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I'd try and keep the basement wall out a bit from the existing house. It will work out easier to build (and therefore cheaper) not having to underpin the existing house as much. My crude overlay also shows how more light can get into the basement if you've the wall stepped and it will look a hell of a lot better than a 2.7/2.8m high retaining wall. The loft will definitely work out cheaper. Basements are expensive and you've a lot of earth to carefully dig out and have only a 2m existing access to the side of the house. I think you need to speak to a structural engineer and builder about this to get a grasp of the costs involved. I'd definitely do that before getting an environmental engineer or wasting time perfecting the layout or size and shape of a lightwell.

Ignoring the cost as requested which is my biggest concern, it's a balancing act. You could get a daylight analysis study done. It's a 3D version of the house done by an environmental engineer and measures the daylight available. We get them done a lot (for larger projects not houses) and they're very useful. We always get them for schools and offices so you can work with natural light without needing additional artificial light. They give great insight in the difference of increasing a window 200mm or moving a wall slightly makes. The below example shows a room with only 1.9% which has multiple but small windows that needs review and will be dark compared to the others which are well lit naturally. With the amount you're going to invest in a basement this could be money very well spent. Have you a section? Could you look at stepping the light basement lightwell so at the base it might be only 1.2m but it steps up in raised planters to somehow merge and incorporate into the garden. It will also make it a lot less depressing to look out of a bedroom onto a massive retaining wall. EDIT: I also think the daylight analysis would be good as I've concerns about you're kitchen.

Yep. Cut down old SDS bit held against those metal straps. A few bubbles came up I was surprised at as the admix is a deaerator too. More seemed to flow over the edges than "compact" down into the mould. 40kg plastering sand 10kg cement 5kg hydrated lime 500g black mortar tone powder A litre of Everbuild Waterproofer in a bucket of water to mix it all up with. ...loads left over...whoops! A square of 25x25x2.5 galv mesh pushed in with a couple of old M16 resin anchor studs held in with a couple of nuts and plate washers, this just to give a bit of lateral security when it sits atop the hollow brick pillar.

Did you properly vibrate it ..??

Or get an inverter that limits the output to 3.68 kW and connect up the 5kW

You can connect a 3.68Kw inverter to the grid without prior permission under G98. Over 3.68Kw requires DNO approval under G99 BEFORE you connect it. So the first thing is to ask your DNO. You may find, like here, they will want to charge you to upgrade your local grid before giving permission. If that is the case you might want to look at a 3.68Kw grid tie system and a 2Kw off grid / battery system as separate items, and load switch big appliances to the off grid system, or just have big appliances like washing machine always powered from the off grid system and only switching back to the grid when the batteries get too low?

If you have mains electricity then why do you not want the PV grid tied? I am not aware of anything that can do what you want but I am sure you could design and build something, but all the loads you want to individually switch would have to be linked to a bank of changeover relays. And then it relies on the selected equipment presenting a constant load and not minding a brief interruption to the power as it switches over. If the PV is gried tied, as is normal, then the usual thing to use up surplus is dump excess to the immersion heaters, or battery charging for use later.

I would definitely get some specialist input regarding the amount of sunlight / shadow etc. The rear wall will be a feat in itself and not cheap. Underpinning is pretty straight forward but underpinning and forming the basement wall in one requires a lot of engineering

Will I be known as Tea

Best way to teach yourself to drive a digger is to cover up the decals showing you which function/lever movement is which - this way your brain has to react to what you see and feel rather than what you are reading. If im teaching anyone i always cover up the `instructions`

Well then a spend couple of quid and get the digger in for a play and get a feel for one before you buy. Its all hand to eye coordination and some people can do it effortlessly and others are like a robot with one movement at a time.

Not what I heard, Hannibal ?

Hire the digger out for a weekend and have some fun. Scrape the actual site of the house of any grass/ weeds etc so when it comes to marking out you have a nice flatish surface. Dig a few holes in the corners to get a feel of the controls and after the weekend then you will be able to see how your skills are. Just keep the revs no more than 50% so it moves slower until you get the hang of it. Is the garage in the way of the build as it would make the perfect site store/office??

Hi there BigJ.. I'm only able if I take a huge ammount of time prior to jumping in, ie prep prep prep.. but even then I still do daft things! It ain't too bad tho no. Cheers zH

They're functionally identical so long as they conform to: Type 1 in accordance with Specification for Highway Works, Clause 803 You can get virgin limestone, recycled, crushed aggregate etc, but the important aspect is that they're graded correctly. For blinding, sharp sand is better as it can be machine compacted.

A cill pushed water away from the wall and allows it to fall. Flush fit windows are simple to seal but the staining down the wall can be horrendous.

What a pita. All the site sprayers i have seen over the years have always sanded all the walls and ceilings before any spraying. One of those fancy round sanders on a pole with a big round head. Hope you get it sorted.

Ah glasses. I have a superb pair of distance glasses, from the optician, used mostly when driving so I can read the roadsigns at a sensible distance (mostly to correct astigmatism) But do you think I can get a decent pair of reading glasses from the optician? NO. The present pair I took back because they were not "right" but they passed the "test" which is give you some small text, hold it at "reading" distance, can you read it? Yes I can. Then they are correct "reading" glasses nothing wrong with them. But i can't read my computer screen because is is a little further away than "reading" distance, in fact the range of distance they work over is minute. I pointed out my pound shop self select reading glasses work at book reading distance, work at computer screen distance, and even if I look across the room at say the tv, I can still pretty well focus on that. What the pound stop glasses don't do is correct the astigmatism so are never going to be perfect. When i explained all this I was told I need a specific set of "work" glasses but there is no NHS subsidy at all for these so prices would start at over £150 I declined and still use £ shop reading glasses.

PS I think they way you have stuck at it Ian and learnt as you have gone along Is a shining example to all self builders and well worth anyone just starting out Looking back through your posts My friend who has sold me our next plots said “If I was ten years younger I’d have developed one of the plots myself “ Hes 54 and owns and runs a medium sized Groundwork’s company His yard is about half a mile from the plots

I think you could DIY something a little like this cortex steel effect https://www.etsy.com/listing/906126337/custom-made-corten-steel-flexible-steel?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search_UK_DSA_GGL_Main_General_New&utm_ag=UK-EN_DSA-General&utm_custom1=_k_Cj0KCQjwktKFBhCkARIsAJeDT0jf-Wbmxqkzgtu4YeUhsDTX3f9XpDf52MFcyFfIzR2oUq6R-umenCUaAlxCEALw_wcB_k_&utm_content=go_11120727342_112118310227_474876607394_dsa-19959388920_c_&utm_custom2=11120727342&gclid=Cj0KCQjwktKFBhCkARIsAJeDT0jf-Wbmxqkzgtu4YeUhsDTX3f9XpDf52MFcyFfIzR2oUq6R-umenCUaAlxCEALw_wcB

Look ! Clean ! No crap ! Used a brush - magic !! p.s Notice no underground photos ?

I think option 1, or a version of it, if done well could look great and a nice feature. Found attached pic which may help.

Saga is still ongoing.... We have a new smart meter being installed on Friday which will hopefully be the most up to date meter. Octopus have been very difficult to contact and I've been in direct contact with the CEO, or at least someone senior than the customer service advisors that sign their emails 'love and power' ? The have confirmed 'there are many customer accounts which have been affected by this' - as in the double billing issue - which would have been useful to know before I moved to them and relied on the app. As yet they cannot generate an actual bill based on my use but hopefully with the installation of a new meter this problem should be sorted. I've asked for significant compensation based on the stress this has caused to the point of obsessively measuring the electricity use and the fact that it took multiple phonecalls and emails to get someone who actually knew there was a problem despite it clearly affecting lots of customers and being dismissed multiple times. The initial compensation amount was £50 which I said was insulting so they asked me how much I wanted and I'm waiting to see if they will agree with my figure. I've had notification from Octopus with the 8 week letter that from 4th June 2021 I have the right to refer my complaint to the Ombudsman Services so let's see what happens. If I don't get agreement that's where I'll be sending a letter to. I presume they won't want it to go to the Ombudsman but we will see.

In 2021 a crack diy unit was sent to prison by planning committee for a crime they didn't commit. This man promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Bristol underground. Today, still wanted by the government, he survives as a soldier of screw ups. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire the Pocster-Team.

You should have primed it with blood, sweat and tears first.