NewToAllOfThis

Thanks for the reply, the builder did all the plumbing for the waste so as mentioned not sure he knew that testing was required. No actual loft so will need to cut the plasterboard to get to the vent pipe join to the tile vent. How do you stop the air escaping through the plug hole and overflow or will the water in the u-bends be sufficient for the air test Sounds an expensive problem

Thank you for the replies, that clears up my till receipts. Just wondering if anyone can explain the question regarding how do you fill in the VAT form description when you have various items on one invoice and there is not room to describe them all in the space available. I guess it is one line for each invoice on the form. Is Waste or water fittings good enough ?

I have a lot of till receipts rather than a full invoice and also some full invoices but they don't have any address details, some have an account code where it was the only way I could get a discount as not having a trade account. Have people managed to claim VAT on just a till receipt or no address on the invoice? Where you have a number of items on a single invoice, how do you complete the description as there is not a lot of room to describe all items on the VAT returns form? I wonder how it will work with the new VAT claim method as they don't want the invoice so they will not be able to check unless they ask for the invoice and then what happens ?

Not ready to submit forms yet but created a spreadsheet similar to the old VAT claim form and scanned every invoice and now this change. Scarred to have a look at the online version in case it starts a clock ticking down on the 6 month window. Looking at the new paper form if it is a copy of the online then the main change are that it asks for the VAT registration number, also wants the total amount and the VAT amount information rather than just the VAT amount for invoices where the VAT is shown separate. On the old system where the VAT wasn't shown separate it just asked for the total amount, from the new paper form it seems to want you to calculate the amount of VAT as it again asks for total and VAT amount, unless the new form is incorrect and will be changed.

Hi, we have UFH with auto balancing actuators, this was installed by the builder and then the plumber installed the boiler and connected up to the UFH manifold. The heating output water splits between up and downstairs with a simple Tee fitting. He installed 2 way valves on the pipes to both floors. Is the 2 way valve required before the manifold as I thought the auto balancing actuators would control the water flow and if the UFH has reached the correct temperature then they would all close and water wouldn’t flow. Hopefully I have explained it clearly

Just read the BT Openworld document and seems that Gigabit fibre is only required from December 26. I can't believe they can charge up to £2000 for a single dwelling. I hope it isn't a requirement now as the infrastructure doesn't exist where we are building, I think the best they can offer is FTTC and it then runs on poles to premises. To get FTTP will likely mean digging the road for around 400 metres. Should I put some trunking from front of the premises to the property so there is no need to dig the driveway up in future.

Hi, It is outdoors on the 1st floor balcony

Hi, Been researching frameless balustrade suppliers and the price for what is the same spec varies from £3200 to £5500 for a run of 5 metres with two sides of 1 metre each creating a U shape. One question, is a gap normally left between the glass panels or is there a rubber or sealant filler applied between them as I guess they need room to expand. Has anyone used any of the following companies: Trade Balustrade Origin Architectural Ltd SHS Balconette

Thanks to help from Nick, I think I have now worked out all the connections. I had already installed 15mm pipe before realising I could have used 10mm to the taps. I have put dedicated runs to both toilets as it gives the option to use some form of rain / waste water harvesting in future.

We have an invoice for supply of all bathroom items which include a bathroom cabinet which are all listed on the invoice but them only one total excluding VAT is shown, the VAT and the total price. As I understand, VAT can not be claimed on a bathroom cabinet and some other basic items listed. The company will not itemise the individual items as they say it is a special package price but I guess they didn't want me to see if I could get some items cheaper elsewhere. Has anyone else had this situation and what approach have they taken claiming the VAT

Our front opening is 1500mm wide by 2200mm high and leads straight into the hallway and upstairs. Underfloor heating downstairs. Looking at either 0.87 or 1.1 W/(m²·K) versions. price difference for the 0.87 version is additional £1050 Any comments appreciated as to what the difference in heat loss will be in money terms and also what the general warmth / cold areas will be.

Thank you for the replies, starting to understand what I should be making sure is agreed with the plumber. The boiler will be in a very small area so not sure if the 837 will be a bit too big. I think the shower has a maximum throughput of 15 ltr/min and we are likely only to have one running at a time so could I get away without having a storage tank? We have temperature controlled mixer showers but the taps to sinks are standard mixer taps, does the pressure from hot and cold feeds into the taps and shower have to be at the same pressure to stop the water being forced back down the pipe from the higher pressure feed. What is the benefit of having the WC's at higher pressure, will they take a lot longer at 3 bar than 4 or doe it stop a problem with toilet being flushed when someone is showering. I've noticed that I need a Double-Check Valve on the mains inlet, would this go between the mains inlet and Stopcock or after the stopcock, and where should the Y strainer that JohnMo mentioned. Any nice diagrams floating around showing layout for how all the bits go together.

Although not tested yet, I know the incoming pressure in high coming into our new property and neighbours all say pressure is high. Is there a set pressure that should be distributed around the house or does it vary depending on size of property, number of bathrooms, type of heating, etc. We are having a combi boiler installed so no water storage tanks, I assume everything will therefore be at the same pressure throughout unless regulators are added? Should just one PRV be fitted where the mains water enters or should more than one be installed for different applications. We are having an outside tap fitted, would it be better to fit this before the PRV from the mains water so it has a high pressure ? I guess there are good and bad PRV's, can anyone recommend a sensibly priced reliable unit. .

They are changing their ranges and calling all their products a 'series' number, they are on series 4 old prodcuts, 5 fairly new and 6 new. I was told this will standardise across their whole range of products so you may notice it will come back out looking almost identical but be given a series number. You will also notice products going in and out of stock, even though some are just out of stock they say 'No longer available' and then appear a week or two later. We have the series 5 oven and microwave, not installed yet but look very nice. The microwave kept saying no longer available even though it was a new product, then it just appeared. The Samsung website is awful for user experience. I just hope their products are much better as dual cook oven look very useful

Hi All, Is there an easy way to work out if and where Fire-Doors are required. I have shown all the doors in RED I have attached our new build layout. Kitchen/Diner is upstairs, together with bedroom and bathroom Downstairs there are 2 bedrooms and bathroom. The Gas Boiler is in a cupboard with door access in bedroom, there is also a washer/dryer in the downstairs cupboard. Any help appreciated

Hi James, First I'm a DIYer not a professional so it was just my experience and probably didn't do it all as it should be done. I used the same sprayer and was impressed with the finish, key thing don't apply too much paint, keep moving the gun and try to keep the same distance from the wall. I practised on walls that were going to be hidden and I did get a few runs initially but as I said don't apply too much paint, more light coats are better than trying to get it on in one coat. I decided to use Matt on the ceiling and all walls to get the mist coat on. I then put the final coats on the ceiling as matt and have decided to apply silk coats on the wall by roller. The finish is so smooth that any touching up later with a roller or brush will show and walls are likely to need touching up, I also didn't fancy trying to mask the ceiling to spray the walls. Overspray is suppose to be minimal but I noticed it went everywhere including all over my clothes, wear a mask, gloves and goggles, the goggles do need to be wiped often so keep plenty of wipes and kitchen roll handy especially when doing the ceiling. It is slow to mask up, don't rush it, paint will sneak past any gap or tape not pressed fully to the surface, fast to spray and you need a lot of time to clean the equipment. One problem I had was with windows where the paint that sprayed onto the polythene just ran down on the windows sills, just leave it to dry and gently sand. I didn't have plaster that went on to the frame so can't comment on that. What I did do is double mask up, first I masked around all windows just with tape, then taped the polytene sheet with tape to the first tape I applied. I did thin the paint by about 10%

Hormann state that their doors are RC2 security level. Will this be acceptable for a new property to meet Buildings Regs, or does a door have to have PAS24 approval?

Hi, We have UFH with liquid Screed on the ground floor that has been sanded to remove laitance. We are looking at having Karndean flooring. W On the first floor, 22mm Norbord “Cabershield+” particleboard with a heavy duty PU coating on 600mm wide Posijoists. We have just had our first quote for installing Karndean and they want to lay ardex primer and a 3-4mm coat of ardex N/A latex screed. On the first floor they want to lay 6mm ply on the 22mm particleboard. Is it correct, or could the Karndean be laid directly on to the floor surfaces?

Yes should have said flat but also smooth. Looks like I have plenty of filling and rubbing to do. Can over sanding bring out a rough surface as taking off the smoothness created by a trowel and wet plaster

I was told that Anglian Water were realy strict so I bought the insulation from JTM plumbing that met their requirements. Stopcock and stop end required at pipe end outside where connecting to the meter as it said the red stopper that came with the water pipe was not acceptable. I didn't connect anything beyond the stopcock as nothing else was requested by Anglian water. They classed it as full service not building supply and all they want is to inspect once everything is connected up. When the person came to inspect, he didn't check the external end for the end cap, didn't want to see the insulation and just passed it. Strange they insisted that the pipe should be embedded in sand, when they connect from the road to the meter, they didn't use any sand, just shovelled the same material they removed back in. We now have water

How smooth should I expect the plaster to be that has been applied to a new plasterboard installation. Where the wall meets the ceiling and internal corners of walls feel rough compared with the main run of the walls. One wall as you run your hand along it you can feel it is wavy and more noticeable where the joints have been taped. Should I expect to have to sand any of it and expect to do a small amount of filling ? Once it is painted will it look better or worse than when looking at just a plastered wall.

I know not an answer but similar topic and probably 'teaching your grandmother to suck eggs' but maybe useful to some on here. I have just run PEX for radiators upstairs so ran them in the ceiling and clipped to Posi joists with the 15mm copper clips with no problem. I haven't fitted the radiators yet but have managed to run the pipe in the service void and put a sharp 90 degree bend on them so they can be connected directly to the radiators eliminating any hidden joints and keeping everything off the floor and avoiding the skirting. Make sure you use a spring bending insert, available from Screwfix and do a few practice bends with bits of spare pipe if you need a tight 90 degree bend. Make sure you get the PEX to radiator valve connectors rather than generic type as they are slightly different sizes.

Hi James, I am doing something very similar, with UFH ground floor and radiators upstairs, not installed yet so can't say if it is the correct decision After viewing some youtube videos and talking to Wunda, I am going with two manifolds, one for the UFH and one for the radiators. Each radiator will be fed separately from a port on the manifold although you could feed each room off one port if you have more than one radiator per room. Going with this solution as easy to drain each radiator individually if required, Room thermostats to control temperature of upstairs rooms rather than TRV's, Running plastic pipe to each radiator so no joins to worry about, It can all be controlled by a single app Will it all work and was it a good decision, who knows, has anyone else taken a similar approach ?

Hi, We are having UFH and liquid screed on the ground floor. The hall and other rooms will be Vinyl but the shower room will have 16mm Floor Tiles. Is there a solution to get the finished height of the Floor Tiles and Vinyl at the same level.

Hi, Had two designs for UFH, this is the ground floor as we are building a 'Topsey Turvey' house, one went around fixed furniture such as Wardrobes and the other had pipes under the Wardrobes. I have attached the design that runs under the furniture, the comment was that the room designs could change in future and therefore pipes run around the whole area. Looking for comments as to the runs and would you run under furniture that is unlikely to change due to the room shape. All the pipes run out through the small bedroom and under the wardrobe, is this normal. The route the pipes take are through door openings, we have stud walls and can go under non supporting studs that divide the boiler room and bathroom, is that possible or is it better to run via door openings. Both designs and many other designs I have seen use what I understand is called 'single serpentine', reading articles on the internet the 'double serpentine' and 'concentric layout' seem to offer the best evenly distribution of heat. Is there a reason why the single type seems to be the most popular. Finally, if I make any changes to the routes, will new calculations be required, is the information used to calculate overall efficency of the property or is it a document building control will need. Thanks Colin