ProDave

Another twist to this certification lark is schemes like FIT, RHI and MCS certification. My plasterer visited this morning, he is about to embark on a new build for himself. We were discussing heat pumps, and he told me he had a quote from the local Renewables company for a heat pump for a little over £7K He doesn't yet know what amount of RHI payment that would qualify him for, but I showed him my £500 heat pump that I will be self installing, and asked him to check carefully that the RHI payment will indeed exceed the "MCS premium" he would be paying to get an approved installer to fit it, just so he can claim the RHI. What "pisses me off" is I can't self install my own solar PV and then claim the FIT. What pisses me off more than that is I can't claim the FIT until I have an EPC for my building, and I can't get that until it is pretty well complete. Nobody would give me an EPC for the static caravan (I tried and hit brick wall after brick wall) but neither would anybody agree is was an exempt building and certify it as such. The result of all this stupid red tape, is I have spent the last 3 years watching the solar PV FIT drop to the point of being worthless, when I would have liked to have installed my ground mount solar PV 3 years ago. So much for encouraging me to fit a genuine source of renewable energy.

Every EM light I have seen has been 240V supply, something like 6V batteries driving a T5 tube. More recently they use LED's for the light giving longer battery life. If this is what they really said, I am beginning to smell BS?

What are they saying is wrong? not enough EM lights?, lights not lasting long enough (worn out battery packs?, not enough fire detectors and alarms etc?

I have had nothing but trouble with IRESA. The latest that I am about to raise a support ticket for, is I went to submit a monthly meter reading, and my MPAN number has disappeared from the system. Instead it says "your meter points are being set up" Until that is resolved I can't submit a reading.

Could it be like the stud wall I am battling with? When I put it up well over 6 months ago, the 4 by 2's were straight. Now I come to plasterboard them, some have warped one way, some have warped the other way, and nearly all have twisted. Sometimes I hate wood.

Can you make a guard that comes down over the blade from above? Not infallible but some protection against stray things contacting the blade you just need something behind the blade (and thinner than the blade) for it to pivot on. Here's a random picture of a proper table saw showing what I mean

That was a worry of mine while I had my own scaffold up and the builders working from that to erect the frame. The only real failing I am aware of was no toe boards as I simply needed all the boards I had to stand on. We "got away" with that. And now it i me genuinely working on my own. Re "Air bags" on my first build, the roofers insisted on them, but then carried on. I remember a guy turning up with a big lorry full of them an unloading them into the house when it was nearly all done, then removing them 2 days later.

I have input all the data for my house into Jeremy's spreadsheet, and it tells me when it's -10 outside and 20 degrees inside the total heat demand will be 2554W so I am confident my 5Kw ASHP will do nicely. The house will get tested this winter. We will be partly occupying it but at least to start with the ASHP and UFH won't be installed so just an electric convector or 2. That should enable me to reasonably accurately measure the real heat input needed. I am hoping this winter will prove there is no need for a WBS (we will be having one for the static caravan though)

You will have to explain (with a picture?) for those of us that don't know, what "two traditional Scottish rigs" are please. (I am sure you are not talking of the type found floating in the Cromarty Firth)

Cheap Wood burning stove. You have to be quick, not much time left on this offer price (will be interesting to see how much it goes up by when the offer ends) https://www.woodburnerworld.co.uk/kresnik-multifuel-woodburning-stove-45kw-13612-401468 I have ordered one and will be collecting it on a trip south in a few weeks. I am not suggesting it for a passive house but the one I am buying is to go in our static caravan.

We made the one reasonably large window on the west facing elevation a fixed pane, partly because it would be behind the kitchen sink so awkward to open if you wanted to, but also partly because this will be exposed to the prevailing weather and the horizontal rain in a winter storm. A door on the same elevation suffered some water ingress where the theshold of the door was not adequately sealed to the frame of the building initially.

+1 to that. I recall it used to be "normal" with a ballcock type filler for the cistern to fill almost full, then for a trickle or water to continue for ages, ending as a drip drip drip until finally stopping. The newer vertical float types fill at full bore very quickly before shutting off almost instantly. Such a much more refined system.

This looks to be another variant on an air blower type treatment plant. It would be good to collate the effluent data and compare with others. When I looked 2 years ago, the best three were the Biopure, The Conder and the Vortex Since then the Graff system has come along, and now this one. Myself I chose the Conder but that in no way means it is better than the others, just it's installation procedure best sited my DIY install at my particular site.

I did the same as Peter. Stripped the top soil off part of the site where the house was going down to a level base. I then got about 10 tons of hardcore and spread that, just to give a more firm surface that was less likely to get chewed up by the digger tracks. Then as Peter, I marked out the centre of each wall and marked with floor marking paint. Checking measurements for length, and diagonals to ensure it was square. I then dug the trenches, it being easy to dig to a line marked as the centre of where you want it. When the builders turned up, the first thing they did before pouring concrete was set up their profiles. They did not believe that this method would have got the trenches in the right place. At the end of the day they agreed it was all spot on.

+1 to choosing a supplier who fits meters. SSE has to be the simplest option, but don't sign up for any fancy fixed term deal. Then you can shop around. One thing that hampered my switch was the new house not yet being on the postcode database. Is that an issue you have looked at?

I would want to know more about the pressure washer. My bet is it could be rewired so the heaters are all on single phase (probably not possible if they are wired delta) leaving only the motor needing 3 phase, which a small inverter would deal with.

I actually run my lathe on a 3 phase variable speed drive (even though it is a single phase motor) so that is probably the way to go for a small 2 phase machine at home. The VSD lets me change speed without faffing about changing belts and pulleys

I fitted a second hand quality timber door to our garage. I fixed the hinge side of the frame solid first, making sure it was plumb before I even thought about fixing the catch side. Final adjustment was done adjusting the hinges to get it to close nicely.

I have always found the duty building control officer helpful when I have a query. unlike the planners, they are happy to talk to the public. Just give them a ring and discuss it. There are plenty of such old buildings used as toilet / shower / cooking facilities on camp sites.

Put simply, a 3 phase supply will give you 3 times the capacity, and allow you to use 3 phase machine (e.g a lathe for instance) Unless you expect a particularly large demand, or you own a 3 phase lathe, then there is probably not much point? I believe you pay a slightly higher daily standing charge for 3 phase, but the unit price should be the same. 3 phase may or may not be available where you are. e.g. were I am we are on a single phase overhead supply. It's almost a mile of cable to where it joins the 3 phase network, so the cost of getting 3 phase here would be astronomical. However you may be lucky and there might be a 3 phase supply available right next door.

Interesting variation on what I used. I used the 100mm thick Pavatherm and rendered directly onto that. I see you are cladding yours with timber or something? What are you doing to give the building racking strength? the pavatherm is not strong enough for that. My SE specified OSB racking panels on the inside of the frame, and much of the house he specified 2 layers of racking panels. What are you cutting the pavatherm with? I found the dust it gives off clogged my circular saw in about 2 cuts, so for a long time I had one side of the guard removed from my circular saw to prevent that (keep fingers out)

Is that a stepladder in the last pic, or a mini electriicty pylon?

Perhaps I need to look at forced ventilation while my boat is at home in winter storage. I could quite easily make a spare replacement for one of the wash boards and fit a fan in that to extract air, the extracted air would be made up by air drawn in through the mushroom vent. Perhaps maintaining a through flow of air all winter might stop my condensation problem?

That's just temporary until the sink unit is in and he comes back to plumb the sink. Probably just a temporary loop to ensure the rest of the house gets some water. The plumber doing it doesn't solder any more. He has one of those very expensive copper pipe crimp tools.

Don't employ the joiners that are doing the extension I am currently working on. This is a sun room extension and new kitchen on a 1980's bungalow. The joiners took up the kitchen floor because it was sagging and put extra supports under the inadequate sized joists. The original floor had no insulation under it, and it staggered me when they put the new floor down with no insulation and no thought it might be a good idea to put some there. Then this is how they fitted the flooring around the pipes, so not only is the floor not insulated, there's huge gaps for a howling gale to enter. The lack of thought is truly staggering.