ProDave

The alternative as at least one regular member does with a willis heater, is calculate the required heat input based on weather forecast, and adjust the turn on time to give the required amount of heat (turn off time remains when the off peak rate finishes)

"Beds in sheds"

That's fire alarm cable. Us the "earth/screen" core as 0V and interference should not be an issue. So why did the electrician tell you he was using a 4 core cable and then fitted a 2 core & earth?

Find a stove you like then look at the manufacturers instructions to see the diameter of the inlet pipe. If it is marginally larger than what you have, ask them if it will be sufficient.

Try approaching plumbers and electricians not "heat pump specialists" you will comfortably buy a heat pump for £4K so say £6K installed. I am in the Highlands. You don't get much colder winters in the UK than here and mine just works. Maintenance is a check over that you can do yourself and they only actually need "work" if they break down. What is your actual problem? You have to keep adjusting the temperature so is the problem the house overheats? i.e. lack of basic controls like room thermostats? Turning down the boiler temperature won't make it more efficient with a resistance heater like it will with an ASHP.

How the other half live. I have just counted up the total here, 19, that's all hot, all cold, all toilets, and the outside taps.

What does this wall back onto? Can you see the outside? Or is this the outside I am looking at?

That looks to me like the bad patch has been infilled, different brick and coursing. Was there a window before? Is the mortar wet? or dry and crumbling?

Good job it was only the sink.

Just about. The air intake duct on my 5kW stove is 80mm diameter.

Weather compensation on a resistance heating boiler is not going to make any differnce. As it is only a 6kW boiler and it presumably has enough output to heat the house, I would be looking at replacing that with a similar sized air source heat pump. That will roughly cut your heating bill to 1/3 and in principle should be an easy swap. Then with an ASHP weather compensation might make sense which most of them offer as standard.

That's why you need to speak to them, to make sure they are doing what the schedule says not making it up. Express your concern that until it is shuttered or the retaining wall built, it is very vunerable in it's present state.

So likely the foundations for the retaining wall poured on Thursday then they will build the wall. Once that is up the danger is over for your garden.

What does the planning permission say? Are they building an extension right to the fence?

Why have they dug so close to your fence there, where further back the excavation is further from the fence? What will fall into their garden if it collapses? a bit of lawn? or your house? Even a gale at the moment would topple your fence. I would go round and speak to the neighbour immediately, or if the workmen are there speak to them and make your concerns known. What do the plans show here? How do you know building control has not been approved yet?

I would say the relationship is already soured. I would have been livid at an £11K charge for being 1 month late. Is there a similar clause that allows you to charge similar if they are late? no I did not think so. I would be calling a serious meeting, telling them it is their issue as you contracted them to do the package, tell them the best technical solution is wider battens so the cladding lines up with the outside of the base blockwork and that will require deeper window cills which they will pay for.

It it's like Australia, it's where you find the washing machine and tumble dryer, right next to the shower cubicle. They manage without killing themselves.

Personally I would have (I do have) zone valves feeding each manifold, each one sited next to the manifold for easy maintenance. You will need one for the hot water tank.

Does the blockwork need to be a cavity there? I have only ever seen the blockwork on a TF house solid below DPC. So I would say they need to knock down the outer leaf of blockwork to below ground level and rebuild with it stepped in and no cavity. Agreed it should the the contractors problem (cost) not yours. Another thought. How are you getting enough insulation just in the thickness of the timber frame? I would look at external insulation over the frame before the battens and cladding which would widen the whole structure and improve it's performance, then you are back to changing the window cill depth.

This is a symptom of the UFH being too hot so the room is warming too quickly, and the excess heat in the slab continues warming the room. If you have reached they physical stop on the blending valve and it won't go any lower, try removing the knob and seeing if the splined shaft will rotate a little more beyond what the stop (usually part of the knob mechanism) will allow to get the temperature lower.

WHEN they stop burning mostly imported wood on an industrial scale at DRAX and telling us it is carbon neutral and green, then I might, just might, start thinking about my own use of a small wood burning stove occasionally in the middle of nowhere.

Instant heat is the last thing you want in a passive house. You want a very low level of near constant heat to match the very low level of heat loss.

Ask the IET, I suspect it is their estimate of the average length of flex on an appliance plus the reach of a person?

When you get to a really well insulated house, the concept of "heat a room quickly for a short time" does not work, because once heated, it takes hours or even days to cool down again. and it becomes near impossible to even have rooms at different temperatures, e.g our unheated upstairs was only 2 degrees lower than the heated downstairs when it was -10 outside.

The wiring regs don't define a utility or a kitchen, the special location is a "room containing a bath or a shower" So whatever name you give it, your bike shed is a special location under wiring regs and needs to be treated as a bathroom. And it's too small to get a socket in there, anywhere. This caused me a headache when doing a conversion where the owner had fitted a shower cubicle in the corner of a bedroom. That whole room is now a special location. The room was just big enough to allow a couple of sockets in the opposite corner of the room to the shower cubicle, which were of course not where the owner wanted them, so plugged in there is an extension lead to power the tv sat on a dressing table right next to the shower. Bath or shower rooms I guess assume you are likely to be naked and standing in water so don't want anything touchable from there. In a kitchen you might have wet hands but you are unlikely to be naked and standing or sitting in water (I could think of one on here that might)