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Costa is rank. Down in Harris there’s a great cafe called The Temple Cafe. Had a lovely lunch there after walking miles on the beach.

No problem with those, the lip is from cutting the log on a double pass and blade not lined up exactly.

I wouldn't worry about looking for drawings to set up underfloor cooling. It's literally exactly the same as UFH. The only differences when cooling instead of heating are: - You need to figure out how to enable cooling mode on the ASHP. Varies by manufacturer and model. - If you want to have the cooling controlled by a thermostat, I seem to recall that you may need a second thermostat for cooling operation, or at least a thermostat with both normally open and normally closed outputs. One output is connected to call for heat, the other is connected to call for cooling. I personally don't bother with a thermostat in cooling mode. I have the ASHP outlet temp set to about 15° C in cooling mode, and that seems to result in the (polished concrete) floor settling at around 19° C. During long warm periods, I run it during the day when the sun is up so it gets assistance from our PV. During the worst of the recent heatwave I left it on 24 hours a day for about five days, including a couple of days before the really high heat hit. Worked really well.

I would wait as there is a fee. If the neighbours are really upset they will complain to the planners. The planners may ask to come take a look. If you meet Permitted Development Rights they will go away and tell the neighbours that Planning Permission isn't required. End of story. If the planners think you don't comply they may send a "letter of intended enforcement". Don't panic. You have lots of options. Read the letter to see why they think it doesn't meet Permitted Development Rights. Then call and ask what they recommend you do. They may suggest a retrospective planning application and allow it just so they can tell the neighbours its all in order. You could also fix the problem and the apply for a Certificate.

What is needed is a PHEV with a 6 kW PTO and 30 kWh of usable storage. A thermal PTO may be useful as well. Better get my pencils out and use my 40 year old degree in automotive engineering to save the world.

Hi Chris. Had a look at the photo's.. what a great project.. many challenges but the main thing is to enjoy the journey as well as the end result. Just to touch on some basics.. you may have got a handle on this already. What about things like drainage.. septic tank soak away or biodigester. Get stuck into the ground and find out what you have under the top soil. Don't quite know your exact location so have not had a look at this end but some places have deep peat (or really soft sands) interspersed with granite dykes (called igneous intrusions).. great for building on but really hard to excavate for modern sewage tanks to achieve ground porosity for soakways. Have a look about the island and ask about. Local knowledge coupled with some basic research should give you clues here. See link below. https://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain/home.html The photos of the internal render are interesting. Hard to tell from the photos but do you think they have a bitumen content.. like an early attempt at waterproofing.. like mastic asphalt? You may actually be still able to smell "oil / hydro carbons" when freshy split or put the sample in a bit of petrol and see what dissolves. Don't taste it.. stick to the whisky. I would really try and find out more about the walls, the founds, there may just be a partially failed damp course! .. could be a slate / pitch (tar) one. Also what is under the floor.. are there any solum vents? may be hidden but look closely. In the 1930's things construction methods were changing fast and costs were getting driven down so don't assume that just because it is a mission hall it will be more traditional and that it is dressed stone outer layer / random rubble with a rough stone inner skin. In fact if it was a mission hall they would have maybe aimed to get the cheepest building on the market at the time so they could spend their money on the "mission" thus this could be an ideal case where you may find that innovation has occured. Do research here on the original intended use and who paid for it to get built. You may find this in the deads.. but that is cheating! You may just be able to squeeze a quazi mezzanine / gallery up there but post a dimensioned cross section. It will need a bit of design flair and an understanding of the regs etc but don't rule it out for now. Lastly what about these out buildings.. any chance of doing something with these? Could you link them to the house? If done sympathetically you just may be able to incorperate this into the habitable space with a link concept at some stage. Is any part listed grade C say? Try and really spend time being "Columbo" now and it will pay dividends later when you come to the design of the insulated envelope and subsequent structure / finishes. Plenty folk like @saveasteading and myself for example are interested in this so please keep posting. Lastly keep a photo diary of this as it will great great interest to all both now and in the future.

Can you tell us what he stated and also his qualifications or background ..? highly unlikely (and it’s actually a natural gas / hydrogen blend in the tests, not LPG) and WB spend millions trialling lots of things. They trialled CHP for a while and that went nowhere too. couldn’t agree more …

Background, I have a gas boiler. But the assertion that heat pump don't work and he wouldn't sell to his worst enemy, is more a statement of his skill set, or lack of. A correctly designed, installed and commissioned heat pump will work and shouldn't cost any more to run than a gas boiler. The key is correctly designed, installed and commissioning. Solar PV and thermal, can work great in the shoulder months, but they cannot deliver a heating system. Example I live in NE Scotland and have 3.1kW of PV. The other day it was generating 3.01 kW at around midday, today it was generating 0.1kW at the same time, as it was very heavy cloud and pouring with rain. Generation is winter is about a 10th of that. IR rads work great in a single direction, so they warm your body that is exposed to the heater. If your back is away from the heater they will remain cold. They are 100% efficient, but that's not good compared to a well installed heat pump which could be 400% in the same weather. If I had a shed used as an office for a hour or so a day, IR would be fine. LPG, not convinced with your argument.

+1 to the above, I have an ASHP and very happy with it.

I barely know where to start with this. What did he say was wrong with heat pumps (ASHPs as we tend to call them)? Many BuildHub members have ASHPs and are very happy with them, myself included. It's interesting that he sells and installs ASHPs for housing associations - are these retrofits and/or poorly built/insulated housing by any chance? Or maybe he or the company he's involved with don't actually know what they're doing and are undersizing what they sell/install for their customers. I can't think of any other reason someone would be so anti ASHP. As discussed repeatedly on BuildHub, hydrogen is unlikely to have a future in supplementing gas for boilers: As for infrared heating panels, they have their place, but primary heating for an entire home probably isn't it. That he's suggesting solar can be relied upon for providing significant energy during the heating period anywhere in Scotland is concerning. Solar panels won't output much in the depths of winter in Scotland, even on the best of days. Sorry to be so negative about your family member, but I'm really struggling to see how any of the advice he's given makes any sense.

I found this planning application for a 1.8m wall adjacent to a footpath.. https://democracy.lichfielddc.gov.uk/CeConvert2PDF.aspx?MID=1089&F=Final non confidential Planning Committee Agenda and Reports 20.03.2017.pdf&A=1&R=0 16/00658/FUL ERECTION OF 1.8M HIGH BRICK BOUNDARY WALL TO THE SIDE OF THE PROPERTY 14 WATERS EDGE, HANDSACRE, RUGELEY. FOR MS T PARKER Registered 13/06/16 Parish: Armitage with Handsacre Page 13 or 54.. Ping @Al1son

Yes a footpath is a highway but she is pointing out the wording of the GPDO says "highway used by vehicular traffic". I've been told cars can drive on the grass verge beside a road if the verge is part of the highway. However I think a Public Footpath or Bridleway (as shown on the County Footpath map) can only be used by vehicles where there is specific permission. The Highway code says: The "lawful access" bit I think refers to dropped kerb permission. I'm trying to find out if this has been tested anywhere as I have a public footpath across my own garden and a paddock. I know its a "highway" but hope that doesn't mean people can use vehicles on it? eg Motorbikes?

you can get decent coffee on the island, and although I’m camping out at the moment, life’s too short for bad tea or coffee, so my AeroPress does me fine, better than most overpriced mainstream coffee chains 😉🤣

Got quote back. Decent price. £22k ex VAT for 40mm insulated roof and walls for 10.5mx6m with single roller door, personal door and double window. That’s supply only. Single skin is £16k. They have various insulation levels.

Nice website. We loved the remote rugged terrain too and the beaches! Harris looks like the moon in places. We just couldn’t live there. I got chatting to a retired copper. Born on the Island but moved to London to do his collaring and retired back to the Island.

My pet hate is when they are twisted so they don't lie flat.

They are fine, I have seen much worse.

Concrete or tiles should be fine (assuming no chipboard or OSB underneath). I suppose if there was enough condensation within grout for a long enough period you could get some mould growth, but at the sorts of temperatures we're talking about that doesn't seem likely. There's an increasing risk the more mould prone the final surface or substrate is. Also, the more insulating the substrate, the less effective the cooling. We have one carpeted room downstairs, for example, and it's the hottest room in summer and the coldest in winter, as a result of the carpet and underlay (not low-TOG) insulating the underlying slab from the room.

If you have told the stair manufacturer that you aren't having them carpetted, they should have been sanded in such a way that they are not slippery. We used this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Saicos-Premium-Clear-3305-2-5ltr/dp/B004LXGROK?th=1 on top of a saicos pear stain: https://www.jswoodcraftflooring.co.uk/product-page/saicos-ecoline-oil-ground-coat and very happy with result. Osmo will be similar. Saicos also make a non-slip oil, but I don't think this is necessary as long as the stairs have been sanded correctly. Just don't polish it with wire wool, because that will make it a bit slippery.

As above. I used Osmo oil with a grey tint. They still look the same - haven’t gone orange and no one’s come a cropper yet.

We used this on our oak stairs https://osmouk.com/product/polyx-oil-tints/ you also get a raw version. Seems to work well.

If the tank has an immersion I would just use that - leave the coils capped but the top cap just drill a small hole in the cap to allow expansion. That allows you to go back to adding ASHP in the future. The dual Willis circuit is overkill but yes, would require a PRV and also an overheat stat on each Willis.

Welcome. Spending a lot of money on houses messes with your head. Old houses often have cracks, so don't panic, it's stood there all these years. I would personally prefer to have a structural engineers opinion as you are likely to get one anyway for a mortgage? Ask him to bring a ladder. Or a roofer or builder might also have a good look for you more cheaply/or even free if quoting for the work? One financial solution is to reduce your offer depending what the SE says. Re other causes of cracking, they seem less quick to advocate underpinning these days. You might have to keep the seller's insurance if there has been some structural movement. If the cracks are caused by water ingress behind the facade the downstairs flat owner might have helpful knowledge. I got a little endoscope very cheaply off Amazon, probably not long enough for this, but good for looking behind stuff.

Ladies too

Osmo Top Oil

Cracks at the bottom and back are old and nothing to worry about. The front right corner needs some investigation. Looks like the rafter could be pushing brickwork out due to broken/rotten tie. still not the end of the world but would need sorting out and as this is the roof should be joint responsibility probably

There is a Building regulations requirement for insulated plasterboard to be mechanically fixed, this is to prevent the boards from becoming detached from the walls in a fire. I've read of firemen being trapped. not sure of the regulation but this is one of the products to use; https://www.twistfix.co.uk/insulation-fixing-anchors-zp?uilang&povList=3215&gclid=Cj0KCQjwof6WBhD4ARIsAOi65ahOQRSASTVja7vFFopdtpOgn4eYADz8P4nsnvRt0xGuSIJIfH2npDcaAgokEALw_wcB EDIT: Seem to remember two fixing at the top of a board. not required at the bottom. ?

Do not read too much into third party websites giving “their” take on Planning/PD. Always use the Planning Portal or Government website. If you comply with that, you have nothing to worry about. I could spend days trawling through various third party websites where they provide incorrect Planning and Building Regulations advice.

Not by a very long way. Scottish standards for a conversion ask for 'reasonable efforts'. So perhaps you can convince them that the floor area is crucial, and that a U value of 0.6 in the walls is ok because you will have stunning insulation to floor and roof, etc Also for a floor area of under 50m2 some rules are less strict but I have not read in detail. Conversions - in the case of conversions, as specified in regulation 4, the building as converted shall meet the requirements of this standard in so far as is reasonably practicable, and in no case be worse than before the conversion (regulation 12, schedule 6).

Assuming no shading, according to PVGIS, at around 58oN with a 3.8kWp PV array on each side you could get a yearly energy production of around 4500kWh. If that was entirely self-consumed, especially after the next price cap rise, it could easily be displacing a couple of £k annually. I'm guessing it has a grid connection but off-grid might be attractive depending on how you intend to make use of the property.

Interesting discussion. Playing devils advocate, @PeterW, the reason you might buy a spool of cable and terminate it oneself is because Cable Money only sell a range of lengths (3, 5, 10, 20m, etc.) and, with decent gear, terminating is actually quite easy. What say you? (This is relevant for me is I will be running my ethernet network soon-ish in my new build.)

We are just back from a week long camping trip on Lewis, Harris and a night in a hotel on Skye. Loved it but it really is a remote and somewhat bleak area (well Lewis is) But it is very beautiful.

Good luck mate . Do the improbable. Do the enviable. Do the impossible. No point doing anything if it’s easy .

This is what we did. Down pipe into 110mm with rubber adaptors. Have lots of trees and leaf fall but never been a problem.. From there the water goes to a leaf filter and rainwater tank. Overflow to piped ditch in the road verge.

Do you know the product 'drain trace'. Brown powder that becomes fluorescent yellow. that will show where the water goes, if you have rodding cceses downstream. I wouldn't be surprised that a builder had done the easy thing. Is the Aco to resolve a serious issue? where does the water go at present. An easy answer might be a catch pit, so that the rain flow is not obstructed, but the downstream connection is under water.

Found a WhatsApp number and got through to support and got this answer " Both inverter and battery are compatible and working great" then this "but there is a small issue" then "the 8KW inverter is still in testing with the battery and not released for support yet" then "if you wish you can get them installed , they will work" I also asked when they were arriving ang they said as batch has arrived in the EU warehouse not sure if that means any will make it across the channel.

Buy a roll of packing banding. 1000m roll is about £30 then a good quality staple gun. run a row of banding on face of joists, have others pre cut put insulation in and staple a band over it. I did 355m on my own like this.

As above You can achieve perfect airtightness with Dot and dab No need Parge It’s. not worth the money But you do need good attention to detail Junctions sockets etc

Hi there @daunker Did you ever resolve this issue? We have exactly the same problem. When it rains, the cladding is leaching onto the white render below. It also drips onto the windowsills and stains the render around these, and also stains around the boiler flue, and outdoor lighting on the render too. Looks pretty awful at the moment to be honest. We wanted the cladding (Siberian Larch) to weather naturally to a grey, but are worried it is ruining the render in the process.

Ideally looking into their gardens.....

100% ! . Do it and learn ! . Nothing worse than later “ wish I had “ ; though sometimes I do suffer “ wish I hadn’t “ 🙄

This be @Onoff