Adam2

Wow, Openreach want £336 just for the survey to take a look at reinstating my phone line under ground. Any tricks people are aware of to get this free or cheaper? The previous line ran from a pole which is 1 house away don't like the overhead ones + I may be able to get my neighbour's done at the same time which will actually help me as will make crane access easier if I can re-route his line which passes in front of my house. For the actual digging my ground worker has the permit to open the pavement/road so could maybe save some costs there if we go ahead.

little bump for this one - 71 views and no comments, is it really that awesome ? Or just so much wrong with it ? ....

Hi - since then we've done another set this time 9m steels 6m in ground and 3m retained. We used a piling co with a decent auger machine to make the holes - really efficient machine, 1.5 days for the 4 holes. My team then placed the steels using a 13T excavator to lift them that we had on site then concrete dropped in. We had 40 timbers on-site ready to drop in as we excavated. I don't think you can drive I beams - well if you can I'd worry about the ground General rule I understand for this is 2/3 in ground to retain 1/3 out but of course depends on conditions. We're in pretty stable compacted sand/sandstone and had an engineer a design the original one so followed that for the latest one. Ours is temp for about 8 weeks then when we backfill will remove as many timbers as possible, at least 2/3 of them to minimise long term decay which may (according to SE) cause some degree of subsidence in ground above

We're about to start getting drainage dug for this floor so thought would post up the proposed design from engineer co. Points of note are that this floor is below the invert of our existing ground floor level manhole going out to street sewer hence the pump chamber which will pump up to this manhole. Pump chamber is not serving whole house so I understand we have flexibility on sizing - will serve an en-suite, WC, utility and kitchen. The base depth of the chamber will be adjusted depending on final sizing so likely to be lower than indicated in plan. Surface water goes down into the already installed soakaway. Solid lines = foul drainage and dashed = surface water S03 at the top of image is at ground level and brings garage roof/driveway water down to this floor level. Silt trap is already installed and the pipe shown running to that diagonally connects into the chamber S04. Roof of the basement is the outside terrace for the floor above. cheers for ideas

Yes. I agree is odd but also please believe me when I tell you I can tell the difference between the hot pipe feeding one manifold and the much less hot one connected to the other.

Not sure if you mean my description but if so - I even had a digital thermometer on the two manifolds to confirm different temps so I assure you of the fact that the actuators are on the flow. On some of the loops this wasn't even necessary as the pipe connected to the flow meter was cold (only heat seemed to be by virtue of minor heat transfer from adjacent loop) whereas the manifold with the actuators was hot. It is a mystery but one which I won't investigate any more unless we get more issues as we've sold this house and we now have some heating on all loops so although maybe not correctly installed it seems OK for now - time to crack open the Christmas brandy and enjoy the warmth

The flow is the manifold with the actuators on. I've fiddled with some of the valves and open/closed isolators, restarted boiler/pump, turned up and down the flow on the pump.....now we have heat again! thanks for all suggestions

Yes would be nice to do that - we have 2 of these manifolds. They don't seem to have an air-vent so maybe I could get new ones that do to make installation easier. My query re the flow valve replacement is that this is £10 and maybe 10 mins vs £200 and some hours and maybe a risk of prolonged period of no heating if there are any surprises that need parts.

I found this which assumes eurocones which seem to be reusable-

thanks @PeterW so weird that someone did that. We're moving out real soon so didn't anticipate this in our plans! Seeing as the flow meters worked badly but still worked for 15 years - is it worth just swapping in a new one to test that? If I unscrew the old one I guess I'm going to get wet - so presumably turn off system first and isolate? Am a bit concerned seeing as we're near Christmas that I embark on something that may have a further surprise and we have no heating!!

The manifold with the actuators gets hot first It's been this way since built about 15 years now.

Ok so still issues here. I have a manifold with actuators removed from 2 zones one has a cold return (which in this setup is the flow control) the other is hot. Seems to imply a blockage? The pins are up from beneath where the actuators would normally be and both have good spring pressure so think OK. To troubleshoot, should I lock down all zones with the actuator and the flow control then connect a tube to one end into a drain and run water through the other? Or should I use the drain valve on manifold, or call a plumber??? Another question, the Grundfoss pump feels pretty hot, is that normal?

Hi Taff, my SE was my reviewer of balustrade fixings. Worth asking them if poss. Ok

Ha yes totally - but thanks ? OK so the current wall is/was 100mm block - If I go with 140mm wide I could connect to the remains of the existing wall this with a straight cut using a wall starter kit rather than toothing the new part into the old. This will be quicker and cheaper than laying flat. Will still add piers to match previous Jewson have these at 140mm wide which are frost resistant so could use for the single skin but will need to use 100mm wide laid flat for the initial courses to keep the overall levels matching. These 140mm wide blocks are described as aerated : Medium Dense Concrete Block 7N 440 x 215 x 140mm is manufactured from autoclaved aerated concrete with fine aggregates,& cement, and an expansion agent that causes the fresh mixture to rise. This product is sourced from several suppliers and may differ in appearance and texture due to regional variants. Features & benefits High thermal and sound insulation owing to its make Frost resistant CE Marked But as frost resistant seems like they will do the trick. cheers

Am replacing an above ground (not retaining any soil) block wall that was partially removed during our excavations to avoid it being a risk of falling down. The concrete footing is still there and some of the first course of blocks which are laid flat for 2 courses. I plan to have this now rebuilt - single skin blocks on edge to match existing and then render. Will put piers in to match previous as this section of wall is 6m long and 2m high. Does it matter which blocks I use this for the main wall area? Was thinking lightweight 3.6N blocks Should the blocks laid flat for 2 courses which will be below ground level by a denser block which looks less porous? Is it necessary to put a DPC in? there isn't one in the rest of the wall, the soil is free draining and we're at the top of a hill so will stay pretty dry.

If using box section you could look at blind bolts

I think a lot depends on what material you have on site, how much time you can put into this and how far you are from a lego concrete co. I managed to use a lot of rubble faced with nicer stone which was economical as most materials were here for free. But paid someone and it took time for a lot of gabions vs buying in blocks. Mine were visible so blocks not so good but if yours are hidden then more choices. With a 3m wall - can you stagger then over a wider area? I had ours as 2m a large lawn area (containing our soakaway) then another 1.5m some 20m apart so the overall height inc slope of lawn is about 4m but the gabions are not so complex due to the staggering - of course not always possible. Another strategy we've gone with is king post retaining walls as temporary works - just installed some 9m steels for the next one! That's a cost effective solution for some locations with steels and sleepers but I wouldn't want it for a long term structurally important solution.

OK cheers @ProDave- will leave actuators off overnight and see if any difference. Some of the flow valves look a bit dirty and opening them up a bit and some are cold even with actuators off which I find very strange

When I hold in the pin below actuator the flow drops to 0. When released it varies across the zones from about 1 to 2.5. I find this pretty confusing - I expected the actuator being removed to open the circuit so provide heat but the return is then cold yet the flow indicates some hot water movement. Surely it should be more logical than this seems ?

I have a gas boiler running DHW and UFH. In room thermostats seem to be ok in that the red light comes on as expected. The house is 3 floors with boiler and hot tank on top floor. UFH on ground floor seems Ok in 1 zone but not in others. Pic is the ground floor manifold, bedroom is OK others are not. I removed actuators and pins seem OK beneath but have some lube anyway. With actuators off, the bottom manifold goes cold top one stays warm so actuators are on the flow which I understand is not so common. Though other floors seem ok and the other manifold is also configured like this. Any suggestions on what steps to troubleshoot further appreciated. Will try the working zone actuator on another zone.

They are quick and secure. Lacing wire I imagine does the same but will take more time to achieve similar secure connection. Will they be visible? The helicoils look ok I think. How high is your retaining wall?

Well done with the big window. We used Howdens in our last project and were very pleased with the product. We found it's 75% about the quality of the installers! Today I oversaw install of 4 X 9m steels into the ground for a retaining wall....also pretty butt clenching ? about 250mm from neighbor's new walls ?

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Yes that's probably more realistic for air tightness, maybe check with supplier re what is achievable. You'll need to maybe think of heating all water on a cold day and base size on that for worst case. I'm no expert, just what I've done for mine.

@SuperJohnG what will you do for hot water? Also - I made a note above but didn't tag you relating to ventilation losses as yours seem very high, may be worth checking