saveasteading

Welcome. A good chance to sound insulate the party walls.

It is worth detailing to stop leaves and muck getting to the soakaway. Having the downpipes outlet onto grilled hoppers is standard.

@NMarshallthanks for the links. It's difficult to tell if they are lying about the supposed benefits, or simply don't understand it. Bottom line....it is an electric heater. It would be a nice luxury for bare feet on a tiled bathroom floor. Otherwise it is expensive to buy, and to run, and will NOT heat people by IR as claimed, as it is within the floor, which warms. These adverts should be shut down.

We used black tubes in the ceilings of sports halls. Gas is combusted at one end and expelled at the other. The tube gets hot and a lot of ' glow' is apparent underneath it. It heats the air of course too but it stays up high. Sports teachers report back that the pupils moan about being cold in the first class of the day. But they respond to the whoomph of it firing up, then start running about, and the heater can be turned off again for the rest of the day.

It can't possibly be any benefit? Or real even. Can you find this statement/ claim? Ashp are much more efficient than they used to be, and quieter. I can't see what your concern is re the depth of floor. That is a big issue in a refurb but not with a new build. I am not against IR heaters and have specified them often, both from electric elements and from gas fired hot tubes. As @ProDavesays, they heat the person or first object they hit so have their place for very local heating. When I am banished to watch rugby in a very cold room then I have an IR for that, also on a patio for summer evenings, hardly used. But they are electric heaters using a lot of power. We are here to help and learn. I'd like to know more about this product.

He was the cleverest. Their nicknames were with them already, from borstal probably. We felt that they were taken on according to who was neediest in life. They were supposed to do all the carrying but we soon ignored that If there was to be any progress.

Massively. Both on material and labour.

One morning on site was completely wasted for the whole team because, back at the office, the numbers for the theodolite work didn't tally. The motorway was heading in the wrong direction. After gentle questioning the chain boy ( they hold the staff) told us that he couldn't find the datum point in the bracken so had put the staff on his foot. That was initiative unfortunately.

Yes I did this for real for a couple of years. In my training we were sent round a housing estate loop and were expected to be within a few mm when back to the original datum. We were taught by mining surveyors. The same applied to theodolite use, with the added precision of only rotating it one direction to keep the innards perfectly aligned. Motorways were aligned to a few mm or seconds accuracy. Then at the end a man lays a concrete kerb and taps it til it looks right.

How deep? Presumably this is a concrete floor, probably 4" thick. So you would need to remove that and then hardcore, sufficiently for your new construction. 100mm concrete, at least 100mm insulation, 75mm screed. That's a lot of work. Liquid screed pours level but will have various lips that you can rub down.

The word is not protected. So it annoys me when a van says 'civil engineer' when it is a groundworker. Plus there are are expert mechanics with real flair who might be called engineers, because they work on engines. From the excellent advice above you will have seen that the theory is important, but so are the practical aspects. At the right time we can run through some more.

I was marking out a site boundary recently. The drawing provided was done by satellite references. I asked how they had decided where the red line on the drawing was in the first place. Estate agent's sketch on Google earth superimposed on a site survey. Where is the datum for the site survey? It's done by satellites. But the very real gate is in the wrong place acc to the drawing. It's done by satellites. It's like " computer says no". Anyway I got the line shifted where it mattered.

Ermmm. You would get flung out of BH if you wasted money. Efficient is the word. Or a skilled designer.

I haven't ever done it but here is my design for efficient use, avoiding bending. A 2 x2 timber, about 2m long. with a scale on it from an old tape. Put a ply base plate on one end so it stands up. Another the same then fit a clear tube linking them and fill with water. Then one post can stand on the datum point while the other is moved around. All points are then are plus or minus from the datum. No helper needed. For sophistication, colour the water and have plugs for the end. Is oil better? I don't know.

You are right of course. Going to read the link. We are planning to build a simple diy RWH just for garden watering. A tank inline is easy enough but the pump has to be cheap and cheerful too.

I used a 3 year old spons as a matter of course because it is generally high. That's for cost, and then it would get my margin on it. Once I had to tender on the basis of using spons so that the job could start in 2 weeks. I applied minus 20% if I recall. It went well. But generally it is a good try, useful fof a few items, but not to be used as a matter of course.

So @Alan Ambrose you are a "general purpose engineer". The numbers kind? Then you can do it. if you are following the suggestions above then great. If not, get someone to do it. The projected lines to safe positions are vital. The corners will get knocked out or dug out, then have to go back in. Most new houses are built out of square and level. This is becaise the managers and operatves can't use tapes and levels properly. If you can control that, then all the workmanship is better. I've got a total station. A waste of £10k. But I use tapes and a site level. And string line. This is because the building is usually a rectangle and i know where it is / goes. Actually I have a sophisticated sort of water level, using oil in the tube, so I can do levelling without someone holding a staff. Checking stuff discretely after the workers have left avoids pressure and awkwardness.

It is perfectly possible with a long measuring tape , or preferably two. You will need them anyway. I use branded ones, eg Stanley, and if you get them on an open reel then the mud washes off and they are easily untangled. Non-branded ( or made up names ) can be very approximate. I had two from tool station that were 100mm out in 30m...I think they were called silverline. I happened to check with a different tape. Could have been expensive. And for levels i recommend an old fashioned site level on a tripod. BUT groundworkers and brickies will use a laser why? because it doesn't involve so many sums. They still sometimes get it wrong for other reasons. But that is me. I've done it all my life and believe that working with these tools gives an understanding of the process and more control. PLUS I had one job where a professional came in with a total station and got it very badly wrong. BUT I've seen that many highly intelligent people can't handle these tools, as it needs some maths (mostly arithmetic) skills which are not universal, and working in the weather. Other points to consider. If someone knocks over a marker peg, do you call the pros out specially? Where are they taking their datums from? It has to be up to you. who would teach you the setting out techniques?

I've been called a lot of things. That's nice. Any remarks on the document will be interesting. I've learnt a couple of good ideas already from a quick skim. Mainly the idea of fixing the sole plate hard to the floor, without packing. Then packers go on that up to a precise level. Plus, that packers can be used instead of continuous filling to level IF under the vertical studs. That makes levelling an easy job under no presure. Do we know where the studs are going though, at that stage? Or do I make lots of ply strips from 2mm to 8mm and tack it on continuously?

I don't think that matters. we took ours under the floor, then a small , capped riser outside. Once it gets burning the rising heat up the flue will draw air in whatever level it comes from. minimise the distance.

Sounds feasible with the mains intake positioned quite low in a header tank and the spring water at the top. Then the spring valve refills as standard and the mains seldom does...the downside being that it will only partly fill the tank. Or modify the float for the mains so that it is low, and underwater most of the time. Big downward bend or extend the ballcock arm?

No. As an earlier post says.....to prove this the builder must present the proof to the bco. It is easy enough to find the solution to suit the circumstances. By the time a steel beam has melted there isn't much left of the house or the people upstairs. But a good ceiling stops it all.

you don't have a choice, as the spigot will be at a fixed point on the stove. There should be instructions on the fed pipe required to outside. Whatever it says, bear in mind that air is a fluid and so the feed pipe should be as short as possible with slow bends, then outsde it should be unobstructed. From my experience of just one such direct feed stove, it is very efficient indeed.

Everyone interested in timber frame construction should read this. https://www.merronbrook.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/timberframepocketguide-aug2016.pdf

And they don't understand the subject anyway (why would they?) and they fill the mixer by bucket or shovel, not scientifically. An expert can tell me, but isn't a high cement mix much smoother and sticker and easier to use? The story used to be of a bricky having a pocket full of washing powder, allowing a surreptitious handful in the mix. Perhaps that was preferable to high cement?