scottishjohn

I was really thinking back to his problem of sunamp not charging when he wanted it to and so ending up with cold showers. that would suggest you are not storing even a full days hot water? as for having excess storage that you cannot heat in winter --just don,t try to in winter have a divert valve all these thing s going round in my head and trying to balance up front cost with actual real advantage of such . I am suprised you say only 75% of dhw from pv I was getting all hot water and some UFH from my solar thermal for that time on a poorly insulated house,in comparison to modern ones. I take on board the heat loss ,which will go to providing space heating ,sometimes when its not needed --solution is windows that open when it s that hot for scotland + dress accordingly .

so maybe your dhw storage is too small then so you could use all of excess pv ? I,m not being funny and its easy to have hindsight , maybe a combination of sun amp and water storage would be a better use of pv ?

how often do you have to pay to get DHW? Is it ever in the best 9months of the year or just in worst 3 months?

its very versatile tool --you need one anyway

need a lot more info than that to make a comment how big are holes needed , or is just trim what is sticking down in picture?

IF the garden is totally yours ,just build an extension on that -much less problems i would think with planning etc, or as @ProDave says a stand alone garden room with a covered corridor if you want to link it

if you want to fit slates @£60 sqm --why you worried about pv you got too much money to waste anyway .LOL tiles that last 100 years+ --waste of money IMHO

the question can only be answered by the planning people + freeholder+other flat owners and if i was freeholder or one of the other flat owners i would say NO so would you if someone below you was going to disturb the fabric of your flat from below technically of course it could be done .will require some serious input from an architect and /or structural engineer but will not be cheap . that will be why you have never seen it done before do you have an idea of your budget ,as this will not be a DIY job and If all said ok you would need some serious insurance in case of a problem with flats above , real or just looking for you to renovate it for them ,cos of cracks in plaster which were really old age

I checked on line for prices on saturday for fixed rate 12months no where close to those sort of prices

sounds reasonable -- but repair cost --like invertor /multiple replacements etc are not factored in , over the 20 year lifespan and at least half of the self builders could be dead in 20years -- so not a simple decison + as an investment you have no way to cash in the investment at any time , so it should not be looked at as an investment in shape or form so

its a "throw away "promise anyway -- It is an aspiration to do in next government,if they get in and it will drop down the list very quickly as they will say lots of others things to do first just don,t see re- nationalisation ever happening on power -railways would be first I feel ,and don,t see that either,but would be easier as the government gave licenses --not totally sold it off even if they killed HS2 -still would be not enough money

If not fitting tiles then you surely still need a waterproof surface below them of some sort? not just the membrane ,which if exposed to uv will fall apart very quickly you can get concrete tiles down to £10sqm - please enlighten me how solar panels are going to be same price as roofing , i sort of think that if it was ,then everyone would use a roof that pays for itself

maybe there was a leak ?

I just connected mine to the hot tap

@JSHarris how much do you think elec prices have to rise to make micro generation a real must have in new builds

Its asking a lot ,but surely these "smart mters" should be linked to price structure for cheap energy periods and also be able to turn on things like washing machines when it is cheap and off when its not that no doubt will be smart meter version 42 if it did it on its own ,then you have a real reason to have one maybe should be thinking about a big space for the consumer unit for the future when its a computer as well as a fuse box?

yes on second thoughts --cut and grind down to zero as @willbish says , any other mods could leave you with funny size blocks further up the build . or just trim blocks where its too high so the height from zero level on foundation ends up same all way round at top of first row --all mods done in first row of blocks that might be quicker ,should be easy with a laser line set to hit 10mm from top of block ,so you can see it on block polystyrene cuts with a knife

lay a mortar bed to get it right FIRST ROW NEEDS TO BE PERFECT you have to get it perfect if you want rest of job to be easy some types of icf -like isotex /durisol its the way they tell you to start anyway if poly type you could mess about with packers +foam under first row to get it right if raising up height by 30mm is a problem --then trim first blocks down by an amount and then lay on mortar bed to get rest of it right thats what iwould do give the contractor that option --he lays first row to correct height ?

then go single pack cheap type --thats lasts about 1-2 years in a everyday workshop -with oil+ brake fluid and heavy traffic --so shold last fine for patio

that must have been that well known Australian building co. "she,ll be right bruce " i did read somewhere that some makers claim that their membranes self seal small holes ,but they also said the titanic was unsinkable .LOL .I,m sure they went over it all and patched the nail holes with tape as they fitted real batons

Ihad carpet floor when i did my first UFH system in present house so i ring up axminster to ask on the insulation value of it,couldn,t afford new tiles at same time --not a clue was the reply it was 20years ago --never been asked that they said all i can say is it did work but not as well as the cermaic tiles i replaced it with 6years later but i suspect with a well insulated concrete floor,so you not loosing heat downwards you will notice little difference , may be change in temp will be slower and it did spread the heat out

https://www.threaverural.co.uk/property/greenlaw-mansion/ this looks very much a bargain price ---same cost as a modest house in london ? thats the problem with building top spec hoses here --you struggle to get cost back if its more than a shoe box

if you want it to last for a long time get a 2 pack type --cheap single pack about £20-30 per 5litres-buy a cheap floor brush --done in a very short time

politician =smart meter both promise to make things better both just make things worse +cost us loads of money in the process

in scotland we have had a triple effect --financial downturn in 2008 which carried on longer in scotland then england --then along came the poison dwarf and her mate humpty dumpty with the indendence ref humpty dumpty is gone but we now have snp leader in westminster -- numpty dumpty stirring it up all the time wanting indi-ref2 and trying to stop brexit just very little movement in a lot of areas of the economy --.the upside may be if you can do it in these prolonged bad conditions ,then it can only get better?