ProDave

I thought that was a joke. I have not seen those on sale for years, let alone one with a matching fireplace. Interesting point though, a prolonged power cut in an air tight house with mvhr would probably require a couple of windows cracked open a little, so it would then not retain it's heat as well as normal..... So I would light the stove.

And if you do go to appeal, it sounds like your case officer has already written the basis of your appeal claim for you. Make it CLEAR to your planning officer that if it is refused you WILL be appealing.

The original joiner should have realised that, and fitted the original 2 hinges literally as far apart as possible. When adding a third hinge, putting it in the middle has added nothing That is the point it will pivot about if the first 2 hinges are straining.. You might, just might fit another hinge above the top hinge, if so that would have been a good place to add it, and if one would fit a 4th hinge squeezed in below the existing bottom hinge. There is a good reason why you see heavy doors hung with 3 hinges, but 2 near the top, not in the middle. He might be a good joiner, but he is a poor engineer.

Can you rig up a camera inside the cabinet recording video (A phone should do that) so you can look at how the hinges, top and bottom particularly flex as you close the door. If you can see how they are flexing it will give you an idea how to strengthen them.

Perhaps for the average person, an easier, and potentially more accurate measure of how "good" a house is, would be to simply publish the annual heating cost. Problems with that are separating heating from other energy use (I fitted an old electricity meter specifically to measure heat pump consumption) and of course those prepared to live in a freezing house over winter would get a "good" score.

We got an A94 on the as built sap that I am happy with. BC told me it was the first A he had seen. I have often speculated if we want to sell in the future it will be almost impossible to replicate the same EPC. but no plans to sell.

In normal use an ASHP is not noisy. No more noisy than say the roar of an outdoor oil boiler burning away. I do have a problem with mine at the moment, the fan motor has a failed bearing that is whining whenever it is running. That is a fault and is on my "to do" list to try and replace the bearing. EDIT: there is a common theme here. Why do people complain about the noise of an ASHP, but not the roar of an oil boiler burning (and the smell of those)?

I think this has been discussed before. To work, it has to be some exotic pipe coated with something like silver. Any normal pipe used for that is likely to get cold, condensation and mould then all sorts of horror stories about what it draws into your house and people have had to cap it off and abandon it.

If you want best insulation for a given thickness, then do as we did, make all the elements of your wall, insulation (which brick and block does not) So we have 200mm timber frame full fill with insulation and on the outside, 100mm thick wood fibre (more insulation) and rendered on the outside. Inside a 25mm service void for cables and pipes then plasterboard and skim. Total thickness 380mm.

If you do your insulation and air tightness well enough, you won't need upstairs heating unless you like a really hot bedroom. Like many on here, I put UFH in the bathrooms upstairs, but not the bedrooms. I put electric points in the bedrooms for a panel heater if it turned out some heating was needed, but they have never been used. Nearer the time when you have a plot and are designing the house talk us through the design and we can advise on what you need.

Thank you survey now completed. I am happy to complete a survey but could not be bothered to be a detective first to find the damned thing.

Please provide a proper URL so I can do the survey on a proper computer. Only providing a QR code means you can only do it on a phone and I hate pretending a phone is a proper computer. I wonder how many others won't do the survey because there is no URL to enable them do complete it on a real computer?

Definitely go back to your solicitor. 2 possibilities. You do have a legal right over the the track for access and the neighbour is just being cheeky as he would prefer you to have your own access. Or the solicitor slipped up and did not realise or did not point out to you that you do not have a legal right of access and you should cut your own track. Then the conversation gets awkward......

Some while ago I bought a large rotovator from a farm auction. There were 3 of them on auction and pre auction I had a look at them. All 3 refused to start. It became clear there was another bidder wanted them all, he got the first 2 but I won the third. When I got it home I found the mixture screw was missing from the carb. I found a replacement and then it worked. I strongly suspect the other bidder removed the mixture screw from all 3 before the auction so if anybody tried them, they would not start.

Have you ever showered in an 8kW instant electric shower? Many regard that as adequate but compared to the shower I get from our UVC with at least twice the flow rate, I regard them as pathetic. You won't get much better than that from an instant heater.

A simple macerator would be a lot cheaper and simpler, typically they sit behind the WC pan. Whatever you choose I would regard this shed loo as being for No 1's only. Take a walk to the house if you need a No 2. Trust me you don't want to be fishing a failed pump out of a raw sewage pumping station that has been used for "all functions" In all cases the output pipe is a smaller bore and it goes uphill under pressure from the pump. It would typically discharge into an inspection chamber in your case close to the road so the final bit can drain by gravity to the sewer.

I remember fly ash from coal power stations being used to make "insulated" lightweight blocks in the 80's often used as the inner leaf as my first house was. Horrible things to fix anything to they were so soft even when new. I wonder how they are bearing up?

I am not happy with the draconian socialist ambitions of the Scottish government and will be doing my part at every chance to vote for an alternative.

Because we live in a free country where you can buy and sell a house in any condition. Would you rather more rules on what we can and can not do? Make your appropriate choice on 4th July.

Great shame you never came on this forum earlier. My advice would be DO NOT remove the slate DPC, it is about the best you can get. We had similar issues in a previous 1930's house, there the issue was nothing to do with the DPC but failed rendering low down that was bridging the DPC. Removing the lower render and re doing the bottom with it finishing just above the DPC cured all the problems. The render should have a proper bell cast drip bead at the bottom which should be sturdy, it should not just be resting on plastic DPC.

It seems a shame after all the work and money spent so far to abandon the extension just because you have fallen out with the builder. I would look for another builder first and carry on.

Surely only an issue of you eat some of it? We are allowed to sell houses containing asbestos.

I thought the issue with Mundic was questions over structural integrity. In what way are they poisonous? We will see more of this with houses containing RAAC being the next un mortgagable sold cheap to cash buyers sub standard housing.

Re the carbon capture. What form does the 36,000 tons of removed carbon take? Solid blocks of graphite? Or a CO2 gas that has to be pumped somewhere like a disused gas well to store it? How much energy does such a capture system use and how much new CO2 is released in providing that energy?

There are a couple of flywheel generators going begging at Culham that they are looking into repurposing to add mass to the grid https://www.newpower.info/2023/09/jet-fusion-site-systems-could-be-repurposed-to-offer-grid-inertia-services/ https://www.facebook.com/UKAEAofficial/photos/a.10150149200649320/10158383444144320/?type=3