ProDave

If it's proper central heating inhibitor / antifreeze, none whatsoever. 25% will usually prevent freezing down to about -10

It becomes more of a PITA when you set out with a plan, and some things on the plan don't go to plan (mostly relating to finance in our case) so you end up having to do it more slowly and do more yourself otherwise it simply would not get done. It can then become a real struggle keeping motivated to keep moving forwards. One day I hope I can tell the full story with an ending. Not yet though.

I take it the window openings are boarded up to keep the rain and worst of the wind out?

We bought a petrol one the year before last. It worked the first year, but last year it was too wet and wet leaves just stick to the ground and don't blow anywhere. this year is shaping up to be the same. Looking to be an expensive toy that won't work very often.

Whenever i looked at "off the shelf" stairs, I found they only came in certain "floor to floor" heights. and none matched what I have. Instead I got mine from stairbox.com, made to measure and not very expensive. There are others like TK stairs and pear stairs also worth looking at, with on line design tools that give you an instant price.

Our weird issue was birds coming down the flue into the stove. After I had rescued I think the 4th one from the stove (alive) I had to get up and put chicken wire around the flue outlet to prevent the silly things entering.

Stick on picture of raptors tend to keep the small birds away.

I discounted a Sun Amp as our hot water source as you cannot heat them via the ASHP, it is just direct electricity or diverted solar PV. There were issues around some versions of the Sun Amp controller where they could not accept any more charge until they had been more than 50% depleted of heat which some found meant their surplus solar PV was going to waste. I believe most of those issues have been resolved.

Planning and building control are separate things. you first need planning to turn it into residential. The building control issues will be things like structure and insulation. I don't see why all that could not be dealt with internally if there were issues changing the outside.

No not really. We had a quote from Magnet to supply Silistone (spelling?) which ws much the same but for a man made "stone" so we prefered to stick with the real stone.

Actually in my house I did not bother with the top door stop, just a flat head. The logic being the side door stops will stop the door swinging too far, nobody can see through the gap at the top by not having a door stop, and it increases the venltilation area for the mvhr. And Oak is expensive.

When we bought ours the sale definitely seemed genuine. At the time we got ours it was white goods being promoted so got a free integrated dishwasher and a good price on the 2 ovens. the £25 ex display gas hob was the best bargain.

And remember with the likes of Howdens, their first price is never their best price. I found Howdens had a very good range of white goods if you need any. FAR better than I could find in the VERY disppointing showrooms in Inverness. You might just be quick enough to get the tail end of Howdens Autumn "sale" which I think ends at the end of October.

Can you post a picture to make it clear?

Re visiting this again. It has twice thrown a CH14 error again. Once when I left it on for DHW while away for 2 weeks and CH14 was showing when we got back, and once the other morning when the heating did not come on first thing. So the next step in trying to find a work around is I have fitted a din rail timer into my consumer unit. That is set to turn the power off for 15 minutes each morning just before the time it is due to start heating in the morning. That won't stop it throwing a CH14 error but at least it will reset any such error daily first thing in the morning, so if we are away over winter the heating won't just go off and stay off.

So they have to take the architraves off, take the doors off, take the frames out, trim the frames, and put them back a bit lower. Replacing anything they cannot remove without destroying it. Are they Oak frames? did they make them or were they bought? I ask as I had a lot of trouble finding any and had to make my own.

I think a rethink of the kitchen layout might be in order. treat the problem as a whole. You know you need an extractor above the hob, so perhaps the hob is not in the best place? Another solution might be to centre the extractor slightly to the right of the beam, that will make dropping the duct down to it easier, and then just frame in a little bit of the vaulted ceiling so a bit more of it is flat to accommodate the hood and a little bit less is open all the way to the roof?

You want an standard cooker hood hanging down from the flat ceiling, and extracting out through the roof probably at the eaves. Use rigid ducting not that lousy flexible stuff that WILL fill up with condensation and sag. All your electrician needs to do is install a power feed to that area, Someone, which might be your electircian needs to install the duct before the ceiling goes up.

I want someone local for a days work. I can't imagine anyone would want to travel a long way for this (I would not want to pay their travel expenses to do so)

I have 4 Oak doors to fit into Oak frames (already in) as 2 door pairs. The Joiner I have used before and who I know and trust, I can't get hold of. I have tried phoning him and leaving messages and no reply. I don't know what's going on there but I have tried several times to the point if I keep trying I feel I am hounding him. The trouble is I don't know who else to trust (I know plenty I would not trust) The point of getting someone in to hang them is I want somebody that will do a better, i,e, neater job that I would do myself. So asking if any of the other members on here in and around the Inverness area have a personal recommendation of someone they know who will do a good job of hanging my doors?

The issue is surely not the "cupboard" but the hooks used within the cupboard?

Lets do some rough sums. For the sake of easy numbers, 10MWh per year total for heating An ASHP with a COP of 3 will reduce that to 3.33MWh of electricity used. At typically 14p per kWh that will be typically £462 per year, so similar cost to burning coal. Assuming the heating is on for 180 days per year, that will be an average of 55kWh of heat per day. Lets say the coldest day is twice the average, so 110kWh per day and the heating is on for 10 hours per day, that will be an average heating power of 11kW So I would be thinking of something like an 18kW Air Source Heat pump. All VERY rough estimates.

So you burn 1.5 - 2 tons of coal per year to heat the house. Now if someone could look up how much heat you get from burning 2 tons of coal and convert it to kWh, you would have a pretty good measure of how much heat you need from another source. @SteamyTea

Engineered boards are available in different thicknesses. Use a thick one and it's a structural board, capable of spanning between joists so no need for a sub floor.

If they applied that rule here, the Highlands would be deserted again. We have no footpath, no street lights, 3 miles to the nearest shop and no public transport. It's bloody brilliant. If push came to shove I could cycle to the shops (but it's uphill on the way back) I would prefer to walk, along the riverbank.