Marvin

We built/renovated a smaller property than we could afford so we only considered cost engineering on each task on a value for money angle. It was enough doing the work without financial pressures. I also have a feeling that any pie chart would be very personal to the actual building and only be indicative to any building. M

Hi @kbsoloman I don't expect that the blockwork was put up without reason. More pictures will help. Or draw a rough sketch showing more info: how long is the wall to the left of the picture. Whats behind the wall How high is the ground the other side of the wall Otherwise tricky to comment. M

How much are the gaps 5mm? 30mm? Not sure if you are saying if you can get temporary access to both sides when filling? In my humble opinion non-compressible material should be used under every vertical stud position as a minimum. I always used a dry sand and cement mix 3:1 just damp enough to hold together when squeezed in my hand to pack gaps like that. Packed in tightly in gaps and allowed to set. Good luck M.

This sort of thing requires individual home personalised management to be successful. I need a full car battery for tomorrow's journey and have filled it using our PV. If it is used when no PV is available during today I would have to buy electricity during tomorrow to get home at twice the price of what it would cost me from home.

41% of my last electricity bill was for the standing charge and VAT.

Ditto

😂 and what did you expect! Long hair I guess.. On a more serious note what was the average wattage over square meterage when you were away? ( I assume this is used energy not purchased) We run on about 3kWh purchased per day at the moment but have PV and EV, however this is all the energy purchased for everything - no gas.

Hi @Sam45 Yes there are many choices of this type of wall called retaining walls. Its worth searching "retaining wall design" and go to images. You will see there are many designs. You may also see solid brick walls that get wider the deeper they go... Designs that allow for drainage either through weep holes or drainage to foundations or back filled with drainage material depending on the soil type, slope and existing drainage ground water levels and so on are also indicated. As you say the wall needs to be attached to the base, however, again, there are many choices but basically, depending on the design the bigger the heel or toe of the foundations the less chance of failure. Whilst the mix of views may seem confusing, the answer, as always is in the maths and someone competent to calculate it and come up with the design that will achieve it. @Mr Punter, @Conor, @ProDave, @Redbeard and @Iceverge have all come up with good information. I wonder when the neighbours paving was completed and if the sloping land was levelled at the time bringing the earth higher on the failed wall. Any builder would know that the wall without backing would fail.... Best of Luck Marvin

Hi @Sam45 In my humble opinion, I would not go for a two wall design. If you did, the only thing holding the wall up would be the strength of the strongest designed wall. The other wall would only be for show. The ones I have build retaining the high ground to about 3 feet high have the wall becoming thicker on the ground side the further below the level of the high ground it goes. As @ProDave comments, the best design is for the thickening of the wall to be under your neighbours ground.

The problem with the waste, in my humble opinion, is that the solvent weld vertical pipe is too short. What with the short length of pipe catching the fitting and the vibrations from the flexible grey waste pipe its going to fail. Another thing I do is dry off the sink first downpipe, and all the bits in the compression end of the junction pipe that grasp the top pipe, and silicone the parts, fit together and hold in position for 48 hours by propping. However, I still would not do this without lengthening the vertical solvent weld pipe. Good luck Marvin

Yup cooler air drawn from the north side, through the bungalow.

Hi @GNB88 There are a few who have done what you are doing, definitely in Scotland. As some? rules are different in Scotland from England make sure you point this out when posting. M

Hi @KevH Welcome. What sort of garden are you thinking of having? M.

We find when its really hot the sun is out so we use a mobile air conditioner which has a heat pump. It doesn't do the whole building but then we tend not to be in most of the rooms.

One of the best savings is achieved by insulating the hot water tank within an inch of its life not just the 2 inches of foam around it.

Hi @ReedRichards Yes we have similar. We don't do many miles but we must have spent a total of about £100 over the last 2 years buying electricity for the EV. We use the 13amp charger and leave the vehicle plugged in when home and it only charges when the PV produces over 3.5kW. Of course this wouldn't work if the car was parked at work all day...

Hi @LSB Renovated an existing bungalow converting the garage but added a rear extension. Involved a bit of labour to help now and then otherwise definitely self build.

This is what we do. The outlet from the cooker hood which is above a kitchen unit also directs the exhaust towards the extraction point in the kitchen of the MVHR. However I think it depends what sort of cooking and how much you are doing as to the effectiveness of this. The extractor hood does not take the temperature or humidity away and collects grease....

Hi @nod As it's a two story building do you have to run the tanking up the walls between the ground floor ceilings and the first floor flooring? (if so presumably by removing some of the ceiling board or flooring or both??)

Hi @nod I assume you would remove existing plaster first?

Thanks for your thoughts @Redbeard and @nod

Please can you tell me what the best way is to approach insulating an old 2 up 2 down solid brick wall house external walls. Slap a coat of PIR on the plaster? Seal the wall first? Batten out? Strip plaster? Insulated plasterboard? Help, thoughts appreciated. Thanks Marvin

Yeah. Until the earth is warm enough nothing happens. But get ready this week!!

Interesting. There are several searchable technical trials on compost used to produce energy (mainly heat) from a small scale to an industrial scale. Reading the results and conclusions give a good general understanding of how to get the best for my garden. Made quite a lot of compost and tried several versions over the years. From what I understand, basically the rotating bins help air flow and uniform decomposition. If you start with understanding that in order for the breakdown of the vegetation you need the right temperature, humidity, aeration and fresh waste at start, all the rest is easy. The main difference with the rotating ones, with or without insulation, seems to me to be to effect speedy and uniform results. What system/apparatus would be best for you would depend entirely on the supply you have, what outcome you want and when you want it (slow or fast breakdown). After many trials I use a jumbo bag method. (All food waste goes in the worm bin). I shred all my garden waste (and some of the neighbours) that's woody and mix the various types either together or in thin layers in the bag. (no evergreen). Because it's so big it holds the temperature in the middle so no particular need for insulation. When it comes time to take it out I grade the result: good stuff one side, un-rotted back in a different jumbo bag to sit for a year because once the bacteria is dead (too cold/hot/dry/wet/no oxygen) you're back to rotting it the slow way. To check the temperature I use one of these: cooking well even after a cool night... In this bag I put a layer of 2 inch old wood chippings in the bottom to help with drainage. Filled 6 of these last year: all gone on the garden. You should never need to dispose of any garden waste apart from thick wood!

Hi @JackofAll You haven't indicated how you intend to heat water. I assume a instant hot water system and it will need a pressure limiter anyway. However in general a water pressure limiter will protect your home from excessive pressure which over time can wear out equipment, cause some loos to be very noisy when filling, protect water softeners, allow a more regularised supply when more than one tap, loo, shower or machine is using water at the same time. I usually connect them right after the supply to any outside taps.