ProDave

With your wall and roof U values (a bit better than mine) I think I can say with reasonable confidence, you won't need heating upstairs. I am one of several here who installed electric heater points in the bedrooms to fit small panel heaters, and have never used them. I went with ASHP to run both the UFH and DHW for sheer simplicity. Solar PV supliments that nicely.

We have been living in the house for 18 months now building it around us. Only just started fitting architrave and skirting (and yes used all that I have and can't get any more) Carpets and curtains are but a distant "would like to have"

I have been using Howdens oak veneered MDF architrave and skirting, and the veneer has joints like this periodically.

I just asked Tops Tiles when we bought the tiles and they said their ordinary BAL adhesive was fine with UFH. My tiler prefers the slow set.

I also remember an automated star delta starter I think using 3 or 4 contactors and a timer relay to sequence them. It can make quite a bang if you get the wrong 2 contactors energised at the same time!!!! Agree I would just wire it in delta to a VSD. If you don't want to spend much there are some really cheap ones on ebay if you want to take a punt on something arriving from china or HK.

I doubt it. Look carefully at the 2 connections, it is not just a case of bringing the mid point of each winding together as a star point, the whole phasing of the windings changes about, so you would need anything up to 12 connections to the motor to achieve that.

The question for @Onoff is does the "starter" latch in both positions. If so I suspect they are using this as a crude 2 speed control. As long as the lower motor torque is adequate that would work. The star delta starters I used early in my career you pushed the handle down against a spring and held it there (in star) while listening to the motor run up, and when it had reached full speed you then lifted the handle up (where it then latched until you pressed the stop button) on delta.

That's the star / delta starter. Push it one way the cams connect the motor in star, push the other way it's delta. Off is usually in the middle. some of them don't latch in the star position as it's only meant for starting, but I have a suspicion they are using it here as a crude 2 speed selector so this one may latch in the star position.

Did building control put up much fight to the idea of a timber ramp? That's what I want to do but had heard they don't like it.

That's the one I think is the star / delta. It may be they allow it to run in star for the slow speed and switch to delta for the fast speed. A motor will have less power in star. The star delta starters I remember the start (star) position was non latching, you had to hold it there while the motor spun up, then you switched to delta where it latched.

What are they doing outside getting more and more rusty? That top rectangle in the wiring diagram can only be a star delta starter.

A VFD can take a single phase in and give a variable frequency 3 phase out. I actually use one in a strange fashion for my lathe. It was a 3 phase VSD I got free from work, but I only use one phase output on a single phase motor on my lathe.

I used the thin coat stuff because I was rendering onto wood fibre board. this thin coat system had a BBA approval for direct render onto wood fibre so I thought it would be okay. I don't belive cement render is approved for that. The bad news in a few places the thin top coat is separating. The good news as far as I can tell the base layer (lime based) is sound, so the integrity of the building is not at risk (the base coat can apparently be used on it's own as a finished product) I am awaiting for a visit by the manufacturers rep to see the issue (now delayed until who knows when) before the plasterer comes to re do the damaged sections free of charge. But I want to know what went wrong and have some confidence it is not going to keep on happening.

I have issues with some of my acrylic render de laminating. Investigation and remedial work has paused just now so I don't have an outcome so I can't recommend it personally just now. What make of render system were you considering?

Probably but no more so that it will bounce off the deck.

Neighbours can be strange animals. At a previous semi detached house, I had work to do that was obviously going to be a nuisance to the neighbours. So I asked what I thought was a perfectly reasonable question. I asked that if they were going out, they let me know, so I could do the noisy work while they were not there. Their response was astonishing "How dare you ask us to go out so you can make noise......" Some people you just can't help.

As far as I can. This is a small area of decking and steps down from the back door, incorporating some storage. This has been ongoing since just after Christmas, doing a little every now and then on nice days. Underneath has been made into a storage rack for my scaffold planks, a lot easier to get them in and out than the previous storage under the static caravan. The 2 layers are made with Unistrut which is both easy and seems to give a smooth surface to slide the planks in on end. Below the deck frame, a sheet of OSB is suspended, covered in damp proof membrane. That is to ensure drips of rainwater that get through the gaps in the deck planks, don't drop onto the planks but run off to the edge. Also incorporated is storage for the wheelie bins so you can just step out of the kitchen door and put the rubbish in the bins. An arrangement we liked when in the static caravan. Of course like a lot of jobs, this is as far as I have got. I have run out of wood, and can't get any at the moment. Underneath the deck will be covered in with fencing boards to keep driven rain out (and keep the planks out of sight) with a door on the front to open when you want to get to the planks. And it needs handrails. I have one length of handrail and 2 spindles bought to see what they were like. Not enough to do anything useful with.

Yes I am another one that started my life in a "job for life" apprenticeship. 16 years later I quit. I baled out just before our bit was due to be privatised, which turned out to be a good move as it preserved my (in all but name) civil service pension. Others that I know who stayed on and went with the privatisation lost something like half their pension (google AEAT pension scandal if you are interested) and for most the privatised job did not last long.

I am with Octopus as well. (if anyone wants to join them I have a referral code to save you £50) I was transferred to them when Iresa folded. They are not the cheapest but not far off. I have stayed with them as I like the way they operate. They let YOU set the monthly amount, you can easily make one off extra payments of your usage is temporarily high rather than change the monthly payment, and if you build up too much credit you can request some of it back. It's easy to submit your monthly reading and they give you a clear statement each month. Their website is a bit of a unique design though.

Check the manual to see what those symbols really mean. But to me it looks like the right hand pair are the ports that go to the external ducts and the left hand pair are the ones that should go to the house vents? Someone correct me if I am wrong,. That's the trouble with symbols, it is not always obvious what they mean.

Those are just 2" by 1" battens fixed accross the trusses and 22mm chipboard floor panels. Just use whatever you have.

Just a thought. You are going to want regular access to that, in what looks like an awkward loft space that is going to be insulated. I would suggest you make a raised walkway above the height of the insulation to make easy access to it. This is how I did it in our previous house

Definitely urinal flushes were mains on a timed button and I am sure WC flushes were the same. this would have been in Chicago in about 1990 And yes I likened the stall doors to a saloon door. I much preferred to do my No 2's in the privacy of my hotel room.

My recollection of American toilets, is they did not have flush cisterns, but rather a pushbutton, that when pressed, delivered a timed shot of mains water to flush the toilet. something not allowed here.

Years ago, before my time, to make a hole for a rawl plug, you had a round chisel that you hit with a hammer, rotted it a bit, hit with a hammer and so on. Could take hours to make the hole. When i started my apprenticeship we had a hand drill for drilling easy stuff (no cordless drills then) and a mains powered "percussion" drill for drilling brick. I don't think SDS had come along then,. Plaster was surely just sold in bags like now and you mixed however much you wanted. I don't sharpen saws now. I wait for Howdens to do their "3 saws for £10" offer that they do frequently.