ProDave

Up here, a common solution is to get permission to put a soakaway under an adjacent field. Obviously that only works if there is an adjacent field. You don't need to own it, just have a deed of servitude or equivalent to do so. Lack of space for drainage can render a small plot undevelopable (is that a word?) It's possible to get planning permission to build, but not be able to get a building warrant if there is no drainage solution. I guess it then comes down to dry composting toilets etc if there is no other solution (dry toilets are allowed by building control)

On the present house, we regret the silly money we paid for an "American style" stainless steel big fridge / freezer with water and ice dispenser. Apart from the silly cost (and you can't even re claim the VAT) the actual space in the freezer was a huge disappointment meaning we also run a separate old under worktop freezer. It also broke down just out of guarantee. thankfully I managed to repair it but the replacement part (a fan motor) was expensive. In contrast the Rangemaster range cooker we were very pleased with.

For an estimate, our existing 5 bedroom house (that in Scotland must be sized for an occupancy of 8 people) has a soakaway area of 85 square metres. In this case it is under the field behind us.

Can I throw an off the ball idea into the ring. My sun room will be the only part of my house clad in timber, and there won't be very much as it's mostly glass anyway. So I had been wondering about cladding it in fencing planks, you know the planks available as 4" and 6" wide and probably 3/4 inch thick. The thinking is unlike "normal" cladding that's just plain sawn timber, these are impregnated throughout with tanalising (SP?) to prevent them rotting and it certainly slows down the weathering process as well. There is still nothing to stop you treating them as well if you want to.

My solution was discharging to the burn. Originally SEPA said no to a discharge to the burn as they only allow that as a last resort. I was going to use an above ground filter mound, until building regs changed and it now had to be a greater distance away from the road which didn't leave enough space. I looked at a Puraflow system (similar to a filter mound but using peat in a tank as the filter medium) that would fit into the now reduced space, but building control rejected that. At that point SEPA changed their mind and allowed us to discharge to the burn. I guess we had reached the "last resort" situation. Designing a soakaway system is really not that hard and for a new system building control will want to see it has been properly sized.

Building regulations have a calculation that tells you the area of ground you need for a soakaway based on the occupancy of the building and the percolation rate for the ground you are discharging to. So your first step is dig the required test holes and measure the percolation rate. Then you will be able to calculate the area of ground your require, which can be substantial. Crates don't solve the problem and won't reduce the area of land you need. If you find you don't have enough land, then you have to look at alternatives. No drainage solution = no building warrant = no house (a worrying situation I was in for a few weeks until we found a solution)

Are you talking about draining to a holding tank with a dirty water pump? I would consider a macerator. It fits at the back of the toilet and can also take a waste pipe in from the washing machine. I would consider it a disposable item as I would not want to be trying to fix one if it stopped working. I would also chose which toilet in the house to use for "solid matter" and reserve that one just for having a pee.

I think only one wall actually fell down, but they since closed half of Aberdeens's schools for investigation and remedial work and now they think other public buildings may have the same faults. Yes it does beg the question, what were building control doing. As far as I know, private building control is not an option in Scotland, at least not for private dwellings, so it points to a failing by building control for not spotting the failing by the builders? Should be an interesting program.

BBC1 Scotland, Monday 22nd August 7PM (viewers outside Scotland will need Sky or Freesat to view it) Last year there was s spate of school walls collapsing on PFI funded school buildings, due to inadequate wall ties. This program investigates what went wrong. They now think other public buildings as well as schools may faulty.

That's what he wants to talk to me about. I am thinking of persuading him that a GSHP is a lot of work for little gain, and a monoblock ASHP would be a "better" option and easier to swap later on for an outside oil fired boiler. Then when he's signed off I could buy the hardly used ASHP from him

If you turn off the air blower, would there not be a danger of sludge settling on the air vents and blocking them?

It's an "ordinary" timber framed house. The sort of thing I built 13 years ago and wish to improve upon this time around. So blockwork outer skin and render, ventilated cavity. 150mm frame filled with "rockwoll". 50mm kingspan over inside of frame then service void. Cold roof with "rockwool" loft insulation. 3G Rationel windows so at least he chose well there. His energy assessor says it "fails" the SAP assesment if he just uses an oil boiler. I will find out more when I see him tomorrow.

I think we concluded the best way to recover heat from a bath, was leave the water in the bath until cold, then the heat will be ion the fabric of the building and only cold water going down the drain.

Can I ask a question related to this? I am wiring a new house being built by my plumber friend. He would like to just heat it with an oil fired boiler,. but he says it fails the SAP assessment with just an oil boiler which is why his design SAP says to use a ground source heat pump. he's starting to question me about provisioning the wiring so he can later swap the heat pump for a boiler later on. By why would the SAP fail an oil boiler yet it's okay with a heat pump. Sounds to me like not enough insulation? if so that's not what you want if using a heat pump.

the occupancy thing is interesting. Not so bad in our new house which will have 3 living in it, BR demand a unit sized for 5 people, which rounds up to a 6 person plant in out case. but our existing 5 bedroom house (still with just 3 of us most of the time) has a system sized for 8 people.

Sorry to say but you have not yet learned to "work" the system regarding the electrics. You have sub standard, old, meter tails there, almost certainly cotton covered rubber. You are responsible for the tails on your side of the meter, the supply co are responsible for the tails between the fuse and the meter. And for their £200 they could not even be bothered to change them. What most electricians would have done is pulled the main fuse which just happened not to be sealed * changed the consumer unit. Fitted new tails between the meter and the consumer unit. Then phoned the electricity company to report a dangerous condition (the sub standard meter tails between the fuse and the meter). The electricity co would attend, replace the tails and re seal everything. Job done for £0 cost. *Amelie the seal fairy will visit the night before if you ask her nicely.

Yes you need about 300mm above the opening for the roll to fit in. that's what the local roller door manufacturer here advised.

The key to finding an affordable plot is "location" I can show you lots of plots for sale up here, as low as £40K. I am building I hope to something like passive house standards (though not certified as such) but I don't subscribe to the earth sheltered stuff unless there are planning reasons why you have to "hide" your house. I can do plenty of "bad points" mostly relating to inability to sell the old house and thereore lack of funds for the new one.

On my first build, we moved into the static 'van before the house was built. When BT (pre Open Reach days) came to install the line into the 'van, they just left a long coil of spare SWA cable, in the knowledge that I would route it into the house when it was built.

Another one here that can't answer the question but wold like to know the answer. Quite a lot of houses are built up here with timber cladding, often only partly clad (and then usually partly rendered) A common alternative to doing nothing is to "paint" them, with light green or light blue being popular colours. I would be interested to know what "paint" they use for this, applied direct to rough sawn timber. The only product I can see that comes close to being suitable for this is paint intended for timber decking. Otherwise all timber treatments seem to be "stain" rather than "paint" and mostly specified for sheds or fencing.

Which is precicely what I am doing with my Static 'van. (Oh no, I've brought the C word into the conversation)

Thanks, that's a useful link. Most of it is common sense, though step 7 does appear to demand a fire detection system in a part built timber framed building.

That reminds me. I must sweep up the last of that wood fibre dust....

Do you have any info on the "16 steps to fire safety"? What should individual self builders be doing apart from common sense things?

If you are looking at alternatives still, there is also the diamond. http://www.drainstore.com/wpl-dms2-sewage-treatment-plant-6-population.html Yet another Biopure conical type plant. I discounted that one because for my ground conditions it would have to be fully encased in concrete to within 150mm of the lid.