Carrerahill

You will have enough to worry about doing the move, leave it. If they complain give them £40.

You know, I am with Dave. What are they going to do exactly if you leave it - I don't see it being a big issue, solicitors are hardly going to make a big deal out of this. When we moved into our house there was quite a few things left behind, arguably, it wasn't meant to be there, but no one got upset it was just some furniture that I ended up making into garage storage. Say it is part of the house.

Bucket trowel is good - also helps you scoop it out the bucket!

You just need to go for a particulate filter for zinc, be wary, very very wary when buying different filter types - you can sort of lead yourself into a false sense of security. I spoke to 3M's technical guy for about 45m a few months ago and came to the conclusion I need about 5 different filter stacks for my hobbies and building work. For example I spray paint a lot, so I have the filter pack for that which is inorganic and organic compounds + something else + that get stacked with a P3, but that is no use for taking out the formaldehyde gas from MDF cutting which also needs stacked with a P3 (well I don't bother with P1 or P2 and always use P3 which is also the correct filtration for asbestos).

Wait, what about a bit of a rethink - go for a secret gutter detail type affair - even if you don't actually need a gutter in it (is that roof pitched?). Frame it out, gutter to take the drips then just clad your wall as you would making it square and worry not about the banana.

Those details look sound to me, I have been looking at cladding manufacturers websites and note there are a plethora of sill strips and base finishing strips and all sorts - all of which do the same thing - step out and create a drip edge further out than the cladding. I quite like the folded metal ones with the plastikote stuff on them. Lead would look good if done well, if a little expensive as a detail - I had to buy lead a couple of weeks ago for the roof and I must admit I do enjoy working with it but it and you can get some nice finishes with the right tools and nipping edges over and what not.

Note my post! If you disc cut it, wear a MASK. I would not leave the loft for a while afterwards either, I once set my garage door frame on fire and it wasn't until about 2 hours later and there was smoke billowing out of frame that I realised anything was wrong!

You could spec foil-baked PB and that kills two birds.

It sounds like you are planning on doing this all properly, I would just get the BC drawings done and do it without dubiety from the beginning - building notice sounds like a good plan, but anyone who I know who has tried to use it has ended up with it back firing. I also suspect on this case they will ask for drawings anyway - unless doing it through notice lets you break ground sooner I would advise not too. Would I be correct in suggesting that your friend suggested going this way? Often those tasked with getting it planned up and approved do suggest things like this as it let's them hopefully bash on ahead rather than just sit down, and get it drawn up.

If it was me, I would probably use an angle grinder, however, as you alluded to, if it is in your loft and sparks go flying I would be concerned, I have started many a fire with an angle grinder, nothing serious but a piece of paper or my trouser leg (seriously). I think therefore it would be a good quality metal jigsaw blade or if you get that recip saw a good fresh blade in that - just something that doesn't send sparks flying, for any heavier bits you could use a grinder but use a thin disc (1mm) and control the spray of sparks into the tank if you can. Also, the zinc when heated through cutting etc. will give of zinc fumes which will give you welders flu, you will not generate much heat or flying dust with a jiggy but still, wear a mask, it makes you feel awful for a day or so.

He really must be assuming he is an electrician, he needs to basically be on a registrar of one of the clubs. Simply ask him in conversation. I'd go, oh BC are involved I assume you're OK to give me a NICEIC approved type cert for the works for BC sign-off - if he says yes then he knows the score. That sounds less like a grilling than outright asking if he is a pukka spark!

No, the final sign off for your electrics is what seals that deal - until then the electrics are a work in progress. All BC want is a signature on a test cert and usually the electricians NICEIC or SELECT etc. registration No. will be on it.

I think you are sorted then! People will be jealous of this! It is always good to have friendly contractors of all sorts of trades on speed dial. Due to the nature of my work I come across contractors a fair bit and the ones that impress me with good work on site I usually end up extracting their number! I have always done and always will do my own electrical work, on my extension as BC are involved I obviously need a piece of paper with a signature on it. Years ago in an office I worked in, I PMed a refit for our firm, I was very impressed with the electrician who came in to do all the electrical work, decent guy, we had similar interests and I took his details at the time in case I needed anyone, this was about 10 years ago. Over the years he has become more of a friend and I have recommended him to friends and customers over the years, so although I have never used him myself he knows he has essentially had a lot of work because of me, including a big NHS hospital refit. He came round for a cup of tea a couple of months ago and we agreed the electrical works program. The extension is fully wired, home runs back to the DB, and I am nearly ready for PB - yet he has not lifted a finger. He works up in the Highlands most of the time so this suits him. I am more competent at doing this than most of the apprentices you see on sites these days and it is usually they who pull in cable, clip it, drill studs and mount back boxes - so really no one could say a thing about this at any level.

No, of course you can but the issue is working out how to go about getting it tested and signed off - solve that aspect and you are sorted. There are ways and options - one is a friendly electrician, usually one who is too damn busy, who would be wiling to let you first fix - let him inspect then have him back for second fix or, and this is where it gets tough, ask if you can second fix and have him check your work then at the end he will test it all, sign it off. Now this is possible, and people will say, you will never get someone to do this, but that is not true, it happens. I know a friend who first fixed his entire extension himself, I gave him guidance re. the regs, when it came to second fix he got a recommendation of an electrician from his plasterer, he came out and the friend said, "the electrician who wired this won't pick up his phone and I cannot get hold of him". Guy said no bother, checked some bits and finished it off - only took him a day to complete and cost about £260.00 The issue then comes as to how competent you are and did you not only run cables appropriately, but did you ensure you didn't snag them and kink them and rip them through holes and cause damage where the second fix chap cannot see! An extension or outbuilding is always easier - especially if the DB is of newer style and has spare ways - that way it is easy to add circuits and have them meet current regs. I have seen friends have new kitchens installed and end up needing new DB's as the old ones just would not cope with the electrical demand, so before you know it you are onto a partial rewire and a new DB! I makes sense and is the right way to do it, as much as sometimes we don't like the thought of that! The issue is that in theory you can do it all then have it inspected, but you wouldn't have the necessary test equipment. My gas man let me run in all the copper pipes under my house, he came in, spent an hour and soldered them all together - one guy was not interested and said he would need to supply and fit pipe, I told him I was not interested in him then and he told me no one would do it. Next 2 guys were more than happy to do this and the one that got the job only did so through ability to get here sooner.

Move to Alaska!

What type of lighting are you going to use? There are sometimes options to be quite imaginative with light fittings. When I do our bathroom next year my intention is to incorporate the plenum into a lighting raft then use the fittings themselves as the extract points - likewise with clean return air, I don't see an issue, it is done commercially all the time. I like double-gimbal rectangular down-lights, we have things like this: https://www.lucent-lighting.com/products/prospex-light-fixtures/gimbals/gimbal-maxi/ they are fully vented and I was able to actually incorporate them into a plenum in the ceiling void.

I know from experience that temperature differentials on materials, typically timber based materials such as those used on kitchen cabinets and other fitted furnishing style doors can cause distortion issues. So as an example, a cool inside wardrobe caused by a draught in a floorboard and then the other side of the door on the warm heated side of the room can cause doors to start to bend inward slightly as a result of the warm side drying out the materials. I had this happen on some custom doors in my understaid drawer units - they look stunning and we get a lot of comments about how smart they look, but what most don't notice is that most of the drawer fronts (range from 450mm - 2200mm in height over the diagonal) have taken on a slight outward bow from the edges. It really annoys me. So bear this in mind if you do fire in heat below cabinets and the impact it may have on them - I could foresee doors going out of alignment etc. This problem is known to the extent that Hafele do tensioning systems that are rebated into the backs of door/drawer fronts to pull them straight again.

Do you have an open end in the extension or does it just take a 90 or whatever into the pan connection and thus it is sealed? If so then there is nowhere for gas to escape, if you have an open end soil pipe then this must be addressed. Mainly just for smell issues.

All seems reasonable to me, essnetially you are creating a support column. You could even put in a single wide window with a suitable lintel above it and then the beam load comes down from above onto it - it all comes down to the structural design. We did something sort of like this, but we made it one big window and just used lintels to suit the job. Looking at what you are planning I would say BC will ask for a structural engineers calc/detail - so go for what you want and have a SE design it and make sure your builder reads and understands it while quoting as the lintel may end up quite beefy and or the use of steels - I'd use steels. Details you will need to spec up are the make up of the "column" you are creating which supports the beam above, and the insertion into it's side for the window lintel and making sure that the detail allows for adequate support from the column.

Absolutely, which is why really it's a fallacy using UV as the means of "cleaning" the water. As said above, the spec is not even clear on the UV aspect, so you will get people getting an Alibaba $10.00 special and expect all is safe!

Looking at the official parts list it uses activated carbon, sand filter and UV - the spec is, shall we say, loose! Bacteria needs to be zapped with a specific wavelength of UV for about 10-15 seconds, i.e. the water must travel slowly enough through a UV tube that the water is being exposed for 15 seconds, that is a slow flow rate, or a big long UV unit. Now I am not an expert in these matters but know enough to know that you cannot cobble together some filters and a cheapo eBay UV filter and have water with no bacteria of viruses present, if it was that simple then people could have little boxes clean up all their water! The whole thing is going about an issue, that in my eyes isn't an issue, the wrong way. I honestly think that humanity is going about environmental issues the wrong way in many cases, the answer seems to be to generate vast amounts of carbon and pollution in order to solve something that didn't really need solved, or if it did, there is a better way. In reality it is back to the problem that creates pollution in the first time, greed. So people invent "green" solutions, that are actually just business plans! First thing would be to, encourage local businesses to setup and sell fruit and veg, meat, fish, general groceries, almost like a row of shops on a street would be a good idea! Then a street like this could exist every mile or so, then people like me would walk to these shops and pickup produce as they need it, but instead we drive cars once a week to the supermarket or if you plan like my wife every 2 days! Every night after work our dog gets a walk, if it is my wife and I we often pop into our local Co-Op and pickup bits and pieces, I am going to buy a little rucksack so that I can take it with me when we go and start buying more locally when out on foot. During the bad snow people were panicking about getting to the shops, I didn't see an issue, I just got on my boots and walked, 4 mile round trip for Asda or about 2 for Co-Op, nice walk in the snow and had what we wanted for dinner. But apparently the world had come to an end. I know not everyone can do this for distance or health issues but really, as a nation we have just become so lazy and everything is such a bloody rush.

If the stack is internal then you must fit an AAV on top, the AAV only opens, assuming the diaphragm is working properly, when there is suction on the stack, it's the suction which opens the AAV, so if the pipe is in vacuum then nothing can be coming out of it.

It seems like a lot of difficult to recycle metal and plastics and other materials, maintenance and filters and fuss and money to save on some heating energy. I would just invest the money into some solar or ASHP etc. and just use that energy to heat my clean fresh water. We are getting good at heating with renewable sources etc. people have ASHP and Solar and all sorts so heating isn't the issue it once was. I know people who have basically unlimited free hot water now, they use tumble-dryers that cost them £0 to run from an energy standpoint and create only one off carbon emissions (i.e. production emissions from manufacture of the systems). Water is not such a huge issue, the water board clean water for us for less than a penny a litre, it leaves your plughole as grey water, it easily cleans up and helps the dirtier waste water in the system to become more dilute. I see this more and more, we are trying to solve environmental issues by using more and more resources. Frankly the whole climate change movement is targeting many of the wrong industries and environmentally "dirty" objects.

I literally just grabbed the nail gun and some 2x4 and a some scrap 2x6. I nailed a 2x4 to the side of another 2x4 to create the corner sections, of the 2x4 the 4" section "clamped" the inner and outer parts of the wall, the two corners were then linked with some 2x4's face nailed to the side. That gave me a timber frame each side that didn't damage the block, I then put in a sill and a header to "jam" them into place. Studs to support the joints and screwed on the sheet. If I wanted this to last longer I would have added another 2-3 studs.

- I don't mean this to sound the way it will, but here goes. - Can you though? If you have concreting experience then fair enough, but I suspect given the questions you are not, concrete isn't "difficult" but it has lots skills and experience required to work it properly, 100's of tips and tricks required to get it right, I have respect for a good concrete crew, they know their game, they know how to work the product and they know the time constraints. Concreting isn't something you just grab a barrow and toss in a form, founds maybe, but slabs and things take some skill. So you may try and save money here and totally regret it. I paid people to do my slab, there were 5 of them, they made it look easy and not one of them was stood doing nothing all morning, these boys hustled, I was thinking of doing it myself and getting in my dad + a friend - so three novices - what a joke that would have been. I'd have cried. I know I did the right thing. I have a crew on site just now doing the dry dash. I was going to do it myself, I can do it, however, there are 2-3 of them, been at it for over a week now - how many weekends and hard effort would that have been for me! Nah. Got to be wise sometimes.