Buzz

Thanks @joe90, are you saying one feed into a manifold with multiple feeds out for hot water and the same for the cold water ?

In our old house we suffered from every time someone turned a tap on or flushed a toilet the shower would slow to a dribble i assume this was because they were on the same "line" to prevent this in our new build is it worth having the bathrooms on independent water lines , 1 for each room ? Or us there a better solution?

Thanks for the replies, it made more sense to me to run them above rather than below for the very reason @Russell griffithspoints out .

A basic question before i have a site meeting with the plumbers we have a block and beam floor with 225mmm to dpc to be filled with insulation UFH and screed , although it is a bungalow we do not have any roof trusses we have posi joists at celling level and a cut roof above so the question is where does the 1st fix pluming go we already have the waste pipes in through the floor but what about the hot and cold water pipes? , on the floor and then up through the insulation and screed or through the joists and down the walls ? is it personal preference or do they have to go into the floor .

Another alternative would be to stay at 150mm and swap pir for eps , you will save some money on the insulation and can keep the same depth screed.

Your wall calculations appear to be out as well , as others have said if you can go for 150mm full fill this will bring u-values down to .17

It doesn't according to Kingspan , and that is straight onto concrete or B+B .

What on earth are you cooking up in your kitchen ? ?

Hi @Zak S this an exciting time and also one of the most important to get right ,over commit now and face the agony of trying to raise extra funds or compromise on the final finishes, play it too safe and you may always regret not building what you really wanted.

Well done , hope the last couple of small things are just that .

Expensive it may be but you only have to buy it once but get to look at it evey day ?

Judging by the amount of pallets of cement and lime they went through i thought they must have gone 1:1:1?

Not sure about the ratio as that was the builders call but I know it was Hanson white cement with a bit of lime , this is the only pic I have of the sand make of it what you will .

As mentioned above, give it time and see what colour it it goes to , I was a little disappointed with ours when I first saw them being laid but after a few weeks the whiteness started to come through and is just right IMHO for the bricks.

Hi @Pav cant help with re-mortgage with a PCC as we have not finished our build yet but our self build mortgage provider accepts them . As for price we have 11 inspections for £1500 + VAT , so just under 2k , we are on the Cams, Norfolk boarder.

A lorry with building materials! Such a rare and magnificent beast.

The responsibility to carry out due diligence sits with the person who has instructed the work. They can mitigate the risk by employing different profession's on their behalf to conduct various searches , surveys and tests before , during and after construction. But as @markchas mentioned above old service maps may not be 100% accurate and so may not have been picked up , but depending on what was brought and paid for they might be covered for such an eventuality. To answer your question directly, the builder . As understand it under PD the builder was not required to have all the searches and surveys done but is probably now wishing he did.

The thing is if your bc doesn't require one (soil report) and you are happy with his judgement then the only reason to get one done is to satisfy the warranty provider who most likely will and getting a warranty is usually a condition insisted by your lender.

Thats good news for the steel work ?, I can only comment on my experience of this, others on this forum will have forgotten more than I will ever know , I had a meeting with the builder and bc on site they both had their opinion on what would be the best way to do our foundations based on the soil report ,the bc had already passed the next door plots and had seen the soil survey for them and was of the opinion mine was unlikely to be any different but he would require a copy specifically for my plot , the warranty provider also said they could only inspect against what was recommended in the report but neither required a full design just a recommendation of how deep , wide and concrete strength. We had 4 holes drilled and recieved a report that stated 2 slightly different specs depending on solid concrete oversight or block and beam , there was a caveat in the report that stated the final depth of the foundations may have to be adjusted if during excavation any issues not picked up in the test holes became apparent. The warranty man was happy as long as he had a piece of paper he could inspect against, I was happy that the local bc, builder and groudworker all agreed that will do nicely .

Whatever route you choose to go down i would check on availability ASAP i was quoted 6 to 8 weeks by several companies for soil samples back in the summer, most SE will do their own and then do the design your might have a bit of a shock as to when they can fit you in .

Sound advice , I would first check with your warranty provider as to the level of detail they require to sign this part off , do they want a full survey and design or a simple soil survey report and recommendations and would then be happy to accept the BC and builders decision based on the reports findings.

Sensible approach , if you have a preferred option just ask why cant we do this ? Our roof was designed by an SE the first design was, from an engineering point of view ,amazing a 10m span from the eaves to the ridge supported by 1 steel beam on each side at 8m , unfortunately from a construction and cost point of view very expensive and to quote the builder " i can do it but you can forget about one days crane hire i will need it onsite everyday until all 98 of the 9m long 2 x 9's are in place " he suggested we add 1 additional beam on each side, use 4.8m 2 x 7 timbers @ 600 centres rather than 400 . Put his suggestion to the SE and the reply was well you could do it that way if you want to and it might save you a bit in materials !

Hi @Ralph what is the 10 minute job you need to do , we have a vaulted ceiling planned and went to visit some friends of ours who have had one for a while to ask how they found it when It came to cleaning ,replacing bulbs etc , they had an array of various contraptions to do most things from the floor , admittedly with mixed results.

Not sure i get what you mean, on top of the block and beam will.go damp proof membrane 175mm of eps insulation then another membrane under floor heating pipes and finally 50mm of screed which will be finished floor level.

Yes mate , quick and easy despite having to use 2 different size beams because of the span in some rooms .