DavidFrancis

Ian - I'm somewhat OTT on checking our energy consumption so can give you some of our figures (obtained from a plug-in monitor and by turning things on and off and checking our smart meter) We have a combi boiler with a heat store (i.e. 60 litre built-in hot water tank) and the boiler fires up for about a minute several times a day to keep this store up to temperature. It uses about 0.1 kWh/day in the summer and about 10 times this amount in the winter. We have an old fridge freezer, the fridge of which is used for storing our drinks, and this uses about 0.7 kWh/day. Our cooker seems to use about 4 W when not in use. Our alarm uses about 10 W. Our router seems to use 4-6 W. We have a 39 inch tele and when turned off generally uses an un-registerable amount, but occasionally jumps to 40-50 W (don't know why). All in all the two of us use about 4.5 kWh/day, but we don't have any halogen ceiling lights that are used regularly and our water/heating/hob are gas. Your consumption does look a bit high to me. Perhaps you could get a plug-in meter and check some of items you refer to. Something like this (just an example, not a recommendation) https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Electrical/KKmoon-Digital-Energy-Monitor-Electricity-Electric-Monitoring/B01GPUSOXI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502208858&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=plug+in+meter&psc=1

At 20-30p a day isn't the cost about £25 a year, bringing the payback period (for GSHP over ASHP) up to 1,600 years? (PS wish our heating bill was even £250/year. It's more like £600.) But I'm with ST, have a look at straight electric heating also. It's so cheap and simple, especially if used on E7.

And futher to @Ferdinand's post, the chair of the KCTMO board and both vice-chairs are residents (rather than council-nominated or independent board members). See http://www.kctmo.org.uk/sub/about-us/20/the-board

Hope this doen't sound too doom-mongerish, but if there was an extremely strong wind before the pour, is there any chance this could all blow away? (No idea what the mesh and rebar might weigh.)

The Gridwatch figures on solar come from Sheffield Uni. This page gives their last update on capacity: https://www.solar.sheffield.ac.uk/news/capacity-update-plus-23k-new-sample-sites/

No cathedral - eight rooms exc shower/bath/utility rooms. But overall our gas/electricity bill for the year is about the UK average, I think. Approx £900.

DH - I cross-posted with you, but 100kWh should cost about £3.00. But 100 cubic metres on the other hand ....

I think 100 cubic metres is more like 1,110 kWh. But even that is good compared to our solid-stone walled house where we used about 180 kWh in ONE DAY last week, and that was with the heating set to 16C during the day/night and 18.5C in the evening.

Blimey - I think all the timber/builders merchants round here have at least some pressure-treated boards in stock, but maybe you're after something that's not all that common?

Triassic - if you've got a medium-sized car or bigger, couldn't you just put them in the back of your car if the seats go down. I used 125mm feather edge boards on my shed and you'd need maybe 80 boards for a 6 by 8 shed? Probably not that close to you, but I got my boards from Berry's in Leyland where you can inspect each and every board before you pick it - and you need to as some are a bit naff.

This probably does nothing to answer your main question, but in a strong wind I'd have thought your W forces could be considerably different one side to the other. Also possibly with wind-blown snow.

Very interesting (and those shots of the insulation are very spaceship-like!). You certainly made some progress this month. Hope the knee works out OK.

This all looks a bit smoke and mirrors to me. These homes are going to be "based on designs pioneered by Spanish specialist Barcelona Housing Systems". There's no hard detail of what this involves on the BHS web site. They have a news story listed on the main page dated October this year which says something like "BHS presents their first energy-efficient, near-zero environmental impact Spanish building", but when I try to look at the details there's nothing there.

Terry - I wasn't questioning the ethics of their link to here. It's just that BuildHub is the only "external" link in their list of links, so they must consider this forum as fairly important.

They've got a fairly prominent link to this forum on their UK web site!

If it will "stick anything to everything" with "incredible initial grab", how does it get out of the tube?!

Wasn't sure where to post this as JSH's blog on here isn't open to comment, but this thread seems fairly relevant. Just in case this get overlooked by some, in his latest installment he says he has stopped trying to control the slab temperature and has found that just using a room thermostat works far better.

Thanks. I do like the overall effect with the bricks in varying colours and that light-coloured mortar.

I've not watched all of your videos, so sorry if you've mentioned this before, but what kind of mortar are you using? It looks a rather creamy colour. Is that the sand or the cement/lime? Or are you just using a dye?

Ah - there's a four page extract available online and it includes fig 5.40 which does show a gap of 8-10mm. The extract also includes fig 2.2 (junction of vertical and horizontal cladding) where the gap looks to be a lot less than 8mm! I think in another recent thread some one talked about getting boards tight up against a corner post as if this was good.

@Sensus: as you have access to TRADA's "External Timber Cladding"! Their document "Top ten tips for timber cladding" says "where the end of a board meets a corner post detail, a gap of at least 8mm should be left to reduce the chance of water sitting against the end grain and being held there through surface tension" I assume this relates to horizontal cladding as I can't see how you can get a board end adjacent to a corner post with vertical cladding. I don't think I've ever seen a gap of 8mm between board ends and a corner post. Am I reading this right? If I am, do most people just ignore this recommendation?

Just looked at their web site and the page on cladding (http://www.duracomposites.com/cladding/composite-cladding/) says "10 year warranty and 25 year expected service life"?! Is it worth trying to see if you can use unstained cladding? Or do you not like the uneven weathering effects?

Sorry, wasn't clear enough. I'm looking to fill a crack on an internal corner and between a wooden frame and the wall. As these have cracked, I expect it's mostly because of differential movement and I was looking for a FLEXIBLE, paintable filler/sealant, like an acrylic frame sealant. Wondering if there's anything that stands out. Happy to use Toupret on cracks in a single plane of the wall, although these are nearly all less than a hair's breadth and would probably fill with paint alone.

Want to fill/seal some largish cracks at wall corners and around a internal window box (this on solid stone wall in a 19th C house). Was thinking of using SikaFlex EBT but, on checking, you can't paint over it. Used a fair bit of acrylic sealant in the past with no problems, but just wondering if there's one that's regarded as the dog's danglies as I'd rather not have to fiddle with this later. Tried searching, but "paintable filler" comes back with nothing and a plain filler on its own comes back with too much!

Thanks Steamy/Nick. Didn't realise you could do that. I can manage a CSV file OK.