Indy

Well this is all quite conflicting advice with what ChatGPT, Gemini and the vast majority of the internet sources advise. All the online searching I did discouraged me away from the ledger board approach and said the hangers must be built into the masonry for longevity. The ledger board is only held up using chemical bonds and that the weight of the floor above it would eventually work those bolts loose - especially as I'm using Celcon blocks (which can't be changed). So I spoke to the builder who has confirmed that he'll be using joist hangers built into the masonry. Much ado about nothing in the end - though I did get to learn something new I guess.

Can you enlighten a simple mind like mine how that would work - trying to learn all the different variants of putting joists up!

Too late for that - the ground floor blockwork is already in using the aircrete blocks and PIR. No plans to change it now as the materials for the first floor have also been ordered already.

Holy thread bump...... Coming to this thread as we’re in a similar situation. 2 storey (plus loft) house being built in masonry (Celotex 7.3kN high strength blocks) which will be rendered on the outside and wet plaster on the inside. Floor will be Posi-joists which I always assumed would be done using joist hangers. Spoke to one of the brickies/foremen on site who mentioned that they would be using resin anchors rather than joist hangers as it’s easier to level up using a laser level – compared to joist hangers. Not sure I fully understood it when he mentioned and spent the weekend reading up about it on ChatGPT and Gemini. The unanimous verdict was not to use the resin anchors into the Aircrete blocks as the fixings were going to come loose in the long term and masonry supported joist hangers are the way to go. Spoke to the builder / boss man who confirmed he was going to use joist hangers. Feels like a win but I’m not sure reading some of these comments. We are aiming for an airtight house with parge coat/wet plaster inside and silicone render outside. Is there a preferred way to go? I don’t want squeaks/mechanical fixings failing on me in the next 10-15 years.

Haven't changes to the planning system been announced almost every year or so - with nothing really happening? I'd love to see some action in this area so people don't have to wait years to get planning (4 in our case) but am very cynical that this is more soundbites with little action to back it up.

Freedomsat (through Viasat) is another option but it’s likely to be GEO, hence slower speeds and higher latency so not really a suitable replacement for home broadband usage.

OneWeb is the only other operational LEO service that competes with Starlink, but it’s B2B rather than B2C like Starlink. The terminals needed to connect to OneWeb are also an order of magnitude more expensive (enterprise grade) so its not really a competitor in that sense.

Prefer the first one.

Probably should have been made clear in your discussions re the work, our builder made it clear that there is extra labour and some fittings needed for wall hung/concealed stuff and the end price would be higher.

Very very rare that 3 showers would be used together simultaneously. 2 is more realistic and I'd like a good flow rate on both of them (15lpm + ideally).

Ours took 11 months - give or take a few days.

Ok, so let me restate the problem statement - which is very much in the vein of how do I make sure we never run out of DHW rather than unlimited hot water. Measured the flow rate of the tap installed for the builders using a weir cup (Arctic Hayes 888000 U Flow Water Gauge for Water Flow Measurement : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools) and it easily saturated the 22lpm mark - so that means we should have excellent incoming water pressure (unless there's another way to check). This is the setup of what we're going to have: 5kW Solar PV array + 10kWH of battery Gas Boiler (plus gas fire and gas hob, but that doesn't matter too much) UFH on both floors - which will be designed to run at lower temps for a future swap out to ASHP (say in 5 years or so) Assuming unvented cylinder - 400l 3 full bathrooms with showers + 1 guest WC Talking about the issue with the missus, she thinks I'm overthinking and overengineering the solution for a problem that will occur at max once a month - when we're all in a rush to get ready. Most days, the kids shower in the evening and both of us do it in the morning and even then it's staggered. ChatGPT presented us with a solution which is very much in the vein of talk to a plumber that designs a priority DHW solution. I like the idea of having something like an immersion heater in the cylinder which will allow the hot water to regenerate in 10-15m, rather than waiting an hour for the cylinder to replenish.

Are these a standalone item or something like an immersion heater in the cylinder, which kicks in if the temperature inside drops too much? Looks interesting and a space saving solution. Extra cost is manageable as it won't be getting triggered all of the time but the for 2-3 instances in a month when we do need it - could be useful to have.

Not yet but it will be 32mm - mentioned it to the builder and he agreed. He puts in the larger diameter as standard though the incoming won't change.

It's a complete new build - so there is nothing to replace. It's a new installation. In our current place - we have a Worcestor Bosch Greenstar 37CDi. Does a commendable job though the pressure is a bit lacking for my liking.