Triassic

Could you disable the function via the App? In our case we went for the simple rain sensor that closes the window when raining. and a remote control to open and close the window.

It's wet here today and seeing your finished balcony has prompted me to start designing mine. First job, a brew, then a read through the thread for all the best bits.!

Our electrician has informed me that he’s just won a large commercial contract and won’t be able to wire up our solar panels, inverter and Eddi unit for at least 4 months. I’ve worked along side him on the rest of the installation and he says he’s happy for me to wire everything up and he could spare a few hours one weekend to do the final connections and commissioning. Has anyone done their own and how difficult was it?

Can someone just confirm, ‘moving in’ doesn’t affect the self build VAT claim down the line?

As a balcony is a building Control thing, has anyone used second hand timber to build one and what did BC say?

I'm not against to doing it myself, I just thought it would be nice to get something done for me for once! I could have just stood there and tutted!

I've used mini piles and they are quick and easy to install. I'd be surprise if they weren't cheaper than a 3m deep trench foundation. We used a rotary rig, with steel casing, the casing was then concreted in place. Quick and easy. 10% were proof loaded to keep the SE happy. None failed.

Why is it that balconies are so difficult? I've still got to construct ours, its 3m x 7.5m. Originally it was to be a steel perimeter with timber infill and glass balustrades. However, both the steel company and the joinery company have gone bust in the last few months. So it looks like I'll be doing the work myself, as I can't get a sensible quote for love not money. Is there a design guide to constructing timber balconies?

Right, tried the App. nothing, said unable to connect! Neighbour thinks we're on a repeater (due to poor signal), rather than an actual Cell Tower and the repeater is 3g.

Did anyone get to a solution to the foil backed PIR causing poor phone signal problem? Our house if built of the stuff and the only place we can get a signal now is by the front door. I'm with Tesco mobile and the wife with Vodafone and has WiFi call enabled (dos'nt appear to work very effectively, as she misses loads of oncoming calls!) We can't be the only ones living in a PIR house????

Yep a double garage and two 20 foot shipping containers. You can ave too much storage! We're trying to empty them all, but its one box out of storage and two boxes back in. The garage is just a junk yard at the moment. I need to do some tip runs and about 6 trips to the scrap yard!

In the end we went for a single large system and it’s working fine. The original two system approach was probably suffering from some over engineering.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Probably best I talk to the BC company ( private company) and try and sort of the balcony issue and ask what the letter means with regard to completions.

Ive just received this Extension of Time Letter from my BCO. The outstanding items are mainly metal work associated with a Juliette Balcony and a large balcony to the front of the property. These were originally going to me made out of steel, but the first firm went bust and I'm now on my fourth company and finally I have someone to do the work, but the pace is painfully slow, due to it being small job and a huge backlog of work they have. What does this letter really mean, as I'm not sure. What fees are involved as they don't make this clear?

I work with a number of Scout Groups and one particular Group has a concrete Compton type building that is in poor condition. One suggestion to improve it is the apply external insulation and render. Is anyone aware of any grant that might be available for such work?

This week I’ve found that our steel fabricator and the second fix carpentry companies have both gone bust. Luckily they didn’t have any of my money, but they leave me in the lurch! is this just a local problem, or are you seeing more businesses going busy? Talking to both owners, they blame material, utility and rent hikes for their problems. Late payment was also mentioned by the fabricator.

A very underrated life skill.

ICF is relatively easy, a bit like big Lego filled with steel re-bar and concrete. Used it in my basement. No need to use brick lips, just use bricks to form the outside skin. The search bar is a very useful tool here, as are the self build blogs.

This is why hospitality locally is really struggling, local cafes and pubs on short hours due to staff shortages. All I can suggest is re-train and get trade skills to access the £200-£300 per day jobs. Lets face it Steamy, with you mathematical skills you could be on good money designing ASHP installations. I regularly see ads for good staff.

Around a decade. We get power cuts around twice a year. Mainly less that a day. The last one, the third in twelve months, was last week and lasted for 16 hours. The biggest pain is reprogramming everything that isn't 'smart' enough to have a memory.

Our recent record is 4 days.

I'm about to starting to lay the hardcore for the patio and wondered what your thoughts are on laying it, so that the finished outdoor tiles are level with the indoor tiles. I worry that in the age of torrential rain that I'm asking for water ingress issues. Maybe drainage is key? The alternative is a step down from the patio door onto the patio.

Using a price comparison site and a rebuild value of £600,000, the suggested premium is £120/pa. That’s sounds too cheap!?

It’s time to renew the insurance for the building and the question of rebuild value has come up.. last year I used the RICS rebuild calculator, so logged on again this year, to be told the rebuild cost is the same as last year! Yet I read in the press that material costs are surging and materials and Labour are in short supply. Then there’s the National Park premium to account for! So the question is, how do I get to a realistic rebuild value?

The problem is that the rising cost of electricity is forcing many back to burning stuff. My neighbour has opened up two fireplaces and over the winter has been busy every day with a chainsaw, he tells me he has 12 years worth of cut logs stored in his barn. I ws talking to a chimney sweep today who says he's never been as busy and is getting new enquiries most days. Clearly rising energy cost are bad for the planet.