Alan Ambrose

Yeah, I think you’re right - can you call her to check?

Well that's interesting, I didn't know they published their pricing algorithm. I'm not sure I understand though why there should be a 14p uplift from 4-7pm in addition to the wholesale price? That seems like double counting and/or subsidising the rest of their customers.

Just to add a bit of balance (and to state the obvious) - of course, structural warranties are generally only for 10 years. This means, that the vast majority of UK houses (i.e. ones over 10 years old) get sold without one. What's more, structural warranties only cover structural problems. Then, supposing you find a structural problem between 3 and 10 years out - what do you think your chances are of claiming on the warranty after the warranty company has argued 'no it wasn't bad structural design, it was bad workmanship' etc etc etc. That is, the warranty won't be 100% protection - 50% maybe? I think I would dig into the detailed problems and see which really bother you and the surveyor. Negotiate money off to cover these if you can - because 'cash buyers only' reduces the available market. Maybe contact the builder and ask a few polite questions to cover some unknowns. See if the seller wants to provide an architect's or SE's cert - again these are not 100% watertight. Life is all a bit of a risk and even if you take all the insurance and make all the mitigations you can, there'll still be uncovered risk - on this and every other house purchase. Take a view of seller and builder integrity. By all means go in with your eyes open and as best informed as you can be, then make your decision bearing in mind how much you want the house and how much risk you're happy to bear - warranty or not.

As I've been attempting to nail down details of my build and I'm coming across an increasing number of 'Government', 'Industry' and for want of a better word/acronym 'NGO' organisations. Some of them make 'the rules' and/or are big influencers on people who have power (e.g. building control). As I've been looking at, say, Part O, I've been wondering 'where do these rules come from', 'who's making them', 'who's running these organisations', 'who owns them', 'what authority do they have', 'which get government funding', 'which are really for-profit masquerading as something else', 'which are really scams' etc etc etc. Maybe everyone else just accepts 'the rules' and gets on with it ? Does anyone have a sense of the landscape and/or answers to any of the questions?

Thanks Ian for your thoughts. >>> Why not just go with 300mm I-Joists, full of cellulose. A bit like this? I can get within 8% of the previous number with 373mm joists and only lose a cm: I read the chapters on ventilation and moisture in The Passivhaus Handbook over the weekend, but I am obviously still not quite getting it... BTW does this kind of join handle the SIP cold bridging problem?

Hi, Would anyone care to comment on this insulation stack-up, which I am considering for both walls and roof (walls with horizontal board for rain screen rather than pantiles)? Essentially SIP over cellulose using posi joists as Larsen truss. The idea is to use some PIR to reduce the overall wall thickness while maintaining a reasonable decrement delay / phase shift. This is all meant to be hanging outboard of an Oak frame which is also the structural support. BTW I chose Isocell as the nearest thing to Warmcel / I think 'Lamination' in ubakus is probably ply / I don't know why ubakus looks like it has put in an extra layer of wood underneath the pantiles - but I don't think it makes any difference anyway as the cavity beneath is ventilated. I was also thinking of using the posi joists / Warmcel as service layer rather than have a separate one. I've included an extra ply layer inboard of the plasterboard (like our Scandinavian brothers) to allow easy shelf support etc. It still looks there's a condensation problem - any ideas? Is the optimum decrement delay / phase shift 12 hours (for max attenuation) or is a longer number better? TIA, Alan

>>> vector sum metering is guaranteed by the standard Ah, so in a sense, his HP man is 'right' - that is the DNO will 'exchange' your export for import at zero price difference.

Well anything is possible, but you probably won’t like the cost and/or performance. The problem is that RTDs are usually used as small-signal devices to avoid self-heating - think tiny cables, screening, short distances to avoid noise pick-up etc. Sure, you can convert to digital and send IP/serial etc over wireless. But you’ll probably need a custom-made device to convert from digital back to small signal again with PT100 curve characteristics. Any other input options to your HP? RS485, Modbus, 0-10V etc?

Personally I would take the solid ash or oak anytime and treat any movement as evidence of 'life'. It's a funny thing, but antique dealers tell me they get far more money for the 'wonky' chairs they sell.

I guess 'our' kind of houses are, unfortunately, few-and-far between, so there's simply little exposure to good building practice or a lot of the more modern equipment, materials, and techniques we use. I think most customers for building trades don't have any idea of what quality they're getting - they tend to judge by contractor's politeness, cleanliness of their vans, how much they tidy up, how well written their quotes are etc etc. So, as we're leading the housing quality race, it would be right that central and local government cut us some slack e.g. like restricting Part O to the high-rise flat builders and the modern estate builders.

>>> the conumer unit will put power to whatever phase is calling for it... Hmmm, nonsense - in the sense that it can’t move power from one phase to another. So, that could leave you exporting on 2 phases while you import on the phase the HP is connected too. Which may have a cost penalty unless your supplier does the net-metering thing. ideally you use all PV power you generate on site first *before* sending some back to the grid. This added complexity of phase balancing and contractors being less familiar with 3P inverters, HPs, car chargers etc is one of the downsides of 3P.

>>> Arguing with stupid people, who are so stupid they don't realise how stupid they are. +99

Guys you don't seem to fully get the concept of 'O' in SWMBO.

>>> set the handrail on the balustrade higher than the 1100 mm required by building regs to allow for the height of the decking. You do know that thinking ahead is actually forbidden on BH forum?

Wow, that's nice :). Yeah, I could retire there...

>>> a bunch of trained otters from the zoo Looking for a more skilled workforce? >>> So just how bad is the cold bridge created by the ridge board? You can work it out approximately, if you can be bothered (or get someone to do it for you). I would guess not very much - add maybe 3-5% to roof w/m^2? Maybe there some internal insulation detail you can figure - the RSJ was always going to be a cold bridge anyway, so some beefed-up and specific insulation detail under that?

Personally I hate fibreglass after a bunch of experience with glass, resin and gf boats in my youth. You'll be sheltered from the installation yuk, but I wonder what the real expected lifetime is? Used as a terrace, I would expect it to crack under point loads, then leak, then need replacing.

If you ever need high bandwidth to any particular point in your house then proper network cable is a must. Once we got fibre here it took me a bit of work to get all that bandwidth back to my study etc. You need a fibre router, 1 gig hubs, and … cable. Shared wifi will be fine for internet browsing etc but it won’t handle the full bandwidth of fibre. Cable also allows poe to cameras, access points etc and avoids you having to have mains power near them. Also wired doorbells, thermostats etc avoids all that BS with batteries and the spottiness of low bandwidth connections. I think dependence on wifi is short-sighted.

Nice & congrats.

Congrats, and you'll find the people here very skilled and very helpful. A shot of the view please, just to make us jealous you understand?

>>> If anyone would like to suggest underfloor heating mats or "do it properly first time around mate" please send your suggestions to 2018. yeah one or more towel rails - can be on a timer, smart or otherwise.

I would be inclined to check out an EPDM solution with carefully made duck boards or similar to avoid puncturing the bit your normally walk over. Should be much cheaper and probably last longer. Use the thickest EPDM you can find.

OK believe it or not this is making good progress. >>> the solicitor is from an established firm that have several offices in south east, qualified in the past 3-4 years. OK this is perhaps the best situation as the partners should be keen to preserve their firm's professional reputation without being too important to speak to a residential client. You should have a copy of the Law Society TA6 form (see section 2 Disputes and complaints) which the seller completed to inform you (and your solicitor) of the circumstances surrounding the plot and/or in the 'replies to enquiries' whether there were any disputes - current or historical. If the seller said 'no' then you have a very big legal point in your favour as it implies proof that the seller may have been acting fraudulently. If your solcitor didn't use the TA6 or didn't ask in enquiries then they are at fault. Anyway, call the solicitor, describe the problem, ask them to check the enquiries etc, and then ask them to discuss with the relevant partner and to get back to you with their proposed solution. You really want them to (a) accept their omission (failure to enquire re disputes) and/or (b) to blame the other side for not revealing the info when requested. Either way, you want them to accept at least some responsibility for resolving the problem rather than turning it into a big fee earner for their litigations department. Also, tell them that you've asked both the neighbour and the seller for the history, the measurement detail, and the consultant's report and both parties have refused to give you the information. Hopefully they'll at least commit to a letter or two at their cost (or at least low cost). Now the solicitor may want control, not unreasonably, so you may need to negotiate which letters you will write and which they will do. Make it clear, of course, that you want to resolve the dispute in as economical way as possible. >>> The plot is an infill, in a city. So the proposed development is within 1-2m from the neighbour. From the planning docs filed on your LPA portal and maybe the judicious use of a laser measure, photography etc, you should be able to get the approximate right-to-light setup. Draw that up, send to the neighbour and ask them to confirm. You are wanting to (a) demonstrate that you are trying to resolve the situation and (b) move the conversation from vague legal points to practical resolution. >>> The right to light issue is unknown, as either sides have not shared details. Well the objective is to bring some transparency and move it towards resolution. Either you or your lawyer should ask both parties again formally to give you all the details, history, docs etc, with a time limit, and point out their potential liability if they refuse to do so. Gus is right (you'll find Gus always gives very good guidance) - you want to move the conversation with the neighbour to one about standards, measurements etc - that is, how you're going to practically resolve the situation to (at least partially) suit both parties. Send the neighbour a copy of the standard for them to chew over. You want them to change their tack and work with you to resolve the situation. You need to do the dull work here, document everything, contemporaneous notes, lots of detail. Use tracked letter (preferably) or email (except possibly the initial conversation with your solicitors) - so it's all documented. (You can follow up a call with your solicitors (or anyone else) with a 'confirmation email' so the call gets documented.) Be super polite and friendly but firm with all parties and assume that any communication you make may be 'read out in court' and shouldn't embarrass or provide negative evidence. Tread softly, you may get one of the other parties to embarrass themselves - for instance, the neighbour may reveal that they'll do anything in their power to stop you building and/or refuse to help you achieve a negotiated result. Excellent, document that. p.s. you may wonder at the documentation and formal letter thing. Partly this is practical - you may want to use this in legal argument and/or court. Partly, it is a signalling thing - you want to give the impression that (a) you know what you're doing and are determined to get a resolution and (b) they're not going to be able to pull the wool over your eyes or get you to back down with vague threats and/or the refusal to provide information. Lastly, it is helpful in court and to combat the other side's lawyers (it shouldn't come to that) to demonstrate your good conduct and that the other side is demonstrating bad conduct - i.e. you are doing everything in your power to resolve the issue amicably and avoid a formal legal process.

We have something similar on the outside of our barn. Re-painted the factory finish with Bedec Barn Paint as a precaution after 5 years as I was going to grow a bunch of roses over it and painting would be more difficult then. South facing had a little sun damage as you might expect - other sides no obvious effect. Suggest will need painting, say, every 5-10 years depending on how pristine you like it. Paint any cut edges, of course, when you put it up and don’t have it touching the group to avoid damp pick-up.

>>> What’s the 20VAswitching capacity (resistive) Well 20 VA resistive means 20W (or 20 VA 'with a power factor of 1') and you're looking for > 150 VA and > 72W. It's also 150 V AC max and you want to switch 230V AC.