Omnibuswoman

Thanks. I will have a look at how far along the hallway wall I can bring it before it comes through. I could maybe disguise it by building out the lower part of that wall as a little shelf feature. Watch this space!!

Thanks @Nickfromwales I should have explained more…. the upstand is only a temporary thing that allowed us to use appliances before making the laundry room up into a proper utility space. The plan is to have a four-unit sized (roughly 2450mm) run along the laundry room wall with dishwasher (later to be replaced with tumble drier), washing machine, sink unit, and fridge. I shoved the upstand in last year just to allow us to have use of the dishwasher and washing machine. My plan now is to take that out, and fit a proper sink P trap with double nozzles for the two appliances in the final location, as HWMBO is fed up of swapping over the two drainage tubes every time we use the appliances. (I’m also doing the incoming water connections to allow both appliances to be connected at the same time instead of swapping them over, which is what we have been doing.) The upstand location is 1550mm from the R hand wall, which is essentially where the middle of the laundry sink will sit. The fail in my plan was to buy a McAlpine sink trap, which I now find won’t connect with the existing Flo-Plast pipework, and that is what I was looking to BH’s hive mind for. Having said all of that, I appreciate your plumbing wisdom, and wonder if you still think the waste pipe is too high if it is only connecting to a sink P trap and not having the upstand in place? Thanks!!

This is the other side of the wall, under the half-landing. The plumber set the first 400mm of pipe coming out from the soil stack, and I took it across from there, and then through the wall. Where the waste pipe joins the washing machine upstand the top of the pipe is around 500mm off the floor. (This was my first ever go at plumbing, so please don’t judge too harshly!! 😳)

Thanks, yes when I first did the waste run I realised that the plumber (who had put in the soil stack and a nominal piece of waste pipe) had used solvent weld pipe, so the push fit fittings I had bought had to go back to SF to be changed for solvent weld. When I bought the washing machine waste upstand pipe fitting, which is a compression fitting, I was surprised to find that it would fit onto the solvent weld pipe. The sink waste with the double appliance nozzles is McAlpine. This won’t connect to the existing solvent weld flo-plast pipe.

Today I decided to start to learn plumbing - cue a very frustrating day with some comical moments. I’m at the point of changing the temporary appliance waste upstand for a sink P trap with double appliance nozzles where the laundry room sink will go, and have hit some difficulties: Stoopidly I didn’t realise that each brand of plumbing parts are slightly different in size, so the McAlpxxx trap won’t connect to the Flo-plxxx pipework. I’m also uncertain about how to arrange the connection of the P trap to the incoming waste pipe. Photo attached of existing waste arrangement. (The end of the horizontal pipe sits where the sink waste needs to go.) The Flo-plxxx double nozzle P trap also gets appalling reviews and isn’t sold at SF. Is there an alternative brand that will connect to the Flo-plxxx 40mm waste pipe? Any suggestions how to configure the sink waste to meet the horizontal pipe? thanks!

Thanks - no I didn’t get an answer to this, so had filed it under “things to deal with later”. Very helpful to know.

Very well done to you both. You remain my inspiration, and valued source of “been there, made that mistake, here’s what I learned” advice. Looking forward to having a G&T on the glorious gin balcony!

I’ve heard that Totem timber in Plymouth is good for straight wood…

No, we didn’t have any problems with water, this was just part of the original plan for the house, to protect the foundation slab. Shillet tends to have water sit on it a bit, then it will drain away given time.

Thanks for your replies. This is the description given in the quote: This doesn’t describe the pipe having a sock or being wrapped. However, my understanding was that it is simply part of how a French drain is installed. We did discuss the pipe being wrapped in membrane when he came to quote for the job. The ground is shillet, which is a sandy/stony type of soil.

We paid a company to come and lay MOT/membrane and gravel, install a French drain around the house, and drains from the downpipes to the rain pond. Some of the work was to a good standard, but some we are having issues with. We discovered that some of the weed membrane hadn’t been placed under the gravel, leaving patches where weeds were starting to come up. This has caused us to do further exploration of the hidden aspects of the work. I have dug out a couple of areas of the French drain, and found no membrane or sock on the pipe, meaning it will become silted up. Can I get views on whether to get the company back to put this right, or just let it be and hope for the best?? There are no inspection chambers so no way of accessing the pipes other than by digging down into the stone, which is a mighty PITA! photo attached of one of my test digs…

I’m also up for this! Weekends in June better for us…

An inspiring testament to the benefits of working very hard and paying attention to detail. Looks fantastic!

I’ve just completed the survey Cem. I noticed a typing error as follows:

@BotusBuild I’ll take your used paint pots! V handy for storing things in the shed away from the mice.

Taking an alternative view, why do you need UFH at all in a house with such a low heat demand? We considered all of the options, and found that the cost of installing UFH and ASHP would not be recouped by the savings we would make. Our heat demand is (in theory) 1.8kw at -4C outside. I’m using one 2kw oil filled rad in the ground floor hallway, and a greenhouse heater (300W) in the open plan area. Both have an integral thermostat. It is noticeably and consistently warm in the house - every time someone comes round they comment on the warmth - yet it’s only 19.5C. Our old Edwardian flat with gale force drafts and single skin brick walls had to be kept at 21.5C to feel bearable. We have OIG 7p overnight which I use for the hot water tank. Solar panels supplement the daytime electricity demand. You may be better off with a minimal cost low tech heating solution if the house is as highly insulated and air tight as you are aiming for.

I remember the last time this lot were in, and the Future Homes standard was put into legislation, raising air tightness and insulation standards for new houses, with a 7 year lead-in time for the house building industry to adapt. Due to commence in 2015, Cameron’s govt scrapped it just before it was due to start. Presumably due to some effective lobbying from men in sharp suits on behalf of the house building industry… imagine - 10 years of houses built to a standard of efficiency that would be instantly suitable for heat pump based heating. What a political disgrace that we are a decade down the line, and no further forward.

@SteamyTea I don’t, but I do get hiccups when I’m hungry!

We have this every time we go out to the shed and back in again!

Oh I see, thanks for clarifying. I had misunderstood that this was PP for an extension at the back of the house only.

I’m not sure that I understand why, when the front wall came down, it was rebuilt with the front door and window openings in a different place?

i think this will be my first port of call!

where do I place the probes??

No, they are both on the same inverter. I have an app that allows me to choose how to use the batteries (to the extent that I understand what to do). I can charge them from the grid overnight at a cheap rate, then they will discharge during the day to supplement supply.

How do I check this?