Russdl

Yep, we went with the similar Phantom Screens, I cant remember where we found them, either the NSBRC or a www search. Wouldn't be without them.

@RedRhino do you have external shading for your windows/doors? External shading and a (very manual) ventilation strategy is without a doubt what does the trick for us in keeping the house at a comfortable temperature throughout these little heatwaves that keep turning up. We only have heating downstairs and no cooling of any description. No heat pump either so the cold UFH utilised by many here is not an option for us but, fortunately, that has not been a requirement either. (So far 🤞🏻)

If you make it easily put up-able and take down-able it shouldn’t be a massive issue. Big heat (strong sun) normally coincides with high pressure which normally coincides with slack wind. At least that used to be the norm.

If it’s just temporary then an old sheet will do, anything that will stop the sun hitting the glass will do. Long term, the sheet is probably not the best option.

The suspense is killing me!

Our DD has just been reduced from £29.17/month to £8.00/month. A more accurate figure for our import over export would be £0.00/month We are only in this position because of solar PV, battery storage and an EV. The EV gives us access to cheap overnight rates that we utilise to run everything when required plus charging the house and car battery. I don’t obsess about RoI and I don’t ask anything else to return the investment (car, kitchen, hi-fi stuff etc etc etc) but on the current trajectory the solar and battery should be paid for in a total of 8 years.

Ours is less than half of that, similar 'non standard' construction. We used Homeprotect

@marmic if you are going to do shutters do louvered shutters if the primary aim is to keep the sun out. Louvered shutters will still let the light in and you’ll only need to keep the sun out in the summer plus a month or two either side. If hinges are proving difficult to source, how about a rail system, a bit like out door curtains? The shutters won’t need to fit snugly if it’s just the suns UV you’re trying to defend against, so a louvered shutter each side of the window that you can just slide across when needs must would fit the bill, and be easy to open and close.

Not the same materials, however we had a cast iron seat on our porcelain tiles, when I moved it there were little rust marks where it had been stood. Nothing shifted those rust marks, tried everything… …and then I used a Brillo Pad, and that did it. May work for you?

I reckon it’s identical and as you say the distance from the ground that the photo is taken makes it look different. Not much though, smart set up.

No, the panels pretty much sit on the standing seams using the S5 clamps that @Mr Blobby mentioned. There is no space underneath for birds.

Slimline, I guess so. Innocuous, I’d say not. ours look over the back garden and can’t really be seen easily from anywhere. This is from a few years ago when everything was fresh, clean and unfinished.

We looked at that system, years ago now, and eventually decided against it. If the bonding fails (and it’ll get bloody hot up there) or the panels fail what could you actually do about it with the roof in situ? Do you mean conventional panels? That’s what we went with in the end. Black PV panels mounted on the seams of a dark grey SS roof, looks nice IMO and no room for birds etc to get underneath the panels, but those panels hide a lot of expensive zinc. If you’re going with SS and dead against conventional panels then I’d say @JohnMo’s advice is spot on. Get a big battery and TOU tariff.

3 months since it was last attended to but it’s time to change the pre filter again, it’s fan noise that alerts me more than any diary considerations. When the fan speed automatically increases in the mornings and evenings it’s generally inaudible but as time goes by it starts to become noticeable. The pre-filter is collecting so much airborne dust! It’s also letting the tiny flies through, but I can see the route they are (involuntarily?) taking so I’ll endeavour to get that sealed up before the refit. (I ran the hoover over the centre section to see how thick the dust and dirt was).

I got them from my friendly local steel fabricator but I’m pretty sure they bought them in from a ‘C’ section joist manufacturer. Maybe from a company like this? https://albionsections.co.uk/c-section/

That would do it, or better still a timber ‘ladder’ shape of form work so you end up with serval separate blocks of sand/cement, 1 for each tile, then rain water could run around them and off the cill unhindered.

The still image from the video you posted above shows a mini concrete slab over the cill. You could do that and have the tiles resting on the concrete and then supported by pedestals as you move away from the cill.

Fabulous insight @sgt_woulds, sounds like you’ve had some interesting times, way too interesting on occasion!

Not sure I follow? I’m with @Conor pedestals would be a good way to go. If one or two sides of the patio are against the house, the remaining open sides could butt up to a dwarf wall or similar leaving no way in for them there rodents and leaving you with a patio at FFL and no issues with DPC

Fingers crossed that the AirLander makes it into production and ultimately zero emissions air travel comes to pass (probably not the easiest way to get to Oz though!) https://www.hybridairvehicles.com/news/overview/news/zeroavia-and-hav-sign-agreement-to-collaborate-on-zero-emission-airlander/

It’s very DIY’able Height of what floor? Internal floor? You can adjust the height of the pedestals from ‘not many mm’ to ‘quite a lot of mm’. You could probably cover the manhole with the tiles, hiding it completely, and lift the tiles when access is required. It takes seconds to lift and replace the tiles. For the cill you could make little mini slabs, the size of the pedestal foot, that sit on the cill and hold the front of the tile. Added bonus’s: Free draining round the perimeter of every tile. No grout to fail. No place for weeds to grow If you change your mind re shape/layout it’s very easy to rearrange.

@paro Have you considered a pedestal system for your large format tiles? You could put a French drain under the doors. I reckon that would solve all your issues.

As you’re with MBC I guess you’re going passive-ish? If you are (and you should, especially if you’re using MBC) don't put anything through the roof, even if the soil stack is effectively sealed it’ll be an unnecessary thermal bridge. As @Dunc says: That is the way to do it. That’s the way we did it. MBC will do what you ask, and do it well and the airtightness will be spot on, but if you’re trying to be ‘passive’ don’t have that tube going through the roof. Also, don’t put any ducting through the insulation if you can possibly avoid it (you can). Any large ducts through the insulation will degrade the insulation properties where the ducts are, and that’ll degrade the ‘passive’ aspect, the passive bit is worth fighting for, it pays dividends. There is always a better way so that you can keep everything inside the airtight layer, even if it may compromise a little bit of the interior space.

As above. As soon as outdoor temp exceeds desired indoor temp we shut all doors/windows and turn the MVHR down to its minimum setting. When the outdoor temp drops below indoor temp of an evening, we open all doors/windows and turn the MVHR up to max. Currently 33.7 degrees outside and 22.5 degrees inside. No active cooling but we do have external blinds which are game changers I reckon.