ProDave

I presume you are buying from ADW? We easilly got 5% off the quote. Show them the other qoute and see what they come up with.

We have been living for a year om a static caravan that gives us 2 bedroom accommodation. It would not be possible to construct a 2 bedroom house or flat of that size because of building regulations on door and corridor widths, accessible bathrooms, and circulation space requirements. Even so living in such a small space has only been possible and tolerable because we also have the space of the unfinished house to use. Currently we are using the for the laundry, my office space, and storage. In many ways I find it somewhat insulting that someone thinks a particular section of society should make do with such a tiny space. Yes you can exist in a small space, but you can't "do" much, and to suggest an entire generation can live like that, suggests those people never want to do any practical things or have a hobby or anything that requires a little bit of space

That's about right then. Most treatment plants have an inlet level of about 700mm below ground and outlet a little lower. Then add in a sample chamber and your outlet is probably about 1 metre down which is about right for a soakaway.

I am not a fan of living / dining / kitchen all in one room. I don't want to spend my evening trying to watch tv, listen to music or just enjoy some quiet time competing with the noise of the fridge / freezer or worse the dishwasher. That's why I insisted we have a separate "snug" living room away from all the hustle and bustle, where the big tv and best hifi will go. I am convinced millenials are tone deaf, or even just deaf, as they seem oblivious to such noises, and are even prepared to listen to music played on the minute speakers in their phones, which frankly I find an affront to music. But SWMBO is a fan of that layout, and she is convinced that is a reason we failed to sell the old house, because it's separate kitchen did not appeal to "modern" buyers? On the subject of small living spaces, our local portable eco home builder is building some "pods" for the council for a homeless project. They provide a basic bedsit living space in a small area. They were featured on the local STV news a while ago.

So 2850 seconds to drop 1 metre? You are only supposed to fill a smaller 300mm deep hole and time that to go down. So 2850 seconds to drop 1000mm is 28 seconds per mm. Do the official 300mm test and the result may be different. You say it "could" accomodate 5 so lets assume it is 3 bedrooms and the occupancy for building regs is 5 people So Area = 28 *5 *0.2 =28 square metres This is for the soakaway for the treatment plant only. DO check the V figure by doing the percolation test properly with just a 300mm dole in the bottom so you are timing how long it takes to drain down 150mm I don't know how to calculate the rainwater soakaway, I have never had to do that but I would expect that o be based on the roof area and as you say not the number of people.

Prior to building our first self build, we owned a 1930's semi and extended it, almost doubling it's size. That was brick and block with a cavity and a token bit of fluffy insulation in said cavity. To me, then, that was just a "normal" build. When I look back now, having put in the attention to detail to make a well insulated air tight home, it is only now I realise just how appalling that 1930's house was, and the extension was not a lot better. If I had wanted any degree of sensible air tightness with that I would have had to do a LOT of things very different and put in a lot of work to get the details right. Sadly, I doubt the average brick builder has much idea how to get the details right. There are several on here building very good brick / block houses but I just doubt many bricklayers know how to do it properly.

I presume you (they) use a litter tray as in a flat they did not have access to outside? Now you have a house, fit a (passive?) cat flap and train them to go outside, starting with putting the litter tray just outside the cat flap (under a cover) then gradually moving it further from the house, then removing it. Cats are clean animals, unlike dogs, and will dig a hole and bury their waste, so leave them a patch of earth for that (which is where the litter tray will end up before you remove it totally)

Rainwater and sewage soakaways are calculated differently. Fior sewage soakaways the calculations are in the link I gave you on the last page, which I will repeat here https://www.wte-ltd.co.uk/percolation_test.html V is the percolation rate in seconds per mm P is the number of people the house can accommodate, based on the number of bedrooms. This is determined by BC e,g, my 3 bedroom house is deemed to have an occupancy of 5 people, irrespective of the fact there will only be 3 of us living there. And the formula is Area (A) = V X P X 0.20 for sewage treatment units This gives the AREA in square metres of land that is required of a soakaway. You cannot use crates for sewage disposal this is a layer of rocks or stone, a herringbone of perforated drain pipes, more stones then a membrane then soil put back You seem to have got confused and arrived at a cubic metre figure not a square metre figure. What was your V figure in seconds per mm and how many bedrooms?

The big difference for me was I found an AT that would do just the work I wanted (buildings regs and construction drawings) and no more, for a fair fee based on the actual amount of work he was doing. All I got from "architects" was an offer of standard package of work, with the cost being based on their (over inflated) estimate of the build costs, and they would not negotiate. I am not saying architects are "bad" just that their business model and the way they price their work, did not suit what I wanted.

Don't join all the neutrals. You will either have to use separate terminals, or if you have some spares of the plastic brackets used, cut the existing N terminals down into shorter ones. It helps being a sparky as I usually have some spare neutral bars and brackets, I often remove them from CU's I swap out just to have some spares. Just buy an empty CU of the same type as your main CU so it looks nice and put it all in there.

I dug my own foundations and did my own setting out. We had already established the ground conditions (I dug 3 deep test pits and the structural engineer looked at what came out and made a decision on the foundation type and depth.) I had set out my own trenches for the dig and the bricklayer who did the underbuild confirmed it was spot on.

This could not be further from the truth. My timber frame was built in sections by a gang of 4 local joiners, in a rented farm steading (barn) about 3 miles away. It was then brought to my site a few panels at a time on a trailer and erected by the same 4 joiners, using their own plant and machinery, with each returning to their homes, within a 10 mile radius each night.

Re cement board. I have been thinking about that. Would it but up to adjacent sheets of plasterboard, and when skimmed be "invisible" or would there be issues with differential expansion and cracking along the joint?. Would the plaster skim be liable to cracking and flaking off if exposed to heat? I know (from the stove we have in the caravan) just how hot the stone slabs behind and alongside the stove get, I really have concerns that plaster on a cement board would withstand that, thought it would appear to meet regs. That's why I am still thinking of a stone slab behind and to the side of the stove. And if I do that, then ordinary skimmed plasterboard should be fine with the very much lesser heat from the flue. A cheaper alternative might just be to tile behind and alongside the stove.

Re Heatas. I hate paying for what I can do. I will install the flue, which is a long run and by far the most time consuming bit, and then see if the supplier will just come and stand the stove on the hearth, connect the flue to it, and give me a heatas certificate for a fair price.. if he won't then I will do that bit a well.

That's not an issue: a) under 5KW and there are no requirements to provide a specific means of air supply to a stove. b) the Springdale has a ducted air kit, so we will be taking combustion air up from the ventilated void under the floor, which is allowed by building regs.

http://burley.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/9103-9112-Burley-Wood-Burner-Installation-Instructions-AUGUST-2016.pdf Page 5 says max hearth temperature <100 degrees, 10cm between rear and combustible material, and 35cm from side to combustible material. minimum hearth thickness 12mm So does that overrule what building regs says? The 35cm from the side to combustible might be an issue. The stove will go at the end of a run of kitchen units and that large gap might limit things a bit.

I am starting work on the main living room and need to provision for the installation of a wood burning stove. I am having trouble understanding the seemingly conflicting building regs. The house is being built in Scotland, and is based on the 2013 issue of the Scottish building regs as that is what was in force when out building warrant was submitted. Stoves and flues come under section 3 of the Scottish regs and you can download it from here http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Building/Building-standards/publications/pubtech/th2013domcomp Sections 3.19 is what is giving me trouble. It is a timber framed house. I do NOT have a constructional hearth. I could install one, but it would be a LOT of work. Now, what I normally see, is a stone slab superimposed on the floor, and a stone slab up the wall behind the stove. That is what most people seem to do. But I am trying to make that fit with building regs. 3.19.1 starts by saying combustible material must be 200mm from a flue. 3.19.2 modifies that by saying a "system chimney" (i.e. insulated twin wall flue) only has to maintain the manufacturers stated distance from flamable material, usually about 50mm. So the flue looks straightforward, un insulated plain flue sections >200mm from flamable material. Now onto the stove itself. 3.19.5 talks about the hearth. It usefully gives the minimum size of hearth. Then starts to contradict 3.19.5 a A constructional hearth 125mm thick. OR 3.19.5b b a 12mm thick superimposed hearth IF the manufacturer states the bottom of the stove will not exceed 100 degrees. Then it starts to contradict and later says a superimposed heart must be at least 50mm thick AND positioned on a constructional hearth There seems so be mo mention in building regs about the usual stone slab up the back of the stove. It seems if I wanted to, I could just have a plasterboard wall and as long as the stove is 150mm away from it, that would be okay according to the regs. I think in practice it would most certainly NOT be okay. I know the sides and back of a stove can get very hot indeed and I would say some protection IS needed. So the first purpose of this thread is to determine just what I need to do to the floor to put a stove on it? We have a timber floor (JJI joists) covered in OSB. There will then be 25nm battens to create a space for UFH pipes, then solid wood flooring probably 22mm thick. So idea No 1 is leave that empty where the stove is going, lay the floor, then pour a 47mm thick slab of concrete level with the top of the floor. Then lay a superimposed hearth over that, overlapping the floor slightly. That would be the best we can do, but depending which of the conflicting regs you read, it may or may not meet regs. Any other ideas? I am planning to use the Burley Springdale 3KW stove with ducted air intake. It has the option of an additional 170mm base, which I believe (I need to check) would meet the 100 degree max so would be okay for a superimposed hearth. So it all boils down to interpretation of just how thick a superimposed hearth has to be and upon what it has to sit.

Ask him to quantify man days of labour, then you can see the daily rate.

Just to give an idea, my building warrant for a roughly 140 square metre house cost me £1480 I am just about to stump up another £200 to extend the warrant for 2 more years.

Do you WANT them left open? If so stick some half risers on with silicone then remove them after sign off

Personally I think it's like an MOT. Leave some simple "fault" for them to find that is easy to rectify so they stop looking too hard once they have found the fault. Drain pressure test is something they seem very hot on up here. and electrical and gas cerificates.

Did the stair manufacturer not point out they would fail building control without something to limit the gap? Half riser, or a bar across the middle are about the only solutions.

Here is a link to the official percolation test method and the calculations you do to get the Vp figure https://www.wte-ltd.co.uk/percolation_test.html You don't need a hole as deep as you have. You dig a big hole to the depth your soakaway will be (usually about 1 metre) and in the bottom of that dig the 300mm cube hole which you fill with water and time how long it takes to go down.

I estimate to get the tiles onto my roof by carrying them up the ladder, I have climbed 3 Munro's up that ladder. Think of all the execise I would have missed out on.

They do one test pressurising, and one depressurising. So it will average out at "half a leak" I have just fitted the standard tundish and D2 pipe to outside. I have not yet experimented with ways of enclosing it. For an air test, I could just tape all over it. In fact thinking of just wwapping the tundish in clear tape, that would seal it, and let you see if anything is discharging.