saveasteading

Isn't the grid completely private? We were discussing this a week or so ago.

We are fitting solar and intended to include a battery system sized to suit estimated use. But our electrician/plumber suggests we leave the batteries until the house is up and running, then size accordingly. I was surprised, as it will take a year until we have reliable figures, and that's a year of not getting the benefit. Plus we will not be getting in the habit of optimising. The vat reclaim entered my reasoning until I twigged that it is zero anyway. Is the electrician wary of estimating wrongly? Or wise? Or perhaps undersizing or oversizing is more than a cash issue. He also agreed we should get a 3 phase heat pump, which the solar people were resisting. On the principle that as we have 3 phase we should use it. Thoughts please,

And a £100/day labourer? My 2nd hand mixer is disappointing, esp in taking at least 20 mins to clean. So it is pointless for a small mix. The back of it somehow gathers 10mm of sand and cement so messes with the mix as well. But for quantity it's OK as long as someone else is doing the hard work.

I never use premixed bags because of cost and the likelihood that I want a different mix. But that may be false economy when I have to dispose of winded cement. But I assume that premixed bags would come cheap in quantity. I agree though that allowing for any mix would be much better, and should be included considering the high cost. Looking again at the picture, it isn't complicated and I'd settle for a slight delay between in and out. Maybe we will see this as an improved lidl or b &q version soon.

This came to me on facebook.Your own tiny concrete mixer. Pour in the ingredients and chute out a mix continuously. I have looked at this ad and video but can't guarantee it's safe. https://mudmixer.co.uk/ It would be a handy tool- hire bit of kit.

Love it. Thanks for introducing me to this term. Not in the same league as street train stopping place though.

Agreed we should advise caution, ensuring expertise where needed. And lots of research. Far too many people assume building is easy. It's been my life for 50 years. It's very few buildings, esp one-off self build, that don't need an SE.

Not wanting to do my trade out of work, but for a traditional construction you might not need one, or some elements are from tables now published for the world. And highly experienced professionals and builders know a lot. But note that even heavy structural rafts, move. They will generally move in one piece without showing distress, but drains beneath could be crushed or bent. You don't want anything ever to go wrong under a raft. Check that anyone doing design for you, initially or formally, has insurance for their decisions. ie not just contractors' insurance but for design liability. Otoh if it us a so-called structural raft sitting on insulation, then it is only as strong as the insulation.

No need for a duct, and it's difficult to get an mdpe pipe through it. Be sure to place blue warning tape half way above it.

I haven't got figures to hand, but the ground itself adds much more than that. The effect of the draught would need complex calcs and isn't considered in standard published figures that I have seen. Anyway that is just one consideration. For beam and block: useful on steep slopes. Can be manhandled to tricky areas. Not weather dependent. Against: cost Insulation can be dealt with separately.

Between us and the progeny we are on upgrade/ conversion 8. It is very sustainable/ what we could afford. My business was all new build and it is very much easier except that you are juggling client's desires with realities (ye canna change the laws of physics) and their budget.

I'm prevaricating too. Just one more coffee and BH post.

Good point. No I'm being an individual who would design and supervise the process. Ie talking to buildhub not the industry. An airtight construction but with some flaws, with window vents and a 4" hole in every toilet wall and the kitchen, will get about 3.5. For a better figure, close the vents and covet the fan outlets. In real life these will all vent the house with or without mvhr. The mass industry will cheat, but the real houses will have plenty of air movement.

The future is definitely coming. The age of abundance? Began 1970 or so and applies to a small proportion of the world populace? US/Israel showing it could end next week for us lucky enough to have had some of it.

I'd get 2 air tests. One fully sealed, and another with trickle vents open, and some extractor fans uncovered. The second one to show 3.1 or thereabouts.

Smaller windows facing the sun, larger windows facing away. Perhaps skylights for central areas of big properties. Plenty of insulation and perhaps density facing south. Masses of roof insulation. Tiles make a huge difference. Shutters or full height curtains facing south. Opening windows and the effort to purge excess heat in the evening. High ceilings where excess heat will rise to. Discipline (teaching the family) to close doors to keep heat in or out. A lobby helps a lot as an airlock Dressing appropriately. That is easy and natural control. We can all live comfortably between 18 and 26°C, so a/c is an unnecessary luxury in the UK. Perhaps daily habits should change to suit, as practised in other climates. I.e. we embrace hugge in winter and siesta in summer.., and flexibility at mixed up times. If you must live in T shirts in winter and keep the house airtight in summer and yet have all views available, then that is luxury (decadence?) not sustainability. We should also assume that mains electricity and fossil fuels become crazily expensive, and design to suit, and adapt our expectations to suit. In the house as described there will be ufh, ashp, solar, batteries. No aircon. And I'm not convinced on mvhr either... I don't think my model needs it.

Like all those miserable people in the Mediterranean climate. It's OK.

If I remember properly, I read it that I would put a notice up in a suitable place , such as in a services zone, so that any future owner or maintenance orsin would have it explained. Ie just an explanation of the system. More formally it would also be in a maintenance manual, but that would get lost.

And 450mm isn't enough to justify beam and block. The very clear difference is that below a slab you can have ground, (which insulates) or insulation, whereas below beams you have a draught.

Having just had this done I can advise one concern. The guys putting the insulation in were very cavalier at such intrusions, and were keen to hurry the job and get away. Anticipating such issues I put my heel on the membrane at all such, and one gave way drastically. I settled on the fact that screed would fill the dent and make it solid. That's provided that the membrane isn't punctured and tape still in place. In your case thus concern applies outside the green foam. Inside the green circle perhaps stuff with insulation offcuts and put a sandcand cement screed on top. For anyone approaching the insulation stage I'd say either watch these guys all the time or do any fiddly cutting yourself and leave them with the easy cuts. Eg we had drain pipes with mortar bedding, some near stud walls, leaving slopes into small voids. I spent a day cutting triangular pieces to leave a flat and solid surface, and very glad I did. My mental test was to imagine a heavy concentrated load, eg bed leg or grand piano. Under an island it is more a matter of tidiness

It is often said "choose 2 because you can't have all 3". But that is simplistic. In reality it is a formula of the 3 to get the product you want. Round my way the mass developers are complaining that aren't making money, and in parallel applying for more permissions. The new products are selling more slowly, and the 2 to 3 year old identical units are a lot cheaper. They might be nearing the right cost.

7 That's mostly down to the choices made on cost and quality. Eg the door mentioned. They are avaliable solid and completely water and draught-proof but these are expensive. The choices are mostly by the buyers, of what they regard as acceptable. Also by developers, but they make what will sell. Then of course " builders".. anyone can call themselves a builder. There are very good ones but they cost more, so it's our choice.

It has been happening for decades. I worked with steel buildings which were made to order and slotted together beautifully on site. They were not even modular, but to any dimensions but there were parameters. Most of it was automatic manufacture, with humans just doing the odd tack weld to get it started. It was also possible to make a frame on site and lift it into place By chance I have a photo in front of me from some box sorting. THe odd thing was that the steel erectors didn't want to know about this. partly habit, partly macho, but the time difference was very small. The big difference is that you then took this hitech kit to a muddy site and worked at 8m in the air in all weathers.

My apologies. factor of 10 out. PHEW we are only paying £160/ household as dividend. That does sound more like it, but it is still a lot. I shouldn't do mental arithmetic with big numbers while sitting in the car (I was not driving). I chose 1M for convenience btw. and of course there is commercial use too, but we are the populace, so that huge amount could perhaps be better controlled.

Agreed. I found that the cost is pretty much based on £/m3 except for 100mm. As this is the big seller the merchants will stock it by the lorry load and know they will sell it all. Unconventional thicknesses may be special orders and so attract handling and delivery costs.