Spinny

Have a TECE concealed cistern waiting to be fitted so can't comment on any direct experience of it. But on paper looks good and allows the flush volume to be adjusted and provides for a double flush. Cant recall the price but not likely a budget option. Full maintenance through the flush cover plate. Depends what features you want, and on ease of maintenance through the flush plate I guess. I do have a simple cheap plastic cistern on one toilet which is easily maintained by scoring through the right secret grout lines to then remove the worktop above for full access to maintain.

I have had a plumber here today who has repressurised my expansion vessel on an UVC system back up to 3bar. Unfortuately he left for the day and is now uncontactable but we have a problem. Every time we run off hot water we are getting a very loud creaking noise from the system. Any help or advice on what may be going on and how to resolve it ?

Yes really good design aimed at the full lifecycle and all stakeholders is rare. I do think that much building stuff is bought by the trades, and therefore gets targeted at the trades. Very few of the public care to know anything about what their house is made of unfortunately. Self builders are a godsend becauise they do care and will go out of their way to buy more innovative products. Problematic things in building... Cavity closers made of plastic - ill fitting, loose, plaster over like cardboard, tacked in with clout nails that fall out The absence of any ready made solution for 'the door threshold problem' in cavity wall construction Flexible plumbing connectors that speed up install but have limited life Roof ties that don't fit into the plasterline Joist hangers that protrude below the joist with no tool to rebate the joist or the plasterboard. Membranes in limited widths connectors from 80mm roof outflow pipes to 68mm downpipes press fit connectors that throttle pipe bore ...

You may be under the misapprehension that plumbing and building items are designed for the benefit of the end customer, whereas they are actually designed solely for the benefit of the installer. They only need to last long enough for you to lose the telephone number of the original plumber. You could call another plumber out at emergency rates - err oh gosh. Cui bono.

I am just so hacked off now. Just 4 weeks until the kitchen is supposed to be delivered, and something I thought straight forward is now in danger of messing the whole thing up. The guy told me he is doing a prestigious hotel now on a time penalty contract, so unlikely to reappear to fix anything for 2-3 weeks. Looking like I will have to postpone the kitchen yet again, with the kitchen company telling me they have no fitters in June. Spouse already on anti-depressants, having no kitchen and going to the launderette every weekend for over 3 years. It has just taken me 3 weeks to get another trade to answer his phone, despite telling me he would be back over 2 weeks ago to fix some loose ends. Rant over.

TBH no. They are locally based and have been used by people that have declared to us that they have been happy with their work. They have good reviews, and do work in high worth properties in the area. Their flooring expert has been a few times as we have been so delayed and always seemed knowledgeable. One concern is that the guy doing the work is probably over 60 now like me. I am now minded to ask for details of another customer they did LVT for - to go and take a look. I feel I have got a friday afternoon job. It didn't start well when they were supposed to start on Thursday but ended up just bringing the materials after they were delivered mid morning. Friday was the first time the guy doing the work saw the job.

@Nickfromwales any comments ? A good plastered wall might vary by 3mm, and a plasterer doesn't have the benefit of gravity.

Their T&C's says they may not be able to achieve SP1 = 3mm over 2m. But they have been telling me about laying floors in Paris for sheiks, and their next job is a luxury hotel. My suspended timber joist hallway is more level than a professionally levelled concrete floor ? If a floor is 5mm out over 2m then your dining table is going to rock - on a brand new floor.

AI says this... https://www.google.com/search?q=standards+for+floor+levelling&oq=standards+for+floor+levelling&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB4yDQgCEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyCggDEAAYogQYiQUyBwgEEAAY7wUyBwgFEAAY7wUyCggGEAAYgAQYogTSAQoxMTU1NmowajE1qAIIsAIB8QWtHVJdU_RSivEFrR1SXVP0Uoo&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 No laser level was used. They ignored the markings I had put all around the walls using my water level. They stuck down a few self adhesive soldiers with the tops levelled by using a 1.8m spirit level (same level make as mine, not a 'professional' standard level) No spiked roller or squeegy was used at any point. Just a bit of hand trowelling to spread it. One young lad mixing, older guy pouring/spreading. Ran out of compound - it was obvious to me this would happen when they reached halfway and had used 2/3rds. One came back the following day to fill in the edges by hand with a different compound (I'd have thought the first compound should run wall to wall.) The final floor will be adhered LVT plank with no threshold between concrete and suspended floor - i.e. running from the front door through to the rear bifolds, in a continuous 'look through the house' layout. Yes their plan has always been to level out the concrete (max deviation about 30mm), then put smoothing compound of 3/4mm over everything, then stick the LVT to that. So never necessary to achieve a perfect levelling result without surface imperfections, but levelling is levelling.

Is this acceptable ? Should I be complaining ? So from friday we left the floor leveller to dry and so have just taken a quick look. Not impressed really. Not only did they run out of levelling compound and leave a section unfinished, but sections do not appear to be very level (see photos). There is a dip of up to 5mm across a 1.8m level at one point. The surface falls by 10mm into the doorway across a 1.8m level. Where each mix was poured and spread there are some small but noticeable ridge lines at the junction curves. I didn't expect perfection, but I expected something better than this ? Yes the plan has been to put a second coat of 3-4mm across the top and continiously over the suspended floor down hall and utility. But not what I was expecting as the starting point for that. What do people think ? I feel like making them do it again - what would be the implications of two coats where there should be one - would it need roughening to provide a key ?

The thing is that snagging stuff is mostly at the finishing stage, because that is what is visible. It begs the question of what 'snags' might exist in foundations, drains, structure, electrical cabling etc. New build estates can look good when newly built, go back 10 years later and you can find rainwater stains all down the render, paint/finishing peeling off window frames, rotten fences, cracked kerbs etc. Suddenly it doesn't look like a place you would want to live. As the generations pass, general knowledge and basic skills seem to erode. Most used to have some DIY manuals and knew how to change a plug, a tap washer, put up some shelves, change their car oil, mix cement, and keep house and home together. Usually learned helping out dad as a kid. These days a lot of that seems to have all but disappeared. Contributed to by youngsters in generation rent that have to call the landlord and not fix it themselves.

Only added a side/rear extension and originally still had an old wire fuse box. My electrician has put two consumer units in, one to replace the old fuse box, and then run a cable to take power from there to the second consumer unit which then serves all the new electrical requirements for the extension and new kitchen, boiler, outside power, etc. So evidently that approach is feasible. Don't forget to allow for any services you might want to run if you have any shed/outbuilding/greenhouse. You don't show your conduit routes, but you might want to consider any appropriate separations between drain, mains, gas etc. (If that car port might one day get converted to an extension, then you might want to consider whether you really want a drainage manhole cover in there.)

Yep I wish I had had this approach. Unfortunately like 99% of non-plumbers, and possibly 50%(?) of actual plumbers, had never heard of it. Likewise had never heard of hot return. Trouble is these things require more pipe length being run. Many domestic plumbers are never going to do it or offer it. They have quoted the job, now they, or the builder they are working for, want to maximise profit by minimising materials, not spend it buying the customer a manifold and putting in an inch of extra pipe. Find a mass market builder that does this type of plumbing - I bet they don't exist.

@NickfromwalesThanks. It is just so impossibly difficult to get each step actually complete though. They didn't have enough of the levelling compound to quite complete the job for the first pass levelling ! And something about coming back to sort out the edges. They did use little 'soldier sticks' stuck to the primer to create a levelling guide and the mix was free flowing so found it's own level. Although they did use a spirit level to level the soldiers 2 at a time and I know from experience that you can use a spirit level 4 or 5 times end over and end up 4/5mm out of level over 8m quite easily. However the mix was free flowing anyway so probably irrelevant. It is difficult to understand how pro's can run out of material. When you are doing a trade week in/week out you would think what doesn't get used on one job gets used on another and you always have some spare floating stock at your premises. Most stuff doesn't time expire for months. Materials are generally much cheaper than labour. The cost of coming back to finish an incomplete job will greatly exceed any loss from over ordering. Cost of 10 extra bags about £200 retail, cost of another delivery, another trip, the double handling, 2 people for another half a day, rescheduling jobs, inconveniencing another customer etc probably £400+. Make it make sense because I can't. It is progress but, still frustrating. Plan the job well, do it well, complete it, move on. ugh

OK, thanks craig. Looks like it is going ahead today anyway with just taping the membranes up against the windows, then cut off to levelled floor after. I might stick some CT1 or something along the edge afterwards.