willbish

Apologies I've been intentionally a bit vague to avoid identifying those mentioned. Though adding a little more flesh on the bones may help determine if this is worth pursuing. The foul water from my property runs to a septic tank on church land. I am liable to 1/3 maintenance costs. The church commissioned a structural engineer to survey the tank (speculation of development). The report was total garbage, laughable in fact. Tried to claim that black was white. Went so far as saying the tank was a cesspit not a septic tank and is an accident waiting to happen. I'd post it here but I think that would be a step too far. The church were then gearing up for quotes to replace the whole system with 1/3 of the bill heading my way. I commissioned a competent independent professional to dispute the Engineers claims, which I knew to be false, but couldn't dispute without professional backing. Costs associated with this included emptying the tank, CCTV inspection and report. Fortunately the church woke up, took my report which states the system is currently oversized and complies with the Environment Agency general binding rules, and backed off. I then made a complaint to the Institute of Structural Engineers about the original report. The committee has found he breached their code of conduct twice: "Article 5: Undertake only those tasks and accept only those appointments for which they are competent; Article 6: Exercise appropriate skill and judgement." Now I would like the costs back which I incurred whilst disputing his crap work. Just the cost of emptying, CCTV survey and report. Perhaps I have been mistaken and it is not the Engineer who should pay but the church?

Where's the requirement for a contractual relationship? I can think of many different types of examples where damages are sought and I don't think they all have prior contracts between both parties.

Might have been a little hasty last night, buoyed by the news that the complaints panel found the Engineer in breach of their code. Its a little complicated but I didn't engage this Engineer, or pay him any money. I was due to suffer the expensive consequences resulting from his shoddy work though. So I engaged my own professional to formally 'disprove' the garbage he had written. At present the Engineer doesn't know that I'd like to recoup the costs I incurred, so will start with a polite friendly letter, before anything as serious as a LBA

Thanks all. Looks like a letter stating my intentions to seek the costs incurred is the way to go. A letter before action, I believe it is known as. https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/letter/letter-before-small-claims-court-claim I might wait a couple of weeks...don't want to ruin an already rubbish Christmas!

Being a first for me I am unsure how to proceed. I am considering starting a civil case for costs I incurred due to the failings of a Structural Engineer. Long story short, I made a complaint against a member of the Institute of Structural Engineers (not the one I employed for my build, he was excellent) The complaint committee found the Engineer was in breach of their code of conduct on two counts. The complaint decision report makes reference to the costs I incurred as a result of the Engineers failings. Basically I had to engage a (competent) professional to formally dispute the inaccurate (total bollocks) work of engineer. These are the only damages i would like to claim. The Institute of Structural Engineers obviously can't direct the engineer to pay but I assume a civil court can and that the complaint report written by the Institute will be permissible in court. If I can dress this up as a case that the Engineer will lose, is it best I approach the Engineer and ask for the damages before starting court proceedings? or could that be interpreted as blackmail? Something I don't want to do. Any thoughts or pointers much appreciated.

Nothing definitive yet @Russell griffiths. I wish I was that far along, Im still waiting for my plumbing schematic ? Are you sure separation is required if you are using low smoke cables? I know these are different to standard PVC cable but I haven't done the research yet. Im not sure if tape in the chase would stay put long enough...

I think it should be a requirement for retailers to notify before the transaction is complete that items are not in stock and not available for dispatch.

From what I've read the inclusion or exclusion of a 5mm or 10mm cement render board can make all the difference to these systems fire rating. With 6 inch of solid concrete between any external fire and habitable area, it leaves them very safe

Good on you ? Wish more retailers would do the same. Also you don't have the extra admin burden of issuing refunds.

@ProDave at least they have the decency to update the site to show 'sold out' even if they only had 3 items at the bargain price

Third time this week I've ordered items online only for the following day to receive an email saying, 'really sorry but we don't have the items you've ordered in stock. If you don't mind waiting we'll get them dispatched as soon as they are available' I find this really frustrating as many of the items I've bought have shown 'in stock' on the websites. Looks to me like companies are deliberately neglecting to show items 'out of stock' to keep the orders coming in whilst knowing full well they are unable to deliver. I appreciate it's a difficult time with the ports blocked up and likely to get worse not better over the coming weeks. At best this is underhand behaviour at worst it's dishonest. On two out of three orders I've taken the refund and said I'll go elsewhere. Locksonline.co.uk PipeLagging.com Thefloorheatingwarehouse.co.uk

@Innes- Western Power were happy to allow my 6kWp system limited to 3.68kW. Which is totally fine with me as my panels are split 50/50 east west, so regardless of the export limitation I would never be able to generate more for than 3.68kW anyway. The orientation of the panels did not dictate whether WPD would approve or not

The browns ones are not UV stable as they are for underground use. Black should be fine. Is the only reason you are not using the semi rigid insulated duct to save a few pennies? https://www.phstore.co.uk/insulated-foam-duct-160 BTW Ive been following this thread with interest having the 325 plus spec'd for my build but not yet parted with the cash for it.

I think it's a brand thing. Caberdek has the tongue on the short side which is opposite to Egger. Means you can't mix and match. Guess how I know ??

If you're going to line with OSB consider metal studs. Straighter, easier, quicker...

If you haven't already, sign yourself on to the Maggs & Allen mailing list. https://www.maggsandallen.co.uk/search-auction/?auction=1&orderby=lot_no&n=0&showsold=on&showstc=on They regularly have plots, garages and pockets of land for sale

Depending what ICF blocks you are using, bracing from the inside is preferred. I left the perimeter of the slab clear of UFH pipes. Then using coach screws fixed 5ft scaffold boards down. I could then fix the base plate of the prop to the scaff board. It worked well, I've got straight walls. Slight issue was when the wall needed trimming in, using the prop to pull rather than push, the scaff board lifted up. Stack of concrete blocks as a counter weight helped then.

What orientation is the elevation you intend on installing? And is there an option to split into two arrays? I am DNO limited to 3.68kW and have an inverter to match but have 6.0kWp installed split 50/50 East West. This means, on a good day, I should max out the inverter for a much longer portion of the day and as @ProDave days 4kW is much easier to self consume than 8kW

I bought the Purenit from Construction Fixing Systems, was used for thermally separating cold steel from warm walls. If you're near Bristol I have a few boards of GG700 lying around getting dusty

That'll do nicely, thanks very much. Ingenious, though I doubt those hinges fill fit in amongst the double rebates Nice solution, very discrete. Touch over budget though! Thanks @Temp, top googling!

Compacfoam is the material of choice, but you may find something like GG700 is suitable (700kPa compressive strength). I used a combination of GG700 with a layer of Purenit over the top. SImply because I had enough Purenit leftover and the GG700 was significantly cheaper than compacfoam.

Ive got antique brass hinges, brass threshold and a brass door knob. Can't for the life of me find anything other than chrome concealed door loop. Will take black, brass or anything other than chrome! Does anyone know an ironmonger-ist who might stock such an item?

If your floor and roof have to be 0.11 to meet Part L having something similar for the walls is a realistic target to aim for. Unless you are building to sell like a developer, then just scraping through the current building regs seems a bit of a waste in my opinion. I dont I'm afraid. I paid a brickie friend day rate to do the work and I laboured for him Yes probably, I haven't built with woodcrete but its certainly got less 'squidge'!

I sleeved MVHR prior to pour. Everything else has been drilled through after. If you can, design out waste pipes going through the exterior wall and send them all down through the slab. Insulated raft for foundation, works really well with ICF Blocks arrived 26/03/19, first pour 29/04/19 to 2.8m. Just me. Also working day job 50% of the time. So 18 days for groundfloor 88m2. Yes you've got it. Vertical rebar for any retaining walls Potentially for UK too. I think it makes it more economical to buy a standard ICF product then add additional insulation. And cutting 200mm ICF blocks is a no fun. Didnt even consider ICF for the internals, too costly, waste of insulation. I went with 100mm concrete block. Yes pole plate with bolts cast into the concrete. If I was doing it again I think I would drill and resin. Fixing a pole plate to EPS and then pouring concrete behind resulted in a little more movement than I was happy with. Has been made good now but was a bit of effort.

Nice one thanks @nod Do you notice any difference in rigidity with say staggered I studs at 300 centres compared to C studs not staggered at 600. Neither are fixed top at bottom so I'm guessing no/not a lot of difference