ProDave

Yes I admit, not what everyone wants. One of my hobbies is ham radio. always in the past I have had my ham radio aerials attached to the house in some form. But now I am building a wooden house clad in wood fibre with no real means of fixing great sturdy T & K brackets for an aerial pole. So time for something completely different, something I have wanted for a long time, but never managed to find one cheap enough. A trailer mounted wind up telescopic lattice mast: Yes it's only a baby one. Three 10ft sections which when fully extended as in the picture, will give an aerial height of at least 30ft, more if I choose to have less of the top mast section inside the top tower section. It came from a good friend of mine just up the road. It was originally a lighting tower and had a generator bolted on the A frame. My friend bought a job lot of 3 of them, he only wanted the generators so he then sold the bare towers. This was the last one of the 3. It's not in bad condition. The steel ropes that wind the mast up need replacing as they are well rusty, and a few bits, mainly the jack legs need cleaning and re painting, but the rest of it is in pretty good condition, even the galvanising is good in most places, not bad since it was made in 1989. It's going to get parked somewhere behind the static caravan eventually and the rear bedroom of the 'van will probably become my "radio shack" I had some fun and games to get it here. The tyres were completely rotten. It took a well fitting spanner, a lot of WD40 and a long pole to get them undone. 2 replacement tyres from freecycle, old but legal tread, and my friendly garage mechanic swapped them over free of charge. At some point someone changed it over to a pin hitch and in doing so didn't re connect the trailer brakes, and the mudguards have gone AWOL but that doesn't bother me as I don't intend towing it on the road again.

I would do it personally but of course that is not official advice.

I think the original link got corrupted. I just copied and pasted the item number. Try this link http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Delonghi-AWR-MTD-0011-Heat-Pump-/272209537849?hash=item3f60f3eb39:g:ESIAAOSwbwlXDP1I

That would suit me fine I am sure, but it's too early in my project. So do I buy it now, or take the gamble that in a year or whatever when I really need it that I will be able to find another at that price?

What's missing from that drawing above is that an attic truss will also be in tension to stop the roof spreading apart, perhaps that's why they are more critical? I think the only solution is to get a structural engioneer to either sign it off as acceptable, or if he feels it has compromosed the joists he will recommend remedial action like sistering another joist alongside them. Best also discuss with him what the plumbers can and cannot do befiore they start. They will need bigger holes and more likely notches in the joists rather than holes through them. If they need large holes e.g. for waste pipes they will need a properly engineered solution which may involve a steel plate. It might be advisable to stop the work until you have a definitive answer.

Well the water flow from the boiler to the tank and UFH manifold will have to be pumped, so put the pump(s) in the boilerhouse. We certainly don't hear any noise from the boiler at the tank or UFH manifolds, but remember each manifold will have its own pump. I very nearly put one of the UFH manifolds in a bedroom wardrobe (as it was nice and central) until I realised it had its own pump, then I said no way, it's going in the airing cupboard in the bathroom (less central but I don't care about pump noise there)

The NHBC guidelines for drilling joists say a hole shal be on the centreline of the joist, in a zone between 0.25 and 0.4 of it's span, and maximum diameter of each hole 0.25 times the joist depth. I suspect those are too close to then end of the span (i.e les than 0.25 span from the end) but otherwise I would not get worried personally about those small holes. Where else did you expect them to run the cables? You wait until the plumber arrives next.

Why are attic trusses any different to any other floor joist? For normal floor joists there are set guidelines where you can drill them and where you can notch them and what size holes or notches. I recall BC inspecting our last house and commenting now neat the notches in the joists were for the run of pipes to the boiler.

My boat (fibrglass) has a "flange" joint where the hull moulding joins the deck moulding. A U shaped rubber fender strip goes over this to create a rubbing strake. It's fitted by a combination of just stretching it over all round the boat and adhesive to hold it there. The boat used to live in a tidal harbour tied up to the harbour wall and what happened was the continual movement between the boat and wall (even with fenders) causes the rubber strip to unstick and then one stormy night pull off exposing the raw fibreglass edge, which was not kind to fenders. Re fixing it with Stixall and it's not come off again.

I don't see a problem with a long run between boiler and UFH manifiold or HW tank. With those you are not concerned with speed of response. The critical thing is short runs from HW tank to hot taps, unless you are planning a hot water circulation system.

I think SSE put the same 100A fuse in every supply. Although have a "12KVA" supply, it has a 100A fuse like every other house.

I was going to say Store 2 should be the boilerhouse & plant room. Certainly that would be a better place for the hot water tank.

Say YES to an earth terminal. you can always add your own earth (and indeed must for a static caravan) if you want to.

So who amongst us is going to buy a fork lift truck?

I have come across the rules re distance to overhead lines. I think it varies from DNO to DNO, but up here (SSE) you start getting restrictions if you are within 9 metres of overhead lines (which we are) but when you look at it in more detail building within 6 metres of an overhead line is okay but between 6 and 9 metres you have to be aware of the risks re scaffold and diggers etc. At 3 metres I am sure they will have to do something either move them, underground them or insulate them. A 3 phase supply shouldn't usually cost much more than single phase, that's if 3 phase is available. Where I am we are on a single phase branch and it's aboput a mile to the 3 phase network so if we wanted 3 phase the cost would be astronomical.

It's a 2 man job really because to get started, one person needs to hold an upright in place while the second operson attaches the next upright to it with a transom or ledger. It's not until you have 3 uprights joined together that it is self standing. Once you get to a basic section of 4 uprights self standing, then one person can build it up from there. I have cheated in the past by starting in a corner leaning the upright against something to get started single handed but it's a bit of a faff. Also once you get abover ther first lift is is a LOT easier with 2 people to pass the bits up

I have given up even trying to think of a schedule. I sometimes think "how long is a piece of string" and then realsie I have the whole damn ball of string.....

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"