Big Neil

Just a cursory look of spanish roof slates at £1.09 inc VAT says approximately 20 per square meter just for the slates so allow maybe what, 10% for margin including wasteage X 24m2 makes £575.52 in slate alone. So take that off the figure above, and you're down to about £2500. That by itself is only 16 years, and the cleverer members of the forum here will i'm sure figure out ways to justify around some of the rest

@Ballynoes - on the cost question - do you know the roof covering you're having? I can't think of a reason why for example you couldn't tell your main contractor what to get, where to get it from and then have him factor the installation into the job as a whole. You could have the best of both worlds then, i.e. panels and mounting kits you have paid for yourself, fitted by a competent installer. I reckon we can get that 6 grand down for you by tons. First pass just clicking on the midsummer system builder is £2959.96 on materials alone.... There must be an installer here - i know there is just can't remember who - who could put a fag packet to the connection cost?

@willbish - see link for https://en.irfts.com/easy-roof-evolution/ @PeterW - do you mean www.wagner-renewables.com - these chaps?

@willbishI probably wasn't too clear but what i effectively meant was look at what the roofing inc materials and labour would cost for that same area, deduct that from the total solar cost inc installation (as you'd have to cover your roof with something), that then being the cost one must recoup. Include as @ProDave mentions the cost of 6k being pretty high in that case, and use say 4k as a benchmark and it makes the question easier to answer.

oooo - would you throw the link up when you have a chance later please. Same Panels??

It certainly seemed to me whilst looking around that installed prices remain stunningly high. Ever since I think it was @PeterStarckturned me on to Midsummerwholesale i've been obsesssed with looking for value panels, to understand the case for paying premium towards the likes of sunpower, LG etc. So far, all black mono Perlight at £80.50+vat for 285 watt is the best value per £ I can find and even when you take efficiency into consideration it becomes harder to justify those higher premium prices.

I'm sure you had considered this anyway, but as it's a new build you could justifiably offset the panel cost against the roofing material cost, as others have suggested elsewhere in the past I believe. NOw I don't know what your roofing material is planned to be, but there's a cost to be offset either way. 4kwp is something like 15 panels i would think depending on the maximum power, and panels are often around the 1X1.6m size so circa 22.5m2 roof plus flashings etc. I don't know what rate your roofer will lay whatever the rest of the covering is, but I don't imagine it's as fast as a competent installer doing the PV panels, so there's a justifiable cost saving there as well.

Bang on that - good to know. I suppose it's nice to have an all encompassing guarantee and not have to worry about company one saying a problem is with company two etc, but when their normal Downlights are about 70 quid a fitting, that really grates on me. I do quite like their Touch pure switches it has to be said but at £133 something a piece, i'd rather eat a moldy Badger on a rotten cabbage. Thanks Ed - will take a look.

I was thinking of this. just a sort of deep alcove off the back corner of the garage, such that it is relatively central to the house, then it could be sectioned off where required to either keep stuff cool or warm as is required. I suppose one could put an MVHR extract duct in that area to remove warm air to at least some degree??

Just to clarify, because I learn like a child, DMX is some sort of control protocol is it? So if i get the DMX extension block for the mini-server, I can then get DMX based down-lighters for example, and control them as if they were loxone own branded ones?

Just discovered this one as well just in case anyone who didn't already know is interested: http://www.smarthometechlive.co.uk/exhibitors/ In addition as it stands I have a spare ticket for both this and the HOmebuilding and renovating show the days after. If anyone fancies going to the Homebuilding show on the 28th, I'm driving down from Manchester and am happy to give anyone a lift.

Will check it out - thanks.I had heard of them before, but they were at the Self Build show in Manchester at the weekend and they had really helpful chap who made me consider it more. One of the things I couldn't quite get my head around was the cost of spots in comparison to what you can get if non-smart. Mnd you compare it to Philips Hue and it's not so offensive a price. Before I start looking at that other dirty dirty forum, can you easily summarise for me what 'Tree' is?

Given that the Loxone unit is a badged Dayton, does this mean you could swap one out for the other in a system which was otherwise designed with all loxone kit?

And just to be clear I wasn't suggesting the cable should run to Beijing. I meant behind.. the plasterboard In the ceiling.

Well if it works see how many they'll let you get away with, then put the word out on here and those of us who live near an IKEA can go pillage their spare parts... It is the metal part you want is it? Or the bit that grips from Beijing?

Might be worth wandering IKEA, then if you see a light fitting, or anything they sell really with what you need, go down to their parts area and ask them for some spares.

Wasteage issue aside, is there any reason you wouldn't hang plasterboard in landscape orientation?

grommit???

ahhh yes - good example thanks. Bloody hell an Evoque at 2 quid less than a leaf. I mean I'd still have the leaf personally all other things being equal, but I can certainly see why people make the choice.

Interesting. I stupidly hadn't considered the depreciation and lease car end of things, was just thinking from the bill payers public perception stand point, and the book price of machines like those I mentioned. So even though it would make financial sense IF you were outright buying at the Ford/Nissan end of the market, it doens'nt work to buy outright ... Is running cost or ancillary benefits a consideration, so in the case of a fully electric car, it simply costs less per mile to run and likely to insure, than say a Merc 4x4 to go back to one of the original examples. Is offset of purchase price against VAT consideration simply too insignificant to bother looking at?

Even so, certainly in respect of maybe the planning officer at least, don't you think it sends the wrong message a lot of the time? That planning officer - again assuming the car is a job perk - could just as easily be a diesel focus, a Nissan Leaf etc, which i can't believe wouldn't be cheaper than a Beemer even on a great deal.

so you had sub standard fuses and un-insulated electrical connections all over? Did your (left i think) rear lights fill up with water all the time? A friend of mine had one - never droive it but but just kept it in his lockups to jump other cars from and run occasionally, just so he could say he owned a V12. Beautiful looking car by the way. Would you have an electric converted one?

there we have it then. I saw a documentary some years ago about a guy with an original 427 cobra. 200 grands worth of car at the time, he was 42, single and effectively lived at home with his mum who was in her 80s. Horses for courses innit

It's anecdotal i suppose as he wasn't in the building trade, but my dad bought a brand new Elise 111R back in 2004, and that was a hard saved for treat so lets give them the benefit of the doubt and just say they all saved hard xx

Mind you - they could have just saved for ages and really want those cars. Just a bloody awful choice of cars IMO