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Nope but I am going to - in the near future. So I can perhaps share the journey. Let's hope we can get advice. In our case we don't yet have the slates on so that I am hopeful that will simplify things.

I cant get the saw moving after a foot or so. Has to be a circular saw I think. BUT we have professionals doing it on Monday Monday EPS Tuesday PIR, so I will be watching closely.

Loving those duct pipes. Brings back happy* memories. Well done! *Happy once they are in, not while they are going in. Huge amount of 3d visual imagining required in our experience. Worth it though.

Good point about wall ties. I had thought about those, then forgotten about them… Reporting back: + wavy Bahco saw hard to push through XPS even with wax on saw to help. Possible, but hard work and needs some skill to keep the cut flat - the saw tends to bow and then the cut ends up bowed. + wavy jigsaw blades also dodgy - causing lots of vibration presumably due to friction. Was actually melting the xps. + hot knife works ok but I need to think out some sort of jig to cut a uniform profile.

Congrats - any tips you can pass on?

Maybe watch the news. Everything else is going up, looked earlier in the week, the panels I bought were £76 including vat, today £88, when I bought £67 and the prices dropped the next day.

Energy and transport cost increase being passed on?

As long as there are wall sockets in the vicinity that comply with the height guidance then floor sockets are allowed

A hot knife is good for polystyrene. They just dont cope with PIR. Someone may be along to explain why. Most guidance for cutting is sharp knife, jigsaw or handsaw

… and made it an airtight seal with the roof. This guy: https://www.ubbink.com/gb/products/building/roof-terminals/pitched-roof-terminals/roof-terminal-insulated-ub48-180mm-black/ Best idea we have is to cut the pipe, install in the roof, and then use a SC200 rubber pipe connector to join the stuff above - assuming we can get to it.

Yeah if the ‘minor amendment’ is a variation of condition, my LPA makes a new planning ref which then requires the cil commencement thingy. Total bollox - I have 3 VoCs in, none of which change the floor area and therefore the CIL amount doesn’t change - so we’re going to play this stupid game at least 3 times. Tell me again how LPAs are short of resources…

>>> Messy but a hot knife won't work. Why not? Otherwise I would suggest a Winons hot knife.

Very appreciative of this thread as I have been hugely paranoid in this area. We have our exemption and have submitted our commencement notice, however are due a decision on a minor amendment next week to firm up some window positions. Due to the timing, I think we may therefore need to resubmit/update our commencement notice once we have a decision. This whole area is a minefield for legitimate self builders it seems.

Guess I have to ask - why would panel prices be going up?

Cheap stainless steel pot scourers scrunched in and foamed. Crushed, broken glass is good. Round here it was de rigueur to lay bottles down if building a shack, smash them all and cast the slab on top. Just to stop the tunnel bunnies gnawing their way through.

@Iceverge IMO rats, and mice, love a bit of sand to dig through.

I was wondering about that and, as I am a fantastic procrastinator, I've gone and bought 5 x DMEGC All Black 515W Bifacial panels from PlumbNation as City Plumbing are out of stock of what id like and can afford. The only downside I can see is that delivery takes 8 days ☹️ But I guess that gives me some time to run the cables as they need to go in/under the concrete yard base.

I've heard of fine sand being used to fill such pipes. Even in highly airtight houses. Would the rats bother digging through?

I believe the Part M document refers to "wall-mounted sockets" in relation to the minimum distances. AFAIK, floor-mounted sockets are still allowed, but always best to check with your BCO for their guidance.

Well, charger is up and running. About 8hours work in total, with plenty of faff on my belhalf. Can't figure out why the spark was looking £600 labour only.

Sorry no clue to the real answer, but don't sockets have to be a minimum given distance from the floor, so wheel chair users etc can use them? So are you allowed floor sockets?

Going to be equinox in about 50 minutes, more time to generate PV.

Its an ARCO panel. Pre-production / hand assembled. A real chunky monkey for back in the day - 42w! Still putting out 16+volts. I guess the modern foil quality has dropped, or, more likely, the larger panel sizes flex more and put more stress on all componants. The old 980x1650 formats with chunky frames, thick glass, and long-edge only clamping zones probably will last longer.

Yes. But fundamentally the water is going somewhere now, or sitting on top and evaporating. French drains feeding a pond then an overflow with a hydrobrake going to sewer or ditch or... something. Without knowing a huge amount more it's guesswork.

Thanks. These were the concerns I had. The cladding I bought was pre-charred but with a square edge (didn't realise when buying, doh!) so to get the look I wanted I had to route off a chamfered overlap and char the edges. Whilst I prefer the look of my charring on the edges (crocodile look) I have no doubt that it wouldn't stand up to much poking and prodding, even with a sealer. The IRO stuff I bought does seem to be more hardy and the finish seems to have been scrubbed before they coated it. I'll give the jet spray a good go over the weekend and report back