PeterW

So is probably rusty...! Brand new one is £25 and you just use a foot pump with it. Pressure Tester

That is probably in the realms of statutory nuisance and your local council may be able to put pressure on. I would start with the insurance company first.

New Strap Boss on to the soil pipe and do it properly - get it much lower down. If a WM is going on the end of that run then I would give it it’s own run along the bottom with the correct pipe work or you are asking for problems long term.

Errr .... flue cost £300 here, stove cost ... at least 10 times that if not more ...! Stoves can be very expensive ...!!

Warmstar on eBay. Never let me down and excellent service. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electric-underfloor-heating-mat-kit-200W-m2-All-Sizes-in-this-Listing-ULTRA-/232880387492

I would check with the designer / engineer as they will know what is structural and what isn’t. You may find it’s part of a set of pieces that work as a structural component - better to know before you drill rather than after as you’re going to need to probably use a 125mm core bit which won’t leave much meat around it.

You can’t use flex land drain for sewage treatment pipework - has to be UPVC as @Russell griffiths has said. You may find the EA need you to install storm water attenuation tanks even if you’re going into the stream - you will need permission anyway so worth asking now.

All depends how hard and fast you fire them. Anything metal expands, stick half a bag of kindling and a couple of dry logs into a cold stove and open all the dampers and light it and you can soon get some pings and bangs from any cast iron or steel stove. Wouldn’t surprise me if they were using warm stoves in the videos as they do draw and light easier so you’ll probably get the same noises from any stove.

Ask your engineer. That is a big hole to be drilling in a beam with no support. I would as a minimum be putting 6mm plates either side with a 120mm hole bored through them.

Oddly enough, no... ply glued and screwed will strengthen that better than a couple of short bits of timber, but as @joe90 has also said, get those gaps blocked up too to keep it all in compression on the top chord. Are you putting ply over the top of the floorboards ..?

Kerb isn’t high enough by a long way - should be minimum 150mm from the deck that close to tiles. Also doesn’t look like it is insulated either ..? Roofing is rubbish; corner reinforcement looks like it was put on by a child. Needs 2 courses of tiles removed, ply put onto the roof lapped under the membrane then the rubber run up the roof. Kerb needs extending higher and preferably insulating but you may have problem with that now. And what is that socket blank covering. ..???!

Fitted the diverter version of one of these and was impressed. https://www.showerstoyou.co.uk/pioneer-minimalist-lever-twin-concealed-thermostatic-shower-valve/ 10 year warranty, U.K. made but also the valve body is made of composite so not ridiculously heavy or made of cheap Chinese “brass”...

@Russell griffiths you’ll be waiting til 3rd Jan as he’s probably on his 5th crate of ale ... 48°C is about the lowest I would go on a blending valve - just have to watch any bath feeds as they should be lower than that but you can do it at the bath taps (or feed from the shower valve ...) if needed.

You can run separate non blended feeds to showers, or run different blenders for showers and baths vs basins but it all starts to get a bit silly tbh. Upward of 48°C and most showers tend to run ok anyway.

Use the ply they have sent but TBH those notches aren’t bad. If you’ve got some timber offcuts you could also fill the gaps with even better. I wouldn’t bolt it either - plenty of decent D4 foaming glue and 5x50 screws will be fine. Those joists look ok - did the floor move before ..? And are you removing all the floorboards ..??

So the Approved Documents provide a way of meeting the Statutory Instrument (ie the legal document) and on WCs then the rules are that in an existing building then there is a requirement for extract ventilation. Appendix F section 7:11 to 7:15 refers ...

Sounds about right for an 8kW unit - they steadily increase the flow temperature as they can’t just Chuck high grade heat in like a boiler does. Defrost hourly sounds a bit much but it may be the outside humidity is causing this - that has a much greater effect than the temperature.

That should have had a DPC with weeps built in - has the lead tray also got weeps..?? And what is the lead sat on ..?? If those are dummy’s then I would have stood them on a DPC square and then put a hole through the bottom edge running back toward the roof to allow any moisture to get out. Looking at that, there is water getting in at multiple places - could even be coming in via the stepped flashing and into the void. Does it have some sort of corbelling to stand on the inside wall of the build as it’s too wide to just be part of the external wall..? Do you have access to the brickwork from the attic space ..?? I would be taking a couple of bricks out from the inside to get a camera into the void to see where is wet - that will give you an indication of where to start looking for the problem.

Clay pots are porous. They will soak up rain and moisture and let it out - is there a void below the pots then ..?? got any photos of them being built or the cross section designs as to how they integrate into the walls..? Who designed them ..?

No cavity tray installed above the utility roof line ..??

I’ve seen a big chip boiler that is fed from spruce and no issues. It has an auto hopper that takes 5 tonnes at a time and heats a 10,000 litre thermal store. Twice a year they bring in a lorry mounted chipper and that gives them enough chips for the next few months. If you have access and you’re remote from services then this may give you the option for CHP also.

How are the pots capped ..? And are they “standard” clay pots ..??

So where is the lead tray in this build up, and what are the chimneys ..? Fake or liner system ..?

is this being skimmed ..? If you are doing it yourself then get some of the board fix foam - Easy to use and you get it tight to the blockwork with very little ability for air to pass around the back of the boards.

Bladders last longer with cold water - don’t get as much degradation of the EDPM as you would with water at 55-70°C.