Ferdinand

1 - I think you get wider or narrower margins between the "water space" and the "edge" depending on which tray you choose. Visiting my local shower shop yesterday with a measuring tape, they had trays on display with margins from 50mm to 70mm. That may give you the extra leeway you need to cover any potential variances if you go the "chase out" route, if you can find the right tray. Or you may have already done that. But they tell me that it is not a specification item, so you would need to measure it yourself, or get the bloke at the other end to measure it and confirm by email. Some may have a plan in their online photos which includes a measurement, but you would have to make clear that that dimension was an express requirement. OTOH 10mm is enough, but you need to be damned sure it won't go wrong eg if somehow you lost *another* 10mm. 2 - I would avoid a 1350 tray as it sounds like a thing that may not be easily available later. There (imo) be hidden dragons. 3 - I would go for a 1300 tray and box out. As for finishing the lower edge of the Multipanel, that is a detail which @JSHarris at least has published a detail for - involving iirc a 10mm gap at the bottom, a narrow L profile behind the panel slightly overlapping the shower tray top, and a bead of good quality silicone to seal and hide. I did similarly. Boxing out will leave you with a 'shelf' either at the bottom or top of the multipanel. I would put that at the top simply because it is away from the water and is less critical. There should be an easily obtained plastic profile to cover it - architrave or similar. It will just need a wipe with a damp cloth 2 or 3 times a year. If you put the 'shelf' at the bottom, that could be done with edging tiles to match the bathroom, or even a strip of Multipanel if you have offcuts (potentially you could have several replacements for that available from your offcuts). As I say I would have it at the top away from the water. I would not expect such a Multipanel strip to last more than perhaps 5-7 years, so I would have a couple of extras in reserve. 4 - Or go wetroom somehow. F

Have you got another one that works for comparison? Has it been overloaded for a time? IMO these seem to be temperamental. Once you sort it, if you do, I would consider using a PTFE lubricant (Halfords - saves replacing slightly sticky reel seat belts for example, and saved me a couple of hundred) on the runners. F

Mountings or pre-water-hammer? If you have an onset of unexpected water hammer, I am sure T will let you know pronto. Rubber bushes indicated?

Just having read all the replies, I hope you are feeling better. I think that tee shirt should read .. Cluedo: In the Winter Garden, with the barrel of Becherovka F

it’s the angle of the dangle... (No it isn’t.) For value, you need crude floor area. Only 1 in 250 would notice that wall angle difference, few of those would give you an extra 10k for it. But an extra 10 sqm would breeze into the numbers. For sun, I would stick a tall thin window in the end. Much easier. Audio .. why do you need the better audio characteristics? Roof resolution and complexity is the curse of angled walls imo. In this, I would say play with interesting integration of the inside / outside spaces, perhaps with things like flowerbeds, landscaping, water features and bar b cues or an outdoor kitchen. Pleached lime pergola or similar, to be like the dream sequences from Gladiator? Does this proposal shade your evening light on the terrace?

Get a sugar daddy tee shirt. Or remember STs ‘pony having a poo’ comment.

PS Given that MP is vertical all the way it will be a helluva lot of chasing out .. not like the edge of a bath.

I would suggest 1300 rather than digging holes in the wall. It is still generous though careful design needed, and you will never get a bath in there should you wish to do so unless it is a tin bath. Multipanel essentially gives you a new wall so take up the slack with extra battens, sealing should be as good and think carefully about your whole space including that behind the shower walls. Also think carefully about how you will make your pipe work maintainable, though 50mm is not a lot to work with for that. If you are using aquapanel joints then the Multipanel will have to be dismantled from one end. This could be obsessional by me, but given a leak in 2028 I would rather dismantle one panel not six. The last couple I have had done I have used the extra leftover to hide the gubbins and make it maintainable with a panel on the end. Most recently the self builder who did my current house turned out not to have put isolating valves in for each bath/shower, so we used it to add those and make them accessible, and allow us to run pipes on the bathroom side of the wall. Having had my recent experience of having to make bathrooms accessible I would also put the framing in knowing where it needs to be for future potential grab rails, shower seats etc (+document for ref) ... I ended up using screws up to 150mm in one place to find a firm enough hold. For future buggering about you will be wanting to use the first panel in the run for ease of restitution later .. eg if you install umpteen support stuff and then the person moves or pops their clogs due to reaching 93 etc. As has been said plan B would be a wetroom. Just thoughts. F

He’s Baromess Scotland’s dodgy staffperson?.

Not sure how useful it is, and I have no idea where prices are at present, but as a sighting shot Wickes 12.5mm 8x4 sheets are quoted at £2.60 per sqm, which means that by nurdling the normal discounts (Trade plus a Reloadable Cashcard) you should be at about £2.10 per sqm. That would give free delivery for £250 chunks of order.

That'll take a big cuckoo.

Best blog on the site. (Says I) ?

Welcome. I wouldn't want to have to paint all those window and door bars ... ?

Proper darkness is more worrying in town where the muggers are. Perhaps less likelihood of robbery on the outskirts of Much-Grinding-in-the-Marsh. F

Hawthorn will taek a long time to become significantly large, so imo either do nothing or the root barrier.

I feel this is all a little flippant ? ?. Not that I can complain given that it is what I do a lot of the time ?. Alas, doggoes and 8 year olds are relatively expensive, and the latter carries a risk of modern slavery charges and violating minimum wage regulations. The exact problem is a Roku controller used by someone else that costs me about 5-10 minutes three times a week, and that these (posh) Roku controllers do not seem to be replaceable without a new "stick of Roku". Last lost one cost me a new Roku stick at £50+. If there were something that used those wires that shops put in clothes that would be good, or a smaller version of the Veridian (sp?) Patch they used to track Captain Kirk on Rurapente (which is probably like some of our building sites), that might do it. Cheers F

Can anyone point me to a thing I can attach to a TV remote to help find it when mislaid? It only needs to work within the house, and I do not care if it is Bluetooth, GPS, or whistles the Star Spangled Banner when I sing the Red Flag. But I need to find my Fat Controllers when mislaid ?. cheers Ferdinand

Podcast interview with McCloud published by Ben Adam-Smith yesterday. https://www.houseplanninghelp.com/hph267-self-build-tips-eco-design-and-the-climate-emergency-with-kevin-mccloud-from-grand-designs/ Have not listened yet, so this may not be mentioned. Ferdinand

Welcome. At this point it would be really helpful to have an anonymised copy of your floor plans , site plan etc posted, which will facilitate far more focussed responses. One of my first questions , living in a converted bungalow myself, is what will happen to the practicality of your garage when you insulate the walls properly? Mine is now quite narrow, even though the bloke who did it before I moved in pulled a slight fast one by a few inches with both side boundaries. On search, Google with the site parameter is at least as useful, though the advanced options of the forum search are very powerful. Ferdinand

My suggestion would be yes, but run the numbers carefully wrt orientation, usage pattern etc and your conscience. AIUI domestic feed in tariffs are gone, and instead you are paid for exporting electricity. But otoh solar panels are now cheap, and there may not be much you will miss out on in the next few years by buying now. IMO batterIes have much further to go in overall efficiency gains per £. However, the rates are low (5p per unit ish?), so now the thing is to use your own generation for max advantage which might be washers or charging cars or hot water or a heat battery, but that we still need evolution in the gubbins to let you use that effectively and easily on a single home scale, and that commercial solutions are not quite there yet to make it a no brainier from a financial point of view. Some people are doing it, but there are still elements of home brew involved for maximum effectiveness aiui. That gap may be bridged by eco-conscience (sometimes I do that with extra insulation) plus expecting the tech (particularly battery tech, but also interface-to-car tech and 2 way meter tech, and perhaps tariff offers) to evolve. So my answer would be provision for it at the least (routes to run wires, install space etc) to avoid butchering anything later, and take.a look. If it adds up, do it. I am not clear whether Sunamp (heat battery) have sorted out their previous problems yet, or whether on demand charging interfaces to cars are here yet, r on the cost effectiveness of batteries. One option is to setup with secondhand panels. Potentially a complex decision as to how far to go. The heating with solar is a bit of a red herring imo because the seasonal time of needing it is directly the opposite of the output from your solar system mostly, and domestic heating has been very successfully addressed by passive approaches. Heating water for your ablutions is a far more fruitful thing to consider there. Ferdinand

The two subsidiaries have gone through, not the parent company HAB UK. F

They occasionally have significant reductions on ones with this system at B&Q.

Hope it goes well. Let us know if it ends up triangular ?

You need some more baseball history. Would be wonderful so see an entire Grand Designs episode where all the Kevin McLoud questions were answered strictly with Yogi Berra quotes. But will it leak? "You can observe a lot by just watching." When will it be finished? "It ain't over till it's over." Is it on schedule? The future ain't what it used to be.

I wonder if that is affected by prior experience such as beach showers, having been in swimming pool showers a lot, or having spent time at eg the Hampstead Bathing ponds. In this buttoned down age of PC, what happens in the showers when a school class goes swimming? F