Gone West

@JSHarris & @Nickfromwales. Thanks for that. The area where the mains enters, and the other gubbins is, including the water softener, is a bit cramped. I could fit the DCNRV just after the mains pipe but because the water softener is in the way it would be unwise to fit the stop cock there as it would be difficult to access quickly in an emergency. Do NRVs fail very often, I've never lived in a house with one before.

On a previous thread @Nickfromwales gave me this info: If you tick the boxes, so..... 1) incoming mains into propery 2) stoptap of whatever guise 3) double check NRV 4) drain off cock So first question is, can 2 and 3 be swapped around? and secondly is there any advantage to using a 28mm double check valve instead of a low loss 22mm DCV wrt flow rates.

I did think about an electric lift but decided I'll sleep in the study instead.

+1 We did the same and designed the access with a ramp, not difficult in our case. We have also put thought into future proofing the interior.

That's for a twin cell SAPV I think. They were talking about having SAPV with different numbers of cells. Presumably if they produced a single cell SAPV it would be cheaper, but would a single cell system work effectively?

I looked into using SunampPV in my house but decided against it in the end. In the literature they mentioned having different numbers of cells in the SAPV and I was wondering if it would be feasible to use a single cell for a very small building.

Do Sunamp make a single cell SunampPV? Expensive, but could be offset by using PV?

We had SUN-X Vista 80X external clear film fitted last July to a WNW facing three quarter glazed gable. It's only needed during May, June and July and has been really effective this month. It's not noticeable which was our main requirement but was expensive.

Hi Karen, welcome to the forum. Don't worry builds always take longer than expected, we've just started year seven!

It's a much smaller area, but I used a piece of Tyvek (Housewrap?) on my shed. It's lasted over a year, faded a bit, but still waterproof.

My BCO was happy to accept my PHPP results instead of as designed SAP.

A friend coated some of her floor using Tadelakt which she did herself and it looked great. It would be beyond me to do it myself, I'm not at all artistic.

I have bought perspex from here and they also do splashbacks. http://www.cutplasticsheeting.co.uk/acrylic-kitchen-splashbacks/ We decided on a glass splashback instead of acrylic because I was worried about possible deformation due to heat.

IIRC Accoya softwood has a 50 guarantee. I think there is probably the largest lifetime range with softwood than any other material.

@DNA You could also read my blog entry detailing my insulated raft foundation. I don't want to put you off though. It was done nearly seven years ago and was the first in the country.

Another exception are laurels.

As in Jeremy's case, at our current self build we had to have an overhead cable moved which involved repositioning poles. This was done by EDF, a few years ago, and again there was no cost to us. We asked if they would run the cable under the ground but they said there would be a charge so we didn't bother. There wasn't a wayleave agreement in place when we first moved onto site so we had one set up. They even back dated the payments for a few years. I think having the wayleave agreement helped to get the work done.

Welcome to the forum Lucy. Do you mean you have overhead power cables crossing your property? If so do you have a wayleave agreement with the DNO? If so you could find out if it is possible to remove the wayleave agreement and make them reconsider the cost. I had uninsulated overhead cables replaced with insulated at my previous house at no cost to me due to the wayleave.

How very true.

I'm a bit surprised that isn't considered a trip hazard especially as it's at the top of the stairs.

It's Sennocke. We were also told we could only have site insurance until completion but Sennocke went away and came back with the unoccupied buildings and contents cover solution.

I didn't need site insurance any longer because the house is largely completed and 90% furnished. I no longer have all the equipment on site associated with a build. I'm hoping to have it signed off later in the year. It is in the garden of the existing bungalow that we are living in until it is demolished. The policy is for a year with the proviso that is is inspected once a week. I'm in there nearly every day so a much cheaper option for me.

As site insurance was so expensive, and I didn't really need it, I've converted that to unoccupied buildings and contents cover. It works out at less than half the price of site insurance and I've got contents cover for £20,000 included. I don't yet have a completion certificate.

This table might be useful. Sewage Treatment Plant Selection - Which Sewage Plant is the BEST? Comparision of EN12566-3 Test Results Below is a comparison list of Performance Results during the EN12566-3 Test - taken from the EN12566-3 PIA Test Centre website. The figures are the average of the 38 weeks testing - the lower the figures, the better the result. It is probably better to avoid plants which have figures in red that are at, or close to, the limits, as they must have exceeded the limits on some test occasions and you are not allowed to exceed the limits at all. Make of Plant Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) Mg/L Suspended Solids {SS) Mg/L Ammoniacal Nitrogen (NH4 - N) Mg/L Environment Agency Maximum Limits 20 30 20 Klargester Biodisc 20 23 5 Klargester Envirosafe 12 21 3.4 Klargester Bio-Ficient 20 27 0.4 WPL Diamond 10 21 7.3 Balmoral Hydroclear 11 19 4.5 Tricel 11 16 8 Graf Klaro E 12 20 12 Condor ASP 8 12 7.7 Falcon 11 16 5.9 Vortex 7.3 15.2 0.4 FilterPod Non-Electric 10 12 11 Premier Tech Aqua Ltd. Epurfix Non-Electric 11 14 20 Clearfox Non-Electric 9 29 12

Very much in the vein of "Let Stalk Strine" which in the 60s, as students, we thought was hilarious.