Ralph

You can use coaxial cables for LAN but you will need MoCA Adapters. You need to find the start and end point of each run of cables and plug in a MoCA at each end which you can then use to extend your wifi or plug in a device You can buy a coax continuity tester for about £20. It comes in two parts one with a little speaker, put one in each end of the coax if they are both on the same run you hear a tone from the speaker. I looked at it for our last house when we started working from home but in the end just went for a TP Mesh system.

We have a single large porcelain slab at the back door, laid on a full bed of motor on top of a compacted sub base. There's clearly not enough of a fall as water sits on it. Do you think I need to lift the whole slab up and re lay it or can I dig out some of the sub base along the front to increase the fall? I'm really trying not to damage it as we don't have any spare and I'm pretty sure they have been discontinued.

Reminds me of damp student flats with portable gas fires in winter.

From what I understand the water vapour given off is minimal, it's not like it is enough to condense or anything.

We are all electric as well which is one reason we were looking at a WBS. However the stove idea is becoming more and more complicated with the standing seam, cedral cladding, external flue etc. I've been thinking about an electric fire downstairs within a media wall and a bioethanol in the upstairs living room. Mainly just to supplement the ASHP and have a bit of a focal point. My concern about the electric is that it might look naff and the concern about the bioethanol is that it won't give out much heat and is expensive.

Over the years a few people on hear have talked about getting a bioethanol fire. Has anyone gone ahead and what are the real world experiences?

Excellent, thanks for that.

Do you mind me asking what sort of price that is?

On second thoughts that may be 1 meter in Scotland

I think the one that affects us is to make it 600mm above the top of the velux

Yeah, we just need to make sure the fitter is neat. I mocked up a pic and I guess it might be OK.

I think we are going to have to go out the wall. Solid stays is really the only option especially with the wind we get here. It's starting to feel like job not worth doing.

That's a thought. The flue will have to be almost as tall as the roof line to avoid the velux windows we have. The only thing that bothers me about coming out the roof is how crap the roof flashing will look on our standing seam.

Thanks @ProDave It would be coming up through an open plan floor. In the image below the stove would be to the left of the TV. I suppose the other option would be to put it in the corner so it comes up through the floor near that upright radiator. We could remove the radiator, it's never on.

We are getting prices for installing a wood burner. The flue is likely to be exiting the wall on the ground floor which is a Scotframe closed kit. The wall is load bearing so has load bearing studs in it which obviously I would need to avoid, I'm pretty sure they are at 600mm. I've marked the general area for the flue in the image below. My understanding is that I would need to cut a 320mm hole for the flue to accommodate the twin wall, fireproof collar etc. Does that sound about right? I will be getting a HETAS installer to do the work, I just wanted to see if it was feasible.

We all know they don't work in poorly insulated and leaky houses so that's fair enough. However, there is a political bias when it comes to ASHP. Google Telegraph and heat pumps then google The Guardian and heat pumps and you get this,

We used a smooth cement board

Here's the detailing from our plans. We used Cedral rather than timber but I would assume the principle is the same

We found this really tricky and went round and round. We must have had a dozen different ones. Some based on the history of the area or old gaelic names. Some on the geography or things like trees. Eventually it came down to it being a black barn style house and we have a fox that visits, Black Fox Barn. Makes about as much sense as anything else and is easy to spell for people.

Congratulations. It's always interesting looking back at these stages. I used to post progress photos on Facebook for relatives and often get a surprise when I see them pop up in Facebook memories alerts. I had one today as we started ground works 3 years ago to the day.

We thought about that for our build and I recall it being about £20k for a basic lift that could take a wheelchair

Now that is an idea. I had to get some forester contacts out at the weekend to cut up a fallen oak. He had a new STIHL with 36" bar on it that caused a bit of chainsaw envy.

Now that solves a mystery...

That's not a bad cost, would you mind telling me who is doing the PCC?

We're in a similar position to yourself for similar reasons. For us a 10 year Professional Consultants Certificate from Build Warranty was £2,800 whereas a Structural was £7,950, even better if a lender wont want anything at all. We did try a couple of brokers but they were of very little use. I'd be interested to hear if you find a lender that does not require one.