Gone West

If you're in England this might help. https://www.planningaid.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/203179001-If-my-development-took-place-some-time-ago-could-it-be-too-late-for-action-to-be-taken

I used NuLok, but it was 13 years ago in England. The supplier is no longer trading. At the same time a friend used NuLok with their PV system and was very pleased. We were also happy with the product with the exception that there was some difference in colours of the porcelain tiles, so batch numbers had to be checked.

When living in the temporary bungalow while building the house our vented DHW cylinder sprung a leak. I took it out, removed the immersion and tipped out a lot of loose scale that was just lying in the bottom of the cylinder. It was a very hard water area.

@Alan Ambrose , @MikeSharp01 , @Mattg4321 , @MJNewton , thanks for the replies. I have carried out the various tests after leaving it off for half an hour. When MCB switched off L/N = 9V, L/E = 9V, N/E = 0V. Turned the whole CU off and L/N = 0V. So my conclusion is that, it is, as suggested 'ghost voltage'. Every day is a school day.

It's an old Mercury MTM01 multimeter and I've got it on up to 600V. The junction box just connects two lighting supply cables as the other circuit connecting to the junction box was removed some time ago. The 10V has persisted for around 10 seconds. I haven't tried it for any longer yet.

We have a lighting circuit running through a 6A MCB. It has a junction box connecting just two cables which are supply cables. When the MCB is on it's reading around 239V and when the MCB is off, it reads 10V. Is that acceptable or should I be looking for some sort of fault?

Correct, but we did have a well, which we used for watering the garden 😁. Instead of the deep bore soakaway we installed a reed bed system, because we needed a solution quickly for the BCO. We later removed the reed beds when the sewage treatment plant manufacturer improved the outflow readings. This was all in 2010 so I guess things have moved on a bit since then.

I used that system for the plinth on my last house. It was really straightforward to install.

I would use a 300mm concrete gravel board. You don't need his soil against your wall.

One of the original (1840s) external sandstone walls of my house is now an internal wall when a 1970s leanto was built. It's got an area of blown render which looks like it's been repaired before. Under the render is just shale and sandstone, which is all very dry and crumbly. Would soaking it with SBR stabilise it enough to rerender, or does anyone know if there is a product designed for this problem?

We've used Sennocke Insurance. https://www.sennocke.co.uk/ In 2018 we also got buildings and contents cover from Aviva for a timber clad, timber frame.

I think there are three. We used a Roughneck Mortar Gun successfully and cleanly on our sandstone slabs.

I don't like heights, and wouldn't be brave enough to do the things you have done. I have worked on my two storey house roof, after getting used to it. Have you spoken to your doctor about this, as it may not be a phobia.

We fitted a WPL Diamond DMS2 in 2010. We installed it ourselves and didn't have any real problems. The air pump was installed in the box which is largely underground and wasn't especially noisy. The only thing we learnt was to service the air pump annually, which we did ourselves.

@LaChab I've found what maybe a more useful picture.

I had one soil pipe with a fitting very similar to your picture. Mine had a 50mm outlet on the bend, and because it was just a toilet and basin on that soil pipe, I used a 50mm AAV. It was seven years ago so I don't remember exactly what make, but most of my fittings were Floplast or McAlpine.

In the ground floor wetroom at our last place I put the stub stack with AAV behind a dummy wall. The waste for the basin was also behind a dummy wall.

We had our metal web joists installed as per @ETC drawings. A few of the joists had to be shortened, and the builders contacted the joist manufacturers, who said they could be shortened, but that the end vertical strut had to be fitted as per original, after shortening.

I also agree with oil and rads. Forget UFH and ASHPs but at the very least insulate the loft well.

That's the original rawplug from over a hundred years ago. It supposedly held half a ton.

It wasn't particularly noisy and fortunately we didn't have any neighbours.

No, it was mostly in good nick. The house was built in the 1920s from 4" x 2", virtually no worm, same for the flooring.

We dismantled our old timber framed, timber clad bungalow ourselves. It had a breeze block extension on the back. We gave all the the timber away on Freecycle, hired a concrete crusher set to 100mm and used the 50mm and smaller stuff on site and gave the 100mm stuff to the farmer. What was left, went in the back of the car to the tip. Total cost of the demolition, around zero, after the asbestos had been removed.

We used Venetian Plaster in all the bathrooms in our last place. Much prefer it to tiles.

If offense is taken, it isn't intended. I bet she's glad it's not intended 😁