ProDave

Thanks I missed that. Unless there is a VERY good reason why the garage is where it is, the whole layout wants to be mirror imaged top to bottom as drawn. At the moment you have a cold dark living room and a (wasted) lovely sunny garage. I would go to great pains to put the garage anywhere other than where it is at the moment. Quite possibly to the extent of not having one if that really was the only place it could go.

Black duct for electricity (some DNO's want red), grey for BT, water buried direct.

Hi and welcome to the forum. In many parts of Scotland, a hipped roof does not fit in with the local vernacular, and a gable end to the garage roof gives much more scope to make a proper extra bedroom from it. We can't possibly pass comment on the design without knowing which way is north?

That would blow my usual "1 hour per point" estimate right out of the water. Has your electrician tried SBS Trade sales, he sells the Live range of stuff and does some pretty good custom stuff, but strictly trade only?

You appear to have 5 double deck CU's, each probably with the capacity for a very minimum of 20 circuits, so that's 100 circuits available. Talk about "room for future expansion" I have seen industrial units with smaller distribution boards. I assume there is access to the other side of that wall still otherwise how will you get the cables into them?

Not tried them yet but will put them into the mix. Have you also tried stair box?

You have reduced the number of complaints. What do you have against just agreeing a render with a pink hue? It seems they would accept metal roof, timber and render (pink hue) for the walls. Is that not your solution?

Sory not making sense. looks like snow falling off a roof? What am I looking at?

Yes split CU's does indeed seem a good idea. E That's what's known as a KMF switch fuse. If there is more than 3 metres between the meter and the CU then you will need a fuse of your own. you are only allowed to rely on the suppliers fuse to protect a run no more than 3 metres long. I have the same switch fuse for my 25 metre run.

On the subject of granting PP for one house, then refusing one next door. There was a case here where someone applied for permission to build at the edge of a field. There is a general presumption against building in the countryside here with a few exceptions, one being building in an established settlement. Well there were two adjacent properties opposite this plot, and it was granted permission, the plot was sold and a house was built. Then the owner tried for a second house. It was clear to anyone with half a brain cell that his intention was to slice up the field a strip at a time and sell it one plot at a time. This time it was refused. So he took it to appeal. The appeal said it failed the established settlement test and the first house should never have been built either, but they could do nothing about that. So not so much something changed, but different people interpreted the same policy in different ways.

If your tails just go 1 metre through the wall and out the other side then the REC2 will be fine and use the PME earth they have supplied. Put the gernny changeover switch inside next to the CU.

If the board is all rcbo then you do not want an up front rcd, unless you are on a TT earth where you will be forced to, in which case you have a time delay RCD to provide discrimination. I assume this is just temporary as you are having the meter moved first? If that is the case, I would do nothing right now. Book the meter move. Make sure your electrician is on hand and you have a double pole 100A switch and a REC2 enclosure for it. When the meter monkey moves the meter, get him to connect the meter to the input of the isolator switch, and then your electrician connects the output of the switch to your consumer units. If your consumer units will be remote from the meter, then use a switch fuse instead of an isolator, such as a KMF type.

I am just back from a trip down to Oxfordshire. I saw lots of new housing estates. I did NOT see any new roads or infrastructure (other than the roads to access the new estates, presumably paid for by the developers) I would contend that the developers are being conned as the improvements to infrastructure do not appear to be happening. What about all new occupants of the new houses paying council tax? THAT is where the council will be getting extra funding from. Talk about cake and eating it. I don't know the situation in Scotland on big estates, other than the developers appear to install the drainage and roads at their expense before they are adopted by the council. In the case of a single plot like mine, there is no extra infrastructure needed, but you can bet if I was in a LA that imposes bribes, I would have had to pay many £K for nothing.

We are having wet UFH in our bathrooms. the bedrooms are having electric heater points to fit a small panel heater if it proves necessary. Our house is "designed" (as far as BC are concerned) for 5 people, though there will normally only be 3 of us in the house. One could argue that to replace the air we breath, we only need 3/5 of the BC required ventilation rate?

What's needed is a boycott. If ALL the big developers stopped applying for PP because the S106 or CIL charges were too high, then the councils would have to reduce or scrap them. Better still would be the developers only to apply for PP in LA's that do not charge such bribes. We don't (yet?) have those bribes here and I really feel sorry for anyone forced to pay such punitive charges. I was reading in another place of someone that has a couple of properties in an area zoned for development. If his properties and adjoining land were developed it would be about 130 houses. But he won't go to planning because of the bribes he would have to pay make it unattractive, and without his land, the scheme can't go ahead.

I only buy handsaws when Howdens do their "3 saws for £10" deal.

Could they have got in before the house was sealed and gone their to die? We have a peculiar thing here that ordinary "house flies" at the end of the season will crawl into the gap between the opening windows and frames * and go there to die. Should you open a window, it will unleash many tens of half dead flies many of whom fall into the house. * This is not a defect in the windows. The outer seal is a rain seal, and is open at the bottom to let any water that gets passed out. That is where the flies crawl in. The inner seal that makes the air tight seal between the window and the frame is not breached by the flies

Funny. I gained a set of ladders that none of the builders knew anything about. And some roadwork signs left behind by the subcontractors that made the road crossing. And a couple of hand saws.

Thanks @Ferdinand As always it's knowing the correct name for something. This should do the job with no hidden mechanism to go wrong and should not pop up should you sit on it http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BATH-WASTE-SWIVEL-FLIP-PLUG-TOP-CHROME-BRASS-BATH-WASTE-OVERFLOW-FACE-/391493900884?hash=item5b26dada54:m:mPyBjeg1TnJ4ImX7r8krstA

That's the point, with this sort of bath, you can't "get to everything easily" The previous pop up waste we had an issue with, one day it just would not pop up. Upon examination, it used a solid cored bowden cable type mechanism from the rotating waste "knob" to the waste mechanism. BUT the inner cable was in compression to push the waste up, not tension, and had buckled at the short exposed section. This taught me several things. NEVER trust a "designer" to have even the most basic understanding of mechanical principles. Always allow easy access to repair or replace components like this. If you can't get easy access, design a system for in situ maintenance. I have come across what are know as "click clack" wastes, you push it once, it pops up, you push it again, it pops down. Then there are the complaints, you sit on the plug and your bath empties. I could design something myself, like the mushroom vents of an mvhr where you rotate the plug and it rises on a screw thread. Easy, simple, top access, nothing to go wrong. surely someone must make something like that?

One more "concern" and that again comes back to the way you fit this sort of bath and the fact access is at best "difficult" The pop up waste. Now I have had a bad experience with a pop up waste failing, and needing to be replaced. It was an annoyance, but not a big job in a conventional bath with a side panel that you just remove for access, but when you have to lift the whole bath out to replace it, it goes from an inconvenience, to a major PITA. So what alternatives are there to a pop up waste? I don't think a plug on a chain will cut the mustard with SWMBO (though for reliability and servicing cannot be beaten) What about rotating wastes? I have seen them on basins, where a flat disc pivots in the middle and you just push one side to open it for emptying. Is such a thing available for a bath? or any other types of modern waste that don't rely on a flimsy mechanism (i.e not pop up actuated by twisting the waste fitting)

I found the mvhr is a bit like a stove. The mvhr unit is the cheap bit, it's all the duct, plenums and terminals that cost the money, (same as the flue will cost a lot more than the stove) I only bought the ducting, plenums etc from BPC but could not find anywhere cheaper.

I have included a plant room extract in ours, but mainly because otherwise there would have been more supply points than extract points.

Thanks @Tennentslager Interesting video. Having watched that, I have concluded it will be impossible to fit it the way they say, as the flatish side with the taps is going to go against a wall so it will be impossible to do the "lift it on blocks and connect" trick. I have now measured the bath and there is about 150mm from the bottom of the bath to the floor. That should be enough to fit a normal rigid bath waste, fit the bath in position then fit the solid waste from below without a flexi. I can't fit the taps in the wall. Due to a pinch point, that wall is not having any service void at all, so it will have to be deck taps with flexi pipes going down through the gap between the bath and the panel and out under the floor to connect to copper, using the top access devices mentioned in case the tap ever needs replacing. Anyone see any issues with that proposal?

I have been offered a new, unused bath very cheap. It's probably this one https://www.bathstore.com/products/london-free-standing-bath-576.html If it's not that exact one, it is very similar, it certainly came from Bath Store. The person who has it for sale has decided not to fit it because it requires a "flexi" waste hose which he did not like. It comes in 2 parts. The surround that you fix to the floor, and then the bath drops into it and sits on feet. He mentioned inserting the bath then sliding it sideways to lock it in position? Firstly this waste thing. What is a flexi waste (I can make a pretty good guess) and are they a problem waiting to happen or are they in fact okay? I had a thought of inserting the bath first and fitting a solid waste from below, perhaps with a top access shower trap? I am not sure if I can do that as there is a joist immediately below where the waste would come out, so it would only have the gap between the floor and the bottom of the bath to fit in, and I don't know how big that is. (the seller can't do that as he has already boarded the ceiling below) And secondly the taps? I assume these are also connected with flexi pipes so you can connect them and then lower the bath in? I am sure I read on this forum (probably in @Onoff epic bathroom thread) about top access tap fittings. The bath as it is is not presently drilled for the taps if that is relevant.