ProDave

You should have if the electrician has done it properly. It has been a long time since they became mandatory.

Without a doubt double pole is safer. Why are you looking at sockets with an RCD built in? Your RCD protection should be at the consumer unit, having more than one RCD is not safer, but it becomes pot luck which one trips. So assuming you don't need an RCD because your wiring is already protected by an RCD in the CU and you want DP switching the choice becomes: https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-ip66-13a-2-gang-dp-weatherproof-outdoor-switched-socket/67928 £8.99 https://www.screwfix.com/p/knightsbridge-op9n-ip66-13a-2-gang-dp-weatherproof-outdoor-switched-socket/841vf £17.99 https://www.screwfix.com/p/mk-ip66-13a-2-gang-dp-weatherproof-outdoor-switched-socket/98279 £29.99 for me it's the BG. You would have to break that 3 times more often than the MK for the MK to become better value.

I don't know if it is required, I don't have a mortgage and am not intending to sell so I don't have a structural warranty. There was a BBA certificate when the design and drawings was submitted to building control, I don't know if that would have been an issue if there had not been. It was when i was being given the run around by Baumit and their suppliers that it came to light that BBA certificate had been cancelled. They would not answer why, but it was not a good sign that it was cancelled. Baumit won't say why and BBA say they can't say.

For upstairs heating 200mm, 2 pipes between each joist would sound more logical as shown in that photo. Many of us in well insulated air tight houses find no heating upstairs is needed so have not fitted any. You can't notch posijoists so battening after fitting the pipes is about the only way. Just make SURE whoever fits the plasterboard to the ceiling does not put a screw through the pipes. Keep a record of where they are so you don't put a screw through them in later life......

I would be VERY cautious using any Baumit product in the UK. If you search the forum you will find my posts detailing the problems I have had with my own render and the total lack of disinterest from the manufacturer to even come and have a look and suggest what might have been the cause of my problems. When I installed mine, there was a BBA certificate for it. That had been cancelled when I last looked. Do some research and check there is once more a current BBA certificate for the product you are intending to use. If not treat that as a big red flag and look for an alternative product.

We did this (but with wood fibre board not block) We used a render stop bead and that covered the compriband nicely. I found it easier to fit the compriband first. it will start expanding and then squash it with the wood fibre board as it was fitted. Make sure your brickies know to position the blocks so they squash the compriband again.

No problems with any BG outside socket that I have ever fitted including the one on my own house.

Rainwater to a soakaway? Long since silted up? Does it look like it could connect to a downpipe? Of so use a hose to run water down that downpipe.

I am going to try this on my balcony. Rather than use a standard outlet, I am just going to use a single chain, and just drill a hole in the bottom of the gutter such that the chain is a very tight fit into it, and secure it with one link on it's side and probably a shackle as well to be sure it won't drop out.

That's looking better. So he opted for a new CU rather than reconfigure what was there? Neat job. Do i take it all the circuits so far have tested okay or has he found any faults? Look forward to the finished photos.

Normal back box, BUT flush switches need a bit more depth inside the back box. So what do you have ? If you have the slim 16mm light switch boxes (I would never fit them) you might well struggle for enough room. 25mm or even 35mm deep boxes and there should be no problem.

Keep us posted. So £3000 for all the parts. It would be interesting to get a feel for how many hours it takes you to install it all when you do it.

I am a warm roof champion. A good compromise is hybrid, some insulation over the top before the deck and covering, and insulation between the rafters as well. Upgrade the roof insulation as much as you can now while you are doing it, the walls can be done later e.g next time you re fit the kitchen.

Did you not check and agree the drawings before going ahead?

For me, the house would have to be special, very special, or cheap, to take on the risk and cost. As it looks to be an ordinary Victorian terrace, I would keep on looking.

Might also be possible to see by taking off some of the bay window roof tiles. Probably no under felt behind those.

I am not so sure. I would say failed or failing lintel above the bay window. The lintel will be bridging the brickwork, just below downstairs ceiling level and probably the bedroom joists are spanning front to back on that lintel. You could get a surveyor to look at it and give an opinion, but nobody will tell for sure without exposing some of the structure and a surveyor won't do that.

Just so long as you keep an old head for the purpose.........

It would be a leap of faith too far for me but you might have guessed I am >50 years old.

The fact your "electrician" could not figure that out shows his lack of competence. So progress at last. Quite probably all you have to solve now is getting a proper feed to the bottom CU without that over crowded mess in the main switch, allocating the circuits properly and testing them properly as you go, and getting some form of RCD protection to the bottom board.

It is usually number of "bedrooms" that dictate the number of parking spaces needed. Large study in addition to the two bedrooms seems a way to avoid an extra parking space required. If you are not keen on an upstairs, but want lots of storage, consider making the loft as an open volume either with a ridge beam or at least attic trusses, and encompass it within the insulated area preferably with a warm roof construction. Then you will have a large storage space that also leaves the option to develop the upstairs into habitable rooms later of if you want to. Even think where you could incorporate a staircase to do that in the future, but leave it as a good quality loft ladder to start with. A couple of roof windows would make it more of a useful space.

Cartridge fuse holder? Not sure you can get more than 32A though? Type C or D MCB?

Yes trying to get away from that abomination. When the top CU main switch is put back where it should be there will just be one L and N feed in to the top of it from the SWA feed. The N link down to the bottom CU will connect to the very top right high integrity N busbar. The L link down to the bottom CU will be fed from the MCB right next to the main switch. The input to the bottom of that MCB will be jumpered to the main switch with the short 2 section busbar. the original L cable coming out of it, which was supplied with the CU and splits in two to feed the two RCD's will also go into the bottom left terminal of the main switch with that short busbar.

Not quite what you want. If you set up your top CU as that picture I copied from the linked website, you just need an additional 2 prong bit of busbar A bit of this You could buy a length and cut it down, but any electircian worth his salt will have odd bits of it lurking somwhere.

Resurrecting this old thread. I have encountered an issue. Above i describe the 433MHz remote control switch for my additional dump heater. Well it upsets the operation of my car key entry / imobiliser system. This has been a minor issue for a long time, but when the dump heater is on it just desensitised the receiver on the car, and I had worked out where on the car the receiver was so you just held the key fob close to that point. Well now I have a new car, and this afternoon when the dump heater was on, the car would not unlock and I could not find a sweet spot where the key fob would work. So I now have to find a solution to a problem I have been ignoring. Ultimately I might look for an alternative radio control transmitter / receiver pair, either one that does not leave the tx energised all the time, or one that does not use 433MHz. To find an immediate work around I am going to implement an extra switch input that will disable that extra radio control heater and do so for a timed period say 10 minutes to give me time to go and get in the car and drive away.