Big Jimbo

If i fit ASHP to my new property, i obviously hope it will comply. However, i really hope it annoys the hell out of my neighbour.

Ì did the roof on my both my daughters extensions with jji joists. because i was having bi-folds on one, and large french doors on the other, both 2450 high. I just used a jji on the inner and outer leaf to take the flat roof load on both of them. Both building inspectors were happy. Yours is being a knob IMO. On another, i had 4 internal soil pipes. All with air addmittance valves in the draughty loft. Building inspector said i needed One of them to outside air. I told him that as i was a middle connection, in a row of 10, to bugger off. (All the roof had been finished. I also refused to fit crappy trickle vents to any of the windows. (stating that the house was draughty as, and that with 5 people the front door was opened atleast 10 times a day. I told him that i would get an airtest if he wanted to show how leaky the house was, but that if i was right, i would expect him to pay the cost. He called me a grumpy git and signed me off. Sometimes they just like to throw a bit of weight around. Nothing wrong with your Two concrete lintles.

If the rise of the steps add up to more than 600mm, i believe you will need a handrail. You might be able to rig something temp just to get it passed, then take it down. I have done that in the past for the NHBC. He knew it was temp, but was happy to just have a photo that showed a handrail.

@joe90 From what i can find legally, the council can discharge water from the road into the ditch, but have no responsibility for keeping it clear. Again, from what i can i can find, if me discharging into the ditch causes flooding, which it will. I am responsible. Seems very unfair as i am the only person who looks after my ditch section. Because i sit in a dip in the lane, i always have flooding outside in either heavy, or prolonged rain. I really don't see what other option i have with the ground that i'm on. I might have to try and speak to the enviroment agency.

I'd go with a good few pilot holes. Middle, Top,Right, Bottom, and left. You can easily fill them if it don't work out.

I have been thinking about the rainwater from the new house i will be building, while i am waiting for the building reg drawings to be done. I'm on clay, so i thought i would go and dig a hole to see what the ground was like at a bit of depth. I dug a hole 2.1m deep. Now it's been very dry recently, so i left the hole open for about 48 hours to see if i had any water ingress. I had none, so it would suggest that the water table is low (atleast at this time of year.) I then put about 300mm of water in the bottom, and went in to make a cup of tea. Hoping that when i returned the water would be gone. Anyway, 24 hours later i recon the water level had dropped by about 10mm. Now i hate the big old concrete rings sunk deep into the ground. Only because i have had they fail twice in the passed. I much prefer the crate systems which obviously sit nearer the surface, but usually cover a wider area. I will have an area to the front of the new property near the front boundary which i am intending to turn into a wild area. This would be an ideal spot for me to put a 6 cubic meter crate system. 3m x 2m, or even 3m x 3m. Outside my property i have a ditch then the road. (No pavement) I have riparian rights over this ditch. I know that because the council came One day and told me that the road was flooding because my ditch was always full of water when it rained. I pointed out (To the spotty Youth) that the reason my ditch was full of water was because i was the only person in the lane that maintained my ditch, and that because the ditch uphill, about 200m was not maintained, my 90ft section of ditch was the only place that water running down the lane could enter the ditch. I'm not sure he quite understood, but left after scratching his head, and i never heard from him again. Now i believe that i have the right to discharge an overflow from my soakaway into this ditch, (anybody able to confirm that) The reason i ask, is that i expect the council might resist because i am likely to cause flooding to the road (The ditch is blocked uphill, and downhill from my frontage) Any thoughts ? Thanks in advance for any response.

@saveasteading Just out of curiosity, 2.4m down for strip footing. (or any distance) from where ? Existing ground level, or ground level once stripped ready for footings to be dug ? The reason i ask is that i always strip the ground. Usually down to the level of the bottom of the slab, or the distance that is required under the block and beam floor. That distance could be 300mm if clay. I always dig my footing from that point when in fact i could have already removed 4 or 500mm. So my 2.4m footing is effectively 2.9m deep. Am i digging to deep ?

6 x4 will be a nice side for toys. Just don't fill it with junk. (like i would)

Good stuff Joe. Now get it done.

Good Morning. Do it. You will have a fantastic place to live for the rest of your life, and much smaller bills.

Just buy a cheep One. For the minimum work you are doing it's not worth spending money.

Ỳou defo don't want the sausages rolling off.

On another note, your house and setting looks fantastic.

That is a great result. Now you only have to imagine all that muck away, followed by tonnes of concrete. I bet that result made you smile.

I think wet plaster will cost you more, but may sound better when you give them a thump.

I doubt the Bricklayers would give me the time for that. But i could do the inside.

@SteamyTea That's not a bad idea.

@SteamyTea so that puts a bollox on an early air test before plastering. I could always seal the walls with some of that fancy air paint, but the prices are eye watering.

Thanks @JohnMo. I have built in Masonary previously and acheived 1.8 on my airtightness. I'm planning on HVMR. My question related more to if i was to ask a company to size an ASHP for me from paper before the house was built. My only thought now would be how leaky my Medium Density internal block walls would be before plastering.

@JohnMo So lets say im building a new house, and i know the floor area. Know the window sizes. Know the room volume. Know all the u values of the walls, floor, roof, doors, and windows. So knowing that a new house has to achieve an airtightness of 6, I assume that all of the above figures are used to calculate what size heat pump you will require for heating. For the DHW side of things, number of showers, baths, sinks etc. If you then go above and beyond with your build, and get say an airtest result of 1.8 will that mean that the chances are you air source heat pipe is sized too big ? If it is then does that mean that cost wise, it will be more expensive to run than a correctly sized unit ?

You have said that both of your properties are the same, or were before the property next door was extended. That would suggest that the wall hard up against the boundary was built 8 years ago when the property was extended. If that is the case, his building will have had to comply with building regulations. That means that the building inspector will have inspected his trenches / foundations depth. You may well find that you will only be digging down to the same depth as the bottom of his foundations. If that is the case then the PWA will not apply, and you wont need One. To start with, i would dig a hole in your garden, alongside his building, and find out how deep his foundations actually go down into the ground. That would be a good starting point to enable you to see if the PWA will even come into play. If you can avoid it then it will save you several Thousand Pounds. Providing you can avoid the waste of money that is the PWA, the only other thing i would perhaps consider doing, is offering to have the condition of your neighbours wall recorded by a surveyor, (photos etc) before the start of work. This would protect you from them saying "You caused this crack etc" as all that would be logged before any work started on your side.

what ever you do don't put the washing machine valve behind the actual machine. Better behind a cupboard next to it with an access hatch.

Sorry, i can't help but try waterworld. I think they are online. Just don't do what i did. I wanted a stream across my old garden with a bridge. Sump at one end where it looked like it was going under the fence. About 2 meters wide. I wanted the other end, which was a wall covered in Ivy, to be where the water was coming from. I went into Waterworld, and said i wanted the biggest pump and pipe that i could drop in my sump end. They wanted to know things like my flow rate required etc. I told them not to worry about all that, and just give me a huge big pump. The pipe was about 75mm diameter. When i fitted it, and turned it on, i wanted a right good trickle through the Ivy. If i recall, i hit a house about 100 foot away. it was more powerful than a fire hose. So whatever you do get it sized properly.

I did think about that. I wonder what sor of U value a concrete lintel would have in relation to say a medium density block ?

Thinking about solar. My southish facing roof only has a pitch of 30 degrees. I'm looking at solar to see if it might be worth adding to the roof when i build the house. Is 30 degrees too low to make it worthwhile even considering ? Are there any websites that would give me some idea of the suns movement, and potential solar power generation. Is East or West facing solar panels even worth considering ? Thanks for any help.