sgt_woulds

The warranty on Lidl items is superb. 3 yaers cover, and swap or refund never an issue - as long as you keep the reciepts.

Don't buy a supermarket special unless it is from Lidl. Their powertools and batteries are actually pretty good and easily available. I know a couple of sparkies that are swapping out their tools for Parkside equivalents for everyday stuff. They have kept their DeWalts for SDS however...

Integrated PV looks good. It looks like the panels sit right on the eaves - did you fit wider/deepflow gutters to account for the faster runoff and overshoot from the panels?

Could larger turbines fitted to existing bases not be fitted with radial anchor cable supports like communication masts? As for the blade recycling issue this is well wnown and is mainly due to the recycling facilities not being available rather than it not being possible. Some companies are experimenting with LVL blades, and the company I work for has also provided LVL and technical assistance for another experimental build with a wooden tower and nacelle too. We just need a paradigm shift in foundation design as well (for general building as well as large projects since most house foundations are vastly overspecced). But we are getting there. Of course the major plus point with renewables is that we can deal with any waste at leisure (except perhaps some solar panel components) - we don't have to carefully dismantal and lock the materials away for millions of years and trillions of quids 'World's first' wooden wind turbine blades installed in Germany

Just proving my point. Basic property maintenance doesn't seem to be a thing in the UK. SUDs is a functional componant, just like render, roof tiles, pointing, or any other part of a property that is willfully ignored by most here. My German colleagues find the state of UK properties shocking. They factor in maintenance as part of home ownership and as an extented part of 'spring cleaning'. Mind you, they also build everything properly in the first place...

Like any functional part of a property, SUDS needs maintenance. It always amazes me that in the UK that people are prepared to spend a fortune on fancy products and materials but either don't consider - or actively begrudge - the small amount of money or personal time required to ensure longevity. Instead they moan about ticking boxes. tobermore-hydropave-permeable-paving-maintenance-guidelines-v1.0.pdf Where I live the properties on the other side of the road are all lower than their drives, which slope down towards the buildings. These were originally built in the 60's with concrete surfaces and experienced constant flooding. Most have now changed to permeable paving and no longer have to worry about weather forecasts. One is a tight-fisted old curmudgeon who jet washes his 4x4 every Sunday morning at 7am. He never once directs the jet wash at the mud on his driveway or brushes it off. His house flooded twice last year.

Not if you build a certified Passiv house and can prove that the indoor temperatures will meet regulation requirements. In practice, most Passiv builders fit a (very) small heating system 'just in case'. In the same way, we should fit EV chargers to new build - just in case the next owner (or even the current one) gets an EV. Your personal preference may be to wash in cold water, but a house built to building regulations isn't built specifically for your personal hygene arrangements 🙂

As set by the manufacturer. For our chargers at work this is every 6 months, domestic will probably be 12 monthly until the warranty expires. As with PV, (which should be checked at least once bi-annualy from my experience) the checks will mostly cover any screw connectors to ensure the neutrals are not working lose and causing resistance/arcing. You could do this yourself, (if competent) but it probably voids the warranty if the inspection schedule is not maintained. Newer installs have hopefully moved over to pushfit or Wago type connectons rather than screws (so there should be less issues), but, given the value of the item you are plugging into it, paying for a sparky to check the install once a year would seem like money well spent.

As with MCS certification, the idea is that the installations are monitored by a governing body and the installers would have to rectify or lose their 'licence' to self certify - in practice this never happens. The governing body just protects itself and it's members, inspections are few, and rectifications are rarely enforced. Mostly it is about hushing things up. MCS is a perfect example, as is the NHBC. I started installing solar before MCS set itself up as the governing body - no consulation with the (3) existing installation companies, it just plugged itself into the PV goldrush when the Feed-in-tarrif was introduced and started making life difficult (and expensive) for us, and easier for the cowboys to get started. There were very few of the cowboys who ever faced any consequences for their appalling installations; luckily for us in the end, as fixing all the gash installs kept us going when the FiT ran out and all of the goldrush companies went bust... I can give you a perfect example of how such a certification body works: We installed solar panels on a newly finished house local to me. I had already suggested to the homeowner that he should have a proper building insection whilst the scaffold was up as I put it 'without scaring you I've seen a few things that concerned me' ! This of course was duley ignored until his roof started leaking - as we were the last ones up there we got the blame. Our company offered to pay for the scaffold (3 floors and 6m wide it wasn't cheap) but only if he got the buildg company to come out and inspect with us at the same time. The builder refused, and the NHBC (eventually) got involved. To cut a long story short, on the scaffold on the day of inspection was me, the homeowner, the builder rep, and the NHBC. Both the NHBC and the Builder were increadibly rude and ordered me to remove the panels for inspection. I counted to ten a lot that day! I replied that I was happy to comply, but first could we look at the issues with the roof itself - at which point the homeowner chipped in and asked me to explain. I walked up the roof and lifted the 'chimney' (fake grp) off without effort. I then walked the length of the ridge and randomly picked ridge tiles up - this was easy, since none of them were fixed. I repeated the same excercise with the lead flashings and pointed to all the gaps were the water was getting in. At which point the builder - who was red in the face by this point - begrudgingly said they would 'get the roofer out'. 'OK' I said, 'but before you do that, can I show you something else?' I then lifted the first row of tiles and felt and showed them the missing cavity closer. I pulled out the strip of insulation plugging the top of the cavity and shown a light down to the bottom of the wall. 'Do you think the house would perform better if the cavity was filled? Also, Mr NHBC, could you tell me how many cavity ties are required for this type of construction?' So the house was demolished and rebuilt and the building company were forced to pay for temporary accomodation for 7 months. The snagging list after the rebuild delayed them from moving back in for a further 3 months! I fully expected the NHBC at that point to tell the builder to inspect every other house on the estate. It would be amazing if the others were not also built to the same 'quality'. Of course this never happened! I meet the homeowner regularly as his son attends Cubs with my own. He is mystified why all of his neighbours were not concerned when they saw his house pulled down and rebuilt. Of the ones he spoken to, none of them have been contacted by the NHBC or the building company. They are all left in blissful ignorance. This will be the situation with PAS too.

The BCO might not, but the assessor for any new owners mortgage should. At the very least their solicitors will ask for paperwork during searches to confirm that the EV charger (or boiler or solar) has an installation certificate and up to date servicing record.

Calm down dear 🙂 Solar panels are already Mandated by the Future Homes Standard - PV panels are now cheaper than roof tiles so it isa win-win for the builder as well. Would a swimming pool help reduce the load on the national grid, or provide a habitat for wildlife? Of course not. Another strawman argument. All of the rules that go into building regulations are assessed against safety and societel needs. And apply to NEW BUILD not retrospectively unless a particular modification of your existing building brings it within scope (as with insulation or electrical upgrades) Having said that, anyone who can afford to install solar panels but chooses not to (somehow paying for a new kitchen is more popular!) are only spiting themselves.

In an ideal world, all insulation upgrades - EWI, and espescially IWI - should require building control submission, approval, and sign off. They should not be permitted until a full report is produced by the installer and submitted to BC for assessment, including; WUFI, Visual assessment of existing building and issues to be resolved before insulation works commence (pointing, broken gutters, existing cold bridges, etc) Method statement outlining how the installation will be handled - particularly highlighting cold bridging issues and weatherproofing This would then be agreed in priciple by BCO (surely A.I. can assist with this stage), pending final inspection (by a trained BCO assessor) and sign-off after completion. This would weed out the bandits and make the whole industry more proffessional - even the good guys sometimes make mistakes and a system of peer review is essential. Unfortunately it will never happen, as Building Control departments for all councils have been defunded in real terms in the last 20 years, and the private BC companies already have more work than they can handle.

Why can't they accept if offered?!

No, but it shouldn't be used as a strawman argument against fitting a charger to a new-build property in line with building regulations

All of this is amusing pub banter (including the tabloid clickbait costs) but the rules are the rules. An EV charger is in building regs. A bin gulley is not.