saveasteading

Simply by immediate appearance the top one looks preferable. I think as long as it is all roddable it is acceptable, but wold have to read the reg's with that in mind. We are installing ours within the slab insulation, for pracitcal reasons, but with the added benefit of retaining height. that can create 'cover' challenges outside, but overcome-able. Apart from keeping trenches shallower as a benefit please consider where the digester will empty to.

OK. So technically feasible. But you must not undermine the road so the likely option would be hammering a big steel pipe through to a fall, then emptying it of earth, or insert a cheaper pipe and grout around. Very specialist and expensive. And check there are no services in the road.

Superb.

No, but silt trap. For grease build a wall across the middle of the manhole thing you are building, to above the water line. Allow a gap near half height so gunk goes below and grease and floaters above. The gap can be a perpend missed or a pipe. OR on the outlet fit a T with one end above the water and the other to half way down. OR buy a grease trap.

Augering I don't think is viable as it would be complex and somehow avoid the road subsiding.. Even if it was, you would need a very big pit both sides to be deep below the road. Road closure and a council approved contractor for a pipe, I'd say £5,000. More if it needs traffic lights. Plus any permissions coats. Can you dig a big trench or lagoon?

When compared to lower performing insulation such as newspaper or plastic sheet pinned to timber.

fine in a warehouse. Punkah Fan is perhaps not a permissible term now. Also an option was a fan in a flexible tube down to ground level. I've been up at the ridge of a warehouse in a cherry picker in mid summer and it must have been in the 40s. C

Oh yes. Weatherboard without membrane outside. But if I put a floor to ridge pipe, or ceiling to ridge, in a passivhaus it would draw air in through every gap and in at the vents. I'm not saying it is ideal or controllable but it is real And I don't want anyone thinking it isn't. In the new project with some vaulted ceilings we anticipate it getting hot ul high. We expect to retrofit a natural or fan vent, but either way it will be closable.

A few bags of small offcuts has no value. It will be buried or incinerated. Useful sizes of offcuts may be just what someone needs and save them a journey if free. But it would need photos. I'd be looking on 'marketplace'. Plus you get a gold star for encouraging reuse.

I've got a woodburner. I can demonstrate passive stack by cleaning out the ash. It creates dust of course and it goes up the chimney. Spill some ash at the open door and it flows swiftly in and away. This is accompanied by a swift flow of rhe heated room air. Rate of flow about 15 seconds per metre through a 100mm duct. Stack effect is real. I've an open fire too. I stuff fibreglass up the chimney when there will be no fire (for hokey effect only, not efficient heat). I've had my head above the chimneypot while working on the tv aerial. There is a horrific flow of hot air constantly... that's central heating warmed air. Stack effect is very real.

I was wondering why they shouldn't be named and shamed in words. They'd hardly sue would they. with this going all over local media? But I think I've worked out who it is, and which sex of county it is.. Well done. It's shocking lack of judgment / knowledge among buyers. mostly fleeing London. Much better older houses in better locations are dropping in value because of all this junk development flooding the market. Is there a dislike among younger buyers in buying 'used'?

It could then be softened for dismantling if necessary, without damaging the wood. eg a violin, wobbly chair.

Certainly not, it is very helpful. Beware growing plants over it. It will catch the wind, and you don't want pigeons or any drippy plant above your car.

No I'm assuming it is, or is similar to, a pump mix, so has a plasticiser or super-plasticiser and small aggregate. From further reading it looks to me as if we are talking about the same sort of mix but with different terminology. I'm surprised it can include fibres as they tend to clump and make the concrete very sticky to handle, but maybe with the plasticiser and very prompt use, that is overcome. I'm guessing now, but would also expect that it is easier with small and rounded gravel than with crushed quarry stone. I'm pretty sure it will not be self -levelling which brings us back to the original question. Do you have any info on the relative cost and any disadvantages?

Renovation/conversion usually includes lots of surprises.

Yes. reinforced across the pipe, perhaps with a gap to emphasise the absence of loading on the pipe. Or you could use a steel plate instead or as well. That would be nice and thin as well. It isn't in the reg's as such because it is becoming an Engineered solution. The bco may accept it without an Engineer's proposal, if they are confident enough to see that it is obviously a sensible solution. I'm thinking, concrete surround the pipe while you are at it.

That's the moral to the tale. To which add the onsite management. Was it a fairly standard ( off the shelf) geometry? Bravo.

Agreed that is my choice too IF you have the falls. It is going to have car loading which is considerable. So I'd say you bridge it completely, with concrete downstands (tiny footings) on both sides and a reinforced slab over it. The mesh shouldn't be plonked in but laid at mid height. Thus the load doesn't bear on the pipe. It may need a smart drawing and explanation to show the bco but the work can be diy. I've only installed pumped mains twice and on a larger scale. It was compulsory to have 2 pumps and the cost was huge.

That's a good size. It will catch and hold a big downpour, which is important in a dry spell. Depending on cost and space available, consider 2 smaller tanks. I'm planning one now, and it will only be for garden watering. So I can't see a problem using a redundant plastic oil tank.... they are free from any heating plumber or on Facebook. The oil traces will be insignificant.

There is no hate. It's basically that a pump mix is being described as self compacting when it's simply very runny: a pump mix. The raking and tamping are compacting it enough, but a poker brings out trapped airand moves the mix through any reinforcement and into corners... which is what compaction is. But a pump is a beast to handle so not diy or for beginners. Poker not easy either. Maybe we have different standards but my 'level' is very level and I want it smooth, and the quality controlled ( no added water) and properly formed contraction joints. If it is to have a further construction of screed and insulation over it then a diy job may suffice.

Great to see a rainwater tank. What capacity? How will the water be used? You can put a catchpit just before the tank and it will catch all the dirt. I put one in before a 10m3 tank and it never needed attention in the 15 years I had ownership. Catch the leaves before they get on the system. 100mm pipe has to stay. Aco can feed into it.

it's a bit of a gimmick I think. But it is a genuine option ..at a cost. Its good to be tested by new options so I'm interested. I would want a concrete slab of some sort I think. Ground moves and stones will follow it. 50 to 100 stone base with 10 to 25mm sand blinding ( the lesser if you can get the stone really flat and smooth) polythene 100mm concrete, maybe with steel mesh. 150mm PIR insulation with polythene over and pipes fixed to the surface 50mm screed PIR is a lot better U value I think. Due to diminishing returns, using foamglass instead of stone under the concrete is excessive. That's 360 to 425 but I'd want to know more. Maybe you can increase the insulation. You can likely dig some more ground out but that's a different question.

It's so important that i would always attend when this was happening on our projects, even with proven expert slab contractors. There is so much that can go wrong and the effects can be drastic. The OP appears to have a designed slab by an SE, as a raft over insulation. so there will be reinforcement to fix accurately @lizzieuk1. If the SE says no then it means no. There is another unknown of course in the weather, when pouring in the open. Rain, wind, baking sun... all problems. and then at 6pm a cat or fox will always walk over it. I think we are all trying to gently say... diy what you can but not the slab, and beware that many contractors think they can do it, but don't know a lot. Are you having underfloor heating?

. Manage? You mean you get some labourers and control them? But they're telling you to get this magic concrete? For diy you could deliberately lay the concrete 25mm or so low. Then get a professional to screed later. but beware, level control is a skill in itself. Is there reinforcement?

I've maybe missed it but does this need planning permission? And then there is building control as it will be a habitation.