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Pressure vessel, aka accumulator, is an essential bit of kit. For RWH, anything less than 10,000L is a waste of time and money. This is one sector where sales people are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than the thing they're selling.

I used Soudabond for my whole place. Only difference from Insta seems to be it takes longer to "skin over". I used Insta when I couldn't get my usual stuff and was caught out as I left it 5 minutes like the souda and it had almost gone off.

I ask my self. The idea of a balcony is that you can see out. At times you may want privacy.. but you use say pot plants for that. You also want to do a bit of sun bathing. There will be a few eco enthusiasts that do this but most in real life will give it a swerve. Why don't they just fix solar to the walls instead?

not what I meant to say. The lily that wiped out the others is perfectly attractive and successful. it takes a bit of maintenance though, to remove the dying leaves and flower heads. In a wild pond Id just let it take over and the fish would have to learn to find some oxygenated water between the leaves. As with many plants, the white flowered version prevails. I used to scoop out the sludge annually but have found it to have come to a steady state, and I think the fish get sustenance from it through the winter. The odd thing with the fish (Sarasa Comets) is that I've seen hundreds of pretty little ones over the years but only ever 3 floaters to dispose of... the dead ones must sink and dissolve into the sludge. each spring I remove the forest of roots that hang from the edge shelving plants, because the fish scoosh their eggs in there, and I prefer a dozen fish reaching maturity to hundreds. I assume that loose eggs and tiny hatchlings are eaten

Topic moved.

Ok in my day job I spec windows doors etc. Now on my own home I've got some high end aluminium windows, doors and roof lanterns. The deal on the headline is that the overall installtation has a warranty for ten years.. but the fine print says the glass units are valid for only seven years. I was pleased with the product on my own house. I ask my Clients to have a look at their product. Now I'm in year six and one glass unit is starting to mist up. I think the supplier is going to be keen to fix it, as I pass business their way. Here is a key point. There are loads of folk building ordinary self build houses that are trying to get the U values down.. but they don't realise that the glass may fail after 7 years and they have no come back. It is financially complete bonkers to spend money on high end glazing units that may be out of warranty in seven years.. but still there are folk on BH doing this. Ok if you have loads of cash to burn / may be dead in ten years time then fine. But for young folk just starting out it's complete nonsence. I my case the window supplier is not far and locally based. Buying stuff from abroad comes with greater risk! It's like that wee baldy chap on on Dragons Den that says he can get everything cheeper from China. If you want to buy windows then the two things that matter most are; the warranty on the glass units and the back up advice on installation. It's very rare that the actual frame fails.

I'd say it depends which way the windows face. I've had plenty of bathrooms with no windows at all and there has never been an issue with any of them (albeit all have had "extractor fans" not MVHR). Last place we had 4 bathrooms. One totally intrernal, which was fine. Other 3 with one fixed floor to ceiling window in each. Two of them absolutely fine, but the heat gain through the west facing window in the summer evenings was horrendous. I doubt just having it opening would have been the answer, I suspect an external louvre or similar was really required. If you live in the countyside as we do, its beautiful...but if you open your windows you do invite in a lot of lodgers (particularly after dark with the lights on) and not all of them are welcome. Opening windows other than in very controlled situations is greatly overrated in my view. Bring on the MVHR!

Great thanks from me for responding to my question.. which was what did you get for your 1%. Say your build cost was 400k then 1% is 4.0k. For items 1 -8 that is ok ish but most of the info will be general. The rest is much more expensive.

I've been looking at Soudabond, but being so cheap I was concerned about its reliability. Thank you for replying.

"the registration with the network operator is no longer required. Only in the so-called market master data register of the Federal Network Agency, balcony solar devices must be registered. This is done with a few mouse clicks." https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/energie/energiewende-balkonkraftwerke-100.html

Sure and agree. I tend to think that we should not have rules in place we don't expect many to follow hence why I don't think registration should be required. However, I think we've already covered how as long as these things meet regs then registration is just bureaucracy not a safety matter. Preventing non-compliant devices should be dealt with by focusing on ensuring the retaillers don't sell them.

I've been pleased with this which has bonded insulated plasterboard to some dodgy old lime plastered walls successfully. Cheapest I found was an ebay seller which worked out around £6.50 a can https://www.soudal.co.uk/diy/products/adhesives/foam-adhesives/soudabond-plasterboard-gun

The crux for me is that these systems have been working away in Europe for several years now. Unless there is some fundamental difference between our systems and European ones - maybe the fact we use ring mains or something - I can't seen there being a problem, beyond regulations and paperwork.

Please could I have a sense check. Is this acceptable method of constructing steps within a retaining wall? The wall was existing, and steps new and part of the patio project. Clay soil behind the retaining wall, dug out on a slope. Mortar / concrete laid straight onto clay soil and steps formed off this. Brick face and porcelain slab on the top. Thank you

Planning permission has been granted 👍😁

I'm frequently wrong Show me some evidence and I'll happily change my mind (I still think we need to stop burning fossil fuels from a climate PoV, but i'll accept that the energy security facet will move from "a reason to stop burning fossil fuels" to "a reason we might need to keep churning fossil fuels"). I'll point out that the ones in this debate who are clinging to the idea we can "drill" our way to energy security despite the evidence to the contrary are the ones displaying the "can't be wrong ever" attitude...

Brilliant - we should look to mining that. Probably not with steam pumps and kids though... 😁

Thanks Craig… interesting

In some cases justifiable in spades: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/cornish-mine-redmoor-billion-critical-minerals

No need for cavity blockwork below sub-floor level.

No idea. Be good to know. But if they do, germans being german will always follow the rules. Midly amusing story. Went to see one of our distributors in germany. He took us out to dinner in hamburg. Then to a pub. Anyway, he drove a big dodge ram and styled himself as a bit of a renegade/cowboy, against the german system etc. We walked back to the hotel, about 1am. No one about. Got to a cross roads and i crossed the road. He shouted to me to stop. I said "why". Because the pedestrian signal is Red he says. He simply couldnt understand or accept that i would cross the road, using my own judgement to do so when there was a light. There were NO moving cars in sight. anywhere. I found it an enlightening insight to german thinking. Albeit an isolated one. Needless to say, he took some ribbing from that point on.

Yes, from Megrame in Lithuania most likely, Rawingtons website states Baltic states, as far as I know the only manufacturer in the Baltic states in Megrame for Gutmann. There are UK based Gutmann manufacturers and I was going to be supplying but the UK prices were astronomical for a UK supplier and I decided against going down that route.

You just said it. And my point is that you cant be wrong. Ever. There is no point discussing anything, because there is a risk my view wont align with yours. (high risk id suggest) And you are always right. I humbly apologise for daring to question or comment your narrative. Or is it a broadcast.

I have a lot of insulated plasterboards to fix to external concrete block walls. I've previously used Insta stick, but it's quite expensive anc I need approx 30 cans. Can anyone recommend a good alternative that's cheaper? Thank you Arnold9801

When have I misrepresented your position? I merely mentioned there seems to be a nostalgia streak and desire to find any alternative to renewables even coal.