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Not agreeing with much of the above. Since September I've generated close too 2,500kWh, nothing much exported. I'm in NE Scotland, so plenty more solar would be generated further south. My summer bills will consist of mostly standing changes. Electric suppliers cap what can be exported to what the local system can handle. Using the correct crimping tool to make up connections is a must, other than that is all very straightforward.

Top hat always at 400 centres Double board or Sounblock over 12.5 Decrease hangers to 800s

I use Sketchup (Trimble) as a free version, though limited is available.

I put smoke alarm in roof void linked to main house alarm system with remote phone dialling etc as an obvious one. Cables are sized for voltage drop so they are oversized for the current they carry.

We've recently bought a Segway Navimow i108. It uses GPS so no boundary wires and it has a camera to help with obstacle detection. So far it's looking good. It can manage our 4 grassy areas totaling 700sq.m. in time. To all intents and purposes it is silent. It uses the internet for rain warnings and it stops mowing if it rains - seems to be working reliably enough at the moment. It should be autonomous; you set up a schedule and it will look after itself and you can check on it remotely if you wish. Setting it up needs a bit of trial and error, for instance if you've set the boundary too near an edge it can deviate a bit and get itself stuck - as it did yesterday while we're away so won't resume mowing until Thursday!. But I think all that needs is a minor adjustment to the boundary. It space under the house wouldn't be suitable as both the mower in its charging dock and the RTK receiver need to have a good view of the sky. (That will be the case with any RTK mower.) It remains to be seen how reliable it is and how long the battery lasts.

Looked at them but if I was spending that amount I want a specialised dealership network I can call if I'm in trouble.

I have a kress nano which will cut up to 600sqm with ease. It requires a boundary wire to work. It takes a little time to peg it out and wire the charging station in, maybe an hour depending on the perimeter of your lawn. It will require you to do the first cut each year plus the edge needs strimmed every 2 weeks. Apart from that mine has worked this past 2 months with no issues. It was stuck in demo mode when I got it but the dealer sorted that out and it's been working away ever since. You use an app to set it up and control it so needs WiFi access to fully work though but it means I can send it out to work from anywhere and track how it's working. Mine cuts for 90 mins then goes and finds the boundary wire and returns home to charge and once charged heads back out again to cut until it's finished it's program. If it's raining it has a sensor, which you can turn off, and won't go out. You can set the wait time so it lets the grass dry, mine is 3 hours. Once that's up and it's not raining it will go on out. What robot you pick will depend on your area. From this info then you can see what is available. It will either be a boundary wire or a GPS version. Some have cameras but don't think they are as good

I've got a pair of husqvarna aspire r4 (one per lawn). They're OK. You need a well maintained (not overgrown) lawn to start with - it won't tackle a jungle. Laying the perimeter sensor wire correctly is crucial It struggles around trees etc getting stuck in tree wells. We put in push-in edging for it to bump and turn around, but surprisingly fiddly to have it not get stuck It doesn't work well in the wet. It has no rain sensor, I setup a Home Assistant automation to stop it mowing when grass is wet but for various reasons that's one of the least reliable automations I've had. (combination of different HA integrations failing, smh)

I went to a Bricolage in France to buy retractive switches compatible with EU back boxes - I used Schneider but quite a few options there. The big square button still very common on the continent. It's a bit dated style here I know, but me reasoning is it's somewhat in keeping with the Loxone touch style. (And, our house has a kind of mid century feel that this doesn't feel alien in) Else everything on this store is EU compat I believe. https://www.swtch.co.uk/finish-dark/

we used these https://www.retrotouch.co.uk/crystal-pulse-retractive-switches/crystal-pg-retractivepulse-light-switch-1-gang-black.html but in white to match our touch switches. reasonably quiet and look really nice. come in multiple gangs too. bought from these guys which were the best price i could find. https://www.ashdownhomestore.co.uk/retrotouch-switch-range-181-c.asp edit: sorry just realised you said that worked with the round back boxes. sadly these use the square backbox.

We had one for a number of years, we bought ours in 2014 for the same reasons. We had a Flymo robot mower, was good for the first 3-4 years and then things started to go wrong and after a couple of repairs, the battery gave in and a couple of other things at the same time, it got to the point we chucked it, as repair was way to expensive to justify. But was really good when it was working, hopefully reliability has improved. They can cope with rough terrain quite well. Two primary versions a guide wire embedded in lawn and ones that map the area or know where not to go, they are more expensive but possibly better.

This is true for all work in all situations PV, cars, other stuff. Like all things you need to do the due diligence. Couldn't agree more, speaking to other trades people is good, they know each other they have worked with them. That's how I found nearly all my trades when building, they come with people that don't advertise, because they are good and fully booked, but they lead to others, that are good.

Insurance companies can do strange things. when I built a garage I told my car insurance company it was now kept in a garage. How much did it reduce my premium? £NIL. Then I asked what would happen if I left it outside one night and it got stolen. NOT COVERED. I now declare the car is parked on the driveway.

From the doc linked to- "The incidence of fires involving PV systems is very low" so probably worth keeping things in perspective relative to other hazardous things in your house/life. AFAIK the majority of PV related fires are down to cable connections where cables haven't been terminated correctly so make sure things are tightened up and crimped correctly. Make sure MC4 connectors are crimped with the right size crimper for the cable size but that's down to whoever is doing the crimping. If there's cage clamp terminals in your inverter don't use crimps on the ends of stranded cable as cage clamps are intended to flatten the strands to get the biggest contact area.

Don't be speaking to the roofers. It's the responsibility of your neighbour to ensure work is done correctly. There is no way re-slating with composite slates falls under permitted development. Say this to your neighbour that not only is the work not good enough, but that they are likely not compliant with planning or building control. Give them the opportunity to set it right. High chance the roof will need to be completely redone with natural slates... Gonna cost them a lot so tread gently

The issue our friends had was the cabling that went into the roof. Theirs was on roof. There was a fault in the cabling which set alight to the roof within the void. The fire damage wasn’t extensive as it was mostly within the roof but the smoke and water damage was extensive which effectively meant the house was rebuilt albeit the walls were deemed to be safe. PV isn’t fit and forget. The cabling and connections should be regularly inspected as a minimum when it’s on the roof it’s harder to do and therefore few folk do it. We have other friends who bought a house with an old PV system on the roof and when he checked the cabling it had become very brittle. The guide you posted was good enough to consider best practice. All of that said, as pointed out, it’s very rare and there are other items in your house that pose a greater risk.

We have a 1.2m overhang which ‘shifted’ the peak solar gain by a few weeks, plus reduced the maximum modelled room temp by a couple of degrees. We’ve also added external Venetian blinds on our south facing 5m sliding doors and windows. The Part O modelling will also inform which windows should be opening as well to provide purging. it’s also worth saying if you are going airtight and MVHR, the simplified spreadsheet doesn’t take this into account, if you get it modelled MVHR is accounted for in the over heating assessment.

Yes. R is quite simple as it just allows for the thickness of the material, really just a stepping stone between k-value and U-value. Just be wary that imperial units are often used, they will give odd results.

Winter gain and summer gains are different sides of the same coin. Winter you will take all you can get from solar gain. We have close to 4m overhang, but a wall of glass some of it due west, by 2.30pm today we had to close the blinds to keep the sun out. Currently 23 in living room and 14 outside and we had the UFH cooling on for about 6 hrs today. Don't underestimate the power of the sun when mixed with glazing. This is a photo taken just now, due west the sky you see is the path the sun takes and it drops behind the trees. You can see the glow of the sun behind the trees to right.

She was a looker but … that’s the problem.. People don’t understand the ‘tax’ of the standing charge which is loaded with green taxes , bust companies, smart meter funding. If those were loaded on gas, there would be a different argument re ASHP COP. Not to mention the regional difference of standing charges which I’ve post before. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-advice-households/get-energy-price-cap-standing-charges-and-unit-rates-region It’s a huge regressive tax and discourages investment in insulated houses, ASHP and the conversion to carbon neutral. Rant over.

A 32mm core drill would give you the neatest outcome

I certainly would have grabbed a good number of those slates they ripped off before they got skipped, if nothing else so if you get anybody to improve things you have the material. If the builders had said anything i would just tell them I am reclaiming the ones they took off my roof.

https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/party-roof#:~:text=Each wall%2C roof%2C fence%2C,regarding party walls or party 🤷‍♂️ I am sure most don’t bother

Both my neighbours had roof work done (unnecessarily) over the last couple of years. I seem to remember that roofs are not covered by the party wall agreement, and on terraces they are allowed to lift some of the other tiles. https://www.desmondeassociates.co.uk/news/serving-a-party-wall-act-1996-notice-cornwall-uk#:~:text=Re-roofing Party Wall Act,any upcoming works as courtesy.

I’m no roofer but surely those tiles will be gone in the next storm?

Don't suppose you are in a conservation area or other historic protection area? I'd say local planning authority might have something to say about ripping off 150year old slates and replacing with composite. What happened to the slates they removed?

I think you already know the answer. Total chancers and scumbags.

You are correct below DPC recommended is 1:3 thats what I used and you’d struggle to scrape it with a chisel, even when wet. being that strong it also looks dark grey even though the sand was very light in colour, but I did use Mannok Cement which is quite dark, but even with normal Portland I’d expect it to look more grey in colour than in your pictures

I'm sorry, but that is a load of twaddle. You're seriously worried about green streaks on the roof? Oh no, our PVs have some lichen growing along the bottom edge, what am I to do, they've only been there twelve years and we're in the wet and windy South West. We're going to be building a flat roofed extension as well, there's no hope. Perhaps we'll be alright though, as technology has moved on and there are now roofing materials that allow flat roofs to be built safely.

Think you need one with rtk and 4wd which is code for expensive!!

Chat up line?

I have all three. House won’t last 5 years clearly.