Alan Ambrose

FYI there’s a good comparison between old and new here. He compares his experiences between a new build and a refurb of an older house in a very fair way.

>>> using the three riders of the MCS apocalypse viz; data, physics and algebra Very nice turn of phrase 👏 ouch!

The best indication would be: how does the rest of your house drain rainwater? Also, you might want to do a little soakaway test to see just how permeable your clay is. If there's any sand in it it might just drain fine anyway.

>>> Install a supply for the builders in the garden, but make it robust enough (maybe brick built with a roof) and then run a supply from the meter to the house when the time comes. You can do any of the 3 you mentioned. I'm going for your 2nd option but into a GRP kiosk (see the forum for example). That way you only need the expensive DNO out once. You need a bit of extra room for that obviously. Re your 3rd option. It seems the tools most subbies use these days are battery ones - so it may only be a few big tools, temporary lighting etc that you'll be powering anyway. >>> Also, can the "permanent" supply be put into the house as soon as it is "wind and watertight"? Yes, in fact it'll be installed into an enclosure on one of your outside walls. For that, you only need the bit of wall it'll be permanently installed into. From memory, you need to install the enclosure. Then you call a supplier to install a meter. Then it's your task to have it wired further from there - as and when you're ready. And yes, the DNO prices are steep. Some of the work you can organise yourself, that is the 'contestable' stuff - but that's why you might want to have the DNO do the minimum work.

Chatted to the guy using a PS 1000 today to look for post tension cables in concrete slab. Very clever 'ground penetrating radar' which, I think, uses microwave EM. Goes to 300mm I believe. I assumed GPR was high-tech stuff, but it seems you can rent one of these for <£1K per day.

Maybe a bright general builder. Failing that a bright guttering guy to check that downpipe coupling. Or a bright handyman. Maybe the latter. The reason I say 'bright' is that it involves a little bit of problem solving and water penetration is notoriously tricky. The probable answer is that one of the pipes has moved a bit / the elbow coupling is not sealing properly / the pipe is blocked with leaves and the rain water is penetrating from outside. An easy way to check is too see what happens the next time you get a proper rainstorm. Take a picture. Maybe the water isn't running off the top of the angled 'plinth' bricks as it should.

You could check - you might just have an NHBC certificate or similar. But as others have said - it's probably not a very complicated problem to solve, so I might just sort it out myself.

>>> would need a professional to help It depends how much you want to push the limit. If you start with the PH glazing suggestions: ...design for good, but not excessive daylight, with a maximum of about 25% of the internal south facade as glazing. All other orientations should ideally have only as much glazing as is needed for views, daylight and ventilation. As a rule of thumb total glazing area (excluding frame) of around 15-20% of treated floor area (TFA) is a good starting point for design. https://www.passivhaustrust.org.uk/UserFiles/File/Technical Papers/How to Build a Passivhaus - Rules of Thumb - compressed.pdf Or you can start with the Part O limits and work from there. If that doesn't look like enough glazing for you and you want to push the limits then solar glass / brise soleil / external blinds plus PHPP or TM59 or both. (If both, you can then take the best result if your BC will allow it.) At that point, you're working quite hard (and quite expensively) to get extra glass.

Well the OP says that he wants to call a start to preserve the permission for posterity. I’m pointing out that a couple of BH members have fallen foul of an expensive CIL gotcha. I only didn’t make this mistake (about £60K cost to me) as I’ve taken to running everything past my LPA’s CIL people before making any move pre-permission.

Some careful use of a circ saw and an old chisel would probably sort that out easily enough.

Note that there’s a CIL gotcha here if this is self-build and your LPA charges CIL - that is that you/your buyer won’t be able to apply for planning for a new design and get a self-builld CIL exemption. That’s because you have already started on this development.

My LPA’s CIL guys are quite helpful. Suggest running the problem by yours asap.

You can use two Heatmiser stats with a bit of a bodge on the thermistors for remote control. Probably wouldn't want to bother unless you use the Heatmiser set-up elsewhere. What rating is the MCB and do you have a way to measure the cable? Comparison with known cable sizes will work. Each immersion will take ~13A. Would it be easy-ish to run new cable?

To be convincing you would have to spray paint indecipherable markings in several colours, a week later put out plastic barriers, then traffic lights for elf and safety, noisily dig a hole on a Saturday morning at 7am, without any hearing protection and showing a deal of fat belly, leave it for several weeks, drop off some kerbstones and leave them for several weeks, place kerbstones badly and not even, sit in your van all day while it rains, and finish up 6 months later leaving a bunch of mess. Efficiently doing it all in one day would only attract suspicion.

Well it's all clear, you shouldn't put it inside. And you shouldn't put it outside. What's the problem?

Ah, you're one link away from success

Ah I just saw this - I just checked in the actual legislation, it says: "clawback period” means— ... (b) in relation to the exemption for self-build housing, the period of period of three years beginning with the date of the compliance certificate" ... and ... "compliance certificate” means a certificate given under ... — (a) regulation 17 (completion certificates) of the Building Regulations 2010" So, 3 years after BC sign off.

Leaking electrolytics will do that too. If you like working on small things you can (a) clean the board with IPA, (b) solder on little jumper wires after carefully scraping the soldermask off the bit you want to solder. Magnification of some sort helps a lot.

EPCs are a bit rubbish - but what do we expect for the fee? You can go back though and ask him to correct anything that's wrong and substitute real facts for 'assumed' facts. As you can see, you get penalised big time for electric heating and hot water. A bit dumb considering the government is trying to move everyone away from fossil fuels. But hey, you didn't expect those policies to be joined up did you?

Sure you can. It might depend on how difficult you think it might be to get approval though and how much research you're prepared to do. V. difficult might suggest a planning consultant or someone with an existing relationship with your LPA. Depending on how haughty your LPA is, you might also like to do a pre-app to get a feel. Also, you'll make more money if you can get permission for something smaller rather than larger - but judging a likely size to get approval might need research and/or experience. There's also the question of what you do if your LPA are not immediately convinced - do you push through maybe going to committee, fold, appeal? Also, don't underestimate the impact of a pretty drawing / photomontage / watercolour ... both to sway the planners and for the sale particulars after. I did, but someone more subtle than me might have got approval quicker / with less hassle / less work.

With that lovely design work you'll have no problem getting projects from any of the 'big tech' internet greats...

While the general feeling here is against GS, I did visit a guy last week who has had an open loop GSHP with the bore under a shed containing the plant. The bore was about 30-40m into sand & chalk. It had been operational for 10 years and he was fine with it. I'm a bit of a contrarian and can't help noting that the whole of southern Europe is fine with solar thermal also. I'm sure there's a latitude where it becomes less desirable.

Nice

Suggest yes, because (a) the drilling will be done by a specialist company anyway, there will probably only be a few in your area, (b) we should all have the discipline to get multiple quotes, especially for big items, (c) the local drillers will have experience in the ground in your area which may be super useful info. Sounds a deep hole. Know what kind of ground you're on? Looked to see whether there are any BGS records close to your area? I think the BH hive mind generally doesn't lean towards ground source. Someone will be along shortly to ask why not air...oh, I see I'm too late already.

Oh I see there are some quite cool-looking panels around. What kind of panels have you chosen? On the original question, I wouldn't worry to much. Maybe make the two end panels the same? I bet you won't notice after 5 minutes. I had fibre installed in the flats where we are now which involved running some 1mm white cable around the corners where the white walls met the white ceiling. Despite the fact they were going from an unusable 5-10Mbs to 1Gbs, the neighbours kicked up a right fuss about the 'sub-standard job' and 'atrocious workmanship'. Not a peep since and I never notice either and I'm quite picky. It all just blends into the background...