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I tend to think the focus on this is misguided. It's obviously true but it's one of the things that makes a large number of people reject the idea of making changes to deal with climate change. Maybe it wasn't true in the past but we have the technology now so that we can relatively easily achieve a future with very low emissions without these sorts of changes. Solar, Wind, Batteries are all cheap enough now that it makes sense to use them even ignoring the environmental benefits. SIAC in China has just launched its new MG car there for about $10k with a new type of battery that is both much cheaper to make and much longer range. They claim something like 400miles and very rapid charge. We are very near the point where it is illogical for pretty much anyone to want a fossil fueled vehicle. Theres a guy on Youtube 'Electric Trucker' who vlogs about his job driving electric 40t trucks around Europe. IDK what they cost to buy, but he is easily using up all his allowed driving time in these electric trucks and the charging infrastructure is good enough that it doesn't seem to be causing him much inconvenience at all in his deliverys.

Security screws are so odd given that pretty much any set of screwdriver bits generally has them all in. I guess they stop some people but they certainly don't stop me or I guess anyone interested in electronics/computers (as security screws are more common and so are the bit sets) they just make removing the screws more annoying.

Welcome, I like your line of thinking in the subject!

For the price of the FP washer you can get two decent 400mm wide ones. So at the cost of 200mm extra space you can have two independent washers. Seems like a much better idea to me. Not something for retrofit though.

Coming back to this after taking a while to think. I'm not really coming up with much that hasn't already been suggested. Reconfiguring bedroom two as posted would allow you to widen the hall and potentially allow space at the end for stairs. I like Mikes suggestion best if you want to preserve bedroom 3 as it keeps the top of the stairs fairly central and the rooms fairly square. I would look at reconfiguring the built-in's in bedroom 3 to create a square space for the bed around the window. Simpliest is just deleting the builtin nearest the window. Alternatively it looks like there might be room to slot the wardrobe in next to the door (would mean a narrow corridor) and then putting another at a right angle to that facing the bed/window: If the room was wider I'd have a desk by the window and the bed headboard on the left hand wall but I don't think there's enough room to comfortably pass by the end of the bed. Not really coming up with a good use for the garage without a much more significant remodel. If you widen the hall then putting a wall up with door to separate the hall from the dining room wouldn't be a big issue. Probably lots of layout options within that space depending on your preferences. With a more involved project you might be able to look at stealing a bit of room from the living room but that doesn't seem overly worth it to me.

I'm guessing you have a no-touch check in process so no way to specifically talk about the door mechanism? Given human nature I suspect that even if you took 20 mins to walk every customer through how to use the door some would still find a way to mess it up but if its not something you tried maybe it's worth doing before spending money on a new door. If you are not generally around could you keep the door locked and require them to ask for a pin code to get the key. If you are feeling adventurous could make a video demoing the door operation with the pin code at the end and refer them to that. (QR code stuck on the door?)

True, if I manage to get to the point where I'm actually building something then one of the benefits I will have is that I won't be time constrained (at least not conventionally) so I would want to schedule the slab where the odds of good weather are in my favour and definitely outside leaf fall. If the project needs to wait for that then so be it. Obviously this is not something that many can do so other tradeoffs may be needed. I have thought about what could be done to protect the slab once it's down and done and think there are some good potential options there depending on site* so weather is only a huge concern during the first 24-48 hrs. * still need to think more about this though I haven't thought about this so much but from what I've seen when doing a floor like this the concrete guys are pretty much constantly working from the pour to the point where the slab is hard enough to walk on without leaving a mark. With maybe a few hours break before the powerfloat gets on the slab (the powerfloat of course being able to flatten off a lot of minor marks). Have I misunderstood something?

On the type of floor you got with no dry shake yes they would. Even with dry-shake some visibility is possible though the dry shake layer helps hide the bulk. Offset with that potential visibility is the potential to reduce cracking, etc. Sounds like your company coloured the concrete rather than dry shake. If you were going for an exposed aggregate finish rather than a specific decorative topping that makes sense. Good to know. I noticed that Tim (mentioned above) put down large polyethylene (or similar) sheets under the correx maybe that mitigates that. I will be keeping a close eye on his videos for when he gets back to finishing the floor (though whether it would be noticable enough for video IDK)

It does, they provide that. Not asked, but they do claim to be one of the most cost effective floor options. Part of why they claim that is their polishing system is different from every other one I've seen (though I'm not sure if its unique or just less common). They have grinding discs that fit onto a powerfloat and so don't need the traditional floor grinder to polish the floor. Claim an 80% time reduction for polishing. Have them do the work before you build walls. At least that's my thought. There are of course other options if thats not possible down to hand held size. I know people on here seem to have an aversion to Tim @ The restoration couple possibly because he does accept some sponsorships but he has done a dry shake floor (not Concria) and has a few videos on it that are pretty informative. He is doing that massive building on a ~£200-300k budget. Obviously a smaller building would be a different situation but it's still useful.

I mentioned some of my thoughts above, but firstly personally, I'm more looking at a lightly ground surface. Not the full exposed chunky aggregate of some polished concrete but also not raw powerfloated. Enough grinding to even the surface a bit and get rid of the powerfloat marks. @flanagaj started the thread asking about a more pure powerfloated finish. I don't have a site yet so everything I'm saying is based on early research not a fully formed plan but when I look at budgeting I think I can afford to build a relatively small property conventionally but I would prefer something a bit larger* and one way I can see of doing that is to strip requirements down to get a building finished and livable and then have a plan to build from there to make it nice as future funds become available. I tend to like modernist verging on minimalist architecture and design so if a concrete finished floor makes financial sense then it likely would fit quite well with what I want to do - again with the proviso that after living there for a few years I may want to add a layer on top. Karndean, resin, even tile if I can preserve that option. * all dependent on finding a site an how much I can get for my current place which due to cladding issues has lost a lot of value (which I hope will at least partially recover once works are completed) For reference, my current thought is to use the concria system: https://concria.com/decorative-concrete/ https://concria.com/polishing/ Somewhere between their 3 step and 7 step finish, not overly keen on any of their colours, other brands have better options from what I've seen so nothing finalised. Of course, I'm still at the research phase, once I get a practical project then that is on the list to do. @flanagaj is further along with his project so keen to hear his thoughts.

Certainly true in the past but today when microchips are so capable it's not really an excuse any more. If a multimeter doesn't have truerms it's almost certainly deliberate market segmentation by a company trying to milk as much money from you as possible, find another company.

Thanks for posting @jack lots of useful info here. Apologies in advance for all the questions below! Hope all this is relevant to @flanagaj's original point and I'm not diverting things too far away. Sounds like you actively chose polished concrete over other options for it's look rather than cost. Is that right? If so what guided your decision? Indeed. Do you remember any more details about what you got? Was the screed a normal cemfloor type? Did the mix have fibres? Did they top it with stones/minerals for the look? Or a dry shake? I've seen in torches used non-domestic settings to burn off the stains from the concrete. Is that a possibility that's been mentioned to you? I have no idea if its something thats even an option on a polished/domestic floor and I assume it would introduce the possibility of cracking. I assume the stain seems to have penetrated deeply so repolishing the area is not an option? One of the attractions to me was that concrete is a hard wearing surface and it's disappointing to hear you've found staining to be such a problem. Some of the dry-shakes marketing is around making the surface more stain resistant so something for me to look into further. I'm definitely of the view that you need to plan up front for the possibility of wanting to cover it in the future and set levels to allow it. Meeting the level entry requirements at the same time is tricky but I think doable.

You make very good points. Doing it this way does indeed make many detail points of setting out the slab easier but AFAIK the surface of a cemfloor type screed is still less 'finished' than a good powerfloated finish. If you want the visual change from a dry shake then you would still have to do this + powerfloat on top of the screed and doing so at time of screed means there are walls in the way and it's a tricker job. So it seems to me you may end up spending more to get this than just doing a slab + level and resin type finish or even tiles if self lay them. Everything is indeed a trade off. I don't have a site or final design yet so my thinking has all been based on a couple of conceptual ideas but my focus has been trying to think through how to make each stage involving a contract job as simple and straightforward as possible. Basically, leave the fiddly stuff to me either pre-arrival of trades or after the trades have done their bit. So finding a contractor who's bread and butter is commercial power floated floors and presenting them with a slab to pour that has a big flat area with minimal/no obstructions for services, etc, at least at this stage of my research still seems to win for cost/effort/effect. I've said before, but at least for me, the idea of a powerfloated finish is not necessarily the total end goal. It's something that I hope could be done for a relatively small uplift over a normal slab that is sufficient to live with while focusing on all the other details and then when everything else is done is something that could be overlaid if it turns out too much of a compromise and funds are available.

Voltage isn't measured by the CT at your meter. It's measured at the device, so where your Zappi is. CT measures current. Is there a transformer on the pole or is the overhead line 240V? If the latter, then when I said long wire I meant to the nearest transformer.

Those are some quite chunky drops. Guess thats what you get for being in the sticks at the end of a long wire?

It would help to know a bit more about what your goals and situation is. Why do you want to do this? If thinking about doing in phases, what are the priorities early vs end goal. etc.

I assume you mean readable output. Just had a thought, do either of them have an ESPNow firmware you could flash onto them? If they don't monitor current/power usage at all, then ignore.

Poured resin is what I had in mind. Thanks.

Damn, sorry for tagging you then. I was ~90% sure it was you and couldn't really think of what search terms to use to verify quickly.

I thought microcement was expensive enough (ex labour) that you would really want to have a good level surface before even laying it (so would want the powerfloating in any case). The product itself isn't too expensive but the labour is and all the pricing I could find was >£100/m2 for someone to install it (on top of a decent surface). Like plastering and rendering it looks like a job you don't want to DIY as mistakes are very visible. Someone on here ( @Iceverge ??) used a paint/polymer/epoxy product as floor covering that they were very happy with and IIRC was much cheaper than microcement - much less labour to lay.

I'm always impressed at no matter the subject this forum always seems to have someone who has been there and done that! Thanks for speaking up. Any views on which products to use/avoid? I view it as a base layer to be augmented with rugs, etc, to soften it and hope thats sufficient to offset the hardness.

You can probably get a read out from a smart socket or a variety of other 'smart' devices. The smart sockets that can tell you power usage need to measure voltage.

@James of the North I appears there is a disconnect between what you are asking and the answers you are getting. I want to try an explain why and hope that in doing so will help you get the best value from this forum. Based on your questions you clearly have some knowledge of ufh systems and have done most of the design work already. I think you came here wanting some very specific questions answered and are not really getting those questions answered in the way you want. The reason for this is that your questions imply you have a situation that is far outside what is normally required and the first thought of many of us here is that there must be something wrong in the assumptions that lead to your questions. This forum has a long history of people coming with questions like this that after some back and forth prove to be based on either mistakes or misunderstandings at the design phase and after further work the result is a system that is fairly different from the starting point. It may be that your calcs are all correct and you indeed do have a very unusual situation but if you want to get full engagement and value from this forum help us understand that. Show us your design, floor plans, heat loss calculations, answer questions even if they don't seem valid to you. It will take some back and forth but either someone will point out a mistake/misunderstanding that leads to a different design or you will get people fully engaged in helping you get the best result.

Depends where you are. I've not had a monitor for ages but did have (part of UPS) for a good long time in the past and I think 247V was nominal around here with it varying around that point.

How about Steel? Still looks industrial, easier to install, probably a bit more expensive to buy but depending on your design asthetic might look better. Can either get them with one string in the centre and open sides or strings either side. (Is strings the right word?)