Crofter

Haha yes good spot, I got confused because my other timber-themed road trip was to a Black Isle sawmill for massive Douglas Fir beams. I did all these trips with a trailer made out of an old caravan which cost less to buy than a day's hire of a flatbed.

Just FYI, I used 100x20mm larch. Cost 75p/m inc VAT direct from Novaar sawmill on the Black Isle- although that was about a year ago. What cladding profile are you going for?

Absolutely. It seems not everybody does. In our current house we've inherited some very poor plumbing done without inserts, with drips everywhere. Bunch of cowboys...

I paid just over £300 for my flue bits, from www.snhuk.co.uk (no connection etc etc) This was enough to do almost all of the installation. I had to add a second silicone flashing designed to tie in with the VCB/airtightness membrane, which this supplier didn't stock. Oh and as a correction to what I stated earlier, I actually didn't end up getting anything from eBay. Quality wise it seems fine- it's all Spanish made Convesa stuff. I later added a roof brace which I made from some stainless angle iron, this worked out at a fraction of the cost of a purpose-made kit, and considerably stronger too (deeper section steel, no telescopic sections with grub screws to work loose).

Just picked up this thread, noticed Nick 'Hallowed be His name' the pie eater saying not to use compression fittings on plastic pipe. I've had my wc cistern plumbed in using this combination for a few months now, it's a temporary install at the moment but I had been planning on doing everything this way. I don't really trust push-fit for some reason, and the fittings are quite chunky. I'm also rather prone to changing my mind and like the idea of being able to reconfigure something easily. It's not too late to swap to push-fit. Although it is decidedly too late to do anything about the long Hep2o runs that are now thoroughly boarded away. Are compression fittings on plastic liable to fail at some point down the line?

Dektite rubber flashings are so cheap that it would be silly not to use one. I got my flue bits from eBay for the single wall, and a company called SNH for the twin wall. It was a bit of a logistical nightmare working out the cheapest suppliers as some had low prices on pipe, other on the various fittings, and it was a case of seeing what worked out cheapest overall- including postage costs.

Yay, that's what I wanted to hear. The shower won't have anything teed off since there's no need, but if I can have a single cold to the kitchen that will save a lot of hassle.

Just got round to looking this up and it answers one of my major concerns: the open pipe from tundish to outside. Could see a lot of heat loss through that. Unless you're allowed to put a u-bend in it? Still haven't got hold of the plumber I'm hoping to use (it's good that he's busy, right?) and need to get a move on with things. Should I just pair everything up for h/c for each run and bring them back to the tank? What about the cold runs (wc etc)- can these tee off the cold feeds to the taps, or do they need to be dedicated runs?

The one and only crack that has appeared in my walls so far is also in the only place where I ended up aligning a board edge with an opening (it was a compromise forced on me by the spacings involved).

It should be possible for behaviour to adjust. If you absolutely must travel at peak time, you will pay for that privilege. If it's possible to delay the journey by an hour, you'll see an incentive to do so. Schools already stagger their hours to help spread congestion; plenty of other workplaces could do the same. It's a similar idea to the smart grid concept where people pay less if they are willing to wait until the wind is blowing or sun is shining. An additional factor is that a shift away from individually owned vehicles might see more people willing to share a vehicle with others- especially once driverless technology arrives. Putting five people in a car rather than one could have an enormous impact on congestion.

I think the standard kits are sized for block or brick walls, not timber frame. I've got two doors in a wall framed in 2x4 (with 12.5mm PB that works out to about 120mm) and one in a wall made with 3x2 (so that comes to about 95mm). Standard sizes seem to be 108mm, 125mm, 131mm, and larger. However I have a table saw and I'm not afraid to use it! Like you, I'm going with white MDF skirts/arcs, but solid pine for the linings, which will also end up white. Yes it would all look lovely in oak or oak veneer but it trebles the cost, and you can't just fill defects/nail heads/joints and paint over them.

Ah the wonders of online user reviews! Perusing the Wickes and B&Q websites to get a feel for door lining kits (I'm aiming for the basic pine which I will prime and paint white) and the reviews paint a picture of twisted, warped, knotty, badly sized timber. Is this a DIY-shed problem, or am I just as likely to encounter this at the BM? I'm not convinced on the solidity of MDF for door linings- I guess I'd need plenty of packers (I have a 45mm gap to play with inc the width of the linings themselves)- how well do the hinge screws bite into the MDF? I only actually need three of these- maybe I should just do a bit of cherry-picking?

Interesting that there doesn't seem to be a consensus on this. I'll be using some 18mm MDF somewhere else so will tot up the numbers and hopefully the offcuts from that sheet will do the job. Will only stand slightly proud of the 14mm skirting but sounds good enough to me.

Until five minutes ago when I googled it, I didn't even know that the little rectangular blocks of wood sometimes placed at the intersection of architrave and skirting had a name- turns out these are 'plinth blocks' or, if decorated with some sort of detailing, 'rosettes'. I'm planning a fairly contemporary finish and going to use primed MDF which will be finished in a gloss white (to give a slight contrast to the matte white walls). I *think* I prefer the look of plinth blocks, but I know you can go ahead without them. I also wonder if using them makes fitting the arc/skirt a tiny bit easier?

Yep you want to avoid the cowboys:

A couple of years ago when I was just starting the build, I bought an old caravan for £90, ripped the top off and used it as a trailer to transport my big timber beams and JJI joists, as well as all the cladding from the sawmill. The aluminium got turned into a roof for a log store, and the flexi plumbing is currently in the shed awaiting reuse... condensate drain seems appropiate. I would say I've got money's worth out of that caravan anyway...

Is there any reason why it needs to be copper? Couldn't you use flexible PVC?

Sounds thoroughly unpleasant, well done for facing up to it- it's a situation I hate to be in myself and have fortunately only had one slight argument with a contractor over the course of the build. That was a good idea to get the Gyproc guys on side as well since their opinion should carry a lot of weight.

OK that's useful- thanks. I couldn't see anything about positioning of the EV but it could quite happily go up in the loft space if that's allowable. There should be space to simply run the discharge pipe down through the floor, with the tundish part way down- this puts it between the washing machine and the cylinder. I guess you end up with a bit of heat loss via the copper pipe which is open to the air. I've done a bit of Google image searching and it looks like everything should be doable- the EV was the main thing I was concerned about. Now to track down that plumber.... I'll hang around the local pie shop and take it from there

Looking at the space where my UVC is going to go. What are the rules/guidelines for siting the expansion vessel? I've got a 554mm wide tank and a 1300mm wide space, but I'm putting the washing machine in there too. So the expansion vessel can't just go at the side, like in the diagram. Likewise, the PRV gubbins that has to be within 500mm- because of the way the tank is laid out, if I put these fittings in clear space, the immersions will be against a wall and you'd be unable to change them out without totally disconnecting the tank and rotating it on the spot. So I'm hoping that I can simply put an elbow in place and run the control group off at a tangent to the tank's circumference, if that makes sense. I'm also not really sure how much space I need to leave for all the runs coming back to this point. Obviously I'm not actually plumbing this in myself but I'd like to be fore-armed with enough information to at least have an informed discussion with the plumber- and also I need to make sure I don't inadvertently put anything in the way of where the expansion vessel will end up. Experience of trades so far is that they'll do whatever is fastest and easiest for them on the day, and sod the next guy who comes along and has to work around it

How does a light-tube compare to a PV panel and LED bulb? OK it's not 'real' light but it would be interesting to work it out in terms of installation cost and heat loss. You need the LED bulb anyway, so that's no extra cost. What's the U-value of a light tube? (Sorry just realised this is probably of no relevance to the OP!)

Just to clarify, is your access at the top of bottom of the slope? I'm building on a fairly steep (1:7) slope with access at the top, and chose to raise the house on piers rather than dig it back into the hill. The access would have become almost impossibly steep if the house was any lower.

They offered me C25 or C35 (I got the latter). The nice thing about volumetric lorries is that you only pay for what goes in the hole- with a readymix lorry you pay for a fixed load, and unless you're bang-on with your measurements you'll need to over-order, then have somewhere to dump the excess.

Leiths are pricey because they are based down in Torrin. You'll probably find it's cheaper to use Eyre Plant Hire's volumetric mixing lorry- my concrete cost about £120/cube from them eighteen months or so ago. They're based near Portree so significantly lower transport costs. They are almost impossible to get hold of- no website etc- but I think I have the mobile number for the driver somewhere.

Large chunks of our rail network are run by the state- just not our own state.