ProDave

Re Sealants, I am a fan of Stixall. It claims to stick anything to anyhing, even when wet, and it does. I first used it to stick the rubbing strake back on my boat after Sikaflex (that just about every boater recommends) failed after a year. The Stixall is holding on the boat still so that's good enough for me to recommend it.

For that price you could buy my run of Kwikstage that will do 5 bays (12 metres) at a working height up to about 4.5 metres or various other confugurations.

I bought a load of Kwikstage for my build. It was certainly a good move, it's been in use for about a year and has proved to be a lot cheaper than hiring would have been. It will only be a few weeks now before I sell some of mine. I will be selling half of it and then the other half I will keep for the foreseable future so if I have any maintenance jobs I will have enough to scaffold one wall of the house at a time. Kwikstage is easy to put up. It's really a 2 man job but I did put a load up single handed though that was harder work. I have also used some borrowed cuplock. Although a completely different system, there's not much to choose between them so I would go for whatever is available. I bpught mine from ebay, but it's often for sale on gumtree etc.

I went for the B option. There are now 8 of us sharing a 100KVA transformer and so the default offering they quoted me for was a 12KVA supply. I just know if I was to quote a lot of high loads, I would have been hit for a charge to upgrade the 100KVA transformer to something bigger. I actually don't expect to use anything like 12KVA. I didn't mention a heat pump as they are obsessed with peak start up loads, whereas the heat pump I expect to use will be inverter driven and soft start so won't create a high peak load, but from the experience of others it seemed best not to mention it as they can't compute anything other than heat pump = large switch on surge.

Yes my plan has always been one 2KW (or there abouts) string facing slightly south of East to catch the morning sun and start usable generation as early as possible, then the second string facing south, or even a little west of South to take over as the sun comes round. A lower, but more constant generation should be more easy to self use. Possibly later on something facing west, but that's harder to arrange without it appearing to be in my front garden (all going to be ground mounted)

The best I can see for a non MCS system for DIY install is currently £2995 for 4KW http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Complete-4kW-MCS-Solar-PV-Kit-System-for-new-build-self-build-developer-SAP-/322102752999?hash=item4afed1f6e7:g:YqsAAOSwiYFXGZvX I have seen 4KW DIY system for closer to £2000 so worth keeping an eye out for a bargain. This is almost certainly something like I will install, the FIT paymenta re so low now it's hardly worth paying much extra MCS premium.

Different meters behave in different ways. Ours (A Siemens merter) does acruallt flash the red lamp when it is exporting power, but I have checked and although the red led flashes it doesn't count up any units. For best self use of self generated power, make sure you use all the big appliances like dishwasher, washing maching and tumble dryer as nerar as you can to the middle of the day, and one applionce at a time (easier to arrange if you are not out art work, but you can set them on timers)

An interesting one. A 205KV overhead line passes over my neighbours garden. He has found out it was only on a temporary wayleave when the Dounreay plant was built in the 60's. He has served them notice to remove it (1 yerar notice I believe) The last I hear is they are "negotiating"

Make SURE the ends of the gap are not open to cold air, otherwise it negates the insulation of the outer layer. Perhaps 2 layers of over boarding, the first being just 25mm to match the thickness of the braces, then a further layer covering the whole lot.

I had woodworm treatment done at our previous house, a 2 bed semi detached 1930's house. It was a long time ago and I don't have a clue about how much it cost but it was a mortgage condition because it was raised on the survey. When we sold it 13 years later (after extending it and nearly doubling it's size) nobody asked for any paperwork in relartion to the woodwork and it was not "found" on the buyers survey. I don't think they did a particularly thorough job, just lifted a few boards and sprayed as far as their lance would reach with no particular attention to whether they missed bits or not. The worst wodworm was in the back board behind the electricity meter, which I replaced with a new board.

£16 per metre sounds unbelievably cheap. I am paying more than that per square metre just for the labour to apply my render, so I can't see how anyone can do it including materials for that price.

Honest answer I don't know, and I don't know who would know.

Put a dummy thermostat on the wall of each room when the building inspector comes to sign it off. Everyone is happy. Remove when you have the paperwork. He will never know.

What's the reason for wanting brick? I specifically avoided brick or block and went for timber frame with external wood fibre insulation. My wall thickness is within your target and has a better U value, but you would have to settle for a render finish. The issue for me, was with a timber frame and blockwork skin, the cavity has to be ventilated so it's open to outside air. So the brick or block skin is adding virtually nothing to the insulation at all.

I don't mind cutting the grass, it's the MOSS that bugs me. How do you keep a lawn moss free when you have very wet poor ground? Yes I can do it often with the elecrtic lawn rake, but that's even worse than mowing and you should see the amount of moss it drags out.

What is really strange is that in Scotland, I discharged all my conditions by simple emails to the planning officer who had dealt with the application, reply rarely a day later, no cost invoved, and at the end I got an email followed up by a letter in the post saying all conditions are discharged and you may commence building.

Welcome to the slow lane. I too am doing it on my own at the moment, currently fitting the external wood fibre board to the gable end wall, just having a tea break right now.

Thank you. Every day is a learning day.

Okay, this is brobably a dumb question, but what is the significance of blue plasterboard? I know about green, pink, and ordinary grey, but what's the blue stuff?

THAT really annoyed me on my last build, and I am SURE I will have the same problem again. I used standard regularised studs, covered with standard thickness plasterboard, but do you think I could find door liners that were just the right thickness? no of course not. They were either a few mm too wide or too narrow. Thank goodness for the electric plane.

I have one rule in our new house. SWMBO is NOT going to plant any trees shrubs or "flower beds" in the middle of the LAWN. It needs to be one unobstructed area that you can push (or ride) a mower up and down, without having to go around "things"

Nice work. Looks like you wore out 2 wheelbarrows moving that lot

In case it's not obvious, the roof is a warm roof, hung from a big ridge beam. That too is clad with the same 100mm wood fibre board in place of the normal (in Scotland) sarking board. And the roof will be insulated in the same way as the walls but this time from the inside so we will have a vaulted warm roof.

You live on a croft. Shouldn't you have sheep?

Hi and welcome to the forum. Building next door is very convenient. I am building next door but one, just 50 metres up the road.