ProDave

Don't settle for a low figure and don't underestimate the amount of work needed to properly rectify this. I have worked on 2 similar jobs and both were stripped back to a completely bare shell of a building, properly dried out for some time with big dehumidifiers and then rebuilt. It is not a trivial job so don't let them fob you off. with a low settlement to fix yourself.

My point about get someone in is if you find the right person you will get a resolution and understanding for a fair price. Don't always assume things have been wired properly. I did one recently where clearly the motorised valves were not working, and were that plastic type where you could not swap the actuator heads. It was the microswitch in the heating valve was stuck and the motor in the HW valve that was also stuck. Both replaced by robbing parts from the new head the owner had bought hoping to swap the entire head. All seemed to work fine turning on from cold. Next day they called me back, no heating, there was demand from the programmer but the heating valve was not energised. It turned out it was wired wrong and the heating valve was connected via the hot water tank thermostat. I can't imagine how it ever worked, but I was clearly the first person to check the wiring through and find the error.

Turn that switched spur in the above picture off. Does the programmer downstairs go off? that's all you need to know at the moment. If so remove the programmer from it's connector plate on the wall, turn on again and do that test with the two motorised valves above. Or let us know id the boiler is running continuously.

I suggest the next step is get an electrician (one who understands heating systems, check that point first) to come and check the system over. He will find the isolator or if none fitted will fit one and check it all out and advise what is needed.

Well something will turn it off at the consumer unit, if not it's own circuit then probably one of the socket circuits. But agree that surface mount box just round the corner from the wiring centre looks prime candidate. Interesting it has 2 different makes of motorised valve. That bottom one is a re badged I think Danfoss valve. I hate those, they are pretty poorly built but the think I hate is there have been several design changes and newer heads won't fit older valve bodies and some versions you can't even detach the valve head from the body so have to change the whole thing, preferably for a better make like the Honeywell one in the picture above.

You are over thinking it. The stove only weights 100Kg. Just lay your chosen tiles or other hearth, e.g a nice bit of stone, onto the floor. Our wood burning stove that is MUCH heavier plus the weight of the flue pipe, sits on a granite hearth just carefully laid on the floor boards and held in place with gravity.

That just the conclusion I have come to, one of the cars in the house can be an ev and get used for a lot if not all the local journeys. But I just can't contemplate that leap of not having an ICE car for the long journeys.

Turn the power off, unclip the existing programmer from it's back plate, and turn the power back on. Be careful live terminals are exposed on that backplate so don't touch and don't leave it unattended with power on. Like that the boiiler should not fire up. Then manually open each of the motorised valves and see if the pump starts and the boiler fires as you open each one. Only change to the hive if you really want to have it controlled by an app and that is really what you want, otherwise start with a new perfectly ordinary 2 channel central heating programmer.

Is that you pushing buttons, or is the right hand selector flag moving upwards of it's own accord? The heating and hot water lights on the programmer appear to be both off, yet you say the boiler is firing unless you turn it off at the boiler. I suspect you have multiple faults, what is your level of expertise around electrical circuits, fault finding with a multi meter?

You need to actually check the system operation before adopting the "fault finding by substitution" technique before you waste any money (replace the controller with the hive and find it still does not work) The existing programmer should work. It should have a light to show when heating is on and when hot water is on. Do those lights turn on and off at the correct times as expected? if not the programmer is probably faulty. If the lights on the programmer operate as they should but the boiler is switching on and off at eratic times not related to what the programmer is doing, then it will almost certainly be one of the motorised valves in the cupboard with the tank has failed. they look like Honeywell so unless they have seized it is usally the actuator head that fails and they can be replaced without needing a plumber. The existing system should just work heating and hot water on and off when they set it and temperature what they set it, with no continual input from the user.

Well painting it any colour you like is not going to alter the function so I see nothing wrong with you painting it.

Reading about this one thing has struck me. The difference between housing and transport. I am sitting comfortably in my well insulated low energy house, enjoying the same standard of living I had in any other house, arguably a better standard of living, but at very much reduced energy usage so much better for the planet. so in other words moving from an older inefficient house to a new well built one, is good for the environment AND the occupier. but when it comes to transport, I cannot yet see the solution that still gives me all I had before while saving the planet. That is the gap that has to be filled, so transport can go green in the same way housing can, without reducing our expectations of what it delivers.

But Scotland, with it's low population density, lots of hydro and wind power can only achieve 90% renewables at the best of times. Not much hope for the whole UK being close to 100% renewable any time soon. And UNTIL we reach 100% renewable for what we use NOW (let alone increased use for charging electric cars) then you cannot dispute that plugging in an electric car to charge it, WILL increase fossil fuel generation somewhere. As for that mythical thing, surplus renewable energy to make hydrogen, none yet. The solution will be many things over a period of time. But many are pretending we will solve this just with a few simple changes. My stance is EV's may well be the future, but they are not the present.

I love the curtains shown on the master bedroom with the pointy window. Do let us know how those work in practice.........

I don't have one because a) I can't find one that will tow nearly 2 ton of trailer 200 miles on one charge, and b) even if I could find one, I would not be able to afford it. It would be good if they came clean and just told us our motoring expectations have to diminish and our motoring costs are going to drastically increase. i.e many will be priced out of car ownership.

And an end to most industry and mining, no new steel, just recycled, well I suppose we have to do something with those redundant ships. It really is reverse the industrial revolution. Oh and cars, not only will all cars after 2030 be EV's but a move to make them small lightweight shopping trolleys, so it really is an end to towing anything Who is buying shares in Boeing, Airbus, Maersk etc now?

We know we are heading for "net zero" but I don't think the vast majority of the public actually appreciate what that means. We are being told to buy EV's, build more wind turbines and swap our boilers for heat pumps. I suspect most people think when that's done, then job done. WRONG. That is just the easy low hanging fruit. Have a read of this article Absolute Zero – UK FIRES But the headline from that article has to be this chart If all that is implemented in that timescale that is going to cost us ALL a LOT of money, and severely going to restrict what we can do. I just feel it is time this was more public and people knew what is ahead of us.

So what you want is a normal lamp that has an LED lamp of some sort, you then doctor it by removing the LED driver from the lamp, putting that in a box near the mains plug and extend the cable from the LED driver to the lamp with flat speaker cable as suggested.

Should have fitted a floor socket or two........

Ask @greenbanana

Can you explain exactly what you are trying to power and why it has to go under a carpet?

My take is he is worried the works next door might be putting his own home in danger if they are being done wrong. If only he would post the pictures for us all to see, we could either re assure him it is all normal and nothing to worry about, or tell him yes you do have a bunch of cowboys working there and give him some advice.

Don't assume "April showers" means rain. I worked for someone not far from here that remembered it snowing in mid summers day many years ago.

I wired a container converted as a gym. (Jim's gym) I idd it all in conduit and singles on the surface and treated it as a fixed install. The only important but is make sure there is an earth bond to the frame of the container.

ASHP has not done any DHW heating for at least 3 days now. We have had a rare occurrence here, 4 mostly fully sunny days, coinciding with a bank holiday weekend. Doesn't stop the air being cold due to a cold wind.