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Well I built mine as the stair co wanted way to much £. Simply 6x2 timbers using hangers onto walls at 400mm centres, stair co supplied both short stair runs and enough oak to board it and match the flights.

Just wondering how others are managing there build costs Our previous build was all on a spreadsheet and quite easy to keep a track of price hikes Now it’s very difficult to know if prices are real or just another supplier overcharging With often 20-30% differences for the same item Shooing around can turn into a full time job

To get export payments, I beleive you need the MCS installation cert and the installer to register the install on the MCS database. I beleive some or all SEG payers want a letter from the DNO confirming the grid connection is accepted. On top of those you want elec test cert, warranty details, operation guide. Details of any non standard settings theyve made together within any usernames and passwords. A list of component model/part numbers would be useful in the future for getting spares sorted.

No. You want to ignore it to see if they actually follow through with enforcement. Often councils are so short staffed they send the first notice and then don’t do anything else until it’stoo late. Depends how persistent the complainer is.

I don't know for sure these days, but when I had my 2011 FIT system installed the paperwork package from th eMCS installer included various certificates to confirm the equipment was new, was owned by you, had been correctly installed and various drawings about the instalation. These needed submitting then to the FIT provider. I assume it is much the same. the key thing it must be signed off my an MCS installer.

Better to have a decent office manager than a 'whizz kid'. PV is mature technology, basically installs itself. If you could connect up a 1970 stereo system, you can do PV. Tell him for the right money I will sort out his crap installers.

Please find a way to post photos. If you use a phone to take pictures, you can access this forum on a browser on your phone so it should be easy to upload them. It sounds like you don't really know how it is wired. It may or may not be wired in the optimum way. Who advised you to fit 8.5kW? that is a lot to hope to self use, so for that much, you meed either batteries to increase self usage, or justify it on export payment. And if your chosen method of payback was export payment, then you must have the install done by an MCS contractor who would certify it so you can claim the export payments. Were they MCS and have you got the paperwork from them?

If the PV has really been set up like that, a claim against the installation company is in order.

What's the model number of the Emlite unit with flashing lights(probably a meter) and how many wires are connected to it? Whats the model number of the solar inverter? Might be able to guess a bit more accurately how your system is set up, but if its a single phase inverter with the 3 phase supply configured as you remember, you might not be using any of the solar generation!

So you've had a total of 2833 kWh available to the house (what your generation meter reports divided by three) but of that, unless you have a diverter set up to route excess to HW, you will have been lucky to consume half of it - even if you try timing use of big appliances to when the sun is shining. Batteries work around this problem, but your big array is mostly only going to work for you with a decent export contract.

The house? Or just the Solar PV? If the house is only on a single phase, it will limit the power available to you, to 3.84kW. Without an export contract the other 7680kW is just going to your neighbours, who probably pay the utility company 34p/kWh for the privilege.

We had the weather on our side today We got the majority of the forty three trusses in Still quite bit of work to do with loose But a good start Rain ☔️ tomorrow

Yes, 👍

But mine was all oak, strip carpet up the middle which is why it’s framed in softwood but oak planks instead of chipboard.

No not speaking about CO. Sorry it is a monitor not a sensor, but it is for CO2, also it is not an alarm. The monitor requirement pre dates COVID by 5 years. https://www.gov.scot/publications/carbon-dioxide-monitors-standard-3-14-letter-to-local-authority-verifiers/

Scottish regs do indeed require a CO2 sensor in the main bedroom. I missed out on that as mine was built to the version of regs before that. I did look at buying one out of curiosity, but they were hard to find and expensive. with every new house in Scotland needing one, I would have hoped they would be easier to find and cheaper now.

I think you mean Scottish regs mandate a CO detector (alarm), not a CO2 sensor? I.e monoxide not dioxide I'm not aware of any regs around CO2 levels. If there were, there'd be a plethora of devices and professional services on the market for measuring it and correcting it. Edit: looks like since June 2022 regulations mandate CO2 sensors in new office buildings, although so far there's only loose guidelines around what to do with the data they generate, not statutory law https://www.infogrid.io/blog/improvements-to-ventilation-and-indoor-air-quality-in-new-revisions-to-building-regulations-from-june-2022 There's a campaign in place to extend this to schools https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-58243238 It looks like largely this is all driven by measuring CO2 as a proxy for measuring the overall quality of airflow, as a post COVID viral transmission concerns, rather than concern for the risks from excessive CO2 in its own right. This is certainly driving (or, being driven by?) the increasing prevalence of low cost CO2 monitors and iot services, so only a matter of time (decade?) before regs start pushing this into homes

If you look in Scottish building regs, they mandate CO2 sensor in the main bedroom, the regs also dictate the functions of the sensor. Other than that, there is nothing that says you must be below an upper threshold. That I am aware of for domestic properties.

We challenged our council band successfully, here is how we did it: 1) We scoured for sold comparables using propertydata.co.uk (Evaluate > Comparables). £14 for a 1 month subscription 2) We used Zoopla to check specifics of the property (bedrooms, bathrooms) to see if it was a suitable one for our challenge (it took some trial + error, but we eventually narrowed down to a few good examples) 3) Through trial + error we found 7 examples of properties within a 2 mile radius of our house that had sold for more than we bought our house for (implying a higher valuation was likely in 1991), that had a lower council tax band. We also ensured that they met the following criteria: a) Same type of house (i.e. detached) b) Internal Area in sq meters equal to or higher than ours c) Number of bedrooms equal to or higher than ours d) Number of bathrooms equal to or higher than ours e) Parking equal to or better than ours f) Plot size equal to or better than ours It was actually very straightforward, and by presenting the data clearly in a table (see below), it was easy to make the case that our house was misbanded.. I hope this helps. Good luck

Yes but the angle is much lower in winter.

Yep, winter generation is nothing like summer but a 46 panel array could be quite sizeable in kwp

As in even with a clear blue sky in winter the Sun is too low?

At this time of year, solar PV output is very close to minimum,nothing like what they generate in the summer.

Take a look at the rooftrak IFP300 fixings. They use the same membrane as your roof covering and do not invalidate the warranty. At least that’s what they told me, and we plan to use with Hertalan. You supply the company with your membrane and they make them up. my notes from a discussion with Nicholson’s technical department: We will provide them with Hertlan EPDM to make the patches over the plates so that the whole system is compatible They will warranty the connection between the EPDM patch and the fixing collar They will provide the same 20 year warranty as Hertlan. The fixings will be thermally broken and are compatible with the 18mm OSB T&G roof deck

77m2 is quite small The garage I’ve just done was 105m2 2 men two day man’s a day two install them Velux and felt and baton

Yes, but the point is 3-4 times less carbon emissions, ie approx 3-4 times less fossil fuel used.. Furthermore as the grid decarbonises this can only get better. If you are looking for a completely fossil-fuel free solution you are currently out of luck, unless you have sufficient local generation capacity or local heat storage on an annual scale. But a 3-4 fold reduction is an extremely good start and, with the promise of a greener grid, will get us to where we need to be. Doing nothing on the grounds that there is no perfect solution will not.

Apologies I forgot the BUS was being applied to new build - only issue is you need to use an MCS accredited company to install which adds £3k minimum to the price !!

Let me know if any of this needs clarification. For a load-bearing slab we consider the slab, acting alone and supporting only the floor loading. The concrete sits on stone , on ground and the floor loads therefore act directly on the ground, (spread somewhat by the thickness, if the loads are uneven) The much heavier walls sit on footings in the ground, usually 1m or deeper, and not on the slabs. Reinforcement of the slab is generally only to control shrinkage cracking, and is a steel mesh, easily laid. Footings are usually mass concrete, a lo-tech process Rafts are structural slabs. The concrete is thicker and they have 2 layers of steel, top and bottom, to prevent bending and make the slab work like a big beam. Cost are higher because the concrete is thicker and the steel is heavier gauge as well as being in 2 layers. It may also require additional skill. The walls are supported on edge and cross beams made as deepenings of the slab, heavily reinforced and fully linked to the slab. These support the walls but also spread this heavy load over a wider area of ground, using the slab area. So a simple load-bearing slab sits on good ground. If a book-case wouldn't sink into the ground, then neither will it when there is concrete on top. Walls are very much heavier and so need strong ground. If the ground is not strong enough to support the walls then a raft may resolve the issue by spreading the load over a bigger area, and allow construction. Cost of slab and footings approximately double, perhaps more.

I'd support the letter to the CEO. Octopus trade on good customer service and being nice - TBF they have achieved a Which top rated assessment 5 years in a row - so perhaps it may work. F

Before you spend time writing, you might want to explore net metering. If its as I think it could be you should be able to drastically reduce your bills by offsetting any export against import. Search for "net metering" on the forum. Also try asking your electrician to see what he knows and if your export and import are on different phases.

It may have that capability, does not mean it is used. Hate to say it @patp, but I suspect you missed the boat on the last year's exports. Just bite the bullet and get a proper contract with them, they seem to be offering the best rates. There is ideology and there is pragmatism. Go for the latter when money is involved.

I must just be a dinosaur then. I put Cat 5 to every room, and so far ONE is in use. A bit like a telephone cable to every room, yes only one of those is in use as well. Everything else works on wifi.

Remember that when you submit a planning application you can withdraw it and resubmit for free

Yes, I do on most of my jobs as they’re destined to be coupled up with an ASHP. Only issue is the extra pipe, extra manifold ports but benefits are more volume of water per m2 which will help convey the heat energy in the pies / water to the room. You cannot increase the temp past 27oC floor surface temp, but additional pipe will allow more energy to be input to the floor aka emitter.

We tried 3 of the things for cats, and perhaps some of them were deaf as well as incontinent, but no obvious sign that they ever worked. I never heard the device but my kids did!

I should have posted this one earlier. How to avoid the saniflow? Raise the WC to match the drain invert level