Carrerahill

I have one here that was sent from a Demo Company to a LA - PM me your email address and I will send it to you. You will need to re-write it obviously.

When I design/build things I always work on the principle of the hat with the big brim - get water away from the house, shed, garage, external power distribution cabinet with as big an overhang as I can. Remove the sill and you remove a layer of protection.

Agreed - we, as a practise were asked for DWG drawings this morning, there was a wave of laughter across the office. It depends where the job if of course, complete and fee's paid, maybe. But lets face it, that is like a joiner giving away potentially 25-100% finished window surrounds or cabinets he has made in his workshop without a payment agreement.

Not so - maybe you are getting confused with a PDF XREF. You must have an older or lighter version of ACAD. I import PDF's probably 2-5 times a week - full import to give me a fully functional CAD drawing that I can edit and tweak to my hearts content. Layers usually even come in too, although not always spot on but good enough to work on.

Looks excellent!

Madness given you literally drag the PDF into CAD and it will let you import it!

AutoCAD can import and convert PDF plans, commonly done, you just need to insert the scale details which should be easy if there are scaled dims on the PDF, then you can use that as your scale point. Not ideal but rarely have an issue with it.

They are so bleedin' backward. Really, its shocking, really really shocking. I admire you trying to break the mould, I try to break it too but often do end up going down the boring tried and tested route for a multitude of issues.

I'd probably hold of sending this until you have full permission - listen to your architect. They are meant to put the letter out for 21 days consultation, that should be done almost immediately, then they sit on it for 5 weeks then issue grant/deny - that's the 8 week statutory period. Covid lets them re-write their own rules I think. Just build it then you will get their attention!

I am with outfox the market. Electricity is 18.9pence per day standing charge 16.1273pence per unit Gas is 18.9pence per day standing charge 3.018pence per unit All prices inclusive of VAT. You will probably have to pay more being up north as they factor in ease of supplying - cities for example are cheaper to supply than rural areas.

Not if the device is selected properly. Service panels rarely have fuses anymore, even the main incomer will be on a MCCB. We design a lot of hotels and multioccupancy resi and the submains are never on fuses these days. He isn't doing the work, his sparky will spec an appropriate device for the installation.

If I was specifying this at design stage, I would put it in the utility, after the DNO's cut-out install a 100A MCB in a little 2 way enclosure - you may even want to consider a 4 way unit and put in surge protection - then run out a SWA cable as a submains to the consumer unit. I'd use a 25mm 3 core for the short length and all the additional cost will be.

Very nice. Looks good. I love concrete pours! Even now with my build nearly done, any excuse I get, I order a ton of all in one and get the mixer out. What is the deep hole area that appears to have shaft leading down to it?

I have an internal soil pipe that also carried roof gutter water for about a year (until the build was on far enough I could fit the external downpipes) - the soil pipe serves the upstairs bathroom, so gets a fair bit of use and runs down a wall in the kitchen. I had the same concerns as you, acoustics and condensation. To deal with this I protected the void with a VCL, ensured it was also essentially ventilated, and then sorted the acoustics by building a sturdy frame around the pipe and sheeting around the pipe in in OSB then 12.5mm PB. Once skimmed, when the shower is running or WC flushed, you would need to be standing in kitchen, in total silence, listening for it. I also ensured that it was a straight single piece of pipe to reduce noise creators like bosses and connections. I am happy with the solution and it was easy to do. I went under the house during the winter and had a look for signs of condensation running down the pipe and there was nothing, if it did however, as it touches nothing it would run to ground level where ventilation would deal with it.

Not knowing your situation exactly makes this a little difficult to answer but do the meters need to move or could the consumer unit just be re-located, in which case maybe the meter can stay put. Again, not clear, can the cable head stay put and incoming gas pipe or again, do these need to move?

I think it is driven by shortages brought on by businesses being greedy and furloughing staff. I know of so many businesses that were just shutting down with no real reason to do so other than so management and owners could take the year off and not worry about the financial implications. Clearly this is not the story for all and for many financial problems are rampant, but there was some sheer greed and stupidity at play. When they stopped making plasterboard and milling wood that was just ridiculous because it was still being consumed apart for the first 4-5 weeks of initial lockdown. But lots of manufacturers saw the opportunity to stop paying wages, shaft the government and sit and do very little. So now we have shortages of everything due to backlog and also a boom in building projects, Brexit has nothing to do with it. Costs should drop again when it all levels but I fear they won't as everyone gets greedy.

I doubt you are going to make all this extra energy however consider a Sunamp - they are like half the size of a conventional tank and thus reduce the need for a massive calorifier.

Pretty much. Get a roof detail into them - that will let you start on site, then start detailing the externally mounted services etc. however, don't wait too long, given they want to see where more or less everything attached to your house is going to be, it could have an impact on boiler locations, soil pipes, all sorts, even ground works, which, if rejected could alter your plans significantly, so realistically, it might be time to sit down and detail it all up now. They just want it to look nice basically.

Who cut it - if not you, have them solve it, that's a right bog up.

Not keen on the utility/larder layout on the GF - with a little re-arrangement there could be a better use of space, think I'd square off the larder and just make it a walk through larder into the utility instead of that awkward door arrangement, or just ditch the larder, move the wall up to the hall boundary and have 1 big utility with food cupboards in it. Upstairs WC's - I'd consider how you will be installing all those services, toilets on different walls means more services in more walls and more waste routes thus more noise through your home, I would swap the linen cupboard with the WC door and have the main bathroom and en-suite toilets more or less back to back making that a single, perhaps thicker, service wall with water etc, and a single soil pipe with 2 connections, at present there will be services running all over. Being in M&E consultancy I see things differently to many, but that is just totally impractical and typical architect thinking. The current design is also more costly than a streamlined approach with shared services.

I think the phraseology you are using is what is confusing them, all ASHP's I have ever used have had a cooling mode, yes in theory the cycle is in reverse or as you say "running backwards" but I think that is confusing them. Just confirm it has cooling mode or better, get onto the Mitzi site and download the datasheet to confirm. Installers are good at installing stuff, they tend, not always, but do tend, to be a bit clueless and lacking in any care of actual use or functionality like a user like you is discussing.

Personally, I would not call the builder, I think he will, with all due respect, think you are being pedantic - you now have good dated record of this on this forum if you ever did need to show him. Unless you need to for testing reasons and at that I would only do a short test, I'd leave the UFH now until I needed it in the autumn/winter. Cracks in concrete/screed are totally normal. Keep an eye on them, if by say middle of July things are looking terrible then maybe start to worry, but so far that is just what screed does, it is like paint, it is inevitable it is going to dry! If you have any to look at, go and look at a dried out concrete block wall, note various little cracks in the bond between the mortar and block, this is all shrinkage and is normal, can look a bit distressing to many but it is normal. Also bear in mind this is just a floor screed, even if it were a structural slab I still wouldn't worry at what I can see above. If you can start putting £1 coins into the gap though!

Yes, it also cures from the outside in, so surface readings are not illustrative of the whole section.

Looks like normal shrinkage to me.

Correct, buildings must breath or you will be signing large cheques to cover rot issues and damp and all sorts.