Gone West

Excellent, well done.

We didn't install any Cat cable in our timber frame new build and didn't regret it. We used WiFi without any problems.

I used Siniat BluClad Board 10mm with the Wetherby 15mm brick slip system. https://www.insulationshop.co/10mm_bluclad_60min_fire_resistant.html https://www.wbs-ltd.co.uk/systems-solutions/system-finishes/15mm-brick-slips/

At a Victorian cottage I renovated back in the nineties we discovered a large underground brick and render tank that originally stored rainwater. The rainwater was filtered through a two stage sand filter bed and the water in the tank was crystal clear and had obviously sat there for decades unused. We found the original lead pipe that took the water to the old copper. I cleaned the filter bed and installed a pump and used the water for the garden for many years.

The UK as a whole gets enough rain but in some areas of high population density, low rainfall and unsuitable aquifers, storing surface water is a good idea. Maybe a national grid for water supply, as is discussed every time there is a drought, would be worth doing.

At our last house, with the same low rainfall as your area, we used our accidental borehole for watering the garden. It was very useful and if you are able to install a large enough tank I would do it. If you like gardening you will probably end up using most of it for the garden. We were in a very hard water area but toilets didn't seem to be a real problem.

IMHO the most pleasing finish there is.

He was an architect and couldn't deliver his own house on budget, God help any of his clients.

It will never be as efficient as radiators, because however much insulation is under the floor, some heat will always be lost by conduction into the ground.

It's looking good, keep the pictures coming.

Is that the MGB GT you mentioned. You've got plenty to keep you busy then.

We used it all up and then used the immersion. A couple of blokes took the tank away for refurbishing.

Yeah, we were getting low last week, so we gave in and ordered 500l which was £509.20. If I'm right that's about 10p/kWh, I think.

As above we had an Isoquick insulated slab installed and they left an earthing tab which the electrician said wasn't needed so we cut it off.

That's excellent, well done. It's certainly worth thinking about a self build.

Back in the nineties I used, well actually Wendy used, a scutch hammer and comb to remove distemper from a couple of brick walls prior to plastering. It took a hell of a long time but I'd rather do that than use sugar soap.

The CU, RCBOs etc were MK but all the switches, sockets etc were Schneider.

I will, yes. I did that at our last place.

Yup, but I don't know if that is contributing to the number of short power cuts we get.

I had to look that up. That's interesting as arcing I would have thought would be a major cause of fires in CU. I shall have AFDD as well as SP then, thanks for that.

We bought our shed racking in 2010 from Rapid Racking and it's still going strong. We bought the basic grey metalwork and fitted our own chipboard. It fits together quickly with a mallet, no bolts needed. https://www.rapidracking.com/en/rra/rapid-shelving-range#productBeginIndex:0&

A power cut isn't a surge but power surges can occur after an outage and we seem to being a lot of those. So if replacing the CU, fit one with surge protection. That sounds like a good idea then, thanks.

We haven't lived here a year yet but so far we've had several short power cuts of five to twenty seconds. Is fitting a retrofit SPD in the CU or even a new SP CU worth the effort. We currently have the computer equipment running off a SP extension board. https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/HGVM02SPD.html

It all depends on how good your plasterer is. A friend had to do a lot of filling and sanding on his barn conversion. We were very lucky and found a plasterer who was a perfectionist and we didn't have to do any.

We used Lindab and didn't have any problems. It's a very different system to plastic but if all the cuts are made with hand tools it works ok. I was sceptical about the galvanising creeping over the cut surfaces, as explained in the instructions, but we didn't have any rust.