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Hi All, long time lurker and learner. I'd like to pose yet another 'dropping an electricity supply into the ground' question - I've been through the threads and theres a lot of info but I'm a little stumped about my next move. Apologies in advance for this rather long post. We're in the planning stage of our self build having gained the necessary planning authority permissions and one of the issues is, we have a small equestrian property (around 3.5 acres of paddocks with stables and our annex) that will need a line dropped into the ground We divided up the property and sold off the semi detached house to fund our build so the retained land has an annex with a single SSE (LV) power supply which we would like to retain, however the line is strung directly across the building plot so will need it to be moved. The other issue is it's strung between 2 poles on our property and through our mature trees which again is not ideal as it is difficult to find reasonably priced three cutting services to maintain trees that are requiring work (SSE came out and cut back a few branches off a mature tree that has split through the centre so we have had to find a company that would work near power lines to get the tree removed even though it could be considered dangerous to the line and 1 of the poles if it was to come down). So fast forward to now, I've contacted SSE to discuss the possibility of dropping the cable into the ground but the neigh on useless fool I've been assigned has sent a quote through of £10k for the work with me doing all the trench digging. He has the audacity to start every communication with "not to worry!!" which annoys the hell out of me! He refuses to send a surveyor out at my multiple requests to discuss what I need done (his plan is not correct and I have mentioned this three times to which I get"not to worry! its only indicative, let me know if you want to accept the quote". Now why would I accept an indicative quote that could go up if when they get onsite requires additional work (the quote says its for the cable and supply switch off and connection costs). So I have asked multiple times for SSE to send a surveyor out, I've asked to see the way leave cert for the property which he will not do, how do I move forward? Another consideration is - I read on one of the threads that you can't build / dig footings within 6 metre's of a line in the ground, this is not possible on our site as we will need to run the line up the drive to the annex to the side of the proposed build and will probably be sited within around 1 metre so the question is, is this doable then? There a re a thousand other questions but I'll limit this post to save you all from 'war and piece' ? Cheers Deacs

Hi there I hope someone can advise me if this is possible.... My house was built into a slope. The back facing this slope. I have a single story extension where there was a patio at the back which has an original retaining wall for the garden. The first part of my garden is a decked area which sits at 6ft above the ground level from within the extension. I want to excavate the earth under the decking area and build an underground room and then re pave the area on top. I understand that underground rooms need to be 4m from the house however as this project is at the same level as the house (possibly 1ft lower) can I build this room next to the house?

Im looking to put a series of spike lights around the house approx 12 units and wondering how best/cost effective it will be to have so many joints. The supply will need to be swa cable as it will be underground and need a 3 way junction box at each fitting. The lights have a flex on them. I dont want juction boxs on show so intend to have them just underground (stone chip border between house and slabbed path)with the flex coming straigth down and into junction box. Can anyone say what junction boxs they would use for this and also if resin filled would be required. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

We've got to run a Cat5/6 and a phone cable from the house to the gates - a distance of about 27m. The cables will terminate at the gate controls which is next to the new supply point and meter. Sparky is suggesting that for a 27m run we should be using 16mm 2 core armoured with a 16mm CPC in the same duct, earthing the SWA as a secondary bond ( @ProDave, @Onoff, @Steptoe Comments welcome...) Now if it was me, I reckon that the EMF of that suitably earthed SWA would be the square root of bugger all, and chucking a pair of CAT cables (one PoE) down the same duct would be fine .... But is it ..??? I can find various rules on separation in the street, and recommendations as to what to do but not a definitive statement My other option (preferred at the moment) is to bury the CAT cable in some 20mm conduit laid in the same trench but to one side and be done with it. At 100mm apart there should be no issue at all and I can at least get to replace it if needed. Thoughts..??

Just been looking at drains layouts and I have a query. How long is too long from a WC to a mains drain..? Given this is a part conversion and part extension, its going to have to be an external soil stack as I've got no reasonable internal route and as it is I can insulate the stack entry points to minimise losses. Currently, the longest WC run is as follows : WC to Stack - 5.2m Stack to IC 1 - 8m IC1 to IC2 - 21.5m (22 degree slow bend at 6m) IC2 to Main Sewer - 6m I have plenty of ability to create a gradient, and the last IC2 will have a back drop as it will need to drop around 2.2m currently. Question is - is that too long and will it create problems..? IC1 is only to create an access point and a 45 degree turn - the rest is in 110mm uPVC and all showers, WCs and kitchen etc will use the same run, mostly joining either at the stack or with 1m of the stack bottom. Thoughts..??