ToughButterCup

A word worth committing to memory, that one.

Right now we're getting somewhere. What really interests me now is - how do you go about thinking it through? How do (did) you make sure you didn't miss something? Miss something in terms of content and process. This M+E stuff is really interesting Its a bit like that stupid question (....stupid until you start thinking about it) - How do you know what you think until you hear what you say? Adapted to this discipline, '... How do we know what we need until we have described what and how we are going to use the house for - and with whom ...' The best method I can think of is to apply 'Use cases', or perhaps better put, Informal Use Cases (using software development processes to decide how a house is to be M+Ed is a bit strong maybe). Once those Use cases are described, then perhaps we stand a chance of getting it nearly right. What worries me is @ProDave's post above If, like me, you send your wife out to work to keep yourself in the luxury to which she has made me accustomed, the detailed thought processes and hence design decisions are not easy to communicate. I know making it up as we go along is OK(ish), but as the First Fit thread showed, tight, careful planning is the way to a happy, continuing marriage. How did / are you trying to reduce the stress of a poor M+E design process (not outcome)? Use cases? Standardized approach? Software? Intuition? Experience? (There ya go, sounding like I know what I'm on about already)

Not intuitive is it? I mean does @Nickfromwales call himself a mechanic?

Sketchup. It allows you to put photo textures on surfaces. Bit of a faff to learn, but it works and did I mention... its free. Here

Thank you @ragg987. May I let you into a secret? I am having to replace '... Less knowledgeable...' with 90 percent '...hands on...' and '...Many hours of work here...' I don't think I have ever worked so hard in such a sustained way in a discipline in which I have no expertise and consequently rely on the collective good will knowledge and supportive critique of all here. Even those who themselves ask for advice teach me, support me because I have to think very carefully before giving advice. Off to do some M+E design, and maybe think about bragging about it in the pub tonight. Just before I do, which bits of the design are 'mechanical' ? Door sliders? Hinges?

If it's simply a pain I can stand that. Thanks folks. Ian

I have any number of these left over from the build. I'd like to stick them in my roof between the rafters.... but I have a dreadful feeling Mr @JSHarris will say ' No you can't ' . I think we've had this conversation before but for the life of me I can't find it. Wasn't it the small gaps between the blocks that'll prove too hard to seal off? Please tell me I can use them. It's such a huge waste not to....

So come on, what does M+E design mean?

If you want to know why I joined this forum, here's the answer.

Must go to AngularRus then...

We have just the man....remember this? Well, he's got what I need at a price I can afford.

This will be a small car park. So far I have put some drainage piping under it, covered it with what was left over from our MOT 1 pile and levelled it with our digger. I'd like to prettify it as cheaply as is sensible. My thoughts are to roll it as flat as I can get it, put some of that black membrane down to suppress weeds, and then tip some 40 to dust on top of that. Roll that to with a mm of it's life and then wait for the rain to 'tighten things up' And then put some pretty gravel on it. I know gravel isn't ideal : it moves..... But it's always the same old story: how do I do just enough to make it look a million dollars with only a hundred in my bank account? I'm sure someone has faced this challenge before. May I plagiarise your ideas please?

You'll make a scientist out of me yet. ....And I can even explain (at the right time to the right audience) how that trope 'thermal mass' benefits from a small tweak. Who's a clever boy then? I am. Even my esteemed architect trots (used to) it out occasionally .

This is a meaty read... Perfect for a lazy Sunday morning. The answer is 'yes', then?

Cornwall, dahling, Cornwall as @pudding says.

The ICF Durisol has the insulation in the outer half of the block and concrete on the inside of it. Both those materials are 'shuttered' within a wooden form held together by cement.

I had thought that a 'silly' idea . Not anymore. Dunno why .It was Pete who first mentioned it. I'll give it a try.

I am not going to be able to replace all the copper with anything else, no matter how good the replacement is. So I have to acquire some copper skills. Probably no bad thing. Essential, as in cannot do without tools - a sort of Plumbers Starter Kit ? Ideas please.

Trying to get our current house ready for spring 2018. The plumbing is dire. SWMBO and I spent so much time when we were at home after formal working hours preparing for the next bit of work, that we simply ignored all sorts of DIY stuff. But now we (what do I mean 'we' - I ) need to get a grip of it all. A clanking heating system, weeping this that and the other. The end in mind? Bring the house plumbing up to a standard which would allow us to rent it out. And to do that in an affordable, and safe way. My plumbing skills are sub-prime. Nugatory. Negative. As usual I turn to YooChube for help. And, then I realise that I need to practice. A bit like @jamiehamy did here. So I need to get some bits and bobs together on which to practice I think I can guess some of the things I'll need to work on Hep2O and copper systems. And I think I'll start with joining bits of copper pipe. Any advice? Dos don'ts? Any good YT resources you've used? All help welcomed.....

That is a core skill. Holding your nerve, and developing more than normal levels of resilience. Most self builders are expert, or near experts in their own field of work. And suddenly through our self build, we are exposed to systems and people who are -nominally at least - far more expert than we are. And thats very jangling. It leads to all sorts of difficult challenges - and since many of those hit you right in the bank balance, it what the experts call a 'high stakes' sector. That's why we (BH) exist, and why you will find a highly committed audience here ready to listen to what you have to say. In my case on BH and its predecessor (2 or three years) I have already been given far more than I can ever give back (two posts saved me £17k, but I have saved much more than that overall). In holding your nerve, you might like to think about creative and wholesome ways in which you can distract yourself from the almost perma-worry. For me, I am learning (re-learning) how to fly drones and I use the BBC Radio iPlayer last thing at night to help me, through distraction, to switch off. Keep us posted, and or PM me if you need a private word. If I don't know, I'll know someone who does. Ian

Close to none if - as is the case locally - the PC persist in submitting invalid objections. Like these The Head of Planning has (reportedly) told our PC that their feedback will no longer be routinely considered This is the most concise list of valid objections that I have found Exactly - to the word - that was said of ours. And the Planners rejected that 'consideration' (that's all it is) out of hand. That said, there is no point in annoying the locals, but there is every good reason to stand your ground if the reasons given for objection are trivial, unevidenced or impressionistic. We were determined to build to a high standard in terms of current design trends - passive, to a degree, and use materials like wood rather than stone where possible. It takes a hundred years to 'turn a tree round' and a few million to make a stone. Hold your ground and your nerve. Your case feels very similar indeed to ours. Welcome by the way Ian

I recon we have a case of sludge flake - and this isn't the breakfast cereal type of flake either. Help us sort it out, please. We've drained the system down twice now, and radiator performance is at best patchy. So next weekend, we're determined to Drain down Take the rads off and flush them and do our best to flush the 'tubes'.... and that's where we'd like some help When the system is heated by the fire, and the pump is circulating hot water, you can feel the change (drop) in temperature where the wider pipe meets the narrow one. We can hear little pairs of castanets rattling in the pipe (together with entrained air from a leaky valve). Once you take the rads off and clean them out, how do you clean out the small bore pipe?

Now that the roof is on the piggery, and there's power in the building, its time to move my tools to their new home. I want ot make a set of sliding shelves, each holding a Bosch L-Boxx with its tool. Maximum weight - 25 kg The question is which sliding runner should I use for the shelves? The research I have done shows a wide range of price and complexity. I'm willing to bet you can tell me what to avoid.... And perhaps be willing to recommend one or two makes.

All part of the service mate.....

Right folks, thanks. Recommendations for dual band router?