Carrerahill

Have you tried Energetics? Maybe they will be the same. What if you say you are the developer? I'd be tempted to twist the truth. We once used my wife's maiden name on an order form for ventilation equipment so that I could claim I was the installer and she was the client as they would not sell to the end client because their product was soooo specialised only a trained pro could possibly install it. BS. We even have the full warranty because I registered the MVHR as I the installer and wife the end client.

12 is a little low for future proofing for an electric future.

Have they given you a price for the contestable and non-contestable? Often doing the monkey work yourself will save a fair bit. Why 35kVA TPN? 20-25kVA SPN would probably be fine and is more or less what most people get if they buy a house 20kVA is basically a 80A supply, 25 being 100A - almost all cut-outs will show 100A but can be fused from 60A. Also, have you approached some IDNO's for prices? If not, I suggest you do.

That is not a restrictor, in a sense that it was installed to restrict, but yes it will be causing a restriction. That is just a piece of the old copper pipe which someone has left because they didn't want to interfere with the valve, didn't have the right coupling etc. etc. Renew as much of it as you can.

What you are seeing their is shrinkage, either from direct sun, high temps, or a breeze blowing over it. I would not be too worried about this given the application, the cracks will not be all the way through.

You can split concrete block with an axe. Doesn't mean it is a good idea.

What are the spec's of it such as product thickness, how thick is the wear layer etc. How much are you talking about per m­²? We have Amtico, as for feel underfoot it is good in the winter as it never feels cold, more forgiving if you drop things as it's not as hard, it does scratch, but so does all hard flooring. With Amtico you can buff small to medium scratches out with a repair chemical which as far as I can tell softens (melts) the wear surface a bit so it blends back together. I would not believe that it would reduce a house value, I think perhaps what might be true is that hardwood floors are known to increase value, the oak flooring we have is often mentioned by name in house listings if it has been used. In fairness I would do exactly the same to indicate to buyers a high quality fit for life floor was in existence. Sadly I am sure people will still come in, decide they don't like the colour or something and rip it up! So perhaps LVT just doesn't add value the same. Having said that, I know of a small development of near us where the private house builder used Amtico throughout the ground floor and it was a big push in the selling literature. It was stunning with all the motifs and borders etc. I reckon good hard flooring is going to add value over a carpet unless it's Axminster, Wilton, Brintons or Voverk to name a few of the potential lifetime quality carpets.

“Annoyingly” because people don’t like paying for design services, even at the top of the construction pile, contractors and developers don’t like paying for things to be designed, they knock you down on price and want everything they see as “non-essential” taken out the scope. So, what will happen, in reality, and what happens currently in other changing playing fields is that the installation will be done without design or without proper design. The net result is inefficiencies or inadequate or poorly functioning systems. You will also get the boiler installer who diversifies into ASHP as his boiler installs fall off who will go on a training course then claim to be the expert, this is true for a small minority but many just become so called “experts” then throw about poor information and worse, install systems based on said poor information. If more things were designed then we would be in a better, more efficient, cost effective world in the long term, but many want to see the capital costs lowered, particularly developers. I know for a fact that a developer is currently installing 164 No, 305W Peak, solar panels on a building, connected to nothing. Reason being that the LA accepted their existence, but little do they know they don’t go anywhere. Why on earth I hear you ask, well what is the benefit to them? They saved £40,000 or something on the inverters, connection back to the MSB etc. etc. and the install time. If that is their attitude, why would they want to waste any money on things they can just slap in without design?

Agreed - I am not personally a mechanical engineer (I'm electrical) but I work in M&E so my colleagues are mech guys and in M&E project meetings we must sit and listen to the other disciplines discussions - needless to say, you pick things up to a point you are familiar with other building services. We are currently the stage 4 M&E design consultants and checking engineers for a D&B hotel, our guys designed it with one system but the M&E contractor wants to use Mitsubishi for the ASHP's, now this is for heating 4000 litres of water with pre-heat cylinders and heated buffers and all sorts, its a big system but the change to Mitsi is a nightmare, the whole system is having to be redesigned and re-calculated by the M&E contractor (who is now regretting it I think because they are spending more manhours on design than they will save on kit). They are also going to need to have a booster immersion tank to bring the water temp up to the hotel spec temp because the Mitsi system won't get it hot enough. Things got a little heated recently between the PM and the M&E contractor, where the main contractor PM wanted to know what exactly the issue was, we stated that the system we designed was based on various temps and figures and flow rates from manufacturer A - but M&E contractor wants to use manufacturer B - because of the massive variances in the way these things all work, its not just comparing apples to apples and I think it is this issue that is creating the minefield. Gone are the days where anyone with half a brain could spec a gas boiler or cylinder etc. and as long as they got water volume and BTU's etc. right it would probably work, I think annoyingly we are entering an era where these systems are going to need to be properly designed, at least until they become more common and more importantly widely understood by all.

What a mess of a situation - not good what has been done. So many things you could do here from correct and proper solutions to sort of bodges that might work. In an ideal world you would dig up the drive for about a 500-600mm section, waterproof the walls, and then rebuild the drive with gravel infill and a channel drain. Next sort of OK option would be to pull up the solider course of paving, dig down and fit a channel drain and divert the water into a drain somewhere. I suppose bodges could be done too - not sure what, I don't like bodges and cannot think of a good one.

It seems to me that something is going out of true towards the end and rather than the blade cutting through it is putting a load onto the tile which is cracking it. It stands to reason that a good blade spinning fast will remove material thus cutting through, if this remains straight, level and true then the blade will continue on it's path, if at some point something tilts or turns or rocks, I could see the above occuring. I had an issue with vibration, once the tile was nearly cut, the last bit was just cracking off - I ended up needing to get the tile to sit more firmly so it couldn't vibrate the backs of them their quite rough so sitting flat and firm was not an inherent characteristic of the tile. I would perhaps get some scrap tiles (looks like you may have a few!) and investigate how square everything sits in relation to each other particularly at the last section of the cut. If the issue is limited to the last 50-60mm then could you try cutting it with a wooden spacer to move the tile out further, if that cuts no issue then you know that something is happening at the final stroke. Is the blade running dead straight the whole way? It is not by any chance taking a lean at the last section due to a loose rail or bearing or bent bit?

This sort of stuff is already happening, we are providing M&E design services on a restaurant build, they have just converted it to a traditional brick build because they could not get the cladding and and the portals and things for reasonable money.

It would be pretty good if you could export the results and use them on a QS spreadhseet, when I priced my builds I just used an excel and manually entered the data, things were more stable then, if that could update with an input from this that would be epic. I am not suggesting that you spend the time and effort doing this personally but could be an option for someone who is maybe tracking a build.

Terminate the cable within your property, possibly even at point of entry, so that the joint can be accessible, if it was me I would solder and heatshrink it maintaining a good twist as close to the joints as possible enclosed in a flush box and cover, my alternative would be to terminate the cable to a flush/surface RJ45 socket, then plug another cable into that out to your intercom. This option permits you to run the new cable exactly where you want it and the connection will be accessible - do not plaster over. Even in SELV systems like this it really is unacceptable. If worst comes to worst put a 1G blanking plate on the wall down low. Only issue here might be distance, what is the current distance do you think? Is this your own system or part of a system in a multi-occupancy building?

Insulation/plasterboard supplier - do other building materials too.

You clearly have not been in many large industrial buildings, try the size of a Minibus for them and pumps that sit on concrete plinths... to be honest that boiler looks about right for a large house given it's age, floor standing and oil.

I am not sure this is going to work like you intend, using LPG is going to cost far more than oil. These LPG distribution firms are crooks.

1. OK costs - I get it, but assuming your not going to end up bankrupt don't let money cause you too much undue stress - I get it money is very important and you need to be careful but in the grand scheme of things if it will be a drop in the ocean looking back in 3-4 years then try and ignore it. 2A. Sounds like the neighbours are in insane, I would want to shut them up. In this situation I would send them a letter. Outline the fact you are not starting too early or too late and that works are carried out during normal hours of business, if your house was owned by a developer and being worked on by a developer they would give not a hoot and do as they please, OK, you need to live next to these people but just state to them they need to deal with it. 12:00 is unreasonable, on a Friday the guys are thinking about going home at this point. I think between about 07:00 and 20:00 you can make noise and it is not against the nuisance noise, even in my eyes 08:00-17:00 would be totally fair. In fairness later on a Saturday and ideally nothing noisy on a Sunday would be respectful. 2B. Your relatives need to be reminded things are not normal just now, and that perhaps their builds were less onerous or went to plan because there were no issues. Relatives who "know best" are often a pest. If you can, just tell them you appreciate their thoughts but please can they not remind you as you are under tremendous stress. I think that is friendly enough and might get you some breathing room. 3. Yes, I get that, just accept that your life is a part (more like full time I am sure) house developer just now! Good luck.

Word of advice, if you can relax a bit and just accept Christmas, you and those around you will have a better life. I don't know if your target date is driven by you and your families own expectations and eagerness to get in or if there is a financial implication or maybe current living situation implication. I used to set targets and dates for completion stages all the time, until my wife asked me what would happen if we were not done by date X. We were on holiday when she asked me this and I had a clear head, I thought for a bit, but I must have looked rather perplexed to her because I had no answer. Nothing would happen, I'd have just failed to meet my target date. We came back from holiday with a new date, it came and went, I didn't care. It will be what it will be. I now even have some weekends off from working on "the site". We are actually nearly done, our gravel arrived today for the newly landscaped bits, so did our fence timber. Maybe I should say completion date is the 27th of June... or maybe not, who cares. It will get done. I got my completion certificate yesterday so technically I am done, but you are never done with a property until you sell it!

This is this case for sure. You must look closely at who writes some of these articles. If I was an ACM removal specialist I know what would be in my website blog! Every story has 2 sides. Everything out there is rigged to lead people down one train of thought. I called out 3 ACM business to quote me to remove my garage roof, I got a great quote, £300 - I had the cash in my wallet to go for it, but didn't trust them not to rip it up, spray broken sheets all over my garden, maybe grind the heads off bolts. At that money they were also surely going to dump it. Next guys were £1200 - I told them that was steep, how much were they factoring for ACM disposal to which he said £800 - I told him he was being ripped off because I had 3 quotes for disposal, 1 from a place I had to take it myself wrapped up £160 - and £350 for a small ACM skip and the worst quote was about £700. He didn't like that I knew the costs. 3rd was a joke at nearly £3K. Mention ACM's and people get greedy. I can think of more dangerous and hazardous jobs that cost less.

In a word No. To victims and families of victims of asbestos related illness/fatalities I am sure they would say, hold on a minute, but having essentially been through accidental and chosen, risk managed exposure (with PPE) I have done a lot of research into this and founded my own ideas. There are various types of asbestos, blue, brown and white in order of danger, blue being the most deadly due to the smallest fibre size. Most asbestos containing materials (ACM's) found in houses will be white, from floor coverings to corrugated cement boards and almost certainly the stuff you had in your house. Most ACM's like flooring, adhesive and roof sheeting have the 5-12% of asbestos bound into them - so even when cut the fibres are bound up by bitumen or cement etc. making them bigger and heavier therefore they sink, don't float in the air as much - especially outside, and due to their size don't find the same way into your lungs. The boards used on roofing and for soffits and what not was often cut by installers with a hand saw with not so much as a paper mask, generally done outside this work thus concentrations of the dust was low and quickly carried away. There is good evidence to suggest many of these guys are still about to tell the tale how they used to cut it. White ACM's are also the only ACM that non-trained personnel and DIYers may remove under the HSE guidelines. Until not that long ago it was acceptable to dump old cement asbestos sheet material onto farm lanes and tracks to fill in potholes and could be buried on farms - the place was awash with the stuff being ground up into smaller and smaller pieces over the years - there was not a documented increase in agricultural workers with asbestos related illness. White asbestos is one of the only asbestos types that can actually be cleared from the lungs. One of the highest rates of asbestos related disease from white asbestos is actually school teachers and hospital workers due to the fact these buildings were filled with the stuff - not those who worked with it strangely. I think I would worry if I had had long term exposure to the stuff, I have removed a garage roof with full PPE and sort of accidentally cut through floor boards with a circular saw which was covered in bitumen adhesive and bits of old vinyl flooring, I do suspect they were ACM's - I didn't really consider this when I started this job - it was a bit of a worry but I had to move on a hope that my hopefully one off maybe high exposure will be OK. The benefit here is the bitumen and vinyl sticks to the asbestos, much like cement in cement board and doesn't actually just instantly release clouds into the air. I didn't read a few websites for my research, I downloaded medical journals and HSE reports and guides and spoke to Asbestos removal experts and read risk assessments and managed to speak with loads of old timer tradesmen from yesteryear to form an educated summary of just how bad is this stuff. Something else to bear in mind is that ACM's are sitting in gardens and farms across the land, old 50-60 year old sheets deteriorating away, rain washes the dust into the ground, it dries up and blows about - there is asbestos in the air all the time I do not intend ever to deal with ACM's again - I think my couple of instances of contact will be OK and I think yours is even better. What way was the wind blowing? Or even was it blowing at all? Any air movement and unless it was a prolonged release of fibre being gently blown towards you, then chances are you are fine. Even a breeze towards you would arguably have carried the fibres off so quickly due to their very low mass that you never even got a change to breath them in! Don't worry.

Or option 4 - Buy all/most of the materials for your house, but make sure to order plenty spare... get the VAT back and use to build your garage with the spare... This is a little deceptive but arguably you would get the VAT claim on it anyway, but it would need done with the house, this just saves you planning hassle if a PD garage suits. Just a thought.

Thought were were talking sink wastes here. What is the min. for 110? 1:80? Range 1:40 to 1:80?

It should be between 1:40 and 1:110. So PeterW was meaning it is "within" the regs.

Object. I'd request a meeting with the planner and ask how much the letter of objection is impacting their decision, maybe they would refuse anyway. You said the neighbour is a developer? So how would he like if all his developments were objected to and blocked. You are a private individual trying to improve your house for your benefit and you care about your area - as a developer he cares about money. I think I would try and track him down for a coffee and a chat. I suspect that he has some ulterior motive, hoping you will move away because this house no longer suits and wanted to buy it for himself to develop? Is he planning on selling up soon and doesn't want to sell a house next to a building site.