jack

I think I may have mentioned this in passing at some point a while ago, but I'm now revisiting this issue. A few months after we moved in, I noticed that we had vertical cracks through the marble tiles in our ensuite. Shortly afterwards, I noticed that in fact there were vertical cracks in all of the bathrooms. The cracks follow the lines of the board joints underneath. We have Hardibacker or some other sort of tile backer board in these areas. I initially wondered whether it was the house settling along the line of the bathrooms, but the pattern just doesn't fit, plus there's no similar cracking anywhere else in the house. I was about to start chipping out the tiles today to replace them when I noticed how much the walls have bowed in these areas. A couple of examples: Crack in marble: Crack in tile: Bowed wall: I did initially wonder whether it was to do with water, but it's happened even in the second ensuite shower, which hasn't yet been grouted and has never been used. My next guess is that the adhesive (flexible cement-based for the marble, as recommended by the supplier) has wicked into the hardibacker and caused it to swell and bow. It just seems like a lot of bowing for that sort of material. I'm about to start chipping away at the cracked tiles to replace them, but I'm a little concerned that I don't know the cause. I'm also slightly worried about leaving the bowed sections as they are, but short of tearing everything down and starting again, I can't see what else I can do! Help please?

The installer did ours.

All around just thoroughly dependable guys. Everything was always "no bother". Some of them still drop in now and again to say hello (they've done a couple of other houses nearby since doing ours). Remind me never to go drinking with you. The older I get, the sooner my "nope, that's enough" switch kicks in (and it isn't calibrated for shots). Multi-day hangovers have ruined drinking for me.

Brendan's brother is Darren. He's the (slightly more) talkative one.

All ground floor walls and internal studwork, most of the first floor beams.

Actually, that sounds familiar. I think I responded to point out that what they'd quoted on wasn't what we were after, and could they update, and then I never heard back. I suspect they're just a commodity-like supplier, and aren't interested in unusual circumstances.

Ha! Given the number of typos in your opening line and the time you posted, I did wonder whether there'd been a wee dram involved! Definitely worth doing now and then! Glad to hear the stitch is out. How's it looking (no pics, please!) Most smart people consider most patents in their industry obvious. I don't know the history of penicillin patents, but if a patent was available, Fleming (or those who developed the production processes) should have pursued one. Universities didn't really "do" patents back then though. The penicillin story is fascinating. I think people assume Fleming did a load of work, but he actually did very little beyond the initial discovery and journal article. Maxim may also have rights in things like the circuit layout or the copyright in the code that runs on the device. If those weren't copied, then they haven't infringed anyone's rights (assuming no patents).

I didn't find them competitive pricewise, plus when they sent me a quote they completely ignored everything I told them I did and didn't want (eg, they tried to sell me a 15kW ASHP when I said I had a low energy house, and a 4kW array even though I told them I wanted up to 10kW if possible). They also didn't follow up on the quote. I guess when you have a big company with high overheads, even a small dip in income can kill you.

This +several million. I actually measured the apertures in ours but with one thing and another didn't get around to comparing them to the drawings. As it happens, there are a few that were slightly less tall than they should have been (15-20mm instead of 30mm, with one or two being 8-10mm). You wouldn't think it significant, but it was in some cases. The result was delays, extra costs and a couple of places where the installation just isn't what it should be.

@AliMcLeod, the one to talk to about basement construction is @Bitpipe. I know he spend a very long time looking at options and has recently moved into his completed house.

I suppose technically they say "Buying new is greener", not "Buying TW is greener than buying a new house from another builder. And that may be true, if you're comparing that to buying an older house that hasn't been retrofitted with these features.

Lower CO2 emissions - than what? Double glazing - minimum allowable on new builds. Even most crappy Victorian builds have had double glazing retrofitted. Efficient boiler - again, compulsory on new builds. Water saving boiler - I don't even know what this is! Do they give you an ultra-low flow combi so that the shower stops when you turn on the kitchen tap? Quality insulation - again, to building regs, but not necessarily installed with sufficient care that it even functions that well. Then again, probably 95% of the population doesn't know or care about any of this. As a nation, we get the commodity house builders we deserve.

Well done. I liked the look of that stuff but it's eyewateringly expensive at retail.

Correct. After MBC had laid the second layer in the area where we were running the pipes, I cut two channels about 300mm apart in the second (middle) 100mm layer, large enough to take 50mm polypropylene pipe (solvent weld stuff for drains, I believe it was). The pipes were wedged in place with EPS offcuts and then foamed in. I used an airgun to heat and bend up the end that came up into the plant room. Drawcords were put in place. When we eventually got around to installing the ASHP, I used self-adhesive foam tape along the required lengths of 28mm Hep2O barrier pipe (2 * 50mm covered the outside with no overlap). A bit of detergent to lubricate and the insulated pipes pulled through the polypropylene ducts easily enough. The temporary external pipework done up with Hep2O is still working fine. I do have flexis and will install them at some point. Even they will be heavily insulated, unlike my parents-in-law's 15kW ASHP which seems to be insulated with something like 8-10mm armaflex!

We have around 9-10m from our Panasonic 5kW ASHP to the tank. However, nearly all of that run is in the middle layer of 3*100mm of EPS, so highly insulated. I obviously can't compare to any other way of doing it, but the tank reaches nearly bang on 55 deg C (the highest temp of the ASHP in DHW mode) nearly every day. We used Hep2O 28mm barrier pipe, from memory, to keep resistance low and minimise losses. The way I figure it, if you're doing UFH, the temp is low enough that the losses won't be that high. For DHW, the temps are higher, but (depending on your setup) you only have it running once or twice a day for a relatively short period of time. I did some calcs ages ago that I now can't find, but I concluded that with decent insulation the losses weren't that great.

Maybe Onoff can fit it out first. It'll be a nice job but we may need to wait a while!

Perfect. Even has someone using "your" instead of "you're".

Good idea getting rid of the bath imo. The one in our ensuite has been used once in over a year. The ensuite would be a much more pleasant place, layout wise, if everything hadn't been shuffled around to make room for this white elephant. My next house will be perfect, concluded (wrongly) every self builder.

No idea, sorry - it's never been on without the silencer in place.

Our manifold is lined with acoustic foam but it's still recommended that a silencer be used.

Every. Single. Time. And sometimes even when you ask! BM pricing is beyond random. We mostly ended up at our local TP because we found they generally gave us better prices than Jewsons, but on some things they were randomly way more expensive and wouldn't/couldn't budge. The Housebuilder's Bible is actually quite good for this, as it gives you an idea of what sorts of materials/products are likely to have a lot of potential movement off the list price.

The local planning process?

Ah, sorry, missed that. It still seems stupid!

Build cost as determined by whom? I assume it's something along the lines of more expensive houses tend to have more bathrooms and more occupants, but still, what an odd way to charge for water!

My favourite kind!