ashthekid

Yes don't get me started on the nails through the felt @Marvin What are those brackets called in the second image of yours?

Hi, I have parted companies with my contractor who has left me in a bit of position to take over the project and I wanted to check with the experience of people on this forum what their thoughts were on how my timber frame is connected and if it would pass building control regulations for example. Where the timber rafters connect to the structural load bearing stud wall, should there be any kind of metal plate connector tying them in together? I attach a photo to show what I mean. Is there anything else in the photo that looks incorrect? The plywood you see at the back is the box gutter.

@dpmiller liquid screed

Is it worth it to have a laitance removal job on your finished UFH screed surface?

I have since spoken to them again and they have adjusted the price accordingly because they agreed it was a crazy quote to begin with for just a 70cm move. Works out about £520 inc VAT now.

I’ve just received my quote from SSEN to extend my 3 Phase connection by about 70cm to a different facing wall and it’s £1200!! Is that normal? I’ve had more complicated alterations involving new connections and paying cables in trenches for a few meters cost less so why this be so much? Can you negotiate or use anyone else to the service alteration?

I believe i can definitely put the soakaway 3m away from house line and 2m away from neighbouring fence.

It was already existing so no change but the patio is new and no where near the box gutter drainage.

That’s a pretty complicated setup just for a patio. It must be a large sized patio. For my size patio 30 sqm would a 1 cubic meter soakaway crate system suffice?

Rainwater from the roof is already going into box gutters that lead directly into the mains drain internally. there was no way to connect any pipework to the mains drain, mainly because of the distance but also it just became impossible in the end. That's why I was trying to work out what kind of size soakaway I would need but also find out if being near the water table was going to be a problem. Digging out the patio levels today so far not reach anywhere near the water table so we might be lucky. The ground conditions look really good and even the groundsman commented on how well it would naturally drain without a soakaway but i still want to be safe and cover myself. i'm paranoid about the patio flooding inside to our kitchen.

Here is a rough sketch. Somebody has told me 1m3 of soakaway will suffice for the patio. I have no way of connecting to mains/gutter drain. SoakawayPlan.pdf

Any suggestions on how is best to drain away surface rainwater from our unbuilt patio(approx 30-40 sqm) which will be the same level as our connecting kitchen/dining area and then step up to a garden grass area? We are very close to the water table and as I’m aware putting in a soakaway can be complicated by that.

This may seem like a silly question with an obvious answer but would I need permission to move the location of the flue outlet on my roof? Or can it be anywhere on the roof? Within reason of course. It hasn't been installed yet. I have it positioned on the approved planning permission but would like to move it a few meters or possibly even over to the other side of the sloped roof. Does it have to be on the highest point as well? As in near the ridge beam of the vaulted ceiling or can it be located at the bottom of the sloped roof? This would mean it being nearer to the neighbouring party wall and therefore close to their garden/patio. I believe there is building regulation that stipulates the external flue pipe outlet has to be a certain height above the highest point of the roof.

Sadly I live in quite a small village which is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Currently only Vodafone works. I used to be on EE when I first moved here but had zero signal(which was quite nice for a while). I’ve used the Vodafone signal booster that plugs into a standard electrical socket and then uses your existing Wi-fi to boost your signal but it’s awful and didn’t make a single difference, if anything it made it worse. I've seen this online too:

I suppose it’s more to do with future proofing the property but within a reasonable budget. I wouldn’t go for say CAT7 as I know it’s quite expensive and for just a residential property I doubt I’ll ever need it’s potential. That’s why I thought CAT6a made sense and was a logical option. No crazy long runs, I suppose the most is maybe 30-40m and possibly a couple longer runs to the end of the garden where the entrance gates are going as well as the air source heat pump and electric car charging point. They may need some kind of CAT cable connection in the future. I’d like the idea of being able to do HDBaseT in the future, it makes sense to future proof for that. Other than that it’s just for general use like streaming, gaming and home office working.

Which cabling quality to use for new conversion problem and networking the whole property up. I’ve designed it so pretty much every room will have 2x CAT6a cabling run to them with 4x to main TV points where we’ll have TV, SKY, games consoles etc. Is it worth the extra expense to CAT6a? And is it as reliable as the old standard CAT5a? Any tips?

I’ve noticed within my conversion project after installing a lot of PIR foil backed insulation that my mobile reception dramatically drops upon entering the property now from a good 4G signal to a mediocre 3G. Is there anything, whilst I still have the chance, I can install to make the reception good again? It’s pretty annoying that something so simple could affect the signal so much. I imagine it’s just going to get worse once it’s plasterboard and doors hung. Any tips? I’ve heard about plug-in boosters using your Wi-fi network but I’ve tried that at my parent’s property and it hasn’t made any difference whatsoever.

I don't see any ventilation for the stacks created in my conversion project build. Is it a Building Control requirement or do you not have to have them?

Who owns it if its private? The second it leaves my boundary is it the neighbours responsibility still?

If the pipework in question is considered a “private drain” by the neighbour with what they have been told, then who’s responsibility is it? And if anything goes wrong with it over time?

I spoke to the Water Company and they have confirmed it’s their responsibility but the neighbour has been told it isn’t which is rather frustrating. If it doesn’t belong to the Water Company what does that mean for the pipe? And I assume a Build Over Agreement is no longer needed?

@PeterW The neighbours BCO apparently.

Update: So it seems the neighbours builder has created a workaround - to create a totally new drain for them. Replace the existing pipework from ours, leaving us with access to the existing manhole inside their patio(that isn’t being built on). We will be the only ones using the existing drain and they will have access to a newly created drain which I’m assuming will be raised so they have the adequate run whilst we will continue to use the current run that has existed for years, albeit without the little raise that was there but not causing us a problem. They’ve asked me if I want to raise the inlet on our side of the boundary party wall then I must let them know by 4pm tomorrow. Sadly we can’t do that because of all the pipework we have already concreted into the groundworks with the correct runs etc. Seems a logical solution?!? Do you think I still get Water Company involved at this stage?

@Temp The neighbours already have an existing manhole which he says has an almost equally bad run into their neighbours next to them. They aren’t installing any new pipework for themselves. It’s just my pipework that they are concerned about apparently. He said that the Water Company might insist on all of our runs to be dug up and repaired with a proper run that will pass building control recommendations for gradients. @dangti6 I don’t think there is anything in the deeds that specifically relates to these pipes or sewerage. I couldn’t see anything about it. And no sewerage plans upon purchase as it went into the neighbouring property and there were no obvious problems or issues with waste disappearing. @Carrerahill it’s not fit for purpose apparently because the gradient isn’t sufficient to give it a good enough run and according to the builder it won’t last once our conversion project is finished and my family is living there using multiple toilets/showers/sinks etc. The whole run from all three property’s that share the same pipe is probably inadequate according to Building Control despite it being fine for many years. That said, the neighbour has apparently experienced some issues with blockages from their property to the shared pipe but that’s not been on the section from my property of course.

So it turns out the pipe hasn’t been broken itself. It’s the gradient run that leads to the neighbours manhole and then that run from theirs to the following neighbour that is the issue. It’s almost flat but has existed for many years. The neighbour’s builder has admitted it’s not our fault or responsibility but that it has to be dealt with and sorted in order for their Building Control to sign off on it. All of our groundworks have been laid and concreted in(all leading to this only manhole) and there was not a problem with anything going down the existing manhole before, this is purely a “fit for purpose” issue that’s been uncovered. The builder has had he will need to speak to Building Control again and most likely the Water Company to see what they suggest as it may very well be their responsibility to fix it but he said the options won’t be great for me as it could mean: 1) installing a pump at my end 2) rerouting all of our pipework directly to the street which would be a nightmare 3) reroute our waste to a tank in our back garden Surely I would not be financially responsible for any of these options? The Water Company have to do it don’t they?