Carrerahill

The BBA certified it, then pulled it, I believe they would owe it to you, as a duty of care to tell you why. I would contact them for comment and explain on the back of their cert you used it. Now have issues. Although, as I type this, I think, actually it would be advisable not to tell them you have installed it as per that cert, because, if it turns out they screwed up, they might be scared you come for them. I might play the "I proposed to install it as per the now revoked cert, what were the reasons so I can avoid issues" - a lie but probably worth telling it!

Seems a bit lacking in bedrooms for me given the size and scale of the house. Maybe it is just for a couple and kids moved out so technically loads of spare but thinking to the marketability of a house of the value of this, I think at least another bedroom would be good.

It sounds like it just can't hack a Northern Scottish winter! Especially given the BBA cert was pulled. How certain are you the application was to the book by your chap? If this stacks up (maybe hard to prove though) then the manufacturer should really offer to get it sorted at their cost.

Are they on screw heads?

So he was... my bad!

I would use fire rated penetration seal. Google fire sealing penetrations and you will get plenty of examples of products and methods to use. Mortar would work but might be a bit permanent and difficult to break out without damaging services if repairs or upgrades are needed. The stuff we spec is envirograf.

It won't be an issue as long as you fit a compliant metal recessed box and fit all the correct glands and grommets and or use fire sealant where required. If it was me, I would call Wylex or MK and have them give you the model and details of the consumer unit you will need to mount into a timber frame. These boxes are made for this application.

Just fit one - photograph and remove if you want - sometimes it is better just to play their game rather than argue or debate, even if you are right. Our warrant drawings clearly showed vent bricks which ventilate the solum and the wall cavity. BCO arrives, inspection goes very well, which for many of us, is very important as we build a lot of these things ourselves. Anyway, he left with basically one site related comment which was cavity vents. This came about like this, BCO - "You don't have any cavity vents within the lower portions of the walls." Me - "No, just the vent bricks which ventilate the solum and cavity." BCO - "But you will need wall vents too." Me - "Oh, I thought that the brick vents would be far in excess of any air volume the little vents could deliver". BCO - "But they are ventilating the solum." Me - "They are not sleeved directly across, like a traditionally built cavity wall vent they are open to both the cavity and the solum so they allow air to pass between all areas, they are sleeved through the inner leaf but not sleeved across the cavity." BCO - "I will need vents." Me - "OK, I will fit some drill vents every 1200mm about 600mm above FFL." BCO - "Thanks, that will work." I order a pack from ebay and cut the tube off 2 or 3 of them, I stick a little piece of black felt to the back of the vent to create a shadow, i stick a blob of clear silicone on the back and stick them to the wall, photograph it and pull them off, and using the same blobs of silicone stick them to the next wall, photograph and pull them off... do you see where this is going. I submitted the photos and later that way I had completion certificate. Is my build any less well ventilated because of these little things? No! Is BC happy? Yes! Job done.

You must submit the format you want the quote to come back on then in a clear and concise blank template. Have them fill the blanks basically. Quite often at the end of specifications and tender package documents on bigger projects there will be pages which show the quote layout, by doing this you are asking the builder to follow your format and submit in a way that suits you. However, this will likely make some smaller builders take one look at it and ignore it. The other option is you just sit down and extrapolate from them all the detail yourself into your own tables and charts to allow comparison. It is a bit like asking that 5 builders merchants all submit a quote in the same format and line by line standard. Not happening.

It has been internally sleeved at some point. Possibly quite good news for OP as it means his soil pipe is probably in pretty good working condition and will be for some time.

Throw them off the job and fine some pro's.

You are the customer, I think you should set the spec as per discussed and the paving expert site. Geo is only really going to do anything where there is a loose covering like gravel or bark. Once a fully bed of paving mortar is laid no weed will come up through that! Unfortunately there are a lot of trades who think they know things and don't really. Some of them don't really think, they just, try and copy and make up their own minds on things and carry on oblivious to what is going on or how things work. I saw a push-fit coupler installed by a plumber, with PTFE tape last week! I do not joke! I fixed it, the neighbour wanted to get the plumber in to check it... I pointed out the plumber was totally incompetent and that I did know what I was doing and had replumbed my whole house in soldered copper when I built the extension (I was so proud of my under sink work etc. I posted it on this site to receive many comments of how good it looked) and that although I am no plumber, I probably carry out better work than at least 60% of professional plumbers because I care and I take my time and I want it to look like a work of art. Sorry, I digress, but you get the point.

This is website is considered as the authority on all things paving: https://www.pavingexpert.com/layflag1 - note how they do it. Sub then bed i.e. the sand/cement.

I don't see the point of the Geo and the sand, I would go direct to a FULL cement/sand bed. Do that and no Geo is needed and will be quicker and save a little without any detriment to the install. The sand blinding is done for certain things but in this instance I cannot be sure why they want to do it. If they do insist on the sharp sand, ask for it to be bound up 1:7 or 1:8 ish (min) with cement so that it becomes a ridged base. The sand layer in there could, wash out and cause issues depending on how it is installed. I shall caveat the above by saying that without full view on this we may not know things for sure.

4-1/2" grinder, cut the top, break out the section that will be going, then grinder body will go into pipe and you can cut base and remainder of the sides. 4 minute job.

You should vent it, particularly in your case to keep the structure flowing with some air driving off moisture coming from the exposed wall. As it is boarded/bricked up, I would probably just core it and fit a nice vent grille. Far less effort than trying to fit a brick. I'd also maybe initially opt for a smaller vent, like a 75mm core, you just want some air movement but don't want a huge open escape route for all your warm air. I personally have not ventilated one of our sealed chimneys but it is, internal to the house until roof level and is directly adjacent to 2 active chimneys. It is fitted with a vent cap. My feeling is that the warmth in the chimney structure will help keep the capped one dry. Think washed out milk carton sitting in the sun it does dry out.

Dichloromethane?

Can, I hate the stuff and try not to use it so the idea of cleaning a gun out just is not for me, in fairness my long-reacha-extanda-tube (patented) gave me all the control I needed, it just decided to be naughty and go up. I had a look 15 minutes ago, with expansion it's looking a little better!

See when it comes to reports like this, the statistics are not based on certainty's because they don't take into consideration mental health, desperation, drug and alcohol abuse all which are certainly going to be part of the cause and effect of a break in. Statistically lets say I would not nudge/push another car on the road to get past, however, change my situation and I may. Ill child on board, trying to get to hospital, life or death, you bet I would not be driving like I was going for Sunday lunch. That statistic has not taken into consideration desperation. Many people will break in for the same reason. So depending on the mental state of the criminal will depend if an alarm is going to put them off or not. I don't like crime stats, I also don't agree with many of them because police forces alter the conditions to make them look better. Police Scotland several years ago made a statement that, "Reported crime had fallen" and how great they were and how well they had done. All I read was that reports of crime had fallen not the actual crimes! I bought an alarm on Wednesday for a friend of mine to install in their garage, £107 delivered for a Texecom control panel, remote keypad, PIR, door contacts, battery and premium bell box. I said I would sort it for them as I know how and have installed several alarms for myself over the years. Maintenance is only a way of alarm companies making money and they are in cahoots with the insurance companies that technically an insurance company may only accept a professionally installed & maintained alarm, we all know that alarms don't need maintained. Maybe change the battery every 6-8 years or when it warns you the battery is low. If you don't want a proper alarm even a bellbox with a flashing LED (decoy ones look too fake).

I don't have the time just now, but search for posts by me within the last year I think it would be, I posted a huge screed about asbestos and all the issues and concerns and limitations etc. etc. I know where you are coming from, just relax and read my post, I am certain it will help you.

I just needed to vent to some like minded individuals, it is not a big issue. I had a bit of a draught from under a skirting, I am going to paint the wall the skirting is on anyway and working from home means maximum procrastination. So I think to myself, remove the still unpainted skirting, drill 2 holes between each stud and blow in some foam, wall is a TF with 100mm PIR and a 50mm gap, the draught is coming up through where the TF meets the floor makeup, not bad, but enough I could feel a cold draught during the high winds. So, I pull the skirting, and drill 18 odd holes or whatever, missing a hole where I know the 2.5mm T&E cables are clipped to a stud - I'll live with a little draught there to ensure my cables are not covered in foam. I pull some sleeve off clear piece of SY cable to make myself a piece of tube about 300mm long that I attach to the foam can tube to extend it a bit. From expanding foam experience I figure that in this situation there is no harm is just blasting a shot into each hole and it will fill up the void at the bottom of the wall, and will fill up all the cracks and my insulation properties will increase. I even masked along the year old Amtico so if any snotters drop I am not onto the floor. So, I empty a can into the wall. Great. I wait a bit and using a torch peek through the gap between the floor and the wall, I can see the foil on the PIR, has all the blinking foam not gone UP the way!!! So I now have a nice insulation band about 60mm and up along my wall! Looks like I will be going to Screwfix later! Typical, blinking typical, that stuff goes everywhere, when you want it to pretty much just fill a void, it goes up!

We insulated a party wall, our reasons were different, we lived in a semi-detached, when we moved in we had 2 elderly neighbours, I knew what was going to happen and knew their house would end up on the market soon enough, then we could have got noisy neighbours or quiet neighbours. 50/50. So I said well, lets soundproof now, because it's not a gamble worth taking when the whole room was about to get a full overboard/flooring/wiring/decoration. We got a lovely, helpful, quiet couple who could not parent a young boy. A little towrag who apparently went to bed at the same time as his parents every night and was the most misbehaved little twit I have ever had the misfortune of knowing. The little darling would thump about well past 21:00 (at 2-3 years old) right up to 23:45ish, throw tantrums and slammed doors. We could hear aspects of this and that was with soundproofing! We often would comment how bad it would have been had we not, although I always said I missed out on the satisfaction of ordering loads of soundproofing and making it clear to everyone on the street we were having soundproofing installed to not so subtly show what we thought of the towrag's noise. I used that silicon isolation adhesive stuff and set new studs about 10mm off the existing brick wall, I isolated, as best I could the top and bottom from the house by trimming the floorboards back from the wall removing the physical connection to the wall where they had been mortared in. I then stuffed it with an sound insulation rockwool type thing. I then boarded it and had it skimmed. It works well. The isolation and hefty wad of rockwool stuff I think did the trick. Nothing too fancy to be honest, just using basic techniques to isolate. It works well, if I was doing it all again I would have probably done an OSB sheet then plasterboard, reason being we experimented with this in the build and have some really good sound properties by just using thick studs, OSB and PB. It more or less looked like a timber frame version of what Nod posted above. Maybe even used soundboard then normal PB but at the time I had 100's of sheets of PB so it suit to use that. I didn't go in for proprietary systems because they all seemed like solutions to problems that could be solved by being clever with fixings and insulation. I did contemplate resilient bar but decided I didn't like the way the wall would be supported.

It looks like a simple pin arrangement sitting through the door hinges with a spacer bar in the middle. The pins look to be threaded, but technically only the bottom pin is fastened to anything, according to the illustration, the top pin just sits there held in by gravity. It even suggests a make shift "puller" buy using a washer to help drive it up. I think I would get the top nut off, washer on, and carefully drive the nut down hard until it lifts the pin. If it was me, I would even try and induce some veg oil (to keep burning oily smells to frying pan only and not like that of burning crude oil) to help ease the pin up. It does mention cutting the tube if the pin has ever been hit down - has the pin been smacked at some point?

4K in one pop sounds an awful lot based on your demands. A boiler for your house will be about £800-1200 - allow a day to fit plus materials, maybe £250-350 - Total cost best: £1050 - worst £1550. https://www.screwfix.com/p/worcester-bosch-greenstar-28cdi-gas-compact-combi-boiler/446KP?kpid=446KP&ds_kid=92700055281954502&ds_rl=1249404&gclid=CjwKCAjw_L6LBhBbEiwA4c46uot8sKvS-1z55CQdbyDHMPm-Uzw9UyHz90IdPmFU3kQs6oXGSEQOehoC4RsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds Anyone who tries to sell you new pipework, new radiators, new everything, is at it and needs to be removed from your list of potential installers. Get onto some local plumbers with some good reviews and talk to them, tell them you want a boiler out and a boiler in, that is what you want nothing else, when they start to tell you what else you will need politely decline and move on. If you get the nonsense about gas line size them do your own research, even phone the manufacturer and ask for the spec to be confirmed. Often 22-28mm pipes are talked about these days, however a short run of say 15mm with radiused bends, not 90° elbows, may be suitable. I cannot remember the figures but for every bend they say add a metre or something like that, gentle radiused bends can be ignored. Apparently I needed a 22mm gas pipe, I did the calc and needed a 15mm! A good number of my neighbours have had new C/H systems installed over the past 5-6 years. The majority of the jobs start with piles of copper pipe going in and lots coming out. When I speak to them and ask about the new pipework most of them have said, "Oh well the company told me I needed it as the piping was over 20 years old and it will be clogged and they cannot guarantee the new boiler because Viessmann or Bosch etc. won't allow a new boiler on an old system." At that I am usually left angry they have been ripped off. I realise there are sometimes times where new rads and pipework are needed. I was at a building industry seminar/fair type thing for housing associations a number of years ago, I was there giving a talk but the rest of the time I was just wandering about, looking at the stands, and mainly asking businesses like Tesla and Wylex and Vent-Axia about products with an eye for my own build. I went to the Worcester Bosch stand and asked them about replacing boilers, explained the whole new systems being installed thing and they looked at me blankly and said, nope, nothing we spec, they just recommend a flush IF the system shows signs of dirty water/sediment and then a filter is retrofitted. Viessmann were the same. They agreed it was just greedy contractors pulling the wool. Boilers are funny things, people get very serious about them, it's like the big bad monster in the room no one dares to question and people just blindly go with what they are told. The fact is they are just a gas burner, heat exchanger a pump and some pipework with some controls. They are simple beasts. I think you will regret electric heating in the longer run. Have you also taken into consideration the cost of the 6-12kW (depending on model) supplies you will need run in around your house for the instantaneous hot water heaters? You say you live in a flat, is there good easy access to run the potentially 10mm^2 cables about your house and does your consumer unit have spare ways for 2 No. additional high current circuits? Also note your electricity is not only from renewable sources, your supplier only buys from renewable sources so they are buying renewable, but you will still use Nuclear, Coal, Gas, Oil etc. it all comes from the same cable, please be under no illusion you are getting solar or wind or tidal generated electricity coming into your house because you have signed up to a renewables only supplier. It is like buying eggs, the egg suppliers go and buys eggs from farms, some are organic, some are organic freerange, some are battery, some are organic battery, some from ultra happy hens living in a small holding with 4 other hens and get to run about the warm kitchen in the winter. Then everyone buys 10 eggs from the egg suppliers, however, everyone just then goes to the skip and takes out 10 eggs at random... You did ask if anyone saw holes in your logic so I hope this is not seen as being too critical!

Get another combi boiler.