jack

I can't explain the download speed issue, but the "A" in ADSL stands for "asymmetric", and refers to the fact that download and upload speeds are different. You're likely to be getting far less than 3MBPS upload. What does a broadband speed test give you for an upload speed?

You have recourse through the legal process. First, you have to give your neighbour the chance to rectify or pay damages you find agreeable. Assuming they won't pay your £1900 quote, they either need to pay someone to rectify, or they need to take it up with whoever did the work. You don't get to choose the contractor at this point, and if you insist on using your guy, then you'll almost certainly have to pay out of your own pocket. If your neighbour refuses to play ball, then you'll need to go down the legal route if you don't want to pay for it yourself. It's an unfortunate situation, and I'm gobsmacked that your neighbour would instruct repairs to your roof without your input, but you do have recourse. Incidentally, I don't know how you think someone could do a "like-for-like" repair job on this roof. As others have said, it's on its way out - I can't think where you'd even source slates of that quality. Also, there's already been replacement of a significant portion of the roof in the past - see sections 1 and 2 (which might all be one section - hard to be sure).

Who's billed you £1900?

Where a design service like this is being supplied, it's appropriate to add VAT. If you could get everything on the same invoice, it should be zero rated. Can you have them issue a proforma invoice for the design and only invoice you properly later once they're ready to bill everything else? Whether they'll go along with something like that depends on what the likely delay will be between doing the design and invoicing you for completing the other items. Alternatively, could they invoice you for everything on one invoice, with a separate payment schedule taking into account the different stages?

Main things to consider are: - diameter (we went for 28mm pushfit plastic) - insulation (90% of our ~9m runs are through the middle of the insulation under our slab. Alternatively, you can insulate with nitrile rubber, or buy special pre-insulated ASHP pipes, although the latter is expensive) - oxygen tightness (copper is fine, as is plastic pipework with an oxygen barrier)

All doable via web interface. I'm on the Go tariff and don't use the app.

TV + console or 2 + sky + DVR (if you use one) + media PC (if you use one) + sound bar (if you use one). It adds up.

The house is a bit over twice the size of ours, but we comfortably get by with a 5kW ASHP. What're the insulation and airtightness targets?

It does. But if it's only the hydrogen leaking, it won't take the scent (a much bigger molecule) with it. TBF, it may be that any leak sufficient to allow hydrogen out fast enough to cause a dangerous situation will also necessarily allow sufficient odorant out to allow detection.

All this talk of hydrogen - especially pure hydrogen - being fed to boilers is utter nonsense. There's no way you can pipe into people's homes a scentless explosive gas that leaks better than just about any other gas in existence. From Wikipedia: At best, there's research into diluting natural gas with a small percentage of hydrogen - 20%, say. And how do you manage a transition from gas to hydrogen? You can't exactly do it gradually, but to do it all at once would require everyone to convert their boilers to be hydrogen-capable all at once. And finally, the idea of on-site production of hydrogen in the near term is ridiculous. Why would you generate hydrogen inefficiently, only to immediately burn it? Clearly there's no point using it to generate electricity in a fuel cell - you might as well just use the electricity directly.

Unfortunately, it's too expensive and dangerous us for us to be getting involved in lending this type of tool, plus a nightmare trying to figure out how to cover wear rates on blades. We only accidentally got into lending the couple of other things in the loan library, and it isn't a service we plan to expand.

If it's shown as not encroaching on the boundary, then their objection is speculative nonsense. I'd write a brief reply pointing out that the plan agrees with the boundaries on the ground, and that the house will be built as shown in the plans (i.e., within the boundaries). I can't see how planning can do anything other than ignore the neighbour's objection.

Yes. On many ASHPs you'll need to enable cooling mode via the control panel. It isn't always in the user manual - ours (Panasonic) came with a slip of paper in the box with instructions for how to access this mode. A dehumidifier would be overkill imo, but sure, you could run a small fan if the condensation worried you. I only have our cooling on during long hot spells, like we had in the south east last week, so I'm not concerned about long term damage from condensation.

Odd. If they aren't disputing where the boundary lays, and your site plan shows you aren't building over the boundary, what's their basis for arguing otherwise? Do they provide any explanation?

15 degrees. Admittedly we have concrete floors, but when it's been on for a couple of days it's borderline uncomfortable spending too long walking around in bare feet. Very pleasant when you come in from the heat though! I've never seen any beaded condensation at this temperature. The worst it gets is a breath of condensation on the metal UFH manifold. Nothing on the floors or other pipework.

Bear in mind that the toughening process is a little unpredictable, and toughened glass will occasionally fail due to heat, a sharp shock, or occasionally even spontaneously. I'd argue that this isn't the place to save a few quid, and in any event, I doubt the cost for laminated and toughened glass is all that much in the context of everything else you're spending.

No. In the end we decided to use that cupboard for something else. Anything that needs drying is just hung up in the shower next to the cupboard. The way I visualise it, air being pulled in through the narrow slot under a door will tend to swirl upwards and mix as it enters the plant room. We left a pair of studs without noggins in the shared wall between the cupboard and the plant room. I'd been thinking about having a low power extraction fan high up in the plant room, which would push warm air down between the studs into a grill low down in the cupboard. In practice, the plant room is uniformly warm. It has all the UFH pipes passing under it, and our UVC, so it's very warm in winter, even at floor level. If I were to use the cupboard in the way I'd planned, I'd just put a low-level grill and leave it at that.

I always say it feels like walking into a large stone church or a cave on a hot day. There's a very different (better!) quality to the coolness compared to air conditioning.

This. Look at the massive variability in estimated heating requirements that different companies will give on the same property. It isn't the tech that's the problem, it's the industry.

He was actually doing really well I thought, until he said this: "On a good day we're getting a COP of around 3, say, if we're lucky, maybe 2". And then apparently when it gets cold, the COP drops to 1. I turned it off at that point. I think the real issue with heat pumps is the fact they're being pushed and funded, which means the usual cowboys and idiots are being attracted into the space.

Discharging sewage onto a slate base with minimal topsoil cover? I suppose your garden will grow well!

I definitely thought they were a lot more expensive, but it's been over a year since I last looked. That said, I don't think this is true: The cheaper Flir one is only 80 x 60 resolution, compared with 320 x 400 for the one linked by @joth

To be fair, it's still June. No idea what he has on the go at the minute, but perhaps he hasn't ordered any steel since May?

Just had a conversation with a builder friend last night and he's been told exactly the same thing. He's also seeing monthly price rises in some materials, typically of the order of 10%. Steels have gone up 80% for him over a few months. His usual oak supplier wasn't able to fulfill an order he recently tried to make until January.

Good luck!