ProDave

If you notice before you plasterboard your walls, you can reduce the size of a door opening in a timber frame. Unfortunately I did not think to take that measurement until the plasterboard was on and had been plastered and painted.......

We used XL Joinery doors at 2040 by 826. They certainly do some in 2040 by 926. I found it was the 2040 height that ruled out a lot of doors. I had not noticed early enough that the builder when making the frame, made all the door openings for 2040 doors. I might have reduced that height if I had known how it would limit the choice (and cost) of the doors.

I am not sure how i got included but my door frames are well and truly secured firmly to the very solid timber frame, with plenty of packers to keep them solid and straight. And yes if I took the headers off, the doors would not be bothered.

Perhaps it was built with just a ridge board but the roof was found to be inadequate and was spreading, so the ridge beam was added later to strengthen it. A lot of old buildings like that were built with whatever was available rather than to "best design"

Like @joe90 I installed my own UVC and then got a local friendly plumber with the right ticket to test it and certify it.

Several of us put in an electric point in each bedroom just in case we needed a small electric panel heater. I don't know of anyone who has actually used that and installed a heater.

The 100mm wood fibre on top of the joists is the sarking layer, then breathable membrane, counter battens, battens then tiles. Full fill insulation between the joists, OSB racking layer on the inside, air tight membrane, service void, plasterboard. An unusual build up with the racking layer on the inside (same with the walls) plenty of people told me I had put the frame up inside out.

Our warm roof has 100mm above the joists, and 200mm between the joists (full fill) and passed a condensation analysis.

A bit surprised to see a fibre washer used, it's normally a rubber washer used there.

I always turn the stopcock all the way, then back a turn.

The one thing against gas of course is for those who have no access to mains gas. That's us. So the only mains energy service available is electricity. Otherwise the choices are LPG gas, oil, or sold fuel. LPG gas is expensive, Oil is cheap at the moment but very volatile.

The issue of controlling it comes down to a fundamental question. Was an ASHP the right choice of heating for an old stone cottage heated with radiators? We all know ASHP's have a limited maximum water temperature. So at the best of times, for use with radiators you need over sized radiators. They work best with low temperature under floor heating and even better in a very well insulated house. You can't change the laws of physics. If your house cools down so much over night that it takes many hours to warm up again with the ASHP there is not much you can do. If you had a gas or oil boiler, the radiators would get a lot hotter, and the house would heat up much quicker. So the awkward question becomes: Did you ask for an ASHP heating system with radiators? Or did someone else tell you that was a good idea for an old stone cottage?

Ah so just turning off the cold stopcock is all you need. I would go and buy this set https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-EACH-1-2-5-EACH-3-4-BSP-BOTH-PLAIN-AND-MESH-FILTER-PLUMBING-HOSE-WASHERS/274345333529?hash=item3fe0419319:g:L4kAAOSwdppeoXNd I am sure the ones you need are amongst them plus some spares for the next job.

If it's an unvented cylinder then after turning off the cold stopcock, you will need to let the pressure off the hot water. There is surely at least one stop valve for the hot water out of the cylinder? You will need hot and cold turned off to remove the bar mixer to get to the offending washer.

Standard detail on most timber frames. It leaves the joist ends helping to support the upper storey timber frame and makes the joists very rigid. Yes, it gives you a cavity that needs filling with insulation but that is straightforward if a little tedious, and a good place to use up insulation offcuts.

I think I only paid about £105 plus vat per sheet of Multipanel from Jewsons. They have all the colour samples and get it to order.

I won't say I only paid £4K for a 2000 year static 5 years ago. Oops I just did.

Is this one of 2 fittings connecting to a bar mixer? If so the water will be on all the time unless you isolate at the ballofix valves (the things with a screwdriver slot) Or is this a single fitting onto which just a shower hose fits? In which case it will only be "live" with water when the shower controls are turned off. Once you isolate it you can unscrew it with your glad pliers, but wrap something like an old towel around the nut to stop the pliers marking the chrome. You will find a rubber or possibly a fibre washer. It may even have a gauze filter built in. you need to get a new one the same to replace it. Over tightening is often a cause for failure.

I would seriously think of making the frame thicker to get more insulation in, as I did with my frame made of 195mm timber. Your floor joist detail. As has been mentioned, wrapping the air tight membrane around the joist ends is known on here as a "Tony Tray" You also need to enclose the ends of the joists with a ring beam all the way round the same thickness as the joists, mine were Glulam beams 300mm by 50mm.

No Council tax poverty is the killer. Is there anyone here who does NOT pay a LOT more for their council tax than they do for fuel and water combined?

My immersion heater is a nominal 3kW but in practice seems to be about 2.8kW. The PV can generate up to 3.68kW. So if nothing else is on in the house, the PV can generate about 700W more than the immersion heater can absorb at 100% duty cycle. That's when most accidental export occurs. I do have the PV dump controller set to turn on a 700W panel heater that in the shoulder seasons can absorb a little heat into space heating but that gets turned off in the summer.

If you have "loop at light" it's easy to pick up a permanent feed and use a wireless alarm. But not if you have "loop at switch"

No that old tranny with only on / off control was a previous experiment. I am using a home made "proper" dump controller that fires a 3kW inverter on a variable power burst firing regime, similar to most of the commercial dump controllers. So far in 2 years I have only exported 220kWh. Roughly 1/3 of what the solar PV generates ends up as hot water.

Whenever this is actually implemented, I expect the majority will ignore it, a bit like all septic tanks discharging to a watercourse must be updated to a treatment plant by January 2020. I would think by now all rental properties will have them, that's been law for a while. As to price. It all depends on how much work is needed. It can be very disruptive getting new cables pulled around a house, which is where the wireless ones are your friend. Needless to say, nobody has asked me to quote yet.

Here is what I did. I don't have and don't want a smart meter. I just have the standard dumb single rate meter. I then added my own export meter. It is the same meter sold as a generation meter for solar PV. But notice the mains from the suppliers meter goes to the "output" terminals of this meter, and the "input" terminals connect through the meter box No 2 and my distribution to the house and other places. So this meter records what is exported back to the grid and does not register what is imported. I read all my meters once a week and log energy usage.