ProDave

Did you get a measure of the diameter of the red and black wires into the main switch of the consumer unit while you had the cover off? I'm wondering if that is 16mm? What's that unlabelled B50 next to the RCD feeding?

And ask them if they were happy with their builders. Only is they say yes, ask them who the builders were. A surprising number we spoke to said they would not recommend them.

Just get the narrowest off the shelf door liner and fit that then plaster board up to it. As you say just like an external door. You now have the choice of door liner flush with one edge, or in the middle.........

Crucial to the viability of an extension is how it would fit with the rooms that are there, i.e. not leaving existing rooms without windows or too small, and not making it awkward to get around i.e. it must flow well. If there are similar houses to your with extensions look up their planning applications or even go and ask the owners if you can have a quick look around to see how it works.

If an MVHR us unballanced, it will either suck air in, or expell air through the leaks. Even a house with a good air tightness test result will have some leaks. That imballanced and unwanted air flow will of course not benefit from heat recovery. Nobody is suggesting a house without opening windows, building regs would not allow that, and there is nothing wrong with opening a window in a house with mvhr. For much of the year our bedroom window is open a bit as even with no bedroom heating it can be hard keeping the bedroom cool enough. As a general rule, you can open one window, or one door in an air tight house without getting much of a through draught from that even on a windy day. Do check your MVHR from time to time. Our inlet vent became blocked. I sort of sensed something was wrong when I started to notice the bedroom becoming a bit stuffy (when the window was shut) and I confirmed the house was being depressurised. The inlet vent is a common type with a coarse gauzze mesh to stop flies getting in, and that had become very clogged indeed. You can't get to the outside of the mesh to suck the debris off so I got the compressor air line on it to blow all the debris away from the inside. Normal operation restored and it is now an annual maintenance job. As a secondary indicator, annual heating usage had crept up by about 5%. Now the blockage has cleared it has gone back down. That shows the extra heat loss as the MVHR was not operating properly.

Do NIE ask for calculations? If not just pick a low figure like 12KVA and re apply. They are not going to connect you with a thinner cable just because you ask for a low rated supply. If they question the change, tell them your original estimate was made by someone not understanding how it is done, and now you have a more accurate understanding of the energy needed for your house.

And you could also add that he did not serve the correct notice on the owner of the land (as you would if applying for PP on land you do not own) so the application should be invalid because of that.

So it is just the handle broken. A smaller pair of mole grips would be a closer match to the other handle.

In your formal objection to the planning application, state that the applicant does not own the land he is proposing to use as an additional parking space, so he would not be able to create that extra space, thus the application if approved would leave insufficient parking space on the property.

So based on that you requested a 40KVA 3 phase supply and they came back with the big quote? NOW go back and ask what you could have without major network upgrades? In my case the answer was 12KVA single phase which ended up costing me £1K and has proved totally adequate. If I really needed 3 phase here, there would be at least half a mile of single phase 11KV overhead line to upgrade to 3 phase then a 3 phase transformer to install. That is likely where you get the silly high prices.

I am still waiting for the pictures to show me in what way this roof is curved.

There is a lot of water arriving at the left hand end of that gutter, but the only down pipe is at the right hand end? Have you stood outside in heavy rain and observed how the water flows into the gutter and does it over spill? I would be looking to re jig the downpipes so there is a downpipe from the left hand end and try and route the upper pipes directly into that rather than onto that roof.

I disagree with that and think your chosen AI tool has got it wrong. If the house is at negative pressure with respect to outside, it will draw air in through any leak path, which if anything will draw air DOWN the flue.

Oh yes please (fellow riparian owner)

I bet the outer part of that square is a cover that will just pop off if you get something flat like a chisel under it to prise it off and will reveal some fixing screws. The grub screw is probably to clamp the bar, not hold the handle in place.

Did YOU fit it? If so you will remember how it is supposed to come apart. If not, you are guessing how it is supposed to dome apart. Try taking the handle the other side off?

Can you post the answers to this blog entries "spot the car" competition please?

But given that my daily driver is now a Toyota Hilux pickup, the MG is my economical summer run about.

I miss read the OP that said: "I would like to increase my privacy and build a fence 1meter 60/70cm tall so their car won't look straight in my window." I read that as a fence 1 metre or 60/70 cm high. NOT 1.6 or 1.7 M tall. Sometimes I read words too literally.

I keep going on about housing perhaps because I speak from a position of smugness that I live in a low energy house heated by a heat pump and with solar PV to self generate a lot of our own energy. Compared to out last house, heated by oil, I have saved more CO2 emissions building this house than I would if I stopped driving completely. But even new houses I still don't see the many, let alone all being built to the same standard mine was. So the problem is most definitely not being taken seriously. And that is even before anyone dares suggest how we are going to tackle the old poor quality UK housing stock and who is going to pay. That data set in the OP gave a total figure somewhere of 16% for housing which is where I made my comparison then went on to break it down into subsets which is where someone picked up a lower figure. I think my point when moaning about the future of transport, is moving to a low energy house made no change to my lifestyle, or any change it did make was positive. Any such changes to future transport are largely negative in terms of cost and convenience to the end user.

Generally up to 1 metre tall or less a fence does not need planning permission even if right next to the road. Does your house / estate have any covenants that might stop you putting up any fence in this location?

Ah one of those "what a shame something more important has come along" jobs. My BIL lives in a 300 year old Welsh farmhouse with bats and squirrels in the loft. On the few occasions he ventures up there he does so in a disposable boiler suit and mask.

The fact the gable end is insulated suggests this is a room in roof, so why has the roof not been designed and built as a warm roof not requiring ventilation? SO much easier to detail properly. Is it too late to change to warm roof?

If the handle breaks like that, you can get a spanner on the flat of the shaft and shift it. I have several spare handles from the days when washing machines had hot feeds, and each WM tap came with 2 handles.

Too much data not presented clearly. The things I took from it though is transport is NOT the biggest contributor, but the way it is being taxed and penalised you would think it was. Instead it is just the easiest to tax and blame and try and shame people into travelling less. It is actually housing that is the worst, why are houses not being taxed like cars depending on their energy usage? And "poor" houses banned from cities? (Rhetorical question not expecting an answer)