Bitpipe

You'll know pretty quick if the trap is drying out as you'll get a whiff of drains from that waste.

My waster came up at 90 to floor so maybe engineer something similar. If you're confident that your U bend will stay right way up then don't bother.

We want extensive access to their large market on favourable terms and they are naming the price. We left in Jan, free to do what we wanted since then. Oh - the WTO also imposes a court to arbitrate trade disputes. https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_e.htm And every EU member is, and remains, a fully independent sovereign nation. We admitted this in the Brexit white paper. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-united-kingdoms-exit-from-and-new-partnership-with-the-european-union-white-paper/the-united-kingdoms-exit-from-and-new-partnership-with-the-european-union--2 “Parliament has remained sovereign throughout our membership to the EU”

We're a net importer in this relationship and any pain on their side is spread across 27 nations (some will hurt more than others - Ireland, Holland etc) so the political fallout is not that hard to manage. I think they see this as a clear point of principal - if they allow the EU trade & single market protections to be weakened then the other members will wonder why they bother to follow them. Note that the negotiation mandate is regularly signed off by all 27 unilaterally. Also, we've left. The majority of the EU (Ireland, France and Holland aside) are pretty much over it and see this as just another trade negotiation. In fact, the reason given for the Weds night deadline is that the Thursday/Friday EU summit is already focusing on passing the budget and dealing with other issues.

They said from the outset that until the UK decided what kind of future relationship they wanted, they could not start negotiating - so it took until Teresa may landed on her Canada + (no CU or SM membership) to start that ball rolling. They have since more or less stuck to their negotiating mandate as signed off by the 27 member states from the outset. So how have they treated us with contempt? We have been free to walk away from these negotiations since January 2020 when we officially left, and despite all the sabre rattling, we have decided that its not in our interest to do so. They are definitely playing hardball with us but that's trade negotiations for you, especially when one party is 6 times the size of the other. Will be just as tough with USA or any other large block. Equally, when we were members of the EU, we were very, very happy with them playing the same hardball on our behalf with Canada, Japan and the other 40+ nations they have concluded trade deals with. Keep in mind that the current govt were prepared (but seemed to be backing down today) in passing a bill that would break international law relating to the treaty we willingly entered into in Jan in 'a limited and specific way'. Before that we seemed willing to breach our obligations on the Good Friday Agreement (another international treaty). That could carry the same accusation.

i tend to agree but expect the real deal to happen early next year when no-ones looking. Sunday Times had a good article on the Boris politics of this - No deal empowers Labour and screws business (even if temporary) but keeps his ERG team on board. A deal does the opposite and also has the blowback if things are still crap as deal is so 'thin'

It was enticing to believe that we could have all of the existing benefits with none of the cost or obligations - if it were true, why wouldn't you support it? Sadly it was not true. I'm not saying there was no reason to vote for Brexit but the 'we hold all the cards' and 'easiest deal in human history' was hyperbole.

Fish are an emotive but economically irrelevant (0.02% of UK GDP) concern. I'm not saying the current situation is necessarily equitable but it's been somewhat hijacked as an easy to understand issue and largely ignores many other reasons the UK fishing industry is in the state it is in. Also the majority of UK caught fish is sold to EU markets as it's not what we like to eat (herring vs cod.) Level playing field really applies to everything else we farm and make and want to export. Again, taking the US example, you can create cheap meat if you have low animal welfare standards (even if you address the health impacts by dipping in chlorine or using lots of antibiotics), or looking to other regions, cheap manufactured goods if you allow modern slavery, child labour and low environmental and welfare standards. If you're selling into a market that has much higher equivalent standards then they will not give you this advantage otherwise it's unfair own manufacturers who need to comply with stricter rules and incur higher cost as a result.

As recently experienced in the US, tariffs are paid by the importer so will ultimately pass down to the consumer or impact importer profitability (and that in the value chain). The logic is that the importer will source alternative tariff free options (hopefully domestic) to have a cheaper product, however the cheapest option may still be the tariffed one or it may not be available or to the required quality. The Govt does benefit ultimately but it causes considerable friction in the value chain and can lead to sellers deciding to avoid a certain market or importers deciding not to offer certain goods - this will reduce profit and corp tax take and potentially VAT if the market shrinks. Also Govt subsidising specific uncompetitive industry invokes state aid rules which also incur tariffs at the other end. The tariff exists to give domestic producers (or those inside the free trade agreement block) an advantage and compensate ostensibly cheaper products that are not made to same standard (inc. environmental or labour standards) or are 'dumped' into other markets and artificially depress prices (Chinese steel was a recent example). There is a very good reason countries put huge effort into creating free trade agreements - but even these mostly focus on harmonising type approval etc and removing other barriers to trade as tariffs are seen as quite blunt tools. All friction (whether tariff or regulatory) makes the modern supply chain, where for example a car engine may move between multiple international sites to be completed, uneconomic. You also get into rules of origin determination etc. All pretty complicated and not easily reduced to a tabloid soundbite.

If it's equal effort, I'd still consider having the U trap fixed vertically to the floor waste and have the flexi component to the bath to allow for final adjustments. Make sure you create a sealed up-stand (can be as primitive as a big bead of sealant) around your floor hole as splashes on the floor etc may weep under bath.

Well done for getting ahead of this. Our first fix plumbing just left a vertical section of 75mm waste. Tiler neatly cut backer board, laytex, waterproof and tile around the pip, plus laid electric UFH mat where required. Month later we unpacked the bath (funky oval free standing type) and realised supplied flexi waste and space under bath was not sufficient. Cue plumber cutting out tiles, latex, waterproofing and backing board and OSB to create a 150mmx150mm workspace and me clenching and hoping the UFH wire was far away (it was as this was under bath but had fault detector clipped to it at all times. They fitted a fixed U trap and flexi from that to the bath - small risk with your approach is that the U does not sit upright or gets knocked sideways and stops working. They then did a generous (10mm) barrier of sealant around the perimeter of the cut before reinstating bath. This for 2 baths.

I haven't worked out per m2 but last time I looked we were spending £1/day for gas and £1.50 for electricity (once FIT taken into consideration) for a just under 400m2 house. My supplier (Tonik) has just gone pop and been taken over by Scottish Power so once that's complete I'll be digging into the details again.

I agree but even a deal at this stage will be very thin wrt trade and there will still be considerable short term disruption and friction at border points which I suspect will surprise the majority of the UK public. I also think it will take 5 or so years for Brexit to properly settle once the rhetoric has blown over and the respective parties realise what they really need from each other and what they can do without. Financial services also seem likely to continue to rebalance towards Europe so the City will slowly diminish over time unless it can find an alternative activity source. I would also be very surprised if any other nation decides to leave the EU as even with Poland and Hungary pushing back against more liberal expectations, the reality is that with a now protectionist US (Biden says he will continue Trump's America First strategy albeit more sensibly) and China, belonging to a bigger club makes a lot of sense. EU sentiment is also at an all time high in Europe post Covid.

Macron is up for election next year and the costal regions are fertile territory for the very right wing parties so he needs their support at best and at worst not their outright hostility. So a no deal position works well for him at present. I suppose the thinking is that permanently locking in a bad deal is less preferable than a few months of disruption (for which he can compensate them) and then doing a quieter deal next year once both sides have felt the actual pain of what it means but also are not up against artificial deadlines and constant scrutiny to reach agreement. I think the same logic applies to the UK Govt, they will look 'strong' in accepting no deal and will hope the immediate economic impact gets lost in the noise of Covid. I would guess the UK based automotive and aviation sectors will not do anything too hasty straight away in anticipation of resolution next year but if it drags on then they will start to up sticks. Even with the proposed thin deal, there will be considerable freight disruption due to the exit from the single market and customs union and the imposition of new and untested customs systems and checks.

No idea, ask a solicitor.

You're welcome, we've all learned from others and through experience so happy to share I would suggest that before you even consider build fabric, get the design right. You then need to consider the whole house as a system. The aim is to make it comfortable to live in year round with minimal energy required to keep comfortably warm / cool. If you design keys parts too independently of each other then you will struggle to make it work. So, understand how the currently designed house sits on the plot, how that works with the movement of the sun during the day and during the seasons. If you already love the design then invest in a PHPP model to understand how it will perform (like a SAP model on steroids) - Ecology would have looked for something similar I expect for the application. If solar overheating looks to be an issue, you can still achieve dramatic views and glazing aesthetic without acres of glass - in fact sometimes less can be more in that respect and also helps with the budget as the structure is simplified and less spent on glazing. Alternately, external shading (we have motorised exterior Venetian style blinds) can dramatically cut gain on exposed aspects and also give you privacy and save the cost of curtains :). Any roof light (velds style) should have an external blind, internal can work too. Thicker walls let you set the glazing back 100mm or so which also helps. Given it already has full PP, you should be able to tweak aspects and put them through again as the hardest part is often getting the PP initially. Sometimes they won't need another planning app and can be submitted as non material ammendments. Once you understand the u values and airtightness needed from your model, you need from the model, then you can shop around TF companies and other methods of building plus glazing & door systems. You'll also understand your space heating requirement and can design around that - if you only have electric on site then ASHP is a likely candidate. For a house with a high degree of airtightness, MVHR is a given but don't expect it to substantially contribute to heating & cooling - it can act as a trim in a very efficient house. Split aircon is becoming more popular, especially in southern England where summers are getting hotter. Plan for in roof PV, even without the FiT it will contribute significantly to your energy requirements year round. You will need to do some kind of ground investigation, per comments above, to design any foundation system - especially a passive style raft. As these are insulated off the ground on load bearing EPS you can put the UFH pipes straight into the concrete and save on insulation & screeds etc. Low energy houses rarely need any heating upstairs - our 400m2 4 storey house only has UFH heating on the ground floor - nothing in basement or bedrooms or room in roof. Electric UFH and wet towel rads in bathrooms.

When we re-mortgaged our new build (15 or so rooms over 4 floors (inc. basement) ) to come off the self build mortgage to a high st lender, the surveyor was here for all of 10 mins - he just trotted round with his clipboard. Now, given we're a new build no doubt he was assuming that we were up to scratch on BC. He did ask if we had a warranty, I said yes, he didn't ask for further details. However that was one guy, another may have been very different. ---- How you deal with your re-mortgage depends on your attitude to stress and risk. If you stress easily and are risk adverse then get some peace of mind from an independent expert - but probably not BCO just yet as you may want to see where you're at before getting on their radar. If you do not stress easily and can tolerate some risk then just crack on with the re-mortgage and only take action if it comes up. However, if you're going to let this property out and people will be sleeping in that room then this is a very different situation as the consequences are much more severe (per posts above). In that case, get it checked out.

Also, don't cut too close to the white fitting as you need enough space to get the collar of your own coupler far enough away from the body of the coupler to make the join and then screw it back on (and be able to take it off again in the future).

£12 will get you a razor sharp pipe cutting tool from Screwfix - will give you a clean straight cut on that blue MPDE. https://www.screwfix.com/p/0-26mm-manual-plastic-pipe-shears/59590 Don't forget your pipe stiffener inserts when you use the coupler.

I found the hard part was getting a clean fit to the iron pipe that had been in ground for along time and the surface was very corroded. Did my best to try and get the iron pipe's exterior smooth but was an impossible job given the access.

Agree - we had a 1" iron pipe from the meter to the original '50s house and separately to the more recent (70s) garage extension, then feeding garden taps up to 30m away. When we demolished the garage we ran a feed to the caravan from an exposed bit of MPDE that was in that mix somewhere but it caused an exposed bit of iron pipe to go live again - we managed to get a steel fitting that connected to that and 32mm copper at the other end and put and end cap on it as a temp measure. When we fully demolished we ran new MPDE all the way from the meter as the iron was rotten, slightest movement would pull it out of the next joint. I tried to reuse the coupler to service the taps at the back garden but could not get a good seal. Plan to run 50m of MPDE at some point (should have done it before laying the lawn a few years back).

Yes, LEDs are dimmable and we have same MK dimmer unit and lights in many other rooms without issue. Its not a fast flicker but a fade to dimmer or brighter state over the course of a second or so, whole effect lasts 2-3 seconds.

Completely agree, any build method can be made airtight with the proper attention to detail, ditto insulation. Don't confuse future proofing with requiring a modern method of construction. B&B has the advantage of being the UK standard so easy to source materials and labour, the trade off against TF is the time required on site, impact of weather and the ratio of spend on labour vs materials. You also have the opportunity to get some real craftwork with talented brick layers. I don't believe planners can dictate how the structural fabric of the building is built and can only stipulate the external finish. A brick exterior can be applied to any structure (block, timber, ICF, SIPs) you just need to make sure the foundation detail supports it and does not create cold bridging. You can also look to see if brick slips would be an acceptable finish to yourselves and the planners. I've had no issues in re-mortgaging or insuring TF, even with a render finish, with high st banks and insurance companies. We chose it because as novices, there was peace of mind getting the whole structure and internals in one package and to a contracted insulation and airtightness standard. We just needed to schedule windows (easy to order off plan ahead of time as the TF is factory made) and schedule roofer and render contractors to be on site when the frame was erected and scaff was still up. That got us weather tight in 8 weeks and gave us a lot of confidence to PM the rest of the build. Do be aware that reclaimed bricks may cost you more than you save and are often shipped in from Eastern Europe or further afield. At the start of our build I found and cleaned over 1500 1970s stock imperial red brick on sites. I spoke to our local reclaim yard, who specialise in bricks, and they wouldn't touch them. They told me that pre-1920 bricks are the premium, especially if lime mortar was used vs cement (as that is hard to remove efficiently). They also told me that the vast majority of recycled bricks are coming from Eastern Europe as previously undeveloped buildings are taken down for new - the labour economics probably make it work there too. Extensive use of recyled materials can generate a lot of wastage and also slow your trades down if they're discarding every other brick or slate. The recycled plastic slates have had good reviews here by others but be aware that not every roofer will want to work with them. My advice (and it is only that) is to concentrate on getting your design as low energy as possible (good insulation, airtightness) and then choose a build fabric that works for you. Understand solar gain - where it will be useful and where it will be a nuisance and plan efficient heating and cooling systems from the outset that work with your house as an overall system. Cooling is becoming more and more relevant as our winters get milder and summers hotter. Acres of south or west facing glass can quickly make your house unpleasantly hot even in spring and autumn when the sun is lower in the sky. Consider how to minimise your need (and match to what you have available on site) for energy to space heat (and cool), generate domestic hot water and use of water through efficient appliances before you consider water harvesting technology and the like. Solar PV can still be beneficial if you have the appropriate roof aspect even without the FiT payments. If you use in roof trays you save on roofing materials. A split air con system can effectively run for free daytime in the summer when it is most needed etc. Anyway, you get the gist. We're a bit more practical on this site vs other green forums

Well done, we also built from scratch with zero prior experience and came out the other side intact. Ecology is a good start, they are excellent to work with and don't impose the painful staging sign-offs that many other do. Consider living on site in a static to save money and stay close to your build. Contracted shell and DIY / PMd interior is also what we did and works well for the novice. We chose a passive timber frame from MBC and they also offer an insulated foundation as part of the same package (although we went off piste with a basement from a separate contractor) and within 8 weeks had a fully erected airtight and insulated frame, with windows, doors, slated roof and rendered exterior with all interior floors decked, all rooms stuff framed out and ready to launch into first fix. Was easy to schedule our own window, roofing and render contractors around the frame erection schedule minimising scaffolding time. Obviously a dozen different ways to do it from ICF to brick and block, SIPs etc but that worked well for us. Good luck!

Good catch - found some details here http://www.icopal.co.uk/Products/Pitched_Roofing_Underlay/Products/Vapour_Control_Layers/domestic-use-vcl/design-guide-airtightness/building-regulations.aspx I guess the take away is that if you are aiming for good airtightness then MVHR will become a core part of that strategy (as you'll need it not to suffocate), If you're not being as aggressive then it's a nice to have but be realistic about the cost/benefit, return on investment etc. Being Eco-friendly is a laudable objective but can take you down some less productive avenues. Investing in a good design, well insulated and airtight fabric, etc is often the best return for your money - shoehorning 'green' tech into a poorly designed and built house will never be that effective.