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No we will have the cladder remove and refix it. Fyi the cladding is composite pir double skin on timber battens. Then behind there is the timber structure you see there. Vandalism? I don't think so.. plain ignorance probably with plasterboarders either damaging it or cutting off for easy threading. And further enquiry would very definitely find that it was Mr Nobody.

I've been mulling this situation over too. I don't think it's that uncommon with e.g. (a) panels on a roof, (b) modern all-in-one stacks which tend to have all the bits (inverter, battery, gateway, car charger etc) all at the same location. And as batteries can't be an an attic these days, it suggests the stack is outside or in an outbuilding and maybe some distance away from the panels - which implies a longish DC connection. Either that, or the inverter is in the attic and the battery some distance away, which implies likely an ac connection, but then a split stack.

Following @G and J comments, I've been researching this again. It's not completely obvious - NHBC doesn't go into a lot of detail re timber cladding & cavities, nor the building regs. They say a bit but a picture or two would have been nice. My current thinking is that 0.5mm steel is fine around windows & doors but intumescent might be required at the top of the cavity. I've not figured out the bottom yet.

We ran out of time before the plasterboarders booked arrival to osb every wall, so did this on a couple of areas of wall where we knew stuff was 'vaguely' golng. Has worked for us.

Yes. Perfectly OK for 3 and very easy for your electrician to make it 4 if you wanted.

That's the thing, we don't have the vanity yet and I really want to crack on. Wouldn't be a real problem to infill between the studs with ply before I board over, giving me the security that I can drill/attach anywhere along that wall?

Get a new cable fitted and make the offender pay for it. P.S. What is the house being clad with? the aerial bracket seems to have been fitted before the cladding? Are you really going to clad around that?

Indeed, modern fast lines are all welded rail so shouldn't clack unless travelling over points. Noise profile their will be very different to a rickety old freight line with heavy aggregate trains back and forth all day.

Thanks @Nickfromwalesthats very helpful, as we have some space to play with it in and around the original manhole is there any way this could work by making the pipe connection external either by moving the manhole further back or to the right

Good point The array will be fairly large (maybe 8+ panels for each house) so the voltage will probably be higher than mains so the current lower. Plus we have had high voltage issues in the past.

In favour hybrid systems so the battery generally needs to be next to the inverter. If I use the AC method then there is one AC line (a line, neutral and earth) going to the remote inverter connecting to the meter tails between the meter and the consumer unit and I need a switchover box at the house to isolate from the mains in a power cut so I don't energise the mains. I could arrange for power cut cover but there would need to be a Comms line as well which cuts onto the cost savings.

Surely this depends on the voltage the array/string is at? With modern inverters often wanting arrays of 800-900v, you'd need less CCA on DC than AC. Even the older but common 350v arrays/strings would be better over DC than AC. DC is more efficient at long distances. The conversion between different voltages and safety of the system.

cat6 with the separator in the middle I think. Not that it matters. / but surely this is criminal damage? Someone needs a slap for it...

Amateur ! Time to analyse shaders ! Optimise 💪

Doing long distance AC can lead to inverter switching off depending on the voltage of the grid at the house(s). Taking a voltage drop on the DC has zero effect. When doing the AC over the distance the inverter has to produce more volts to overcome the AC line voltage drop. One of my arrays has 80m of DC cable zero issues and cable isn't that large. If doing DC make sure the voltage is high, low voltage DC for a given amps is big, high voltage for a same amps gets smaller

I have said before, my preference for wiring a room is a cable all the way round at socket height. That makes it easy to add any extras any time in the future. There must be at least one socket on each wall of the room to create the safe zone.

Im doing exactly what nick suggested. Mines 130m away. Trencher is booked! What is is your thinking around the power cut back up function. Assuming you will have a battery?

Not a bad idea, it would definitely cut cable costs but I think i'd I be giving up the power cut backup function? And is there a problem with exporting the earth? The panels will all be earthed together by virtue of being fixed to a metal frame stuck to the ground. But the houses they supply are 50 to 100m away. wouldn't the same issue with car chargers and remote earth/faults raise it's head?

thanks @Nickfromwales and others. So can I check is my amended photo showing the wiring for 3x sockets showing the wiring run correctly? I sort of need to know as intend to board over today. I may put a 4th one in but good to know if ok for 3 atm?

If I remember correctly, if the bottom step can become a 'landing' (length at least equal to the width of the staircase) then it can have a different rise. We did this when we had installed drainage membrane and insulation and a floating floor in a basement kitchen.

Thanks, I had forgotten that this was happening. ETS has been quietly plodding along in the background and does not seem to have affected costs too badly.

For this distance, sending DC back is nuts. Abandon this is my 2 cents, as you'll need huge CCA of the cables. Put the inverter out with the array and send AC back; same we did a while back on a ground mount some 135m away from the house, where the client wanted the array in a meadow vs the untouchable roof of his listed home.

Time to upgrade the machine then........

Contact stairpartsdirect or stairbox / similar and ask for a solution. The first or last tread can be different, but muscle memory is a bitch and it'll keep catching you out.

400mm of blown cellulose in the roof, 300mm in the walls. Feckin graveyard silent. 1. Dogshit. 2. Slightly less dogshit. (by comparison). FYI, this isn't me just giving my opinion from AI ramblings, I have been in all types of new construction for various clients since around 2012, building with 'higher performance' offerings, and the cellulose is in an entirely different universe here. VERY good point, but a lot of the 'clack' from the tracks is much higher frequency; ask me how I know, as we used to live 150m from the track from the local colliery and I can still hear it sat here right now, engraved in my memory from my teens (I am now 52....). I doubt you'll hear much of the engine sounds, but the clack from the wheels hitting the joints is defo worse between slower and faster speed; slow as I remember was almost like a heartbeat type of pattern, for an age it seemed to take to pass. Freight can be twice the length of passenger too, or more, so choose once, choose well, or regret forever. I did one build in Dorset for 'a woman' and the plot wasn't far from Yeovil. It was an MBC TF PH offering with the aforementioned 400 + 300mm cellulose blown roof/frame. When the Chinook helicopters passed over the noise was incredible, and if we were outside talking you simply had to stop, wait 5 mins or more, then begin shouting again to be able to hold a conversation. However, if you simply stepped inside the house and shut the (Norrsken) front door, it was as if the chopper was another 15 mins away, and you could talk normally without hinderance. Choose well. Sleep better