Jeremy Harris

Unfortunately that won't work with the MBC system, as there is a 45mm deep void between the plasterboard and the vapour tight membrane and that service void is open to the ceiling void. To be safe, it's best to use a drill stop to make sure holes for hollow anchors aren't drilled too deep and hit the vapour tight board. I use bits of scrap plastic pipe pushed over the drill bit up to the chuck, so there's only about 30mm of drill bit exposed, and that works OK.

The easiest set up for toilets is to have a small rainwater tank in the loft (a tall cold water tank is ideal) and fit a float valve towards the top of the tank for the mains input and an inlet pipe to fill the tank from the rainwater supply pump. Also fit a standard pump float switch, like this: https://www.whisperpumps.com/replacement-float-switch-for-submersible-pumps and wire that to a submersible pump that sits in the rainwater tank. Set the mains water float to only operate when the level in the tank is low, by bending the arm down. Set the float switch to operate between the tank full level and just above the point where the mains water float valve opens. Feed the toilets from this tank using gravity. What will happen is this. You flush a toilet and it's cistern will fill from the loft tank. As the level in the loft tank drops, the pump float switch comes on and water from the rainwater tank gets pumped up. If the rainwater tank is empty, then the level in the loft tank will drop further until the mains water float valve opens and tops it up. You need a pump that has dry running protection, and you may want to use a second float switch to turn the pump off if the level in the tank drops to the back up mains fed level. A tall tank makes this system easier to set up, and avoid complex controls, yet remains compliant with the water regs.

I wouldn't worry about duct colours within your own boundary. As you say, one roll will probably do several different runs, so just go for whichever is available at the right price. I've used left over bits of Openreach Duct 56 for all sorts of things, as they left around 20 3m lengths of it on site as leftovers and didn't want it back.

You're OK, as there is a service void between the plasterboard internal finish and the vapour tight panel. Best to try and fix heavy stuff to the battens (which run vertically on 400mm centres) if possible, but if not then use hollow wall anchors like these, like these: They are great, as the threaded part remains firmly in the wall when you remove the screw and cannot drop into the void like the spring loaded ones. I've used loads of them on our MBC frame and found them to be foolproof. Just make sure you only get the short ones for fixing to any outside wall, as the service void is only 45mm deep, and when putting them in you need to get the whole length into the wall before expanding the back out. I used 37mm ones with M5 screws and they will take a heck of a load. I bought the gun to pull these in, as it's cheap and a lot better than the method of using the screw shown in that video. You can get all these and the gun from Screwfix: https://www.screwfix.com/c/screws-nails-fixings/hollow-wall-anchors/cat7280101?brand=rawlplug and: https://www.screwfix.com/p/rawlplug-heavy-duty-setting-tool/8499g

Very true, and some will see your attempts at trying to be as helpful as you can be under the circumstances as a sign of weakness and use it as an opportunity to cause you even more hassle. I speak from experience..................

Glyphosate has the big advantage that it is only toxic when inside the target plant, and any that accidentally gets on the ground will break down naturally into harmless products within a few days, due to the action of natural soil bacteria. Once it's done it's job, the soil won't be contaminated with anything from it, and so can be dug over and other stuff planted after a week or two. The bad name that glyphosate is getting from some environmental groups is due to farmers using it to "dry" crops. Essentially they spray cereals, rape etc with it as soon as the seeds/grain heads have fully formed, which kills the plants and makes the seed/grain dryer. They can then harvest it with less chance that they will need to put the grain through a grain dryer to get the moisture level down to a level where there is no risk of mould growth. The major issue with this practice is that the seed/grain may well end up containing glyphosate, that then goes pretty much directly into the food chain. My personal view (as a farmers son) is that the practice of spraying crops pre-harvest with glyphosate should be banned, as it's a misuse of the product. Used as originally intended, and paying heed to the need to make sure that over-spray does not go near a watercourse, glyphosate is probably the safest and least environmentally harmful herbicide we have.

There's a glossary and abbreviations thread that may help: but to answer directly: UVC - UnVented Cylinder - a hot water cylinder that runs at mains pressure, or regulated mains pressure. Copper TS - Copper Thermal Store, a form of hot water storage that has the hot water isolated from the hot water pipe work and includes a heat exchanger to transfer heat from the stored hot water to the mains pressure hot water supplied to the taps. ftw - not at all sure, I need to look it up! Sunamp - a company that make a range of phase change material heat batteries, in various forms. They are much smaller than a water filled thermal store and have much lower heat losses. Buffer tank - A water tank, like a small hot water cylinder, that provides a buffer into which a heat source can run, and from which heat can be drawn for something like underfloor heating. Having one on a low water volume system may be essential if the heat source cannot modulate down to a low enough level for the lowest heat demand, without going into a short cycling prevention mode.

I think the best loft installation I saw (can't find the link now, it's not on this forum) was the chap that made a big box out of PIR foam with a large PIR access panel that just plugged into the front of it. The MVHR was in that, together with the plenum boxes, and all the ducting ran down and under his loft insulation. Seemed a pretty good way to keep things neat and tidy as well as insulate the unit. IIRC he used the tile grill external terminals, and ran the intake and exhaust ducts vertically up to the roof from the big PIR box.

We put out a short newsletter most weeks to all the neighbours that were affected by our build. Some agreed to accept this by email, others we just gave a paper copy to. We tried to forewarn them about major disruptions, like when we had a succession of muck away trucks coming for a few days, and when the borehole drillers were coming, and I think it worked reasonably well as a system. We certainly got to know the neighbours pretty quickly, and that was generally a good thing.

That would work. Just adjust the fan speed right down initially, then gradually turn them up as you add other rooms. Much of the cost in MVHR is in the ducting and terminals, so it might not cost that much more to do this now, plus you'd have the advantage of being able to add MVHR to each room as you go just by adding a bit of duct and a some. The only downside I can see is that you ideally need to run MVHR ducts in pairs, to keep the system balanced, so initially you would fit an extract duct in the new bathroom and fit a fresh air intake duct in one of the living areas.

Sydenhams are brilliant, they became my go-to BM. I used the Salisbury branch a lot, and the guy I got to know there always tried to price match, even when I'd got prices from on line suppliers. The only time they couldn't price match was with stuff from Paving Direct, as they said they couldn't buy in stuff like Bradstone pavers for the price that Paving Direct were selling them for. The other good thing about Sydenhams is that they seem to have the best delivery drivers around. We had no problems at all with deliveries from them, whereas pretty much everyone else delivering to us cocked up in one way or another.

Or an informal term for a "top" that wields the strap to the "bottom"............. (I'd best get my hat and coat..........)

As your council doesn't have a CiL scheme in place yet, then you're home and free.

You have to apply for the exemption usually, it's not something that's automatically granted. All new self-builds are CiL exempt, but only after filling in an application and having it accepted for exemption. No work at all must be done on site until you have it in writing that the exemption has been granted, as they usually won't retrospectively grant it.

We had no choice but to pay the fee, over £100 as I recall. We got into a hole because during the planning consultation one of the neighbours raised an issue about the house name (which wasn't on the planning application and which we hadn't even started thinking about..........) stating that there were problems locally with so many houses in the immediate area having "mill" or "orchard" in the name that it confused delivery services and so could the planners ensure that the new house did not have a confusing house name. As a consequence of this we got a letter from the street naming team at the council, saying that we could not name the house without going through them for approval. As this was on the planning file as a consultee response (rather bizarrely) we decided to pay up rather than push the point, although it did grieve me to pay out such a big fee just to name the house. We had to have a name, as there are no numbers used in the village at all.

OSG - On Site Guide, basically a cut down and easy to use version of the regs, put into a more practical form for use on site. BS7671 is big and far from being user-friendly, whereas the OSG is very user-friendly.

There are two aspects here. Planning and Building Regs, and they are both different with regard to the "start". For building regs, you are supposed to have your plans approved before you do anything, as it can take several weeks before they are approved, and one of the first inspections (which can't normally happen until after you have the plans approved) will be of the foundations and probably the drainage system (which may well go in at the same time as the foundations - in our case the drains went in weeks before the foundation). For planning, you have to have all the pre-commencement conditions signed off before you start any work on site. To lock planning permission in (so the clock stops) there are different amounts of work needed, some councils accept the foundations going in, some will accept site clearance and the creation of an access as being the start. If you haven't submitted a building regs application, with full plans, and paid the fee, yet, then you can either get it done ASAP, or you can switch from using the Full Plans route to the Building Notice route. The latter still means paying the fee up front, but means that you will gain approval in stages based on inspections. It's potentially a bit risky, as the inspector can turn up, say they they don't like what's been done and make you rectify it, but it is quicker initially. With the Full Plans route at least you have the assurance that a lot of the aspects of the build have already been approved, and all the inspector is doing is ensuring that you are building in accordance with the plans, really.

I'd just get an application in, using the info you have now, and deal with anything else that comes in as the planning process proceeds.

Me too. That's as clear an indication as I've seen that they would like to see this brownfield site put to some useful purpose.

Looks like the light switch back box at the bottom of the last photo, so hopefully Ian will have left the wires connected to the switch, so they can be copied when re-wiring it.

I was peripherally involved in creating the Neighbourhood Plan for the village where our old house is, and this included identifying sites that could be developed to meet local housing needs, and all of these sites were outside the development boundary. The Neighbourhood Plan was written by the village, with everyone having a chance to contribute, both by questionnaire and by meetings in the village hall, and was then agreed by the local authority and became an intrinsic part of the local development plan. As such it pretty much guarantees that new proposals for development of the identified sites would not face the usual problem of having to argue the specific point as to why development should take place outside the defined development boundary. The odd thing was that the Neighbourhood Plan has a fair bit of clout when it comes to planning, but doesn't actually change the existing development boundary line, it just gives a reason to develop outside it in certain areas.

It's a two way switched lighting circuit by the look of it. Just fit a new bit of 3+E and run it to the switch, wiring it as it was before. You'll need 3+E for the new build, even if you don't have two way switched lights, as linked heat/smoke alarms usually need it.

Have a look here for some guidance: http://www.susdrain.org/delivering-suds/ The always useful Paving Expert site also has some useful info: http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain12.htm

We were caught between a hard place and several big rocks with rainwater disposal. We didn't have a sewerage connection, and even if we had they don't allow combined drainage here anyway, so we wouldn't have been allowed to run the rainwater run off to that. We had a condition imposed by the Environment Agency that no run off from rainwater on our plot was allowed to either leave the site on the surface or flow into the adjacent stream. The ground we were building on was impermeable gault clay, much like the stuff you would use to line a pond or canal in order to keep it watertight. We were obliged (just like every other new build in the UK, including Scotland and NI) to comply with the Sustainable Urban Drainage System requirements (see the wiki entry here for an overview with more links at the bottom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_drainage_system ). After a great deal of debate, we dug a deep hole and found a thin band of permeable soil at around the same level as the lane, and perhaps 500mm or so above the stream. We then had agreement that if we fitted a "suitable" surge storage system, draining to this thin layer, we might meet the soakaway requirements. So, we dug two large holes under where the drive was going to be, filled them with a total of 20 Aquacell crates, wrapped in terram, and ran all the rain water pipes to this 3,920 litre volume surge tank. The drive also drains to this, as in order to comply with SuDS we used permeable pavers on a permeable sub-base, that allowed rain water run off to flow down through the drive to the big surge tank. What happens is that in heavy rain the tank fills, then slowly drains away into the thin band of permeable soil. I'm absolutely sure that it just runs under the lane and into the stream, but as that can't be seen the EA aren't concerned...............

I used 28mm insulation, as 22mm was too tight. I can measure one of the spares I have and let you know the size tomorrow. Edited to add: @PeterW, I've just found what look to be similar spec, but shorter length, flexis on the Pipestock website. They give the OD of their 19mm bore, 3/4" BSP fittings, pipes as being 27mm. My guess is that the BES ones would be the same, as the spec seems to be the same, apart from Pipestock not doing flexis that are that long.