joe90

Terry, no probs, just want to make others aware of planning pitfalls.

My mates wife just bought one and we tried it, for the money ( Tesco) it was great fun for an hour but I dread to think of the running costs.

Don't get me started on planners !!!!!!!. I think we were lucky because we applied for planning, to demolish ( well push it over) and replace it before we lost it to fire and despite rumours locally that we did it on purpose it was not insured and it cost me lots of money to get the burnt asbestos cleaned from the site. Over the phone the LPA said replace on the same footprint and go up a floor or stay single story and extend. When we actually applied they wanted a bungalow only but would allow room in roof. Call me stubborn if you want but we wanted a typical Devon cottage ( we are building in Devon) built of local materials. We are two and a half years down the road, four planning applications and now waiting for my appeal to the Secretary of State. We own over an acre of ground, I have proved the LPA has been wrong on so many details and we are not over looked by anyone. rant over ?

I paid £800 and it was so over specified it would hold up a block of flats and cost a fortune so scrapped the idea for standard founds .

I installed one like that a couple of years ago, although that one was boat shaped and yes one big GRP moulding ( came from France). Now that's big boys plumbing, 2 and 3 inch pipes and a swim jet to save doing lengths.

As I will be in this situation shortly ( I hope) can you let everyone know who gave you the best price, it may be someone we didn't hear of. Also if anyone has got a good price post it here and let us know.

I think it's middle ground from keeping the damp out but letting enough draft in to dry the moisture out ?, I would temp cover Windows but leave draft gaps for drying purposes.

The picture above shows the socket of the y joint outside the wall, if you use standard wall brackets for the rising stack the socket will be into the wall, hence my post above about me drilling a neat hole then having to kango it larger ?.

With regard grout colour, in a kitchen I fitted the customer didn't like the shade of grey that I had used ( from then on in I made customers supply any grout that was not white !!!) and wanted the slightly darker grey, I had not sealed the grout so made a strong cup of coffee, let it go cold, and painted it on the grout, it was perfect and the customer was amazed I could remove grout and re grout in a day ?.

Sorry to be picky but is there a "normal" max pressure for domestic plumbing so that things like washing machines and taps are not working too hard?

Can anyone give me an acceptable range of pressure I should have?

I must admit I was thinking of installing a PRV, Because my pressure seems high but I have not measured it and notice that screwfix sell a pressure gauge for £14.99 so, what is a normal pressure range for a house? ( the push fit hose connections sometimes "blow" and may be down to high pressure.

As Jack says above, get SWMBO or friend to get other quotes, or put on a squeaky voice?. It's all about playing the system.

Ah yes, 65mm. Didn't realise you were trying to match imperial. I was lucky on my first rebuild, local yard felt sorry for a single chap living in a caravan doing all the work himself on a tight budget, they were demolishing a barn locally built of exactly the same brick and offered me them for 10p each ( uncleared) I ordered 1000 and got about 1500. It was 35 years ago ?.

I have just drilled 100mm hole for a soil pipe but forgot the socket in the y piece had to go into the wall so had to kango it bigger, shame, it was so neat when I started ?

It was from south west brick and stone Newton Abbot and it was for an Ibstock brick.

I was told by more than one person that bricks were in short supply and expensive ( neighbour paid £1 per brick including delivery etc) my builder was surprised when I told him I could get the tumbled bricks we want ( 12k) at 50p all in, and they were in stock and could be delivered within a week.

At the risk of repeating what I said earlier, my builder adds nothing onto material prices and commented that he could demand a greater discount than me, if I wanted to source stuff that I had picked ( because it was recommended on here) he would try to get a better price from the supplier as a full time builder and not charge me. If I wanted something that was not in his quote ( posh mirror for the bathroom) he would supply it and charge 5% for admin ( again getting a better price than me) . From what my architect has told me he gets most of the work he quotes for firstly because of his reputation and secondly he is usually good on price ( because he does not make a mark up on price ?)

Yes, we plan an ASHP running from E7 during the late night to bring the slab and tank up to temprature just before E7 stops and topping it up as required later ( if required) lots of south facing glass to warm slab during sunshine, as per JSH an electric inline modulating heater to bring warm water up to hot as required only for kitchen, shower and bath, for all others warm is sufficient (storing warm water rather than hot gives much less heat loss from a tank). Also as per JSH circulating water round the slab even when the ASHP is off to even out the temp within the slab and take heat from hot places to cooler ones. We will be having a wood burning stove but only a tiny one as the house will be very insulated and quite air tight and frankly a short burn will be more than enough to keep even SWMBO warm

I considered having LPG to top up warm water from the ASHP to give hot DHW as like you we will have LPG for cooking. But doing the numbers I reckon direct electric ( using e7 as well ) works out better.

I am going ASHP and the comment to me was how often do you need to service a fridge ( same technology!).

Yes, I am not bothering with RHI, I bought mine on EBay for about £800 and with lots of help from members on this forum plan to do my own installation and commissioning.

I have been fighting my LPA for two years just to replace a burnt down bungalow with a cottage ( same number of bedrooms), also waiting for an appeal decision which should be made by early September ( filed in April this year) they have just told me they have started my case ( 4 months late) and a decision should be made by early November. That will be yet another summer wasted.

I have just fitted an insulated roller door and it required 300mm clearance, however I added another 25mm wiggle room just in case things were not accurate and I needed 10mm of it to get the door to roll down properly to the floor

Well I started renting one as we were supposed to get the large workshop built quickly and move everything into that but planners being what they are it got dragged out. Anyway the guy offered to sell me the 20 ft container I was renting but when I said I had already paid a years rental he offered to take that as part payment. So, not only do I own my container now but the workshop is finished and it's better to keep the workshop for working and keep the crap ( sorry building materials) in the container so it's worked out well. People tell me I will keep it after the build but I will only fill it with stuff that I should throw away and don't want to accumulate more rubbish. Mine will be for sale in about two years in Devon if anyone is in the market!.