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We're first timers in our sixties, renovating a 200 year old Gloucestershire property as our last home. It's very basic (no central heating, damp) with a stone centre, brick semi-added pre 1860 and s 20th C. extension at each end. Removing the plaster and some ceiling my wife has revealed questionable [cough] building techniques which explain some of the cracks and a patched up Inglenook which we plan to restore. Early days but we have a builder and architect for a garden room style extension. We have lots of ideas and plenty of time, but of course not enough money :-) If you've done anything like this by all means tell us we're barmy, it just say hi. Met a couple this morning and got chatting about this, and they recommended this forum highly. I'm learning so much useful stuff from others offline and online. For others I can recommend Mastodon (a non commercial social network - no ads or algorithm getting in the way). Posting questions there has been a great help.

the reason for that is simply an economic one Iran petrol stations for 40 years before i retired and the cost of tank replacement and new pumps is too expensive for alot of the owners 80k+ for a new tank 10k for each new pump and with a profit margin of less than 3% £160per litre and dealer gets 5-7p top line before any costs -- it comes to a point where it is economically unviable to up grade a petrol station i made all the profit from the shop ==not selling petrol --so unless you have a good shop through put --then selling fuel is a waste of time and every time the fuel price goes up you have to find more money to fill the tanks when i started a load of petrol as about 2k now it is 60k-- and you will only get that dead money back when you close up and sell last tank load so unless you have a through put of over 6m litres a year fuel sales are a waste of time there has never been any credit for fuel sales -- pay by bank draft same day or at best with 7 days you will wait for 2 weeks at least to get your money from the credit card companies and they take half your profit with card charges so to operate a 6m litre site you will need to have money for 160000 litres -what you have in tanks -- your payment for last load and money coming from credit card companies you will need at least £300000k plus your shop stock value -- to operate and that not even allowing any costs for replacement of equipment or staff etc .etc and the loss by evaporation from your tanks -- 1-2%-- which you have paid fuel duty +vat on so would I ever consider going back into fuel sales --no way -- the profit fuel companies allow you has always been pence per litre immaterial of price which is why you see very few if any company owned sites all are dealers --they sold them off years ago to mugs to run that is also why you will not any new petrol stations being built--numbers don,t add up

Out of interest, in addition to the architectural electrical drawings mentioned above, in France you also need schematic electrical drawings. They're normally drawn by the electrical contractor as part of their contract. Without it the Electrical Inspectorate won't test the installation and, without their certificate, you don't get a mains connection. It's also used for subsequent maintenance. Example below for 1 row of my consumer unit (still in draft, which is why there's a duplicate D2.1):

You are not thinking holistically. The CO2 cost for burning fuel in an ICE car also needs to take into account the CO2 cost of extracting, manufacturing, and shipping the fuel to petrol station, the emmissions cost of spillages, emmissions during filling up the car, etc. Add to that the low efficiency of the engine in using the fuel (60% is wasted heat and friction) and the fun fact that you can only burn it once. Think well-to-wheel, not vehicle mpg and you will start to see the logic of studies like this. Even when burning FF, electricity generation efficiency and minimal transmission losses make it far more efficient. The most profligate EV (Ferrari, Maserati, ancient Enfield Electric) will still use the 'fuel' with +80% efficiency of conversion. And, unlike ICE, you get some of the expended energy back when you brake or go downhill. Add in that the valuable minerals in car batteries and drive systems will be recycled (+99.6% recyclability of materials, plus reusing Lithium from existing batteries saves more energy as it is already purified). I heard an expert from a mining company say that within 20 years, most battery and magnet materials used in vehicles in the future will come from the circular economy rather than mining extraction. The amount of CO2 used in the manufacture of an EV will be less than that to create an ICE vehicle within the next decade. Unfortunately none of this helps me. I drive less than 2500 miles a year and my diesel car has such low running costs in the grand scheme of things (insurance and TAX would both be higher on an EV) and the upfront cost of buying a second hand EV is too great. The second hand value of my car is probably less than I pay for insurance and fuel each year! I would dearly love to have an EV, but will only be affordable if I'm given a freebie, or a government grant/scrappage scheme that allows me to buy a very used EV

You have basically taken a passive slab and killed all its benefits. You have no continuity of insulation. Take a look below, you can follow the insulation in the floor and up the walls. The slave takes the structural loads the block work sits outside the insulation. Your Marmox block works but is an expensive bodge.

Hi all, I'm Sepehr. Been lurking here for a while and finally signing up properly. About 3 years ago we knocked down an old bungalow and rebuilt from the ground up. Being able to plan the wiring and infrastructure from scratch rather than retrofitting meant I could go a lot further with the smart home side than most people manage — cabling, sensors, lighting and heating control all designed in from first fix, running on Home Assistant. The automation side turned into a proper hobby rather than a one-off job — it didn't stop once the build finished. I'm still tinkering: writing automations, adding presence detection, playing with dashboards, chasing down the odd flaky Zigbee device, that sort of thing. It's the kind of hobby where there's always one more sensor to add or one more automation to refine, and I've learned as much from breaking things and fixing them as from getting it right first time. Learned a huge amount along the way about the building side too (a lot of it from lurking here, if I'm honest) — insulation, airtightness, first fix planning, all the stuff that isn't obvious until you're actually doing it. Happy to chip in on the smart home / automation side where it's useful, and looking forward to learning more from everyone here on the building side.

Nice fella at the garage near work extended the stopcock key. Asked how much, don't be daft he said, wonderful that some folk are just so nice

Hiya. You are absolutely right to raise this point, which is valid. I use my own name on BH, a quick search on the internet will show that I run a design business. I was attracted to join BH as I felt it was non commercial. Initially I never mentioned that I do this as a day job, but as time passed I felt I could not bring my knowledge and advice to bear effectively without actually saying I do this as a day job. In light of that I wrote to the moderators and asked for their advice. I definitely don't want to get banned from BH as I enjoy sharing what I know and helping folk. I see your valid comments were possibly prompted by my response to @LnP. I spent some time earlier today just chatting on the phone with him. Once piece of advice I gave him was that he should employ a local Engineer and provided reasons why he should do this. However, occasionally once in a while members chat with me they write to me formally and ask if I will undertake their design. This is arguably a breech of BH rules, which is why I asked for moderator advice. I'll leave it at that for now as the moderators may wish or not add to my response.

I've now reached the happy place of 'offer and acceptance' for my subject-to-planning offer which in Scottish legal parlance means that we have a bargain and timescale agreed. I wanted 12 months to complete planning, the seller offered 3 and we compromised on 9. So I now have until April next year to get the planning I am happy with before I have to pay for the plot and take ownership of it. We've also agreed that if my application is stuck in the planning process through no fault of my own the timescale will be extended to reflect that. I'm not looking for any comments on this regarding legal safeguards just now thanks. This may be a little simplistic, but in my mind there are four possible steps to the planning process: Pre-application enquiry Planning permission in principle (same as outline planning in England). Full planning Building warrant I've opted to skip step 2 as I think I should be ok to move straight on to step 3 once I have a positive pre-application enquiry response. If you've any thoughts or advice on that then I would be interested to hear it. As you can hopefully see from the photo it is a gorgeous plot in a beautiful part of the world. The image above shows what will be the view from my future house. I feel very excited and lucky to have this opportunity.

Any decent carpenter / kitchen installer will take the hinges off, clamp the units together exactly aligned, and then screw through with 30mm countersunk wood-screws (not the thru-connectors) so the hinges hide the screws. Note: for 15mm carcasses use 25mm screws, and only use 30mm for 18mm.

Forgot to put an update on this!!! It FAILED spectacularly. Building control refused to sign it off on many counts which was the only sensible outcome. P.S. for those who thought it was acceptable and those that are watching and still build like this, don’t come to Shropshire , substandard workmanship isn’t acceptable here 😎. For those that were helpful and constructive I thank you 🤠

Hi everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself, I'm Hayden. Myself and my wife have recently purchased our dream house, which is in need of a lot of TLC, and it's going to be massive DIY undertaking. I'm really excited to join this buildhub community and will input where I can. If people are interested, I will be happy to share my progress as I go along. Happy building!

Before you get too carried away, I quietened our Conder simply by placing a standard 100mm concrete block in the chamber so the pump sits on that now, not the plastic that it used to sit on. Still not silent but a LOT quieter.

That is for very special circumstances... a bridge, a block of flats. I've not done or seen one for decades.... commercial or home. (on big jobs we had a lab that did slump tests and took cubes for testing, and so did the supplier. The problem will have been the fibres. Adding them to an 'easy flowing' mix will seriously stiffen the whole thing. A vibrating poker would have made it run but obv that wasn't to hand. I've gone off fibres recently because they seem to stick together in great clumps more than they used to, and the handling issue. But it also looks very dry indeed. How did it even reach there? You have nicely laid mesh so cracking shouldn't be a problem... if they get the mix right. In fact your photo is an example of doing things right, apart from the pile of mess in the middle. Cemex you say! Worth noting.

Why are you not doing a sump test when the truck arrives one bucket full out the truck, slump test, if it fails it goes back. every video I’ve seen on scc the test it as soon as it turns up.

For comparison if it helps, in Jul 23 I got 18 cold rolled C section joists delivered, all different sizes (7.4m down to 5.3m) for £1552. And they’re relatively light.

I just used a 25mm to 22mm stop cock. Been installed 6 years - no issues at all.

The patio is too high. Raising it has made it even worse and he should have known better. The wall looks very damp. Could you form a channel next to the wall around 120mm wide x 150mm deep to act as a French drain?

I recommend all, especially critics, to consider standing for their local parish or borough. We need you. Then report back on whether it was easy, well rewarded, selfish: or hard work, not or barely rewarded, or public spirited. Or to stop criticising all councillors, politicians and public servants.

A key benefit of triple glazing is that the inside air temperature next to the glass will be a few degrees higher than it would be next to a similar double glazed unit. If you have underfloor heating, then the closer that temperature is to the target room temperature, the slower the convection currents are in the room. Which creates a more uniform temperature gradient from floor to ceiling, so you don't need the thermostat as high (which is where there's a cost saving). It also removes condensation risk even when temperatures drop well below zero. However, if you don't have UFCH then the first of these benefits goes 'out of the window' as you'll have significant convection currents anyway. And if you do have UFCH + well-specified double glazing (argon filled, low-e, good weather seals, well-insulated frame), then the temperature gradient can still be very good. In short, it's preferable to choose double glazing in a well-insulated frame, rather than a triple glazing in a standard / poorly insulated frame. Uw is the best guide for that.

Health The shock revelation that light bulbs are wrecking your metabolism Since the 2000s, our light exposure has changed drastically as we make our buildings more energy-efficient. Now, we’re discovering how this may mess with our mitochondria, contributing to diabetes, dementia and more By Graham Lawton 10 August 2026 Red light is missing from much of our lives Emanuel Santos Take a flashlight – the one on your phone will do – turn it on and place the pad of your index finger over the bulb. See that red glow? You might think it’s something to do with blood, but you’d be wrong. It’s photons of red light bouncing around inside your finger, looking for somewhere to land. This simple experiment is a doorway to one of the most profound and surprising biological discoveries of recent years. “Light is a nutrient,” says Bob Fosbury, who was an astrophysicist at the European Southern Observatory before he turned his attention to the biology of light. That’s obviously true for plants, which use light to make carbohydrates. But it turns out it’s also true for animals and fungi, all of which exploit light in a hitherto unappreciated way. All living organisms – including us – are solar-powered. Sunlight has long been understood to be critical to life on Earth. But the fact that light is also used to oil the wheels of metabolism is only just, er, coming to light. Long wavelengths, which come from red and infrared (IR) light, are particularly beneficial for creating energy, and are readily available from sources including sunlight and incandescent bulbs. But changes in lighting intended to help save energy have inadvertently deprived us from this crucial supply. The irony is that just as we have discovered the benefit of red light, we are unintentionally starving ourselves of it. How modern bulbs starved us of red light The story begins in the early 2000s with the widespread adoption of two now-ubiquitous energy efficiency technologies. The first was the light-emitting diode (LED), which largely replaced energy-guzzling incandescent bulbs. Although this change helped conserve energy, it had other unforeseen consequences. The second was window glass that filters out IR, designed to prevent heat leaking into or out of buildings. Together, these dramatically narrowed the spectrum of light we are exposed to indoors, an environment where most humans spend up to 90 per cent of their time. “We lost about 95 per cent of the spectrum,” says neuroscientist Glen Jeffery at University College London. “Suddenly, without warning, boom, the long wavelengths go. And that’s a problem.” For the vast majority of human existence, those long wavelengths of light were unavoidable. Daylight is rich in visible red light, which has wavelengths of about 650 to 750 nanometres. It also emits vast and invisible (to us, at least) quantities of IR, which extends out to about 2500 nanometres. People who spend much of the day outside are naturally exposed to these long wavelengths, even when fully clothed. When long-wavelength light hits a human body, it sails through clothing and penetrates deep into tissues (short-wavelength light such as UV, in contrast, is absorbed by clothing, which is why covering up helps prevent sunburn). Red and IR are also abundant in moonlight and in the glow of a campfire. Indoor light, too, used to be full of these wavelengths, either from sunlight streaming through windows or light sources such as open fires, candles and oil and gas lamps. The invention of the electric light didn’t change that, as the spectrum of an incandescent light bulb closely matches that of the sun. But the adoption of energy-efficient lighting and windows robbed us of longer parts of the spectrum. Glass that filters out IR obviously blocks that portion of sunlight, and while LEDs throw out a lot of visible light, they produce nothing beyond about 750 nm. “LEDs are completely dark in the infrared,” says Fosbury. Scott Zimmerman, founder of the lighting company Silas Inc. in New Jersey who collaborates with Fosbury and Jeffery, calls LED light “ultra-processed”, an analogy with ultra-processed food. The combined effect of ultra-processed light and modern glass means that the average human today receives much less long-wavelength light than their ancestors did. Campfires, as well as candles and incandescent bulbs, emit red light ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo At the same time, conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, dementia and early-onset cancers are on the march. The usual suspects for this are poor diet and lack of exercise. But according to Fosbury, Jeffery and others, these are only a piece of the puzzle; another reason, perhaps the principal one, is red-light deprivation. “There’s not a single cause, but I do increasingly think that light is the most fundamental and dominant one,” says Fosbury. “And it’s probably the easiest one to solve.” To understand why light is so vital, we have to go back in time again, to the Soviet Union of the late 1980s, where, at the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow, a biophysicist called Tiina Karu was experimenting with red and near-infrared light as a therapy. She discovered that they were useful in wound healing and pain management and wondered what the mechanism was. Eventually she hit on energy metabolism, specifically the pace at which mitochondria inside the body’s cells produce a molecule called ATP. Red light, she found, accelerated this process. Karu’s work never found a wide audience, mainly because she came from the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, according to Jeffery. But she was right, and today red-light therapy is everywhere, used to promote wound healing and treat skin conditions, hair loss, cognitive impairment, chronic pain, osteoarthritis and much more. The evidence of its efficacy is patchy, but growing, according to John Mitrofanis, a neurologist at the University of Grenoble Alpes in France. There is much debate over the correct doses and wavelengths, but researchers are in agreement that its effects are mediated by mitochondria. The key to this is the electron transport chain, a complex and highly orchestrated metabolic process that takes in energetic electrons and passes them down a chain of proteins, creating ATP in the process. ATP is biology’s principal energy currency, analogous to cash in an economy. When a cell needs energy to perform a task – say, building new proteins – it uses ATP. When mitochondria are bathed in red or IR light, the electron transport chain runs a little faster and more ATP is produced – a process Fosbury calls “photometabolism”. The exact mechanism by which ATP production is accelerated remains a point of contention, but what’s certain is that diseased cells are often short of ATP, so a boost can make up the deficit. That, says Jeffery, explains why red-light therapy is beneficial. It also explains why taking away red light can be harmful. Jeffery points out that all life on Earth evolved in an environment rich in red light and IR, but humans now mostly live in one stripped of those wavelengths. The result is more sluggish ATP production. To add insult to injury, we have also flooded our indoor environment with shorter wavelengths in the form of blue light from screens and LEDs. Blue light inhibits ATP production by slowing down the electron transport chain. Lose, lose. The effects are insidious. Fosbury likens long-wavelength light to a vitamin and calls the effects of deprivation “21st-century scurvy”, a nod to the disease of vitamin C deficiency that killed and sickened tens of thousands of sailors in the 18th century. Like scurvy, it creeps up on you. “It’s something that accumulates over a period of time,” says Jeffery. It isn’t just the general benefits of being outside, but red light specifically that is proven to have benefits. One of the symptoms of 21st-century scurvy is elevated blood sugar, which, if left unchecked, can progress to type 2 diabetes. This is due to the slowing down of the electron transport chain, which burns glucose as its primary fuel. A couple of years ago, Jeffery showed that a 15-minute burst of red light blunts the blood sugar spike after a large dose of glucose. He has also done real-world experiments in windowless, LED-illuminated offices at University College London. When he added long-wavelength light from a dimmed incandescent bulb, he found that the office occupants had lower blood sugar, on average, than their colleagues labouring under pure LED light. “Their mitochondria are being kick-started by the red light,” says Jeffery. A study published in January found something similar; researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands exposed 13 individuals with type 2 diabetes to 4.5 solid working days of LED light in an office environment, then 4.5 days of natural light in the same location. The participants’ blood sugar control was much better during the daylight days. Jeffery also has concerns about other diseases and health problems usually associated with ageing, especially neurodegenerative conditions. One of the causes of these, he says, is mitochondrial dysfunction, which is effectively induced by red-light deficiency. Clinical trials have found that near-infrared light can slow down age-related cognitive impairment. A recent study of almost 88,000 people in their sixties found that, over the course of eight years, those who spent more time in daylight were significantly less likely to develop dementia, though the underlying causes of this relationship aren’t yet fully understood. Mitrofanis, meanwhile, has shown that red light can prevent Parkinson’s in a primate model of the disease. Cancer and cardiovascular diseases, too, have been linked to a lack of daylight. When dermatologist Richard Weller at the University of Edinburgh, UK, and his colleagues analysed data from more than 400,000 adults in a yet-to-be-published study, they found that people with higher habitual UV exposure – a proxy for sunlight exposure in general – were less likely to die from cancer and cardiovascular disease. Indeed, says Mitrofanis, the success of red-light therapy may simply be down to correction of a red-light deficiency. “Maybe all this is doing is rescuing processes that have gone awry because we’re inside all the time, getting illuminated with blue light.” The fact that longer-wavelength light speeds up energy production isn’t a happy accident. Fosbury and Jeffery argue that it is a design feature of living systems. Life, they say, evolved to feed off this once-abundant resource to maximise the efficiency of ATP production. “Life on Earth has evolved for 4 billion years in sunlight and it’s adapted exquisitely to the properties of sunlight,” says Fosbury. This greenhouse is flooded with pink LED lights, which emit red wavelengths Getty Images/Westend61 One of those adaptations is the ability to harvest and store photons. “The body literally is designed to absorb as much as possible in the infrared,” says Zimmerman. The amount of light energy we take in every day is staggering, he says. “Sunlight is the number one energy input into the body. It’s at least twice, if not three times, as much as food.” Once sunlight enters the body, it scatters, bouncing off cells and organelles repeatedly – perhaps tens or hundreds of times, says Fosbury – until it hits a molecule that can absorb it, dumping energy in the process. This scattering means that a photon of red or IR light remains inside the body for much longer than it would if it passed straight through. This is what you see when you press your fingertip to a flashlight. The photon’s final destination is somewhat random, but occasionally it is absorbed by a component of the electron transport chain. Scientists are currently evaluating whether water molecules in the mitochondria are key to converting light into energy. When they absorb energy from a photon, they vibrate faster and lubricate the passage of electrons down the chain. Remarkably, says Fosbury, each step in the chain requires the electrons to overcome an energy barrier of roughly 0.75 electron volts, which is almost precisely what a photon of long-wavelength light delivers. Without the supply of red light we evolutionarily developed for, we’re getting far less energy. Seeking out more red light exposure Fortunately, the solution to this modern-day scourge is simple: recharge your light battery whenever you can, either with daylight or an incandescent bulb. There are red-light therapy devices, but some of these are overpowered, which can send cellular energy production into overdrive and lead to inflammation. Of course, exposing yourself to sunlight also carries its own risk. But clothing and sunscreen help block cancer-causing UV, while letting red and IR through. For people stuck in modern offices, Jeffery recommends buying a light fitting with a dimmer switch and putting it on your desk with an incandescent bulb in it – if the building managers will let you. “Even when it [the incandescent bulb] is very, very, very dim, it still produces a vast amount of IR,” he says. There’s no specific magic wavelength and so a red LED light would likely be better than no red light at all, but nowhere near as effective as full-spectrum red light from incandescent light bulbs or the sun. A London hospital has created an outdoor ward King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust What would really make a difference, says Jeffery, is a change in attitude among the people who design and manage modern buildings. The pursuit of energy efficiency is laudable but has unintended negative consequences. And in any case, energy efficiency need not be sacrificed. True, incandescent bulbs are extremely inefficient as a source of visible light, producing mostly infrared, aka heat. But the energy consumption of a heavily dimmed incandescent bulb is no more than an LED, so there are no extra costs – and shedloads of savings in the form of a healthier workforce. “We can do masses for public health just by bringing back the long wavelengths of light you’re being denied in your office environment,” says Jeffery. “There’s a real need for change,” says Alistair Nunn, director of science at the Guy Foundation in London, which supports research on quantum biology and its applications in medicine. “At the moment, everybody’s going down this road of ‘let’s get lots of LEDs’, but it’s not doing us any good at all.” Low on energy? A new understanding of rest could help revitalise you There is a state of relaxation that few of us spend much time in, but which comes with profound well-being benefits. With healthier ageing, reduced risk of disease and feeling more energised all on offer, here's how to get there There are signs of institutional change, with – appropriately enough – hospitals at the forefront. Studies have shown that infrared light in hospital wards leads to improved clinical outcomes, including shorter stays. And it has long been known that inpatients who have access to daylight are discharged sooner, on average, than those kept in windowless rooms. Now, some hospitals are taking action. Jeffery and his team recently did a light survey of the critical care unit at King’s College Hospital in London. “It’s a beautiful building, but there’s absolutely no long-wavelength light in there,” he says. “I said to them, ‘obviously I’m concerned about your patients, but I’m concerned about your staff too.’” The hospital managers took heed and, in May, opened a new six-bed outdoor ward on the roof. Two other London hospitals are considering outside space for their critical care patients, says Jeffery. “I think they’ll follow because they can’t afford not to.” And even if you aren’t a patient in a critical care ward, you can’t afford to risk 21st-century scurvy through a steady diet of ultra-processed light. “You can live your life without red light,” says Jeffery, “but you cannot live healthily without it.”

What do I use when it's a cost thing? Aluplast Ideal 4000 (Double) Aluplast Idea 8000 (Triple) Alternatively I would look at Rehau, Gealan or Salamander.

So feel free to have a chuckle to yourself, but the SCC pour went really well and the stuff is absolutely amazing. Slabs level to 2mm. What didn't go well and this was partly due to a lack of information available and me not appreciating the associated risks of trying to pour slabs in weather that is so hot, was the curing. Slabs unfortunately look like crazy paving. Curing agent was applied, but when it states "immediately after finishing" they don't mean dappling and when the concrete is still fluid. Cemex also advised that microfibers should be added, but then somehow didn't adjust the order (yes! I should have double checked) so that didn't help. Having A252 mesh has probably saved me from having to condemn them. But I would still recommend this can be done as DIY. So long as you can use a laser level and set up screed levelling tripods, then you will be amazed at how flat and level you can get slabs just by using a dapple bar. Just be careful of doing it in hot weather, as SCC has low water and a high cement content so not as forgiving as normal concrete. Note - I purposely didn't dapple a shallow pass on this slab as the finish from the first pass was perfectly good enough for below PIR As to pouring the remaining slabs. Well. I'm too nervous now. Especially, given the weather and previous attempt. Was considering using Hessian and water curing, but even then I am unsure. It's 15c at 8am when I poured and by 10am it's absolutely roasting and probably 26c VID-20260801-WA0007.mp4

Yes, and they're great. All ours came from https://www.bucklandtimber.co.uk/ They'll design and supply all junctions and fixing for you too.

You maybe took as long to write the above that it takes to make 20 of them. For the cost just buy some pipe

I can confirm that the advice I got from Gus was helpful, and the more so because he does it for a living. I'm sure the administrators are well able to spot when people are on the forum motivated by commercial interest rather than collaboration.

I think it’s first and foremost the responsibility of the self builder (in our cases at least) to design stuff that looks right in its place. Some peeps seem to feel it’s an exercise in getting as much over on the planners/neighbours as possible, which I think is a shame. I know it’s an ‘only rain at night’ type of notion but trying one’s best to build in harmony has got to be the best starting point. But I recognise that we need planners to limit the unharmonious.

Thanks everyone. Probably overkill but it's done, onto the next thing. Happy Sunday to you all.

I like the idea of a two tier pricing system for essentials like lecky and water. I guess for me the concept that everyone deserves a fair basic allowance at a reasonable price is a very good one. The idea that the wealthy can disregard the scarcity of resources, thus pushing up unit costs for other users, is an uncomfortable one. So we charge wasteful/profligate users more for their usage above their basic ration and that pays for the required top up infrastructure rather than charging everyone for it. Goodness knows how such a pricing system would work but I’d vote for that.

Yes it was a straight question. I was just asking as I design insulated rafts as part of my day job. Some of the stuff I do has a lot of my intellectual property built in. I'm happy to share some of my knowledge on BH, just don't want folk ripping it off whole sale for commercial advantage. As an offer if you want to have a chat on the phone then give me a call on 0771 308 1597, text me first so I know it's you, I'm also a bit deaf! We can chew the fat for a bit, happy to chat with you for up to an hour.. and you can pick my brains for free. If you want to take up my offer then send me some drawings and so on first. These of course will be kept confidential at my end. Great approach. I enjoy teaching and informing Clients. I find it a lot of fun actually. My starting point is to listen to you find out what you know and don't, then fill in the gaps in your knowledge and explain what often can be quite technical things in terms a lay person can understand. The objective is to give you enough information to allow you to make informed decisions. This sort of thing gives me a bit of a refreshing break, from drawing details / to structural calculations etc. once you have designed your first few hundred beams the novelty kind of wears off. You still have to concentrate though. In my day job I do this when pitching for business. If you inform a Client and explain the issues, how you might deal with them, highlight the things they may not have thought about, put forward other solutions, buildability cost and risk then it makes it hard for your competitors, you set the bench mark. If my competitors come in at lower fee rate, the Client is often now aware of what constitutes value for money. It works most of the time but some Clients are really stupid / just don't listen and go with the lowest price without valuing the service, ongoing support etc They will also then go with the lowest builders tender and end up nine times out of ten getting truly ripped off.

Yes Spinny, that is all in place and nothing overhanging or over looking windows. Pro Dave, the owners are in their late 80’s and we think that at the moment they are just going to leave it!!! The issue then I suppose will pass to the next owners but it will be un unmortgageable so will potentially massively reduce its sale value…… might buy it myself should this be the case 😂

I’d go for a minimum of 250L for the UVC, possibly even 300L, so you can heat it far cooler (50-55°), so theres less latent losses snd more volume to store off peak energy or diverted PV etc. 200L is very small for an ASHP even if it’s just “the two of you”. You’ll need a second, smaller duct for the car charger for data / comms and to bring the CT clamps to the meter; if the meter is at the boundary then you need to work out where the CT clamps need to go and duct accordingly. Rigid BT56 duct is the only duct your’e allowed to use for telecom, which they usually supply you for free. Assuming the exported heating is for keeping you warm in the outbuilding, consider a large fan coil out there so it’ll cool and heat (remember that it’ll need a condensate drain); note: fan heaters give almost instant heat (and cool) vs a radiator.

Listen to @Nickfromwales. Believe me, you will save money. My Brink 400 was a little less than £2k on his advice. Which reminds me, and on the subject of thanks @NickfromwalesIf i forgot previously a huge thankyou for the tip.

Lift the 5a one as much as possible, then same for the socket to see if you can hide this. Plasterer was shite, decorator equally as guilty. Just unbelievable that this incredibly low standard of work could have escaped the 80’s and still be so prevalent today in 2026. I bet neither of those two tossers houses look like this. Utterly embarrassingly low standards from these people. The ‘fix’ is to remove the outlets, PVA the openings, apply EasiFill and allow to dry fully, then sand and paint, then, repeat if necessary, and paint. If you have a PM then send the bill to them.

It very much depends on form-factor (easier to make savings on apartment blocks than one-off detached houses), but it is nowhere near 30%, and in some cases has been shown to deliver savings. And of course it also depends on whether you are certifying or just building to the same standards. This article https://www.coldwellsbuild.com/journal/are-passivhaus-homes-more-expensive-to-build has some better links, including to an Exeter City Council report showing how they have continued to reduce costs over the years - "Due to Exeter’s long-term commitment to Passivhaus they have developed unique expertise and experience which has enabled them to refine their delivery models and processes to drive down the cost of Passivhaus. This is reflected in the reduction in the cost premium for Passivhaus from 20 per cent in 2009 to 4 per cent cost saving, pre-covid for apartments up to 4 storeys based on the cost plans against Building Regulation compliant low-rise apartments." https://www.local.gov.uk/case-studies/exeter-city-council-passivhaus-exeter

With the current building regs, meeting passivhaus standards isn't that much of a leap (assuming you are building with quality/well finished detail in mind). It used to be our regs were way way weaker and now they are not. The cost of building houses has gone up a lot also and the added cost of insulation, better windows, etc, becomes a smaller part of the overall budget. I can see the cost of doing the paperwork/documentation to get certified as potentially being the main additional cost of going passivhaus with some (more optimal*) designs. * ie, the existing design for the house is a relatively energy efficient shape, with reasonable glazing (heat loss and heat gain perspectives), already has MVHR planned, etc.

Just to confuse things. I recently let someone have a stack of preloved purlins. I did a swapsy so don't know the value I might have got... or had to just give it away. So have a look on Marketplace etc and you might be lucky. With Z rails it would be good practice to alternate the way they were pointing, then it is a bit stiffer. Without knowing your construction, if you could fix a heavyish timber wall plate you could coach bolt down, and add some straps fixed down the walls.

The conservatives have announced their energy policy It appears to be based on this document https://ukonward.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Powering-Britain_-A-comparison-of-policy-pathways-to-2050.pdf The net effect seems to be to get a lot more of our energy from gas than the current trajectory. This makes their cost savings assumptions very dependent on their assumptions of future natural gas prices. They have assumed a stable future price around £24 per Mwh (in 2025 prices) They are also relying on building an extra 7Gw of nuclear capacity (about 2 to 3 new plants). And they will achive this by making government more focused on delivering nuclear - as if this is a magic wand. These assumptions seem to be, in the words of Sir Humphrey, "courageous". Nowhere on the document can I find anything addressing the energy security in the context of being able to source gas from abroad. There is a lot of focus on "security of supply" - which in the context it is used seems to mean firm Vs intermittent power. But nothing on how we secure the continuity of our power supply if there is an issue with gas imports eg a pipeline or LNG terminal being destroyed by sabotage.

Looks like I can achieve this setup. The brown is the paneling (150mm centers), The Cyan is the King Size divan. The circle is the 400mm reach from the corner of the bed to reach the light switches, the white with center lines is the final stud and the sockets and switches look OK to me. As @garrymartin says I could stop the grooves below the Sockets and restart above but I feel it looks more authentic if they run through the center of the sockets.

Final addition, the VELUX Basic manual anti-heat blind does what it says and really does keep the room cooler. Our windows are in the north facing side of the roof but in summer get a decent amount of sun on them, so these help. Cons? They are a pain to attach and detach, and my wife isn't tall enough to do them

Filled in the Web form on Monday 11am, got a call from a human around 2pm from Scottish Water said he had booked the job. I would get two texts and normal time to fix was 5 days. Wednesday morning got a call from Callum to say he was on way and to tell him he had the job card and it was a stiff Toby...steady boys. Callum called back a couple of hours later to say, as he expected his giant key did the trick, all was well and Get this He only lives around the corner and to save his work mobile and any issues and he'll pop around right away. BTW the second text, I did not click it, was 'track your operative' so I guess a real time job like they do with deliveries. Fantastic service from the publicity owned Scottish Water Sorry for the dig poor old Thames Water customers!!

Next door neighbour - knows you are away - pops round for a quick top-up 🫤

Your 30 yr old HW water tank will have a very small coil (0.3 m) designed for a non condensing boiler set up running much higher flow temps. Your Boiler has a min output of 7 kWh - it can't go below that so instead if the Tank stat is still calling for heat the hysterisis of the boiler means it will have to see a temperature lower than the set point in order to fire again and with little of no heat transfer that could take some time. Half way thro the HW heating cycle (when the boiler is coasting after a burn) run a hot tap for 5 mins - this should introduce enough cold water into the tank to drop the return temp and the boiler should fire again much sooner - this will tell you that the coil in the tank is way too small for the boiler min KW If you want a quick fix turn the flow temp up to max for HW and cut the time down - do the water heating in one burn and rely on the tankstat to say satisfied to end the HW reheat cycle PS if you are running low flow temps to improve efficiency you really are wasting your time - You aren't going to get much condensing efficiency doing HW recharge with a tiny coil in a 30 year old tank anyway so you might as well hit it hard and just get it done

He's definitely one of the good guys

While @JohnMo is right that the dew point is often around there and as long as the pipes are above dew point condensation shouldn't be a problem, personally I would plan to insulate anyway for a few reasons: 1. It's not expensive (comparatively) and buys options to lower the flow temp in future especially during heatwaves when the dew point may increase. (people here were reporting dew points over 20C in the recent heatwave, at which point keeping the cooling water above loses a lot of effectiveness) 2. If you insulate pipes then clip/secure them around the insulation, you gain some protection against noisy pipes (either thermal expansion/contraction or noise from flows/restrictions). Ideally these wouldn't happen in the system anyway but it's cheap protection. 3. It keeps the heat/cool where you want it and not where you don't. Again ideally this shouldn't matter but lots of houses have layouts that means pipes have to go through places to get to a destination and especially when the heating is on you may not want that heat in the space.

Much of this is due to electric taking the majority of the tax burden - away from gas. It always strikes me as odd that successive governments want better energy security (including not importing gas) but continue to hit electrical supply with the burden of taxation in order to make gas cheaper. And then spend millions on offsetting wind farms for not dumping electricity on to the grid! I presume they don't want to lose votes from people who still have gas boilers... But, if they switched the subsidies/taxes around that would be a prime reason for people to start moving to electricity over a relatively short period of time as they got stung by higher gas prices.

Rubbish. Raft foundations are designed with the EPS basket extended to allow the pour of a second mini ring foundation to accept the masonry. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re entering an area of major misadventure here, and what you’ve arrived at independently is already falling on its ass. Stick with ‘tried & tested’ and an experienced contractor / SE to solve this correctly. It’s “kinda important”

Doesn't really matter what you or anyone else likes, your wife wins - sorry it's just life, or live with the throwback for the rest of your life living there. But I agree with the wife choice

If also using electric hot water taps, it eliminates the need for a tank, hot water plumbing and any questions about heat pumps wrt hot water. Also I expect more reliability and lower maintenance than alternatives. Unless you use a lot of hot water (we won't) I think it's a good option for us. Yes, and we await the visit from a structural engineer. There's lots of damp, some decay but I'm optimistic based on the reaction of two builders and the original survey. My wife has removed a lot of the plaster and we can see cracks and past repairs which hasn't yet alarmed our builder or architect, but I expect we'll have strengthening and support work to do in more than one area. I couldn't believe what was holding up the gable end two story stone wall above a two meter gap made to create a snug with window to the garden: a single plank of thickness one to two inches. We sleep better with an Accro prop in there now! (Not that we sleep in the building). We plan to dig out, insulate and level the mismatched, damp concrete floors throughout. More info: Yes, a two story stone 200+ yr old one up one down with an old loft conversion. On the front has been added another smaller bungalow with loft conversion which was a separate semi detached dwelling (1800's we think, solid brick walls). On the side of that, and the opposite side of the stone building are 1980's single story extensions (block work, no cavity we think). Everything is rendered outside and a 50yr (?) old concrete tile roof which is structurally sound but leaks where the valleys meet our neighbour's roof each side of the old buildings. I know photos would help but am reluctant to post such. Ground floor: main entrance (from N facing open garden on a bend) to Kitchen/Shower room (1980's ext), door Living Room 1 (Inglenook), door Living Room 2 (second chimney), wide sliding door to Study (1980's ext) with exit to garden. We want some more space downstairs, so will extend the gable end of the stone building. The kitchen/shower room will be made into one larger kitchen with patio doors to a small courtyard - the only wall that gets sun most of the day. The living room is dark and has large Inglenook (bricked up for support due to broken beam). Too large for the room, so we will restore, and extend into the N facing garden: awaiting designs for an oak framed Garden Room with lots of glass, pitched roof matching the gable end from which it will extend. The "study" will have doors to the adjacent Living Room 2, and the Garden Room, making it a GF bath+shower room for when we can't get upstairs. First floor: three rooms, the central one to be a smaller bath+shower room/ensuite to one of the upstairs bedrooms. Above this is a loft room. At this level the stone of the Gable End becomes solid brick, with a window with tremendous view, so we plan a Juliet balcony here. (Noone is overlooked, so the architect thinks the only likely planning issues will be with the extension because this is visible from the road - our whole garden is exposed though as we're on a bend and don't have any space behind on our quadrant shaped plot. We plan a high Yew hedge and internal fences/trellis to make it private.) My main concerns are about combining meeting our needs now and as we grow old, with maintaining it's quirky character (three staircases, old floorboards and wooden doors etc) while ensuring it will be a home long after we're gone. Affordably obviously! We're considering leaving some of the stone walls in Living Room 1 exposed: around the Inglenook is a party wall, and between living room and extension - so not external walls. We're also considering removing outside render from the stone gable end, perhaps rendering only over the brick of the loft room wall. Decisions for later. Sucking of teeth welcome if accompanied by explanations . We're completely new to this but have the luxury of not being under time pressure and able to live nearby for some time. Thanks if you read all this!