Alexphd1

I am looking at options for trunking cables from consumer unit in garage along block work wall and up through (fire rated) ceiling into front and back eaves. I like the idea of galvanised 4x4 (possibly doubled up creating 8x2) but any other options? What about going through the ceiling do I need any special fire stops?

We used two suppliers but kytun was better as the metal was thicker and there was a slight difference in RAL7016 from both suppliers. I designed a profile that hide all nail heads. The corners where very tricky as we folded them on site. Tbh we where making it up as we went along and made a few mistakes Inc our woodwork not being perfectly straight.

Is it possible to group together compressors to hit a higher output?

Flat pack staircase has been lying for a few months from tk stairs. Any tips for assembly?

Powder coated aluminium with kytun slate dry verge. Cedar soffits.

There are a lot of middle men type companies in self build, don't be scared to miss them out completely. I will use under floor heating as a example, you can pay a "specialist" to design and supply a bespoke system which sounds good but a lot of manufacturers (john guest, uponor etc) offer a free design (you won't get actual drawings until you buy but will get a spec ie 10x100m pipe). But there is another option of designing it yourself (use the manufacturers spec as a guide) some people use some simple cad programs. If you have a basic spec 10x100m pipe, 10 port manifold you can start to look at ebay for bargains. I recently stuck a link on here for 500m of uponor pipe that went for £84 at auction. At this kind of prices you could put together pump, mixer, manifold and pipe for £600-£700 (or less) for 200m2 floor wet UFH. A lot of self builders lay the pipe themselves and find a plumber to connect up.

We got powder coated aluminum to match windows.

Still working on it. I initially thought we could just K-rend rite over dpm course but render guy said no. We are now considering using something like this bay window connectors http://spectrumarchitectural.com/aluminium-window-cills-and-pressings/ Kicking out 60mm at dpm course for a 40-50mm sandstone (denfind stone)facing stone plus 10mm adhesive to match other parts of house. Next house probably raft upstands 200mm thick with 250mm thick external eps icf so 50mm overhang for stone work. Just a idea but will investigate further...... best laid plan?

@Adam2 just rereading your initial post and you have asked a few questions which have seem to be missed out above . Remember ICF is just shuttered concrete but you leave the shuttering up as insulation when finished, rest of Europe is way ahead of UK in using concrete in domestic builds. 1. Guarantee, been mentioned above. 2.icf works well with large open spans as it's easy to integrate steel I beams with. We have poured 5m (150mm x500mm concrete core) openings with ICF and extra rebar. Possibly pour larger openings but a good SE can advise on this. Also icf can come with a range of concrete core widths from 100mm to 300mm pretty standard and larger than 300mm but starts to get slightly complicated. US military has used of the shelf ICF for bunkers.... 3. Within reason I don't see heavy hung items compressing on ICF being a issue. 4. Not sure on this. Detailing been pretty straight forward for us apart from external join from raft to ICF but this could have been very easy if we planned better. 5. Agree 100%. Anybody can build a ICF wall but rebar takes a bit more and pouring concrete is tricky. Anybody thinking about diy icf, visit as many icf builds as possible esp on pour day, far better than any classroom icf day training but do this as well!

Bigger the slump more chance of a burst!!

As mentioned above it's very hard for a individual (larger sites maybe different) to get a guarantee (silka etc) on the concrete on any ICF basement simply due to not being able to visual check the concrete after being poured. A grand design episode jumps to mind with a ICF basement that leaked like a sive but that particular manufacture does not allow to vibrate the concrete..... You could try a single sided insulated Icf designed originally for lift shafts that after the pour you remove timber from the inside and the concrete is seen. I am considering building next house entirely this way and using the extra timber sheeting for sarking the roof. All insulation on the outside sitting on the upstands of the insulated raft. Since you are on hill with a 3 sided basement you start with good drainage, it's half the battle. There are 3 options to waterproof a basement 1. External tanking. 2. Waterproof the concrete. 3. Internal drainage and sump. You can choose all 3 if you wanted, you also choose if you want to pay £££ for a insured guarantee.

I have had a gòod look at the sales patter on this velox stuff and it's not for me but that's only my opinion. But I question why someone would choose a product that's is not bba certified when there is other at least equal products that is certified?

Maybe of a interest on the blinds is nobily (German site). I was going to use them for internal until I picked up a load of somfy motors on fleebay.

Apologies ? Still not convinced??

Cheap plug there? One more supplier name to add to the bin.

If you have time and storage shop around for material Inc big ticket items. Ebay, gumteee etc are good places.

A few good questions, maybe start a new thread?

Big fan of ICF esp nudara (used on parents build), also impressed with amvic (hands on with a neighbours) . I plan on using nudara but will go with the best price. I can see icf build being good for your 1st two floors but top two maybe better looking at something lighter as very few walls (internal and external) which match up with walls in the floor below. It. It can be done with icf but a lot of steel work.

vulgar obese indebted alcoholics ........ bit harsh??

Very nice design. With that amount of glazing, maybe worth considering a full ducted AC system? MVHR is a no brainer. Mains gas system boiler, sunamp. Wether you run a buffer tank Nick is your expert who actually knows his stuff! What ICF have you been looking at?

I could just see the housewife/house husbands face when I start that bad boy up in the middle of their 50k kitchen to core out a small waste hole?? that is some piece of kit!

Just checked the makita 8406 is just over £200 new on fleebay. Cracking machine for the job. The hammer function ain't great on it though.

Can't give you a exact answer on dewalt but its probably be fine. We have a Makita 8406 and done hundreds of boiler flue holes over the years. The makita looks very similar spec but 3 times the price. Could always buy it from a shop with a good return policy? I have seen a lot of ex hire core drills on bidspotter recently going for peanuts. Just checked bidspotter and seems to be none left. Only time we use a jig set up is for granite and it's more for the wet cut. Check what size of cores you need before buying a kit, we have a box with 6 or 7 sizes and tend to use the same 2. I have bought v cheap and mid priced "branded" dry core bits and to be honest they are all the same.

What you are speaking about is do able but you may/probably have a lot of work with getting the plumbing sorted out for motorised valves in the rite places to only take control of that radiator. I have also seen trv's been replaced with hard wired actuators with the cables running down behind the pipes and wired up like a UFH set up.

Few... I was starting to think I bought a lemon.