jack

All of ours were installed from inside (including a 5.5m, 900+kg lift-and-slider - my wasn't that a stressful afternoon!) Surely it must be easier working off a level, stable, and higher surface?

I'm sure it often is. However, our architect provided a full window schedule, dimensions and installation sections for every window, and yet in the end the experienced, specialist installers ballsed things up in several ways.

One thing to consider: the architect that did our house used MGO-based SIPS on a project two or three before ours. He said that they'd had serious problems with the panels being curved. I can't say whether that was anything to do with the supplier, storage conditions, or the product more generally, but I know it caused huge issues during assembly.

I can see the advantages in your approach, but many of the issues complained about (e.g., late delivery, damage during transport, poor quality finish, wrong sizes, poor installation) could just as well have happened to you.

I'm far too soft for that.

I suspect it will work perfectly with the right tradespeople, but then, they'd probably do a good job on a fixed rate too!

In my admittedly limited experience, yes. The same guy did both fixed price and day rate work. I can't see that the quality of the work, or speed of the workers, changed between the two. When I queried quality on fixed price work, I was told he didn't have the margins on fixed price work to meet my "unrealistic" expectations of quality. When I queried quality on day rate stuff, I was told he didn't have the margins on day rate work to meet my "unrealistic" expectations of quality. Again, I told him I was expecting very high quality and was willing to pay a reasonable price for it, so this shouldn't have been news to him. I think (but don't know) that he grossly and accidentally under-priced the first job he did for us. He took the hit on that, although if he'd discussed it with us we'd have been happy to pay more to get the right job done. If I'm right about that, then it coloured every further interaction with him, including the one where he walked off while I was in mid-sentence, explaining that the piece of protective steel I'd found on the floor was supposed to be protecting a 240V eternal blind cable in the wall. One of his guys had just removed it and tossed it when it interfered with him fitting plasterboard quickly. I had to go and find him elsewhere on site a few mins later to sort things out, as there was no way he was coming to me. Ridiculous. In any event, things may get interesting when I have time to dig into the cracked tiles in the bathroom. His tiler fitted the boards and the tiles, and they're all falling apart. It's annoying, because I really like the tiler, but there's presently probably a grand's worth of damage that I don't think I should be paying to put right.

I hear you. I used to think it was because they were all in a hurry to get onto the next job, but I've since concluded that many simply aren't capable of high-quality work even if they're interested in delivering it. We had some poor work from one supplier, despite saying we wanted (and them agreeing to provide) a "perfect" finish. This was on a day rate, so there should have been no rush, but what was delivered still sucked.

The plan is to test drive the Leaf and the Zoe. We don't need load space, due to our other car being an estate. We just need something compact and decently priced (it'll be replacing a Nissan Micra that we inherited from my wife's grandmother a couple of years ago - now that I've had this, I'd never be without a compact, automatic car). Yes, been looking at this. There aren't that many around that don't have leased batteries. The (new) price difference between leasing and buying the battery outright is about £5k. I haven't gotten around to figuring out how that price difference ends up expressing itself on a car that's two or three years old. The plan is to try the Leaf and the Zoe. We had a Renault Clio hire car in Europe recently and frankly it was terrible to drive. Most of my complaints were about the engine and drivetrain though, so perhaps the Zoe won't be so bad. I'm personally hoping that the Leaf is that much better that 'er indoors will prefer it despite its looks. Basically, the smaller the better for what I want this car for, so that doesn't rule the e-Up! out. The main reason I'm not seriously considering one is that they do seem to be a lot more money for really no more function. Yes, seems like a properly good car (although not sure about the looks), but it's quite a bit more expensive than the Leaf. The cheapest I could see when I started looking at electric cars was around £16k - most are £20k+.

It's certainly a lot more pleasant than my usual experience of getting into the car and finding the petrol light on, because my missus (who excels in so many other ways) seems incapable visiting a petrol station until the reserve shows zero miles. Of course, with an electric car, she'll probably not get around to plugging it in... I'm seriously looking at electric cars at the moment. The Nissan Leaf ticks all the boxes for us in terms of being a small, electric-only car that we can use for the 95% of our driving that's less than, say, 50 miles round trip (we have a second car - beat up Toyota estate - for longer drives). Thing is, it's just so damned ugly. I can live with that for all the other advantages, but my wife is really resistant. The new model for next year is better, but I don't want to buy a new car: https://electrek.co/2017/07/31/next-gen-nissan-leaf-design-revealed/ The VW e-up! is a much nicer looking car. Quite a bit more expensive, but the main problem is actually finding one for sale second hand. I'm assuming they've been nothing like as successful as the Leaf in terms of sales, because the other day I could only find three for sale second hand anywhere in the country! That leaves the Renault Zoe. Cheaper even than the Leaf, better(ish) looking, and with a decent range. However, I'm concerned about buying a French car. My first car was a Peugeot, and the horrific experience I had with that has put me right off French cars for good. Since then, I've always had Toyotas. Boring as hell, but my god they just go on for ever. Why did Nissan make the current Leaf so ugly?!

I'd be happy to share in this. If it works out, perhaps we could set it up on some sort of BH hire scheme.

The night ours were delivered, I couldn't sleep due to completely irrational visions of someone backing a truck up and stealing them all from the driveway. I therefore drove over and slept in the freezing cold car. Seemed like a reasonable solution at the time!

Flow batteries could, I assume, simply swap out the "dead" electrolyte and replace it with fresh stuff. It'd be a similar process and time-scale as for refuelling a petrol/diesel car. Not sure about energy density (or energy/mass) of flow batteries, but that would be of less concern if refuelling were quick and easy. Interestingly, when I first started reading about electric cars many years ago, that was exactly the model proposed.

True, but during those 6 months of the year, you'll have fresher air in your house than you've ever experienced during winter, and will drastically reduce your heating costs. Also, on very hot days, the MVHR keeps the air fresh while keeping some of the coolth in. I'm one of those who wouldn't be without it now that I've lived with it.

Yes, yes and yes. For all but the wealthiest and car-obsessed, this is how it will work.

It's already a thing. Search "classic car electric conversions". I liked the Ferrari 308 GT4 that some university converted a year or two ago. It was a burnt out shell and they did it as a project.

I can't offer any help, but best of luck with this. Agree with what others have said: you paid a professional to do the job. He should be familiar with what board to use and how to install it. That said, it's surprising that someone who clearly knows what they're doing would make this sort of rookie mistake. Maybe the guys installing the boards were less experienced?

"Right to light" is not the same as the 45 degree rule. As I understand it, for most councils the 45 degree rule is a starting point for presumption of acceptable sightlines. It isn't about whether you stop someone getting sunlight, it's also about what they can see from their windows. Your council should have guidelines on their website about how they deal with this sort of thing. If you can't find it, I'd ask the planning officer to direct you to it or provide a copy. Incidentally, being directly north of someone means you'll likely be blocking some morning and evening sun through the summer, given that even in the south of the UK the sun rises around 45 degrees north of east and sets around 45 degrees north of west.

Yeah, but I'm not, so ARCH IT!

Arch it.

It's only Wikipedia, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_visualization_ability#Gender_differences https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_differences_in_intelligence#Spatial_ability

Grinder + wire brush? If it works, it could be very quick.

Short answer, @Crofter, is yes for the reasons you mention.

If there's any insulation between the rafters, I believe it's no longer a cold roof. As Temp says, the danger is a condensation point that falls anywhere near the rafters. Should be fine as long as there's enough insulation above, but get it modelled if you're seriously thinking about it.

Sorry to hear this Ian. Virtually every build has a heart-attack moment (or a few). I found that spending even an hour having a coffee or a beer with someone you like and trust (and who's willing to listen to you rant) is the best way forward. Most importantly, keep your pecker up.