ProDave

Re a pre owned house that does not meet expectations. This has always been my philosophy. When buying a house it is important to get the things you can't change correct, like location, access (meaning for off road parking etc) views etc. Once you find the right location, it is of secondary importance if the house is right, because if it is not, you can change it. No point buying the perfect house and then complaining there is no off road parking, no view, the garden faces north and never gets any sun, because you cannot change those things.

That is strange re Scottish Water and Road crossings. All our services had to cross a single track road. I got a price for a road crossing from an independant contractor, most expensive. Then I got a price from SSE for the road crossing, a little cheaper. Then I got Scottish Water to quote and they were by far the cheapest for the road crossing. So we got the water connected first with SW (or rather their appointed sub contractor) making the road crossing. Before, or rather as it was being filled we laid in ducts for electricity and telecoms then they closed up the road and resurfaced the road. So definitely go back to SW and ask for an "all works" quote. The road crossing added £1000 to the water connection bill (which was similar to yours) but everyone else wanted nearly twice that for the road crossing. It took 2 guys with a mini digger and a concrete breaker half a day for the road crossing so £1000 is still plenty for that. No road closure order or traffic lights needed, just a steel plate they could slide over the trench when someone wanted to pass.

Do NOT use a DPC on a garden wall. On the occasions I have seen a brick garden wall blow over in a storm, it always topples at the DPC which created a weak bond to the brick. Probably not an issue with ICF a you would be filling it?

And THEN make sure the builder puts them in the right way round. A house I wired last year, 2 steels were both put in backwards, meaning the nice row of holes opened up into a full height void space where they gave access to nothing, and there was only one hole where it was of any use. They had to get the steel guys back on site to cur some more holes.

Don't mark with a sharpie on plasterboard. You WILL curse when you try to paint over it. (updated, Ian )

The rain water harvesting is interesting in the context of comparing it to Australia. Rural properties there routinely get all their water from rain, and store it in huge above ground tanks. My In Law's place in Queensland collects water from the roof of the house and the roof of a big barn, stored in 4 large above ground tanks. They can select with valves which tank to draw from to feed the house. About the only criterea is the tanks are light proof. They prefer using the water from the two corrugated steel tanks as these have been encases with a concrete skin so deliver much cooler water than the other tanks. All the time I was there I never got ill, the water tasted nice and it was clear. In the dry season if they run short on water, they buy in a tanker of water to refill one of the tanks. I suspect the reason it woks there is the weather pattern. They have a wet season where it rains a lot and I suspect they collect most of their water in a short period. I don't know if they have a system of letting the initial rainfall just run off to clean the roof before collecting it, but it would make sense if they do. Another factor is they have moistly tin roofs, so they probably wash clean and then deliver fresh water a lot quicker than a typical moss covered concrete tiled British roof would.

Only a few weeks ago, Howdens were offering a single fan oven for £120 and a non fan oven even cheaper. I would be asking them first what deals they have.

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.