Adam2

great thanks for the info

Great info thanks! Question re the steel sheeting - presumably to create a safe working area by preventing ground movement. I'm considering similar (will leave ultimate decision to demo & ground works co) - My question - did you hire or buy the sheeting and did you self-install with an excavator or sub-contract that out?

Garage is fine. You'll need fire sleeves on duct through wall into house. Put distribution boxes in house side. Consider paying a co like bpc for a design.that will hero a lot

For external blinds which will need 3 drops at about 2.8m is over 3k

I would (& will be) looking at better prices for brise soleil. It feels (prior to detailed research!) that this is an area where prices can be super high for what is really just some runs of aluminium and a mounting system - unless you have an awkward installation location. I'm planning on a 6m x .8m brise soleil overhang so would love to hear where you've looked and prices you have. Considering the light weight this could be a good alibaba purchase (if packaged well). Or maybe find a smaller company working with the right materials - I can't imagine the design is that hard so you could tell a fabricator what you need and install yourself. I also looked at exterior blinds and will provision for them but will wait to see if the solar control glazing + other measures are sufficient before buying them as the price is high

In case of help to anyone in future - recommendation from supplier is insulate from the mvhr unit to the internal wall face so a 150mm duct would need ~160mm hole

Doesn't say that it is - mentions large pump intake? Noticed that the larger unit that I linked to needs a 3 phase supply which I don't have but the smaller unit is 240V. Will call them Mon and see what they think about applicability and also to see what they reckon on servicing costs as that may make cost of ownership outweigh the install cost and hassle that I was trying to avoid with the big tank solutions.

Am about to start demolition and as we have a floor below invert level of street sewer have an existing pump station (1m diameter and ~2m depth with twin pumps). The new floor footprint means the pump station needs to move which I started to look into. The existing one works OK and I had a firm out to check and they agreed reusing the pumps and control system + valves etc would be feasible so I'm looking at lifting out the useful bits and probably having the tank pulled out but I imagine it is concreted in so will not come out in a reusable form. So I was looking at the work involved in installing a new tank - wow it's a job and a half - dig, make base from hardcore + concrete then install tank and concrete in carefully. It got me thinking that this whole approach seems sub-optimal and I did some looking and came across this: https://www.pumptechnology.co.uk/efflu-maxi-120-twin/ Seems like a system designed to work more in-line without a big tank so presumably could be placed low enough to pick up the house drain and pump up 7m to the required level to use street sewer. I should add that we have the ground & top floor sewage running out to street sewer so this new pump system would not cause a critical problem if failed and needed servicing (given the reduced capacity compared to a traditional big tank in the ground option). The floor the new system would be servicing will have 1 bedroom, 1 shower, 1 WC, washing machine and dishwasher. Would be great to hear of any views/experiences of different approaches like the link above (aside from a septic tank). I'd like something that is easier to install really. Cheers

As above, if demolishing and if meter inside or outside and will be moved then you need the DNO to relocate supply. Just had mine done (SSE). I did my own trench + duct to new location + put up a kiosk for the supply + meter + consumer unit. SSE (DNO part) did the connection into the new kiosk. The original cable was in what looked like lead protection and apparently if you cut into that you can quite easily short it. SSE charge was £411 (for 8m relocation) didn't ask their price to trench but imagine that would have been a lot more as has some unknowns and needs more equipment (guessing they won't hand dig). The meter was moved also by SSE as I happen to have them as my billing company FOC. Through some pain on the phone you can get them to come one after the other on same day - lead time was about 3 weeks from the survey by the DNO part. My electrician then connected into the meter + added some sockets into another kiosk I installed alongside - probably 2 hours for him. If you move it then you'll need to buy the hockey stick and maybe some duct - though may be able to not use it (not sure on rules there so OI got some as the survey mentioned it). In the pic the pile of sand at the bottom was put on after the resin was applied on the connection by the DNO before we back-filled and put in place the plastic tape to try and save someone digging through the cable. My helpful neighbour has a digger at the moment so made light work of the trench digging!

Maybe ebay or gumtree - someone replacing sliding doors - could you recycle what they don't need? Guess depends on your need for either time saving or money saving - good luck

Planning the opening size for the above and wondered if you insulate these ducts through the opening up to the outer skin of the house or just to the inner skin. So if I have 150mm duct is the hole 150-160mm or more like ~180mm to allow for some insulation? Build is ICF if that makes a difference.

I'm testing out a z wave based lighting automation using fibaro product and seems stable. Works with any retractivw switch so aesthetics are many. Though coat may add up for many switches, not compared to others though

OMG just had a new calculation following a new planning app and the revised CIL charge is in force. Old CIL about 2k new CIL with an extra 20m area is about 16k. Could be a real problem for developers and of course self builders that make a mistake!!!!

Cheers that actuator seems good - much more robust than the one it replaced. It even seems to work ? Well the heating is off so that is at least better!

ahh yes, makes sense cheers for that

So, have agreed the idea for my soakaway with BC and planning the step by step works. When looking at pipe I noticed the option to use perforated pipe . My ground is well draining (mainly sandstone), the soakaway will be about 50m and approx 5m lower level from the house so I was wondering if using perforated pipe (installed 450mm bgl) would be sensible. In a sloping site I'm guessing that the losses via perforations will be pretty minimal so probably no real advantage. Is this more usually used for fairly level sites where the losses via the holes would be greater?

Great looking kitchen! In our current place we have a switch at the back of a cupboard for the fridge/freezer. All good until someone decides to put large serving plates in there and push them to the back and turns off the switch - minor thing to be aware of if putting switches in cupboards which may then have "stuff" put in front

We'll be selling this place as soon as we build the new one (planning approved today!) so not worth the effort I think...famous last words!

Great, look forward to my next plumbing experiment when that arrives ?

Great thanks, good to know. Where it says "normally closed" this is the default way of working - so nothing to check here before buying?

I investigated why the UFH is always on in the bedroom and think I found the answer: Looks like over time some others may have failed as you can see a mix of blue and beige heads. The wiring box behind them says 240V so I was wondering how achievable it would be to replace this myself. I saw the same type of head here Myson . If I isolate the electricity and both mainfolds ( you can see the isolator at the end), how easy would it be to replace the broken unit? I'm happy with basic wiring and if I need to soldering + have main test kit if needed for diagnosis . cheers

I previously used a plug with a made up cable length going in to a waterproof box where the socket existed and I connected the camera plug. Worked great until sea air destroyed inside of camera

To give you a comparison, I'm in an expensive area paying ballpark 25k architect and 12 SE for a larger build on a complex site. Using an architect firm with many awards etc for design and building regs they are good value in my opinion but their cost to me is a smaller percent that your original option is to you. If planning TF surely you can use them for a large part of design and SE so will be in their fees anyway, be careful to not pay twice. Good luck

Why not just use 2 shelf brackets and cable tie (or stronger) the manifold on top:

I can see SWMBO uses the current mixer always in the middle position and is never at the basic long enough to actually get the hot water through so is just heating the pipes :-) So I almost agree aside fro shaving which for me has to be hot water.