marmic

thanks Nick, made a few calls - gone with Simplex Health after a very sensible conversation with lab test for the bugs and diy test for metals / Ph etc

Afternoon all, So finally started searching for home / lab test kits for rainwater harvesting system - as with anything market seems to be swamped. Rather than spending hours trying to work out what works properly and true value for money hoping somebody may have some experience they can share please? Water has 3 stage filter then UV treatment, then for drinking water reverse osmosis. Plan is to check both. Then every ## months - should that be monthly / 6 monthly / yearly? Another question! The filtered / UV treated we've been using for showering / laundry / dishwasher / washing up etc for a while and so far fine No risk no fun as they say in Germany! Hot water cylinder at 55° which I understand nothing can live in! Obviously other contents to check for too. Not drank any yet until 100% certain ok. Here's hoping somebody has already done their homework - if not some long winded reading tomorrow! Fingers crossed..........ma

ps meant to add our bc insisted. (socks etc from memory only for masonry cavities - also for acoustic barrier between dwellings. and needs tray over)

don't forget drainage and ventilation. you don't want water sitting on top of window/door reveals. I'd be inclined to double check regs, particularly if cavity behind cladding open to roof cavity

Or some of these I'm often expected to source (in my day job) when principal contractors think it's ok to hang hundreds, even thouands of kg from clay pots when they are trying save costs not putting in secondary steel !

sorry if i'm repeating anything here (not read through everything) but suggest looking at span tables - extract herewith i've quickly 'googled'. sounds like you may have some sort of clay pot slab - I see lots in commercial buildings.

oops on the politics! apologies all. So being PC following contains no names/council/party/gender/location etc: Agree they are meant to and should follow the tick boxes and policy. Sometimes good / sometimes not (as with some building regs too but that's another debate!). and 110% concur on comment about councillors. I attended a parish council meeting recently and there happened to be a county councillor present to provide an update on a few things. This person is involved in planning and on planning committee and another councillor present suggested this person was a planning expert! (which i know for a fact is clearly not the case as was involved in our advice stage and application early on and didn't have a clue and was quite rude about us - we were copied into an email we shouldn't have been, which was also about somebody else too!). Back to the meeting - I was given permission to speak and addressed councillor directly and politely asked why they didn't follow policy including their own local ones as there's been a number of applications approved that clearly shouldn't have been based on policy - and that's just some I'm aware of. Talk about put on the spot - just got waffle about pressure from central government and balance. When ours went through we had to follow policy - which is fine, and we also provided massive BNG which we wanted to anyway. ok exemptions now and times change but policy still current, but they seem now to be ticking boxes other than policy!

absolutely - life in general 😀

ps - worth having certainty on architects fees too such as % of final build costs etc. We did talk to a couple with a view to easing the pressure but decided the cost (inc early stage risk if planning refused) was simply too high and decided do everything ourselves from planning to completion (although not quite finished yet) - fortunately I have sufficient construction industry knowledge, and where I didn't have answers I made sure to establish the facts. Yes more time but has been worthwhile. I work with architects on a daily basis and have utmost respect for the majority, but not all. As a potential self-build client with financial limits I would also need to ensure they listen and understand brief as some will like spending your money and telling you what to do! And again careful due diligence on who you use. eg. a recent planning application we had to object to by an architect acting as agent for client had errors including deliberate lies, lacked important info, some info 'hidden' and is so far removed from policies it should be refused. Clearly had lots of copy/paste text and design. I'd not have been happy had I been the client, particuarly given the likely fees.. Albeit on the flipside wouldn't surpise me if it gets approved with #### planning departments and current government!

dare I say brown envelopes - forgot to add that to my rant 😁

thanks for comments - I was probably hoping for an easy fix / ideas / something I hadn't thought of! Conclusion: Unless I make this more time consuming and ventilate between purlins there's going to be the invisible damp/rot. Then unless I add vapour barrier too and seal it up just introduces just more cold air into the space! To do it properly then have to work around electrics etc too and move lighting - possibly all for little gain as walls not insulated and just a stable door! Be easier to build an insulated 'shed space' from scratch - which I'm not doing so decision is to flog the leftovers (perfect for garden office!) or give them away if no buyers......

totally agree with other comments and yes does depend how you are going to manage your project. I'd also suggest due diligence on the QS too before committing! And how far will they go - if simply a detailed cost plan but not procurement it gives you a target which is good and can prevent overspend (if figures realistic) but still leaves a lot of work. We didn't have a accurate budget in advance (although my numbers tunred out to be about right) - there were some unknowns and was very difficult obtaining realistic figures for some packages in advance - this is where a decent PQS could help significantly. If you plan to project manage and split packages etc procurement, detailed due diligence, project management is very time consuming and the biggest challenge - in fact way more than I had assumed and I work in the industry, and your budget is double what ours was! And don't forget cdm/insurance etc. So glad we're now almost finished! We couldn't have afforded a principal contractor but would have been nice! (if they had followed spec etc and not cut corners to increase margins!). It's often going to be the case that 'it's only you that cares 110%'. Don't get me wrong there are some great people, companies, and products out there - it's finding them! I'm happy we made the right choices overall, but still had minor issues albeit nothing that couldn't be corrected/overcome. My employed job is on the other side of the fence. I work for [an honest] specialist sub-contractor and UK agent for a handful of manufacturers with the QS/PQS often being 'the customer' - I know for a fact it's not uncommon that if they are obtaining market quotes to give them confidence on some costs they just look at the numbers and don't dig deep to ensure complaince with spec and client getting true value for money. With some packages (not all before somebody shoots me down) it's not unusual for suppliers of various products to white label/rebrand - which can be fine, but be careful. For example in my day job one of our competitors buys from 3 manufacturers for one of their product ranges. All 3 products are rebranded under the same code/name and they claim they are the manufactuer (no transparency even on as builts/O&M) - but these 3 products for example are very very different in terms of quality, how they are built/operate, performance, safety, sustainability inc longevity etc. On paper with limited description they can be described as the same product however - they decide what to supply based on cost agreed/margin, and we know for a fact also regularly provide lower performance than what has been bought (to be more competitive or increase profit). They are very good at this and are selective to avoid being caught out! Sorry going into one now but be careful how you spend. The assumption is so often that everyone is honest and if something is said it must be true. Caveat emptor! ah that feels better 😀🤣

assume not new build zero vat then

Nordan was on our shortlist - very helpful/professional and product looks to be decent. But didn't use in end for 2 reasons - 1. we decided increased risk of splitting supply and install contracts wasn't worth the saving. if you are installing yourself different scenario of course. 2. wouldn't offer increased depth/height of bottom rail/sill we needed due to flat timber frame reveals and being set back. Without raising at base extended sill ends up without adequate fall, if at all. Installer offer to do in ply/similar if we ordered windows undersize but didn't tick the box for me. We used Viking products from Nordica supplied and installed to passivhaus standards including extended sills with upstands to edges and increased sill in factory. Brilliant job / happy with products/people. Air test ended up at 0.45. I don't know other names but always worth checking actual manufacturer/product being proposed as white labelling/rebranding not unusual.

daft mistake! we have a mix of fixed and opening - but every room has an opener. . The MVHR extraction is excellent and it's never damp whatsoever but the occasional stinker might need some extra air. In fact the bathroom window needed a rare open this morning 🤣 not experienced summer yet - in theory we won't overheat, but if we get weeks of hot weather I think night cooling will be necessary. Handing and positions of openers I considered carefully to maximise cross flow