ProDave

Be patient, have to wait for the snail mail for the fittings......

Possibly, but it's years since I have bent conduit. My own (ex my dad's) Hilmor only has the pipe size formers, not the conduit ones.

I've ordered the parts. Photo's in a few days when they arrive. But what is is with bloody mail order, why can't you buy ONE length of 50mm? That'll have to wait until i'm passing TP. I'm plumbing like my dad taught me. Straight simple runs, as few joints as possible. You wait until you see my copper plumbing, i'm very handy with the bender to avoid elbows......

Australian plans I see (picture is upside down for those that don't have a posh computer that auto rotates) I made a garden seat like that, just because someone gave me a log already sawn down the middle. I just hammered 4 posts into the ground and sat it on them.

Time to stock up on blades got my multitool then. Thanks. P.S I used my little 12V cordless drill first time in anger last weekend to screw my garage ceiling up. Very pleased with it.

Since we have touched on stained glass, anyone know a manufacurer of half decent 3G stained glass unit? expecting normal glass outside, stained panel in the middle, and toughened glass on the inner sheet.

We are having clear glass in our bathroom. If you are worried someone just might be walking their dog in the field, then that's what a set of blinds is for to block the view.

No the soil does not, but the 50mm sink waste must. So the branch is just a way to continue the 110omm for enough to get a reducer, in fact the reducers linked to above will plug into the socket of the branch directly. I could mess about with a boss on the horizontal soil before the WC but that then means an extra elbow on the sink waste. My philosophy is keep the water flowing straight as possible with minimum bends so I don't like that idea.

I'm the opposite of Steptoe. When I bought my current pair of work boots, I deliberately chose slip on boots, so if they are at all grubby, and the house I am in has a white carpet, I can slip them off.

The double MIRAS thing caused such a rise in house prices because they didn't say we are ending it tomorrow, but we will end it in 6 months time (might not have been 6 months, but it was certainly a long time) that created an artificial and by it's very nature, a short term property boom because just about anyone thinking of buying or moving did so in that period to qualify for double MIRAS. Of course once they had all moved / bought their first house, there was the very predictable slump as all those thinking of moving or buying had, and they would not want to move again because they would lose their double MIRAS. I was caught up in this as I wanted to sell my 1 bedroom starter home and move up to a proper house, it went on the market, and nobody came. I took it off the market for a year and tried again, and it still took nearly a year to sell. I seem to have a habit of picking the wrong time to sell. It must be a dream to put your house on the market, have lots of people viewing immediately and have an offer in 2 weeks. It has certainly never happened to me. TIP: don't try selling your house when I am, as it will probably be the wrong time to sell. If just selling a house and buying another, then as long as you are not in negative equity, then a drop in prices also means you will pay less for the new one. But as a self builder, you can end up in the situation I am in, that I have almost run out of money to build the new one, and can't find a buyer for the old one. I have always thought increasing or reducing interest rates as a way to boost, or slow down the economy was at the best a VERY blunt instrument, and at worse totally ineffective. If that were the case, then the record low rates we have now should have the economy well and truly overheated, but it hasn't.

TIP: Pick a cold frosty day. Keep the compriband outside or even in the fridge (or freezer?). It expands much slower when it's really cold. On a hot day when the compriband is also nice and warm, it will expand before you get the window in.

It's surprising how prices vary, we found internorm twice the price or Rationel but I have even heard of once case where internorm were the cheapest. Although Rationel don't do a timber finish inside, you can have the inside and outside different colours, e.g my plumber friend has just had them with the dark grey ali clad outside and an almost white finish inside.

Last question (before I order some more fittings) I assume where the WC soil pipe joins it wants to be a 45 degree branch and then a 45 degree bend as we discussed before to "get things going in the right direction"

Ebico don't do new installs, so what I had to do was get SSE to do the install and fit the meter, then immediately swap suppliers to ebico. I think I paid about 4 days of standing charge to SSE while the switch happened.

The branch for the (non existant) shower is 110mm. It rises from under the floor in an elbow that's then just fitted with a blank plug. It's just to the side of where the shower would go. If ever a shower was fitted I would remove the blank plug, fit a boss, and have a short run of 40mm within the joist space to connect the shower. I'm talking here of another branch off the stack for the WC and utility room sink (which will also serve the washing machine) I'm coming round to putting it all within the joist space, but not liking any of the 40 (or 50) mm in there. Thinking of clearing a blockage, not worried about solvent weld failing.

Have you tried Rationel? For me, they were half the price of Internorm, and only very very slightly poorer in terms of Uw values. I have ali clad timber. Sadly though they no longer do a natural timber finish inside, just painted.

It's burying the 40mm under the floor that I really want to avoid. If nothing else I am sure I can get a strap on boss on the pipe behind the WC. Perhaps that's the compromise?

You are probably right. It wouldn't be quite "under" the floor. The branch for the shower drain is only just under the joists, so I could insert the WC branch directly into that which would put it within the width of the floor joist. are you suggesting I then boss into the vertical pipe rising up behind the WC? or boss into it under the floor and bring the 40mm up through the floor?

Do they do one straight to 40mm? I have searched but can't find one.

Yes it's in the 2013 Scottish building regs. you don't have to provide a downstairs shower, but there must be space somewhere to fit one, and it states in the regs (and my BC inspector told me) you must install the drain point ready for it.

Originally I had intended just a bit of 110mm pipe then a right angle pan connector, and keep the sink waste separate. My proposal at the moment is put another 92.5 degree branch behind the pan with a short straight pan connector and what I mentioned as a boss adaptor "plug" would be better achieved by the fitting OnOff linked to. I had not seen one like that before and that would make a neat solution. Obviously I would orient it so the sink enters at the top of the 110mm. I really want to avoid any under floor plumbing. I am not leaving any access to the under floor void (as there will be nothing there to service) and I only want one pipe penetrating the floor (and needing sealing) not multiple pipes. Teh shower waste branch is a building regs thing. You have to provide space for a downstairs shower AND provise a drain point for it. So I have branched off the stack under the floor joists, and the capped end will finish in the insulated space between the joists and will not penetrate the floor air tightness membrane (it will be photographed before being covered so show to building control if they ask)

I'm another one with Rationel windows from ADW. I had about 6 quotes, and Rationel came out the cheapest, and they were second best in terms of Uw values, only beaten very slightly by Internorm who were twice the price.

The next installment as I plan my stack plumbing. I am starting at the bottom as I am about to start putting the floor down and insulating it. Todays job was install the branch for the possible addition of a ground floor shower (a building regs requirement here). That is entirely under the floor and will be the only bit of the stack that is hidden. So now that's done, I have the stack rising from the floor in the corner. The OSB that the pan sits on (and no that's not the pan that's actually going in) represents finished floor level. The branch will have a pipe running left to the WC. The next "puzzle" and the point of this post, is as well as the WC, I want a 40mm pipe going left of the WC to serve the sink and washing machine. I had hoped to put a boss under the WC branch but there is not enough room for that. I might be able to put a boss immediately above the branch but depending on what WC I actually fit, I don't know if it will pass behind the WC above it's outlet. I could put the boss under the floor and take the 40mm along and up, but I am really trying to avoid "plumbing" under the floor where it is not accessible. So what are the options to join the sink into the same pipe as the WC. For instance put a branch behind the WC then a boss adaptor "plug" into the left hand end of that branch? would that be acceptable? Or getting clumsy now, continue the 110mm left of the pan, into a boss and use the top inlet of the boss for the sink? Or other ideas please.

Definitely CO not CO2 They don't have to be in one unit, you can have a heat alarm and a CO alarm, interlinked so when one triggers, both sound. Without a doubt get Aico. you should get them for about £30 each if you look hard enough on ebay, that's where I usually get them from. If you are mounting them on a sloping ceiling this may be an issue for some makes. On a previous job I got written confirmation from Aico that they were happy for them to be mounted on a vertical wall close to the apex of a room with a vaulted ceiling (at least 300mm away from the "corner") and building control accepted that.

Surprising at your build usage. We have used 64KWh building the house so far. That's electric cement mixers, then all the usual electric power tools. I have a couple of flourescent lights for temporary work lights inside the house rather than halogen spotlights. I am surprised how little we have actually used so far. I tend not to work much after dark.