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Solarworld have been in serious trouble for a fair time now, so this was pretty much inevitable. Given that the EU imposed hefty tariffs on Chinese PV panels, in order to help prop up German PV companies like Solarworld, you have to question whether interfering in a free market makes sense, when some countries are always going to have higher manufacturing costs, because of their labour rates. Perhaps we'll see the tariffs come off PV panels now. Could make a significant difference. I'm not sure what the current duty on Chinese panels is, but a while ago it was over 40%, I believe.

+1..... and that's coming from ME!

A 40% reduction in cost could bring PV panels into consideration for my project.

Hurrah my warranty is underwritten by Chubb ?

A useful tip is to remember that reducing the resistor value at the processor end can improve performance over long cables. I found that one of my DS18B20 sensors would very occasionally glitch, maybe once a week or so, for a single reading (they are all read every 6 minutes). Reducing the resistor from 4k7 to 3k3 fixed the problem. I believe you can go down to 2k2 on a 5V supply if you need to.

I guess that's what he means cos reflections in the main line will be common to all and loop means, IIRCC, take the main cable right up to the transducer and out again.

How long can it take to build a timber partition wall? One that is only 16ft long, in a straight line, no curves, no fancy materials. This one has taken me well over a week, which has become a little frustrating. The reason is partly due to the complex shape, and partly due to my design having changed significantly just before I started the wall. Having switched to a more open plan layout, the wall now has multiple different ceiling heights all tying into it which led to a lot of head scratching. I ended up knocking up a detailed model on Google Sketchup, whh was time well spent as before that I just couldn't visualise how to go about it. With two doorways, a partial and a fully vaulted ceiling, the resulting edifice has 15 sides, and plenty of angles. Great to finally see the back of it. Fortunately I have had a little help with this one. By contrast, the next partition, a simple rectangle with one door in it, took me a morning.

"Working at heights" regulations. He should have a safety harness on

Had a little dig about at lunch there and found my own quarry! Looks like the previous owners builders or maybe landscapers have dumped a big builders bucket full of sand and aggregate, I carefully dug around the perimeter then started to extract it into the barrow. That will just do nicely for my concrete! I will dig the rest out tomorrow. Also, see image of the spoil from the excavations (picture doesn't do the heap justice, that is a good 900-1000mm high and 2400mm x 1800mm heap) just to give you an idea of what I have heaps of and will generate more! Just to show what I am planning on using as back fill to raise the lawn. Also, looking at it I am going to have HEAPS of peagravel and river pebbles, even if I top up some areas and keep a load for filling down the side of new paths and whatnot could I use some as the first fill before hardcore for the garage slab? I am not trying to be cheap here as such, I am trying to be smart. I just see a lot of potential from a lot of good material that I have gone to the effort of keeping separated during my digging and don't see the point in skipping it all to pay for other material to come back.

There is a two part tie system I've used previously for larger cavities (you bed one part in to the skin you're building & the other part locks into it for the other skin.) No idea of cost,but what I've found when building a 150mm cavity (the largest I've worked on) is that,with all the will in the world,a lot of the ties topple out before you've laid on them. The extra length & weight of them makes them extremely difficult to keep in position before your brickwork goes on your bed joint,so inevitably a few (or a lot) end up being pushed in afterwards,seriously impacting their effectiveness. Another option might be to build in Abbey channel slots,&I use the sliding ties. Again,no idea on cost.

@jack no they don't have a website listing that they have for sale I'm afraid, you could give them a call though. https://www.johnlewis.com/our-shops/swindon-outlet

I bought the Gaggia MDF grinder and storage unit, which keeps them both tightly together on your worktop and gives you a knocking-out drawer. I have alternative baskets, but have not modded the steam wand. If you hand around the UK Coffee Forums eg https://coffeeforums.co.uk/forum.php and post, there will be someone with the right thing reconditioned if you need it. I think I paid £65 for the coffee machine and £115 for the grinder and unit. At that price it was just to learn, but they seem OK. I double up on pods in hotels. Hail Ristretto ! The UK coffee forum has 15,993 members . Are we off-topic? Ferdinand

Just coming back to the branded appliances question, we have brought lots of stuff from the John Lewis Clearance Outlet. They have one in Swindon (Not far from the build centre) and I expect they must have others across the UK. They sell customer returns/cosemetically damaged stuff there, stock changes daily but they have all white goods/cookers/hobs/ranges etc. We picked up an AEG Steam washing machine for £300, I think online it was £799, and it the only thing wrong was a small plastic flap that hid the filter was missing which I brought for £20. It came with the fulll 5 year warranty etc. We have also brought Dryers, etc furnitire, cookware from there.

I've been given two old sheds. The first one is I think 8'x6 (or is it 10'x8'?)'. I dug out the sloping site, did a concrete base, built a dwarf wall with some stocks dating to 1863 along the front, raised the shed, made a new door etc: Tbh, WTF did I bother? Next to huge overhanging conifers it's too small and damp. I royally effed up to by experimenting with DIY insulation.....straight onto the wood: Result? Damper than a damp thing. All the T&G is fecked and opening up on the outside. And too small. The other shed is just sitting under tarps where it will probably stay. A bit bigger, flat roof, but needs more work to repair. I should have converted both to firewood and sold it in bags down at the gate. Then put the cash towards something like Barney has done!