Alan Ambrose

Rebuild cost is the other big factor of course.

My vote would be yes - to avoud unforseen mishaps. Maybe just a quick-witted planning point when asked to clarify a detail or somesuch.

Is that 4 or 5 people for Thurs? @G and J - is that pub the kind of place where you would book a table or just turn up?

BTW these subjects have all been covered multiple times and you’ll learn a lot by searching out old replies. In short: + install a kiosk once and then you can route from there later without intervention by the dno. A temporary generator can also be linked into the kiosk if you want. + the power requirement is just a book exercise (sensible answers will be about 12 kVA) i.e. 50A-60A. That is, HP + EV + a bit for the rest. Not even sure why they bother to ask this, unless it’s to get you to think (for yourself) how much power you’ll be using max. + in practice, whatever you ask for, there are only a few options actually delivered by the DNO - 100A single phase, 63A 3 phase and maybe a derated 80A or 63A single phase if your local network is very near max load. You may not get the option of 3 phase. + use your social engineering skills to ask the rep on site in informal conversation what the actual timing for a pole is. + get this all rolling asap - leccy seems to be by far the slowest of the utilities. p.s. this is a bizarre corporate game where they present you with something that looks like an al-la-carte menu, knowing full well that they only have one dish that they’re prepared to serve you. Save some bumps and ask informally what’s actually available and ask for that.

There's some fancy printers that print on heat shrink if you're inclined - Brother is one brand. Cheaper would be some simple write-on tags. https://www.brother.co.uk/business-solutions/electricians Otherwise one of those special pens that prints on plastic?

Nice

Ah I’ve just got to this decision too… Given that the single phase supply will be limited to 100A, is an alternative solution to this problem a little CU with, say, 1 x 80A MCB for the house and smaller MCBs for the garage, site hut etc? (And appropriate CUs downstream.) Also, I believe we’re meant to have a TT earth during the build and use the PME earth after? What’s the bet way of rigging that? Lastly, we’ll almost certainly need a generator while UKPN faffs around for.a few months more - is there a good way to feed it into this lot until we have ‘shore power’? p.s. presumably no RCDs, SPD etc?

Well tamped MOT3 only? Also, Dunster House-style ‘log cabins’ are pretty good and quick to put together.

OK I have a tip: have spares for the smaller hoses and the right spanners to change them (might need some tricky/specialised spanners in some cases). Also, some spare hydraulic oil to top up. Much, much, much cheaper than an 'emergency' hose replacement on a bank holiday. How would I know that? The spare hoses, (after the fact, of course) were only £8 a pop for quality hoses.

Yeah, we have some friends with one, and it looks good quality. I imagine it is a low anxiety route compared with other methods, but presumably with a hefty price premium?

The Scandinavians have been using this tech extensively for ages, and to mu minds, have the best looking stoves. I like those from Rais & Morsoe.

Maybe consider this: - see how pliant the wood is around the crack - can you push it back into place by hand (with a fair amount of pressure) and/or temporarily clamp it back into place? - if so, you might be able to flood some good quality wood glue into the crack and then clamp it up tight to dry. - otherwise, some screws doing the same thing, with little matching oak plugs covering their heads. - there’s a filling trick also where you make a mix of sawdust from the wood in question with wood glue to get a good match. You might want a good cabinet maker or restoration specialist to do this work - probably only a couple of hours of their time. Also, look into the idea of wabi sabi .

Thanks guys

I would like the online merchants to (a) not lie about their stock levels, (b) ship stuff when they say they would, (c) let you know promptly when they fail either of (a) or (b). I have a couple of bad experiences recently on quite big orders for 'in stock + order by noon for next day delivery' products. When you call up after a few days and you ask where the delivery is, they, say, "ah, it's not actually in stock / although we said it's in stock it's actually been discontinued + didn't someone from here let you know (no they didn't) + OK if we deliver in a couple of weeks? (no it isn't FFS)".

Take a small stand at a self build show with some posters of some of your designs and see what turns up? Listen carefully and see where the anxiety points are for potential customers and therefore what would be your ‘offer’ or ‘positioning’. Maybe some pricing ‘packages’ to put some transparency into architectural / planning pricing. Principal designer? CDM? You just need to figure out why customers would hire you rather than someone else and what for - so you can establish yourself in your own market niche. Pick up an undergraduate primer on marketing, Kotler maybe. Figure out what kind of self build customer is yours.

Ah UKPN. They seem to love this stuff. The ‘only’ option is one that’s very expensive? Funny about that. Only yesterday they were telling me forcibly how they ‘don’t make any money in connecting new customers’. Maybe: + look at the source and letter of the UKPN ‘policies’. + start an official complaint - UKPN does have some sensitivity there. + get UKPN to cost up all the options but using your own trenching. That’s you have all options at your disposal. Ask who has the authority in UKPN to vary the costs - someone has. + start negotiating money with the neighbour - see whether there’s an option there that will be cheaper. + check with land registry that the neighbour really does own the road. + find put who within UKPN has the authority to override their ‘policy’ - someone does. That is, shake the tree hard and see what drops out. Lastly, someone on ‘t ‘ub found a negotiator who worked on commission - would love to find the contact myself.

Other opinions on the geotextile or not question?

So groundwater potentially has more silt in it.

If it helps: I’ve not seen a small weep in a PG develop into a full leak. Useful to put them on isolating valves IMO to allow for easy swap out out though.

I think this is a general loophole. In theory ridge height is from GL. Where’s GL? Unless it was specified on the PP drawings (not required by many LAs) it’ s the highest point around the proposed building outline on your topo. But the topo doesn’t cover every point on your plot, only some representative points. Once the topsoil has been stripped and the ground generally mangled by heavy machinery, where was it again?

Ah, groundwater.

>>> A couple of phone calls identified quickly that the requirements for a tank under the drive meant that any tank would be way too low to drain into the sewer without a pump. Well, according to your drawing, your foul pipe is planned to drain that way, and the surface water need less of a fall, so it must be possible. >>> too low to drain into the sewer without a pump As above, not sure I agree. A pump is not ideal, but not impossible either - I'll have at least a couple in my build (and also a suds / rwh tank). >>> far end of the garden being circa 1m lower than the road Be interesting to see (maybe with a hosepipe) what happens to rain when it drains it that direction - it must go somewhere. A percolation test at the back of the plot?

Sorry, not uksuds.com, actually (believe it or not) 'freeflush' ( https://www.freeflush.co.uk/products/suds-attenuation-sizing-design ). Cost is £120 now. The calc looks something like this (I think they have updated it now). The key output number is the 'tank size' (the 95% is assuming a tank made from typical crates which are 95% void / 5% plastic). The 'tank' can be any shape, of course. The key inputs are your location, the allowed drainage rate (1.9 l/s in my case), the horizontal area of your roof and any 'non-permeable surfacing' e.g. concrete driveway. Actually, for a quick and dirty calc (as we're in a similar location weather-wise) just pro-rate my numbers using your own roof area etc.

What’s the fall between ground level at the house and invert level at the pipe? Suggest you need about 1 in 100 on the pipe plus about 20cm for rainwater gullies. Maybe get a suds analysis (uksuds.com) as the 1 l/s thing is a suds requirement. That calc uses your roof area and any non-permeable hard standing (so plan to have a permeable driveway), weather data, allowed drainage rate (2 l/s in your case), some climate assumptions and a bunch of stats to figure out the tank size you need. If you have the fall and room (under the drive maybe) you can use a suds tank. If not, above ground storage like butts. It’s possible your ground even in winter maybe take some water too. Storage can be an actual tank, crates, dug hole with shingle in (at 30% volume) etc. I’m using a permeable drive as part of the ‘tank’. Any place to drain at the rear of the plot too?

Very good, extra brownie points for bank holiday working 😀.