saveasteading

as the original builder doesn't seem to know that water runs downhill, and that an 8" pipe will run les well than a 4", , there isn't much hope of finding anything useful after the digester. I would assume the worst and that you will be blocking the pipes from the digester to the soakaway. the nearer to the soakaway you can block it, the better, so that their stuff stays with them.

Gut feeling....5 years. But It is more about elegance and the loss of a part of the wall.

When they do it, have a tot up of machine's, plant and labour and have a stab at the cost. then probably double it for management and risks.

For bedrooms , a short run could be plenty. It will transfer 30° into the aluminium an radiate it, so a quicker response than in screed, and tidier than rads.

I'd hazard that sharing with your neighbour will work, but you should not share that final soakaway with the other people. Perhaps that means that your outfall must bypass the soakaway and join the pipe to the burn, or maybe the bco will accept a new, small soakaway or French drains. The 8" pipe is unnecessarily huge and probably stuff the builder had found.

I've seen some aluminium skirting that the pipes click into. This seems tidy and easy enough to do and is my current plan for upper rooms. Anybody tried it?

Yes I sometimes say something similar, but it isn't always that simple. There are factors of safety in buildings (by calculation or practice), and these can combine to do those magic tricks. But on a particular day (one day in 50 years) it might snow and blow and 6 people jump on the same spot, or someone moves a grand piano there. Thus we can make these decisions privately, but a professional doesn't know the building intimately, or want to be sued for any issue.

In case it helps.. Our steading project has 100m or so of waste pipe to the treatment tank, from 2 directions. The groundworker, supposedly experienced, couldn't do slope control, but we were sacking him anyway. My son in law was rightly nervous about installing it all properly, and didn't seem to have confidence in my confidence. I had to be there for the drain runs. One day into it, my management and instruction was no longer required and I was moved to backfilling and away from the clever stuff. i.e. Once understood it is very diy-able. except for the machine work. Getting the slopes right and pipes meeting each other is the scary bit but advice can follow, on here. The hole for the tank is wide and deep and needs an excavator. It can then lift the tank in. Have you got access? The tank itself can be offloaded by the driver and you. Only mechanical tanks are heavy. You need a percolation test...read about it in Document H or in many websites. I suggest you do a preliminary one at ground level ASAP. You, a spade, a bucket, a watch and a tape. Quite fun.

Welcome to the threshing club. We've just about done a stone one (there was an opening in the wall for a threshing machine drive shaft. Plus a proper thresh hold stone. Not listed. I think we were more sympathetic to heritage than the planners. There are a few easy solutions, but a long way down the list. Now starting a steel one. Not listed but has to stay in place.

I find the letters (and numbers) to not all be in the right order re the soakaway size but....but read anyway......and most seem to be approved smaller than ' required'. The best news is that it will be all yours and half the size. A sketch plan will set things moving.

That's right. between us there is a solution.

First you must if there is a legal case. Is there a contract, and what does it say? If no formal contract then maybe in common law, but that needs a lawyer. It has to be one with construction industry skills. They may give you a half hour free. Then you give the builder the opportunity to remedy the situation. That will all take up a month. If you just start doing the work you will not get recompense.

Repearing some of @ProDave 1a) Abandoning the old and doing all new, about £7k. Disposing of the old is another matter. 1b) sorting the elec supply and pump, not too expensive but the soakaway is another matter. 2. Sensiblepeople. Perhaps they can be persuaded. 3. See other discussions on BH. Air is far preferable to mechanical. 4. Not all. The drainage has to be sorted. 5. What is the problem with this? 6. I would never use mechanical, only air. Have used Marsh 3 times and will again. Others are available. Shows you are talking to non experts. Tell us more. Do you have space? Is there a slope? Could your rainwater go somewhere else? A sketch would be great. Is your neighbour being cooperative. When was it built? The builder may still be liable for incompetence to this degree.

How much heat flow would there be through that area? If near an outside wall then perhaps it is significant. Centrally probably not. In such quandaries, I draw a cross section, then arrows of the heat loss. Usually you can block or hinder these paths. Earth is a half decent insulator under a slab, when away from outside walls. The insulation manufacturers used to acknowledge this.

Our solution was twofold. Nb this is for 100 year old rafters, so much twisted. 1. Instead of 100mm pir , use 2 x 50mm. That way it is easier to press them in. 2. After the first 50mm in in place, instead use mineral wool. It fits of course, and covers all the perimeter gaps. Obv the wool isn't such good insulation, but the figures are OK, and the practicality makes up for it.

Ig looks to me that it is soft foam, so it squeezes inoto place. Between rafters, better than expanding foam. No need under floors except maybe on the final board cut.

Me too. For all 4 sides. £3/m, so for a 2.4 x 0.6 board, add £18. = £1.20/m2. The site I found doesn't show the tech info esp u value. Clever. It wouldn't do for wonky old rafters though.

The optimistic view is that there has clearly been an extreme lack of care. Water pouring off roof and gutter and a rotten pergola. Thus there would be similar avoidance of thought to the cracks. How wide is the worst? Can you get a pound coin into it? I might take a chance but I would be an hour or two looking and thinking first, and it is my skill. I cannot advise you other than to be very careful, have an SE look at it, and put a lot of money aside, in case you need it. The SE will likely say nothing or advise you to walk away. They won't say it is OK.

I don't know anything about MCS, so my opinion is without merit, but here it is. In my cynical mind they will be like BRE post privatisation. Non expert, self opinionated, self serving bh creating standards and certification schemes that make money. Like the air testing regime when only they could do the tests. Then came Breeam. So much wrong with it. I met them but never one who was any use or employable. But they were smug with their ignorance which made it worse. What they were good at was selling themselves to government. There was merit in what they did but they did it badly. I wonder if there was staff movement from one to the other. As I said...I don't know MCS and they may be great.

Sorry, pervolation belongs in another conversation.

It is often a good solution to take rainwater in several directions, to their own small soakaways or French drains. As soon a they are 5m from the house, you can use perforated pipe and the pervolation begins. Cheaper than those crates too. I'm still concerned about the cover and invert levels.

£3.5k. Unless it needs a new or changed transformer. Add £10k Not much difference in cost for 1 or 3 phases.

I have seen pir float and that was with 30N concrete, not screed. This was 20 odd years ago and ufh was unheard of. Our plumber insisted on organising the pour and got it badly wrong. I happened to be there. I then realised I was quite good under stress and people will listen. Concrete blocks as weights. Sorted. There must have been concrete in the gaps still though. Moral...I always personally check the polythene cover and sealing before the pour. I can now add aluminium hydrogenating (?) to the reasons. Would bubbles of hydrogen be a problem?

And the soakaway. Is that on a hillside? Will the water simply run out of the downhill side? I notice the drain to it runs at 1:10. Invert 1.7m below cover. Why IL so deep? Because it is on a slope? And the digester is shown deep too. The outlet chamber cover is 1m above the digester cover! Something wrong here.

I actually think the effluent from the digester will be clean enough to mix with the rainwater and to soak away. But that isn't what the regulations say, or the manufacturers. As it is on a hillside the chance of the digester floating is low to nil. Combine the flood odds with you emptying the tank? Nil. So you shouldn't need to tie it or weight it down. The marsh unit has feet which will resist uplift a bit. Gravel surround as you backfill though, to protect the walls.