hbooth

My building control are being incredibly picky, in my opinion, and are asking me to provide "window and door spec showing PAS 24 compliance. " I contacted the installers of my windows only to be told that the manufacturer has now closed down. The door company are still going so I am hoping to get some information from them but what can I do now about the windows? To me they seem perfectly adequate and I'm sure that they would pass the PAS 24 tests but I have nothing to certify to that effect. Can anyone help with what I should do. Last thing I need right now it to be ripping out windows and replacing them just to get a certificate of compliance.

Building conrtol as are asking me to provide them with surface water design and calcualtions. Does anyone have any good resources online that are free to use to do this? The surface water will drain to a soak away so will probably need design/calcs for that too. Any help would be much appreciated.

So I managed to core my three 152mm holes. I purchased a Makita 8406 core drill, which is capable of dry coring upto 152mm and it did them with ease. I figured I'll add it here as it may benefit someone else at a later date. I paid £240 for the drill, ok so I could've hired a drill for half the price but I still have a few more smaller holes to core and so it will certainly come in hand in the future. Thanks to all for the comments.

Ok it's going back to Amazon. Thanks for all the help so far. So next question, can anyone recommend a core drill that will work with a 1/2" BSP fitting and capable of drilling 152mm? I'd rather buy than hire but if needs must then I'll hire one.

@Tom Do you know where I could buy an 152mm core bit that would fit the machine? I figured the Erbauer bit would jsut screw directly on the machine but obviously not.

I want to use the 152mm bit as this is the size required for the pipe snug to fit into the hole and the soil pipe will then jusy push through. I thought it would save some hassle of trying to point up the soil pipe etc. I'm thinking it probably would just be easier to cut the holes smaller and point them up. Thing is I've brought the core machine now and Ideally would like to use it. I just need a 152mm bit that will fit the M22 thread on the machine. Like Tom said above the fitting is common for a dedicated core drill so I too am surprised that the Erbauer core bits do not fit. I'm wondering if there is an adapter to convert the M22 to 1/2" thread and then I can use the erbauer core bits.

The left one is the top of the adapter that would then fit into a standard chuck of a drill. This screws into my erbauer core bit which says it's 1/2" thread size on the scewfix website. The one on the right is the end of my core drill machine. The new machine is from Amazon and I stupidly assumed that the thread would just fit my existing core bits which obviously it doesn't. I'm trying to core through block and then brick, both 100m thick. there's the possibility of hitting wall ties too so I#m not sure what effect that will have on my attempt to core the wall. I was considering to hire a machine for a day but for a bit more money I thought I'd buy the new machine from Amazon so I then have it if I need it in the future. I'm sure the new machine is powerful enough to do the job but I need some way to use my core bits with it. The manufacturer has said it's "thread interface size is M22 specification (also known as Rc thread in GB/T 7306.2-2000 standard)" Which really means nothing to me. I'm just hoping I can find someway to use it. Otherwise it will have to go back and I'll just ed up hiring one.

Hi, I'm trying to core a 152mm hole for my soil pipes and using pipe snugs to fit them. I have a 152mm Erbauer drill bit which will do the job but I managed to burn out my old drill when coring the hole. I purchased a more powerful drill from amazon but it a core drilling drill and the thread sizes of the drill and my drill bit are different. I think the diameter is not too much different but the spacing between the threads is way different. Is there an adaptor that I can buy so I can use my drill bit with the drill. The size on the drill is M22 apparently. The size on the dril bit is 1/2" according to screw fix website. I've attached a picture which shows the thread on the new drill(the silver one) vs the thread on the drill attachment for the drill bit(the black one). Any help would be much appreciated.

Does anyone have any recommendations for pipe lagging that is effective but doesnt cost the earth? I need a fair bit of it for the hot water pipes and also the flow & returns for my underfloor. I want something that does the job but isn't going to cost me a fortune. thanks,

Hi, thanks for all the replies. The build is to fairly basic building regs. Brick and block, 100mm Cavity full fill insulation. The loft is a warm roof insulated with 140mm Actis Hybris and then a layer lf HControl to get to a U-value of 0.15. The Ceilings will be insualted with 100mm acoustic roll, along with all stud work walls. I'm hoping this is then fairly well insulated. I think for downstairs a single zone makes sense for our needs. So I just need to figure out the way to set this up. (any help on this would be appreciated) My though is a single 28mm zone valve feeding the manifiold, that is activated from the single thermostat downstairs? Will that work? If someone can give me an idea of how this will work/should be wired up that would be great. Or if I'm way off with my thinking advice on the best way to achive this would be great. I think for upstairs we'll go with different temerature zones, so I'll need actuators and thermostats. We have 4 bedrooms, 2 en-suites, 1 family bathroom & the hall/landing(I probably wont bother heating this as it will have pipe to each room and heat rising up the stairs). So I think 7 different tempearature zones will do the job. So that will be 7 thermostats to 7+ actuators depending on how many loops each zone requires. So my questions are: What size cable shoud run from the thermostats to the actuators? How do I wire up the actuators to the wiring centre? What size cable do I need to supply the wiring centre? Does the wiring centre need to connect to the ASHP? The manifold will have a pump, does this connect to the wiring centre? Does it just need a mains supply? Really sorry I have so many questions as I am a complete newbie to this. If anyone has any websites/youtube videos etc they recommend me checking out that would be much appreciated. Thanks again for all the replies so far, It really is much appeciated.

Ok thanks for the info. I've decided to get a plumber out who has all the right equipment and can do the necessary tests and checks and help me find the leak. At least the I can have high confidence in the pipe work that's there. For the sake of a few hundred quid I think it will be well worth it. Thanks to everyone for all the help and advice.

I don't have the equipment to do an 18bar wet pressure test. I'm thinking it may be best if I can find someone who can do it for me though. Like you say a wet test at 18bar will defo highlight any issues in the system .

I doub't it's an issue with threir products, I would suspect it's my dodge plumbing skills that are the issue.

I was thinking to do exactly that. Testing the gauge will be easy enough, I just need to bring the mains water feed in from outside first which I was hoping could wait until after plastering but I'm thinking a full test with mains pressure will be the easiest way to track down the leak.

Hi, I've taken it upon myself to plumb our new build and I'm using all hep2o push fit fittings and pipe. I decided to do a dry pressure test on both my hot and cold feeds and unfortunately there seems to be a slow leak on both hot and cold. What is the best way to detect the source of the leak? I've pressurised the system to 4 bar and in a few hours it's dropping to below 4 and when left over night it's down to 3bar. Does anyone have any advice they can give me to track down the leaks?

I don't have any controller arrangement as yet. I'm trying to establish what's going to be best, most cost effective and something that I can possibly do myself. My heat pump engineer suggested one big zone for downstairs which would save on the cost of all the actuators and wiring hub etc. He suggested one thermostat centrally located, which I should think will work fine. We currently rent and have oil fired central heating and there only one thermostat downstairs which we seem to manage ok with. I just wonder if it will be the same with an ashp and if yes then I need to figure out how to wire it all up. If no the I need to figure out how to wire up all the actuators and thermostats etc. Like I said I'm really new to this so trying to figure out the best route to take and then figure out how everything is installed.

Hi all, I'm currently in the process of a new build and I have put plumbing the underfloor heating in on myself however I've never done it before so have loads of questions. The pipework for the ground floor underfloor is in and the screed has been poured. I have to hook up the manifold and run all cables for thermostats etc. Its will be run from a Diakin heat pump. The guys putting the heat pump in said for maximum efficiency to have the whole downstairs which is 9 loops as one temperature zone. So the first question is what else do I need to have in place to make this work? I assume a single zone valve going into the manifold will do the trick bit I have no clue how to wire that up to the heat pump and the thermostat. Next question, is only having one heat zone actually the best way to maximize efficiency? Or will that actually end up costing me a fortune in electricity costs to run? Next question, if I only have one zone will there be an easy way to switch some loops off if needed? I just think that some of the loops that are in small rooms will end up getting too hot if the doors are closed etc. I guess an isolation valve in the loop would do the trick if there's no better way. I will be laying all the first floor pipe work and Installing the manifolds, thermostat etc. Myself. Will it be best to have the upstairs on separate heat zones or will one big zone also do the trick upstairs? Or is this really just a case of personal preference? If I only have one big zone how does that tie in with the heat pump? I would assume it can be the case that if either the downstairs or the upstairs call for heat it will make the heat pump kick in? I know this post is a bit all over the place but I'm really still getting upto speed with the heating so thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Would you know an alternative with an air blower that you would recommend?

Hi all. Looking to have a Kingspan Klargester BioDisc installed for our sewage treatment but was wondering if anyone has any experience of these? Specifically what happens if there is a power cut? As I understand these have discs inside them that slowly turn to treat the sewage, if these don't turn because of a power cut etc then what happens, does that mean you can't/shouldn't use the toilet etc? Any experiences of these systems would be greatly appreciated.

My wife will defo be the determing factor for when we move in. If it was left to me we'd probably already be living on site in a static to save the pennies.

I have site insurance, warranty and building control from self build zone, not sure if it covers the same as buildings and contents insurance would though, I;ll have to check and see

Thanks for al the replies people. We are living in rented while we build and obviously paying council tax there so it makes not difference to us, just that we will be saving on the rent. One final question though and that is how does it work with things like buildings and contents insurance in an unfinished house? For us to move in water and electrics will defo be sorted to some fashion if not fully complete so it will be habitable but still lots left to do to be finsihsed. Will companies insure in that condition or is there some specialist insurance for self builds?

I like this. We will be living in rented accomodation during the build, very expensive I know but with two kids a dog and a cat it's prefererable to living on site in a static caravan. However from what you are saying there is a possiblity that when we get to wind and water tight and maybe a few habitable rooms we could then potentially move into a static cravan on site and live in this while we (cough) spend some time in the house until it's all completed. Either that or we just pay the full amount of council tax. So both are options.

I am thinking that there will still be plenty of work to do when we move in, i.e. some bathrooms to finish installing, loads of decorating still to do and all the outside work will defo need doing as there is no money in the budget for them anyway. If we can get the place to a point where there are a few habitable rooms, kitchen is in, one bathroom up and running then we would like to move in while I finish the works to save £££.

At what stage are you allowed to move into an unfinished self build? Are there any laws that prohibit you living in a self build that is wind an water tight but not all finished inside? I know there will be things that should be done before moving in like electrics, water and drainage but what is the earliest stage that you can move in and get registerd for things like bin collections etc. Also if the house gets registered for waste collections does that mean that the VAT reclaim needs to be filed within 3 months? The gov website says "You must claim within 3 months of the building work being completed." Sorry I'm new to this and I know money will be tight so looking at anyway to save to fund the build and not paying rent will be a big saving.