MikeSharp01

Matter has a curious edge in its last objective: "Open: The Project’s design and technical processes should be open and transparent to the general public, including to non-members wherever possible." (Source: https://github.com/project-chip/connectedhomeip#readme) The whole nature of it hinges, for me, on those last 5-6 words although I appreciate the sentiment in which it is meant by accepting the fact that some aspects of the system will be propriety components. My worry is that it will be in these places we, those of us not intending to be members, will loose control of the data this system could generate / expose.

There are loads of open source "standards" out there. The big issue is data capture. All those companies listed above want to be sure they gather their share of the data about how we live our lives. I suspect the problem with my connection to these bulbs, see thread here: is to do with the fact that I have them on a private network so although I can see them they cannot see the cloud so won't talk to me. I will play some more tomorrow but if they must speak to a cloud to work then they are going back. I am happy to dial into my own cloud service and then talk back to the house but I don't want my data shared by anyone unless on a shared / open basis. I swither about developing my own system but to make future proof without me would be problematic.

Got a load of these https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Manufacturers/LEDlite/Smart_WiFi_Bulbs/index.html for new house and have been experimenting - not having the success I thought I would have. Anybody know anything about these devices, and the app they come with, other than what it says on the TLC website which is frankly, to say the least, unhelpful. I have struggled all afternoon to get a bulb configured WiFi and Bluetooth - no joy. Any thoughts, other than take them all back, anyone?

Welcome to THE forum for people like us. Sounds like an interesting project.

If only it had a walk on glazed floor it would be sublime (for @pocster).

If the wires overfly the new house you can ask for them to be re-routed, which I think is at the Lecy companies expense. In our case they went through the new build, the company did all the work at no expense to us of burying the cables and reconnecting the two poles between which the overhead wire was strung. We did have to pay to have the new connection to the house made however.

My guess is that weather compensation will be done by an AI that uses history and other factors to work out what and by how much to compensate. This is already working in some large commercial businesses.

Sounds like a bargain, I guess the materials are somewhat open ended but it still feels good - where are you?

Welcome to THE forum for people like us. Someone will be along shorty who can answer IIRC you need to get your CIL exemption sorted before you start.

Hmmmmm - you definitely need to find a solution for this otherwise any damp will rise into the walls. You may be able to inject a DPM chemical into the blocks this is done on older houses where no DPM is present. Have a look at what is out there that might be DIYable.

Is the tank steel or plastic? If there are signs of woodworm you need to get the whole roof checked unless you have evidence that it has already been treated. 18mm will spread the load across 400mm without deflection even for a plastic tank and 150mm joists is deep for loft joists but 37mm is quite narrow. Can you lift the tank? If so you could put some cross members under the ply to spread the load across more rafters but given it is supported now and as long as there is no evidence of bulging in the room below replacing the boards with ply should work OK.

Welcome to THE forum for people like us. Although we live in Kent we know Stirling well - and were there in May wandering about old haunts, hope you can find a plot that suits you.

Welcome to THE forum for people like us. 18 years of renovation sounds like a real passion, I did one over the last year with / for our daughter and that was enough for me! New build is another matter though as there is very little going backwards (Stripping off plaster, tiles, chasing out to move cables.....)

Yes but maybe be think / count to 10 before posting here until you are over the worst of it - you may live to regret the pictures! EG NEWSFLASH (Pardon the pun) "Pocster 20 million followers / voyeurs!"

A passive stack is probably going to be a good thing as it will allow cooling of the whole house. What does the cross section look like? If the loft area is not subject to the MVHR system then the door undercuts will do little to help cooling as the hot air will all gather at the top of the space. You can get automatic louvres which could work with the window in hot periods to let the air out above the doors and the opening rooflight will help the whole house cool down even more if you are able to open windows low down in the house when needed.

But make sure the architect understands your thermal aspirations as it is dead easy to design a building that won't match them - IE Window sizes and orientation, form factors etc.

Only in big picture terms, you need to show how each detail works and find the values to plug in yourself (or your architect / PHPP Consultant does).

Yep can't argue but wonder what it would be at 60MPH average?

eeeeeeeeeeeeeek! (Would a better solution be to exchange the car or the journeys)

Gas pliers for me, I find they don't lock at the size you set them and / or end up being too wide to span with one hand so you have adjust them over and over.

I was looking for one of those a few weeks back but no one had any stock - did the job with my reciprocating saw.

Is it just the surface lamination pulling away or is the worktop plywood and de-laminating internally?

Welcome to THE forum for people like us.

Might be a start, but rather a long road - just pay the £3m and be done with it.

Was it ever thus? Perhaps the former system gave an illusion of control to the 'little' people while the people who are prepared to oil the wheels from the top down, take a look at almost any (and I mean any) newspaper front page today (07.11.2021), and you will get an inkling of one of the, many many, things that are happening. For instance: (Sunday Times) pay £3m and get a seat in the house of Lords. Buy a peerage and your letter will be answered very quickly if sent to planning thus denying time for others (more lowly) to have their queries answered QED. (Your solution then is just to pay £3m and your problems will be solvable.) It is a systems thing, allow a change somewhere - give inordinately more power to a few, and it has effects throughout the system including taking any sort of control away from the many. I am sure that you will know that all systems create their outcomes perfectly - IE the current configuration of the system makes things 'exactly' as they are. These coupled to the general cutting back of funds to local authorities and your perfect, even standpoint dependent, storm is created. Looked at that way one can be forgiven for seeing the power grab / balance that has been somewhat deliberately camouflaged, and is often wholly and wrongly excused - in my view, by COVID.