ProDave

Is that a true round roof window? Or a Solar Tube? (also known as light pipes etc) We had a solar tube in the last house to give light to an otherwise dark landing. It was easy to fit and the inside bit on the ceiling just looked like a flush light fitting. So much so that people kept asking us "where was the switch to turn the light off"?

Take 2. It needs to be more "open" So the left hand bit will be boxed in around the UFH manifold to just enough depth to cover it and removable hatch to access it. (the velux cardboard box) The remainder of the open space will be a plasterboarded and painted wall with a service void behind it. That will be 70mm deep which should be enough to hide the waste pipe which will go off to the right to the service pipe in the corner. The right hand bit will be fully boxed in to house the cistern with just an access trap in the side to get to it. The look she is wanting is like this: With all the details at the back I doubt I will get it looking like a free standing bit of furniture. But the main thing is just to make it open like that. At least I don't have to mess about with doors and making door frames for them.

When you say it has "fused isolation" do you mean it is fed from a switched, Fused, Connection, Unit? If so what you propose will be safe, but don't be surprised if the fuse blows when you have the washing machine and water heater on at the same time.

But that won't stop you overloading a cable or switch so is no substitute for checking what you have first.

In principle yes, but I would want to know where the present socket is fed from first. e.g it may come from a 20A DP switch above the worktop so running the WM and a water heater would overload that.

Do these 3G / 4G routers have RJ45 sockets to connect hard wired stuff, or does everything have to operate over wifi to talk to them?

Ask yourself why google would like you to "sign in" to do a web search?

I would drill the joist but then never admit to doing it. You are after all just drilling the "spare" one.

Obviously no anti tracker or ad blocker installed?

I mooted the idea of using pre made units. It would be easier I am sure. However because of the sloping ceiling it would mean using kitchen base units, not bathroom units as they would not be deep enough (or would stand a long way out from the wall) So to go down the pre made unit route, the challenge would be to find a 900mm wide unit for the right hand side where the WC pan would fit in the middle of that, and a 900mm wide unit for the left hand side with a pair of opening doors. Because of the UFH manifold I would remove the back panel from that unit. I suspect the difficult one would be the right hand unit. Any ideas on that? Oh boy I am looking forward to visiting the bathroom showrooms...... The 800mm I quoted. When doing the main bathroom we had a similar discussion about building some units, then out of the blue SWMBO came home with a pre made vanity unit that houses the basin on top and the back to wall cistern and WC. Putting that together with the small kick board that came with it, gives a basin rim height of 820mm and we have got used to that. P.S. The CAD method is necessary, SWMBO cannot visualise it from drawings, it has to be seen full size as it will be.

Finally starting on the last room in the main house, the en-suite bathroom. This is a shower room done as a wet room. the wet room former is already in. Planning the run of "units" that run the width of the room. To the right is the back to wall toilet with concealed cistern. To the left is a boxed in cupboard that contains the manifold for the upstairs UFH. The middle bit is to be open with just a worktop spanning it with a counter top basin on top, under the velux window. To the far left is the shower and there will be a glass screen between it and these units. In the best Blue Peter tradition, here is the cardboard mockup MK1: The immediate question is what height for the worktop? I set this mockuo to 800mm the same as the vanity unit in the main bathroom but with a counter top basin (yes that cardboard box) it feels too high. So is it a case of choose the basin first, then set the worktop height so the top of the basin is about 800mm? You will note this is at the edge of the room under the sloping roof. I have mocked up an upstand at the back of the worktopso it does not taper down to nothing. Depending on the basin chosen, the taps might come out of the wall through this upstand, or be mounted through the worktop. I guess we can't progress until we have been and bought the basin and taps as that's the one bit we don't yet have. Wanting the space under the basin left open makes it awkward for me as some of the pipes might end up on show. but there will be a back to the recess (that grey bit of board) as the hot and cold pipes come up through the floor close to the wall, so a service void needs creating there. I will make it deep enough for a 40mm waste, so the only bit I will have to get "presentable" will be the trap. I presume I do that in chrome or similar?

Try re running the figures with Frametherm 35 in between the rafters. A lot easier to fit than the other options.

Every time I look at this, the only one that is viable is Three's All you can eat unlimited data sim for about £25 per month (or whatever offer they might have sometimes) Only trouble is no three network coverage here. Still waiting in hope.

I was working in a farm cottage last summer and at the back were some Dutch barns. I counted 6 rats just running around the floor of the barns, empty at that time of year. I pointed it out to the tenant of the house who did not even know they were there.

What would worry me is the accounts you hear of Ecocent cylinder failure meaning the whole thing is scrap. I had to do some work at a house last year where the less than 10 year old Ecocent cylinder was leaking. It was replaced with a Mitsubishi outside ASHP but I was there to reinstate extract fans to the bathroom as by ripping out the EAHP system it had left them with no ventilation.

What size do you actually need? e.g if filling in between 600mm stud spacing you would be cutting it anyway so no extra work and no extra waste,

That looks like the detail we have. The bottom bar is aluminium and fixed to the two jambs so they won't spread. Ours all came with another piece of wood attached to the bottoms as well, I think for extra strength during transit, that was removed on installation.

Yes most of our heat comes from the ASHP. That keeps the house at 20 degrees but never any more. We light the WBS when we want to indulge in higher temperatures, like on a day like today wet grey and windy, one sometimes feels the need to overheat. Currently 23 degrees just about everywhere downstairs. That of course means the ASHP won't kick in for heating for some time. The other time we light it is when very cold and it starts to get a bit cool upstairs, and a warm downstairs gives more convection heat up the stairwell to warm the bedrooms a little, We don't use the stove for anything like 20 hours a week. Probably more like once a week for about 4 hours.

Interesting analysis. We have about 8 trees in total * but we don't burn the stove anything like as much as your example suggests. So just from our modest number of trees, we are probably sustainable for the amount we use the stove, which is not enough for all our heating needs. We top up with locally sourced wind fall as opportunities present themselves. Surprisingly this years storms have resulted in very little windfall near here. * it's very hard to count how many trees we have, because probably due to the land previously not being managed for 40 years, the trees that were there grew in clumps. Our largest tree must have 10 or more "trunks" growing up from one cluster. I am not sure how many tress to count that as. But most grow in clumps with multiple trunks.

I am another that thinks a wood burner in the sparsely populated Highlands makes sense. We are in a shallow valley that pretty much faces the prevailing wind so there is almost always air flowing up the valley, and the population density downwind of us is very low. But on the few occasions there is no wind, I don't light the stove to avoid filling the valley with smoke. All we burn is either from our own land as part of an ongoing gradual thinning of the trees, or local windfall collected from close to the house. I don't ever buy wood and can't imagine ever doing so.

The new build I am wiring at the moment, SSE fitted the supply head and meter inside the house under the stairs just before Christmas. How strange that you were refused.

Here is the actual upstairs UFH manifold photographed just now. The left hand actuator is deliberately loosened, it has failed and I am awaiting a replacement. The flow through the heating loops seems to be the sum of the Wilo circulating pump, and the flow from the heat pump. I observed it while the HP was heating DHW and the motorised valve was shut, and the flow meter showed much reduced flow., just as it does if the blending valve temperature is turned down.

That would be my approach.

Did you point it out to BC or did he get his tape measure out? Many would have let that go and it would be no practical problem. I would be looking at an alternative sollution. Cut the landing framework somehow to enable the top step to recess one step into the landing and your problem will go away. Or try and shave that 30mm off the ceiling, e.g if there is a battened service void above the plasterboard, you can eat into that to get your 30mm. This would keep a straight staircase against the wall. imho the joiner did not try hard enough to make it work against the wall, I am sure there would be a way.

Just an aside. It it becomes illegal to sell "wet wood" Who is going to tell the two builders merchants near me to season their construction timber before selling it to me? The wood I got yesterday was inside their warehouse, but it was clear it had spent a considerable time outside somewhere.