ProDave

Ah the old "portable earth" A classic case of having a very slight idea of what you should do, but without understanding how it might work, and how that one definitely won't. But seriously, if your DNO can provide a genny that can power your whole house free of charge, and installed the same day, I would not bother.If yours is an isolated failure (i.e your neighbours still have power) then it's probably a cable fault. the only times we get a power cut is during a storm when trees come down (all overhead here) and then the outages are measured in thousands of homes (then there's not enough DNO generators to go round) the longest we were off was 3 days, and we just kept the WBS goiong 24/7 for heat, cooked on gas, and used the camping gaz lights. Frankly I would not want a generator thundering away and having to keep re fueling it for several days.

I spent about half an hour on my boat in a thunder storm. I was never sure what I should do, but in a plastic boat, floating on the sea, with a big metal pole sticking up in the middle I decided it would be a good idea not to touch that or the stainless steel stays that support it.

I would add to Jeremy's point above. If you know one panel is subject to daily shading and the rest are not, then that one battery that it charges will consistently get less charge than the others, effectively limiting the capacity of the whole system.

.... stood off from the wall on porcelain insulators so a leak, and water running down the wall would not get into the meter and supply head. Oh how standards have slipped.

All the new builds I do seem to use whatever bit of MDF / Ply / Chipboard the joiners happened to have kicking about / rescued from a skip, and the DNO (SSE here) have never questioned it. All they seem to want is something they can fit a wood screw into.

A bit late actually since I finished this a few weeks ago, but that's all the roof insulated and lined. Blog at the usual place http://www.willowburn.net/ Look for the entry "Insulating the roof"

A tip for some that may help.. When I ordered our garage window from Rationel as a single window, I thought I would make it as "cheap as possible" by specifying two fixed panes. When it came in more expensive than I thought it should, I queried it and found in fact the cheapest option was the "standard" one fixed pane and one opening pane.

A "normal " fan is an "axial" fan (think of a fan blade on an axle) A Radial, or Centrifugal fan generates a lot more pressure and can cope with longer runs of ducting. Here's one: http://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-in-line-centrifugal-shower-fan-kit-chrome-100mm/41379

You want a radial fan, not an axial fan

I've seen "front doors" at the back of a house, but that was a clear example of taking an off the peg design and turning it around to ensure the living room got the sun and that's just where the door ended up.

If it's for your own use then I can see no reason not to use 240V lamps. You will need to change the plug or make an adaptor (and UNMAKE it when you are done so nobody uses it to plug any real 110V equipment into 240V)

We went back to BT after the nightmare with Talk Talk. Basically I just could not get them to fix a broadband fault. They were afraid to actually pass on the fault to Open Reach for fear they would get charged for fixing the fault, so chose to do nothing but keep sending me yet another new router because that must be the problem. I ended up escalating it to their management and I parted mid contract with a refund for all the BB charges I had paid. Switched to BT, immediately reported the same fault and they fixed it. The overwhelming lesson from that is it's not worth saving a few £ if the customer service is so utterly disfunctional. That has put me off trying other re sellers.

Nope. BT unlimited broadband "helpfully" tells you that you have no limit so there's no point in showing you how much you have used. (i'll bet they know, just don't want to tell you)

Hi and welcome to the forum. You are not the only architect on here, so you will have some backup. I think mention the word architect here and it's a bit like marmite. So keep your tin hat ready. Personally I had very bad experiences of an architect. I could only find one that charged a fixed fee being a percentage of the estimated build cost. Telling them that I didn't want it project managed and put out to tender did not make them budge on their fees. And as it happened the actual build cost ended up a little over half their estimated build cost. To say I felt like I was being taken for a ride and was just a "rich self builder / cash cow" was an under statement. I ended up using an architectural technician who charged a much more reasonable fee related to the amount of work he did, not some ficticious build cost estimate. I would hope I was just unlucky and you will tell me your fees and scope of work are both reasonable and negotiable.

But that would mean installng a usage app on my pc, SWMBO's pc, SWMBO's phone, and daughter's tablet, then add them all together. Shame the router doesn't just log it, or BT were not so unhelpful.

Anyone know how to find out how much bandwidth you are actually using in a typical month? Would be useful to have an idea when looking for alternatives. We are with BT unlimited and if you log into your account it says (in slightly more polite terms) "you have unlimited broadband so we refuse to tell you how much you actually use" Likewise I can't find anything in the router that logs actual date wither way.

Okay, this Tethering thing. That restriction is just "wrong" to me. surely some enterprising software engineer must have written an application that can relay mobile data to another device while hiding that fact from the service provider?

GifGaff is 3G isn't it and no 3G coverage here. I need to wait until the new 4G mast is build here and see who offers what then. What puzzles me about the location of this new planned mast, is it is certainly not positioned for "main road" coverage. It's almost as if it is intended to serve a small scattered low density population for home use.

By the sounds of it the only insulation that is really "safe" to be in contact with cable is mineral wool / earthwool type. I have never found a cable in contact with those to have suffered any damage (except overheating due to being encased in too much insulation) How do LSF cables fare with EPS? any difference to ordinary pvc?

I've climbed all the Glen Coe munro's but not the ones accessed from Glen Etive (yet) I met Jimmy Saville at his cottage in Glen Coe. Perhaps not something to be proud of any more

Pray tell us who does unlimited mobile data for £10 per month. I want one.

We only get slow "broadband" here and no prospect of that improving (by BT) for a long time. But there are two interesting developments. One is the community is looking to set up a high speed wireless broaband network which they expect to cost about £25 per month. The second development is a planning application for a new 4G phone mast in line of sight of our house (at the moment we only have a very weak 2G signal) I can see a future without a landline.....

Sounds fun. the A82 can be a bit of a slow grind in summer.

How far down the Glen are you. It's a long way to the end (and then you are a long way from anywhere) and liable to be cut off by snow in a decent winter. Dorran houses have a reputation for concrete cancer and being hard to get a mortgage on. But they are basically sound if not particularly well insulated. No shortage of places to go walking there!! One has to ask being so remote what do you do for a living? I can't imagine being that remote as long as I still have to work. But having my boat on a mooring at the top of Loch Etive sounds very attractive.

Hi and welcome to the forum. A semi detached Dorran house with no garden does not sound much like a building plot? I assume that's just somewhere to stay while you find the perfect plot?