Saturday and no work at all on Sundays and Bank Holidays. The letter listed a number of 'penalties' if I failed to comply. Although it annoyed me at the time, I did try to save all my 'quiet' jobs for weekends.

I ordered the grade 13 stainless hinges mentioned above, door handle sets and flush bolts from Ironmongery Direct. All appear to be good quality. I had previously signed up with Ironmongery Direct for their Newsletter and a few days later they sent me a voucher for a discount of 30% off my first order which saved me a couple of hundred pounds. Also worth checking with joiner, if he is routing out the hinge rebates, that he has the right size jig as some hinges are 4" and others are 102mm. This can lead to a poor fitting if the wrong jig is used.

i have just fitted 22 of these doors both solid and glazed and they look really great. i am very happy with the quality of the doors, which I sourced through a local timber merchant, (who matched online prices). I have used 2 coats of Osmo Door Oil which is easy to apply. XL Joinery confirmed that the Osmo Door Oil was suitable for these doors..Would have no hesitation in recommending both the doors and the Osmo Door oil.

Apologies, I forgot to add the link! Cost is £37.52 and it even includes a corner chisel! ☺️. https://www.toolstation.com/hinge-jig/p77813

I recently used this hinge jig from Toolstation to cut hinge rebates on 23 doors and linings (3 hinges per door). It worked very well and is much cheaper than the Trend referred to above. You just need to be careful to get the right size hinge as some are 4 inches and others are 102mm. The (small) difference is visible when the hinge is fitted if you get the wrong size.

A friend and I moved all our beams using 2 of what I would call 'sack barrows'. Start positioning the beams on the foundations nearest the point to where the beams have been delivered. You need some blocks to space the beams and infill as you go.This gives you a level and smooth floor for moving the beams and just work your way across the whole floor. Pretty straightforward and no heavy lifting gear needed.

I wonder if anyone who is using the UFH system for slab cooling can advise on any changes that are needed to the usual control system. I will be having a gas boiler, individual room stats and the usual UFH wiring centre. My (basic) understanding is that UFH pumps, room stats and boiler are all controlled via the wiring centre. If this is the case how can the circulating pumps be controlled / switched on without the boiler firing up.I would be grateful if anyone can point me to a wiring diagram showing this as I still have time to add any additional wiring that may be needed.

That's great progress in a week. I was past on Wednesday and saw the 'Readymix' wagon on site. It is always a good feeling to actually make a start after all the months of planning and preparation. Hope all goes well for the future stages.

I have the De Walt DC692 and am very pleased with it, although it is slightly heavier than the Paslode type gas nailers. You need to think about what the gun will be used for. The one that you have linked to is a 'second-fix' nailer and only takes nails up to 63mm, so ideal for architrave, skirting etc. If you intend to do any serious framing, using 100mmx50mm for example, then you need the larger gun which will take upto 90mm nails. I would also look at the batteries supplied, my DC692 came with 2 Li-ion batteries, this appears to have NIMh batteries which are not as reliable, (and probably harder to replace in the future).

I used this company for my last order. http://www.tradecounteronline.co.uk/firmahold-firmagalv-plus-framing-nails/ They seem to work fine with my dewalt. Prices are often better than those quoted by 'private' sellers on E-bay and (I think) that, if for a new build, you can reclaim your VAT on these. You only need to buy a couple of boxes (£50) to qualify for free delivery.

I used Build-Lite of Rotherham for the design and supply of the insulation for my slab. I found them to be quite good to deal with and quick to answer any queries. The on-site training was 'mentioned' in my early discussions with them but it never materialised. Mine is quite a 'hands-on' build and I placed all the insulation, steelwork and UFH pipes myself. The concrete was then laid by a team from LaFarge (not clear whether they actually worked for LaFarge or were sub-coontracted by them). They used a very fluid / self-levelling mix which didn't require any screeding or polishing. The finished product was very level and no packing was required under any part of the TF soleplate. The EPS foundation profile provided a 100mm cavity between TF and outer brickwork in which I was able to place a further 50mm of PUR (in addition to the 120mm PUR in the TF, which.if I remember correctly, gives me a U-value of approx 0.12. I had quotes from TF and SIPS companies (including MBC via Viking House) and, as others have said, MBC were significantly more expensive after 'equalising' the various quotes.