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Amen reverend

I'm sorry to hear that, I remember going through similar. It's a feckless disingenuous deceitful industry at the best of times. I had an electrician flat out tell me what was agreed in writing, and paid for, couldn't be done without ever explaining why fully...always explained couldn't be done, never seen it before, his sparky dad confirmed i was asking something too complicated..... Eventually lost my rag and held back an entire month sum from builder, who called Sparky out in front of me. Turns out the dickhead had simply ran a 3 core by mistake when it needed 4 core (or equivalent) and lied to hide it for months, hoping id just give up. I just wanted a manual override, onto external lights controlled via PIR, which itself could be disabled via a switch. There were dozens of this sort of shit he pulled on us. (expletive deleted)ing twat of a bastard. I'll never forgive him for the piss he took over the time we had to use him. Lieing and bullshiting was his absolute default to everything. If you're going through hell.... Keep going my friend. Edit.... I should add the builder himself and the rest of his team... Chippies, plumbers, grounds, etc were brilliant and barely had a cross word over the few years of it all. Just that (expletive deleted)ing cock of an electrician.... 🤬

Just some economic data to back up what I said about high energy prices adversly affecting a small part of our economy. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8353/

Nothing to see there.

Not sure if mine self parks. Haven't opened the bonnet yet alone read the book.

Wish that were true down here.

I would enjoy driving a car with 0-60MPH times below 5 seconds. Would also enjoy the quietness, and the self parking.

Well they are coming tomorrow. Gems from their latest attempt at further angering an angry customer with lies and nonsense and prior excuses include... ''Because the subfloor was so bad It may be that it is unrealistic to be able to get the surface to SR1/ 3mm under a 2m straight edge.'' Utterly Stupid. The concrete had a maximum discrepency of 28mm from small areas in a high corner and low corner over 8m with 90% of the floor within 12mm of flat. And of course, isn't the whole point of levelling compound to level an unlevel floor. I note the pejorative word 'bad' used to try and make it sound like a ploughed field and make excuses for bad work even before their work is done. But I see the light now, how very foolish of me to think that floor levelling actually involved levelling the floor. ''This may not be the final coat, it may need further work'' They are on their 4th visit. They are supposed to be laying the final top coat, and it is one working day before my kitchen fit. On Tuesday I was told it would be finished and definitely wouldn't need any post remediation. ''We did talk about the possibility of putting LVT in the fridge bay, but I do not believe you and I confirmed this.'' You proposed doing that and I agreed, the whole point being to support kitchen fit without laying the whole room with LVT. Now at the eleventh hour you are lying and ****ing up my kitchen fit. ''Because your floor levels were so bad I did not provide a quotation'' So bad, I mean it was like Hiroshima out there before you started. I asked you repeatedly to update your quote, and spelled out what needed changing, but you have done nothing weeks later. ''I advised you that we were booked up into June , but... that we would prepare the floor in the kitchen area , between other jobs working towards the 18th'' No. You said you were busy through April but could do my job in parallel with a hotel job through April and I documented the timescale you gave me by email. I am so so so angry now.

You want it so you can put your partner in it and show her the lovely garden you have made for her innit...😑

But largely useless to me. Plus unaffordable. My wife might get one if it ever makes economic sense. Me, no. I enjoy driving. But not in an EV.

An electric one would be sensible! 😁

Even then there is nuance - some countries prioritise keeping business electricity down at the expense of hugher domestic bills (Germany apparently) others the opposite. Some coubtries pay for infrastructure upgrades out of general tax rather than lumoing them on electric bills. Likewise things like green levies etc are on gas or general taxation. My understanding is the 15-20 years ago the thinking was to lump the transition costs on eekcteicty because everyone has electric and electric was, at the time, very co2 intensive so reducing consumption by cost was a good thing. We now have to unwind some of that.

Or another car 🤪

Exactly. Energy and housing costs are basically dead money. Every £1 extra you have to spend on those is £1 less you can spend on a new outfit, a meal out, a holiday, a new kitchen etc.

For clarity i was talking about electricity specifically.

Yup and whilst there is a fairly steady supply of new entrants to the hospitality workforce the same is not true of generators....

Yes they are. They tend to get rolled together when someone anti renewables days "ah but it costs so much! We should drill the north Sea for energy security and to being down bills" That argument is countered by showing renewables aren't more expensive (which can go back and forth) and more importantly that drilling the north Sea cannot provide enrgy security or bring down bills. Yes but with alot of nuance. For example - our gas is actually towards the cheaper end of comparable nations but our electricity and in particular our business elec is more expensive. This is a combination of multiple policy decisions. Even the much discussed marginal price auction system is not quite so cut a dried as appears. Interestingly gas *used* to be the price setter over 90% of the time. That has fallen to 2/3 the time now and is projected to keep falling. As to wen we can benefit - we already are as renewables have bkunted the impact of the recent gas price rise, but more generally by around 2030 the effect of transmission capacity increaces, older subsidy schemes ending etc are expected to start to bite. Two podcasts with energy policy professionals (climate change committee and OFGEM) are quite illuminating https://youtu.be/mFMPSms6MS4 https://youtu.be/NXjwkvaWclk

Id like to think the energy sector is doing well. Its like christmas day, every day! I wasnt just thinking about industry, but everybody. The more you spend on energy, the less there is to spend on everything else, and that impacts all industries.

On some industries. Not sure how much of an impact is is having on the service sector. Not heard anything on the radio that our banking, insurance and legal side is in trouble. Our energy sector is doing well.

I have TP Link Deco M4 units in the house and I've bought a Deco X50 outdoor unit for the garden.

Would you have a link to the outdoor unit?

I would argue the risks of condensation are low if the void above is properly cross-ventilated. Strictly in a roof it's not interstitial, as there are spaces, not interstices (IC would be an unwanted 'filling' in a 'sandwich' of, for example, solid wall and PIR). 50mm minimum vent path, and ensure that the eaves, soffit or fascia vents are of sufficient cross-sectional area (lots of guidance on the web). How many old loft spaces with retrofit insulation and retained ventilation do you see with condensation issues? In my experience it tends to occur when cross-ventilation is compromised. Am I right in thinking that your insulation between rafters is above a habitable room? If not, why go to the significant extra cost compared with laying 300-500mm of cheap stuff on the ceilings of the rooms below? Note that 225 (9") rafters, after the 50mm vent path, will only allow you 175 (7") insulation, which with a fully breathable product such as flexi wood fibre will not give you the B. Regs target value of 0.16W/m2K. I would consider DIY 'Larsen (roof) Trusses', with the rafter as one 'chord', spacers of OSB or ply, and a secondary (?50 x 50) lower chord. Make it as fat as you need, then.

Agree that some form of breathable insulation is better. Depends how much space you have. I fitted 50mm PIR to the slopey bit, but i only have 3 inch rafters. If they were 6 inch i may have done different. I then installed rockwool in between/over the joists. So only a small part is PIR. These were sealed up around the outside with the illbruck 330. I did quite a good job, but not as good as id have liked to do, but with the roof off, time is limited. My last house had the same, but the PIR was "loose" in most cases. I lifted some up and it was completely dry underneath. There was just plasterboard underneath to the room. No VCL/membrane etc. So yes, its a "risk", but not sure its a big one. Nail a VCL to the ceiling inside if you are worried.

Actual rules say calibrated and certified equipment. But I used the same person that did the air test as he did MVHR commissioning also. But everything else was self designed and installed. Pretty easy once you get your head around it.

Energy independance is a (mostly) seperate debate from the cost of that energy. We still have some of the most expensive electricity in the world. That has a significant (negative) economic impact. And thats, to a significant extent, driven by the market structure of the UK. Thats what needs fixing. And if those who say renewables are cheaper, great, when can we benefit?