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excellent - its not my house it is a friends house where he doesn't have any gas appliances/boiler (though neighbours do) I was hoping for him that it was gas in case he does replace the storage heaters for a wet system in the future and if it is still connected that would make things a lot cheaper. at the moment there is no gas meter in the house. it seems a slight liability at the moment as it comes up under the stairs and is not fixed to the wall over a 2.5m length. anyone know, assuming it is a live gas supply, what a typical charge would be to install a new meter ready for use?

As the title asks - anyone know from this picture of pipe and end cap what is in this pipe? Water/ gas?

appreciate all the replies - ducting in now coming up the inside with a drawstring

I am laying some ducting for water/electric/BT for barn conversion to dwelling. I will at first run some Cat 5 cable from my house next door to the barn to provide internet access on the same line as mine but would like to future proof so in the future I can get BT in to provide new line. Do BT insist on the grey ducting coming up outside the new dwelling (and then drill through the wall for main box inside) or can I run the ducting up to the inside wall of the barn? cheers john

Multi finish is fine for joints. I would do them first just before you hit the whole wall and before they go off. Corner trowels are pretty useful I would say if you are doing two adjoining walls. But better to do opposite walls first and then you will have a hard corner to work off when you come to do the remaining walls later in the day or the day after - much easier.

Its a small 2 bed barn conversion and a smaller office/spare bedroom barn. 2 bed barn is 40m from 3 phase board. Smaller outbuilding is another 15m on from that. 2 bed barn: 5kw ASHP, induction cooker (unspecified yet), sockets, lights Outbuilding: sockets. lights, electric heater and ideally with potential for 7.5kw shower down the road All well insulated, airtight.

thanks -got it now. it was the multiple drop down arrows that confused me

Quick question - will a 25mm2 SWA cable pull through a 50/63mm twin wall duct (assuming no outrageous bends) with relative ease? What diameter is a 25mm2 SWA cable? And as a sub note anyone know why I couldn't post this in the electric section (only certain options are not greyed out)?

good to know Ian - do you know what they did to alter the design to further improve use for intermittent use?

good to know about sensible pumping strategies. anyone with any advice/knowledge on the pitfalls of intermittent use for sewage treatment plants?

thanks I have already got cement and ballast on my order list as I am in a high water table area!

So i set aside last friday to order a sewage treatment plant(STP), book in my digger driver, hire digger buy shingle etc but then spent the whole day down the rabbit hole of different STPs. I have done a fair bit of reading/research and was all set to get a Vortex but by the end of the day and talking to many different people am no closer to a decision so if anyone has any advice/experience it would be greatly appreciated. I am making a small barn next to my house into a small 2 bed dwelling so was looking for a 4/6 person STP. Vortex seemed to tick all the boxes because it can be turned down as appropriate. But the problem is that there is a chance we will use it as a holiday let rather than constant occupancy. There seem to be many claims about how well different STPs can cope with intermittent use and on speaking to the Vortex manufacturers they recommended their Falcon as it is a three stage process which copes better with times of no use. But then on speaking to a Marsh rep (their STP seem to be a three stage design as well) he was very sceptical of any claims that they will continue to function if there is no use for as little as 10 days. Went back to Vortex/Falcon and they then recommended their Filterpod but I haven't really got my head round the pros/cons of it and it is expensive. I don't have the option of joining my existing septic tank for the house or making a new combined one for both so am a little stumped how to proceed. I suppose I could always pop into the barn when it isn't inhabited to feed the STP myself but that doesn't seem like the ideal solution! Anyone had actual experience of STPs and times of less use and how well they cope? Also - anyone had any experience of the Matrix STP - seems similar to the vortex but it has a three stage system and is cheaper than the falcon?

Are you ever going to walk on the roof? I don't think I would want to walk on a tata roof that doesn't have some sarking board beneath it.

how big is the house? is it a new build?

thanks for the replies- very helpful. I also managed to get through to valiant installer helpline and they were good. I managed to get the expansion tank up to 0.75 bar pre charge and it seems to hold it and no water coming out so I am guessing that it is fine. I think that i may indeed have had the filling loop open a bit that would explain the high pressure. so I have ordered a new PRV as well as the flexible metal hose that goes with it in case that has scaled up.

as i understand it - if you are going to go for land drain/gravel you are better off not using a geotextile membrane in clay soils as the clay will in time block water travelling through the membrane. geotextile membrane works much better in sandy conditions where it won't clog up the membrane in the long term

i'm going to be getting a couple of plumbers to come and have a look at my boiler and i'd like to be a bit better informed when i talk to them! water comes continually out of the pressure relief valve at the moment if I let any water into the boiler which is a Vailant Ecomax 828 converted to lpg (with UFH downstairs and rads upstairs). i imagine that one would replace the pressure relief valve and/or expansion tank to see if that works. Can one try the pressure relief valve first (its cheaper) to see if that works and if not then change the expansion tank - or might that damage the new pressure relief valve? pressure had been high on the boiler for a while and I had sort of ignored it - am i right in thinking bleeding the rads is important when trying to reduce pressure? cheers john

what are the u values of the walls/ roof/ floor? not the same as energy efficiency rating

i'm sure it would survive a good few years without any sealer - would certainly look like an old pub sign quicker!

i wouldn't use a shallow bath for cutting the tiles unless it was a petrol cutter - just do it dry and make sure the wind is going the right way. put some tape over where you are going to cut to help stop cracking never done hexagonal tiles so don't have any special advice for them!

its 6.25m3 less material to dig out/dispose of! depends on what you can do with that material I guess

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/262075601513?chn=ps&dispItem=1&adgroupid=43333907642&rlsatarget=pla-300630784516&abcId=1088846&adtype=pla&merchantid=113729568&googleloc=1006602&device=c&campaignid=805983114&crdt=0&var=560853614584 only up to 3m though - haven't seen a 5m one

I've found an open reel tape to be very useful for groundworks/setting out . something like this: http://www.screwfix.com/p/stanley-open-reel-long-tape-measure-60m-200-x-12mm/7775j

I think you might struggle to get a full scale or else your treads will have to change a lot from top to bottom. Maybe concentrate on a closer scale with quarter tones! The treads wouldn't have to be completely isolated to get different pitches I reckon. I once tuned some 10 foot tables to get different pitches by making the tops a few mm different (though a little hard to hear the pitch difference in the video but it is there) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM2G-MZMvrU

I got my worktops from a house in fulham that was making way for a big basement. We had to cut various bits to make it all fit and mimic angled corners. I think we had 4 big pieces to work with. I am very happy to have it as the material is much better than wood for a worktop. You can certainly tell if you look closely that alterations have been made but the overall aesthetic of the house is not crisp minimalism as it is a farmhouse so its fine. Nasty stuff to cut though so get a good mask and a good cutter! I think we used some CT1 at the one join we had to make which was the same cream colour as the worktop.