joe90

Mine is a bit more than that.

I looked into rainwater harvesting for our toilets etc but apart from collecting rain on the workshop for the garden and car washing I decided to forget it.

Ours was laid direct in the ground, in sand with warning tape over.

Ours did when I told them what I was going to do, maybe it was the actual engineers rather than the DNO. I was surprised how small the cable was, concentric rather than SWA. The SWA to the house was way bigger.

I think it’s quite alright to recommend people on the forum without breaking any rules, Andrew Jones (the VAT man) email= andrew@vat431.co.uk web= www.vay431.co.uk

Sorry @Ed Davies for the confusion, I did not need an AAV (because of the stack on the garage at the farthest point from the plant) but installed one in the house anyway as I hate gurgling traps and it was so simple to instal. I read somewhere that reducing to 50mm was acceptable for an AAV (can’t remember where) but I am sure 40mm would do just to allow for air ingress. I am not convinced anti siphon traps work.

I did just this, mounted an “in built wall cabinet” on two fence posts 2 mtrs away from where it was going eventually in a garage wall (didn’t want a plastic box on our pretty brick cottage!), DNO connected it up with double socket and rcd fuses for use by builders. When the garage was finished I simply moved the box into the hole left by the builders and moved the fuse box into garage. During the foundation stage we buried a suitable cable from this into the cottage ready for its wiring. Never bothered to get DNO to move it and when they connected up the temporary box I told them what I was going to do and they said what a good idea. Just make sure the temporary position gives you enough cable to swing it into the final position.

I was surprised that some invoices I sent them with the VAT specified and the suppliers VAT Reg number on them were not proper invoices, Andrew James emailed all these companies fir me asking fir proper VAT invoices, so HMRC would probably have fined me fir making a mistake ?

Sorry forgot to say 50mm AAV on the pipe just below the ceiling, above all water levels and accessible for maintenance.

Yup, £350 for up to £10k and then sliding scale 3.5% to 2.5% above that. There was another thread on here about what jobs we should try ourselves and what to leave to professionals, this is one I definitely wanted someone “capable” to do, I am good at woodwork but crap at paperwork, and considering HMRC changed the rules without any notification (within three months of moving in not building regs sign off) I wanted a professional job done, and got it. I have also passed him info from this forum (another thread about VAT) about appeals lost by HMRC regarding refusal to pay VAT refund and he was greatful fir the info. Today he has a “VAT solicitor” with him and he is reviewing cases (including mine) to see where more can be gained fir customers. I cannot recommend him highly enough and I know several others have used him. “Andrew James (the VAT man)”

I did just this, didn’t need an AAV as a soil pipe externally on the garage was sufficient but to stop any “gurgling” and possible problems at the end of the 110mm pipe run to bathrooms I reduced it to 50mm and ran it up the corner of the airing cupboard, simples .

Just received confirmation from HMRC that my claim for £8821 will be paid in the next 20days ?????. I can recommend the VAT consultant I used to make sure it’s done correctly.

Ah, if you don’t ask you don’t find out.

After seeing @ProDave instal his second hand ground PV array it’s got me thinking I could do the same, being a cheapskate I found these on Ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Used-Damaged-275W-PANDA-Solar-Panels/264385118193?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Db7f9c190707947cba73dc824893f86e4%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D264385118193%26itm%3D264385118193%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2481888&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A692950d9-deab-11e9-b446-74dbd18075c5|parentrq%3A628aff9216d0a4b7b67e7f6dff849660|iid%3A1 question is, can the glass be replaced or is the “PV bit “ bonded to it? We will not have PV panels on our pretty cottage roof but I did consider panels on the top half of our conservatory roof. This would also give shade into the house in hot weather but allow low winter sun. If the “PV bit” can be removed from damaged panels could this be stuck/mounted on the inside of the conservatory glass?. mad idea or wot?

Did it have building regs approval.?

Yes, but in a cold draughty old house, not a passive house?

In a previous house plan I had a larder outside the thermal envelope and had a mad idea of including a large ladder fridge in it but moving the compressor through the wall into the kitchen so it heated the kitchen not the larder. Never got round to it but I thought the theory was good ??

This is exactly what we did and it works great. We do find the kitchen/diner gets a bit hot with lots of cooking but with doors open it soon gets around the house (and the MVHR helps).

I got all my UFH stuff from Wunda and found them helpful and reasonably priced, when a wrong part was supplied they were very quick to send the correct one. I agree with @JSHarris about one zone and a room stat, I just adjust the flow rate slightly to vary the temp into certain loops (lounge slightly warmer). I was lucky and had the old mixing head but also limit the ASHP temp like @ProDave says to limit the input temp. Also @JSHarris has recommended a return head (can’t remember the name of hand) that limits the flow and return temp difference. It’s on my very long to do list to get a new room stat with a small hysteresis.

Toolstation deliver for free on orders over £10 unlike Screwfix,s £50.

Frankly it looks “bent” to me not “folded”, I.e. badly packed (they have changed quite a bit from when I used to fit them).

How wide is this bit of land?. When we had a fight using an access that we had permission fir many years ago the “verge “ (country road with no pavement) is deemed as council land, in olden days it was the equivalent of a pavement, somewhere fir pedestrians and horses to use and the private land started at the hedge, wall, ditch or fence. We just had to confirm that we would not let anything grow higher than 500mm (I think).

I agree with the above but with the caveat that I know what I am bad at (computers , software etc) so I pay someone to do that. As an example I am paying someone to do my VAT return as I know HMRC will fine me if I make a mistake and I can’t afford to loose my VAT return. I can lay bricks, but if I built my house myself I won’t live long enough to live in it. It’s all a balance but I do love learning something new.

Well done, looks very professional, there is a great deal of self satisfaction in DIY which is why I love building stuff myself, what’s next?

Well my build has a warm roof (yellow line) but I did not use trusses, I used I beam ridge to wall plate to give me 350mm of insulation depth so the span did not need extra support. I lined the inside with osb3 and glued and screwed all the joins. The detail at ceiling/loft floor was the fiddly one but I foamed it all and my air test proved that it worked well. This also meant my MVHR, wiring etc did not have to penetrate the air tight layer (which in my house is wet plastering). The loft is boarded and used fir storage to save on cupboards full of crap in the house ?