Temp

Many power supplies including those in a PC or laptop use high frequency switching. Usually it's above 20kHz to try and prevent it being audible. Explains why only kids might hear it. You might be able to google the make and model to find out what your uses. Sometimes it's more audible on one example than another so switching the inverter might help, but could conceivably make it worse. Occasionally manufacturers have an issue with a component like a capacitor vibrating and will use some hot melt glue to stick it to another component or the pcb to try and prevent it. I don't recommend doing this yourself for a bunch of safety reasons. eg could cause overheating, fire etc PS: Sometimes the switching frequency is modulated by the load and that can make it even more annoying (You could conceivably make it play tunes not that this helps any).

I read that DiseqC switches are normally backwards compatible with older LNB - but it suggests there can be compatibility issues.

Using www.Fast.com I get 49Mbps to a reasonably modern PC over wire and 44-46 Mbps to an old Android Tablet over wire and Wifi , 38-40Mbps to a moto G5 over wire and wifi. Perhaps not the greatest test but that's about the limit of our fibre and wire connection.

There are mushroom vents but you don't really want those cluttering up the deck. I would switch to a "warm roof" (insulation above the structural elements) if possible but the increased thickness might be an issue?

You may not need anyone to do the drainage design, at least not for planning purposes. You might be able to write it up yourself but it depends on a few things.. Is there a sewer in the road? In which case you might only need to say: "Foul drainage will be connected to the main sewer in the road, details to be agreed with Building Control". If there isn't easy access to a sewer then they will want details of the sewerage treatment plant you propose to use. There are people on this forum that can probably recommend one. What sort of soil do you have and do you know if soakaways work? On free draining soil you might get away with saying that "The ground is free draining and rainwater will be discharged to soakaways, dimensions and locations to be agreed with Building Control". If you are on clay or soil that's not free draining you might need to prove that soakaways will work. This is usually done by doing a "percolation test" which involves digging a hole and filling it with water. There are "site investigation" or "ground works" companies that will do this. If you also need a "soil condition report" to design the foundations you can save money by employing the same company to do both at once. Can also save money if you provide the digger and driver. So best case you might only need to write a short letter to satisfy the planners and more details for Building Control later.

Thanks. At the moment I have a Billion BiPack 8800NL router (with internal wifi) and a pair of DrayTek AP 800's. All connected together by wire and a Netgear switch. All same network, no subnets. All IP addresses mobile or wired are allocated by DHCP in the router. Doesn't look like any of this kit supports 802.11r but as it all works very well otherwise I guess I can live without the seamless roaming. I reverted to different SSID when I couldn't get the seamless roaming to work. Aside: The wifi in the Billion router seems good considering it doesn't have an external antenna. Better than the Draytek or Linksys stuff I've had previously.

Make bread dough and get yourself some bamboo poles. Wind strips of dough around the ends and toast over the fire. One hand for the pole, the other for a cold beer.

Never measured the humidity in our house but it only seems too dry in winter (which is when humidity is lowest outdoors I think).

I have several WiFi access points in my house. In theory it's possible to set them all up with the same SSID so that you can walk around the house while streaming music to your phone. Ive never managed to get his to work. Has anyone? Typically mobile devices will log into the strongest signal and stay logged into that one unless you manually switch or stop and restart streaming. Not really a big issue but would be nice to know if anyone has done this.

Bit of black electrical tape fixes that :-)

It would be tempting to over fill with insulation (horizontal sheets without foil) and run a hot wire down the rafters.

I once ran out of diesel and used petrol to get a bonfire going. Big mistake. The petrol trickles down through the wood evaporating as it goes. You end up with a mix of fuel and air also known as a fuel-air-bomb or Thermobaric weapon... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon . The blast was quite impressive. My eyebrows have grown back so I look like Dennis Healy. I recommend waiting a few weeks after its been cut for all/any green leaf to dry out. It will burn more easily with less smoke.

That means they probably have at least outline planning permission. Worth getting that and any other documentation from the planners web site if you haven't already to see if there are any novel planning conditions. You could also consider getting things like a copy of the title deeds from the land registry web site (beware fake web sites). If the land already has an address it's only a few £ and you get it instantly by email. This would include details of any covenants. I suspect the land might not have been divided up yet so the site plan might not tell you much about the plots. If the access road is going to be adopted by the council in the future it will have to be constructed to a certain standard. In some areas it's common for councils to want to wait a year after completion before they will adopt the road. This isn't really something to get too concerned about but you might keep any eye out for it being mentioned in paperwork or get your solicitor to see if there is anything in the sales contract. For example if they are building it now then you can expect kerbs to be damaged by delivery lorries (yours or to other plots) during construction. Lots of mud on the tarmac etc. Ideally the developer should be liable for fixing all this so its in a fit state to be adopted at some point in the future. On the mortgage... If you are using a mix of cash and mortgage think about which to spend first. For example many mortgage companies release money at fixed stages. If you spend all your cash on the plot then you are tied into the payment schedule the mortgage company wants during the build. If you can use mortgage money to buy the plot and retain cash for the build then you have a great deal more flexibility. The down side is you start paying interest sooner. Some combination or middle way might be best. Sorry if this is obvious but whatever payment schedule the mortgage company insist on you want to agree a similar schedule with the builder. Ideally you want payments to the builder to lag behind the mortgage but be aware some lenders only pay in arrears. eg they only pay out for a stage once that stage is finished. I'm not sure how many lenders will lend against the plot but perhaps others can comment. Consider agreeing to retain a percentage of the build cost for up to a year after completion for snagging etc Our builder allowed us to retain a percentage of each stage payment. On the design front.. Have a think about fitting some sort of whole house vent system with heat recovery. These are becoming increasingly popular with self builders. Allows you to have good ventilation in your well sealed/insulated house without the heat loss of trickle vents.

50 page thread here on that saga.. http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=9305&page=1 Latest is the neighbour was ordered (?) to raise the height of their chimney but they/the court want Mikee to sign a Tomlin Order which as I understand it amounts to an acceptance of the solution. This is discussed at the end of the thread currently page 54.

Heard a minister being interviewed on this on Radio 4. They plan to give councils the power to ban the burning certain types of fuel only. Wet wood was mentioned as was a high sulphur coal but not all coal. How they plan to police this god knows. They could ban the sale of unseasoned or wet wood but apparently it will still be legal to sell it. This means trading standards cant just check garage forecourts, wood yards or delivery lorries. It would need a neighbour to complain and then the council EHO would have to come check what you are burning. My dealings with the EHO on other matters suggest they don't have the time or money to take on more work. Do they even have the powers to search your property? Putting this on the council is a standard ploy. It allows the government to claim to be doing something yet at the same time blame the councils if it doesn't work out or lots of people complain.

According to Eizabeth Campbell (Leader of kensington and Chelsea council) speaking on the World at One today, the cost of rehousing the 210 households affected has reached £250 million. That's about £1.2m per household, yet only 74 households are in permanent new houses.

Welcome Claire, Sorry if you know all this but... Make sure you do your due diligence checks on the plot. Over the years there have been a lot of scams involving "building plots" that stand no chance of getting planning permission. In some cases owners end up with land they cant even access to maintain. Essential you use a solicitor of your own choosing and ideally one that has done conveyancing on building plots not just completed houses. Under no circumstances use a solicitor the seller recommends or take up their offer to do the legal work. Many solicitors, even good ones, never even visit the site so you need to be extra careful to ensure you are buying what you think you are. If you haven't got a 60m tape measure it might be worth buying one to do your own mini survey to compare with the plans used to register the plot.

We opted for a clothes horse style floor mounted towel rail. Then when I arrived on site I found the plumber mounting it so close to the wall that you couldn't get a towel between it and the wall. Not impressed. Had to shoot off to the plumbers merchant to get him some chrome pipe and fittings so he could put it in a sensible place.

Looks good. If you plan to treat the oak I recommend Osmo UV protection oil rather than Danish.

I'm still trying to figure out how he damaged the door (traditionally located on the front of a dishwasher) when working on a sink cut-out (traditionally located on the work top)??? Oh I see.... he was using the dishwasher as a work bench! I've found the Bosch spares service quite good when I've ordered bits but do my own repairs. There isn't much to go wrong on a dishwasher. The heating element failed after 10 years but easily replaced. The element is printed onto the outside of a metal tube. Scale on the inside caused local overheating of the printed element.

I actually quite like the converted black barn look but my out building is really just a shed and I'm on the Cambs/East Northants border.

Planners wanted me to paint an oak clad out building "barn black". Not a chance. So I sent them a bit of wood painted black using paint from my children's painting set. Told them it was "barn black" and they approved it. I stained the cladding light brown. Nobody ever came to check.

If the annoying neighbor puts up a CCTV camera... https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-cctv-using-cctv-systems-on-your-property/domestic-cctv-using-cctv-systems-on-your-property See paragraph 2. This suggests that if a CCTV covers areas outside your property it's no longer exempt from the data protection act. https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/cctv That has implications like the need for warning signs and means anyone filmed can ask for copies of recordings.

I don't think you need a ventilated void under the metal roof because all of the structural woodwork (rafters) are on the warm side of the insulation. Any condensation should run harmlessly down the membrane. I would double check with the metal roof supplier just in case they want a ventilated void under the metal or other reasons? Such as preventing corrosion/rust?

Important to use the right cable for long runs and high loads. If my memory serves me correctly the max allowed voltage drop due to cable losses is around 5% (about 11.5V). So a 30A load on a minimum size cable could dissipate 345W. Bigger cable might get the drop down to 2-3V which is still 60-90W.