Omnibuswoman

No, I’ve not heard of this. I don’t really understand the three phase thing at all. We had it installed as 3 phase as that is what the DNO specified, but have no idea how this benefits us or what impact it will have for our electrics. Our first fix stuff will be done in the spring/ summer, so I will have to gen up before then!

Thanks @ProDave. Yes, I will apply to Western Power and see what they say. Hope it's not as big a palaver as getting the supply in the first place. We have a three-phase supply here, but the local infrastructure is absolutely creaking and I can imagine they might be anxious about it taking any output from us. And yes, we do plan on getting a battery, I've just not looked into the cost of those as yet. That is the subject of another weekend's research!

I'm trying to compare the relative cost/benefit/pay-back period of different sizes of PV array in order to work out what size of array will be best, and wonder if anyone is interested in casting an eye over my maths to spot the errors...? The house will be passive house standard, around 200m2, occupied by a household of two adults with, we hope, regular visitors. The roof is a simple two-way (E/W) 32 degree pitched roof, around 75m2 per side, with a dormer window on the E side (photo attached). No shading from trees. The panels will be flush with the slates. We are in Cornwall. We plan to have a battery installed, but I haven't included in the calculations the cost of that. This is likely something we will add later on. Look forward to your thoughts... Solar Panel cost benefit analysis spreadsheet.xlsx

I should add that I am very happy with it so far. Occasionally I can’t get the feed to load as the mobile signal there comes and goes, but largely it is very easy to use and reliable.

We are using a Reolink camera to monitor our site. It’s battery /solar panel powered and uses mobile data via a special kind of SIM card (£4 a month). I can view it on my mobile phone and can play back recordings.

Wishing you both all the best - that sounds like a truly frightening experience. We are down at the mo, and will be down regularly now until our build finishes. Do give me a shout if there's anything you need. M

Ps It was £1.7million in the end, so equidistant between @pocsterand @Thorfun’s guesstimates 👏👏👏👏👏

It truly was breathtaking idiocy to give away more than 100% of the value of the work when it was only 20% finished. Very fortunate indeed to have his sister to supply his windows for free. Watching that made me feel an awful lot better about the minor rookie errors I have made!! 🤪

This windy??! It's storm Eugine mark II 😂

I was taught that must indicates a legal requirement that is enforceable, can indicates a guideline, and will is ambiguous, and usually deliberately so to lead people to think that something is a requirement when it is not...

Following this thread with interest as we will have an attic office room, and there is a risk of it being uncomfortably hot. We've flip flopped over the possibility of installing AC in the master bedroom (and potentially in the attic office directly above) as it doesn't fit with our position on environmental impact, but at the same time have concerns about being uncomfortably hot in our passive house. We have got quotes from Corner Star Aluminium for Warema external roller shutters for our East facing windows. I can't yet recommend the company as we haven't bought/taken delivery of the blinds as yet, but this is the option we decided to go for rather than external venetian blinds or louvres. For our South facing bifold doors we will have an awning above, which will also be the shade for the balcony outside. I'm not yet sure how practical an awning will be for days that are both sunny and breezy... We engaged a building physics company to do a PHPP overheating calculation for us, to see where we most needed to add external shading. We were able to reduce overheating by 85% (theoretically at least) by adding external blinds on the large East windows, and the awning over the bifolds. We are also planning UV reduction film on the two largest West facing windows. We are now mulling whether to add a velux external awning or external roller shutter to the only Velux window in the attic (West facing). I think that decision will be made only once the house is built and we have had a chance to see how comfortable or not the house/attic feels. @SteamyTea that weather website (WU) is my new go-to for nerdy timewasting, thanks!! 😂

New flats to be demolished and rebuilt due to safety fears https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61399641

The basic rule is that stamp duty on a second property is the higher rate. I don’t believe HMRC distinguishes between the primary property being BTL or lived in. The rule is: single property owned = lower rate, add another property = higher rate. If you sold your BTL within a certain period of time (I don’t know the exact duration but it is less than 2 years I think) then you can revert to the lower rate on the second property.

Thanks peeps. I’ll have a chat with HWMBO about leaving the ceiling as-is and fitting low profile lights instead. Looking at the extra cost of plasterboard etc it seems wasteful to make it any fancier than it needs to be, especially with prices going the way they are. I can’t see anything wrong with the idea of painting the rafters and making a feature out of them. ☺️

Just returning to this topic after several weeks of mulling it over… The first thing that occurred to me is that the building will not be heated, so in theory there will be no warm air to condense on the underside of the roof ply… in which case, is it worth insulating at all (like a standard shed)… We could just fit plasterboard to the underside of the joists (having first drilled a 50mm hole through each noggin to allow side to side airflow from vented soffits). In this case, it would be neither a warm roof nor a cold roof, but just a ‘same temperature as room’ roof. Am I missing something obvious??! m

Hi peeps, further advice needed on workshop build, this time on the roof insulation. We’ve built a cold roof design - EDPM on top, 18mm marine ply, joists/noggins. No ceiling finish up yet. We’re planning to put on a plasterboard ceiling with recessed LED lights, but need to work out the best way to insulate between the plasterboard and the ply. Do I need to leave a ventilation gap between the ply roof and the insulation? Then another gap between that and the ceiling? How will the electric cables through the joists affect any insulation decision? Might insulated plasterboard be a better option? All suggestions most welcome! Thanks! M

ahhh the good old days when you could assault and insult children eh? 😆

Maybe it was my mum he was interested in 🤣

Szivesen!

Hungary has a relatively small pot of common names, so it is common to have people with the same name in a group of friends. It makes me wonder what taking the register is like in school 😂 And they have ‘name day’ on which your name is celebrated like a birthday. Today is Gábor and Karina day. I speak basic Hungarian, although have forgotten a great deal of it now. It is quite a challenging one to speak well. I’ve never progressed beyond sounding like a toddler 🤣

Nagyon kemény munka azt Magyars!!

i used to work in a drug rehab unit. One of my clients was an ex dustbin man (a job that fitted nicely around his addiction apparently). I remember him speaking about the amount of money they would get at Xmas from different businesses and householders. Thousands of pounds in tips. I was quite shocked that they would get tips for doing what they’re paid for! But as you say, this was more a financial recognition for looking the other way when a mattress or other waste was taken away unofficially.

I did wonder that too! I’m pretty friendly and happy to pass the time of day for a few mins. If I were a driver I’d want the excuse to have a stretch and a change of scenery for a moment. But my instinct was telling me that it was more than that, and then my mum mentioned when he left that she thought he had been waiting for a tip. That’s what I had thought but hadn’t wanted to say.

Oh that’s great. I thought I might be committing some awful faux pas of builders’ etiquette!! The one that hacked me off was the equipment hire chap who dropped off the genie lifting gear at the bottom of the drive, leaving us to haul it almost 100m up an uneven incline unaided, and still seemed to be expecting something. He was the one who told me repeatedly about the generosity of his other customers. IMHO he’s already being paid to do the thing he just did, and was uncomfortable that I couldn’t get rid of him.

I’ve noticed that delivery drivers tend to want to hang around for a “chat” after delivering goods - one even stopped for 10 mins to wax lyrical about how generous one of his customers had been giving him a case of beer… It occurred to me that I have no idea whether or how much to tip a delivery driver. I am not someone who keeps cash or beers lying around, so I need to know whether to stockpile a stash of something to tip with. Any thoughts?? Thanks! Morgan