ToughButterCup

How are solar panels fixed to a roof? I ask because I'd like to buy and install our PV after we have built the roof. I'd like to build the clips / fixing system into the roof at the time we build the roof, rather than dig around in all that expensive insulation and waterproofing after it has been fitted. We are putting the rafters in in the next week or so, and that would be the time to install the anchor points for the panels I have searched YT and found the usual nutcases: Watching most of the videos makes me wince - simple 8mm roofing screws screwed right into the roof with no regard whatever for water ingress. And people carrying heavy weights merrily waltzing around on a steeply pitched roof with absolutely no regard for safety @Construction Channel (he isn't a nutcase) hasn't done his yet, so I can't watch what he's done. Hurry up Ed will you, please? Are there any guidelines for attaching solar panels, any regulations I need to know about ?

With the licence for online access? You can lose your way or overlook information in the hard copy of SPONS : using a combination of the online version and the physical one is very powerful : and quick.

There are many classifications in SPONS ( a few dozen) , among them the following, taken at random.... but none of them mention reclaimed bricks - a brick is a brick is a brick, I suspect. SPONS is expensive, but has saved it's cost many times over. This is from the 2015 edition. Facing bricks solid walls; handmade facings; bricks PC £700.00/1000 half brick thick; fair face one side m2 72.00 to 87.00 one brick thick; fair face both sides m2 160.00 to Facing brick walls; sand faced facings; bricks PC £550.00/1000 half brick thick; pointed one side m2 67.00 to 81.00 one brick thick; pointed both sides m2 130.00 to 160.00 SUPPLY AND LAY PRICES Common bricks In gauged mortar (1:1:6); prime cost for bricks 380.00 – – – 380.00 1000 380.00 Walls half brick thick 22.80 0.84 17.02 – 26.50 m2 43.52 half brick thick; building against other work; concrete 22.80 0.92 18.67 – 27.81 m2 46.48 half brick thick; building overhand 22.80 1.04 21.23 – 26.50 m2 47.73 half brick thick; curved; 6.00 m radii 22.80 1.08 21.97 – 26.50 m2 48.47 half brick thick; curved; 1.50 m radii 26.60 1.41 28.73 – 30.59 m2 59.32 one brick thick 45.60 1.41 28.73 – 52.99 m2 81.72 one brick thick; curved; 6.00 m radii 49.40 1.84 37.33 – 57.08 m2 94.41 one brick thick; curved; 1.50 m radii 49.40 2.29 46.48 – 57.74 m2 104.22 one and a half brick thick 68.40 1.92 38.98 – 79.50 m2 118.48 one and a half brick thick; battering 68.40 2.21 44.83 – 79.50 m2 124.33 two brick thick 91.20 2.33 47.40 – 106.00 m2 153.40 two brick thick; battering 91.20 2.75 55.82 – 106.00 m2 161.82 337 mm average thick; tapering, one side 68.40 2.41 49.05 – 79.50 m2 128.55 450 mm average thick; tapering, one side 91.20 3.12 63.50 – 106.00 m2 169.50 337 mm average thick; tapering, both sides 68.40 2.79 56.73 – 79.50 m2 136.23 450 mm average thick; tapering, both sides 91.20 3.50 71.19 – 106.64 m2 177.83 facework one side, half brick thick 22.80 0.92 18.67 – 26.50 m2 45.17 PS, the Kindle edition is £30 ish. I use the online version far more than the physical copy.

Welcome. “I'm stickin' out big lad and how are you?” We're with you in the get-it-done-now-matey-boy stakes. But give a bit of thought to making it easy to fitting for renewables later : leave pipe work in place for an ASHP , plan for where an MVHR box might sit, make sure the POSIs are big enough to accept ducting, think about their runs so that you make retrofitting easier, make it easy for the fitter to pop some solar on the roof, that sort of thing. Oooo, and before I forget: do you really need a big hot water tank full of expensive hot water: use a couple of local water heaters maybe?

Ordered. Thanks Ian

Yes, of course it is. But that wouldn't be quick: so knowing me, I'd leave it there. And that would mean.....

Attacks of wind have added significance for me This little exercise is just to try and spare me having to buy a new tarpaulin because is spattered with holes caused by flying hot metal. I'd also like to be able to make myself a temporary tin-roof out of ground-based scaffolding: a quick, easy-rig work-shelter if you like.

Thanks for the nudge, @JSHarris. The end in mind is protecting part of one corner of the house for about an hour or so, and doing so efficiently and safely. We are welding on an exposed corner of the building, and I had the issue of wind on my mind before I asked the question. I'll never forget the issue of wind - ever-. I still wince every time a sharp gust hits our house. It's a real pain: the house is made of semi-cured concrete after all. I have braced the scaffolding using all the guidance I can get my hands on: and that guidance takes a good deal of ferreting to find. There seems to be no authoritative advice aimed at people like us. (BTW, its a very satisfying feeling bracing scaffold such that there is negligible movement even in strong gusty wind) I ask about a clamp because I want to be able to raise two sheets of tin (2m by 1m, and 1m by 1m) , fit and then take them off quickly and efficiently. There is no question of putting the tin in place for more than an hour or so. And no question of doing it in a consistently strong wind. I'd like to be able to protect part of the corner of the house when it's ' just-a-bit-too-windy ' to do a gas weld. If I can't do that efficiently, I won't do it at all.

I need to make an efficient wind break on some scaffolding. To do that I'd like to use some spare corrugated tin sheet I have lying around. How to attach it to the scaffolding is my next challenge. Anyone managed to clamp corrugated tin to kwikstage safely?

Works a treat on the reflective tape in a hi viz jacket. So, if you see a hi viz jacket with reflective tape that's missing .....

So does that mean that a racking wall provides that resistance - and by extension other non-racking walls don't ?

Bang on F. I am as close to certain that one can be that video evidence has played a very significant role in all discussions about our refusal to pay in full for poor workmanship. The same video footage also evidences unsafe practice on the part of several people (me included, sad to say) If we ever build again, I would double the number of cameras.

OK, I'll bite. What on earth is a racking wall? And don't just tell me it's a perimeter wall.....

Moira, really. And we all thought you were a nice girl..... I mean, really.....

It almost certainly did fall of the back of the lorry. Look at the damage. The sparks from the fall together with the methane must have caused a flash in the pan : see the fire damage. That was in turn put out by the contents. No wonder there is no need for a fire extinguisher in a portaloo.

Well @Dreadnaught here's what you need, I imagine. You can find it just off Junction 33 on the M6 (North). I'm sure the owners don't want it any more. It's been there for a week. I took the photo while standing up-wind. Can we try, just for me, try, and keep subsequent posts clean, eh? Please?

Not sure @StructuralEngineer, I'll dig around and find out.

I deliberately went round local building sites and watched carefully. I saw everything from excellence (Network Rail sites) to utter, dangerous confusion. Now Debbie asks if, on driving past a worksite site, I want to stop and look. Occasionally I do. And I always learn something. I went into several sites armed other hard hat and hi viz and asked the Site Agent if I could photograph the Kwikstage so I could teach myself how to organise it well. Got the odd strange look, but frankly, it's worth it. All the agents asked agreed to me spending time just looking at how the sites were organised. A few were really interested in our self build. There's loads of good will for self-builders. (Except within sight of the build, where there's a surfeit of jealousy)

Novice? Novice ? Every day I go out onto my build I have nearly no clue as to how to do what's been planned. Often, just a bit sick with worry. Take yesterday's cockup for example . It took BH just 10 minutes to sort it out. (Thanks @Dudda and @ProDave ) This is the UK Novice Central. You are in excellent company. And as for saving money, I'm on £12 / 13 k at the moment . This is the most supportive community I have ever found online.

I part company with you at the word resulted. @PeterW will be along in in a minute to dissect the 85% statement above.

WhadaPlonka I'm really tired. I'll take the hint and stop for the day. The next mistake will be worse. Cheers @Dudda

'Old on a minnit...... I'll just try it.....

Have a look at these: if you've built with Kwikstage, you know what's wrong. I've tried loads of fettling and naggling. And you can see that I've thought of a 'fix', but 'ees a bodge, and I no like 'em. Not a pretty sight is it? Honestly, I must have spent an hour fiddling about: I took it all back down and started from scratch. I measured the diagonals - all within a few mill. Whas' goin' on eh?

Its what you have. Making the best of it is the trick. I have a reasonable site with lots of 'space' which I cannot use. But one side of the site I have about 8 meters for storage space. So I found some stillage cages and bought about 10 or so. Made some shelving out of scrap. Got some scrap corrugated sheets and made some roofing for it. That means I can stack light-weight stuff on the top shelf and heavy things on the bottom. Ladders can be stored on the tin roof. Doubles the storage volume, but much more importantly, I can easily see where stuff is.

If you stumble, it's more likely to be because you are tired. Years of training soldiers taught me that a stumble is the first sign of tiredness. They stumbled whether they were wearing boots or cross country-running shoes, on a mountainside or an assault course . I live in the Lakes and when friends come to visit I used to (not so much now) take them up on the fells. A stumble is always a cue to watch for the next one and a reason for increased caution. These trainers (clickable link here) are for me a sensible compromise. have a look at the Safety Rating too (in this case S3 WR SRC) . Boots on their own won't cause a fall. They will hold your foot in place better during falling and on impact, though - as in slipping on wet ground and twisting on the way down. The tipping point for me is the shoe / boots weight and my knackered hip. The ones I have now are so light that I can wear them all day without needing some WD40 for the ball and socket joint at the top of my leg. And just because I know you'll love this, here's the H&S guidance