saveasteading

Not cynical: Pragmatic Cautious realist Knowledge can be such a burden, can't it fellow hubbers? I'm sure when we say 'dont' or ' be careful' it is usually good advice.

Science, fun, peace of mind. I agree though. Leave it and don't worry. Concrete will fill that half mm.

View this email in your browser In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court has today found that United Utilities can be held to account for the damage caused by unauthorised sewage discharges into the Manchester Ship Canal. This judgment has massive implications, setting a precedent which breaks the shield around polluting water companies – leaving them open to a potential deluge of legal action

@ABISHEK please respond. Knowledgeable people have put time into this. What do you think of the responses? Otherwise you won't get any more.

I looked up require. I wouldn't use the word in this context, but it means need, which perhaps is the case. Please could you provide your opinion?, will work better though.

Assuming you get 1000mm pa, but it is really much more 1.0 X 160m2 = 160m3 or 160,000 litres. Toilets use about 50 litres pppd I think. So 2 x 50 x365 = 36,500 litres demand. You've got plenty. But lots of that will overflow and be lost. You'll have the odd 30 days with no rain so need a biggish tank (3m3?), or mains as required.

A quantity surveyor does schedules and costs. I think you can get there by selecting non- technical 'modules'.

Nobody wants floor covering really. But they need it for comfort or warmth or cleanliness. So all 3 of these are top of the list: functionality. After that the rest also depend on circumstances. Except that sustainability probably comes last for most people.

I believe that. Development is allowed without increasing the infrastructure. Rainwater may be held back but is still released at 5/litres per second per hectare, which is a lot more than zero.

Could be done in Scotland though..although I don't know how sewage is charged.

But the water saved is reducing the infrastructure load and cost. A difficult sum.

Hang on. How many days do we get enough rain to fill one or more 100 litre tanks? My garden water butts are seldom full. Hence I put 10,000litres underground. When it rains I catch the lot.

I'm surprised. More info please. How often have you seen this? If it was mainstream then it could easily be economical with a tank above the wc. A pipe in through the wall is better than through the roof. We would stop seeing this as ugly in time. But it isn't. Not round my way anyway.

Agreed. I estimate I've done 300+ projects. Rainwater harvester twice and at least one of these has been turned off. Barrels on rwp, 3 times. Everything on its merits.

Under a flat roof is usually a room. Could fill the bath?

...the tiles or slates overlap enough that they don't leak immediately. Primitive and effective. Modern roofs leak with a single failure.

We appear to agree. I did this with a 10m3 tank, this being twice the recommended size. The water bill was tiny as was the related sewage bill. Payback 5 years, which you don't get anywhere else legally. Well, maybe 8 years after costing the plumbing and management critically. On the latest project I'm thinking of a basic tank in the ground, for gardening only, and a simple pump.

If the gutter happened to be there or conveniently could be designed in, then ok. Maybe. But holes in roofs are to be avoided whatever the purpose. Gutters need overflows too. A usefully big tank also requires stiffening of the structure. So it's not something I would look to do. I will, however, continue to consider a tank in the ground and a pump. To feed that into the house requires a parallel plumbing system feeding only WCs and outside taps, and a link to mains for when the tank runs out.

You need a pipe from outside directly into a purpose made socket in the wbs.

Garage doors are for garages, so the insulation and seals are passable for that. For an office fill the door in with insulated stud and include a window. The remaining surfaces are presumably uninsulated so you will be cold and have damp paperwork, or a huge electric bill.

For commercial reasons they are made small but also the the moulds will wear out and the blocks become bigger over time.

No. Unless the tank was serving the ground floor only, and positioned in a single storey area or a cupboard.

If it is above the eaves it won't get water from the gutters.

Possibly lashed together with lots if timber and without approval. Most such will survive, because we don’t get many hurricanes or deep snow, although we design for it. But it's serious if they don't.

I must have miread that they hadn't been to look. No harm in being wary. But few SEs have been contractors or worked closely (collaboratively) with them. Design involves theory, from the SE, and method, often suggestions of the builder. It seems the ones you have tried all know their limitations so that is a positive. I think you mentioned division walls that would prop up the steel. Are they structural?