ProDave

I doubt it I wired a house just over a year ago, easily twice the size of mine. The Hot water tank was in the plant room at the opposite corner of the house to the kitchen. There must have been 20 metres or probably more for the hot water to get from the tank to the kitchen tap. This was a plumbers house by the way.

I thought a "householder" planning application was for things like extensions or alterations to a house. I know this is what we did when extending our former house many years ago now. A new house is outside the scope of that.

I don't see why they need to delay their build just so they can move the wall 300mm? Or do you think that change would force it to go through planning again? It would be a barmy solution of you both stepped your walls in and left an unreachable, unmaintainable gap between them.

I was going to use it. It's basically wood fibre beads. Then I worked out I could get the same U value for half the cost using Frametherm 35

Well I have ordered the Hudson Reid ones today. Once again thanks to the collective wisdom on the forum.

When the utility companies quoted for a new supply., they each provided a map showing where their services were, so something like that should show you.

You MUST use the supply that is there, as you have solar PV and the FIT contract will be tied to your MPAN (Meter Point Administration Number) If you get a new supply it will have a different MPAN and goodbye FIT. In fact I would play safe and just keep it as 3 phase. you don't want to do anything to kill off your FIT payments.

You might pay a slightly higher standing charge for 3 phase. But it certainly does no harm to have it. If you have solar PV, them make sure your house connects to the same phase as the solar PV (otherwise you won't be able to self use what you generate and it will all get exported)

Don't forger an unvented cylinder has an over pressure and over temperature relief valve and that needs a "D2" pipe to take the water out somewhere, with a specific set of rules on size of pipe, number of bends and distance. So check you can fit that before you order the cylinder. (might be tricky if the cylinder is in the middle of the house for instance)

I have been put off buying anything "long term" from ebay. I had a submirsible pump fail after 5 months. I then found the ebay seller I had bought it from was nowhere to be seen, nothing listed on ebay and did not answer emails. I did get my money back from Paypal, but that only covers 180 days. So basically don't bank on anything you buy from ebay having anything more than a 6 month guarantee. I think I will go for the HR ones, much more likely to be around in years to come. I don't expect to be refurbishing the bathrooms any time soon. The wall will be "wet wall" not tiles so you can't just bust a couple of tiles out, replace the valve and re tile. It has to be servicable from the front, or a MAJOR re fit of the bathroom to replace.

Which one is that? the same Hudson Reid one that @Onoff suggested? At the moment the Hudson Reid ones are now my favourites.

As I see it, you just need to give permission to the neighbour to build the wall on the party line (half on his garden half on yours) in return for an agreement that you can join onto it when you are ready to build your own extension. The obvious question will be is his extension the correct size for what you have in mind for your own?

I would dig a test hole carefully by hand to investigate what the walls sit on. I caution this because close to us someone bought a barn to convert, and when they started scraping away at the floor is when they found no foundations under the walls and the excavation needed to lower and insulate the floor undermined what little the walls sat on. They ended up knocking down and rebuilding.

I hope it all works out. It is this sort of nonsense that would turn me away from this scheme.

Thanks @Onoff that's a supplier I had not seen before "Full Hudson Reed 20 year guarantee" Could I really trust that enough to make me not actually bother buying a spare thermal mixer cartridge?

Based on the figures on my design SAP I would get £2030 over 7 years. * I am absolutely certain that getting an MCS installer to fit a system will cost a good deal more than £2030 extra compared to me DIY installing a heat pump. * I would actually get less than that, because my design SAP got the roof make up wrong so the quoted U value for the roof is too poor. When that is corrected on the as built SAP the amount of RHI I would receive would go down. The other "odd" thing in my deign SAP is for space heating they have used an "efficiency" figure of 175% which sounds like they only expect a COP of 1.75 from the ASHP feeding under floor heating. So I expect my actual bills to be lower than this estimate as I hope for a better COP than that.. They used 250% efficiency for DHW which sounds more realistic expecting a COP of 2.5 for heating DHW from the ASHP. So correcting the roof U value, and using a more realistic COP for space heating and my heat requirement will be a lot lower and hence RHI payment a lot lower.

I am trying to source the showers for the 2 wet rooms: Requirements: Fed at approx 3 bar from UVC so thermal mixer shower. TWO outlets, a deluge or rainfall head that must be wall mounted, AND a normal shower head on a riser rail. Remote controls, not electric remote, but the tap / valves are to be mounted on the adjacent wall to the shower heads about 1 metre along that wall (so you don't have to reach in and get an armfull of cold water when you turn the shower on) Separate controls for flow, temperature and which head. Must be servicable from the front with a replacement thermal mixer cartridge readily available (I intend to buy 2 showers and one spare cartridge) So far I have tried screwfix, this one comes close but not enough information (does not meet the 3 controls requirement) but at least a known make so spares should be available. https://www.screwfix.com/p/mira-adept-rear-fed-built-in-chrome-thermostatic-shower-w-hand-shower-deluge-head/5206g Toolstation - nothing Bathstore - I might be able to get what I want by buying the valves and heads separately, but oh boy the prices..... Victorian plumbing. This looks what I want https://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/milan-concealed-shower-valve-with-slide-rail-kit-wall-mounted-fixed-head But can you replace or even get a spare thermostatic cartridge (instructions only tell you how to fit it, not service it) Victoria Plumb told me to update my browser. Sorry you won't get my custom then. Bathrooms.com At last a make I have heard of, but only 2 controls so which 2 are combined? not enough info https://www.bathrooms.com/showers/shower-sets/bristan-prism-fixed-head-and-adjustable-riser-shower-set---shower-set Or a cheaper unknown make but again only 2 controls. Just what is a "diverter water flow control handle, to switch between two shower functions" sounds awkward to me https://www.bathrooms.com/showers/shower-sets/stirling-essentials-deluxe-two-outlet-shower-set-svid-v300039 BES can't find anything there Wickes can't find a kit. Might be able to make it up out of components but too expensive B&Q don't see anything close At the moment the front runner is the Victorian plumbing one, I guess I need to email them about spares first? Anyone got recommendations or advice please?

I have seen builders widen or create new openings in these sort of structures. It can all go very bad very quickly with a lot of the wall falling down. Which wall do you want the alcove in? You have the benefit of no roof, so that's less weight, but less bracing as well. If it's one of the side walls I would suggest taking down the portion of wall above the alcove, fitting lintels and rebuilding.

I have for a long time believed the only people that benefit from these schemes is the installer that can charge a premium because he has the magic bit of paper to enable him to sign it off. If you are lucky, the RHI payment will cover that extra cost, so it will not have cost you any more. The scheme is bonkers. I am not bothering with it.

No. My previous house was one of 2 plots that were granted outline planning in one planning application. You can't start building with just outline planning. So the 2 plots were sold, with outline planning and then each owner submitted their own full planning application. Each of our applications was separate with it's own approval date and expiry date. This is what will happen if you sell the plots individually.

I struggled to see what you want. You already have OPP to build 4 houses, and the plans though only outline looked fairly advanced. If you wanted to have one for yourself, then sell 3 of the plots and keep one for yourself. You talk of the "bungalow plot" but that is in the middle. If I were keeping one for myself, I would want an end one. If cash flow is the issue, I would sell the one nearest the road first as that is the simplest to get access to. Use the proceeds from that to put the access road and services for the other plots, and keep the furthest from the road for yourself.

To make it easier for others to find https://apps.wigan.gov.uk/planapps/PlanAppsDetails.asp?passAppNo=A/13/78779

Actually like a lot of other things the wiring regs are not very helpful full of phrases like "adequately supported"

The solution to this is how you feed the treatment plant. Do NOT feed it from the ordinary consumer unit in the house. Instead split the meter tails with henley blocks. Then use a switch fuse to feed a SWA cable to outside and have a waterproof external mini consumer unit to feed the treatment plant. Obviously the home owners could be completely stupid and turn off the switch fuse as well so put a label on "feed to treatment plant do NOT turn off." This would give them the ability to turn off everything in their own house for any reason without disturbing the treatment plant supply. Use a large enough waterproof enclosure and you could fit an electricity meter in as well so you have a record of how much electricity the treatment plant has used should there ever be a dispute about splitting the bill.

So let me understand this. Instead of using the handle provided to withdraw the ash pan and tip it into a metal bucket (then hoover up any you drop) you leave he ash in the pan in the stove and suck it all out with the hoover. WHY? We leave the ash in the metal bucket for a very minimum of 24 hours before tipping it into the wheelie bin.