Rick734

Thanks @JohnMo, super helpful. I did wonder about many boilers being oversized. Was going to give Stelrad site a try to do some heat loss calcs and see if I can figure it out myself. Do you know how much should be added to allow for the DHW rquirement? Thanks, will definitely consider that one. Glad to see that, thanks, as I had come across it earlier and was wondering if it was worth a shout - will definitely request it! I'm redoing all pipework so no excuse not to do it. Feel pretty thick on this subject - no real idea on what things to ask for e.g. if there's any particular specifics to ask for outside of what we've discussed here, to make it more efficient to run, more intelligent controls, Open Therm(?) etc. It will have a Nest or Hive control etc anyway and all rads will obviously be installed with thermostats etc...

Edited to add a bit of detail.

Evening good ladies and gents of BH, Question on my new boiler if you would be so kind as to vent your opinions. Doing a full refurb on my 1960s 4/5-bed detached in Devon. Been getting quotes on a new system boiler and cylinder from a few local plumbers and have a bit of a dilemma on the kW of the boiler. So firstly a bit about the house - it does have cavity insulation (albeit probably a bit patchy, is evidently not too new), approx 2200sq ft GIFA, 1 main bathroom (separate bath and shower) plus 2 ensuites each with 1 shower, updated loft insulation (another ~200mm on top of the original), brand new double-glazing all round, radiators will be all-new as well. I need the capacity to, in worst-case scenario, have a house full of people in the middle of winter, with all 3 showers running at once. Cylinder will be 300L. Have had 4 quotes from various firms - 3 guys have quoted for a 30kW, which to me seems reasonable given the size of house and what I've seen in other similar-sized houses (but only gut feel) - however the guy I was thinking of using has quoted on a 24kW. He is the Ideal servicing firm for the area, has multiple engineers and should definitely know what he's talking about, and assures me that he's done all the heat calcs and it's absolutely fine etc....however the fact that everyone else has quoted on a 30kW is leaving me uneasy, and (gut feel again) a 30kW just seems like a bit more appropriate for the size of house (Which obviously you good people can't really judge from afar). What do you guys think is the best approach here, I'm practical on quite a few aspects but plumbing & heating is a bit of a grey area for me. I'm willing to challenge him again, but would like to get some independent opinions from the forum here to give me something to think about. Also not entirely sure what is the best way to do the calcs myself, if anyone can point me in the right direction...tried working it out earlier and it was recommending a 6.3kW or something...any help appreciated! Thanks,

Thanks guys - super helpful thoughts. I'll run them past the chippy today and see what he thinks 😃

Thanks @MortarThePoint - apparently a diaphragm to prevent racking or something like that. Pretty sure he's overengineered the whole thing but better safe than sorry I guess... Helpful - so basically glue and nail then to prevent any chance of rubbing at all...

Couple of pics for reference...

Evening all, Just wondering if anyone can advise with a flooring query. I'm doing a TF extension on top of existing single skin garage walls, and the SE has specced a 9.5mm ply diaphragm over the joists, with flooring substrate to go over that (nothing specified for the actual flooring substrate so was going to use 22mm Caberdek). My chippy was saying they'd obviously glue and nail the ply onto the joists, and will use 63mm nails down into the joists through the ply anyway, but was then asking if I want them to glue the chipboard down onto the ply as well. Any thoughts on this? I just want to prevent any squeaking or movement - is adding or not adding glue between the ply and Caberdek likely to have any impact either way?... Thanks Rick *edited for clarity

Thanks for that @Nickfromwales - apologies for the delay! I've got some STS 12.5mm insulation board - would you normally ply behind that board as well? It does have extremely high compressive strength but maybe not so much 'bending' strength, if that makes sense...

Thanks, got it. Don't think I ever took it out of that noggin (just leant the top half back) so should still be correct. Now onto boarding...

Saw you mentioned it in a previous post and it was on offer in Screwfix so... 🤷 Aha will check that, thanks 👍 - don't remember seeing a lower tab so will check

Thanks @Nickfromwales - super helpful. I think in this case I'll leave them off then - gives me 'access' from the front to the fixing points should I ever need them. Added some Sikaflex EBT and 3 chunky screws down each side, let's see what happens! Hopefully never need to get it out. Great point about the demountable cistern as well - had no idea it was so simple to remove...

To jump on the back of this thread...just installed a Geberit WC frame in my downstairs WC. I did it the wrong way round and built a tight framework first to shoehorn the frame into and then fix, but it works. The only thing is I haven't yet fitted the top 'rail' (Which can be seen on the LHS) - anyone know if this is essential? As far as I can see it doesn't do all that much and prodtrudes out the front by 2-3mm, thereby pushing the backer board off the wall slightly when I fit that, so I was thinking of leaving it out. Thoughts please? Edit: the 'rail' is the blue bit sitting on the floor leaning against the wall, for clarity.

e.g. similar to this image:

@Russell griffiths Images attached - overall porch size is 7.2x2m approx. So pretty small as flat roofs go. Having looked at it last night I think I might go down the route of lifting the ledge plate just enough to get all fixings into the blockwork, and then use a long-leg joist hanger to drop down below the bottom of it to take the roof joists at the right height. Sound sensible?

Potentially, but my understanding of a masonry hanger is that it's bedded in and nailed down through the top, before the brickwork above is laid... so not very feasible?

Just to clarify - the main fixing point for the joist hangers would still be in the main ledger plate, but there'd be a few nails into the bottom fillet piece for stability and extra strength. Id attach that piece of timber with straps/plates or long screws up into the bottom of the actual ledger plate.

Thanks Russell/Save, it is a decent size opening and agreed definitely not ideal to drill into it. Might be able to keep the ledger plate high enough to just fix into the blockwork if I can use long leg joist hangars to drop down to the right level - any idea if that's acceptable? I guess they'd be hanging down off the bottom of the ledger plate by approx 150mm to get the heights right...maybe could fix another piece of timber to the bottom of it for extra strength/rigidity...does that make sense? Something like this:

Thanks, it spans approx 3.6m which is the opening from the porch into the hall. Happy to go the resin route, was just debating the pros and cons of either so thanks.

Morning folks, Hoping for some assistance with this one, I need to bolt a ledger plate to the front wall of the house to take the roof joists for the new porch (which is approx 7m long x 2m deep i.e. not massive roof load). My problem is that at the height I want it, the ledger plate sits partly in front of an existing concrete lintel which I'd need to bolt into (as well as the wall above) to secure the wall plate. Lintel is pretty massive at around 280h and 240d and I'd only need to bolt into the top half of it...anyone know if that's a good idea or alternatively if there's a better solution? You can see most of the height of the lintel below the unfixed wall plate (which needs to drop down a bit further)...

thanks Mike - not sure there's anything short enough for what I need though...

Have you had bad experiences with them? I've talked to one or two pretty experienced plumbers/bathroom fitters who are happy to use them for technical jobs where there's no other solution...

And this is my plan for the waste, unless anyone has a better idea... The wall has to be positioned where it is due to the minimum sizes wanted in each room, so I figure this is the only way I can get both wastes into the main soil pipe. Obviously the two wastes from the WCs are offset, so one is behind the other in the image shown. Not ideal using a flexi but I don't think anything else is going to work for that type of bend - down, turn under the opposite WC frame and then down again into the main soil. Is that workable?

Thanks Onoff - I've already built quite a bit of the wall... so don't want to redo unless I really have to. Originally used 145 as I didn't want to add too much weight or bulk to the whole wall, as I've only just got enough depth in each of the rooms anyway (and I didn't give the plumbing enough thought :)). Figured that if I just boarded off to get the extra depth it might give me more flexibility later (e.g. I could sink the end of the bath into the wall by just trimming the board around it....) But also still need to sort the problem of not having a brace or stud behind one end of the WC frames...

Hello guys, New here so TIA for any help received. Hoping @Nickfromwales can comment on this one, from what I've seen of previous threads as a lurker. So in my house refurb project I have decent size bedroom that I've turned into a bathroom and ensuite. Not massive but big enough. Not sure if the bathroom shower is going to be a bit too much but we'll see. The issue I have is that the sensible layout for both rooms will have the two wall-hung WC frames back-to-back behind each other - slightly offset, but the majority of the frames will be literally back-to-back. I've partially built the wall in 145x45 timber to provide some solidity for the frames and some extra depth - I figured I could get away with a couple of slimline frames plus boarding off one side of the wall in 25mm OSB/ply underneath the tile backer board to give me 20-25mm extra depth. However just trying to figure out if I will be able to fix the frames securely enough, given that one of the top main bolts won't be able to be fixed, as it will be behind the other frame. Obviously I can stick the frame in place, fix sideways and upwards through timbers, etc - will that be enough? I could potentially drill some holes through the top of the frame and bolt them together to share the load (hopefully they're both in use at the same time to balance it out 😆)Hope that makes sense... The wastes are a different story...we'll come onto that shortly...