Roger440

Thats exactly how i did my garage foundation. I cant say it was difficult. An adjustable square and a saw with adjustable angle blade was all i needed. Any slight inaccuracies i filled with foam afterwards. The most difficult bit was getting the sand on the 45 degree slopes right. Im no groundworker, though when the concrete guys turned up, they asked who did it as it was the best insulated raft prep they had ever seen! I gather the standard approach is not to worry too much on the accuracy of whats under the unsulation as it cant be seen. To my mind, thats a nonsense. If there are voids under it, that might cause long term trouble. If i recall the insulation called for a +/- of 10mm per meter accuracy.

Use a needle scaler. What i did to clean the bricks back to actual brick. Sure, it degrades the faces, but so does chipping off the plaster if its stuck and the bricks are soft. Good base for lime plaster though.

Thanks

Are you able to link to this please for those of us not on the inside loop?

Likewise here.

If you are going run a generator, you want batteries too. Then, when it runs, it runs at full load, its peak efficency. Without batteries, then yes, its hoplessly inefficent. I did look at an off grid property. This looked helpful. Full turnkey solution. https://www.energy-solutions.co.uk/residential For the OP, if you have to be off grid, and you are spending the money anyway, just make more electricity and bin the wood burning and just use the ASHP. The marginal cost cant be much more assuming it resonably well insulated.

This^^^^ For the most part the whole building control process is a joke, a bad one at that. They are only there to ensure that minumum requirements are met. In reality they dont even manage that. System is broken. Needs fixing. Wont get fixed.

You are easily offended! However, you did fail to mention some of those key details!

The principle is, water doesnt leave your property any faster AFTER you have built than it did before. Even rain landing on a sloping field will take time to get to the river, what doesnt soak into the ground. If its a field the top surface will be absorbent to some degree. If you just pipe it from your roof to the river, it will get there much quicker and contribute more to a flood condition than if your house wasnt there. I'll admit to it being a subject closer to me than most as i have a river in my garden, which has paid me a visit. What really frustrates me is that often, compliance is simply not there. Even when it is, ridiculous ideas like permable paving, which EVERYONE involved knows wont stay working without reguatly being dug up, get implemented. Box ticked, job done. But its not really. Just a handy get out. Meanwhile, the risk of flooding just keeps going up. Because people keep allowing run off into streets rivers etc. Rant over. You need an attenuation system. If you get away with less in your situation, you have simply worked round the requirements and contributed to the problem.

This ^^^^ Except if on clay, its an attenuation chamber you need.

Why would the mass flow rate be the same?

Good work Surely, aside from changing the buckets, just double or quadruple or whatever the number of wheels? If you have 6, then it will generate 6 x more power. Plus effiecency improvements from new buckets and a better geberator.

Im struggling with the absolutely silient bit. So, middle of the night, on a still night, you cant tell the difference with it on or off?

Be sure to keep us updated. The appeal of ST is that its DIY-able more easily. And hence much cheaper. The actual level of efficency is rather unimportant if it gets the job done in a cost effectve manner. Computers and software are something i reallk dont want involved if at all possible. Partly because i struggle with them, and partly because they are invariably more unreliable than what they are managing, and always unsupported 5 mins after you bought them. Of course, you do need space for large tanks.

This ^^^^^. Or even the ones that you fill di-ionised water. If all you want is the ambience, then either of these will do it. Beats deliberately trying to kill yourself. We removed wood burner. When i actually finish the room, one of the water ones will go in . Something like this. https://www.dimplex.co.uk/optimyst If you are as well insulated as you suggest, an actual log burner is a bit bonkers, just from a heat perspective.

Very much so. Cash flow is always a problem, but right now, its about being on the ball enough to know which of your input costs are going up and adjusting what you charge accordingly. If you are too slow, you will get caught out as your margins will erode. Fast. The days of once or twice a year price increase is gone. Stick with that and you will almost certainly be in trouble. Easy to say, less easy to do. In our case, its a several day excercise to update the various systems and websites with new pricing, advising trade accounts, doing price lists etc.

Thanks. You are braver than me. It would worry me forever more.

Can i ask what you used?

Wishful thinking when you consider that 99% of houses with a decent EPC will be hideous boxes crammed on in estates. And still poorly built. If you want to live in something "nice" its likely to be old. In circa 6 years of looking at potential houses for my final move, ive not seen a single "newer" house that ticked most of the boxes. The only viable alternative is to build one. Which of course is why we are here.

Thats not likely as estimates vary between £100-200k per household between now and 2050. No government is going to be upfront about that. Its also not feasible without a very substantial reduction in living standard.

This ^^^. If you just look at it as "money for chums", all of a sudden lots of stuff makes sense. Like 0% on Insulation only if its installed by an "authorised" firm. Who owns a lot of these firms? Chums, donors etc. Or if you fancy a slightly less clear cut, tin foiliy theory, the WEF vision. Which is essentially the transfer of all wealth from the many to the few. Well underway as we speak. Once the recession is over, one guess to who the winners and losers will be.

Id hazard a guess that the cap stone have a groove on the underside to stop the water tracking back to the wall. I forget the correct terminolgy. The motar probably doesnt have that so water tracks back. Extend the groover through the motar with a grinder. Job jobbed. As Radian says, suspect the bricks were damp. Assuming its a cement based render, id expect that to fail at some point.

Handily, the forklift barely gets used. Just occasionally when needed. Makes no semse to have it really, but as i own it, it comes in useful. even when i di use it, it will be for 20 mins. Im unable to identify battery capacity More research required..

Late to the party as always, but im all ears! Mechanical relays and timers. No electronics. Ace. Good as this thread is, its lost me a little on the electronics side. Have you expanded on this anywhere on the forum? Building opposite at work has a massive solar array thats never been connected. And isnt going to be. Im hoping they take it as part of the works they are doing. That aside, its occured to me i have a forklift. It has batteries. Is this another money saving opportunity?

I did most of mine with a needle gun. Air powered, so quite light. A trelawney one. Had it years, great piece of kit and can just get away with a 1.5hp portable compressor. Damaged the surface of the bricks a bit, but the prying the plaster off was doing the same as they were very soft. As it was being replastered, not really a problem