Spinny

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.

Yes I would also say be careful with plumbing design. Our architect written SoW actually said a plumbing design should be provided by the plumber and then bought off. What actually happened is the builder brought his plumber in, and then he just started work (about 7 months late) and put in what he had chosen to do, with no prior design defined or reviewed. Definitely not a good way of doing it. Examples: Plumber chose press fit MLC pipe, but this has constrictions at every press fit join where say 16mm MLC (which is actually slightly smaller than 15mm copper ID) gets reduced down to about a 6mm bore at every connection. Plumber chose 25mm MLC to run from mains to the cylinder, but I would have chosen a size larger to maximise flow. Plumber told me no need to upgrade the old lead pipe. Turned out to be horseshit and I had to spend money and disruption having a new 32mm MDPE mains pipe put in later. This stuff causes huge problems and delays. IMO it is better to over specify everything than be left with months or years of problems because a plumber is trying to cut costs and moximise his profit with no care for the possible effects.

Oh dear, bought some stickslike***t. It seems like when it comes to DPC membrane and radon membrane and powder coated aluminium that stickslike***t doesn't actually stick like ***t, it sticks like ***t. I did a test run and when sticking these materials it just pulls/peels apart again. Now I think the levelling today will have to be put off. Not sure what to try now ? Back to double sided butyl tape ? I'd have thought this was a common issue/question for anyone with alu bifolds/cills etc ? @Nickfromwales or anyone ?

Thanks @Nickfromwales Not sure what to expect never having had it done. I have put some marks around the room using my water level. Is there a standard approach - will they put level markers or sticks taped to the wall to show top ? I assume the whole point of levelling compound is that it will be fluid enough to find its own horizontal. Any tips or anything to watch for.

ok thanks. We have chosen a high power motor for the extractor - looks like it would extract a room full of air in 6-15mins depending on the setting.

Well yes. Although the F&B 'All white' is quite a nice soft white. Flooring guy came this afternoon and wanted me to strip the floor protection off to let it breathe and to turn the heating off for 48hrs before they level it. So can't do any painting until they finish coat 1.

1 month to kitchen fit. I am prepared to sand or perhaps spot sand (?) the ceiling if that is what I must do. This problem is messing things up as I wanted to finish the ceiling before the floor levelling goes down. But I guess I can conceivably uncover the floor, have it levelled, then cover it up again to sand/repaint the ceiling. Brewers say sand it, or else prime it all with Zinsser 1-2-3 primer-sealer, then repaint with somethings matt - F&B dead flat, Johnson's Trade, Tukkurila, or their own alternative to Tukkurila - Albany AF1 ceiling Paint. The latter not tintable.

So have people used the Johnstones and the Tikurrila on ceilings in rooms with a kitchen ? Just been talking to F&B and their position on using their own dead flat on a room with a kitchen is ambiguous. On the one hand it is not resistant to mold and so they say mold might occur. On the other their store said it can peel off under moisture. Only positive is they say it can be applied onto their modern emulsion. In our case we have a 38sqm room with a kitchen in it alongside dining and sitting/tv area. The Hob is against the wall with an extractor built into the wall cupboards above - so should suck 80% plus out of the room. Then two ovens at around waist height where some steam/hot air will emerge. Ceiling height 2.6m with 3 rooflights another 0.5m high.

I don't really want anything other than the right colour. In the past, like many people decorating a room, have just gone down to somewhere like B&Q bought Dulux from brand recognition, and the feeling that anything that says 'Trade' means made to a budget price point that suits traders and allows them to maximise their profit. Trade = basic utilitarian. Roller dulux onto the wall, job done, never a problem. SWMBO saw an F&B shop and had a design chat and decided she liked F&B. Whilst expensive, the extra cost is a rounding error in the overall spend, and if it makes her happy fine. We did have a painter's quote, accepted it, paid the deposit, they started the job with a bit of mist coating, then the timeline slipped, then they magically took on 6 months work without telling us and binned our 'contract'. I'd take them to court just to teach them a lesson but I'm too busy trying to get this shitshow complete before we both die.

Am I going to have to sand down the F&B modern emulsion lightly before repainting with something more matt ? (It is 38 sqm !) Is the Johnstone's and the Tukkurila going to be suitable for a room with a kitchen in it ? (i.e. given some moist air from opening oven doors, hob cooking etc will inevitably make it to ceiling level) Can you get these paints mixed to any colour to match the F&B 'All White' ? Don't know what to do with the walls now.

Well certainly. But normally a company claiming to be premium but producing a problematic product will rapidly go to the wall. Honestly I have had so much work researching all manner of stuff to put things right. So I left SWMBO to choose some paint and assumed F&B knew what they were doing. It is just paint and I have painted rooms albeit years ago without problem - usually dulux matt and stuff.

Have spent today applying Farrow & Ball Modern Emulsion in 'All White' to a large ceiling. First coat only following mist coating. All seemed fine while applying it with a roller. Now some hours later with some sunlight reflected back into the room (albeit through a polythene cover), the ceiling looks pretty awful. See pics. We were going to put F&B Dead Flat on the ceiling and Modern Emulsion on the walls as the open plan room contains a kitchen. However F&B shop said some customers had done this and had it peel off because Dead Flat is not a suitable paint for rooms where moist air may be present aka Kitchens & Bathrooms. Therefore we were told to use Modern Emulsion. Now it looks like it has a pronounced sheen, and seems to make the ceiling look very poor and uneven. Any advice please ? I thought F&B was supposed to be a premium paint ? Am I going to have to switch to something else which is actually Matt and if so what ? Will a second coat solve the problem ? (PS Mist Coat was applied by rolling away from the window, First coat of F&B by rolling across the window/room on the understanding we would then apply the final coat of F&B by rolling away from the window again.)

You could take a look at this... https://shellystore.co.uk/product/shelly-2pm-gen4/ This can be used for shutters, blinds etc and it has obstacle detection and can then return the shutter/blind to it's original position. Basically electrically detecting that the shutter/blind is not moving normally because of the obstruction. Depends on the shutter/blind making contact with the obstruction, but if it has flex or a non marking edge then that shouldn't be a problem. So you wouldn't have to detect whether the window was open, and it would also stop the blind/shutter if some other object was in the way.

I can only confirm it will be the design that is the difficult/time consuming bit. A lot of younger guys do have 3D printers. There are of course 3D scanners which can be used to produce a 3D model by laser scanning the object desired. Unfortunately I think decent ones are well over £10k so only found in engineering companies. As I write I see Terry has solved it, and is now about to launch an enterprise selling lengths of crenellated copper pipe on ebay for £20 a time ;o)

Parsons Terrier - ours died last year 😢- we sometimes took him down to an agricultural show where you could sometimes see farmers with 3 or 4 of them tied up and raring to go - using them for ratting on the farm.

Not been able to get all 4 downstairs Rads running at full temperature. I have 4 new rads that were installed downstairs as part of our new heating system using plastic press fit pipework (copper upright stems). Two modern panel type radiators - one medium - one small, and then two old fashioned style column radiators - one 4 column medium size, one 3 column medium size. Builders plumber came 3 times to rebalance them and couldn't get tham all fully up to temp, eventually resorting to going behind my back to turn the boiler temp up to 65C and then claiming he had fixed it (not). Have had suggestions it is likely a pipework/flow problem and column rads take more flow to drive them. Replacing all the pipework not an attractive option as much of it is now under glued down boarding. I do have two lengths of empty conduit going back under the floor to the boiler location that were put in in case of future desire to extend the underfloor heating. So if an additional pipe loop was created via this conduit to take a column rad off the current loop, and put it on a second loop of its own - is this going to provide a solution to the problem ?

Thinking about getting a couple of sliding doors fitted across a recess to form a cupboard area, potentially up to ceiling height or near ceiling height - say 2.4m. Kind of like wardrobe doors - doors sliding past each other and top hung. Ideally any bottom track just a groove or pair of grooves/channels set into the finished floor for a seamless walk in look. Any suggestions of suitable slding/cupboard door systems or suppliers ? Anyone done this sort of thing ?

Been wondering whether putting a couple of these in the end panel one above the other would do it ? (TBH I would have hoped the kitchen people would have some recommendations but that seems too much for them) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F2FM14NW/?coliid=I2XH8Y6VFB51BY&colid=3RAUVXUPTJ827&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

The radial is on the other side of the open plan room, it doesn't serve the kitchen area, just the other dining/sitting areas. Wall sockets to power TV, sound bar, lamps, hoover, laptop type stuff. It is a radial as I specifically asked and queried it when it was put in. I was told that things had changed since I put some ring mains in myself 35 years ago, and these days radial circuits were favoured. Sure seems to be 2.5mm. There is an actual ring main on the kitchen side running around between wall side and island. Will just be for kitchen sockets, dishwasher, fridge, wine cooler, and electric rooflight. There is separate cable to the island labelled TAP

oh sorry Craig or others, just thought of another question(s)... I have a set of twinwall flexible conduits and a 110 drain pipe coming up under the kitchen island position carrying insulated water pipes and cables etc. Therefore these come up through the concrete. Is there something I should do to try and seal up the top of the surrounding hole around the conduits. I can't say how well membranes were cut and sealed to the conduits - knowing our builder probably not perfectly. Q5 I guess definitely not a good idea to use floor leveller there for fear it all runs down the hole into the insulation layer ?! Maybe try and practice my insulation carving again and try and cut some 30mm XPS slab to fit around the pipes ? What do people usually do for this ? Q6 Re conduits themselves with pipes/wire coming out under kitchen units etc - any need to seal the ends around the pipes/wires to stop air moving along the pipe from colder levels ? See pics

OK. Around half of the room/extension perimeter one of the builders cut off the vapour barrier to slab level as soon as the concrete slab had set. I caught him before he could do the other half. The Architects drawing was for it to run to the wall behind the skirting and get plastered onto the wall, although the plasterers thought that daft. The 25mm edge PIR is inevitably tightly pushed against the inner leaf blockwork by the weight of the concrete pour, so I guess not much chance of any colder air from below the concrete making it through to the room anyway. Certainly over 2 years of of it being in place we have had no sign of any such issue or condensation or anything. Fortunately the radon barrier was run into the cavity wall and up to join the wall DPM so no-one could cut that off. Just googled whether PIR is vapour permeable and got this AI response... So I guess slightly better to do as you say, but if the flooring people want to cut it off it shouldn't be a problem ?

Thankyou. Any input on Q3 ? I am relieved to see stickslike***t doesn't come in brown.