PeterW

You use the developer form and just put a single unit. I got a letter within a day or so and then rang the surveyor and he came out and agreed what I needed to do.

I’ve just re-read the first post - this pipe only supplies your house ..?? If that is the case then it may be classed as a supply pipe, so it will be your responsibility. I would speak to your insurer to check that its covered under your insurance as that could be very costly to repair. You can install your own boundary boxes, just make sure that the one to the new house has the straightest run and isn’t going off on one of the tees.

Is it a private road or a public road ..?? If it’s public then either the council or Highways England would have to provide you an easement to allow your pipes under the road - there would also be liability issues if either a break in your pipe caused subsidence of the road or if someone working on the road damaged your pipe. Who owns the land where your box is ..?

First question I would ask is .... Are you sure you’ve found the meter ..?? If this is on the opposite side of the road then it may not be yours ..! The reason is that once past the meter the pipe work and associated ducting is the householders responsibility - and a private householder cannot be liable for something not under their land ... If you can’t locate a meter and stopcock on your land then Thames have to install one and at their cost not yours. If this is a public road too then they would need to own the service. I would get them to prove where their assets are first as you could be paying for water that is shared ....

They are fantastic for getting light into very wide buildings as they essentially create a slot of light half way along the roof. There are are some real benefits too of putting them under a reasonable overhang if south facing as they then become shielded from the direct sun - in winter they get the light and solar gain for longer due to the lower angle of incidence.

So what you are describing is a Celestory light - I think they look stunning ....!! External blinds are a great idea - celestory lights are also good for ventilation so make them electric operated too !

I wonder if @recoveringacademic has a pile of scrap durisol modules for someone to give this a try ..?? I know that Beco have been used for garden walls as it’s in their brochure. Very quick and easy and once rendered you can’t tell the difference to blockwork.

Ok that could be due to the earth wire - some count it and some don’t...! Drop them a question - you should have 4 coloured wires on yours if you have a quick look in the wiring centre.

That eBay one is brand new - they use a standard listing and I’ve ordered from them and they are fine. Should take 20 mins tops to change it.

Pallets are used by us, and we also have a pair of Wickes hop ups that are perfect when you’ve got a couple of scaffold boards across them. They are £25 normally but they have them on offer at £20 occasionally and with trade discount off too they are cheap enough to have two or three about the place.

Don’t forget your sound insulation too ....

@ProDave you may be interested to know that there is a new not for profit energy company owned by Nottingham City Council - aptly named Robin Hood Energy ..! its also the provider to Ebico, as they have a better “alignment of ethos” than they had with SSE apparently. NCC used to have a small scale generation capability which I’m sure has gone by the wayside however since I switched to Robin Hood I’ve not heard from them at all - it’s one of the few that have a no standing charge tariff now. Taking your point @JSHarris, the standing charge is no longer designed to do what it was created for as it only worked when the DNO and the Retail arm were part of the same company as it covered their standing costs for networks. I’ve seen a variation of 100% in the charges levied by the same companies dependent on tariff and it’s just barking mad ..! And if you think electricity is hard, wait til they deregulate domestic water .......!

Most manufacturers send you sample bricks FoC based on what you choose. Go onto Ibstocks website and have a look - they will send you sample boards which are 1 1/2 bricks long by 3 bricks deep which aren’t cut slips stuck to heavy card. Unlikely you will need to order more than 4 or 5 to find a decent match. Councils accept these usually without question. Next stop would be to get a tile sample - again no big issue as all the BMs have these. Beware with bricks though, once you register a site address you will get little leeway to negotiate price between BMs as they get a commission from the manufacturers and like to lock you in ....

It will work fine but I would put an additional filter on the front of the intake ducts to stop too many of them getting in in the first place. 160mm filter boxes are less than £30 and have easily changed filters.

So I've got a slightly different issue that the MVHR boost is a no volt connection and we want a "fan" switch in the grid in the kitchen. So I've agreed to let him connect to the "control box" with a 240v switched live that will then switch an SSR to give me the no-volt connection for the fan boost...

Errr.... that aint required either !! KISS on the controls, run the floor as low a temp (ie 27-28c) as possible and you will be fine. MCS is the accredited rip off scheme that gets you a £3k ASHP unit installed for £9k with the promise of £200 a year back for 20 years......

They will install a temporary site connection to a site office - we've had a few done. Doesn't cost much (£150 from memory) but quality can be suspect sometimes due to an overhead line so broadband isn't great.

It’s it a path or just grass where they are going ..?? 300-450mm of earth is ample if it’s only light traffic.

So I take it you went the MCS route ..?? Gas boilers don’t like underfloor heating unless you put a buffer tank in so factor that in ..! Given you’ve said you want to have a big family friendly house, unless you go very big on the boiler, a combi will not cut it for DHW so you are back to an unvented cylinder. A 400 litre UVC with a 9kw ASHP has change out of £3k if you buy right, and it’s much easier to link into UFH. If you have a cellulose filled frame, heating is the least of your concerns !

You don’t have to - doesn’t need a lot of concrete around them assuming you don’t want to drive over them ..?? if you pipe them together and get them pretty close together, set them on 20mm gravel and then fill full of water you can backfill with a weak mix of concrete as the frames end up as a type of rebar around the inner. In good ground there is very little sideways pressure on the tanks unless you’re driving over them at which point you probably need to be casting concrete over the tops and getting them much deeper.

@Nickfromwales it’s on the old 14.4v batteries and they have done great service but are getting long in the tooth. Have considered LXT so I can buy just the naked units in future. Errrr ... Bosch corded have always been fine, my one Bosch cordless ended in disaster and I don’t want to tempt fate ...!! That’s been my philosophy for a while although I did buy the £25 Wickes Makita clone a few months back as a stop gap and I’ve been impressed ..! Downside is their other stuff gets rough reviews so I’m not sure about anything else joining the driver. And that is a consideration ..!!! FFX normally have some really good deals but I can see that ending with me buying a lot of stuff I just don’t need...!! Lots to consider !!

Right ... so the trusty pair of Makitas have finally let out the last of their electrical smoke today and they are on their last legs. I’m looking to replace them both with a single unit that has to : 13mm chuck hammer function lots of torque 30 min charge ideally this would be a Makita but I’ve also looked at Fein - over 15 years the only tools that have never let me down have been my Makita stuff and the trusty multimaster so I’m not really interested in swapping to Dewalt or Bosch. I’ve also considered Milwaukee but don’t have any experience of them other than the sparky swears by them. Anyone got any recommendations ...??

Yes however they have had solvent adhesive in them and they’ve not been cleaned ... that is not a job I would like ..!!

Plasson are the only ones I use ..!

A conservative estimate given we now have over 800 members I would put at over £1m...... That may sound a lot but if you think only 10% of the members are actively building that is a saving of £12.5k each .... I reckon so far it’s saved me £5-7k at least and I know there will be many who have saved a lot more ..!!