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How easy is it to attach things to the outside of the house? I anticpate having 100mm of insulation on the outside with a render finish on top of that. Do you have to attach everything through the polystyrene back into the concrete? I can't see how you would get a secure enough fixing. (I...

Does anybody here have an ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms) house? I have some questions about attaching things to the outside walls. Thanks AA

For anybody who is interested, the answer is that yes you do have to run the cables in conduit. The polystyrene foam in the ICF blocks leaches the plasticizer out of the PVC cables and turns them brittle. The alternative, which is probably more expensive, is to use low smoke cable which has a...

I'm not an electrician, I'm just going on what the manual says. Can you explain a bit more? I'm not going to be doing the installation of my heat pump but I would like to understand what choices the electrican is going to have. Thanks AA

I have been looking at air source heat pumps for my own house. Most of the manufacturers are the same and most of them have installation manuals on their web sites. For the ASHPs, those that are specific say that you should use a type D MCB.

Thanks. JohnD. I hadn't thought of doing it that way.

It will be a cylinder, fed from an air source heat pump.

Thanks for the suggestions chaps. I am reluctant to stick a radiator in for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there will be good chunks of the year when the heating isn't on and secondly, it will be UFH so the water temperature won't be that high.

I'm planning my new house which will be very well insulated, including the DHW cylinder. We want an airing cupboard so I am thinking about putting a small electric tubular heater in there. Is there any sort of standard size for use in an airing cupboard (I see that TLC have a range from 60w...

Thanks ColJack. Aiming for a ceiling height of about 2.40. Not planning on anything ELV. Heating controls will probably all be 230v, as will the lighting.

How about providing a more helpful answer?

What have I done? Moved to Shetland. Is the Scottish scheme very different to the English one?

I am planning to build a house next year and I want to do as much work as I can myself. I want the house to be safe, legal and well-built. I know that there are things that I don’t want to tackle, for example wiring up the CU, but I am pretty confident about most of the other aspects of the...

I am currently planning a new house (for me) and I am quite tempted by the Douglas James one piece shower cubicle / tray. These are supposedly leak proof and easy to install. Has anybody come across these? Do they look smart or naff? What is the shower unit like? Thanks AA

You might find this site useful. http://www.kulekat.com/led-home-lighting/led-replacements-for-halogen-lamps.html I haven't tried any of them but I am currently researching the lighting for my new house and would like to go LED if possible. The Zenigata ones from Sharp seem to get some...

Thanks very much.

I am about to build a new house where the foul water drain connection will be to an existing manhole about 50 metres from the house and considerably lower than the house. I believe that I will have to install one or more back drop manholes to get the gradients right. I have a couple of...

I am planning a new house for me which will have wet UFH and an unvented hot water system. Does anybody have any recommendations on what brands of central heating controllers to go for? For example, the house that I am renting has a Schlumberger Sangamo controller and I hate it. It's really...

I am about to build a new house and I will need to run a water supply pipe about 140 metres (uphill) from the water main at the bottom of the hill to the house. There is a house next door to the building plot and the guy there reckons that he gets about 3 bar from his supply pipe that runs a...

Thanks doitall. What's the relevance of the CE or BS mark? I assume that check valves reduce the flow a bit and that double check valves reduce it even more and so it's better to use single check valves rather than doubles. (I realise that there are some situations, e.g. outside taps, where a...