ProDave

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.

Will building control allow a shared system for multiple properties? I thought they discouraged that? The people that make mine Conder do large systems http://www.premiertechaqua.co.uk/products/wastewater/conder-saf-sewage-treatment-plant.aspx# In fact quite a few different systems are available http://www.drainstore.com/sewage-treatment-plants/26-50-sewage-treatment-plant.html

Sadly (hindsight is a wonderful thing) whoever got PP and divided up the plots did a POOR job. They did not take into account the access issue properly. What should have been done is preserve the access, create "agreed" parking for use in association with the access, and then made access to both houses that did not conflict with that. i.e your garage would be in a different place, not taking access from the shared access, and your front garden should have been a bit smaller to allow parking at point A AND access to the other house. The best you can do now would be to find somewhere they CAN park other than "A" and agree that in writing with them. That will almost certainly mean making an agreed parking area in your front garden for them. That need not be too bad as you could use grass paviers for example that would give a hard parking area, but when not in use would look like grass.

We discussed this a while back and the consensus was none of them were any good as almost without exception they bock bad reviews. As an electrician all my work comes from recommendations form satisfied customers, and many tell me they just ask n the likes of Facebook etc for a recommendation and my name often comes up. So if you "do" social media, try asking there.

Porcelain tiles 600 by 300mm No room for error. They were end of line sold off cheap at Topps. No spare black ones and only 1 spare white one. Yes I know I must have been mad. It was daughters idea to use black tiles in the shower area. These tiles were chosen partly by their size meant an integer number of tiles filled the shower area. Cut with a wet diamond wheel tile cutter. Marked out by laying the tile in place and drawing a line from the corner of the waste, to the corner of the shower former. Drawings lines you can see on a black tile was another challenge. Oh and this is the first time I have tiled a wet room shower. The tiles used for the "skirting" were the same tiles but a different batch code so not an exact match though they looked pretty damned close to me. I predict this bathroom will be finished before @Onoff finished his.

Wet room floor for main bathroom finished. Some pictures: A bit more (not a lot more!!) on my blog at the usual address

Perhaps some LARGE notices, "Do NOT Park here" and "Please park HERE" might be all you need.

Standard scaffold tower wheels will probably fit the poles of Kwikstage. I know our builders used their own Cuplock scaffold and had wheels for that. These look cheap but I would want to ask the weight loading they can take https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-scaffolding-castor-wheels-60mm-or-47mm/253455861342?hash=item3b0325865e:g:dkYAAOSwLdBaBIxO These look a lot better for not much more money https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Alloy-8-x-2-Polyurethane-Castors-Scaffold-Wheels-Set-of-4-Casters-HQ/142278606743?hash=item2120773f97:g:40kAAOSw32lYouwZ

So this is Railtrack, or their appointed contractor accessing a railway line for maintenance work or similar. So of course they will be doing it at night when the trains are not running,. quite probably with a load of spotlights rigged up. If so hopefully this will be a relatively short lived thing. (unless this bit of track is being upgraded to form part of HS2 ) Have a POLITE word with the contractors and try to agree a place they can park that is not in the way of either house.

If you have the distrust then who is going to organise and pay for desludging? Where is the plant, in one of the gardens or elsewhere? Any scope for 2 smaller plants, one for each house? As it is a know constant load, can you approach the DNO for a separate supply on the model of a "landlord supply" that you often see in flats for the stairwell lighting. These are often unmetered presumably because it is a know predictable usage. That still leaves the distrust issue as who would pay the bill.

Reversing the stairs would open up a lot of possibilities but would create one of my pet hates, stairs going up from the living room. I have known too many houses (my first 1980's house) that had stairs up from the living room and it made that side of the room unusable in winter because of the constant stream of cold air coming down the stairs, and made the living room very hard to keep warm (in contrast the landing was always toasty warm because it had all the heat meant for the living room). But this was in a very poorly insulated, draughty 1980's house. It might not be so bad if the whole house is well insulted and reasonably draught free.

So you can enter via the gate, and drive STRAIGHT ON into the white bit? That is how I would arrange it, so you have easy and clear access to your own land. I might even go as far as fencing off the orange bit, effectively not using it, just leaving it as their access. Then as long as they don't block your access to the white bit I don't see a problem.

A plan of your plot and the access they are using might help make sense of it.

I would go half way house, not open plan but join the kitchen and corridor together so whole of front is kitchen and whole of rear is living room. Try and move the stairs forwards and WC under the stairs.