FarmerN

Do you have a self sealing waste( Dry Trap ) valve fitted, or is it literally straight into a bucket? If not it may be able to draw air back into its self. Not sure what this would do but probably not ideal. My Zehnder could draw air in that way, making gurgling noises once there was condensation.

We have UFH and house is always at a comfortable temperature. The problem we have is at 9pm when you stop doing stuff, stop moving around. This is especially true for the four months mid winter when you want to be snug and cosy in the evening for a couple of hours. Our solution is to light the log burner at around 8.30 pm for literally 2 hours, just to create that felling. There must be other options. It’s not cold without the additional heat, but I find a big difference between comfort temperature doing stuff and watching telly or reading at night. Could always put a pullover on and extra socks!

Discussion of virtual fencing here on Farming Forum https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/virtual-fences-on-sucklers.443706/ Not on goats mind.

No remote operation away from home, but we ended up with theses or very similar from Hometherm. https://www.hometherm.de/rondo-NG_en.php Fine for us, on 1.5 hr morning and night heating to 50 c dries towels nicely. Main fault is they have to be reset after power cut , no matter how short.

Changed the plastic box my compressor was mounted in because of vibration noise, but now there is a little gap and a mouse has taken up residence. Chewed cable or pipe next I guess! Nothing is ever simple! The pump is quite , if you take cover off and press down on it , it’s all vibration noise.

Plus and Minus of electric Velux, it shuts if it rains ,but can’t open it again when rain stops until sensor dries out. A heavy due will close it and stop it opening. We have a manual fly screen on ours, at ceiling level, which stays shut all summer so no flies, moths, betels etc drawn in by light. We however just don’t seem to get the insects round outside lights like we used to.

We have 3 passive approved triple glazed electric Velux windows in a vaulted kitchen ceiling. Noise is not an issue for me or my wife. None in bedroom though, a small one in the hall just outside bedroom, again noise not an issue.

Just check spoil from trench for bits of land drain, clay or plastic. Up to you if you repair any old drains you cut, but at least you know they are there if a wet spot develops in future. We have GSHP , one of the down sides is a dry field is now wet !

Think about your dry verge system as well. The problem we had with a large kick up at bottom of roof was with the dry verge system on the gable end, that we had planned to use on our slate roof. We had planned to use a continuous dry verge, an aluminium pressed strip in 3M lengths , but it just would not fit because of the kick. Needed a straight edge.

We have a problem with the dishwasher connection but that’s above the trap and smells from the sink and you say “ (no smell from sink)”. Is it a drain/ sewer smell? No chance of a dead mouse under/ behind units?

It appears to be within the roof overhang, Who owns the land it’s opening into? Is it the window that’s wrong or the pavement? Agree it does no appear safe.

Our planning permission specified a ridge height, relative to ground level, but no datum for ground level. So we raised the ground level by 500 mm, no questions asked. The bungalow we knocked down was in a hole, always flooded near front and back door, and no nearby houses as reference points in our case.

Might be worth trying a Patio Sealant, though they are designed to stop stains getting into stone. No idea if it would do what you want, and might only last a season.

Also Octopus cosy, rarely pay more than 14p/unit but also have battery so increases amount of time we can use “ Off Peak”. Maybe allow 2p/unit for inefficiency of going through battery. Lowest COP in winter was 5 ( GSHP ) so a cost of about 3p/kW of heat or less. No sure what sort of COP ASHPs average in winter. We used 1800kWh electricity via heat pump in 6 months October - March for hot water and heating for our 200SqM new build bungalow, kept very warm.

We did our drive way with permeable Marshals paving, but it slopes away from to house , it sounds like your slopes towards house, so will require a very good drain channel. Ours does work well in light rain but we get run off in very heavy rain and in the gateway that gets most traffic/mud it is starting to seal after two years. Marshals say it does not clog. https://www.marshalls.co.uk/landscaping/tools-and-support/permeable-paving-suds Paving we used- https://www.marshalls.co.uk/landscaping/commercial-paving/products/tegula-permeable-paving