Roger440

This i can understand. That is automation. Sounds like an awful lot of preplanning required, and no way would i want all that in my house, but i can see the benefits in that. Especially the opening the curtains to get my lazy arse out of bed! I still see no value in turning a light off from my phone whilst sitting on my sofa. Thats just complication for the sake of it.

Dont understand this. So, you followed the rules, and he didnt, possibly, though it doesnt sound as bad in terms of rule breaking as you like to think. Let him sell it, and hopefully get a beter neighbur. Why prolong it? Plus of course, if you raise, what is essentially a dispute, you will need to declare it if you sell your house. The decision about buying is up to the buyer. If they are happy, thats their shout. I just did the same. Not a single planning or BC cert apart from the last 3 years. Do i care? No.

Why dont you just get a vinyl wrap like the car people do. You can get them printed with anything. Lots of people doing fake "rustry" cars. Cheap as chips by comparison. Just found this too: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165406795119?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=CjwKCAjw7eSZBhB8EiwA60kCW5c0yr-uoZyw95AO0qgYWTSnlyg1MV53R74hw10CzlqW71xbzIbQOxoC7C4QAvD_BwE

Building your own is certainly a solution. And yes, sure, i can see the parallels. Which i guess is why self building is such a small niche. Unless you are simply going for a full turnkey build, you will need to understand an awful lot of quite technical stuff if you are to end up with a resonable result. The majority of the population wont understand. Sadly, not everyone understands computers/ electronics/software. Which is where i fall over. Everything else, is, frankly a non issue. And is certainly, in part, why i seek to eliminate as far as possible. Because if i do have it, it will be a manufactured product, with the downsides you allude to. The issue with googling and the like, is they inevitably start at a level higher than me. And as you will know, online instructions almost never match the actual real world version as no one ever updates instructions. So i never make it out of the gates. Until tonight i had no idea what a raspberry PI is. Indeed, still dont really, beyond what google tells me. I have no idea what it is actually for? Or why i would want one?

Hmmm. Ill say thanks. But really, i think thats a bit too deep for me. As per my original post, why do i want to turn something off from my phone, when i can just turn it off anyway? I dont get it. Knowing how much power im munching IS of interest, but i just want something simple that tells me my power consumption. i get that this does this, but its not simple. And if it uses a phone, its not even under consideration. I'll admit thats because, 6 years in, i still dont really know how to use it beyond the obvious making calls and sending messages. Maybe i should go back to my cave?

Shows how little i know. 10 ip cameras I know what a camera is. But IP? home automation server . Well i guess you would. se battery Dont know what this is? pw battery Dont know what this is? doorbird Dont know what this is? usual tv stuff 6 raspberry pi’s ( doing a variety of things ) Dont know what this is? Just googled it and am, mostly, none the wiser. EV charger 3 macs 2 windows pc ( yuck ) 4 iPads

But if they did approve it, everyone would be at it. Building in open countryside. In this case, a national park. And i say that as someone who would do it in a heart beat were it possible. I suspect an ag tie was doable, but who wants that? Its effectively a worthless house.

Thats very clever. And cheap. But i have literally no idea what most of that is about other than the end result. From an electronics and software angle, thats way over my head. Not something that i could tackle sadly. If there was a mechanical or electrical version, id be there.

really? Like what. Just 20 will do.

What can i fit fo £30. And how will it help me?

Agree 100%. Having just read through this thread, all i can say is "why?". I genuinely dont understand. Maybe its because nothing winds me up faster than tech that doesnt work. Which seems to be most of it. I hear adverts for broadband that will work with up to 100 devices. Why? Who has 100 "things" connected to the internet? We have 2 phones (when at home) and 2 laptops. And a telly, which i never watch. What do you guys do when, a) it falls over as it inevitably will, b) when its no longer supported by the manufacturer. On the next project (keys saturday) ive commited myself to examining everything we do to see if a simpler, cheaper and cheaper to operate solution can be achieved. Id like to say no electronics at all, but thats probably unachievable. Should be fun. Or sad?

Id say the majority of trades are not up to much. The good ones are out there, hard to find, and invariably booked forever. If time is of no consequence, sure, wait, but on a build like that, is that feasible. Whilst i almost always end up doing things myself, and often because i simply cant get anyone to do anything around here, i dont think i could have stayed commited that long though. Hereoic effort.

I still have no idea why pre-fab isnt more of a thing. Ok, not like this one as its a bit "alternative", but more conventional looking surely makes sense. Not that im going to do a new build, (abandoned that idea) but if i was, off site manufacture would be high on my list.

Hmmm. Not directly on topic, but if the charge resonable fees, they wont generate lots of cash.

Same here. I wouldnt claim to foresee the future, it was bought for a different reason, but a 5KVA disel gennie is looking like a good thing to have about.

deleted. didnt read your post properly.

Whilst doing some upgrade to your insulation while you are there makes sense, im not sure why anyone would ask building control either way. id just crack on and do what you need to do.

Agreed. Wont happen though. That much you can be sure of.

3.5 as an average through a whole winter seems optimistic to me. In which case oil is just about there in being the most cost effective. The good news oil pices are not directly linked to gas. Yes they have gone up, but nothing like the same. Knowing how government works these days i guess extra tax incoming on heating oil.

With prices where they are going, oil will be the cheapest form of heating available. Becuase it not linked to the price of gas. I just filled my tank 2 weeks ago, which, happily, was the day it was its lowest before it went back up again.

Especially a Perkins Prima unit on single stage injectors

Whilst not MOT exempt, my maestro diesel van (perkins FTW) might be seeing more action. does over 60MPG. Or will do again just as soon as i get the injection pump swapped out for my shiny new one.

Its already happening. Restricted kitchen hours seems to be the thing at the moment. But little in the way of reporting.

No help so far. at all. Insolvencies up 20% on 2019 levels so far this year. Lots of reasons why, most of them obvious, but plenty of companies are not in a position to weather a storm significantly greater than covid. Unless government do something pretty radical, its going to be grim.

Because you live in the real world! But you are right, there is no reason that renewables have gone up. Other than the way the market is contructed. Which of course is in the interests of those who did the constructing. HMG, could resolve that tommorow. But they wont. They will print more cash and give it gas companies.