ProDave

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.

Mine is ancient and only has wheels. It doesn't even have the spigot to allow it to go onto a stand. So if you want to be able to tip it's contents into a barrow, you have to drag it up onto a stack of pallets.

Full article here. http://press.hse.gov.uk/2016/timber-frame-firm-fined-for-fire-safety-and-traffic-offences/ Some interesting snippets: Okay, just what were they supposed to have done? installed a fire alarm and sprinkler in the part built houses? I have worked on many timber framed houses and apart from workers doing the obvious things to take care (blowlamps being the most obvious risk) just exactly what did they fail to do?

I have just had a rough count and you have about 70 "points" I normally allow 1 hour per point. So that's about 70 hours labour roughly. So in order for the labour rate to really be coming in at £7K, then that means London rates are £100 per hour. That's 4 times what I charge, but I am a LONG way from London. To be honest, it would not surprise me if London rates really were that high. Cost of building bears no relationship to the market value. I live somewhere where if you built a new high spec house I would be surprised if you could actually sell it for enough just to cover your costs.

I believe the interlink to be 9V (presumably with reference to N) Set up a string of smoke alarms that are mains powered with battery backup, and you will find they all work, and all sound together, even with the mains power off. Also (contrary to manufacturers instructions) I find different makes also interlink together. In fact I have not yet found 2 makes that refuse to work together.

When I was looking to decide which one to use, I also looked at the Vortex. The Vortex, the Biopure and the Conder seemed to be the best 3 available in terms of effluent quality so it came down partly to price and partly to installation method in (in my case) ground with a high water table. The Vortex, being a cylindrical unit, appeared to require the whole thing to be encased in concrete if installed in a high water table area so I discounted it for that reason. If you are happy with the installation method for your ground conditions I see no reason not to use it.

If it's a "mistake" and the system has been wired without interconnects, then if it's to difficult to rewire, consider using RF link bases for the smoke alarms instead.

Yes as Peter says. T&E to first alarm, thereafter 3 core & E to second, third, 4th etc. 1mm is plenty. Any electrician should know this.

I have on the shelf in front of me (all borrowed books) The House builders bible, Plans for a dream home. and Building your own home. If I am brutally honest, none have been that much help. I suspect that's partly because being an electrician I am "in the building trade" so have worked on lots of new builds of different construction methods and different layouts, and this is my second new build so I know from the first one what I got right and wrong.

Reminds me of when I was a young boy. There was a building site near us and at weekends we used to love exploring the part built houses. One weekend, they had left the starting handle with the dumper. So what do young boys do? put the handle on the shaft and give it a spin. I don't think any of us expected the dumper to start and of course none of us knew how to stop it, so we just scarpered.

It also depends where you are in the UK. In Scotland, it only has to be 5 metres from a building or boundary, but must be 10 metres from a watercourse.

I was doing some wiring for a chap and there was one in his garden looking unloved. I asked if he wanted to sell it. He said no, but you may borrow it. So I borrowed it for a few weeks (this was 13 years ago when building the previous house) when I finished with it, I phoned him to arrange a time to take it back. "Oh, I don't want it back" he said. It's still going strong now and still looking just as tatty.

Can you not get one to Cumbernauld in time to be delivered by the same transport company as your windows? It was only the ease of DIY installation that swayed me to the Conder, I have every faith the Biopure would perform as well and be slightly cheaper to run. At the moment the £120 delivery looks your best option.

a 1 in 40 drop is 25mm drop in a 1 metre run. To measure that, I have a standard 1 metre long level, and I tape a small bit of 2*1 timber to one end of the level, then set the pipe so the level reads level and you have a 1 in 40 fall. You won't get any droops or puddling at that fall. You can go to 1 in 80 if you are short on fall. Then you have to be more particular that you can't get droops in the pipe run.

I might have close on 300 or even more 150mm screws going cheap.

Late to this debate, but from the house I lived in as a child, Knobs only work properly high up. A knob at "handle height" was not as easy to use.

I have the Conder, the second link in your original post. you might care to get a quote from TP if they have a branch on the island, they were the cheapest I could find so they supplied mine for less than I could find with any of the in line suppliers, and delivered and ofloaded by their own truck with a haib. I chose the conder over the biopure, because of the ground anchoring arrangements. The ground anchor kit for the boipure appeared to require someone to go down into the hole to fix the anchor kit into the ground. With the Conder you just have to fill the bottom of the hole with concrete high enough to encompass the ring about 1/4 the way up from the bottom of the cone shaped bit. The Conder also sits on 3 legs in it's hole whereas the boipure requires the digger (or whatever you lowered it into the hole with) to hold it upright while you back fill the hole. On the downside, I believe the Conder uses more power for it's air blower.

Indeed I have. In my case it's fixed to the timber frame but it is also recogniosed as an external wall insulation system for masonry buildings. You can also achieve the same with other types of insulation and render, e.g EPS. In my case it's a lime based render not cement based and I am hoping for a long and maintenance free life for it.

I think we should only agree to export our precious water, if we also export our also abundant surplus of midges. Seems a fair trade to me. Speaking as someone where we never have a shortage of water, and measures to save it are just nonsense. I would hate to be restricted to a particular folow rate of water for a shower for instance, logic just says it would take longer to rinse the shampoo out of your hair (not very long in my case) so would not actually save any water. And as for low volume cisterns, what good if it needs several flushes to clear the "items" there is nothing wrong with the old fashioned dual flush, where you can choose a low volume flush where appropriate. If I was forced to implement flow restrictors etc I would make it well known to my BC officer that as soon as I had the completion certificate that they would be removed, and I would continue using water in a responsible way.

Building regulations now prevent you from having locking windows to escape routes (bedroom windows for example) So that would not now happen. Although not a building regulation, I would not have entrance doors that need a key to open them from inside. I also point out that wiring regulations now require that cables above exit passages must be supported by non metalic means to prevent firefighters getting entangled by drooping cables. Also, related to the melting point of ducting. Do you think with a full fire raging, and the melting point of PVC cable, that the power feed to the mvhr will still be on and working for very long after a fire starts? Perhaps we should all wire smoke alarms and mvhr feeds in MICC cable which is about the only thing that would last any length of time in a fire.