ProDave

I really can't see you "using" your rainwater to flush the loo is going to make much of a dent in how much has to be disposed of. If your land can't absorb it in some form of soakaway, then I can only assume before the house was built, you had standing water sitting as a pond on your plot?

You seem to be offered a package for under £5K When I looked at getting an architect to design our last house (note I only wanted a drawing package not a project management package) I got quotes north of £20K. I didn't use an architect, but if one had offered a price close to £5K I would have.

So if it has no electricity, what is that cable running down the front wall to the left of the upstairs window? And is that a PIR light?

£10K for strip foundations. Obviously does not include the suspended timber floor, or the insulation that went into the timber floor and does not include UFH or any drainage work. My cost is artificially low because I had my own digger at the time so I did all the digging and earth shifting. I think what I am saying is your price does not look too bad.

Why did it take 7 drain tests? Surely for the small cost, a self builder would buy a drain pressure test kit. Test it as you go along. Then when it's finished, test it, and when you are sure it holds pressure, call BC to witness the test. Job done.

I don't know why it is called that. Unless you have a thermostatic valve, then you in fact have the same valve at each end of the radiator. https://www.screwfix.com/p/chrome-angled-radiator-valve/33920 They normally come with 2 different caps. One turns the valve stem when you turn it. The other is just a cover and cannot adjust the valve. Normally you adjust this one to balance the flow between the different radiators. Once set you put the cover on so it can't be adjusted so I guess it's locked and shielded?

Isn''t your "problem" the leaking radiator lockshield valve? Isn't that what you are looking to replace?

I still remember the pain and worry. BC rejected our drainage scheme and for a few worrying weeks no acceptable drainage scheme = no building warrant = no house. The plus points of the Scottish system is you have to have everything detailed, so once you have a building warrant, as long as you build what is on the drawings it will be signed off.

From here http://www.rationel.co.uk/energy/5-energy-guidelines/ And from here http://www.rationel.co.uk/windows-doors/product-series/rationel-auraauraplus/

When I was buying the windows, nobody, and I mean not one of the window suppliers mentioned anything other than the Uw and Ug values. Clearly I need more information from the suppliers when I buy the windows for the sun room and need to ask more questions. So I still want a good Ug value but a "poor"G value then. I really don't think summer overheating will be an issue. We have these things called trees that grow leaves ans shade us in the summer. It is only now the leaves are falling that we can hope for enough sun to get some siolar gain. The exception is the West facing windows but even there, stand in front of a window on a sunny day and you feel little heat.

Oh. I undo mine and drain it every winter. Most times in the spring I remember where I put it.

Mine has little bleed screw on the bottom to empty the water stuck in the NRV bit.

All I know, is in out old house, on a cold but sunny winters day, you could turn the heating off (well the thermostat did that) and the house would heat up nicely from the sun. Stand in front of a window on a sunny day at the new house and you barely notice any sense of heat from the sun. Now I am sure overall that means on a dull grey wet cold day (or at night) , the new house is losing less heat out of the window than the old one,. so is overall beneficial. BUT what I am trying to achieve is a means to get extra solar gain "on demand" and perhaps by fitting "poor" glazing in the sun room, we will get that extra solar gain and open the doors to let the heat into the house. On those cold grey days (and at night), keep the doors to the sun room shut and who cares if it is cold an uninviting in there?.

Well done. You need the patience of a saint and a good sense of humour to build a house and deal with "officialdom"

Used a lot in offices with suspended ceilings. The lighting panels plug into the Klick units. Each "socket" on the Klick unit has N, E, L and 2 possible switched L outputs so you can configure exactly what you have by rewiring the plug, ordinary light, emergency light, switched from circuit A or B. It allows an office to be adaptable easilly. Unless you are planning a suspended ceiling tile system I would not even give it consideration for a domestiic build.

Just musing about our sun room., that some time in the dim and distant future might get completed. (unable to do much at all at the moment) So we have Rationel windows and doors all tripple glazed. Of all the window quotes we had, these had the second best UW values, only beaten very slightly by Internorm. Now good windows and good 3G glass units means not much heat loss. BUT it also seems not much solar gain either. Given our colder climate than many parts of the UK I would LIKE a lot more solar gain please. Now we can't do anything about the windows we have, but there is the "sun room" yet to be finished. This will have a lot of glass on 3 sides but a solid roof (apparently it's an Orangery so I am told!!!) The sun room is joined to the house with a pair of Rationel French doors. Because this is essentially in internal door, I didn't have this one aluminium clad and only chose 2G glass units with a slightly less good UW value. Now my thinking, when we eventually get the doors and windows for the sun room, I want something that gives a LOT more solar gain. I don't mind if we get too ,much solar gain in the summer, that's why windows open. If it's too hot or too cold it can be closed off from the house. It won't be heated and I won't go overboard with the air tightness detail. So how can I make the sun room have a lot more solar gain. I want it to get hot on a sunny winters day so we can open the doors and let heat into the house. I assume I want 2G glazing with no coating at all on the glass units?

I have a tap like that on my standpipe. SW would not accept it, it had to be a separate non return valve. Have I ever mentioned there is a NRV in SW's toby. Then a NRV in my own toby. Then the in line NRV. Then the NRV in the tap. I suspect no water will ever flow backwards

Simple answer is the total load would dictate a 50A circuit breaker which is way over the size you can use for a 6mm cable. Also the Manufacturers Instructions for the oven probably say to use a 16A circuit breaker If you really cannot re cable to the consumer unit, then it would be acceptable to feed the 10mm cable with a 50A mcb, then fit a mini consumer unit where the junction box is, with a 32A circuit to the hob and a 16A circuit to the oven.

I would be running a 10mm all the way to the hob, and 6mm all the way to the oven, on their own circuits from the CU.

Yes you do need a double check valve, In my case it was checked by Scottish water before they would authorise a connection. To save digging it up, my check valve is just in line with the bit of pipe that runs up the post, above ground level, and then insulated as best I can.

Well I m once more going to be a stick in the mud. I am just back from a job where I have fitted some stick on LED strips as lights under a kitchen cupboard run. My honest opinion is what a stupid idea. I give it 6 months max before the steam from cooking and washing up gets to the adhesive and they start peeling off. Sorry, but give me a solid light fitting attached with screws. They might be okay on a horizontal surface where they shine upwards, such as lighting in a reveal where the adhesive just hold them still, but where the adhesive is preventing gravity doing what it wants to, I think it is completely bonkers.

Ah the old "turn the thermostat up" routine. Some people seem to think, if a room is cold, then turning the thermostat WELL beyond the point at which it goes "click" will heat the room quicker. We regularly found with the B&B people who must have thought "the heating is not working" (it was UFH so took a while to respond) and turned the thermostat all the way. You go in later to clean the room and it was up to 30 degrees!!!!!!! Yes, should have bought thermostats that would go no higher than 25

If it's a surface mount box then the entry will be rear left. Here's mine, I drilled a bigger hole to take the duct straight to the meter box.

Flush or surface mount box? Hockey sick on the surface or in the wall? Either way the hockey stick wants to come up in the left side of the meter box. You should see marks to guide you where to drill the hole. A flush mounted box, you can bring the hockey stick up within the wall and it enters near the back of the box. Alternatively it can come up the wall on the surface and enter within the flange of the box, you should see a marking of where to drill the hole, again towards the left. With that arrangement they put a sloping bit of wood in the box to fix the supply head to usually.

How about get a couple of 100mm thick sheets of wood fibre board. Cut into strips say 200 to 300mm wide and insert into the cavity. In effect an insulated cavity closer. Then render over that and the brick reveal to give the look you want. Might need something to stick the wood fibre if it's not an interference fit into the cavity.