ProDave

Well a result. I finally got them to address he poor BB speed issue. This evening an OR engineer arrived (he had driven up from Hartlepool this morning!!!!!) He has only just left after spending 3 hours working on our line, pulling all the junction boxes apart, re making connections etc. When he arrived we had barely 0.9Mbps We now have 3.5Mbps, faster even than we ever got at the old house. Many of you will be thinking "gosh that's slow" but to us out in the sticks, that's fast. Just the compensation matter, now the technicalities are at last sorted out.

Watch the local bees don't take up residence

Open Reach, a communications company, are just about the hardest company possible to communicate with. I think we have all battled with them. Eventually when you get your job passed through to your local man on the ground all will get easier, but to get to that point is like pushing a rock up hill.

Interresting about insurance. My site insurance is due for renewal this week. It's a pretty much complete building structurally but only just starting first fix inside. Do I renew the site insurance for another year, or convert to unoccupied buildings insurance?

Okay, this is what I am working on. View from above. I am creating a framework around the shower former area LEVEL with the top of the posi joists, and some cross members as well. I will later add cross members on the drain hole side of the former, one either side of the drain hole, but not until I actually have the formers so know exactly where that is (not theoretically) This is how it looks from underneath The cross members are screwed and glued to the underside of the top member of the posi joists, then packers cut and fitted in to also take support from the bottom member The plan is, the shower former, AND the boards for the rest of the room, will all sit directly on the posi joists, then the whole lot will be tanked and tiled. I am NOT planning plywood anywhere. There is another part to this, slightly related, is that most of the room will have a non structural OSB or ply deck suspended UNDER the top member of the posi joists, to support UFH pipes under the final floor. .

That's normal practice for under building here, known as "Block and flat"

No, that's quite separate. That is up to the council tax valuation surveyor to decide it is "finished", which may be before or after building control decide it's finished.

In Scotland you cetainly can. You ask building control for a certificate of temporary habitation. For that the house has to be basically safe, have at least one working bathroom and some heating.

I know certain electrical forums tend to be hostile towards DIYers, not something I personally support. At the length you have, it's the voltage drop (measured in volts not milliamps ) that is the limiting thing that determines the cable size to use, not the current carrying capacity. And the discussions about maximum demand can get interesting as well. There is nothing wrong with an unskilled person installing cables under the supervision of a skilled person who is going to test and sign off the work, but some in the trade don't even like doing that. Personally if someone wants to do the more tedious manual work then I am happy with that. Make sure you bury the cable deep enough, with some yellow "electrical cable below" warning tape in the trench just above it. P.S, I would have put your meter box in your wall at the back corner (top as viewed in the plan) It would drastically shorten the run to the house, but perhaps make the garage run slightly longer.

Thanks Barney. The waste in that 900 by 1200 is offset enough to miss my joist.

That will do it. Now all I want it a technical drawing of it showing the EXACT position of the drain. Why is such basic information so hard to find, surely that is something everyone will want before ordering one? What does one then use for the boards for the rest of the wet room? 22mm green "waterproof" chipboard? Surely the whole lot is going to be coated or painted in something to make it 100% waterproof before tiling?

Good start Peter, but I need 1200 (not 1300 or 1400) by 900 At 1400 it would be out of the room!!!

I was going to start a topic, but i'll share this one. Recommend me a 1200 by 900 former, 22mm thick (to match to 22mm floor boards) Waste must be offset from centre otherwise it will land on a joist. It's to fit over posi joists on 600mm centres. Can it span the joists (i.e is it structural like a floor board) or do I have to contrive additional support underneath?

Got a door on the WC. What luxury. When we moved into the last house we only had a cardboard door on the loo.

I think he means ply as a packer to space the aquapanel off the studs so it clears the soil pipe. Or machine out the back of the aquapanel to clear the soil.

In Scotland the limit is 10M3 per day under GBR (General Binding Rules) you can abstract that from surface water or borehole without licence.

The Conder, Vortex and Graff that get a lot of mention on here are all showing respectable results in that table, I wonder why the Biopure is not listed there? I would avoid most of the Klargester type of products personally as I don't like the idea of having to repair a treatment plant with moving mechanical parts.

You could always make the turning space out of "grass blocks" those perforated concrete slabs that let the grass grow through, but are strong enough to drive a car on.

We had the standard condition about turning, I think because there is no speed limit on our road. The fact it only serves 8 houses and has very little traffic does not seem to enter the equation. We can turn on our own land, but never do, we just reverse out onto the road. The planning condition says you must be able to turn, not that you WILL turn before exiting.

The only option I can think is trap door(s) to access pipes. I doubt you even have enough space to go crawling around under there.

A quick google found this, which will fit in 9 metres, so your 12 metres will be plenty. https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/assets/suffolk.gov.uk/Business/Planning and Design Advice/DC Standard Drawings/DM05_A-SCC SCD.pdf

The trouble with rock, is transport costs. When we were down south we wanted some for a garden project. Could not find any locally, and refused to pay garden centre prices. We solved it when visiting relatives in Northumberland where it was abundant, and brought back as much as I thought the car could carry, distributed around all the footwells etc to spread the weight rather than pile it all in the boot.

I knew I should not have read this thread. DIY Beer can UFH spreader plates anyone?

Ever thought of buying your own digger?

I know it's a big house. easily twice the size of mine so of the order of 300 square metres floor area. 2.7 metre ceilings downstairs, and vaulted ceilings to most bedrooms.