Crofter

We have a house on THTC and we've had to move to OVO now. No word yet on the tariff coming to an end, but I've heard rumours from other parts of Scotland. If they do end it, my problem is that simply switching to E7/E10/standard won't be itself be an option. My heaters are controlled by the time switch, they do not have any timers they I can control. It's not going to be very fair on little old ladies with the same type of installation as me to expect to have to get a sparky to install the necessary timers/controls, out of their own pocket. Hopefully there will be some sort of grant to cover this.

I do hope it's implemented this way. Our local (SNP) MSP has been pretty critical about this. I wonder how much leeway individual councils will have?

The choice of heating system doesn't really affect the humidity (assuming you're not using some sort of open flame gas heater, which will spew out moisture). But the advantage of ASHP, of whichever type, is that they convert one unit of electricity in to three or four units of heat, so compared to basic electric heating you can have the house much warmer. Anything you can do to raise the temperature will help. In theory the air movement of A2A might help eliminate dead spots where damp air can linger. But if you under-spec the A2A you can end up with high airflow rates which will lead to noise and drafts. I'm in the process of planning an A2A install myself but can't report back any actual feedback yet...

Yes, it's a different version of ASHP. The outside unit (with the fan) looks the same. It's also the same thing as air conditioning, you're just running it in reverse. A conventional ASHP heats water for radiators or underfloor heating. A2A heats (or cools) air directly. They tend to be more efficient and easier to install, making them cheaper. The main downside is that there are no grants available for them. If you're looking for A2A heating, it's easier to just look for air conditioning, it's the same thing.

That's neat, but very expensive, and doesn't appear to take an AC input? Not sure what the balancing is all about for a DC immersion... I thought you'd just need to make sure it had enough volts and amps? I'm probably looking at a 600w DC immersion at 12v, so 50A draw. Use a Victron Battery Protect to switch it on and off according to voltage. Undecided on the battery, in theory any old lead acid would do but I imagine the system will work better with e.g. 100Ah LFP instead. But there goes another £200...

I'm kicking about some ideas for how to make a dent in my electricity bills without having to spend thousands on a big MCS approved PV/battery project. Currently have a direct UVC. Plan A: swap the existing bottom immersion element for a dual voltage AC+DC version. Wire up the AC side as usual, then DC side goes to a couple of panels, small battery, charge controller, possibly some sort of low voltage disconnect relay. Should be able to put something together for £250-£500 depending on how powerful I want it. Thoughts? Plan B would involve using grid tie equipment instead, but I don't see that coming in anywhere near the cost for my basic off grid approach. It would obviously have advantages though.

Plastic should be installed on the warm side of any insulation, to prevent moist air from entering the insulation and condensing as it reaches the cooler outside layers. Especially important in timber frame buildings, but it's always good to keep your insulation dry.

You can saw the bottom off a door though 😁 We did a loft conversion in our previous house, that was only 2m headroom. Sailed through the building warrant process without a hitch. That was in Scotland, in about 2009, well before this forum existed.

That looks very handy. Did you have a height limit for the PV?

The '3 caravans' allowance probably isn't going to help me much. I don't know if there are restrictions on who can stay in the 'van or for how long, other than the April to September limit, which would actually be ok for us. The main problem for us is that whatever we put on the site is going to have to stay there. I've made a rough footpath up the hill but it's hard to get as much as a wheelbarrow up it. I'm currently leaning towards the idea of a 12m² ground mount solar array (within PD) and then boxing it in. A bit smaller than I'd ideally like but I could make it work.

So the key phrase seems to be "free-standing solar panels". Googling that brings up news that the Scottish parliament are set to approve an increase to 12m². https://www.savills.co.uk/blog/article/358468/commercial-property/unpacking-changes-to-the-planning-process-for-solar-energy-in-scotland.aspx#:~:text=The%20permitted%20development%20announcement%20in,up%20to%2012%20sq%20m).

Does anybody have a link to a definitive source for the 9m² limit? I've come across some reference to a maximum height of 4m and, possibly, maximum 3m in each other dimension. But I'm not sure how authoritative this is, and whether it applies to Scotland.

Yes it's an owner occupied croft. I'd forgotten about the three caravans provision- I'll need to look up the details on that, there might be something useful there. I highly doubt that I would get planning permission for any sort of conventional house in this location, so I think the hutting approach, which ought to be a bit more lenient on planning, is the way to go. I doubt I'll actually go as large as 30m², I don't think it's necessary and I want this to be a pretty simple, fast, and cheap project. Having to carry everything on to site by hand up a steep hill will definitely put a limit on how big I want to go! It's a shame that Highland Council are now charging nearly a grand for planning. That's a pretty big dent in the budget 😞

Stick build on site is probably the way I'll go. I could make up panels down at my shed and carry them up, but they'd have to be pretty small or else they'll be too heavy to carry. So it may not be worth it. There's some very steep and narrow sections on the path. I like the idea of DIY borax treated sheep's wool for insulation, and using as much reclaimed and secondhand material as I can. It's basically all the things I wanted to do with the cottage (see profile pic) but was too afraid or constrained to actually do. But because this is entirely for our own use we can build it exactly the way we want. We've also spent the last three years living on a 39ft sailing boat so we're very used to compact spaces and how they work. Shouldn't be any problems with damp if we build on bearers. The ground itself is pretty rocky, with a very shallow layer of soil, and a steep slope.

I'm feeling another project coming on. Ten years ago the Scottish Government defined a 'hut' as a small (30m² or less) building designed for intermittent/temporary recreational habitation, built using low impact materials and designs, generally assumed to be off grid and at the end of life removable leaving little trace on its site. They are not subject to building regulations but you do need planning. It's up to individual local authorities to grant planning for huts as they see fit, but the SG was certainly trying to encourage more of them to be built. Anyway. We've got a lovely piece of land up the back behind the house, it's just very rough heather but there's a good view and it's very peaceful up there. I really fancy putting up a hut, entirely for our own use. In the height of summer we could spend short spells up there while renting out our own house, or it could be overspill for when family come to stay. And it would be a great place to get away and indulge in some 'me time', play the guitar, do a spot of writing... I know @Tennentslager has built a hut, but that was on an established site and in a different local authority. I can't find any sort of policy from Highland Council about hutting. Anybody on here have any experience or advice? My proposed site is well outside of the normal building line. It would be a five minute walk up a steep field to reach the hut- zero possibility of vehicle access, which is kind of the point for me. Everything will have to be carried on to the site so no concrete or masonry of any kind. I'd like to design something that blends in to the landscape as much as possible. A turf/heather roof is almost a given, and timber and/or corrugated iron for the walls. I'm wondering if the windows can be set at a slight angle to prevent them from creating obvious reflections. I think my main constraint might be height. I want this hut to sit low to the ground, but all the best small house designs tend to use sleeping platforms. I love the idea of them, but it's pretty hard to wedge in a bed on top of another useable space without the whole thing getting too tall. Any advice, experience, or encouragement welcome!

A lot of Nordic houses use quite traditional designs with generous eaves overhangs and steep roof pitches. All of which will protect the wooden cladding and will minimise any water ingress from roof damage. In Scotland we're using similar materials but the fashion is to do away with overhangs completely, and have flatter roof pitches. I've seen some pretty poor quality larch cladding. It's all in the details. Don't bring it down so low that it gets backsplash. Use full boards at openings, don't just cut a bit out of the board and expose end grain. It means that you need to be more careful with your board spacing but it's worth it.

I agree, we have too many subsections in general. The forum structure was largely inherited from its predecessor. (Sorry for the thread drift)

We have a fairly small turbine (80kw, 46m tip height) 220m from the house. It's a pretty agricultural piece of equipment. In light airs it slowly turns, about 60rpm, and makes a loud 'clunk' on each revolution. In stronger winds you can't hear it at all. It's a bit annoying since it's clearly generating no useful power in those light winds, and a simple software change would probably be enough to eliminate the noise altogether.

Typically (see what I did there) the tip height is the highest point that the finished turbine can reach, so tower height plus radius of rotors.

If you build without PP,it's possible that you could be forced to demolish it. I don't think you've got any option other than to pause the project while you get PP. Probably not the news you want to hear.

Wow has this really been five years!? In the end I took off all the surrounds inside and measured up directly. The local joiner who I asked to check my measurements never showed up so I just had to take the plunge. Everything fitted perfectly. Getting the old windows out was by far the hardest part of the job. A recip saw would have been a huge help. I did try using a multi tool but the depth of cut just isn't there and you only get a few nails done with each blade, at about a fiver a go. The most fun part was turning the kitchen window in to French doors. Very satisfying. A few years prior I wouldn't have dreamt of doing all this work myself but it's amazing what you can do when you just roll up your sleeves and get on with it.

Well not to rub it in but currently in the British Virgin Islands. Pretty idyllic until you get to a shop and it's US$12 for a loaf of bread. Fortunately we stocked up on flour in one of the French islands which are less extortionate. Living on the boat for a few years has really shown me how you can live with the minimum of resources. We literally live off sunshine and rainwater. I have a sail for my dinghy and most of the time don't need to use the outboard. So we can go weeks at a time without using any fossil fuels at all. Our main engine is diesel but we don't move that often, and try to only do longer trips on days when we can do the bulk of the journey under sail. Of course, there is some outsourcing going on- we use buses and launderettes, and almost all of the food here is imported.

Moody 39 from the late 70s. So a very basic old tub of a thing. With a little lateral thinking it wasn't too hard to find space for 1200w of solar (200w of that charges the old lead acid system which I kept in place as a backup, the main lithium system uses the remaining 1kw)

I used to think people were daft to pay the Victron premium. But their prices have come down recently and now that I've got a few bits of Victron gear I completely understand why it's the most popular choice.

Yup, that's home, but I'm away travelling on the boat for a few years just now.