ProDave

So Jeremy is buying the beers in November then? Might have a buyer for our boat, been on the market 2 days and have a viewing this afternoon.

Mine has an automatic overload preventer. The belt is so worn of you overload it it stops turning.

If it's just the clay soil shrinking in the dry weather, I would just be watering the ground around them for a while to make it swell up again.

There are a lot of variations in what councils accept. For instance I am not a member of any electrical competent persons scheme, yet Highland, Moray and Invernessshire accept an EIC that I give them for a new install. I am told that for instance Borders council will only accept a certificate if you are a member of a competent persons scheme.

It has about 20 or so "parameters" that you can set from a menu, some of which have sensible default values, others not so sensible.

I can't comment on your heat pump, but my LG one works like this. In heating mode, it modulates the compressor to maintain the water flow temperature to what you have set it, I currently have it set for 40 degrees but I will probably fine tune that when I start using the heating. In hot water heating mode, it seems to ramp the compressor up to pretty much full speed quite quickly, then you can watch the flow temperature slowly rising as the tank warms up. Flow temperature always seems to be about 5 degrees above return temperature, which is dependant on the temperature of the water in the tank. Mine prioritises hot water heating but you can swap it to prioritise heating if you want. Mine has a thermistor temperature probe to measure the tank temperature, it does not use the mechanical cylinder thermostat. By the time the tank reaches full temperature, the flow temperature from the heat pump is about 5 degrees hotter than the tank temperature. I am currently running a hot water temperature of 50 degrees so the flow gets up to about 55 degrees. Mine you can program to stop heating with the heat pump at a certain temperature and then use the immersion heater to get to full temperature. I might investigate that option in the winter if frequent defrosting becomes an issue.

I did my own percolation tests and building control accepted them. Any ground works contractor with a digger will be able to install the plant. Make sure they follow the instructions properly and concrete it in if it needs it.

A lot of the plastic drain lids rely on a trough around the edge being filled with water to seal the lid. In this hot dry summer they might have dried out. Pour a bucket or 2 of water around the edge of each drain lid to see if that helps.

I will never ever use felt for a shed roof again, Awful stuff with a hopelessly short life. I use the corrugated bitumen roofing sheets sold by B&Q and many others. One shed has had that for 10 years now and as good as new.

I can't help with the questions, but it looks a bit like my LG ASHP in so far as thee are a LOT of cables to connect to the HP. I did not want to be fishing lots of separate cables through bits of conduit, which would be even more of a PITA if you needed to add an extra one later. So I found a bit of 10 core control cable rated at 300V and connected every terminal I was likely to use to just 1 cable, and ran this to a marshalling box inside the house (standard 12 terminal central heating wiring centre) and split the wiring to all the various valves, thermostats and programmers from there.

I like the idea of supporting it on a frame. Not seen that done before. It gives the worktop people no "wriggle room" and means you can plumb in the waste in advance of the worktop being fitted.

I don't doubt the worktop is not going anywhere, but the sink just bonded with silicone, nothing else? I was sure when I was considering one from Howdens, I saw details of tapped screw inserts in the underside of the worktop to screw clamps that hold the sink in place.

At the risk of taking the thread off topic, I thought the sink was fixed to the underside of the worktop by some tapped holes or other similar fixings to strap it to the underside of the worktop. Is it normal to support it independantly in a frame then just rest the worktop over it?

This is how my very similar Rationel Ali clad timber windows are fitted: Fixing plates clearly visible. Print that picture and give it to your muppet project manager, along with the question of how does he propose to correct the holes he has butchered in your windows, at his expense.

The duct is buried under the concrete sub floor so below the void so I can't see that happening.

yes and yes (for now) though where it exits will get filled in with rocks as a French drain later on. It's a continuous run of pipe off a coil, no joints in the duct.

Is this because LPG is heavier than air so will pool in a sump? I guess (hope) my buried pipe is okay as it is sleeved and exits above ground level outside.

10mm plastic coated copper coil? Well it's what I have used. Only 2 joints, one at the hob and one at the regulator. In my case the bit from the hob (kitchen island) to outside is a hockey stick then straight plastic duct buried in the concrete to where it exits the wall. Someone will now tell me how wrong and dangerous this is.

But prices here have not gone up since 2007 so no it is not the market catching up. Our house was valued by comparing it with the actual sale price of a similar sized house nearby that last sold in 2012. That has just gone back on the market now for £5K above the 2012 sale price. I won't detract the tread by suggesting why this is so.

I am late to this thread, but personally I would be looking at a DIY pulley and counterweight system instead to replace the springs.

I would take your roof design 1 step further and swap the ridge board for a proper supporting ridge beam, then the roof is supported by that an no need for a cross peice, leaving you the option of a full height vaulted veiling if you wish. If you have not yet got that high it is not too late to re design it.

That is exactly what my Kingspan unit does.

Quite a lot of people (like me) making a warm roof, do so for a room in roof application, and the roof is supported on a ridge beam, so you don't have that cross piece. If your roof is made of pre made trusses, then I am afraid you are in for a lot if fiddly cutting and taping of the air tight membrane around each individual truss end. If it's cut and made on site then you can do the Tony Tray idea and take the membrane around the end of the horizontal timber then folded back and build the roof above it.

Just one point not mentioned, racking strength. The Sarking board is a Scottish building regs requirement, partly to give the roof extra racking strength (English regs just let you drape roof felt over the gap and don't call for any racking strength) Wood fibre board is not considered strong enough for the racking layer, which is why I instead have OSB lining the inside..

For overnight ventilation cooling, you need to understand you need a cross flow of air from one side to another. I am just back from 5 very hot nights in a hotel room, with just one opening window, and nowhere for the air to flow to, so overnight cooling was pretty poor. We have our bedroom windows all open a little at night and it helps keep the place cool, then close them in the day if it is going to be hotter outside (doesn't happen often up here)