ProDave

It came from one of the Inverness merchants, might have been pasqals but I am not sure as the builders procured it. I know they ended up getting a larger beam than the SE specified as that was all that was available. To get the correct sized one it would have had to come from the south with a huge extra transport cost, so it was cheaper to get the over sized one available locally. Nothing wrong with over sizing a beam. I think it was originally specified by the SE as 70mm wide and we ended up with one 90mm wide.

Just a note on the solar thermal. Again that is a separate thing in it's own right. The way they work is this. It's controller will monitor the temperature of the water in the thermal store, and the temperature of the water in the on roof tubes. When the water temp in the tubes exceeds the water temp in the store, it will turn it's pump on to circulate the water from the tubes to the store. It does this by passing that water through a heat input coil in the bottom of the tank. So on a sunny day the pump will be turning on and off to move water around whenever it is hot enough to heat the tank. This heat just adds to what is in the tank from the boiler and so reduced the boiler load and hence saves you money. It's circulating loop will be filled with brine so it does not freeze on the roof. Don't expect it to do anything at this time of year.

I have a warm roof. definitely much simpler and it means any eaves spaces or loft spaces are also warm so no problems with services in them etc.

Okay some more thoughts as you posted more pictures while I was typing. The little black tank is a cold water header tank. That is normal, a thermal store is full of water that unlike a normal hot water tank, never changes, and that cold tank feeds it to ensure it never runs dry (if there was a leak) and has somewhere to expand to when it gets hot (it's a feed and expansion tank) That under floor heating manifold is a bit basic. Normally they have a thermostatic blending valve, so regardless of the temprature of the water in the tank, they mix it down to a low temperature for the under floor loops. There is usually also a pump. Yours don't have these so at the moment what is pumping it and what controls the water temperaure in the UFH is a mystery. One of those controllers, probably the top one, will control the boiler on times. The heatmiser controls will control the UFH on times. (hot water remember is "on" all the time) I don't know why someone has put a room thermostat in what I suspect is a cupboard.

Hi Lets start with some basics. How big is the house? How now or more importantly how well insulated is it, particularly how well insulted are the FLOORS? Has the system EVER worked properly? Is the electric boiler on an economy 10 tariff, or at least an economy 7 tariff. Now I will try and explain a few basics. A "heat store" is just that, a big water tank that sores heat. The idea being the boiler heats the heat store, and then the heat store provides the hot water and under floor heating. Remember that bit. The heat input control is quite separate to the heat output controls. They need to be analysed and investigated separately. Assuming you have economy 10 (I really hope so otherwise it is going to be expensive) then you want the boiler programmer set so the electric boiler is on at all 10 of the cheap rate hours in a day and will heat that tank quite hot, probably 70 or 80 degrees. There is often a thermometer on a heat store tank if you have one what does it say. Domestic hot water is just achieved by cold water in through a heat exchange coil in the store and out as hot water. If the tank is hot then you will get hot water, which will gradually reduce in temperature as you run it unless the boiler can keep up with the rate you are using heat. If you can only get half a bath, then the water in the thermal store is nowhere near hot enough. Now the under floor heating. I am not familliar with that exact system but I know the heatmiser system uses a 4 core cable and all thermostats are linked to the same cable. You set a code inside each thermostat with a switch so the controller know which one controls which room. I suspect the question marks either means they are not set correctly, or there is a cable fault. Hence the question has it ever worked. When it is working, then whenever a room thermostat calls for heat, it will turn on the manifold pump, open some valves on the manifold and send heat to that rooms heating loops, all the while taking heat from the thermal store and cooling it down. I am pretty sure I could get this going but I am at the wrong end of the country so not practical for me to travel but I will help all I can on the forum. Start with answering those questions and see how we go.

Tried that months ago. They will only take instruction from a local authority.

Can you tell me exactly HOW you contacted RM I have tried 3 different methods and every time they say only the council can inform them of a new address. I even tried arguing it is not "new" and has been in use for 2 years and they still said the council must inform them before they will add a new address to the postcode database.

The VOA is much more pro active here. When we finally moved into the static caravan he revealed he had visited the site for a snoop around look 17 times. I am willing to bet he is still snoping ready to pounce when he think the house is complete enough to be listed. In our case he listed the caravan at the address "Caravan, house name, village name....." he said this is so when we move into the house, the caravan will be removed from the council tax list and the house name alone added to the list. The house name thing I have mentioned before. I have refused to fill in the form and pay the extortionate fee of £150. Our house name is on the council's list now and there is no problem with utilities or getting post. The only thing "missing" is the council refuse to inform Royal Mail unless I pay the £150 fee, so it is not on the RM postcode database. So at the moment it's stalemate with me refusing to pay £150 just so the council can notify RM of one address already on it's own database.

I just used builders that I knew who were not bothered. Indeed they altered the scaffold as and when they needed to. As it happens, I didn't have enough to scaffold my whole house, so the back and 2 ends were done with my Kwikstage, and the front they used their own Cuplock scaffold. NONE of it was erected by professional scaffolders and none had a weekly check. I do find the use of system scaffold like Kwikstage and Cuplock much more common here in Scotland, and it is also very common for small builders to just bring and erect their own.

Why that level of precision? All my planning was done and agreed with reference to my TBM no reference whatsoever to and absolute height. What's the height accuracy these days of the average GPS?

There is a set time for an appeal. Make it known immediately you wish to do so and ask for the application form. Your task then is to find as many properties similar to and close to yours that are in a lower band, estate agent websites are your key here. Meanwhile they will try to find as many as they can in the same or a higher band. As far as I could tell the appeal process would be both you, and the council valuation officer, would get a set period of time to stand up in front of a panel to explain why you thing the valuation should be altered. I was prepared for that with all my documentation, but the day before the hearing the valuation officer said he would reduce it 1 band if I withdrew my appeal. I still wonder if I should have taken it to the appeal as I was seeking a reduction of 2 bands.......

You don't need an absolute datum. I hammered a row of nails into a substantial fence post at the highest corner of my plot. That is my "Temporary Bench Mark" and all my heights for planning on all the drawings were referenced to that TBM (it is still there should anyone wish to check anything)

One would hope you have the proper diagonal braces, and for a long run make a bracing tower.

My BIL uses 2 bits of welding rod. My own divining rods are the left over bucket handles when a couple of 99p builders buckets met their end, straightened out, and a 90 degree bend at the end.

Sounds similar to ours. I set it all out with a laser level and a surveyors tape measure. For temporary marking I used a roll of red and white marking tape stretched between canes. Then sprayed with floor marking paint when I was sure it was all correct. I had a planning condition that I had to mark the site and the planners needed to visit and check the marked location, and then I dug to exactly that, so there can be no issues with it in the wrong place. On the basis the trench foundations were conveniently 1 digger bucket wide, I measured and marked the centreline of each trench and dug to that. When the builders came to pour concrete and build the footings, their man did not believe I could possibly have got the trenches in the right place by doing that so they spent a whole morning setting out profiles and string lines and measuring then re measuring and concluded my trenches were spot on.

I am one that can "do" and believe in divining. Not sure it will find a dry empty drain, but there's a fair chance it will find a drain with water in it. Indeed the day I found I could do it, was when my BIL gave me his rods and said "have a go" so I slowly walked across his yard and suddenly the sticks swung together. "That's a drain pipe you have just walked over"

Do the pension(s) have a lump sum element at retirement age? If so you could consider that part being interest only with the pension lump sum clearing the debt at retirement?

They look like the tiles I have been laying in my bathroom. Just the grouting to do. I HATE grouting, that is SWMBO's job.

Pray tell us where from? Is it the same make BAL?

Ah yes I remember now, I took a while to connect the dots. So is this drain connection through your in-laws house also going to serve your plot? If the cost is split between two it starts to become more feasible.

Just a normal plot for the Highlands Seriously there are plenty of nice spots like that available up here, wake up and smell the coffee.

The problem with a treatment plant is finding somewhere for the liquid effluent to discharge to, which means some form of soakaway or discharge to a watercourse. It can take a surprising amount of land for a soakaway and I would be surprised if that garden has enough land. So you are then looking at what is behind you and if the landowner will consent to having a soakaway under his land (what is that roughly triangle shaped bit of land behind them?)

Our school has just issued all pupils with a yellow high viz vest. They have to wear it waiting for, travelling on, and getting off the school bus....

I tried to get my daughter to have a go driving the digger, but she wasn't interested, the most she would do is sit in the cab with me. Ah yes the things we did as kids, and survived. I remember the climbing frame in the playground at school was on tarmac. It taught you if you fell off it hurt, so you did not fall off. Today they all have cushioned surfaces to land on........

When I am looking for major items I always get TP and Jewson to quote. It has got to the point I almost feel embarased to ask TP as they are never the cheapest lately so never get the order. This seems a recent thing, earlier in the build they were coming in competetive and getting a lot of the business. I wonder what has changed?