ProDave

I would first pour a few cans of water down or even run a hosepipe. Where does that void under the bricks go? If water runs forever it could be a bigger void? Try probing into that space with drain rods? Pure speculation, that conservatory has been built over the foundations of some previous structure. Can you see any similar houses in the area that look to have some form of original looking single story building on the back or an outside privy or coal house etc? That might give a clue what was there? Old OS maps from just after the house was built might also be useful.

I think it is meant for stripping tv / satellite coax cable.

That looks to me like there was a raft foundation but that rough edge looks like it may have been hacked back perhaps at the time the block paving was laid? That lone brick under the concrete slab is a curiosity, just where the hole is? I would carefully enlarge the opening to truly reveal the extend then try and get some pictures sown in the hole. I bet that has never been seen by a building inspector, but that is not unusual for conservatories.

someone needs to work out a venn diagram of how they overlap? Excellent summary. Shame the people that write our net zero plans don't bother to analyse the real situation and work out that their plan can never work.

Yes swapping a gas boiler to ASHP will reduce CO2 emissions but I get the feeling people expect it to reduce CO2 emissions to zero. It won't, at the moment and won't until we are generating all electricity from non fossil fuel sources.

I would want to know where that downpipe is going and where it expects the rainwater is going. It is either a crude soakaway built way too close to the conservatory, or there is a pipe to take it away that has failed. Either way to me it looks like a lot of soil has washed away and I would want to be lifting more blocks and digging a proper hole to investigate exactly what is happening before deciding how to fix it.

Buy a second one of the type you have and get busy on it with a file to adapt it to fit the other one.

That is a difficult and expensive solution looking for a problem to solve. Especially on a new build why would you? and most certainly not as a retro fit.

If I had received that bit of timber from the merchant, I would either have rejected it, or chosen to use that particular piece in a place where it was being cut into short lengths. Same as I do for a warped bit of timber.

I used Unistrut to build the frame for mine. FAR cheaper than any of the aluminium PV mounting rails. Some have used scaffold poles or similar.

A garage ceiling built to modern regs should be 2 layers of 15mm pink fireblock plasterboard, with the joints on both layers staggered. I very much doubt you have that much now. So best bet is take down the plasterboard ceiling you have, insulate between the joists with rockwoll etc then re board with 2 layers as above to modern specs.

The push at the moment seems to be trying to persuade people to swap gas boilers for an ASHP. A perfectly set up ASHP should be a little, not a lot, cheaper to run than a gas boiler. If not perfect it could well cost more to run than the boiler it replaced. So trying to persuade people to "invest" in a new heating system when they are quite happy with their old one and at best will only get a marginal saving, it is no wonder they are not queuing up to take up the offer. you have to WANT to do it for other reasons, the main one being reducing CO2 emmisions. So are we targeting the worng market? Why not instead target people using electric resistance heating currently, like electric panel heaters, storage heaters, or even electric boilers? Those users would see their heating use of electricity drop by about 1/3 if they swapped to an ASHP, saving them real money, not just marginal, and would reduce strain on the electricity grid which is already struggling at times. So that would give an immediate reduction in electricity used for heating, and reduced electricity use would mean fossil fuel generation required less frequently so an indirect saving in CO2 emmissions. But the point is the customer would see a very real reduction in running cost not something marginal, and rather than increasing electricity use, it would be reducing it. The boffins could do the sums to work out the CO2 reduction per kWh of electricity saved * and market it as CO2 reduction. * It IS CO2 reduction because until we reach the point where no fossil fuel at all is used for electricity generation, then each 1kWh of electricity saved at the moment is 1kWh less generated by fossil fuels. By the same token, installing an ASHP increases the electricity you use so that will increase fossil fuel generation at the moment so WILL result in increased CO2 emissions.

Under the present gas / electricity pricing, a perfectly designed and set up HP install will only be marginally cheaper to run than a gas boiler, and a poorly installed one will cost more than a gas boiler. As such the marginal saving (when done properly) is hardly a reason alone to invest money. You have to do it for other reasons, not financial saving, and therein lies the problem with persuading millions of people with perfectly working gas heating why they should change for at best only a marginal reduction in running costs. Building my new house, we had no mains gas available and I did not want a great big oil tank in the garden, so an ASHP was chosen as the only viable means of electric heating that brought running costs down to being comparable to mains gas. I never expected it to be cheaper than mains gas would have been if available, and the fact it is cleaner than mains gas is just a bonus. This has got me thinking. Perhaps trying to sell ASHP's as a replacement for gas boilers is targeting the wrong market? Why not instead target people using electric resistance heating, like electric panel heaters, storage heaters, or even electric boilers? Those users would see their heating use of electricity drop by about 1/3, saving them real money, not just marginal, and would reduce strain on the electricity grid which is already struggling at times. Reduced electricity use would mean fossil fuel generation required less frequently.

I am happy with my Rationel Aluminium clad wooden frame triple glazed windows and doors. At the time they were about the cheapest quote from the quality brands, but that does seem to vary a lot.

Ask your electrician what his plan is for terminating those cables. I assume they are for appliances like dishwashers etc.

All the holes with cables emerging will surely be finished off with a back box etc. That does not leave much else that cannot be filled with filler and as it won't be seen you don't need to be particular. Where filler will be present and painted, you must hope your decorator finished that off properly. There are many fillers that can be sanded so anyone should be able to fill a hole such that it cannot be seen once painted.

The important thing is whatever you do, you need a LOT of insulation underneath the UFH. Easy to do in an extension but a lot harder if you are thinking of retro fitting to the existing part of the house.

I can't see your neighbours best pleased with you taking the hedge down and then having a window from your gym looking straight into that gable end window (presumably a bedroom)

In cold weather it is normal for an MVHR to ice up and therefore need to defrost itself. It does that by reverse cycling for a few minutes to heat the outside heat exchanger to melt the ice. Condensation from that just drips out of the bottom. If it is dripping continuously you might have a problem but say once an hour in this weather, nothing to worry about. Temperatures close to 0 are the worst for this, when it gets really cold and stays below 0 even in the day, there is not enough moisture in the cold air to condense and freeze.

I have never been aware of the actual heat pump needing a "service" as such apart from obvious things you can do yourself like keep leaves and other debris clear of it and in particular behind it, and listen to it every now and then to see if it is making any strange noises. The rest of the heating system, particularly an unvented hot water cylinder is supposed to have an annual service which is mainly to check the expansion vessel and the safety valves are operating correctly. Any competent plumber should be able to do this, try asking a local plumber to check and service an unvented hot water cylinder? Does the heat pump documentation make any reference to a service being a condition of any warranty?

Yes, -17.5 last night https://meteostat.net/en/station/03044?t=2025-01-05/2025-01-10 I think Braemar still holds the record for lowest ever?

-9 last night here. The sun is about to pop up from behind the forrest.

Some context please. Is this a new system and you can't get it working, or an existing system that previously worked and has stopped heating the house? Have you changed ANYTHING at all? Is the water circulating pump running? It will show those flow and return temperatures even when the unit is idle. I can't be much specific help as mine is an older one with a different controller. But mine is set to heat under "room thermostat" control. How is yours set up and how do you normally regulate / time the heating?

Taping and filling also needs skill in the PB installers. Taping is less forgiving of poor boarding, in particular you need sufficient screws into solid studs to ensure joints cannot move. As above quite hard finding a decent plasterer in the Highlands and not many do it, but that is what we chose.

That is most definitely not normal behaviour for an ASHP. If it is defrosting that often there is something wrong.