Russdl

Our site has main drainage and I was considering building a small shed to house a toilet and sink, instead of the ubiquitous blue turd-is. Any hints, tips and wise words on how I plumb in a toilet to the existing drainage on a temporary basis? The proposed shed will be about 5m from the nearest inspection chamber on the plot and about 600mm above the invert level.

I'm still smitten (planning to be a future user) but this information, coupled with my mud bath plot, is piling on the pressure. I sincerely hope they take a step back, take note of these criticisms and continue to produce a World leading innovative product that I'd be delighted to use.

I look forward to that. This change seems to have thrown my plans into disarray and I'm now wondering what is going to be the best way forward.

It did turn into a DIY demolition, as much by accident as design... We removed the roof tiles and slid them down scaffold planks that were laid on ladders, it worked very well, and they remain stored on site because we couldn't give them away. I"m sure we'll be able to use them to make some paths through the mud that is now EVERYWHERE on the site. The roof timbers were removed and are stored on site. I'll use them for various things, such as a frame for a shed etc. Then I started getting overtaken by events... A friend of mine owns a skip firm and, despite my protestations to the contrary, he was convinced that he would be able to get a 20 yard ro-ro skip up the VERY narrow lane to the site. He gave me a call a few weeks ago and told me one of his drivers would be round in a few minutes to have a look. Well, "have a look" actually meant squeezing his lorry up the lane, I had to climb up the back of the cab to lift a telegraph pole stay over the top of the ro-ro mechanism. He had inches to spare on each side but somehow he got to the end of the plot and completed a 98 point turn so he could drop the skip, the problem was that we had nowhere prepared for the skip to go so it just went straight on to the grass and after another 98 point turn he headed back out of the lane (with me lifting the telegraph pole stay again) so, after him "having a look" I had a chuffing great skip in my garden - I was somewhat bewildered but grateful. I then asked another friend who has a mini digger if he could come and lift some of the paths around the edge of the bungalow. He arrived and promptly started pushing the bungalow over, completely ignoring the footpaths! At this stage I realised that it was probably too late to worry too much about the Method Statement for the demolition which I still haven't submitted. We started loading the bungalow into the 20 yard skip and made a call to get the skip replaced. It was another nerve wracking creep up and down the lane for the skip lorry and, of course, since the first drop the weather had taken a turn for the worse and now there was much slipping and sliding of the lorry. The only solution I could see was to throw bits of bungalow under the skip lorry, which did the trick. We only had 20 minutes between the skip lorry departing full and returning to dump another empty skip during which time we threw loads more bungalow onto the grass to provide some hard standing for the skip and the lorry to manoeuvre. Yes, onto the grass, I should have called a halt. Stripped the top soil, then thrown the bungalow onto the garden and then got the skips back but I didn't, not until later, but by then the damage was done. Anyway the bungalow is now gone and the plot looks like Passchendaele.

A string of expletives spring to mind.

What a pain in the @rse. I hope the window leaks get fixed for you asap and you can press on and achieve your fully water tight structure. Exactly.

I second that, the PV looks very smart (as does the rest of it) and clearly the weather Gods have decided to stay on your side for a while looking at the photos.

@Mr Punter Cheers, got it now ?

Can you provide a link to that @Mr Punter, I can't find it.

That would seem to be a bit of a shocker from MBC and difficult to understand how it could have happened. Is that section just not vertical and leaning into the house, or is it not as thick as it should be? Have you approached MBC about it? Is there anything they can do to make good the error?

@JSHarris well that answered that question pretty comprehensively!

@Nickfromwales & @JSHarris thanks for both of your input on this, and the contrary positions makes for interesting debate. We plan to have the boiling water tap, one of which we have seen combines everything including filtered drinking water (which seems a bit, er, wet as good old tap water has seen me through this far) but as a supplementary question, would the water filter remove the sodium from the softener?

+1 for SketchUp. Tricky to start with but plenty of online tutorials to help you over that first hurdle.

Does the softener act as a restrictor in some way? Would that be why @Nickfromwales suggests the accumulator is downstream from it?

@Nickfromwales thanks. I was hoping the words would be something along the lines of ‘quite simple’.

I was 'drifting' the 'Temporary Outside Tap' thread too much with my questions about accumulators so I though I'd start a new one (but I don't know how to link to that existing thread - soz). The flow from my 3/8th" main is 15lts/min at 4bar which wise counsel advises me is a bit puny and the advice was 1 or 2 accumulators situated outside of the house to give me the boost I need. I've agonised over where to put the accumulator/s and am now thinking of going ahead without using an accumulator initially and then retro-fitting one when it becomes obvious it's required. After the house is built we will apply for planning for a garage (we've been advised to wait that long) which would be a suitable location for the accumulator/s so the question is, how would I go about having the plumbing done with the ability to add an accumulator with ease at a later date that will be situated in a garage that as yet doesn't exist - mind you, neither does the house yet1

Nor down here on a day like today!

Belatedly, I should update how things went for me. I trenched under the footpath iaw the DNO guidelines apart from where they specify that the marker tape must state 'SSE' on it, I just used a generic maker tape, rebel that I am. I took photos of the trench and the various stages of refilling it to the guidelines. The duct terminated in a hockey stick and then into my (overly large) lockable meter box. Whilst I was away the DNO turned up at the appointed time and moved the cutout under the careful supervision of SWMBO. they weren't interested in the photos and seemed a little surprised that I'd actually gone to so much effort. British Gas arrived later the same day to move the meter, they actually took the old meter away and fitted a new, much smaller one (about the size of a domestic hot water/central heating controller) and were equally surprised by my posh new meter box for my TBS. My electrician turned up a week later to wire up an old CU that was in the old bungalow to the meter and then 4 outdoor double sockets. It all went smoothly, apart from the DNO and BG taking liberties with the amount of space inside the meter box and consequently spreading their stuff all over it, limiting the available space inside and consequently the 4 double sockets are all mounted directly below the box, which in hindsight would have been a good 'plan A' as that means the lockable meter box door is less likely to get broken with constant opening and closing. Photo attached, but go easy on my poor planning that has resulted in a huge, largely empty meter box!

@Onoff Now why couldn't I find something like that! That looks like a good starting point, thanks.

For my DIY demolition I need to provide the council with a 'method statement' prior to commencement, can anyone point me to a simple generic method statement that I can plagiarise?

Another interesting blog Vivien. Was it a Norrsken crew that fitted the windows?

Bloody love it!

Jeeze!

I think the dropped false panel over the island is a good idea. We visited a new build recently that had a similar open plan kitchen/dining/lounge as yours and the three areas had been defined in exactly that way, i.e. sections of suspended ceiling with specific lighting that designated the individual areas whilst the whole remained open plan I guess from your floor plan that the dining area is by the large window to take in the view whilst you dine? If it was me I think I'd turn the dining table through 90° and move it closer to the island, then spread the living room furniture out a bit and define each area with the lighting - minimising downlighter where possible. We had an extension done many years ago that gave us a large open plan kitchen/dining room and the electrician at the time cautioned us on too many downlighter's, especially if they are aligned, as it can start to look like a runway on your ceiling. I think he made a good point. Love the bog, even without the pier behind it!

I think that would be a resounding "no", but you never know. I've got some lovely Crittall windows if anyone is interested. Anyone? Hopefully someone will take the roof tiles, I've just heard that the local reclaim firm have no interest. I'm hoping that is the case. I have an uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. @Russell griffiths Some really useful stuff there Russ, especially re the footings. I probably could use some of it for the driveway. Another great thought ? I though exactly the same, but have to confess to a loud guffaw. Thanks everyone for all the input.