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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.

god knows. water was in the pipes when I did it and i think it worked for a while! 4 way hetta manifold - can close off each loop independently. I was hoping just to get the water and inhibitor all in now so it is one less job later on - not owning a compressor doesn't help

I want to get some Sentinel X500 into my UFH pipes as slab may be exposed over winter and as general inhibitor. I have just laid the pipe. If I put the inhibitor in first and then fill with water will I not end up with a pocket of inhibitor in each loop that doesn't mix in? Is it only when pumped round that it mixes in? I am not planning on sorting out the electrics for the pump till much later - and when I tried to bodge the pump on the only other time I have done this I blew the electrics on the pump!

Yes it's pretty resilient.

thanks botus - a lot of help. i will try and get my plumbing head on! i have heard you are meant to pressure test first to 2 bar first and then 10 bar. depending on local supply would 2 bar be typical water pressure? and for more you would need a compressor?

I have found that no boost is needed in shower/bath rooms. I just leave the flow rate at the same low rate and there are no condensation problems.

I am getting set to pour my concrete slab with A142 mesh and UFH pipes attached and have a couple of questions. I bought a Hetta 4 way manifold kit with 2 x 200m 16mm pert-al-pert pipe second hand (unused) on Gumtree a while back so hopefully it works and has all the relevant bits! 1. I notice that the kit doesn't include any 90 degree conduit for near the manifold - should i get some like this? https://www.toolstation.com/jg-speedfit-conduit-elbow/p74951?utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx_qppoKM4wIV4b3tCh3k_QOcEAQYASABEgKTl_D_BwE 2. i have a couple of expansion joints where the pipe will go through - should I use conduit for those sections as well? 3. I was not planning on pressure testing before the pour (mostly because plumbing isn't my strength, don't have a compressor, having looked at some advice on here suggesting it isn't absolutely necessary, also will be running at low temperature (100mm spacing) so pipe expansion issues not so relevant) - do I have to fit the pipe to the manifold before the pour? I was thinking I could leave the pipes sticking up in line and fit manifold later. I think I need someone to tell me to stop being stupid/lazy and just fit it now as I can see it can't be as easy to fit later - it is just that the wall isn't quite ready to fix to yet. 4. Can I use a vibrating poker when I am pouring the concrete or could that damage the pipe? 5. It is an open plan space of 25m2 - at 100mm spacing I make that 10m per m2 so 250m pipe in total is needed. It will all be run as one zone. I am planning to use 2 loops of 125m each in a spiral pattern. Is there any reason why I should do 4 shorter loops instead?

I bought a cheap co2 monitor from Alibaba - it stopped working within a month. I was also in touch with Mr. Vair and that is disappointing to hear he isn't still doing them.

I would have thought it more common if brick to oak to use a brown sealant like: https://www.toolstation.com/window-door-external-frame-sealant-300ml/p76921?store=O2&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-7iy8v6G4wIVBp7VCh0i3goPEAYYASABEgIC1_D_BwE problem is the colour rarely matches exactly. But not sure how clear would look - maybe try it and see if it looks ok. For my windows (green windows and stone walls) I just jointed the gaps with mortar and this has been fine with just occasional cracking from differential movement.

90 degree angles just fold, 270 degree angles are trickier and you do have to cut and splice in extra dpm taped. make sure all corners are nice and square before putting dpm down or else tricky to get dpm in nice and cleanly.

It might be worth seeing if there is space to fit a sound attenuator near the ventilation unit. Is it just extract? normally more sound issues come from the supply side of MVHR units. Or is the sound coming mostly from the actual ventilation unit? If so you could look at ways of minimizing the sound from the unit itself.

I have been wrestling with how to fit in a small shower room into a small barn (3.5m x 4.5m) with a mezzanine level/bunk bed. The plan I have come up with is attached (apologies for the lined paper). It includes a steep ladder up to the bunk bed and an angled door to the shower room that includes a 800mm x 800mm shower. Any thoughts on layout? Originally it was going to be just a toilet and the soil pipe come up in the corner of the building. With the toilet now 2m from the exit pipe I presume this should still work considering the pipe layout/sink position/toilet pipe outlet height? One last thing - is there a good way of making a thermal break where the medium density block joins onto the main stone wall? I plan to use a wall starter kit as normal but is there a better way that provides a thermal break to match the IWI?

You can also get graphite EPS which has a better lamda value of 0.030. it costs about 30% more than the normal white EPS. I normally get mine from Ecclestons.

Is this the party wall? If so then I would have thought you have plenty of bearing on a good padstone.

I bought a small electronic device which failed after a few weeks. No redress to be had - returns policy non existent effectively as far as I can tell.

Do you know where on buildhub you found this? Does the Multipanel have the same issue regarding the bottom seal?

I've only just watched this video and I have to say he is fantastic!

this is all great info. i was doing a bit more digging around and came across a heat pump site that was giving reasons against using the heat pump to cool: https://www.freedomhp.co.uk/2018/10/08/why-cooling-is-so-hard-to-achieve-in-a-conventional-heating-system/ it claims it is very inefficient (8x compared to heating) and also that it can lead to problems of condensation. has anyone using a slab to cool experienced this (a cool damp floor)? or is it likely to be less relevant if the pipes are spaced close together so you are not asking for a big differential between outside temp and slab temp (in same way as heating can be done at lower temps if pipes are closely spaced)