Gone West

We had a problem with ants burrowing under our insulated slab. They only seem to live around the edges of the insulation and don't travel far underneath it. We used ant powder whenever we saw ant activity around the insulation and it worked a treat. They get covered in the powder and take it back to the nest and activity soon stops.

@joe90 My sewage treatment plant discharges into a reed bed and BCO was happy. Couldn't find any regulations relating to size required for a particular treatment plant so don't see why your idea shouldn't work. I like the idea of a wildlife pond serving a purpose like that.

@readiescards Looks like a neat job. Did you get much overspray?

So this is an update to the saga. I rang the local Sandwich CEF branch who told me to come in to order the Meter Board as I couldn’t do it over the phone. So I order and pay for it and am told they’ll ring me in a couple of days when it’s in. Didn’t hear anything for a week so rang them and was told their supplier would be out of stock until August so I could go in for a refund. I said I was looking at their web page and they had 63 in the main warehouse. Apparently they can’t order from their warehouse, that’s only for internet orders so why don’t I order direct from the internet (I’d already tried that before). So I rang the helpline number told them what had happened and asked if it rang true. Definitely not was the reply and I would hear from the Sandwich branch the next day. Needless to say I didn’t so I rang again and they said they would escalate the complaint. The next day I get a phone call from the Area Manager very apologetic about what had happened and I would be able to pick up the Meter Board from Sandwich in two days. I then got a call from the Sandwich branch manager again very apologetic saying they would deliver it to me as soon as it is in. It turns up the next day and the CEF delivery driver tells me that the sh1t has hit the fan and the branch and area mangers have to go to the Head Office to explain what had happened because of my complaint. All for a meter board that’s less than a tenner.

Depending on where you live it could be the difference between requiring or not requiring a conventional heating system. My house which is built to PH standards doesn't have conventional space heating because it only requires 1.14kW of heating when -10C outside. I used the PHPP as well, many years ago it cost me £135. The PHPP estimates the house will need 11kwh/m2a and has U factors for the walls, roof and floor of 0.1.

Yup, just bog standard bi-metal hole cutters from Screwfix. I've not seen Aquapanel but Hardiebacker is pretty dense stuff. They say you can score and snap it but I didn't have much luck. I ended up cutting it with a sacrificial TCT blade in the circular saw.

No problem, interesting though, thanks for the information.

I'm using this company. http://www.bambooflooringcompany.com/flooring-accessories/bamboo-profiles/stair-nosings/

It was a bit breezy yesterday evening but during the day it was 11C dry and sunny spells.

The tails I've recently bought are double insulated with grey outer and either brown or blue inner.

The problem with this is that a lot of people will think he is an 'expert' and will be put off from using MHRV. They may also think because it's not worth installing MHRV it's not worth building airtight.

When building PCs I've used Arctic to glue CPUs to the heatsinks.

We've had a Harveys, a Kinetico and a Twintec over the years. The only one to give any problem was the Twintec although I liked it because it had a see through cover over the salt container. Wrekin Water Softeners do their own version.

Our pedestal toilet in the bungalow is 440mm to the top of the seat so I used that height for the wall hung toilets in the new house.

Why not discuss polytunnels. I built one once as a temporary store for a classic car and there's plenty said on here about classic cars. What's the question?

We fitted Schneider Lisse because we liked the look of them and the reviews were good. The light switches are good in that they have a loop-in terminal built in.

I used 12mm Hardiebacker board but it's tough stuff and I got through a few holecutters!

@Onoff Thanks for your generous comments.

Many thanks all, I shall persevere.

Great thanks I'll try again.

I tried them but never got a reply.

It's UK Power Networks here and they seem to expect the board to be in place.

What DNO are you under?

Ideally 24" x 18" but could be smaller.

Does anyone know of a supplier of flame retardant meter boards? Online I could only find CEF and they didn't reply to my email and in a CEF store I was told they couldn't get them.