ProDave

Just good quality at a sensible price. The "unique" thing is the switches allow you to unscrew and move the actual switch modules, allowing you to mix intermediate and 2 way switches in the same faceplate. The only way to do that with any other make is grid switches.

We have an oak worktop on our island, and that has been coated with 3 coats of 2 pack varnish from Howdens (I forget the make) I think that is a better finish for a worktop than oil as spills just don't soak through, even red wine does not make an impact and just wipes off.

I found the thermostat on mine at max was way too low. "Don't do this at home" I filed off the "pip" that limited the travel of the adjusting screw, and slowly turned it up further than it was supposed to go and have presently arrived at it switching off at 69 degrees (as measured by the ASHP's temperature probe). I might just try a little more see if I can get it to 75. I would have simply swapped the thermostat for another, had I been able to find any published range of adjustment.

It has certainly been good solar PV weather. I chose to have my shower this afternoon rather than the evening, because the immersion heater had maxed out and it's thermostat had switched off at 69 degrees, so electricity was being exported. So I had to draw some hot water off to rectify that situation.

Have you spoken to the neighbour? if so what do they say? I presume it's a privacy issue you are trying to address?

The rules changed a while back but generally now if a fence is "adjacent to a highway" then anything over 1M high needs planning permissions. I can't tell from your description if this fence is "adjacent to a highway" Perhaps a quick sketch would make it clear. I would probably just do it. The very worst that can happen is they try and enforce it, in which case you replace the 1.8m fence panel with a 1M high fence panel. then plant a hedge behind it to grow to the height you want to give the screening you want.

My brickies insisted on bridging every pipe opening with a proper lintel.

I would try and measure the angle with a protractor to be sure before ordering one. Unless you want to order a 10 and a 15 degree?

As long as the relay is okay a bit of soldering will fix that. I would lay a bit of copper cable on the track to reinforce it when repairing that. It reminds me of one make of solar PV dverter that a friend has. I have twice repaired it where PCB tracks have failed like that. It has not failed again since I laid a length of 2.5mm copper cable along the track to reinforce it.

Inlet is supply. You supply air to bedrooms and living rooms. You extract air from kitchens, bathrooms and utility rooms.

I would have thought most brickies would be signed up as self employed under the CIS scheme?

I would say for BR your snug and kitchen are different rooms.

I did not mean not declare it. I meant work for yourself for a change rather than as an employee. The job I did today, I sent the customer to the cash point to pay me in cash as I did not want a cheque that I then have to go and queue at the bank (on limited hours) to pay in.

Would a brickie in such a situation do it for cash?

What I did for a kitchen / diner is put an MVHR inlet at the dining end and an MVHR extract at the kitchen end, and balanced the 2 so the flow rates matched so there should be no net flow into or out of the room. The snug I would treat as a separate room with it's own inlet. I would consider balancing so that snug + dining inlet rate = kitchen extract rate so no net flow into or out of the combined kitchen / dining / snug.

It is certainly nice to have that flexibility. One thing I would say is fit a treatment plant, not a septic tank. I don't know if you have done percolation tests yet, but it would not surprise me if that land has a high water table. A treatment plant offers more options.

You do have interesting development potential there. With the ag tie gone, you can justifiably say the whole plot is your "garden ground" (as long as you don't sub divide it with fences. One of the exceptions up here that does allow building in the countryside is if the land is already "garden ground" So I quite easilly see later on the potential should you so wish for at least 2 more self build plots there, if you didn't mind having neighbours.

How did you remove the agricultural tie? I thought that was hard to remove? It is certainly good that he "started" and got written proof of that.

But why would that stop a bricklayer working alone on a self builders site, or just him and a labourer? Take your own lunch and sit in your own van to eat it?

I wondered that. It does not appear to meet any of the exceptions to the no building in the countryside that we have here.

We bought a Bosch direct drive. After about 5 years the drum bearings went. I looked at replacing them but it really is a major strip down. I still have the motor and all the controls from that which I keep meaning to put on ebay one day. Since then we have bought cheap from the local refurb place and if a £200 machine lasts 3 years we have had value from it (a lot better value than paying £17 per month for an extended warranty) Presently using a Becko that is about 2 years old from the refurb place. We had one before, I think it was Indesit, where the drum started splitting in two at a seam. That seems one to avoid again.

Another option that some of us have done that seems to generally be approved of, is to wire a 2.5mm ring circuit from the end of the 6mm. It has become known as a "lollipop circuit"

I have just light the stove. Proving it was a little too early to turn the heating off completely. At least wood is free.

Too late now. The reduced flow would get noticed. I keep trying to say the knob does not have to be turned on all the way.

THEN you will be able to get a dirt cheap brickie to work on your site.