Ferdinand

I am looking for a shallowbathroom wall unit of 600-750mm width, 1.8m ish height, and approx 125-150mm depth, in a finish which would be white, metallic, or oak. It us to go between the door and the whb in the room below, replacing the towel rail. Budget is flexible, but the bathroom is fitted out to be practical rather than luxurious. I need somewhere to keep eg shaving tackle, and other bits and pieces. Will need to give some thought to where the towel goes, however. Can anyone recommend? Cheers Ferdinand

You can of course put the T30 bit straight into the jaws of the drill, but that is about Plan Z. In anycase a set of drill screwdriver, with the magnetic holder, will only be a few £££. Perhaps £10. F

Thanks for an informative thread, all.

Probably because the people who need showrooms are people like us, and more than half of self-build .. and probably the half with the more expensive windows .. are south of Watford. See eg http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06784/SN06784.pdf Which says 51% of U.K. self-build is in the South East, South West Or London in the period 2014 to 2018. Add in the East and the Home Counties and it is overwhelming. We do have a couple of major locally grown £100m window companies near here - Alfreton (30m South of Sheffield) but they are not the well known high end brands - Eurocell and Synseal. Am not sure whether they have showrooms at the headquarters or how much of turnover is actually doors and windows. Eurocell are heavily into profiles. Synseal started with I think conservatories and slightly risqué girly adverts in Building Design in the 1970s. I do not know either company intimately - perhaps @PeterW has more detailed info. And to some of us that is still South. ?? Ferdinand

Generally, yes, IMO. Unless there is a specific different finish you want eg ply or bricks or concrete. Or if you are using a different wallboard to pb. Isn’t there one @PeterW always talks about that takes heavier loads but which has its own finishing product? I think it is Fermacell, which I keep turning into batteries or angel hair pasta in my head. Ferdinand

Not sure but you may well get a bit in each box. Check ?. Or buy a set from SAf.

Here you go. My Google-Fu is strong today. A dedicated try-anything-once experimenter - admirable. Especially the willingness to talk about it.

Not being clear. Sorry. I meant drill bits, not the drill. The link is to a set of 4 bits that were recommended and I have found to be good that can drill wood and brick. £7.99 from Screwfix. Probably not, but that wouldn’t stop him. There’s a photo somewhere.

Cheers all. Ordered one from Franke themselves as it was the same as Indy prices £17+ was still a touch painful, though. But worth it for a high end sink.

Was it you that insulated an entire building with expanding foam rather than sheets of insulation?

So get you project done, and it will no longer be the case . Compare this with page 1 of the thread, and your questions are already far more focused.

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The concrete screws are quicker to use than rawl lugs plus a normal screw, as you do not need to mess around etc. With a multi material drill such as these Bosch items, you can drill through the wood into the brick in one go. After the first 268 screws, you understand the difference in not jug fling drills, and the big time saving, The concrete screws can be had for perhaps 10-15p each, but are VERY expensive at DIY sheds, Screwfix aren’t too bad for those price wise, but others will know of good online sources. The concrete screw self taps into the sides of the hole you have drilled without the need to mess about exposing your hole to insert the plug. One warning - the hole for the concrete screw needs to be exactly the right size ... a 6.5mm drill instead of say a 6mm drill will lose the grip. Try not to choose ones that need a difficult size drill. @Onoff has chosen 100mm screws for the worst case, which is 30mm+ required in the wall, and two battens. Personally I might have used 90mm. Nothing to stop you having a couple of lengths. Also, just get a check from someone else on the distance between the screws on the board ... you may not need quite that many! I don’t know the approved no off the top of my head but that looks like slight overkill. F jug fling = juggling, but the new word is better.

it seems bizarre. I would expect them to use it as a ever to reduce water usage .. apparently not, as preventing installation of such saving measures will cause more to be used.

Strange. If I have no rainwater draining off site I can get a modest reduction in my drainage/sewerage charges, apparently. But if I have some of it going into a water butt (or rainwater harvesting) that does not apply? See attached or the quote below. Why? https://www.unitedutilities.com/globalassets/documents/pdf/surface-water-drainage---household-2018-web-acc.pdf Is it one of these "spend money on max benefit" things (like targeting insulation grants at the worst offenders), where anybody doing something already will mean a smaller reduction in the load because it is already being diverted in some way? But surely hat would also apply to full use of soakaways... (Presumably one disconnects the butts before applying) Ferdinand surface-water-drainage---household-2018-web-acc.pdf

In my opinion it is very tight depending on what else you intend to put in there. Cars are getting bigger, and in my local authority 6mx6m is the absolute minimum size they consider to be a "double garage", and that guideline is from nearly 10 years ago. I have attached the 2014 guidance doc for your perusal. The bit you want is section 4, particularly 4.10. There have been conversations on BH before, and we all as ever have slightly different opinions, but I would say think about your needs in terms of storage, garden tools / furniture, and machinery, workspace etc. Do you have "bike store" and "bin store" requirements that can be covered by making it slightly bigger? In your case there looks to be space to squeak a bit more in front to back depth and up to a couple of m in width, but start with requirements and potential requirements, and different ways of meeting them. It is also worth thinking carefully about storage in the roof, whether hooks, a mezzanine, or a future upstairs workshop or studio (could save you needing a garden building later). One of my hobbyhorses for those is a damn great covered hole in the floor so heavy or bulky stuff can be moved in with a block and tackle (but nobody else agrees on that point!). One thing that some recommend here is a steel security door between the garage and house. There are inexpensive suppliers of these. It is really a question of just thinking it all through carefully. Glass price seems OK. F residential-car-parking-standards-supplementary-planning-document-and-consultation-statement-cabinet-6th-nov-2014.pdf

I think this is a good plan for the House. The only things that I would slightly question are now the need for all those bifolds on the N side (expensive, but it looks like a decision you have considered carefully) and perhaps the size of the garage, which seems very tight. F

The last one I did, I asked for a data dump which was supplied in pdf form. But I have a regular EPC supplier which might help.

Looking good. Where are your soil pipes running, and do you want the loos back to back?

Thanks. Twas I That put the sink in, but the plug probably went out with some vegetable matter by mistake.

Franke. Bought in 2014. So presumably I have a reference in the instructions somewhere. Cheers F

Returning after Apple ate my homework last night, I wonder if there is still room for improvement in the layout. The first thing to do is to split those en suites the other way ie horizontally on the plan, so they both get windows. As it is only one gets a window, and the other is a cubicle. The second is that I think they are far too large. IMO more space should be in the wardrobes. And less in the ensuites. I would split it so te ensuites get Perhaps 60% or perhaps even 50% of the area in your 3.7x3.4m block. 1.8x1.7 really is more than adequate for an ensuites with a large shower or a small bath, a loo and a whb. There might be an argument for a sliding or opening into the bedroom door. Split that way you can then give a very generous wardrobe with shelves behind hanging, or even walk in if you lose the landing / linen cupboard in the middle. I would also move those doors round the corner to give more space and airiness to the landing. Does not really cost the bedrooms anything since the only thing that you do with that space is walk through it on the way in. Very rough sketch below incorporating a linen press. I would probably have the linen press only 750 deep, and give the walk in wardrobes a deeper end for shelves for eg suitcases. . @Grosey did this with what would have been a Jack and Jill, but can’t find the floor plan. There are photos in this blog post if both ensuites, one with a bath and one with a shower They are 1.8mx1.5m. I think they are photos 8 and 11 from the top. Ferdinand

Slightly misrepresented the offer due to the small print excluding trade packs (bugger) and tubs. These are snaps of the flier. Offer 1 is 1000 free screws witha. Kitchen survey. Offer 2 is 60% off all Reisser screws. I am estimating te 1000 screws as worth £20-25 depending on selection.

A simple one. These allegedly come in mm, but where do I measure it?j I have seen 78mm, 79, 84 and 85. What size do i need for this? To me that might say 84mm, but rim to rim is 90mm. F

Darrowby 85, Which will get Mrs Harbottle. Perhaps a phone call might be wise, and I was being a shoot-from-the-hip-y. I would not expect my LA to enforce on something like that if already in place, unless there was a VERY good reason, and iirc you are not in a heavily designated area. Minor amendment, perhaps, or does your PP not actually specify cladding orientation? And after all, it is a good reason to change it, you are not changing the material, and the claddin* is already a mixture of orientations. F