ProDave

Did you install the UFH? Do you know how much insulation is under it? Was it fitted when the house was built or a later addition? Agreed no heating should be needed yet, I am further north and still cosy warm inside the house. But this is a 1980's build and they are not well know for being good.

I would run the ASHP pipes, and don't forget cables as well, within the thickness of the wall between plant and living room. Assuming it is a stud wall? It is a brave plumber and electrician that wants to drill the holes for pipes and cables before the ASHP is on site. Last one I did we waited until the ASHP was there before drilling holes and running cables and pipes.

Hi and welcome. And feel free to share where you are building (as someone who originated from Oxford and curious how and where you found a plot)

It is a very sad state of affairs when that statement is so true, that you simply cannot believe that anything a politician says has a shred of truth in it.

This is the sort of thing I have in mind. https://www.s3i.co.uk/balustradeB4.php But say 4 wires all the way round, that would be 8 of 2M kits at £39.90 and 4 of 5M kits at £43.8 That's just shy of £500 At the other end of the spectrum is this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pohoopo-Stainless-Balustrade-Invisible-Tensioners/dp/B092CYRQXY/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=balustrade+wire+kit&qid=1662214460&sr=8-11 Three of those might do, for £100

I know some yacht rigging type fittings are available for banister applications. I saw one in a house the other day I will see if I can find and upload the photo later. The "terminal" that the wire attaches to appears to have a wood screw thread that you just screw into the newel post and make off the wire into that. You certainly don't see rigging wire on a yacht terminated like that, so this is something made for buildings not boats. But I have not yet found it for sale anywhere.

I don't. But what irks me is we keep getting politicians standing up on the tv saying we will all get super fast fibre broadband even those remote rural properties. Then along comes this wireless company and installs a network and now we have this 30mbps service available. That is the best we are going to get. What happened to the promised super fast fibre broadband to all properties? The fact we have a bit faster offering available now seems to have removed BT/OR's obligation to deliver the proper service. We know for a fact fibre is available at the top of our road. What I had been expecting / hoping is OR would have installed a fibre cabinet at the top of the road leaving just the copper for the local connection, not difficult or expensive in the scheme of things. But this other company has seemingly removed any obligation or inclination for them so upgrade their lousy network.

If you phone an attic truss manufacturer and ask for an attic truss I am sure they would not be so pedantic. Normally attic trusses would have a vertical member at eaves height at each end, and a cross timber near the top at ceiling height, which would help to reduce the overall timber sizes and weight. The top one would be a nuisance in very limited headroom so ask if that can be ommitted but it might make the timber sizes larger.

That's the balcony finished, it only took just over an hour. Only joking in case anyone thinks I am serious. The actual balcony will be a little less wide than the scaffold, it won't overlap the landing window, and a bit deeper than the scaffold, I may later put another bay in front of that if I need more working room. Now I am seeking some ideas. I would like the space under the balcony to be pretty dry, i.e. I don't want water dripping through the gaps in the decking planks. so either some form of waterproof sheet under the deck boards (with a spacer?) or does anyone sell interlocking composite deck boards that click together like some flooring and make an almost watertight surface? And thinking of ideas for the banister and our thoughts are turning away from glass towards stringing it with stainless steel "yacht rigging" wire, but not wanting to pay chandlery prices. Does anyone know a source of the wire and end fittings at more of a consumer price aimed at this sort of application?

No I mean trusses from a truss manufacturer that will do the calculations for you for BC Either the thin W trusses, or attic trusses but make it clear you are not expecting habitable height space, just the maximum clear space that is possible for storage. Attic trusses tend to have a chord across at ceiling level which will limit your already limited headroom. ask if it is possible to omitt that?

What are you trying to achieve? There is not enough headroom for either of those roof spaces to be habitable so at best you are creating storage space. I don't see why standard trusses would not do those.

What VOIP phone are you using? Currently we have a set of 3 wired landline phones. I am told I can get a VOIP adaptor that they will plug into, or I have to buy a VOIP phone that plugs directly into a network port.

Emails are not in the equation. I have never used an ISP's email. All the ones I use are based on domain names I own for my business or home.

Since this thread has been woken up, I can report we have made the decision to dump BT and go with the local wireless broadband provider. It is wasn't an easy decision. In some respects I wish they did not exist. But the fact they do exist is responsible for BT/OR not making any more investment in the cable network, so if we stick with BT it would appear we will not in the forseeable future get anything better. But on the other hand, the wireless offering will give us broadband at 30mbps. Now that is 10 times as fast as we get at the moment, but I honestly don't think that fits the category of "super fast" broadband? So it is this or the rubbish (both in terms of performance and customer service) we get from BT. But it is not as simple to switch as you might think. I still want a "landline" (mobile is too unreliable here to rely on 100%) There is no way I want to keep any service with BT after the switch, so the "landline" will become a VOIP service by the same provider and they claim they will port our existing landline number. I am now awaiting the paperwork and a connection date before I can finally tell BT where to go.

I did a small job this morning. The customers house was sweltering. 19 degrees outside so no need for any heating, BUT the heating was on, all the radiators were hot each with a single wet towel on it drying, and most of the windows were open. Some people do not have the faintest idea. P.S it was sunny and a light breeze, a line in the garden would have dried those towels nicely.

Just as an aside, the electric panel heater company Fishcher Future Heat are due in court soon on a charge of fraud by claiming their panel heaters are cheaper to run. I await the outcome of that case

The kettle thing. Have you seen this? That idiotic statement by BOZO about buy a new kettle shows 2 major flaws: 1: It seems to imply that buying a more modern kettle will be "more efficient". WRONG. A resistance heating element delivers 100% of the power consumed into what it is heating. You cannot get a kettle that heats the same amount of water but uses less electricity to do so. I have lost count of how many time people have asked me to change electric panel heaters for "more eficcient" ones. I am far too honest and tell them it is not possible rather than take their money and smirk. 2: If he thinks changing your kettle and saving £10 per year is going to make one jot of noticable difference to your £2000 or more heating bill then it shows just how out of touch he is with the problem facing people.

I would be talking to your plumber AND electrician about this. So you have some form of valve to give priority to the imist system. I understand that. BUT an unintended consequence is this valve must need to be energised all the time to feed the rest of the taps in the house. This means if you get a power cut, you will not have any water in the house. I would not find that acceptable and I would be wanting to change that. This may be something you have to wait until after building control sign off to alter, but I would definitely want to change it.

Looks like they are still trying to find ways to claim the very much more expensive MCS install is "better"

All explained here https://www.saniflo.co.uk/installing-a-toilet/68-saniaccess-3.html The only bit we might dispute is "quiet technology" Top Tip: Don't use the basement WC for a No 2. Use a different bathroom with a conventional gravity flow WC waste. You will thank me for this advice if the saniflow ever needs dismantling for maintenance.

It ALWAYS goes up in September onwards when people start to think about filling their tank for the winter. I usually used to find August was the best time for the annual fill.

Yes, how someone can start with a budget of £700K and then magic up an extra £1m is a totally different world to the one i inhabit.

Yes, that is exactly what it is designed for, to pump the output from bathrooms up and along to otherwise inaccessible drains.

Saniflo but they are horrible noisy things. Your bedroom partner won't thank you for flushing the loo in the middle of the night.

I still struggle to see where these costs come from? ASHP easily bought for £5K, it took me 2 days to wire one and the plumber about 2 days to plumb it a few weeks back. I really wish between us we could have been paid £6K to install it.