ProDave

We have the same flue liners. I remember the bricklayer fiddling around a bit with some lintels to try and support the flue liners. Then he said "nah, that's not going to work" He then went outside and came back with one of those really thick 600 by 900 paving slabs. Cut a hole in it to match the flue liner, and put that on as a "roof" to the fireplace and for the flue liners to sit on.

Are you going to name the make of the windows?

Oh lordy. Sunday is looking even worse with the >50 mph winds Stretching further inland.50mph winds stretching a lot further inland This is unusual for Passage Weather. Usually when they forecast gales a few days out, as you get close the prediction reduces. Not this time. Today was definitely a lot windier than their prediction.

Already seen 40mph sustained and gusts to 60 mph today at Inverness airport. And this isn't "the storm" All my sheets of OSB are now inside the house where they can't go awol.

It's going to get a bit blowy over the Christmas weekend. Especially over West Scotland. If you are leaving your building site for the holiday, don't leave anything lying around that can blow away, as it WILL blow away. and make sure your buildings are secure. Passage Weather plot for Sunday

Six new flat pack house factories to be set up in the UK http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-38368185 There is more to this story than on that news item. On the 6 O Clock news today, the person they interviewed talked about 20,000 homes per year and a build cost of £500 per square metre. I wonder if this will just be mass production of standard designs for developers or if it will be of interest to self builders wanting a bespoke house? Either way, an interesting development.

As I thought. These "special offers", even when stacking multiple discount things together are still over priced. Today, Jewsons, 9mm OSB £7.05 per sheet plus vat = £8.84. Free delivery of course and there's no special offers or jumping through hoops. And that was not even a trade account deal, just cash.

One other detail worth considering, is where are the fixing screws? We have a similar window / door pair, and when my joiners fitted them, they removed the door catch plates and drilled the holes for the fixing screws behind them, so when screwed together, and the catch plates replaced, you don't see any fixings joining the door to the window. A friend has the same windows and the joiner just drilled a row of holes, so when the door is opened, you see the fixing screws.

A good example of this, is there were 2 planning applications in our road (one of them was mine of course) in the last 5 years with no particular conditions. A common theme to this road is we all have a burn running through our gardens. Now another house with a large garden has applied for permission to build and they have been asked for a flood risk assessment. But we were not. I can't see any obvious reason why their plot should have a different flood risk to ours.

Yes that's right, Scottish building regs demand a sarking board. It does make a far far better roof structure and even if I was building outwith Scotland I think I would do it.

Am I missing the point? I thought the idea was recessed accessories e.g behind a flat screen wall mounted tv. Light switches that you can wallpaper behind won't help.

That's a god point. A Scottish roof with sarking board is much more robust. an English roof with just the felt stretched across thin air between the rafters will not be as robust.

Nice idea but expensive for what it is. A cheaper alternative might just be put a floor socket box in the wall. That gives you a recessed plate for sockets etc. you probably don't need to bother fitting the "lid"

Zones and IP rating are only a requirement for rooms with a bath or shower (or swimming pool). You can in theory fit anything above a hob. Just use common sense. Likewise with height, as long as it's high enough not to bang your head.

It took me about 3 months to tile my roof over last winter, during which time a lot of snow fell on the roof and nothing came to grief. So as long as the felt is good there should be no worries. At least you will get a chance to find and fix any leaks in it before the final roof covering goes on.

That system is easy to install. Power to the inside and outside unit and a data cable between them. that's about it. The guys that set up the one I was involved with, didn't connect the "call for heat" from the ufh manifolds, which struck me as lazy, I am awaiting feedback from the owner how it is working and whether we need to address that or not. Just remind me, did you just buy the bits and install them, or is it part of a "package" including claiming the RHI?

All looking very good indeed. It's nice to see a quick build progressing compared to my snails pace 1 man effort. I particularly like what he's done with all the big stones, and I like you own personal "standing stone" very appropriate for the area.

TIP: the "high temperature solder" is lead free. Mostly just tin. I just reflow immediately with 60/40. that gets it melting easily with a low power iron. I have enough 60/40 to last me out, but TIP #2, CPC still sell 60/40 solder.

If it was that recent then I would have hoped they would have made the roof a lot thicker and put a decent amount in. But knowing mass market builders it might not have any (as my 1930's semi didn't, until I put some there)

Re pre heating intake air by passing it through an underground duct. This was discussed on EB and you must use special, I think silver coated, ducting otherwise you will get mould growth and then severe problems with air quality inside the house.

I think the paper heat exchangers were discussed before. They have an RH limit of 80% Yes the air being extracted from your shower room may approach 100% RH but that will be mixed with air extracted from other rooms as well before reaching the mvhr so is extremely unlikely to be anywhere near 80% RH as it enters the mvhr. In fact to get anywhere close to 80% I would expect you to need someone showering simultaneously in every bathroom. while someone in the kitchen also has several pans of water boiling away, and also a load of soaking wet washing hung up to dry in the utility room. Very unlikely. But I do agree the LG units look worthy of consideration.

Re banisters. The Scottish regs say "A 100mm diameter sphere must not pass through" so as long as they are close enough together, those vertical rails would do. Not sure about them ending 5 steps up though. I believe any "drop" over 600mm requires rails, so at most 2 steps up I would say. Also there just seems something very "wrong" about having a fire under the only means of escape from the basement of a 4 storey house. What could possibly go wrong?

Isn't that Doom Barthroom?

The mvhr will DRY your washing, but it won't make the towels fluffy, Unless anyone knows another way to fluf them, there will still be some need for a TD. Re the energy usage of a TD being roughly equal to the energy a load of drying washing sucks out of your house. That's a simple and usable piece of knowledge. In the summer, dry your clothes on the pulley and it has a useful cooling effect on the house. In the winter use the TD and it helps heat the house (as long as it's a conensing dryer so the heat stays in the house)

Not sure of other parts of the UK, but up here on your 50th birthday you receive your first Bowel Cancer screening kit in the post. I won't dwell on the details but you have to provide some samples. they give you a stick and instructions....... Then you get one every 2 years after that.