Conor

I'm planning quite a large pond/natural swimming pool (8mx4m) in the lower garden in the future / later in the year. We're putting in footings and retaining walls in a few weeks time so will need to put any services in place. The plan is for it to be connected to two other small ponds/ water features in the upper courtyard (a rock garden cascade and a wetland trough, acting as technical wetlands for water quality reasons). I'm reading up about the design, but not sure what I need in terms of the following: 1. Pumped flow out of the pond - 15m long and head of 5m required. I've assumed 50mm semi rigid pond pump pipes. Will run both all the way to the pond pump chamber. 2. Pump supplies controls - SWA to the pond edge/ pump chamber? Or is all pond stuff low voltage? Do I need a control / relay cables as well to level sensors in upper ponds? A couple 4 core from two remote ponds back to the main cover most needs? 3. Overflow / return pipe work. There will be a cascade system with a drain needed from the bottom "trough" back to the main pond ~10m with 1m fall- I'm thinking full 110mm PVC needed. Anything else I'd need to bury between the house and the three different ponds?

Of course, assuming designed by the SE in charge and they are actually following the design. The steel referenced is the temporary shuttering support. The builder will be hiring this all in so he's not going to have it sitting on site for longer than is needed. The soil looks firm and dry .. as long as it doesn't rain really heavily it won't go anywhere. But you're right, it's definitely not best practice to leave an excavation like this unsupported. Keep an eye on them tho and keep taking photos. For that size excavation, I'd be wanting to see at least a 200mm thick wall with plenty of rebar in it, tied to a footing at least 50% the retaining height of the wall and similar thickness.

Your architect is the person to ask as you'll need to have your drawings updated. Yes, think that's beyond a non material change... But should be straightforward. Put application in and keep building in the mean time.

So basically you ignored a load of random amature's opinions and instead went with the manufacturer's instructions? For shame.

No harm at all, just make sure they are all flat and don't rock about.

Why do you need to insulate it? What's the scenario?

I used an entire tube of silicone, along all parts of the supporting web / edges, as per my plumbers reccomendation. Big fat bead. That was on top of a ply deck. Instructions said something rediculous about a sand and cement base.

Just a thought. If you have an ASHP on a flat roof, does that not mean that it is then classed as an area that has to be accessed regularly for maintenance and therefore edge protection / fall protection system is needed? E.g. ballustrading? Who's going to go up on to a wet, slippy rubber roof to check it?

9 months after installing mine, this is the first time I've looked at the manual!

I run mine totally differently and it works well. Flow temp set to 35c (with weather comp) to a 60l buffer. Feeds three manifolds, and 6-8 loops per manifold. Flow rates set as required. No individual room stats or actuators. Each manifold is it's own zone with single stat. No blending valves are need with a low temp setup. Works well.

50mm mineral wool works a treat and dead easy and dead cheap.

Cheers. Hadn't spoken to them yet - quick online quote suggests they are close to the Lithuanian system and much cheaper than the local companies.

Primary treated water effluent is high in nitrates and phosphates. Your pond will be green slimy mess in a matter of months. You need either secondary treatment to get rid of these, or a way to deal once in the environment (reed bed, percolation treatment etc.) In a river, these nitrates are naturally diluted.... but ultimately lead to the generally crap water quality in our rivers.

We went with RAL 9006 White Aluminium and love it. Grey is yesterday.

In our first 9 months we've self consumed 70%, even at that, the payback with current energy prices is just 4 years. Down from the original 7 years estimate. We also get paid 8.5p per unit export, which is basically the same as our overnight economy 7 import rate. So we even have the option to use appliances and heat hot water overnight on the cheap rate and just export during the day - which I think works out better as never guaranteed when running a dishwasher or dryer during the day that you will ONLY be using PV. And heat pump heating water on economy 7 is far better value than immersion running on excess PV. 3x better "return"

Reading this with interest. I've used GRP in the past and was planning it again for my balcony. Is EPDM DIYable? Our roof was fleece lined PVC and after watching the guys do it, would not attempt it myself.

I think you'd be looking at least £400. For no benefit what so ever. I'd be ditching the cover and start putting money away each month towards an eventual boiler replacement / breakdown in 5-10 years time. I've never seen the value in these sort of polices, I've never paid more than £50 for an annual inspection / service and the only issue I had in a boiler in nearly 15 years cost £200 to sort.

Hi, We've a first floor (3m drop) balcony and are planning on frameless glass. The prices from local companies have been utterly absurd, so we've found a company then directly imports glazing products from Eastern Europe. Supply only so I'd be fitting. What would the BCO usually ask for? I know the NI regs state that he structure needs to withstand a force of 0.74kN at 1100mm. Will they ask for documentation to support this? Supplier says product (20.76mm toughened laminated glass) complies with equivalent European standards. Is this likely to be enough? Can't see any reference to a BS standard in the BC docs. (cant ask BCO as we've not put the application in yet)

We heat our water to 45c and no issues topping up a bath when it cools a bit.

What does the insurance cover and do you need it?

As above, self leveller doesn't always self level. You can get a good enough floated finish on a concrete raft for a finish floor, and assuming as it's a gym you be putting down some sort of rubber matting in places? Oh, make you take the opportunity to put a bit of insulation under the slab before pouring. Plenty info here about EPS slabs /rafts

Depends on what you are penetrating through. E.g. ours through IFC wall, so ducts sealed on either end with mastic to the EPS, expanding foam for bigger gaps and finished off with paint. For the flexible cable ducts through the roof, we silconed then taped these. For normal conduit to external lights etc, these were trimmed back then siliconed off at the end.

Planners don't view roof lights as major overlooking issues due to their height, angle and relative small sizes. Don't think that will be an issue.

We're finalising our balcony design and there's a fair bit of steel in it. Just to get an idea of costs before we detail everything out and commit, how are prices at the minute, say, compared to 12-18montths ago? E.g. 203x203x46UC. (We bought most of first floor and roof steels in Jan-April 2021 and was a chunky £4k)

You sure about the 75mm celotex? It's about half of what you ideally want. Our ICF walls are 250mm grey EPS which is comparable to 130-150mm PIR. What's the build up? Block cavity? I'm assuming you've a healthy budget for a little more insulation. If you insulated to the passive house standards then you be needing closer to a single 12kW heat pump. There's £6k saved from the off plus probably thousands more per year in electric, as there is no way you can run off PV in the winter for that kind of heating load. 28kW of heating over 600m² is more than double what most people here get away with. (We're 350m², 9kW) For a flat roof the spacing of panels is much grater than pitched roof and IICR you get about half the density of panels. So let's say you have 80m² of usable space (allowing for roof lights etc) then you should get about 30 panels in, and at 350w each would give you about 11pkW. Now's the time to speak to an installer / supplier and your engineer and architect about a design, as the details will determine what you can get. And of course your DNO for a beefy supply.