saveasteading

Welcome both. An insurance company manager i built a office for, proudly stated how they had the lowest payout rate of any insurer. They spent money on fighting claims rather than paying. You would know the name. You are right not to be specific on this forum. Everything here is in the public domain.

I am a convert to 'no dig'. I would spread masses of manure asap and let the worms do the work. This will be esp important if droughts become the norm. Also catch all rainwater, even diverting it over the garden if that works for you. Plant nothing that is expensive. The nursery has had a difficult time growing it, and it will surely die. Gardening is a hobby. Why pay someone else to have the fun?

It was my training and job. Study the site: on the ground , the geology and surroundings. Dig holes. Look at trees and watercourses. Look at nearby projects. Design the building to suit the conditions. Other Engineers are available.

It is normal to exclude the fees to the professionals. It shouldn't be, but that is part of the scam. I have many times asked Architect and Client each to state what the budget is, and whether that includes fees and contingencies. It can be an awkward moment for both....one trying to hide the real price (or bluffing) and the other realising it for the first time. Do we know in this case?

Even Which magazine thinks that some kettles cost much more to boil. A reader questioned them on it, and they didn't seem to understand the question, perhaps confusing with overfilling. Energy in = energy out. How many mp's know even the basics of science (or their advisors by the sounds of it).

But I would have known, and so should your SE or architect. And your SE trumps the BCO. I will modify my statement if you like to 'predictable to those whose subject it is'. But then that applies to every element: I don't know much about electrics. A nasty extra cost for you whether justified or not. Many bco's have a default of asking to dig deeper, because they can and the groundworker does it and the client gets the cost. These aren't usually best pleased when told "no," or asked to prove the need. If there had been a deciduous tree nearby then he was probably right, to some extent at least. The biggest unpredictable aspect of groundwork is the weather....I admit to that bringing surprises.

Have you seen the price of boreholes?

Everything is predictable. Groundworks often has potential for clever designs to minimise muck away. Simply avoiding overdigging (wrong sized bucket) can be worth a great deal.

I was thinking that myself. However, assuming the heating water enters at 30C, and then soon departs again a few degrees lower, it will soon start to part with more heat at the cooler areas of screed, and it will even out. The heat leaving the screed into the room will be the same either way, but there will be some temperature difference on the surface for a while. Contrast that with the spiral arrangement which will alternate warm, cooler as you walk across it. Late news: I am not on the site, and was nervous about the plumbers' skills/knowledge, having seen this (one of many progress pictures) . It turns out that this rough looking loop shape was caused by a late change of design at a partition wall position (we have a step in the slab level and are putting in a stop end). Now adjusted with gaps between.

I regard access as meaning disabled access. Deal with that and you deal with any other issues by default. A d and a statement is easy to do, and provides a check that your design is thought through. It then helps the planner towards a positive decision.

An additional white or metallic sheet of cladding, facing south, on a spacer system, would reflect most of the sun, absorb the rest and ventilate it away. But an extra 25mm of pir in the wall would be cheaper, and it is already 200mm if memory serves. In reality the first of these was what we did if involved in the spec decisions...build a lightly insulated shed, then cold store inside it. I think this works better than using the cold store panel as the weather wall.

If it is not chipboard then I would be surprised., whatever the price. I have poked at some pogenpohl etc to look for the differences that justify trebling the price. Some details are better, some internal extras are nice, but mostly the cost is for expert fitting. One supplier of very expensive kitchens said that his customers want to move out for 3 days and come back to a new kitchen, and will pay whatever for the lack of hassle to them. I assume the same applies to bedroom furniture.

Ok we had this. In our case the roof had spread over many decades, due to natural forces but also rot reducing the strength of some timbers. I would predict that you have a tied roof construction and this will always have an out-thrust at the wall, and the timbers sag and move outwrds. It just depends how much. The chance of pulling it back is minimal and might cause more damage. a secondary plate that picks up the load is an option, but that may then slide too. Any pictures of the roof construction?

I was once working with a company re methane from waste; a proper boffin. I asked how best to reclaim the heat from cold-stores which is chucked out into the world, and wasted. I didn't know I was talking abut an enthalpy exchanger, but I was. He said that even with that high temperature of air, and similarly with cooling water in power stations, it is difficult to reclaim even 5% of the energy in a useful manner, and it isn't worth it.

Not generally the best type. Or perhaps perfect when simply hypothesising. For cooling, the ground type is equally important, as the surface of the borehole has to absorb the heat and then conduct it quickly away. Here is my suggestion for cooling. Construct a long length of drain pipe at 1m deep. This can be a long run or snaking. Perforated land drain in gravel will increase the heat exchange, but would have to be above the water table. End pops up into fresh air, some distance away and you suck in air to replace/force out the used air. If possible this pipe will be in a shaded area, as the sun's heat will penetrate 1m. But even better if the pipe, and especially the open end, are in woodland, where the trees have done a lot of work in keeping the temperature down. Thinking more, with the woodland source (easy when all hypothetical) you don't need the long run of pipe. Simpler, and will work. How much pipe and how strong a fan I don't know. Best have the fan a distance from the building and ventilated so that it's energy doesn't enter your system. In a very simple way I have done this for a sports hall. with fan ventilation on one end and louvres on the other, there is constant movement of heat outwards. By extracting at the sunny end , the air from the shaded end is brought in, at significantly lower temperature.

I have put in 2 in the past. We connected the site toilet temporarily which perhaps gave it a low use start, and then the main buildings when ready. No problems at all, so it seems there are enough microbes or whatever without buying any.

We know this isn't right, but how 'not right'? Do we get them back to adjust this? Screed is next Monday. In case of confusion about perspective, the black plastic is a 100mm stop-end in mid room.

Tech term of the day award.

Interesting. What are the ground conditions? If rock or clay you don't get much recovery from the surrounding ground once you have taken the heat out of it. Looking at heating only, for simplicity. You need a pump to circulate the tempered fluid. I have gathered from too many visits to caves and mines that the ambient temperature is about 16C. Therefore, assuming the source is constant, you will draw your brine/ammonia at somewhere under 16C, then have to pass it over your additional MVHR, using a fan, to bring the incoming temperature up. I have heard much worse ideas. My gut feeling, with no maths, is that it would marginally effective in use, but horrendously expensive in outlay. And that only if you had warm rock to start with, or porous ground with a water flow through it to provide fresh energy. I tried very hard to justify ground source heating, speaking to the industry. It could never be justified. Where it was used was with government grants to make it anywhere close to air source. The last discussion I had with the GS industry acknowledge that you had to replace the heat in the ground in the summer. I say spend a tenth of the cost on better construction and insulation. Not so much fun, but it will work. Optimising construction details can be fun too.

Although the project is Inverness, we live in the SE. with 120 miles maximum per charge that will take 4 stages. I will have a look though, thanks.

Yes it is. Such a nonsense. When I had a substantial amount of salvaged timber in the SE, I tried all the agencies, who had given me glossy books about the circular economy, to get it reused, then recycled, then incinerated for power, but to no avail. Tip.

Aldi UK. Now here is our experience of "Aldi Not really all the UK" . Our project is near Inverness, the capital of the Highlands. A very bustling place with every UK retailer you can think of. For those who are rusty on geography, there is a road from the south all the way to Inverness, mostly motorway or dual carriageway. It is not on an island. There is an Aldi in the city. We tried to order the machine online but it said 'not available'. So we phoned, thinking there was a mistake. No we do not deliver to the Highland area. Alright, we will collect at your store in Inverness No you can't do that, we have no control as we don't deliver it, the manufacturer does and they won't deliver to Inverness. But we want to buy it from Aldi, as your advert, not from the manufacturer, and you don't exclude any region. Can't help, but why not get it sent somewhere else? Annoyed, but needing it, we had it sent to a family member in Cornwall, who was coming to help the next week. (There was a deliver charge, applicable anywhere). This is the van delivering in Cornwall . Our orange emphasis.

We are looking, and surprised how expensive they are . Nissan Leaf new 'from' £32,000, 3 years old and 30,000 miles, a bit tatty, £21,000. Most dealers don't have any.

Yes , if the blocks are tight together then cement slurry will go between whereas s and c will sit on the top. For bigger gaps you need s and c. So I would do the cement slurry first, as it is just a watering can (without rose) and poured over the joints. It will dry out almost immediately. Then the s and c can go in the bigger gaps. Doing the slurry first can lock loose or cracked blocks together and avoid damage, and is a lot easier than brushing. I seem to recall it was an official recommendation from the B and B manufacturers but maybe it was just me. I now recall that by closing all the little gaps it stops clients fretting when looking up from a ground floor and seeing light through the floor.

I have heard that Morrisons is a favourite for low-cost on such outings. First you have to get to the bus stop though: one that has buses. The German government has announced a huge reduction in car journeys when they introduced free (or v cheap) bus and train travel.