PeterW

So apart from a few F&B colours, most manufacturers use the NCS codes so that you can potentially use different brands and get the same "colour" as you can't trademark the actual colour itself The problem comes when you try and use different suppliers as their chemical concoction will be slightly different so they are subtly different - check e-paint out if you want to see what I mean and search a colour. It will show you all the options for that colour and how they differ.

Yep it looks pre 1995 .... Which makes that paint very old ..!

The 2906-G56Y is the NCS code for it so should be easily matched as that's a common colour code. Is it a gloss paint ..? Or something more "woodstain" as the issue will come when you look at the solids component of a stain. Gloss is pretty much gloss, although a newer tin may give a slightly "glossier" finish.

Local BC here will pretty much answer the phone without being paid but that's your lot - think "advice" is about £45 per hour ..!

I've looked at a few - is 90 litres too small ..?? Always think the wheeled ones are better than the ones you have to lift onto the stand.

If you are Stapling it try and get a reel of plastic band strapping that they use for parcels / pallets and use this to hold it up as its strong stuff but easily stapled

Not sure what the signal voltage is but you may be able to run a single wire between them ..?

Usually 3&E and the 3rd core providing the interlink

The Architects Handbook is my go to, followed by Building Construction Handbook. I've got a first fix joinery book somewhere too which was superb at helping with putting a staircase together ..!

It's more important to make sure it's even and no more than 1:40 - counterintuitive but if you make it steeper you lose the water and leave the solids behind ..! (Sorry to those eating their Sunday breakfast ...) building regs quote 18mm per metre for stubs, unless it is tight on space where 9mm is acceptable as long as there is more than one WC on the stub branch - guess what I was reading last night ..!! At 18mm, that's 1:55, 9mm is only 1:111 so you can see there is some discrepancy even in the regs themselves.

how many do you need..?

Do you mean a 90 in the horizontal plane..? ideally I would use a long swept bend or two 45 degree bends.

Eh..?? http://www.screwfix.com/p/wago-basic-installer-box-75pcs/48808

As @PeterStarck says, 1:40 to 1:80 depending on the run for a WC

Wago block...

Just been looking at drains layouts and I have a query. How long is too long from a WC to a mains drain..? Given this is a part conversion and part extension, its going to have to be an external soil stack as I've got no reasonable internal route and as it is I can insulate the stack entry points to minimise losses. Currently, the longest WC run is as follows : WC to Stack - 5.2m Stack to IC 1 - 8m IC1 to IC2 - 21.5m (22 degree slow bend at 6m) IC2 to Main Sewer - 6m I have plenty of ability to create a gradient, and the last IC2 will have a back drop as it will need to drop around 2.2m currently. Question is - is that too long and will it create problems..? IC1 is only to create an access point and a 45 degree turn - the rest is in 110mm uPVC and all showers, WCs and kitchen etc will use the same run, mostly joining either at the stack or with 1m of the stack bottom. Thoughts..??

Given the deformation point of polyethylene is about 140c, the chance of a duct continuing to function in the event of a fire is minimal - it's more likely that the duct will collapse and seal off any flow or extract long before it does anything of use. Normally the fan units and casings on MVHR units are normally polypropylene and urethane foam - both of which have low melting points. Secondly, flow rates and pressures of MVHR units are less than 100 litres per second at 75Pa. There isn't enough flow in an MVHR unit to pull smoke from a room anyway. As an example, consider this : - a smoke pellet produces around 24 cubic metres of smoke, enough to fill an average bedroom of 3.5x3.5x2.4m - using my commercial MVHR unit on boost, the adjoining Ensuite will extract around 40CuM/hr (the biggest domestic unit can manage roughly 2/3rds of that) - the supply into that bedroom on boost is around 28CuM/hr based on those figures it would take 51 minutes on boost to clear the smoke from that room. What is also clear is that the supply to the room is not sufficient to match the extract from the Ensuite, so it will be constantly drawing in air/smoke under the door to make up the difference meaning it would take over an hour to clear the room notwithstanding the system can at best provide a pressure difference of 160Pa over the outside air. To to be effective as a smoke clearance method you would need axial metal fans, galvanized ducting and fireproof cabling to a secondary power source - none of which you will see in a standard build domestic property. This all needs to go in at design time, so the spec needs to meet the user requirements and the building regs don't cater for that as they are not designed in that way. In the situation you describe I would use secondary alerting - most modern managed alarm systems have the ability to both dial out and alerting via SMS or active dialing, with the fire detection system being part of that managed alarm therefore alerting assistance at the earliest opportunity.

Challenge accepted @Nickfromwales..! I did consider you would need to make it accessible - under the sink in a bathroom was a thought. Need to do a bit more thinking but it's an option under investigation ..!

When I was researching Smoke Alarms, Aico pointed me to a number of their additional modules that can be used in the event the product is triggered. This is one of them - it's a relay base that activates when the smoke alarm goes off http://www.aico.co.uk/images/stories/PDF_Documents/Current_Datasheets/Ei128R_Datasheet.pdf In terms of construction detail, the regs do cover for commercial buildings iirc the construction of safe havens for disabled evacuation. Using this as a baseline would give some ideas however I think it starts with 'non combustible fabric' so by definition the timber frame gives a challenge ..!

I always considered if it was possible to put a single first floor loop by using an automatic air valve on a tee above the high point of the upstairs loop - it would mean the manifold could vent but it wouldn't be the highest point.

And welcome to the world of how BookFace tracks your browsing to "tailor" the suggested feed to your last sites you went to ..... I bet @Nickfromwales gets some cracking ones..!!

It has to have a double check (or two depending on WaterCo) and should be before the house supply or any reducing valves. Worth dropping it to 20mm MDPE if you have any spare to reduce flow etc. DCV has to be above ground iirc but would need to check

As they say.... A picture paints a thousand words !! Have you got a section drawing ..?

Yep thats pretty much what I plan although the hole will be lined with plastic first - more so if I need to get the damn things out then I'm not breaking up concrete ! They are surprisingly robust even when empty - point loads are the problem and hence why its going below a patio

Catch 22 is the point at which the fire barrier is breached. If you use intumescent foam that expands in a fire, the foam will stop expanding before the plastic melts for stuff such as Hep2O and Speedfit, so will leave gaps. You also have the issue of the fireproof spray foam not being ideal for encasing pipes due to its properties.