Rob99

What thickness of RWA45 did you use @Gav_P ?

So, after further discussion with the plumber, and discovering the existing HW cylinder is weeping on the bottom!, we are now having a heatstore cylinder fitted too which should alleviate any issues with the UFH/Rads/DHW mix. Cheers

Just getting back to this as not been online for a couple of weeks.......... Stud wall is 90mm so can put a couple of layers of soundbloc on and insulation in cavity so all should be good. To be honest the w/m and t/d wont be used at night anyway. Intermediate floor construction is 185x50 joists with 22mm chipboard flooring above, so thinking that RWA45 would be a good option. Now wondering about what thickness. Is there much real acoustic difference between 75 and 100 thickness as with cables, ceiling spots etc the 100mm might be too thick anyway? Cheers

It's an internal garage conversion so floor is curently concrete slab. New floor on top will be 100mm slab insulation, 70mm reinforced screed, 20mm overlay UFH system and 15mm engineered wood finish. The stud wall isn't up yet so can be flexible on size.

No, am not intending to have a buffer tank, DHW is via the existing cylinder. Essentially its just a conventional system where we're replacing the downstairs rads with UFH. The boiler has to be changed as it needs to be relocated during the alteration works.

My builders plumber is recommending a WB Greenstar 30i as a new boiler to replace my (very old but very reliable) Potterton Prima 50F. In terms of output the WB is about twice that of the Potterton (30kw compared to 15) so presumably should easily cope with the existing upstairs rads (4 beds, 2 baths & landing) and the new UFH we're installing downstairs (around 110m2, approx 7kw total output). I notice its a system boiler with built in pump so presumably my existing circulation pump will be redundant. Any advice on this boiler or things to look out for? Thanks

As part of our internal alterations we will be replacing all of the ceilings downstairs. We've never had a particular noise problem (except from the loo in the ensuite above the living room!!) and wondered whether it is worth putting in any sound insulation and, if so, what type and thickness works well. Similarly we will have a ground floor room which may occasionally be used as a guest bedroom and which is next to the utility room. What would you recommend as a stud wall construction and insulation to provide some element of sound-proofing when the washing machine and tumble dryer are in use. Thanks

Yes, I liked the look of them too and the fact I could have one with a RAL7016 anthracite finish to match our new aluminium front door. Our deliveries now seem to be dumped on our doorstep and it's pot luck whether the driver rings the doorbell or just runs away........!!!

Thanks @Bitpipe considering the face plate is so big (160x350mm) it's a very small opening especially when the chute itself is 110x300mm but the opening only 35x220mm.

That's got me thinking a bit more @jack as to whether some sort of foam sandwich might work.........one to ponder

Thanks @Bitpipe it was still a useful pointer. I quite like their D-041 cavity wall box though. Would you be able to measure what the actual opening size is for the letter flap as it's not on their website. I wanted to see what size parcel might fit through it.

I think I'm just going to run with it and see if the BCO comments on it. Hopefully he won't be bothered as he will primarily be looking at the new build stuff. Worst case scenario he has a hissy about them and I have to put the new ones in. Cheers Rob

Thanks @Onoff that's a serious gate you have there....!!!! Glassfibre is an interesting idea @PeterStarck but not sure how easy it would be as I guess some sort of mould would be needed. All the ones I've seen seem to be sheet metal of some description. Thanks @Bitpipe like the look of their letterboxes, especially as I can have them in powder coated aluminium (Anthracite) to match our front door. Good price too compared to some others I have seen.

?

Thanks @lizzie we looked at the Glencall ones which look pretty good but are a bit pricey. I also wondered how we'd get on with such a big cold spot through the wall and i couldn't see any options for insulation.

Is that true @Onoff or is someone pulling my leg?

My assumption would be that too but does creating a new window opening, even in an existing wall, not need to comply with building regs? Unfortunately I can't do the openings in the existing house after the extension as they're all included in the builders contract.

Apologies if this isn't the right place to post this. Didn't seem any obvious other places.... My wife is adamant we're not having a letterbox in either the front door nor the glazed sidescreen. I don't want an external mailbox stuck on the wall so we're going to have a through the wall letterbox fitted through the cavity wall adjacent to the front door screen. Have looked around but there only seem to be a few places that do them. I would have thought there'd be much more out there. Any suggestions? Cheers Rob

Thanks Jack I do like the Loxone stuff (so much so that i'm looking at it as a business alongside my other stuff) but i agree the music stuff is a bit on the expensive side. I think the amp is a re-badged Dayton MA1240 which is available for much less than Loxone sell it for. Unfortunately I'm no expert on the audio side so feel a bit out of my depth. I'm going to wire for speakers everywhere as all the ceilings will be accessible during the works but beyond that I'm not sure. Cheers Rob

I'm not completely against trickle vents per se but I do not want to have them fitted in my expensive aluminum bi-folds and windows in the new rear extension. The other part of my query is about defining rooms.......how is this done as far as BC are concerned? I will have 3 "spaces" all linked by larger openings of between 1.8 and 2.4m so is this one room with 3 "zones" or 3 rooms? If one room then the trickle vent issue is sorted, if 3 then it will likely involve an argument with BCO......!!

They're exactly the size we need as we made sure the architect matched the new openings on the drawings with the ones we knew we would have spare after the extensions were finished. Not sure how much regs have changed but they were installed by a FENSA company 10 years ago. I'm not sure whether BC will check them or not. The new openings are on the building reg approved drawings so maybe they will. Does anyone know if regs for windows/doors have changed much in the past 10 years? Cheers Rob

Am I allowed to re-use my existing uPVC door/windows in new openings? The openings are not in my new extension but will be in the old walls of the existing house. My budget is very tight and the £2k I'll save could be used better somewhere else. I also hate the thought of wasting perfectly good doors/windows which are only 10 years old. Cheers Rob

I understand that we need 5000mm2 in each habitable room but how do you (or more importantly I guess, building control) define a room. Usually if its a box with a door and window thats fairly obviously a single room but we will have a dining/kitchen area with a 2m opening between them and no doors. Does that mean it's a single room or two rooms? My main reason for the query is that the dining room area will only have a wall of bifold doors and a couple of windows, all in aluminium and i don't want to have to fit trickle vents in them as it means another 50mm profile section at the top to fit the vents in. Cheers Rob

Thanks for the welcome. We're extending at the rear to have a larger kitchen and adding a new dining room alongside. At the front we're converting the garage and extending out to create an office/study and larger entrance hall. All single storey. If I misinterpreted your question @alphonsox then we are located in West Sussex.......!!

My wife and I have been wanting to self build for years but circumstances have frustrated us so far. It's still on our to-do list but for the moment we're extending our existing house. The builders arrived 6 weeks ago and will be here until November. They're doing most of the work, especially the structural stuff but I'm putting in underfloor heating on the ground floor and a Loxone system to control lighting, heating, security, music etc. Please bear with me as I ask numerous questions, some of which no doubt will be very specific to whatever is taxing my brain at the time.........sorry!! Cheers Rob