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If it might be a bedroom in the future you should consider fewer but larger windows that confirm to fire regs. The window manufacturers will know which of their sizes are suitable as fire exits.

cant beat a good blue one - nice and sturdy, if a bit heavy! i think i might have become a pallet snob

I made mine out of old joists I had pulled out on the house and some left over tiles that didn't quite make the grade for the main roof.

is that right? Seems a bit small an increase. I thought it was nearer 6-10db to double perceived volume.

2 pipes to kitchen. Make sure you have a sound attenuator on the supply side before the manifold. Easy to build yourself with some OSB and rockwool RWA45 (or something similar) or buy. Noise comes from the machine itself and through the ducting (loudest).

Zoothorn - i have tried to read this whole thread but it is hard to see the whole picture. I'll only ask this. Have you spray painted the FFL you want on the existing building yet? If not is that because you aren't sure where the FFL level is because of how the foundations have gone? Because in my mind that is a bit of very useful advice that has been offered on this thread repeatedly but at no time have I seen you come back and say you have done it.

I retrofitted one. But as always normally easier to do it first time round!

I've used the fischer fixings on woodfibre board and they are pretty good and surprisingly strong.

I appreciate the offer - I don't think I will have time to have a look as so much going on. I think I'm almost there with my order. Just trying to work out how many normal scaffold fittings I need now!

This thread has been very useful for me to get my head round kwikstage scaffolding so thanks for the collective Buildhub knowledge! I have a few things I'm not clear on. I am planning on getting 2 x 32' bays for each side of the barn I am renovating and some normal scaffolding for one end that is a bit more complicated. The other end already has a flat roof I can use. It will all be used for other projects so I want to have a bit of flexibility. 1. ladder - if my main lift is 3.5m high would I be right in thinking I need a 5m ladder? 2. ladder access - would a typical way of setting up the ladder be something like this.?.....https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-scaffolding-and-a-ladder-access-safety-gate-on-a-building-site-59693078.html I spoke to scaffolding direct and they were talking about a ladder access transom where the ladder comes from the inside and I guess a ladder hatch as well. While I guess that would be safer it seems to get in the way a bit. 3. if I was using a ladder access gate as in the above link what do you do with the ledgers that would normally span the whole bay? Do you fix the gate to the corner standard and then use round scaffolding to fill in? 4. if in the future I wanted to use the kwikstage for a 90 degree return how many return transoms would I need? 5. any kwikstage bits not included in a normal bay package that might prove very useful in the future? toe board bracket (not needed for the barn as virtually no soffit)? extra braces for the ends if it is hard to fix to the existing structure? thanks for any advice.

i'm away for the weekend but when I get back I will try to make more sense of this so I understand it better!

this whole thread reminds me of why I love buildhub. I have followed threads on sunamps for a while seeing the upsides, then the downsides regarding ones with electrical input and other issues. A recent thread about dangers of overheating from hot water cylinders made me reconsider my options and thinking maybe sunamp could be the way to go as but thanks to this thread it seems clear that sunamp and just ASHP isn't going to be that efficient as I hadn't realised the temperature at which the sunamp works best. so back to ASHP and cylinder I will go! dave this is very interesting reading. Is your 300l cylinder for 2 people, 4 people? I had been looking at 170l for what will be 2 people in a small barn conversion. Maybe I should go bigger to account for the lower water heat as you suggest. I had been looking at a pre plumbed cylinder due to worries about ease of getting it all working together (no plumbing expert myself) but they are expensive. Did you have any problems getting the Telford cylinder plumbed in to the ASHP and everything else? Is it just finding a plumber who has some experience with this sort of configuration?

Do you just mean the loss of scaffolding (if nicked) is covered by building insurance? What about insurance for others on the scaff if you have put it up?

i am surprised that the roof buildup doesn't include a ventilation gap (counter battens over the PIR) that the final layer of OSB is fixed to - is that a normal build up?

what sort of land oz? - i think you might need to be more specific

yes indeed - the two bedrooms have rooflights that comply with fire regs. Good to know thanks.

Is it allowed to have a house with MVHR and no opening windows (assuming no trickle vents)? I guess I'm asking if there has to be any provision for opening windows in case of MVHR breakdown. The situation isn't quite that as 3 rooflights and one window will open but am planning on a couple of non opening windows (hard to access) and no opening window in bathroom (easier for me to make!).

Be aware some pre plumbed cylinders require an additional expansion vessel (often placed above). Might be worth checking with the company.

I have a 20 foot shipping container arriving and am considering ways to support the corners. It is on slightly sloping land that currently has grass on it and it is not possible to lower the high end due to the existing path level. The lowest corner is almost 500mm lower than the high point. My plan is to lay blocks (no muck) on their side 2 by 2 for each corner. So the high point will just have one course of 2 blocks and the low point would have 5 courses (so essentially 10 blocks in a 430x430x475mm shape). 500mm is a little high but my instinct says that so long as all 4 corners are good and level it should suffice. There will not be much weight in the container. Another option for the highest piers would be to use some oak rounds I have that are about 200/300mm thick and 450mm diameter which could be placed on a couple of courses of blocks. Any thoughts?

Are there lead soakers under the flashing? Could be the problem.

I religiously insulated all pipe work but the more I think about it now it seems a bit pointless or at least much of it doesn't achieve much. What are you hoping to do by insulating? Maybe I can see it might avoid heating areas you don't want to but assuming it is inside the insulation envelope all heat from the pipes is going to further the goal of making a cosy house. Hot water pipe lagging will achieve less than you might imagine since unless you are using the hot water pretty soon after a previous bit of use most heat will dissipate fairly quickly. I may be wrong and I can't back it up with verifiable numbers but it is what my instinct tells me now.

Can I ask what you mean by this? As a self builder with your own scaffolding what steps should one take to make your installation safe, insurance compatible?

I am pouring my slab at 10am tomorrow morning and am thinking (last minute as usual) that it might be worth sticking in some 22mm plastic pipe under the mesh as plumbing routes are tricky as it is a barn conversion. Small, 2 bed, 70m2 internal area. I will have an ASHP, manifold under stairs for UFH and some sort of UVC upstairs (possibly a pre plumbed sort) next to the bathroom. The ASHP will be providing heat (UFH downstairs/rads upstairs) and DHW. Would it be most likely that the ASHP 22mm hot and cold will go to the UVC first and then off to the manifold? If that is the case I could run 2 x 22mm pipes from the ASHP in the slab and up to the upstairs UVC and then another 2 pipes from the UVC down to the manifold. Or - should the pipes from the ASHP go to the manifold first? Last question - if I make a separate pipe run from the incoming water supply in the kitchen up to the bathroom - should I do that in 22mm or would 15mm be enough? Any feedback welcomed!

if you don't need the height of those extra bricks just below the existing lintel for the door you have room for a 140mm deep lintel under the wooden existing lintel. You are going to have to door some repair/patching when putting in the door anyway so it isn't much more effort to get a lintel in. Personally I would do it.

After some failed heath robinson attempts at a gravity fed tank with a mix of inhibitor and water I have seen sense and just put the hose on and all seems well! So I will have to drain it before it gets very cold. thanks for the advice.