I just found this British company who seem to supply Norwegian windows to the British market, norrsken. Also Passive House standard windows.
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I once did a complete CH self install… must have been 30 years ago now. I used plastic push fits all round. Took me about 5 hours to fit the boiler from scratch. Then about a week fitting the complete CH system with rads. tbh I wasn’t 100% happy with it… e.g. the 22mm pipe was a so-and-so to run 'cause it came on a roll from SF and very hard to make straight. That aside, it was quicker than copper but I didn’t really trust the joints and the thicker walls on the pipes and fitting reduced flow. Since then I’ve always used copper where ever possible; if it’s somewhere that’s beyond my ken to solder or, for example, reaching under a stud wall then I use copper push fits - expensive but very good and NEVER fail. I do prefer the natural rigidity and strength of copper pipe work and I always lag the pipes. Round our way the pro-plumbers all seem to stick to copper. I’ve found, if I find plastic plumbing, then it’s been an amateur job.
btw… wondering about trying one of those pipe soldering irons… anyone tried one?
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I’ve completely re-plumbed and installed central heating in two houses, and done lots of modifications to plumbing in several other houses.
I much prefer copper to plastic generally, using soldered joints, wherever practicable (unless it’s something I know, might want to be demountable).
I’ve only used plastic myself where it has been particularly difficult to instal a long length of pipe, necessarily of larger bore than microbore, through a non-straight inaccessible space. The only failures of copper I’ve known have been perforations in old pipes in an aggressive water area, and once I was calked in to investigate blue water in a recent installation in public building - confirmed as copper dissolving from the pipework, identified as inappropriate grade if copper for the aggressive mains water in that locality. On the other hand a family member suffered a failure of a plastic pipe push-fit joint (installed by a professional company fitting a bathroom), which was catastrophic as the mains water flowing for many hours flooded most of the ground floor, wuth extensive damage to home and possessions. The root cause was never identified (faulty pipe, fitting or installation), and that did nothing to dispel my latent distrust.
And, incidentally, with reference to something someone mentioned earlier, I’ve never yet come across central heating pipes installed by professional installers being insulated when beneath a suspended ground floor in areas openly vented to outside through airbricks. Duly rectified where I haven’t been replacing.
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100% on board with you here… never had a copper setup fail but I’ve had two instances of a plastic fitting weeping. Unfortunately a couple of weeks after refitting the flooring. Current house was done with 10mm plastic micro-bore and threaded under chipboard flooring (another hate). The flow rate to the radiators was quite poor. I’ve replaced just about every run (okay… there are two sections left where the CH pipes go under the bathroom floor) with 15mm copper and it’s a lot better. Heats up quicker (and hotter) and less noise.
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I also installed a complete central heating system when I moved into my first house. It wasn’t that difficult and soldering with a blow torch is remarkably easy, I had never done it before and a friend offered to show me how on a few joints and then watch me do a few more. The only leaky joint was one done by this friend. As far as I remember that hardest part of the job was drilling 25mm holes through a couple of 3 brick thick walls. I also repaired the boiler when it broke down after about 10 years, again fairly easily with the manual to refer to. I also rewired the house, replaced windows and made built-in wardrobes and shelving and decorated it. My view is that most trades could be done by a competent DIYer if you have enough time and energy, of course, you will likely take a lot longer to do the task and very occasionally mess up. One of the glaring exceptions is plastering anything more than a small patch. Plus anything with gas or electricity these days in the UK needs to be signed off by a registered tradesperson. I used to enjoy DIY, but these days don’t do much at all due to the fatigue I suffer from which is a shame and expensive.
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I’d bet the plastic fitting wasn’t a “Speedfit” type 
You sound very similar to myself… I’ll turn my hand to anything under the impression that I’m not stupid (well IMO) so if a pro can do this so can I. It’s just a case of practice. Knowing what’s available in the hardware helps… SF catalogue is excellent WC reading! I also tend to find that I do a better job that the pros. Okay it takes me three or four times longer but I spend a lot of that extra time getting it as perfect as I can. e.g. a pro wouldn’t waste the time getting all the pipes perfectly vertical or horizontal!
Yes! Plastering… can’t do and won’t pretend I can. Wish I could though; a good plasterer is hard to find.
Shame it’s too shiny for other WC duties, Izal/school bog paper all over again 
Thinking about it, didn’t it used to have a dull and a shiny side? Maybe I was using the wrong one all those years!
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Sorry… they were. I think one was because I hadn’t pushed the plastic pipe all the way into the socket. One trick I sometimes use is plastic fittings on copper pipe. Doing that is good for a quick fix and the plastic fittings secure to copper much more securely… IMO.
Ash I see. My mate has used loads and never had a leak. As you say you can use them on copper too and no need for the inserts. In fact he prefers copper to plastic pipe wherever possible but sometimes plastic is the better solution.
Funnily enough I’ve always felt like that with anything apart from plumbing/electrics/gas where some kind of certification is needed - I’m really not sure why that should be so apart from my dislike of taking up floorboards and essentially lack of experience.
I also hate ‘altering/damaging’ existing constructions/fittings/fixings which has very little sense to it as if I bugger it up I could always get someone to do it properly.
The overriding problem is that such matters are just so far removed from what I do day to day I don’t have the confidence to ‘have a bash’ even though I know I’d be bloody thorough and research things to the n’th degree. Sadly relying on a ‘professional’ do to these things some years ago has really dented my confidence in others doing the work.
With you here! Most things are not difficult to master for someone naturally good with their hands and quick at learning. Importantly - and I know how good a job I’ve done, and if I’ve had to botch I’ve made sure it is a good botch not just a cover up. When I’ve employed builders I’ve been shocked to discover how they did things that were out of sight - e.g. with “Kingspan” type insulation, jointing with gaffer tape not aluminium tape, or not taping at all, and where difficult to press thick board between rafters they cut the sides at a 45 degree angle so only full width where visible if someone saw before plasterboard fitted - leaving the outer edges much less insulating! I’m sure there are decent builders and other tradespeople, but sadly too many not.
I think the key thing is that doing it for yourself, or family or good friend, A DIY person takes care and pride in their work, with the focus on doing a good job not on maximum profit for minimum effort. Also, certainly for me, I make sure the design is truly fit for purpose,
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I’ve done electrics and plumbing all my adult life - and changed literally all in several houses. I learned to work with gas installations when I worked in a laboratory, with much more hazardous gases than methane or propane, so I have no qualms working with it. Gas has required to be done by - or checked by - an authorised person before connection for as long as I remember, but rarely needing to do anything with gas that doesn’t bother me, But sadly nowadays I have to get the electrics certified - though fortunately not necessary (yet!) with plumbing. However, I do understand why with electricity and gas, as the consequences of a faulty job could be deadly, and not just to the person doing, and the danger could exist long after the person has gone away. However, it is interesting how some professional installations, self certified, can be both badly designed and even have faults after (including in one case I came across, forgetting to connect the earth at the consumer unit!
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I don’t think the plastic’s the problem - it’s the furry things! In my experience they eat, piss and crap on anything and everything.
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Yeah, but they don’t eat copper!
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I think the copper versus hose debate largely depends on the facts on the ground. In the UK I never experienced a pipe leak in the house and changes were infrequent. Our plumber was practiced and fast and could work rapidly with copper pipe and awkward bends and joins with his eyes closed. After all he’d worked with it for 30 years every day. He’d have his pipe bender out and lay a long run through what looked like an impossible maze and the floorboards back down in no time.
The fact is the UK doesn’t have a lot of earthquakes (it does have a few but they are noteworthy by their rarity), and although it dips below freezing, it doesn’t plunge to -10 for months on end. I’m sure the degree of experience with hose, the comparative lack of problems it is designed to solve and so forth mean that options available on the market are fewer and installation errors higher.
Whereas in Japan, burst pipes due to frequent jolts and long really (and I mean really) hard winters in the north make copper piping a nightmare. Nearly every single new build for the past couple decades uses hose here. The experience level is the opposite. Familiarity with copper soldering and welding is low. Working with a wide variety of quality hosing has more acceptance.
The hoses used are incredibly strong and reinforced. Plumbing disasters incredibly rare. And as to the heat issue, even with lagging, a cold pipe absorbed a lot of heat energy when you run the hot water tap in the morning. If you imagine copper piping as a solid square block of copper of the same mass - that is what heat is going into en-route to your tap/radiator. FWIW, we put lagging on hose too.
No but I remember pulling out a copper saucepan from under the sink and it had mouse poo in it.
Plumbing… as far as I’m aware you can fill your boots. Electrics… I find it’s a grey area. Replacing an existing run, IMO, is a safe thing to do. Ditto running a spur and similar. However we got a sparks in for advice on some electrical work (SWMBO didn’t trust me) for the current house and he turned to me and said ‘you can do all that yourself, you don’t need me’ and that was quite a lot of work (re-routing rings and running extra sockets) so go figure?
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My reading was that can do all the work yourself, but anything more than a few simple things (which IIRC includes adding a single spur, or changing sockets) needs certifying. But there is a grey area because the indicated by simple work is by way of examples and not a definitive list, and there is scope for interpretation - and ultimately if prosecuted the courts would make their decision, likely based on opinion from specialists which may include enforcement officials. More significantly perhaps, when selling a property there is nowadays a standard question from solicitors on this, and potentially not having a certificate for work done could cause delays or problems.