ProDave

Perhaps the builders are intending to get the proper lintel that will support the new opening in place before proceeding, in which case it won't be sitting on acro's when they start digging. Is the property empty? It is not very secure now with a big hole in the back wall. I take it this is not your house? Are you a worried neighbour?

Simple to make your self with an Arduino or Raspbery Pi, whichever you find easiest to program (Arduino for me)

The grid is croaking. There is a plan going through for a new 400KV pylon from Caithness down to Beauly (to join up with the already upgraded line from Beauly to Denny in the central belt. There are many other pinch points in the grid preventing full use of the existing renewable energy at times, let alone adding much more.

It is just a supplier that likes to do things in a clunky, unclear manner. A decent supplier like Octopus shows you each month exactly what you have used, exactly how much has been debited to your account with them, what has been paid in, and exactly what your ongoing balance is. They made it clear for the 6 months of the energy support payments, your DD would be reduced by £67 per month. Everything was simple and clear. And you don't need a smart meter to get simple and clear like that. Oh and Octopus let you set your DD amount, and if you get too much in credit, ask for some back. If you want to be with a better supplier PM me for a referal code to get £50 credit on switching.

Check your bank statements. I read that as they debited your account £87.94 each month, and then refunded £66 to your account each month when the government payment came in. If they did not do that then I agree it does not make sense.

So you have an 18kW ASHP do you? My 5kW ASHP draws no more than 2kW of electricity and is well withing the capacity of the solar PV when the sun is out. But yes the chief USP of a solar PV diverter to an immersion heater is it can send anything from a few watts up to the full power of the immersion heater (mine is in practice 2.8kW) depending on what is available. On a sunny day is is common to see the ASHP running full tilt and still some going to the immersion heater at the same time.

I find the biggest barrier to solar hot water, however you organise it, is when you want to use the hot water. I am a "shower in the evening" person. All I need in the morning is tepid water to wash my face. So for me starting the day with a completely cold tank and only heating the HW somehow when the sun is up, and then using that hot water in the evening would be fine. That plan goes out of the window when someone else wants a morning shower on any day of the week she feels like. So the only compromise for that is leave the ASHP on to heat the tank when it needs until bed time and there is always enough HW in the tank for that morning shower. I have not succeeded in changing that behaviour, but feel if you could, better use would be made of solar PV for heating more of the water.

My solution is I have the ASHP heating timer set to tun on at 11AM. The assumption is by 11AM the solar PV should be well up if the sun is out and so the ASHP should be able to soak up a lot of free PV energy. I then use other appliances like dishwasher etc or washing machine after mid day when the ASHP will have usually finished it's HW heating. The PV diverter will send excess power to the immersion at any time of day, often quite early on a sunny day, so that usually will have pre heated the tank a bit. And even after the ASHP has finished heating the tank to 48 degrees, there is still plenty of room for the immersion to heat it hotter than that with surplus PV in the afternoon. The best thing you can do for self useage if you can tolerate it, is look at the weather forecast. e.g. It's going to be a cloudy day today but sunny tomorrow so I will hold off using the washing machine until tomorrow etc.

Is the other end of the cable accessible so you can disconnect it? If so easy, disconnect it and cop it off. What was it there for originally?

Bargain if that is all you have to spend to market a property. I have just spent £650 for a home report, a requirement in Scotland to market a property.

I took issue with some of the procedures that BC employ. When we had our final inspection for sign off they found 2 faults. Both minor. One was just proving the clearance distances for the stove (I could have showed her the manual and loaned her a tape measure to check if she had only asked at the time) and the other was the step down from the house to the garage was too big for one step so I had to install a fixed step. I would have expected just an informal notification of these defects, but what I instead got was a formal "refusal to issue completion certificate" stating the reasons. Which meant I had to re apply for a completion certificate again when I had attended to the items. It certainly made more paperwork for me and must have also done for them. Or is is like an MOT test station where if you don't fail a certain percentage of tests, something must be wrong?

A number of people have joined our sailing club, just so that they can use the changing rooms when they go swimming in the sea.

Top hat capping is not to provide any protection against people drilling into it. It is just something to hold it in place to make it easier to plaster over. You must route the cable in safe zones, so in theory at least people know a cable might be there and avoid drilling into it. You talk of running it horizontally (along the wall) hints that you are not aware of safe zones. A much better route up to a loft is up through a cupboard or built in wardrobe where it can be run in conduit like @SteamyTea post above without being an eyesore.

Rule 1 of Grand designs, have a baby mid build. Congratulations. I am sure you will be back. Wanting to self build is an itch that won't go away until satisfied. It took me 20 years to be able to scratch that itch.

Take a deep breath, a glass of your favourite giggle water, and read your signature. Perhaps if you don't sing to his tune he will say well you should not be living in it until sign off? At least in Scotland we have a formal temporary habitation process that has a less stringent list of things that need to be in place than final completion.

No, never totally empty it and why would you want it jet wash cleaned? You want to leave behind some of "the good stuff" to make it work. After desludging full up with water, don't leave it nearly empty.

Reading that report, shows that you only got PP for yours Ian due to a lucky narrow window where the council did not have a 5 year plan so could not refuse it. It's no wonder when just a very short time later they do have a plan in place and your neighbour is excluded, he feels the system has let him down. So I take it the "house within a caravan" can remain to be an eyesore, it's just that nobody can live in it?

I would be cr@ping myself that next doors garden and house was about to end up in your 'ole.

8 years ago.

Looking at that pipe, my guess is initially a drainage field was installed, which proved inadequate and the land became a swamp, so some enterprising chap extended it to run out onto a bit of rough ground nobody ever goes near and it would be alraight. but your drain surveyor has found him out. Can you re do the sketch in more detail showing the in and out connections to each treatment plant or septic tank please? Who owns the land immediately behind your houses? Is is the same land owner? Or someone else who might be more reasonable?

Well since it is dripping and the LL has done nothing yet (other than send someone who for whatever reason failed to fix it) I would inform the LL in writing that you will not be responsible for collecting the dripping water, and you will not be responsible for any damage done to the property by the dripping water. See if that stirs him into sending someone willing and able to fix it.

Can you explain this. Surely you reported the fault to the landlord or the letting agent and they sent this man to fix it, so what is this "newly tendered essential maintenance company"?

Post some pictures close up of where the leak is, and then more general views of the pipework connecting to the boiler.

Clearly you bought in good faith. Whoever installed either initially or later, that extension to the pipe is surely the one comitting an offence? If the EA got involved, I doubt you would be in trouble, you have a ST which you were told, in writing, discharged to a land drainage field. Any offence comitted would be by the person that made the alteration to make it discharge to surface. I would have another chat with the land owner and give him one more chance to cooperate and agree to a communal upgrade, or you WILL report the illegal discharge on his land to the EA.

One option to explore to see if the buyer will accept. Offer a reduction in sale price equal to your share of the upgrade work, and see if they will proceed with an indemnity policy put in place. Though non compliant, it "works" and with the reduction in price they might just proceed.