ProDave

Our Utility and downstairs WC is all in one room. Some think it a strange concept, but most just accept it. It's a long thin room so has the usual run of kitchen type units for washer and dryer and a sink, and come cupboards and then a gap at the end of the run for the WC. It would have been possible to divide it with another room and a door, but we just did not see the point and building control had no issues whatsoever with the two being combined.

What you REALLY need to find is a GOOD local gas safe plumber and an electrician. Then you know who to call when you have a problem and you only get charged a fair price when you have a problem.

I think it was Jeremy that worked out with his super insulated passive raft foundation, that 8% of the heat into the UFH was "wasted" heating the ground under the house. But when the total heating into the house is not a lot, then 8% of not a lot is even less. We have a heated floor area of about 40 square metres at a U value of 0.14, so say 30 degree floor temperature and -10 under the floor worst case, that's 224 watts lost through the floor heating the air under it (suspended floor) With a total whole house heat loss of about 2.2kW at +20 inside and and -10 outside that is about 10% lost through the floor in our case.

It sounds like they are suggesting a hidden gutter drain which sounds very sensible. Drawings and pictures would help.

Was there a flexi before? Personally in a situation like that, a flexi is the very last way I would connect that cistern. Just a straight bit of copper to a tap connector from the isolator.

What an odd fitting to put the lamp so far recessed? And as for having to unclip the whole thing from the ceiling to change a lamp, by about the 4th blown lamp the hole in the plasterboard ceiling will be too big and crumbling. Choose something different.

Mine are made by Eclipse, bought from Screwfix and have just the top and bottom ball race. No problems with them.

Never yet. It is usually some admin person that pays the invoice, and they were not present when the job was done. The person that was present and witnessed the job done to their satisfaction probably does not know the details of the quote.

I have said this before but I seem to be a lone voice. I don't give quotes. I give estimates, am open with my hourly rate and materials cost. Most jobs turn out lower than my estimate. If i am forced to give a quote (usually commercial customers) i have to think of absolutely everything that can go wrong to make the job take longer and price on that. Almost always the job takes less time than what I have allowed. But it is a quote so that is what they pay. People on here tell me customers don't like paying by the hour because they then expect you to just sit and drink tea while charging your hourly rate. Some might, but surely they would never be recommended? I don't and all my work comes from recommendations, I don't advertise.

Where? Link? More to the point will the kind government be dishing out grants again next winter like they did this winter (that funded my entire years heating bill)?

Why do you need a water tank? Not mains water?

I should have gone and re submitted planning to move the house over, then I could have had a double garage. The house was put where it is on the site on the assumption we needed to provide a filter mound drainage system alongside the house. Building control then rejected that and eventually the solution found was discharge to the burn. That meant we no longer needed much land for drainage, so could have re positioned the house on the plot, but that would have meant going back to planning and all the delays before we could start. It's a shame planning and building control are not one integrated function.

Strictly speaking mine is referred to as hybrid. It has 100mm of wood fibre board over the rafters and then 200mm full fill insulation between the rafters. It means the entire loft space is inside the insulated air tight envelope so you don't have to worry about insulating mvhr ducts etc or ceiling penetrations.

As you are still in construction phase, is it too late to change it for a warm roof? That puts all the insulation and air tightness at roof level and makes all the internal work, ducts, lights so much easier, and you get a nice warm loft space as well. That is right up there at the top of the "I am glad I did that" list.

That is not a 240V connector so it must need an external driver. That is a very misleading label, it refers to the input voltage to the driver not the light fitting itself. sorry that does not get you any closer.

Check the small print. Mine said it converted to normal buildings insurance upon completion. I don't known if that means once a building is physically completed, or signed off as completed by building control?

Did the tree come down in a storm? If so insurance claim, then the cost does not bother you?

I would only add, remove your post and wire fence to make it easier to maintain the sloping bank, but keep the big end posts in place as markers and the photos just so you have a record of where the fence used to be.

Wise words. At the moment, even with the higher prices, even with a perfect ASHP system in a good house, the savings over gas would be small, so the payback time would be huge. If I had a working gas system I would not be changing at least not changing with the expectation of saving money. I wonder what claims the supplier made (the supplier that has now gone bust so won't have to honour any claims)

Can you post pictures of everything you have including close up pictures of labels, model numbers etc.

Not in todays high energy prices, especially if that is £200 per month for 6 months only, i.e. winter.

It is unlikely the heat pump is actually using that. They normally have a temperature probe in a pocket giving a much more accurate measure of tank temperature and allowing you to set the tank temperature from the control panel. The traditional tank thermostat is just there as a required G3 safety device, to close the motorised valve and shut off the heat source in the event of a malfunction. My own is there for just that eventuality and is set to 60 degrees. To move this discussion forwards we really need historic gas usage, preferably from actual monthly meter readings not estimates, and the predicted heat loss calculations provided by the installer.

1.4 metres between fences (boundary dispute as you can't agree on one fence line?) and 1.5 metres height difference. So if that is just a sloping bank it is pretty much 45 degrees and perfectly stable. So unless you want to move your fence to widen the flat area of land between your garage and the new fence / wall, I don't see much need to do anything? Perhaps some low maintenance shrub planting?

That looks like a big heat pump so presumably an old house not much insulation? Did they do any heat loss calculations before quoting? All thermometers are low so presumably turned off when you took the photographs? What are we supposed to be looking at in the last picture? The general install looks reasonable, some more pipe insulation would be a good idea but I doubt that on it's own would account for the high bills. How much were you previously paying for gas? That is the best indicator what your running costs might be.

If the MCB tripped earlier and a switch welded, that is a short circuit somewhere. Most likely explanation is a pinched cable in the back box of the switch you have just replaced, and in the act of replacing the switch it is no longer pinched and causing a short circuit. Prime candidates are too tight behind the switch in a shallow back box, or one of the fixing screws pinching a cable.