MikeSharp01

My plan is to have it so the switches work the lights, as you via the Solid State Relays, directly when I (or somebody) close these terminals. There are some situations where some hard wired logic is required EG for double and triple controlled lighting circuits but this can be done straightforwardly and thereby allow the switch out the control system in the middle.

Some of us have / can but where does this leave the next occupier of the home, or your family if you are no longer about, for whatever reason (EG Divorce / death). It seems to me however that if you document your work carefully a competent person should be able to look after it / find someone who can - it is the way we are going although we will put conventional wiring in back to the control panel which a competent sparks could re-wire conventionally if needed. There may even be gold in them there Hills!

Yes but by April it might be 30p! - starts to make a bit more sense. Our Washing machine runs 4 loads a week so that is £1:20 PW or £62 PA sounds like not much but anything cut by 20% is a 20% saving, its just a scale thing in the end. If we all used 20% less the demand would decrease and so would the price - economics 101, although 102, or some such, says if you are a monopoly supplier then you don't have to obey 101!

The big challenge with wind is the site. If you don't have an open enough site (360 degree uninterrupted wind) the output is massively reduced. This is quite a useful document: https://www.cse.org.uk/downloads/reports-and-publications/community-energy/planning/neighbourhood-planning-wind-guidance.pdf and this http://www.windandsun.co.uk/information/wind-power/wind-power-siting-and-planning.aspx#.Yd6KdGg6phE

Perhaps 2 layers of tin foil and 4 layers of bubble wrap then When I used this many years ago it had multiple foil layers separated by what looked like fleece (thinsulate)

Not sure they can. Looks like the holes don't line up so would need a carefully constructed solvent weld assembly to achieve same shape and not sure if connection in wall is accessible.

You should be fine, its right up against the bowl so easy to clear if it does block but also these are designed to go in these situations - it looks like your incoming pipe does not line up with the frame center so unless you get a multiangle join, which have their own problems or create a offset joiner in solvent weld a flexi pipe is all you have really.

Welcome to the forum. Interesting perspective. We have three poles and 5 stay wires on our land here and 1 pole and 1 stay on our project site in Whitstable.

Nope, provided you provision for it, you need to keep plaster board above the screed line and you are happy that the screeding costs will rise. as its a more complex job.

Can you brace the front end to the house, photo makes it look possible, this would give considerable stability. The stiffness is OK at the back but the front will be somewhat wobbly. You can probably sort this with diagonal bracing the rear wall down the side walls (high up at rear to low down on side walls), unless you have thick boarding 8x4 sheets as side cladding, and then relying on the stiffness of the roof and side walls to stiffen the front but I would not rely on it. Naturally the door can help but this will depend on door type and locking mechanism. Do you need the full height all the way down, 1.98m will get a discovery in but you won't get out with any ease / if at all? If not you can consider diagonal bracing inside.

Welcome to the forum. You perhaps need to look at local custom and practice, has anybody done the swap, garage for dwelling elsewhere - I think this should be possible. Round here, Sevenoaks, I am confident it would be because if they are counting it as part of house then logically it must be equivalent. Which taken to extremes would mean you could knock down both and build new against the same area. The only thing that worries / interests me is the 117% would they accept only to 100% overall or could you get up to, for instance, 110%? Again what is the local plan saying, not sure these apply any more anyway, and what has been the practice. Are there any places in the area where a complete 'knock down and start again' has been given permission for more area than the sum of the previous parts? Finally have a look at what is coming down the track in terms of planning changes that may allow it in the medium term.

Welcome to the forum. If the ceiling is a fire barrier you can bring them down through intumescent cable transits EG these: https://www.beele.com/application/cable-transits/ but this is probably overkill for most domestic applications unless there are special circumstances.

We purchased a load of agricultural black plastic and sheeted it up tp keep it dry.

Need to be sure that none of your equipment needs InfraRed (IR) remote control as IR struggles to get through much other than air.

Our curtain does not go to the ceiling or the floor - never noticed any uneven temperature, but hey its your shower so you must do what you think is right for you and yours.

Cripes that's an expensive loo roll holder! We use a standard shower curtain across the shower portion of our wet room, the one here is less than 2m square and the loo roll is out in the open but never gets wet. You could buy around 10 show curtains for the cost of that holder, you can mix up the aesthetic with them as well and it allows a wheel chair user to get in there without the problems of maneuvering round a glass screen. The new place will take the same basic approach.

Welcome to THE forum for people like us. Your right it is daunting but you can start from the outside in! As in, think about the sort if location you are looking for and then think generally about the style of house you want that might suit the location. This latter choice can be worked out before the location but it seems to me that the house should follow the place. That does not stop you thinking about things like wether it will be a passive house and for location how far you want to be from civilisation / broadband / water / electricity / .... Great to dream though.

If they said equivalent then it should be equivalent, get your money back and find one that meets your (the UK standard) spec.

Many thanks for that - I found that out of the box I could get them connected but those I had tried would not work - so now I have the on-off-on-off-on-off-on sequence I can probably get them back to slow flashing as out of the box.

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.