ProDave

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.

I am sure ALL self builders go through low points. It's almost as if it's a rite of passage in the process. You will get there, no matter how many things get in the way.

It overflows out of the pumping chamber. So first you have to get someone in to pump it out, then call the plumber as I was buggered if I was going to lower my torso down the hole to detach the failed pump. Then and only after it has all been hosed down with plenty of clean water did I connect the new pump. Some pumping chambers have 2 pumps built in so at least it avoids the need to get it pumped out, but make sure you KNOW when pump 1 has failed and get it fixed before pump 2 fails.

I hate that method. The builders did that when building our extension to the 1930's house. Then the renderer rendered round the poles and patched it in later. I would MUCH have preferred free standing scaffold like used on timber frame.

I would seriously look and see if that would work. Then you are pumping only grey water. I have only ever seen one raw sewage pump chamber, and it is not a pretty sight. I would not want the job of replacing the pump WHEN it fails.

I have this dilemma. When I last visited the optician, they gave me a lovely set of distance glasses, that not only correct the focus, but I have a bit of astigmatism. They also gave me a set of reading glasses. When I collected them and tried them, the distance glasses were fine, I now wear them when driving etc. But the reading glasses were hopeless. Perfect for reading a book but such a very limited range of distance over which they focus, i.e the PC screen when sat at a desk is much too far away for them to focus. So I went back to the optician to "complain" They gave me a card with small text and asked me to read it, which I could. They declared the reading glasses were "working" I explained the problem, and they said I needed work glasses, but there is no nhs subsidy for those and prices would start at £150. I declined on principle. So I just use a pair of weak self select reading glasses. They don't correct the astigmatism but that is not bad, and they work over a surprisingly large distance range. My prescription reading glasses only come out of their case once in a blue moon for something really challenging. It's easy to forget I have the glasses on, for most things indoors I can see perfectly well the other side of the room. Its' only if I step outside and try to look at something really in the distance, I realise something is not right and take them off.

We thought about moving in and sleeping in the house over winter. But ruled that out as we would still have to cook and wash in the caravan. Even now with a working bathroom in the house we are still not moving in, until we have a functioning kitchen in the house.

You will have to explain to me why putting a bung on the branch to the missing bath trap made the washing machine flood? But regardless, this confirms my view that a room containing a washing machine or dishwasher should be built to near wet room standards to contain any leaks.

Not at all. Why would you want to buy or build a house in a lovely quiet spot with views, and then have a developer build a housing estate behind you? We front and back onto fields and any attempt to build on those would fail the local plan so we bought in the fairly secure knowledge that housing behind us would never happen, but we accept if our neighbour ever applies for permission to build another house alongside us, that would almost certainly be approved.

Just looked My house shell and foundations (built by local builders) £59K roof £3K done by me cladding and render £7500 Rationel windows supplied and fitted £13K

I think my neighbour is about to do this. His plot has an oddity, a little bite of land adjoining the field is missing and fenced off. It is clearly shown on the land registry as being part of the field, but has in the past just been used by them to dump rocks they pull out of the field when ploughing. It is fenced by a wooden post and rail fence in very poor condition. While talking to him over the weekend he mentioned he had spoken to the farmer who said he can take the fence down. I suspect that is a rather tall story aimed at me saying nothing when the fence goes as stage 1 of his land grab.

What make are yours? The ones I know in an office I look after I think are Britmac. I know the cable flap on many has been broken, some have had the main lid hinges broken, and then when the main lid goes AWOL, people stand on the socket front and break that. I am sure yours will have a pampered cosy nice existence by comparison.

I doubt the seal is watertight, more to keep most (but not all) the dust out. Those are common in open plan offices. Most of them that I see have the lift up cable flap missing, because if you leave it open like in your picture, someone will trip over it and break it.

Nordan are quite reasonable. I take it that does not include a blockwork skin for that price? and insulation?