ProDave

I would be worried about standing water soaking timbers somewhere with nowhere to drain to until it eventually evaporates. I would want to see what has happened, otherwise there may be a nasty surprise in the future.

3/4 of my house is now boarded and plastered. I did the boarding myself (me and SWMBO). The actual cost for the plastering got a bit blurred. He has plastered my house, I will be wiring the new house he is about to start building. Not much money will change hands. He plastered bare plasterboard with 2 coats of multifinish done and finished in a day. Most of our walls are studs and battens at 600mm centres. The only place any reinforcing was done behind the boards was where we knew we were going to hang things, e.g speakers, tv's kitchen units, ceiling mounted cooker hood. they all have back plates behind the PB to screw through into. You do obviously need to first fix wiring and plumbing before fixing the plasterboard. Regards VAT, it is a new build. Labour should be zero rated, you will NOT be able to claim it back if wrongly charged. Likewise if he supplies materials on a supply and fit basis, they should be zero rated, again you will NOT be able to claim back wrongly charged VAT for supply and fit. If YOU buy the materials you will pay VAT and file the receipt for your VAT reclaim at the end of the build.

Interesting read, and of course common sense. But when you start looking at a graph suggesting that because I have set my UFH pipes at 200mm spacing, I will need to run water around them at about 40 degrees, you realise that article is not "fine tuned" for a low energy house.

This is precicely the logic I am using to initially try mine from a 5KW ASHP with no buffer. If it proves problematic I can add a buffer later. Also, I know the blending valves on the UFH manifolds won't go to a low enough temperature, so I am intending to set the ASHP water flow temperature in heating mode very low indeed to regulate the UFH water temperature. I will report back when I eventually get it running.

Was that a hedge against Brexit or some other reason for wanting dual nationality?

This is what I did. (this might not be "advice") Take down EVERYTHING that can fall off. Make sure the jack legs are sitting on large enough pads, I was using offcuts of construction timber. Hit each leg in turn with a sledge hammer. It will move about half an inch. Work your way along both sides. Keep repeating, and in no time the whole lot will have walked over 6" Just because I did it and got away with it is not suggesting anybody else does it.

I would not be happy being forced to put windows where I did not want them and being a target for undesirables. I might even consider taking it to appeal if they did not back down. I would want to see a written planning policy that is actually legal before giving in. I would argue it is not my place to police a dodgy area. One of my pet hates with my first house was a communal parking area that I could not see from my own house. I was just not comfortable (knowing the area) with my car parked out of my sight over night. It was overlooked by other houses, but that did not give me any reassurance. I never did have any trouble while there, but then again I was driving an old banger that was not exactly "desirable" After that, wen I moved up, my own driveway was a "must have".

Well the flow meter took a long time coming but it finally arrived this morning and I have just fitted it. With the new pump, and the flow meter, I now have a measure that the water is flowing around the system at 14 litres per minute. Astonishingly I can find nothing in the instalation manual to tell me what the minimum and maximum water flow rates should be, so I have bounced that question to the supplier. If 14 l/m is enough then I have asked for that service visit. If it is not I will fit a second pump to boost the flow rate.

I try to make trips worthwhile. When we make a trip "down south" I scour ebay to see what I might be able to buy while we are down that way

Only if your whole house can be heated in the depths of winter with less than 8KW and at low temprature (UFH or low temperature rads) I suspect in the middle of winter your oil boiler is working a lot harder than that.

See reply above. Buy the unit yourself and just employ a plumber and an electrician who are capable of RTFM. The LAST place I would look for such a thing is a "renewables" company.

You can buy a heat pump for £2K easily, a lot less if you shop around. The instalation is no harder than a system boiler. What you met was the "MCS Premium" an over inflated price by an MCS contractor so you can claim the RHI and give most of your payment to them in the form of a much inflated install cost.

What is the "cost of install" that has ruled out an ASHP? Is that the over inflated MCS install price? They are no more complicated to install than a system boiler. Have you considered a gas boiler now and get the LPG jets and run it from 47Kg propane cylinders until the mains gas is available? then put the mains gas jets back in. You can get room sealed wood burning stoves so again don't let that rule them out.

By way of another comparison, we paid Scottish Water £1000 for the road crossing under a 3 metre wide single track road, so double that for a dual track road. That was to excavate a 900mm deep 300mm wide trench, lay their pipe in the bottom and put duct in for electricity and telecoms as they filled then make good. In our case no traffic management, just a heavy steel plate they could push over the trench when someone wanted to come past.

You also want the DC isolators turned off before touching the panels. That ensures no current path on the panel side.

You could always do as we are, and have utility and WC all as one room. Not to everyones taste but building control are happy with it.

I don't want it to "look" like anything. That is why my first attack will just be line the back of the alcove that will be hidden by the fridge. And yes Carpet is one of the things I will try but will be a magnet for fluff and dust. Perhaps something like a very thick cushioned vinyl? If I end up lining the sides of the alcove then the appearance may become an issue, depending how far towards the front the lining goes.

"The Fridge" arrived today. In spite of some reviews saying how quite it is, I find it is just an ordinary fridge where you can hear the compressor purring when it is running. I want to make it quieter. Where it is going is in an alcove formed by timber and plasterboard walls. On one side is just a spur of wall for a door to open against and to provide a place for the light switches. On the other side of the fridge will be the wall to the pantry. Thus the fridge is enclosed on 3 sides but open at the top. Obviously I will fill the timber frames of these stud walls with accoustic insulation. That will cut down the noise transmitted and help enclose it. But what I am more thinking of is lining the inside of the alcove so created into which the fridge sits, with some soft sound absorbing material. Thinking a hard plasterboard finish will just reflect the sound out of it's recess so what is needed is something soft to absorb and not reflect the sound. The back wall of the alcove will probably be the one that most needs this treatment, as that is closest to the compressor that is open to the back of the fridge Treating the side walls would probably be less effective. Any ideas?

Hi and welcome. If the outer walls of the barn are structurally sound, would an insulated timber frame structure not be the easiest way to upgrade the walls?

The "felt" has to be a breathable membrane, e.g I used Protek VP400, there are plenty of other choices.

I would have said inverter fault as both strings seem to show the same voltage. I would also swap the strings over, and to be really safe wait until after dark to do that just in case you touch the wrong thing, And see if tomorrow the fault shows on the same string, in which case it is an inverter problem, or the fault moves to the other side in which case it is a panel or wiring fault.

If you just put water pipes into en existing un insulated screed it will be pretty ineficcient with most of the heat going down into the ground.

Making the sructural alterations to the roof for the dormers would have required building regs even if it was still just a store room. That is more likely what the buyer and their lender will be bothered about. I am surprised the builder did not mention that, he should have known. Often it's possible to "solve" this with an indemnity policy but ONLY if you have not tried to resolve it with building control. Talk to your solicitor about offering that option first before doing any more.

If you want to split the labour, I would say the plumber has to fit the shower former as he has to connect the waste to it. If he is not comfortable with the tanking kit, get the tiler to do that. It's also best not to fit the tanking kit until you are about to tile, less chance for it getting damaged if there is a long wait.

Our local tiler will do the tanking if you want him to. But it is not difficult. You could do it yourself it you wanted. http://ardross.altervista.org/Wilowburn/bathroom-wet-room-floor/ That's an Impey shower former and tanking kit.