Stones

Some interesting ideas. Will price up what I can get locally and take it from there.

Appreciate the input chaps, very much confirmed my thinking. @Ferdinand, having looked at a few guns, many come with additional nozzles of this type so my thought was to go with that, best of both worlds, better gun control but extended length and flexibility of additional nozzle.

No is the short answer.

Certainly Soudal is the main brand stocked locally. WIll check it out.

Had thought about OSB, but really would prefer something that looked a bit more refined (smoother) Had considered that, but as per above, would prefer something a little more refined. I did have a plasterboard lined garage a couple of houses ago, but the DHW cylinder and boiler were in the garage, so there was always a little bit if heat trickling into the space. How much of a difference this makes I don't know.

I have a double detached timberframe garage. It is clad externally with breather membrane, battens and larch cladding, roofed with concrete tiles. Inside it is the bare timber frame racked with OSB. It is dry and well ventilated, but depending on the time of year and ambient conditions, have relatively high levels of humidity. Whilst a useable and practical space, it really could do with brightening up. I am therefore thinking of lining the walls. The ceiling / trusses would probably remain open as this space is used for storage. The space doesn't need to be insulated, although if covering the ceiling may be worth doing. The question is what should I use to line the walls. Plasterboard would no doubt be the cheapest, but given its an unheated space, and RH levels at certain times of the year, may not be a good choice (albeit I would be delighted if the collective view was that it would be okay). I then move up to MDF or PLY, but this seriously pushes the cost up. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I have a smallish void behind plasterboard to fill. Expanding foam is the ideal product, but I really don't want to have to do more than drill a small hole or two into the plasterboard - cutting a large hole out of the plasterboard and repairing thereafter is not an acceptable option. I know the volume, dimensions and shape of the void. My thoughts are to drill two, perhaps three holes to cover the length of the void (600mm) positioning them such that I could angle the nozzle of the foam gun extension through an arc to get the best coverage. This would also in part ensure there was somewhere for displaced air to go. As I see it the main issues are going to be judging how much foam to squirt in (as I don't want over expansion blowing the plasterboard off) and ensuring a good cure given most expanding foams are moisture curing. I'm thinking it may be worth buying a USB inspection camera scope that I can plug into my phone so I can at least get some idea of what's going on in the void and to assist in curing, use a plant mister to spray in a little water into the void before applying foam. Any other suggestions?

So easy enough to mitigate then. The main issue for me is going to be movement as a result of high wind speed, although I can't see there would be any practical difference using this proposed DIY method vs dedicated solar pv clamps.

Also, any issues using galvanised steel Unistrut with the panels (I assume aluminium frame)?

@ProDave just been having a look at YT - is this what you were thinking? https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=unistrut+solar+clamps&&view=detail&mid=979FFA8222E0F1D3F7F8979FFA8222E0F1D3F7F8&&FORM=VDRVRV

So are you thinking of bolting the panels together (I know you were initially thinking of an additional covered storage area) rather than individually to the unistrut?

What are you thinking in terms of brackets between panel and unistrut - L or Z brackets?

That had been my train of thought. To ensure free drainage I would need a small spacer between rail and timber cladding, but I can't see that being especially problematic.

Linked to the discussion here: and following a joint purchase of panels with @ProDave I'm planning to install a small, 6 panel array. For simplicity and neatness, I've decided to mount the array on my garage wall. Whilst it is true that this will not maximise generation, it should result in my being able to use almost all of what is generated, and should save some of the expense and work involved in creating a ground mounting system. My plan is to mount the panels, orientated in portrait format, so the top is the same height as the house windows (should look better visually). The question really is how best to mount them. In the linked topic, @Miek provided a link to a supplier of mounting rails, clamps etc. Whilst I could fix the panels directly to timber battens onto which the garage cladding is fixed (using Z brackets) my gut feeling is that it would be better and probably easier to use a rail and clamp system. I've emailed the company to ask, but anyone have a view why I shouldn't use a roof mounting rail system for this job? Any other suggestions welcome.

@ProDave what water temperature do you have set for the ASHP to kick in to recharge the cylinder?

We haven't, ever, in the near two years we have been in, and that's with multiple showers or combinations of bath being drawn then a shower immediately (or concurrently) after. Our showers run at a flow rate of 17l/min, and nobody takes a quick shower in this house. Our DHW is heated to 49C / 50C, 300l cylinder, recharge kicking in when the cylinder temperature drops to 40C. Our ASHP is an 8.5 kW so it may be as simple as we have a bit more recharge capacity that stops us running out.

Purely anecdotal, I knew someone who experienced similar reduction in performance who on investigating, found the heat exchange core filled with condensation. Emptied out, performance returned to what it had been.

@iSelfBuild What we are defining is a caravan, rather than a portable or temporary building (which can be treated differently under building regs) “A structure designed or adapted for human habitation which: a) Is composed of not more than two sections separately constructed and designed to be assembled on a site by means of bolts, clamps or other devices; and b) Is, when assembled, physically capable of being moved by road from one place to another (whether by being towed, or by being transported on a motor vehicle or trailer), shall not be treated as not being (or not having been) a caravan within the meaning of Part 1 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 by reason only that it cannot lawfully be moved on a highway when assembled.” Measurements are to the best of my knowledge external, with the exception of height being measured internally. You may wish to reconsider the splitting of your units so they can be easily transported, i.e. do not require escort vehicle due to excessive width, as that can get very expensive, very quickly.

That may be their plan, having got an A++ energy rating because of the low heat loss, it opens up a huge market with big developers seeking an easy SAP point or two.

Things that make your life easier: Multipanel / shower wall panels - really easy to keep clean Kitchen - incorporate drawers and cupboard pull outs for anything below worktop height Maids pulley - already mentioned, but ours are located in a section of vaulted ceiling so are well above head height / no washing hanging down into room 5A lighting socket ring in main room - single switch to turn off all lamps (really wish I'd fitted a master switch for all the TV and HiFi) Mat wells at doors - ours were the consequence of the door being able to open over the planned tiles, but we wouldn't be without them.

So, having developed what they thought was a viable product with the SunampPV (intended IIRC as a means for those with gas boilers to benefit from diverted PV generation - I think they had identified a reasonable sized social housing market for this) and thanks in part to this forum, they realised there were other applications and that larger capacity units with low / negligible heat loss was potentially quite a lucrative market (especially if they could sell to big developers who need to get an easy extra SAP point). They develop their range, simplify the internal workings presumably to make it quicker, cheaper and easier to manufacture, but in doing so, took away one of the big positive features of the original product, i.e. ability to charge the unit whatever the state of depletion. Combined with the bulging lid, which doesn't look at all good, does seem to indicate it being a case of trying to push forward too quickly and perhaps taking eyes off the ball. Hopefully with the feedback they are getting will turn things around.

Worth remembering that thermostatic showers need a temperature differential between incoming DHW temp and your selected output temp to work/mix properly. For most I believe that differential is around 6 - 10C. I costed out using an ASHP to satisfy all DHW provision, and the preheat to 40C then top up with immersion alternative. Heating to 50C and based on 300litres, and an ASHP COP of 2.4, I found the cost to be the same. Sure the ASHP electricity cost for preheat was less due to higher COP, but this was offset by the immersion top up cost. If it costs the same, is there really any benefit to complicating your DHW system / operation? I concluded there wasn't. I should point out that I don't have any PV (diversion) to DHW.

Does your ASHP pre date the ERP compliance? Just wondering if that's when it changed.

I had a read of the info and agree it's far from clear. It's your electric boiler (or say an oil boiler) that would be considered back up heating. If you chose to retain the boiler and keep it connected / used it, then metering would apply rather than deemed payments. Immersions form an integral part of most systems and are not included. I think all approved ASHP now have on board metering for performance which is enough to tick that particular box. I believe metering for payment requires extra kit.

But the rules are there, and there for a reason. The tree, given its size will presumably have some benefit to the wider community in terms of amenity. Unless the developer has owned the land for 200 years and somehow been taken by surprise that this tree has grown unnoticed, he/she will have bought the land and gone through the planning process in the full knowledge of the TPO restriction. Depends on their planning permission, but I imagine there may well be specific conditions relating to the tree. They may well have rendered their planning permission null and void themselves by felling the tree (putting themselves in a position where they are unable to comply with conditions).