ProDave

Rest assured my DB pensions are staying just where they are. They are something "my generation" have the benefit of, something which people joining the workforce now will be unlikely to get.

Please chaps I am not seeking charity. A LOAN perhaps but not a gift.

I don't have TRV's. I have UFH and DHW each fed by 2 port valves, 3 of them. The Automatic bypass is fitted at the furthest point from the boiler, in my case at the HW tank. It has "come to the rescue" when the microswitch in a 2 port valve failed, so it was calling for heat when all 3 valves were in fact shut. At least the boiler had a few metres of pipe loop to pump around so it didn't boil, just circulated boiler temp water round a loop, only firing occasionally to make up the small heat loss.

Isn't that what an automatic bypass valve is installed for, to give the boiler somewhere to pump water to if all the valves are closed and the boiler has an internal POR timer.

I run cables around the room at socket or light switch height. As long as there is ONE accessory on the wall at that height, it is a safe zone for the entire wall. If you need to get past a window, go down to socket level and across in that safe zone. If there is no safe zone there, go up to the 150mm ceiling safe zone. As a matter of course, all my service void battens have gaps at socket and switch height. I have tried many times to get joiners to pre drill them, or even as I do just leave a 1" gap, but none will ever do a simple thing to make it easy for the next trade.

For me, to get to the "camp in the house" point we need a working bathroom (working, not complete) which dictates hot water, even if that i just an immersion heater. And we need a working kitchen. SWMBO has given me "permission" to install a temporary second hand one. Shame earlier in the year she refused that, and I let a functioning kitchen go to the tip (I was wiring the new one) I am now eagerly awaiting the next kitchen rewire job.

I think it's P2P lending that is being discussed. If such a scheme existed then I might be interested in the short term as a borrower. In the much longer term we will have a lot of capital to invest and work for us so then I would be interested being a lender in such a scheme.

No. That's not a safe zone. Run the cables in proper safe zones in the service void you have.

Sorry I am confused. It's a system boiler feeding heating and HW. Where is this heat exchanger? You have those in combi boilers but then you would not have a HW tank, and every boiler I have seen takes care of pump over run with it's own controls internally.

I think that is how it is now. Thinking back, the last time I was asked for an EIC on a new installation was when SSE (the DNO up here) made the connection and fitted the meter in one visit.

It sounds to me like you want some re plumbing. What you have sounds a but wrong. I would be inserting a 2 port motorised valve into the heating and hot water circuits. The heating one will be energised by the programmable room thermostat you are fitting. The hot water one will be energised by a time switch and the hot water tank thermostat. The feedback contact from them both in paralllel to fire the boiler when either is demanding heat. No need for an over run.

The above is why a lot of my eventual retirement pot will be the residue from eventually selling the old house and a lot of that will be free of tax liabilities. I am ingrained not to trust "the government" Too many times I have looked forward to something and just before I get to the qualifying age, they pull the ladder a little higher. That's why I won't really trust I can get my pension next year. When I have the lump sum in my bank and the rest in a drawdown fund, I will believe it. Likewise I am told I will get my state pension now at age 67, well I will believe that when it happens if the ladder has not been raised even higher.

Thar's all looking very good. We used Topps Tiles slate for the hall in the last house. Extremely pleased with it. Nice looking and virtually indestructable. It looks best if you give it a coat of sealant every year that really brings out the colours. I would be happy to use the same in the new house but SWMBO is reluctant to have anything the same as the old house.

Re the pension thing. This is one of 3 pensions I have, and the smallest of them. The only one that was a defined contribution scheme (The others are defined benefit and the main plank of my retirement funding and will not be raided) The very worst thing I could do with it, is buy an annuity. Thankfully that is no longer your only choice. The plan is to take the 25% tax free lump sum immediately, then put the rest into a drawdown fund. As I understand it, that is then taxed as income, so the tax you pay, depends on the tax thresholds in place and how much else you earn, and of course how much you draw.. So I don't think the tax implications of drawing it gradually are serious, and no more so than drawing it as a pension where you would still be taxed. The worst case would be taxed at source and some of that refunded at the end of the tax year when submitting your tax return. I am not bothered about being short of funds in retirement. That would only be an issue if I reach retirement and the old house still had not sold. The ultimate sale of the old house makes this little pension fund seem rather insignificant in the big picture. The loan issue is that we really don't earn much. We earn enough to live on, but not to fund the build in any significant way, nor to repay a significant loan in a short period. I could of course take on more work, but then I would not have so much time to build a house..... I hope things will become clearer in the new year.

Since paying off our mortgage some years ago, borrowing has not been on my agenda. I have always worked n the principle that when you are short of money, the very last thing you want to spend it on is interest. That's why I have always driven a second hand car I own outright rather than a new one with a loan, or worse one of these lease deals. I got "burned" expecting this windfall that now may or may not happen and spent in anticipation of that. In theory I can grab my pension in a few months, unless something changes (it will be shortly before the spring budget so hopefully they can't cock it up for me, but I won't bank on that) If I could be certain that one of these was an absolute certainty then I would seek out something like a credit card with a 0% deal to tide me over, but I don't have the certainty to do that just now.

So they have been under stating the values. So it is better then they have said? And the problem is.....?

Re selling / renting the old house. The tenants are continuing to run it as a B&B and by advertising it a lot more are getting a much higher occupancy than we ever did. Be we only ran it as a hobby business, we didn't want to be too tied. Being self employed, they would not get a mortgage straight away. Most lenders want to see 2 years of accounts before they will lend against that income, hence letting them rent it for 2 years to get to that point. I do believe they want to buy it, but also in the real world recognise there is a big difference between wanting to do something, and being able to do it. I suspect when it comes to it they will also have a property to sell, so that's another complication. In the mean time we will have had 2 years rent. That has helped a bit moving the build forward, but boy it really would be slow if that was all we had.

Can I hijack your knowledge here. We have one bit of wall, between the house and the garage that has a worse U value because unlike the rest of the house, it does not have the wood fibre exterior insulation. I was going to improve that by insulating the service void as this post suggests. But it sounds like from what you are saying, I would be better leaving the air gap service void, and adding any extra insulation on the garage side (before the 2 layers of plasterboad) Is that correct?

Thanks for all the kind words. Buildhub is more than a place to talk about insulation, I have some good friends here. There is always plenty of work at this time of year so that's not a problem, and I have at least 2 big jobs lined up for after the Christmas rush and into the new year. But no I have no wish to go and work away from home. What hurts for me is being in this position for reasons outside my control. I have a deep sense of anger at the situation, which is not a healthy emotion to be harbouring, but there is sod all I can do to stop that anger. If it wasn't so damned wet I could go and shovel barrow loads of soil and complete the landscaping of the garden across the burn, at least that won't cost anything, but have I mentioned that we haven't had a day without rain (or snow) for weeks and the ground is just sodden.

Our old house is currently let to a tenant who says they want to buy it in 2 years. That does not help the immediate situation. I can't wait 2 years for the house to sell before continuing the build, hence the cashing in a pension. We will give them the 2 years but if they then don't buy it, the tenancy will be terminated and the house back on the market.

Some of you will remember roughly 2 years ago my "and then there was one" post. That was the point we realised our old house was not going to sell any time soon leaving us short of funds. At that point we laid off the builder (amicably) and since then it has been me and SWMBO working on the house so there are no (or minimal) labour costs. Well now, we have reached the inevitable conclusion to that. The pot is empty. Seriously empty. It could not be more empty. The sad reality is now we cannot afford even to buy materials to continue the build. So how far did we get? Probably a lot further than I honestly thought we would, but that does not ease the pain. We have a house largely finished externally. Fully insulated and air tight. Upstairs has been plasterboarded and plastered and we have a staircase. Upstairs is also mostly wired. There is no plumbing, apart from a toilet downstairs and temporary plumbing for a washing machine. No hot water system and no heating installed. Downstairs remains a bare shell with just the air tight membrane on the walls and the sub floor OSB flooring. All I can do now is work, for others, and earn money. We need that to pay the bills. We are resigned to a cold winter in the caravan, with no prospect of even partially moving onto the house for the foreseeable. I won't post too many personal details. We had expected hoped for a little windfall that we thought was coming our way. We now don't know when, or indeed if that will actually happen. If not, the only source of funds is to cash in a small pension I have from a previous employment, but I have another 4 months to wait before I attain the age that allows me to do that. Unless the windfall does happen, it is going to be a very long, cold and frustrating winter.

Are you sure that U value is correct? I though 300mm of Warmcell would be nearer to 0.1? I see no problem with filling the service voids with 50mm rockwool batts, but leave a gap where cables run so the cables are not embedded in insulation. That would be my choice rather than solid insulation.

As above, just my Kwikstage scaffold. When I am done, I will be keeping some of it. I will probably wire brush and paint one set and keep them stored dry for "inside use" and keep some offcuts of carpet to stand the feet on.

A forum bulk buy of "good value" solar panels. Count me in for 6KW or so.

What I think is how will it be profitable? With the FIT now so low, it is doubtful that it is even viable for a small scale domestic install.