G and J

A thought, and maybe not a good one. My shower valves have 25mm compression joints. The thread on these is 1/2” BSP, so the same as a basin tap. Can I just remove the nut and olive and use a HEP2O tap connector straight on to these? Am I missing something obvious?

Are there grounds for the OP posting the question: “given the suggestion of SIPs should I trust my architect?” In the appropriate forum. Not that I’m expressing an opinion, mind.

Cut through my leg and you’ll find it’s turquoise in there with the word Makita written like in a stick of rock. I've got loads of it. Oddly, my latest blue purchase was Amazon. My multi tool died again, I’ve fixed it a good few times already and it’s needed right now, and Amazon was equal cheapest and reliably next day. (Lever tool change is brill, it turns out.) The problem is, once a battery investment is made you are committed, and whilst I’ve not studied the question rigorously, I do think Makita have a fabulous range of 18V stuff.

Thank you Nick.

So either:…. MR PB on 400mm centres studs PB screwed every 100mm to studs Then tanked behind the tiles. Skimmed to batten above area to be tiled. or… MR PB on 600mm centres. 11mm OSB layer beneath PB PB screwed every 100mm on studs and mid point to give screw lines at 300mm centres. As above re tanking and skimming. Have I understood correctly?

Great advice I am unable to follow but wish I could. Burnt in large letters deep into the flesh of my core is the simple truth: “It’s all my fault”. Simples. That doesn’t mean it’s all doom and gloom, though it is on some days but not generally. But, if something wasn’t ordered on time, if two parts of the design don’t mesh like they should, if an operation is forgotten, etc. then I can look around all I like, I won’t find anyone else to blame. So I’ve accepted all the blame in advance and most days it doesn’t weigh on me. There’s a long list of other stuff that’s far higher priority for weighing on me, so it can go on the queue.

The plate is big enough to cover the lot, and I could get the tiler to leave holes where the Allen socket bits are…. I’ve not studied the thing enough to understand future maintenance access (but really must soon). But…. Doesn’t that mean that water getting behind the plate will get into the wall? (I'm tired from a busy day on site, so if that’s a stupid question then I claim immunity from leg pulling on the grounds of exhaustion and you shouldn’t mock the afflicted!)

Who are you paying to do it......don't mean to be flippant but will depend on contract you have with whomever...if none of them has included, who is doing the demolition? For info we did our own statement for our party wall agreement You'll also need to get a demolition notice applied when the time comes.

Will chk this eve. And report back......thnx

Indeed........on borrowed time!

Our new build will have three bathrooms, each with a mixture of fully tiled walls, plastered walls, and part tiled part plastered walls. The very highly recommended chap doing our plastering has advised us not to try plaster on tile backer boards. So how do we do the part and part walls. We are using some big tiles (1200mm x 600mm) so plasterboard, we are reliably informed, isn’t strong enough. So do we have a split wall - plasterboard on the top half and tile backer on the bottom? If so is the join best placed under the top edge of the tiles? How do we ensure that the levels work? Any other suggestions? We can’t be the first people to do this!

We are on mains water (softy townies now, we are), and we won’t have access to the pipes without using a bolster, so copper and joints it is. I’ll have you know an Englishman’s anxiety is his castle, (or maybe mausoleum), so I’ll worry as and when, but if only I could choose. But your sentiment is appreciated. Here’s the valve…

Will try and remember to post one tomorrow night. If only. If I had nothing on the build worrying me I’d worry about what I didn’t know about that I should be worrying about lol

The annoying thing is that it literally trebles the number of buried joints.

Thank you Nick. So the PTFE tape amount is adjusted till the shower head is pointing vaguely downwards… Hmmm. That means all the weight is on that 1/2inch thread. Scary. But then, I am good at worrying about the wrong things.

04:00. I’m so physically tired most nights that once my brain starts to switch off (read BBC news app then do a soduko then I crash out) I sleep till then. Typically I flake out between 23:30 and midnight. Unless something wakes me in the first hour of sleep. Then I start the 04:00 process early. Earlier in the build I’d then not get back to sleep till the circa 06:00 alarm. That’s improved a bit. Root cause is revolving thoughts. Usually things I can’t resolve by thinking them through. If I can work then out as I lay there (rarely) I then have a chance of finding sleep again. Being told not to stress or not to worry tends to irritate deeply, when I’ve the worries I can’t switch off. I’d love to. It’s a lot worse when I’m worrying about deadlines. So removing deadlines might help but isn’t an option. So I don’t think I can reduce the base stimuli. Instead I have two things I try, if things are bad I try both together. One is a mug of milk with a big heap of brown sugar, microzapped till nice and warm. Drunk slowly to savour it. I’ve not a clue if it’s getting up, getting cold, doing something, getting back in warm bed that helps or it’s the milk itself, I suspect it’s both. The second is to take off my mask (I’ve been using one for obstructive sleep apnoea for a decade) and lay on my side (I don’t have constricted airways if I do). God knows why but sometimes that gets me to sleep for an hour or so till my hips hurt but then I can often put the mask back on and go back to sleep. Again, I’m not sure why it works, maybe it’s just something else to focus on than my anxieties. I think it’s 04:00 as by then my tiredness will have reduced somewhat and thus dropped below that needed to overcome anxiety. Or it’s simply a weird facet of my natural rhythm. And when I’m worrying about a deadline nothing works. Whatever, At least it’s less than two hours to the alarm.

So, we are rabidly getting everything shoved into the walls to get ready for plasterboarding. The plumbing side of things is a simple ‘radial HEP2O, no joints in the walls’ type affair. Isn’t that just so simple (in theory). And then I open the box of the Aqualisa thermostatic shower gubbins. Last time I fitted such things was in ‘91, and they are still going (with a facelift on one and new cartridges on both, but still). So this time I discover that I have a 15mm compression joint on the control inlets. Q: Can I put 15mm HEP2O with an insert straight in? I’m sure I’ve done that before but is it a good idea? Is it better to convert to copper for the last few inches? Secondly, the outlets appear to be suited to installations where one has access to the back of the shower wall. Bugger. For fitting without access to the back of the wall the instructions just say put a 1/2 inch connector in the wall then later screw the shower hose bit into it with some PTFE tape. Sort of like an external tap connector. (See instructions below). Q: is that what people really do? Will that even work? Will I end up with a wobbly rain head pointing at the ceiling? Guidance very much appreciated folks.

Count us out till we hand over the house (it is becoming more of a house by the day!) to the tackers, which will be middle of next month. Next year our availability will be much better. Honest.

G will may well chime in on this (particularly if he wasn feeling under the cosh to get ready for the plasters!), but if you have read any of our blog (unlikely give how pushed you probably already are) you'll know that many of us suffer the potentially toxic mix of things not going quite to plan/taking longer than we thought/feeling either the huge responsibility of "carrying" the build forward or the frustration of not being able to do more either physically or generally in support and and ....... The level of honesty and stories of the real projects here is hugely helpful, highs and lows (as well of course the technical know how/duscussions). Self building insn't for the faint hearted and I sometimes think the various obstacles that many face on the way is all part of the preparation (and potentially stopping some before it's too late to turn back)? Yes we need to be optimistic, but support of others, recognising where we can either be helped or help is also important (if only virtually), as is realising that those dream projects probably also had obstacles/compromises/mess ups, they may just not talk about. As in life "this things will pass" even if they are pretty hard at the time. P.s. thumbs up to stopping at others builds to ask questions and stopping to discuss with those who come to ours....that's how we found our lead builder for our first build, and 35 years later he set us well on our course for the 2nd.

Just to make you feel better the person fitting our solar battery anf just drilled right through the garage wall and popped off a chunk of our new (and difficult to repair) moncouche render......he dud confess straight away.....

We had this on a large fixed pane. The fitters took out the pane, re did the gaskets, and reglazed.

@SteamyTeaHope you're ok , J

Our rate in East Anglia (likely to be cheaper) 900 per day 2+1. Our 55 linear metres to first floor took 14 days, majority block and they were lightening quick. (This was also round a timber frame, so apart from garage not structural/load bearing). We employed on day rate, they came recommended, if they had "qouted" they would have put some "saftey" in for time. Our bricks Ibstock blues are nothing particularly special and they we just under 1 a brick to us (not list) and that was a good deal. How many days do you quotes think it's going to take?

Sorry for the potentially numpty response, but assuming you mean first floor wall plate, for comparison. 55 linear metres in Suffolk to first floor height, ie just ground floor from below damp, brick plinth average 4 courses, then blocks, labour only 12.5k. Excellent work. From your pictures, in previous posts, your brick work is going to be huge part of your overall design so may be "simple" but the quality required is going to be high...........was your estimate realistic, are your quotes labour only? On the former we had a take off done, and they assumed pretty basic everything (apart from a contractors profit!)

Snap......is working well, again fast delivery good price