Conor

Dial before you dig. If you suspect a utility is in private land but not accurately on records, you'll need to contact the utility and get a wayleave agreed

Same view as above. Gas is about 5p per unit, putting it in the same range as a typical ASHP, but you can get a gas boiler for a few hundred quid. Personally, I'm now going for a ASHP. This is because of my low heating demand that means I can use a 5kw monobloc ashp that can be bought for lass than £2k, and I can install it myself. That makes is near enough that same cost of a gas install (current house gas boiler install cost £2300). And, if I operate the ASHP on night tariff, it becomes significantly cheaper to run than a gas boiler. Another big reason is I want to minimise the life time CO2 emissions from the house, gas is 100% fossil fuel based energy and an ASHP has the potential to be 100% renewable

Are your cavities insulated? If so I'd expect a u value closer to 0.3? I'd aim for an overall u value of 0.15 (as per passive House standard). any lower than this and you're getting deminishing returns.

He was saying this is the third time he's been to a unit in our block (20ish apartments) in recent years, all with the same problem.

All sorted. Was, as I suspected, a failed bypass valve. Plumber just cut and capped the bypass pipe as there is a rad in the hallway with no TRV that will act as the bypass.

We're in a similar situation, 300m² house (100m² of which is basement with only one room, but all needs to be ventilated). My neighbour designs and installs ventilation systems, and said to me I'd need two units. He says the performance figures and capacities of MVHRs are typically optimistic and while will pass building regs, won't perform that we'll in real life. Much better off with an oversized system running at 50% load most of the time, than a barely capable system running at 75% most of the time and struggles to meet boost demands. I can certainly understand his rational, but I can't justify another £2k so will be going for one unit!!!

We've just moved in to our rental accom and the combi boiler has been dodgy since day one. Tripping out after just a couple hours of running. Last night, it failed to heat the rads at all. From what I can see, the boiler is heating the CH water as normal, but instead of circulating around the system (red arrows below), it's flowing through a bypass (yellow arrow) and causing the boiler to shut off after just a few seconds. I'm guessing this valve (green) is at fault? Is there anything I can do easily (like adjust it?). Valve ranges from 0.5 to 0.1, I'm guessing it's some sort of prv? Or am I going to have to ring the land lady?, Edit: from a quick search it seems to be a faulty automatic bypass valve. I tried it fully out (0.1) and fully in (0.5) and doesn't make a difference.... Oh, and it drops water now...

Our existing water supply is lead. I intend on getting it all replaced by NIW once we have the new build complete. But in the mean time I need to cut the pipe at the boundary and fit a temporary tap so we can finish the demolition of the existing house. I've measured it, and varies from 29mm to 32mm.... So it's either 9lb, 11lb or even 12lb! What's my best option, a universal coupler like this? Don't care it it's going to 32mm or 25mm PE. https://www.plastics-express.co.uk/water-service-pipes-fittings/mdpe-compression-fittings/mdpc-cf-32mm/32mm-mdpe-x-27-35mm-universal-transition-coupling-p-pw429?gclid=CjwKCAiAsIDxBRAsEiwAV76N8wI8JFHR6s6HM534HWcDUlMQs0Qd5Dj2XvgLt8MRNf-Jlq45t9T_4RoCINIQAvD_BwE https://www.gasandwaterpipelines.co.uk/philmacutccoupling/Q1054.html?kw=&ci=373568490451&network=g&pm=&cid=818862847&aid=76989141312&tid=aud-773078946374:pla-795314642341&dev=m&mt=&lim=&lpm=9045206&pos=1o1&dm=&fid=&mid=109646584&pid=Q1054&country=GB&source=google&gclid=CjwKCAiAsIDxBRAsEiwAV76N83C_y5bUI0LDzm2_fofGtmbakqMW1xxWXr_BF-LAy4z0qKlx1ScaqBoCn0YQAvD_BwE

We were in a similar situation when buying our site. We couldn't trace the originator of the land lease, so we purchased an indemnity policy (£350) that would protect us in the event somebody came out of the wood work and asked us to demolish our newly built home.... Speak to your solicitor.

There's pretty much no disadvantage to using 32mm over 25mm. Simply put, the larger the pipe diameter, the lower the fluid velocity, the lower the friction/turbulence between the fluid and pipe wall and therefore lower pressure loss. The fact that there will only be a 20 or 25mm pipe from the main to the boundary box isn't a huge issue, as it will be a short length and pressure drop will be low. Obviously, having 32mm from tapping to tap is best, but unless you're filling a swimming pool, won't be an issue. Easier way to step down diameters is to bring the 32mm pipe in to the house, reduce down to 25mm PE, fit a 25mm stop tap, then taper down to 22mm copper or PEX.

I hired a 4.2m working height alloy tower over the holidays. Bit of a pain to assemble (e.g. instructions didn't remotely match reality) but once it was up, it was great. However, it's a really big, bulky piece of kit that takes up a fairly big storage space. I think the hire cost me £40 for almost 2 weeks, for a tower that retails at over £1500. I'd consider rental for as and when it's needed, otherwise I think a small amount of traditional scaffolding would be a better bet if you don't need it to be overly mobile. Edit: to clarify, version I had was a double depth and width - so basically same size as a scaffolding bay -8ft by 4ft. So big piece of kit. You'd struggle to put it up single handed. I can see merit in a smaller setup for "light" tasks like painting etc.

Try flushing half a bag of crushed ice. The weight and abrasiveness of the ice scours the pipes clean.

Took about 6 weeks for us. Tho there was a couple week delay in the middle due to my employer not sending in details fast enough. So 4 weeks seems realistic. Yes, they do engage a surveyor to evaluate the land value, proposals and final estimated value of the project. It will be the same surveyor that comes round to do the stage valuations so it's important that they see everything from the start.

Progress so far. Rain stopped play today. I'm getting about half a roof side done per day. Doing it as a mix between inside the roof for the higher rows and climbing on the sarking for lower rows. Letting them slide down into a high sides pallet on the telehandler. Recovering more than half the slates. Hope it's worth it!

They did give me a VAT receipt, but had no way to put my name and address in it, which I understand you need when reclaiming VAT on a new build?