PeterW

It’s wrong. Wouldn’t pay until it’s lapped correctly and I’m pretty sure building control won’t sign that off anyway as it will leak.

So if this is shared ownership, then pass the problem on to the other party ..?? Their asset is being damaged, it is in their interest to get it repaired. TBH I would be getting some decent grey CT1, and raking out the mortar myself and then applying the sealant to the gap. I can’t see how the insurance thing plays in here as it’s in their interest to get it repaired.

Are you in a conservation area ..?

And they have finished bathrooms too ....

Walk away Unless you’re inside the M25 and need to stay there, then plots at £600k - even with that land - are very rarely worth it. In all likelihood your foundations will have to come out and start again as you’ll most likely need a warranty for the mortgage company and they will probably not accept the current ones as they have no idea how they have been installed.

HG do a grout and cement cleaner - it’s very good !! https://hg.eu/uk/products/hg-tiles-cement-grout-film-remover-product-11

very unlikely. Best way would be to get a T-plate made to bolt to the wall, then slot the oak beam around it and bolt through. If the plate (probably best as stainless) has an oval slot rather than a hole for a bolt it will allow a little movement. The oak frame will then move and you can use an oak rear beam between the two attached beams.

yes... because I'm that sort of nutter who does those sorts of things !! If you are handy then you can make this work for you, and you can make it fly. I looked at something similar and what we came up with was a floating box system in the main church itself - steel framed, not even touching the sides. That way you steer clear of the conservation monsters, and you build something with comfort built in. As it is "internal" you can build a cassette system you make yourself with 8x4 modules - think Walter Segal but inside. Build these with standard timber - even make the I beams yourself - and you can put a lot of insulation in the bedrooms/bathrooms etc and potentially an office or snug on the ground floor and you've got a house within a house. Make the windows from this from things such as standard DG units, or even use office partitions that have the built in blinds and you've solved another problem too. Then think about the tower rooms - they will never meet regs but you will need to do the minimum to get close. If you use those as occasional rooms then in reality you can heat them as and when you need them. A lovely bell tower bedroom is lovely in summer when the walls keep you cool, but your OH will not thank you when its -6c outside and I mean outside the duvet... One thing that a church conversion can live with - and is possibly a good move - is an Aga or similar heat store stove. Yes they are expensive to run, but the constant low heat in the winter will keep the place warm and dry. You can pick up decent oil ones for £500 on ebay, a recon burner is another £500. Use that to pump heat into the old oil rads around the main building or the pipes under the floor, and an ASHP to do the "modern living bit" and you have the best of both worlds. The trick is to think in boxes as @Ferdinand says - build all the boxes, then fit the ones out you need. Think kitchen bed and bath, then work outwards.... I think your £20k for landscaping is barking mad btw.... A JCB for 2 hours, a roll of geotex and 40 tonnes of crushed gravel and you will have everything you need for change of £2k and 2 days...!

Don’t forget that some BMs use smaller 4 wheel wagons when they know there is an access issue. My preferred one has 2 types - I know to request the smaller one if I need a tight space delivery.

I use copper where it is on show and Hep2O everywhere else. A lot of it is soldered but if I need to have easy access / no soldering in cupboards then I use Tectite fittings.

Yeh will fit fine but make sure they know it’s having bricks / hardcore in it as some will send different wagons to collect as a full skip of concrete and hardcore can weigh over 12 tonnes

Land drains are different to sewers and you can build over them without agreements needed unless you are in a drainage board area such as Lincolnshire where you may need permission. For a garage you can always build using a raft anyway - even if it is a land drain you can replace any clay pipe with a length or two of UPVC and support accordingly. Sewers are very much a different beast !!

That’s not entirely accurate - whilst it is normal for that to occur due to the current present, it is best practice design when switching loads to fit snubber or arc suppression circuits. On (a) MTBF and the erosion of the terminals due to sparks would indicate that a EMR (relay) has a much shorter life and therefore failure due to mechanical issues is more likely than SSR failure, notwithstanding the propensity for a closed fail On (b) suggest he speaks to the vast number of electric boiler manufacturers who use SSRs to drive their heating products. The relay or SSR should never be part of the safety circuit - that is why you have failsafe devices such as overheat thermostats. On (c) a zero crossing SSR produces no more EMF than a relay - in fact it’s probably less as there is no induction coil to generate a magnetic field and EMF. Given the way an SSR can be used to drive proportional heat cycles, it seems a logical step for Sunamp to use them - even if it is in series with a power isolator relay - as the benefits of being able to ramp up and down the heat load by driving a semiconductor would mean that the raw binary on/off for initial heat loads could be much better controlled.

If they are engineered joists then they potentially should have a strong back fitted not noggins. The boards should also be glued back to the joists which will stop creaking. I would expect the builder is expecting to just slice a gap through the middle of the rooms and take out part of the floor and put a row of noggins through the middle of the room. That won’t give you much of a gap to get insulation installed. Have they confirmed the schedule of works to fix the floors ..?

Copper sulphate into the drains works over time but also screws up the tank at the other end ...

En-suite isn’t a habitable room so is exempt. And is the bedroom door more than 3m from the smoke alarm..? That is the requirement. Ask them why - most are approachable and will explain the reason for it, if they can’t then it’s one to argue

Hep2O - better pipe inserts, less likelihood of accidental release due to design

You can get them with heatsinks fitted for DIN rails

@readiescards I would be looking at a permanent upgrade to a din rail SSR and get rid of the relay - cost would be £30 tops and makes it safe and also silent.

yes - most ASHP MIs show a gravel trap for the condensate directly below the units.

That should be a socket relay not spade connectors. What current is it carrying..? Ideally it should be a contactor. Sorry, edited to add, are you sure that the relay number is correct on that Finder relay in the box..? @Nickfromwales aren't these 3kw heater elements..? The Finder spec for that number is 12A

Should just go to a gravel trap - no need for drains.

Used UPVC 3G T&T on a job and they are great - on the 3 panel units we made just the centre units T&T with two fixed side panels and they work really well.

Why can’t the fence come out, even temporarily..?

Can’t tell but that is just a switch behind the yellow tag not a fused switch ..?