ProDave

Replace it

As much as I like Aico, for the ease of installation and termination, if I can find another make that has a CO alarm to match the heat and smoke alarms I will be choosing that instead. (if anyone knows such a make....?)

the only mains powered aico CO alarms I can find are these https://www.aico.co.uk/product/ei261enrc-mains-powered-co-alarm/ https://www.aico.co.uk/product/ei225en-carbon-monoxide-alarm/ Neither are what I would describe as round. the only round one seems to be this https://www.aico.co.uk/product/ei208dw-carbon-monoxide-alarm/ which is battery powered

Hi and welcome to the forum. Sounds like an ideal project. Start at the basics of what you want, and work from there.

What annoys me though, is you can't find a CO and a smoke detector that look the same, i.e Aico smoke and heat detectors re round, but their CO detectors are rectangular. WHY?

Call me old fashioned, but to me, a flexi is only for a situation where there is movement between the two items, e.g a heat pump t avoid vibration. they are not a means to join 2 fixed items. People use them all the time to connect to sat a WC cistern, but they use them to avoid accurate fixed plumbing?

In the old days, it was a function built into a sky box. the later versions of the sky HD box dropped it, but it was still available as a plug in option. It would not surprise me to find it's gone completely from the Sky Q box. I use a Powermid. I bought it many year ago from CPC. years ago but it does not seem to be available any more. All they have is this one http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/psg03706/infrared-extender/dp/AV21827?ost=remote+control+extender&iscrfnonsku=false&ddkey=http%3Aen-CPC%2FCPC_United_Kingdom%2Fsearch The great thing about the powermid is you can have any number f transmitters and one receiver. The receiver sat in the room with all the AV kit and I had 3 transmitters in 3 different rooms. Some Powermid's still available on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xpowermid.TRS0&_nkw=powermid&_sacat=0

My satellite tv box will live in my media cupboard under the stairs and will connect to the tv with a 10 metre long hdmi cable, and a wireless IR remote control extender so all the stuff in the cupboard can be controlled from both living rooms.

Contest it with your building inspector and ask him to show you where it says it needs to be accessible. Are they classing your games room as an "apartment"? I had an issue with the last house where they tried to tell me the landing must have an 1100mm high handrail. I contested it so my BC inspector said they would clarify it with the Scottish Government. Many weeks later they confirmed it indeed did only need to be 900mm high.

I believe each floor needs an "accessible" bathroom, hence the door width.

One use for spare Cat5/6 cables is to cater for "unknown" cable types. e.g when I wired my last house, hdmi had not been invented, but two cat5's and an adaptor would do that.

This question is a bit like "do you like marmite"? I am definitely a "copper" man.

Commissioning = turn it on. Well that's all I did. Make sure the air blower is blowing bubbles and when "waste" enters, a corresponding amount comes out the other end. Mine has been in proper use now since April and still discharging nice clean water. I take it you have at least filled it with fresh water?

It does not mention Scotland, but I KNOW prices here are still not back to 2007 levels, let alone those levels allowing for inflation. And I have said before, a self builder here would do very well indeed to sell his house and just get back what he has spent.

The reason I asked is to do with ease of fitting. If they made the frame with the PIR insulation it would likely be machine cut and a good fit. If you are fitting it, then it is a lot harder to cut by hand and get a perfect fit. So for DIY fit, the frametherm has many advantages. It is flexible enough to compress a little, so cut a few mm over size and push it in. It is then stiff enough to stay put. As already noted the frametherm will have a better decrement delay. My own build has 190mm of frametherm 35 and 100mm of wood fibre board over the outside of the frame. Adding it all up, render, wood fibre, frametherm filled frame, OSB, service void, plasterboard gives a U value of 0.14.

Use 75 owm satellite coax, something like RG6. But be warned it comes in many variants. The best being copper foil and copper braid. the cheaper ones are aluminium foil. You don't want a "booster" you want a "distribution amplifier" that adds very little gain, other than to ensure the signal does not get weaker by being split several times

Are you buying a package of frame with insulation fitted, or buying the frame and fitting the insulation yourself?

I paid my builders to supply materials, build the frame, and erect it. They also did the foundations (though I did the digging, they just poured the concrete and did all the under building) I wanted an all in package so they could do the job VAT free. If I had supplied the materials, I would not have been able to reclaim the VAT until the end. I never did actually get a price from any other firm as there were not many that would do the insulation levels I wanted. But based on several on here that have used MBC, I probably paid a little more than they would have charged. I suspect my frame and erect price was higher than that estimate, but I am pretty sure my total cost will be less. I am still expecting to complete for £1000 per square metre.

It might be good point to point out that whilst it is strictly speaking legal to DIY your own gas work, you must still be competent to do that work. Be very careful.

I wonder if the CH flow rate has dropped and you are getting localised boiling (kettling) inside the boiler?

Remind me not to let SWMBO see this thread.

There is the issue of saleability and mortgagability. You probably won't get a mortgage on a "caravan" and it won't be worth as much as a proper house even if extremely well built. No possibility to extend later beyond the size limits of a "caravan" The 3.05 metre height is the ceiling height inside. You can put a proper pitched roof on it, you just can't use the loft space for accommodation as that would no longer fit within the definition of "caravan"

You are right that if you can't get planning for a "proper" house you can fall back and build the maximum permitted size of "caravan" And the legal definition of caravan is such that it does not even have to be on wheels, just movable in some form and that may involve the use of a crane. There is also nothing stopping you making a really well insulated "caravan" as good as any house. There was one such featured on Grand Designs a few years ago. The other issue is you may not be able to reclaim the VAT. You normally need a building control completion certificate for a VAT claim but you won't have that as it is exempt from building regulations. That however may free you up to do things with the layout that would not be possible if you needed building regs. I assume all services are connected already? If not, you will need building control for the drainage work.

The best you can do is sleeve them yourself. I used the outer sheath from some old coloured tails that were going for scrap

What insulation levels do you want? I wanted a pretty well insulated house, better than the standard offerings of most of the timber framed companies. I tried talking to them about taking a standard kit and adding extra insulation, they then refused to quote. I ended up paying a local eco house builder to design what I wanted, and then paid a local firm of builders to make the frame off site, and bring it to site in sections and erect it. I am now doing all the detailing and fit out myself.