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So my DIY insulated foundation project has started, after weeks of digging and peckering the basement is dug and with the help of two local ground workers I’ve started levelling up the surface prior to installing the insulation. This is the view of the left hand side of the basement. No doubt more photos will folllow as the Work progress.

Firstly, ref the G3 annual inspection. Ive yet to receive the 'bumf' from the production model 3rdGen SA units as of yet, so cannot comment on the ongoing / routine maintenance of them, but from my PoV its minimal, and maybe even just a DIY checklist / record will suffice. @AndyT ? 3 couples aka 6 guests having 'adequate ( 10 mins @ 38oC ) showers' would need a fully charged 5kw SAPV for each couple. I know from direct experience that the SAPV when fully recharged will give 40+oC DHW flow for at least 26 minutes before dropping off to unusable heat levels, which is why Im quoting the SAPV, just fort scale. Thats on an estimated flow of around 9/10 litres per minute. So 2 x 10 minute showers at 10LPM ( so an instantaneous delivery of 200L of bathing temp, or higher, water ) needs roughly 5kw of SA capacity. In reality it'll probably be less, but you should always allow headroom. So, with that capacity in mind, you'll actually need the 3rdGen Dual port SA units, and for failsafe id recommend having the units with electrical immersions in them ( so if the ASHP ever fails you can still heat hot water ). Those dual port units take non-potable ASHP water in one 'side' and discharge potable DHW via the second of the dual ports, so the same unit hydraulically separates the two bodies of water, but they're 'connected' thermally. Eg the input can be heating the cells whilst the other 'side' is discharging and if say 2kw is being drawn and 3kw is being inputted then the cells will recharge at the same time as they discharge heat. For say a 9kw unit, the whole 9kw can be recharged by one pair of ports, and the whole 9kw can then be consumed by the second ports ( so a dual port SA isnt looked upon to be 4.5kw to one and 4.5kw to the other if that makes sense? ). Another benefit of this is the connections are 22mm, so an electrically heated SA DP can be used solely for DHW with cold mains going into one side of each port ( 2 x 22mm inlets ) and then be paralleled through the SA to give a combined ouput of the equivalent of a 44mm pipe flow rate. Therefore its safe to say these can be configured to deliver masses of instant DHW with flow rates of 30 - 40 litres per min achieved with ease ( so 3 good showers running simultaneously with ease plus a bit of room to draw off for a kitchen sink tap / other at the same time too ). That would obviously be dependant on the cold mains being sufficient to deliver such high flow rates, but easily achieved with a correctly sized cold mains accumulator. All this can also easily be achieved by a large HP UVC just then you have the annual servicing and inspections, which is a reasonably high outgoing over the life of the UVC ( as a good stainless steel UVC should outlive you ). The 9kw sunamp units are about the size of a slimline dishwasher so will fit under a kitchen / utility worktop too. An equivalent UVC would stand about 1600 - 1800mm heigh, and be about 600mm wide.

You call that an avatar, given the derivation of avatar (Sanskrit: अवतार, IAST: avatāra) a concept in Hinduism that means "descent", refers to the material appearance or incarnation of a deity. on earth. I think there is perhaps one clause there that your avatar runs close to not being!

If you take the skip of a wheelbarrow you could set one across the frame and wheel it easy enough.

Raise a "Stage 1 Complaint" (based on incompetence) against the council for quoting the wrong information etc and the stress it's caused you etc. Their internal mechanism kicks in by default and fur flies. Successfully done it myself with advice from my barrister brother.

If you've not watched the film of his life then you must! It's exceptional.

Might have been my place as the smells still there when something dies under my floor!

If you now have time, then take time to look around after you have found out what is involved, and avoid the distress purchase. If your T is on LHA then they may qualify for a funded replacement given that your current one came over with the Visigoths (nearly). There was an RLA one with a non-means tested pot of money from one of the Green Funders available recently. No idea of the current status. There is currently a scheme with a £400 rebate on replacement boilers running. And finally look out for 10 year guarantees that are on offer from time to time at no extra cost. if you let your plumber choose his schedule at some time in the next 3 months, and get the T to agree to it being done when somebody else cancels with a phone call at say 8am or the night before, you may get a reduction in labour. The last 2 I have had installed have been a Worcester Bosch Greenstar (my default) and an Ideal Vogue. If it is all that old, then perhaps you need a powerflush or new rads (not necessarily pipework). Ferdinand

Any telehandler’s on a site nearby,where you could offer the driver £100 for a couple of hours on a Saturday?

Since you are going to need scaffold later, try a bit of kwikstage. Buy four casters and you have yourself a mobile platform, like this.

Easier said than done when the weather forecast was as it was back then!

Depending on what access is like you could either use a tracked digger or a telehandler. Have never seen a crane being used before for this job. An 8t digger would have a long enough reach to be able to set them on top of the founds where from there you can walk them to where they need to go. 4 people will be plenty for this. A telehandler will be able to reach much further but they can very quickly plough a wet site up.

Cat gave birth! ha ha ha..... So, I played Midwife..... not all bad though as now have 4 BEAUTIFUL kittens mewling away in the birth 'cave'...

I'm extremely glad to discover that this forum has been set up since e-build closed down. I'm a Structural Engineer by trade, with a personal interest in self build and off site construction, and you can find me answering structural engineering and publishing questions at Quora.

That is a societal change, not a technological one though. The phone was invented in 1854, radio communication in 1887. So just 99 years to sort the two out I was promised rocket ship holidays to the moon and a hovercar. The only things that that I seem to remember Tomorrows World getting right was my cataract operation. A bit of digging dragged this 1986 broadcast up. TW's 21st birthday. http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/tomorrowsworld/8027.shtml

We installed a system based on this forums advice - led heavily by @Nickfromwales. Mains gas, 250l uvc, 90l buffer tank that feeds ufh manifold + rad manifold (for upstairs). Plumber who's worked with me on the install had never done this before. Fired it all up on Saturday for the first time. 20l of gas later we have a house at 18deg (the target I set on the one stat installed so far) - with virtually no difference between upstairs or downstairs. Next month or so should see the rads in along with their room stats. Feels good to get it in ready for the warmer weather? Very pleased with it all. A big thanks to all on here who I copied from and Nick for organising the purchase of the tanks!

Pop-up Pocster, all very scary, there are cartoon characters on this site

The law is the law, and I think I gave links to the case law defining a rateable hereditament in the other thread. Council tax cannot be charged unless a house is on the valuation register. It can only be put on the valuation register by the VOA. It can only be valued and placed on the register by the VOA if it meets the criteria laid down in the previously quoted case law, and the easy case to use is "Does the house have a potable water supply or not?" If the answer to that is "no", then it is, by law, not a rateable hereditament and so cannot be valued for Council Tax purposes and placed on the register. There are other criteria that are either defined in case law, or could be argued as placing the house outside the definition of a rateable hereditament; I only went as far as the water supply one as that was easy for me to control and prove if challenged. FWIW, the moment I started to quote the relevant case law to the council tax woman I was passed to their legal department, and after that the council just backed off very quickly indeed. They just sent me a very politely worded letter asking if I would please let them know when I considered the house was sufficiently complete to be valued for Council Tax. I delayed this right up to the completion inspection, by delaying getting the official public health water test (we're on a borehole), even though I knew from a private test that the water was OK. I only did this because the attitude of the council had got right up my nose, when they sent a snooper around..................

Thanks for the replies! Gives me lots to think about. After seeing the open plan floor plan, that does make the whole space seem much larger and more versatile. I didn't really consider open plan before because years ago I lived in an open plan flat and the noise and smell from the kitchen would travel. The odour would be limited with the ventilation system I am looking to install, I assume. I could always get a good audio system for the living room :D. Newhome, honestly, quite often I think, after grocery shopping and often get home and either put the kettle on or start lunch dinner etc. Maybe it isnt much of a problem though.

Maybe do away with most of the internal walls and go open plan...delineate by finishes and lighting

It’s not to everyone’s taste, but I’d be tempted to go open plan. Something like this, perhaps?

New build was £108.00 using http://www.sapeasy.co.uk/#newbuild

I’ve just spoken to her she told me it is back on the CT register I told her that I’d spoken to to the VOA and they have told me it was removed ten days ago and nothing has changed her reply was we don’t need the VOA We I HAVE PUT IT BACK ON It was at that point I told her I was recording our conversation We must of had bad signal as the line went dead Ive tried to call back but her line was busy