Ferdinand

The news here is that the Octopus website claims to have connected to my gas meter since 7/8. They are now telling me that my gas usage is only up 829x since last week. Still needs to feed through.

Probably not worth too much worry tbh for an interim, unless your interim lasts a decade. Long term, remove the wall. Is that your chair - looks like a Guy Rogers which may be worth £££.

Can you link to your export tariff? Is this perhaps Outgoing Octopus or Outgoing Agile? 24p per KW is more than most people get on FITs. I thought @tommy12398 had said that the solar pv had been fitted recently - ie this summer. I think the tariff is a beta for Octopus playing with the Smart Grid. It looks like they are paying nearly the full wholesale price, rather than the current SEG price.

This is quite a good thread chewing away at the bone of @tommy12398's electricity costs. My comments for Tommy: If your Smart Meter has a 'usage now' mode, that should let you detect what individual appliances are using when you switch them on. Though the solar will act as variable noise on that signal. I think that the ovens sound quite significant. Have you considered that your wife may be able to offset the electricity charges against tax as a business expense? But you would need to know how much was being used, or 'deem' a number. Your EPC is middling to good for all the housing stock of the whole country. The media is how a high D. It was 64-66 in March 2021, and has moved up by 1-1.5 points per year in the long term. For a newbuild from 2014, C does sound lowish, but they could have been making assumptions rather than look at the actual thing. The housing stock across England and Wales varies and this is reflected in the median energy efficiency scores. The median energy efficiency score was 66 in England and 64 in Wales for all records up to March 2021, which is equivalent to band D. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/articles/energyefficiencyofhousinginenglandandwales/2021 Remember that next time you get an EPC, your solar will significantly improve it - remember that if you make comparisons. You may be able to download energy usage in a spreadsheet from your energy supplier - Octopus do that under the "Explore your energy usage" option. For me, I'd have a more detailed look at the usage by ovens - and get that out of the numbers.

Big freezer required.

I thought ST worked in a cafe, so intermittent.

I see that in your blog you noted that it could deliver up to 3kW. Is that the limitation of the Solic 200, or the solar setup - thanks? (I have 9.98 kWp of solar panels, and am working through options.)

Some very good comments above 🙂 . Am I correct that a Solic 200 is essentially the same as an Immersun?

Copied from another thread. If you get into a Smart Meter, watch the process carefully. This looks dramatic, but at this stage I don't expect a problem and expect the gas number to self-correct. Having just read the meter, my usage since the new meter went in is 0.413 m3 - which suggests I am not sure what. ---------------------------------- It is now 10 days since the Octopodule Smart Meter went in. Elec is great, but gas has yet to connect - despite moving the Smart Display to within a few feet of the meter for some hours. It also lists 2 gas meters, and is telling me my use is up by 1600 times since last week. Kinks to be ironed out, and I think I need to talk to them after the 2 week allowed from connection has expired. Ferdinand

These are mine. Went to Octopus last autumn when Avro went bust. The Flexible Avro tariff was defined to be a little below the cap. I already get a "loyalty bonus". For some reason. The "Loyal Octopus" bonus is taken off the Electric Standing Charge, and reduces it by ~30% or 13.15p a day (= £48 pa) on my tariff. The offered fix rate is still imo way out for me, given that my plan aspiration is to reduce gas usage next winter by 50-70%.

Hmmm. It is now 10 days since the Octopodule Smart Meter went in. Elec is great, but gas has yet to connect - despite moving the Smart Display to within a few feet of the meter for some hours. It also lists 2 gas meters, and is telling me my use is up by 1600 times since last week. Kinks to be ironed out, and I think I need to talk to them after the 2 week allowed from connection has expired. Ferdinand

I would recommend that BBC Gardeners World forum. https://forum.gardenersworld.com/ As to books, I'll leave that to others - except to suggest that you go and look for lots of second hand D G Hessayon (The XYZ Expert) on ebay or in charity shops. He sold 50 million of the various things, so there should be a lot available. eg Bundle of nine. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295036019575 Alternatively, there are lots of other bundles on ebay of all sorts. I'd say that way on rather than start shelling out at £20-30 per pop/. F

I wasn't referring to products in the brand - just to any product suitable for professionals.

My risk-averse suggestion for that would perhaps be a decorative light fitting that hangs the bulbs 3.5m lower, and a telescopic feather duster. 😁. Though one of the glories of LED bulbs is that they all last for years.

Only if the high quality is known imo. Working at height is not a place for taking potential risks. I have a Wickes work platform like that, which goes up to about 1.8m, and is fine for eg working on a conservatory or bay window roof. But I have a Zarges tower for anything over 2m ,which will go up to about 8m with proper stabilisers. For anyone who has financed an £nnn,nnn self-build, I would suggest a pro-version, which is perhaps only £500 or so more. You probably only get to fall off something 5m high once, as it is on a solid surface. Then you get to spend the £500 saved on an appliance. And lots more £500s on hiring workmen.

I can see the utility, but I'm with Dave on suggesting the back garden as perhaps better. This front one you may be across the pavement at an angle when pulling out. I might be inclined to a brief and inexpensive meeting with a Planning Consultant (say one hour), just to explore if there are better options. If you still in time I think you may win the other one on Appeal - which is free. Not sure how tight it is and it may be deceptive - I would do a layout in a quiet time at a car park with a couple of cones and a space, just to make sure there is ample turning space on to the private road. Or measure it against the standard diagrams in the policy docs. Are you a conservation area? Might complicate at the front/side. ATB. Ferdinand

Ask a flamingo. Or a gammon.

@Duncan62 Thanks for posting the plot. My comments having reread the above. 1 - Roof Your aesthetic is roughly 'Grand Designs Barn-style'. That's fine. But if that is your plan you need to think about maintaining that valley gutter. How will you deal with the heaps of leaves from all those lovely trees? I would suggest a top hung skylight onto the valley from the landing that you can get out of using an extendi-ladder - don't fit it where you fall down the stairs as well if you slip. That also means that your valley must be wide enough to walk in safely - which means 450 or so wide. IMO that roof form is complicated and expensive. However. I expect that with a convincing argument you could get a flat or a monopitch, or something higher, through - if that is what you want. Even a small number of feet could make a difference. Given the severe restrictions on your upstairs rooms, I would suggest considering an alternative form - perhaps a mansard or gambrel roof, perhaps in a vernacular style. Or even dormers for the smaller bedrooms. A mansard roof could easily give you rooms around 1m bigger in that dimension at head height, which would be transformative. 2 - Glad to see you have thought about the plot - great stuff. I would be inclined to move it a little more to the West on the plot, without compromising the garage or space to work - eg at the least you need space for future scaffolding between the house and garage. I say that because imo you want to maximise the garden space for more fun. I also note that the garden side is a potential plot for a nice retirement bungalow should you need - 8-9m width would be ample. You might prefer that to the potential grannexe when you hit 70-75. 3 - Front. It faces south, so I would make sure to get 2m high boundaries to give privacy - so you can sit or play on the S side, and for the veg garden. I think it needs a bit more drama, both to tease passersby, and to give a sense of occasion when someone comes to the door. I'm almost inclined to suggest a separate pedestrian gate. I would think about making the approach to the door more intriguing. 4 - You asked about getting light into the house. I think you have an issue with gloomy bedrooms on the N side plan above - perhaps with amount of light, but also with no sunlight. I would put a generous N-facing skylight in all the ones which touch the North side. I have these and they are gorgeous. A skylight lets in a *lot* more light than a window of the same size. With your roof pitch, there would be very little sun even in summer, and beautiful N-light all the time. With your valley I would consider skylights on the N-face of the front roof section, including a big one above the well, to get light into the landing. 5 - Flexibility for the future. Are you planning another sproglet? If it's twins, what will you do living in this house? 6 - Stairs. They don't look stairlift-able. That could bugger your detailed layout - iirc there are requirements for clear wall at the top and bottom (without looking it up). What are your regs? My suggestion would be to find somewhere to incorporate a proper future domestic lift. Should be possible, and they beat stairlifts to a cocked hat. Also stairs, make them generous in width and angle. My suggestion is 35 degrees and 1m wide. Stairs are one of the places, along with shower cubicles, and kitchen sinks and hobs, where a small amount of extra space makes the whole house feel luxurious. In the case of a stair angle, something shallower may give you an extra 5 years of ability to get upstairs comfortably. 7 - Grannexe. Another good thing you have thought about. I think you could improve the layout by treating the machine room as part of a cloaks / Jack-Jill loo / machine room combo - which might involve turning the bedroom around by 90 degrees. Remember to include the drains etc into the cloakroom so it can be a downstairs loo when the grannexe is activated. Can the cloaks and loo be side by side against the outside wall, so you get the soil drains by the edge? Does that matter? 8 - The bathrooms and plumbing seem to be quite spread out. Think a bit more about making it closer together, so that you get fewer water noises. eg Put the family bathroom next to the master, and swap with that mini-bedroom. And make sure the fittings do not back up against the master. And so on. The ideal is a single service core, but that is not always possible. 9 - Room layout. Yes, make the walls thinner, since it is tight on space. You have too many itty-bitty rooms upstairs. For the mini-study just in case the grannexe is required, you could leave that in one kid's bedroom such that it could be partitioned later - just need to think about placement of the extra door, two windows, skylights, heating and power sockets. (Will this decision have been made for you by 2-4 years when this is built?) You could do the same with the "store", but I think one of those is wise. I'm not sure about washing machines upstairs. Someone will know. 10 - Double beds. I would say work to 2m x 2m for the Master, and 2m x 1.75 for the others. Have just measured mine and these are the actual sizes. The important thing is what size *you* need. 1.9m x 1.4m is now pretty standard for student accommodation. That's me. Ferdinand

The issue is Oxford Council.

OK, @Duncan62. Some more feedback. It is really good that you are taking the time to let your design steep in your head - that is a real benefit. I think you are part way through the process, but there is still a lot of room to get something even better imo. For example, you say it is a forever-house, yet say there is no prospect of working from home. How do you know? You may be a carer for a parent, child or spouse, or cared for, in 10 or 25 years' time - in which case you may have no option. All it needs is an accident, and it could all change. An architect would start off with the plot, thinking about all the things @Bozza asked you about above (which are the most important questions on the thread imo). Then they would think about your statement of needs (do you have one of those?),. and come up with a house design to meet your needs using that particular plot. That is the defining expertise of the architect, combined with a knowledge and skillset to meet that. The reason for the self-builder to spend time up front is to gain some elements of that skillset. As self-builders we don't have the design training, and too easily dive into the bits of the process we know or touch already, which is usually house layout or engineering detail or house features, rather than the context. I use a simple tool to help me think about reconciling the two, which I call a "plot summary", which sits alongside the 'statement of needs'. It's just a diagram of the stuff Bozza was asking about in one place, and you add whatever is of interest. The statement of needs is what you use to sanity check each version of your design as you proceed. Here's one for a much smaller house on a corner plot where a few of us took a user called @simplepimple through the process. He had purchased a plot with planning permission with a design that had just been taken through planning easily to sell the plot, and wanted help to think it through. When you get into your design, you think about stuff like whether you want morning or evening or all day light in which rooms, if you want a window somewhere to throw the setting sun into your hallway, where your partner wants the herb garden, prevailing wind and sheltering from it, and so on. There are lots of examples of people doing this thinking in the blogs, and other threads. @simplepimple's design thread is here. He actually built it very quickly. HTH and keep on trucking. Ferdinand

I think they have a queue.

Shell imo are a bargepole job. I know multiple people with very bad experiences. Escape.

OK. Next update. 1 - In warm weather this is quite capable of lowering my downstairs temperature by a couple of degrees, whillst using about 1kW+ of power. I have not had seriously hot temperatures since it arrived. 2 - The extra control via wiifi is worth it for the extra control. I aim to be working to the thing coming on between 7am and 11am when the temperatuer is above 19C, which can be programmed. So I'll be keeping it.

There seem to be 2 options. One type comes with a solar panel and it's own battery. The other comes with no solar panel, and uses a battery type the same as eg cordless power tools, and is charged occationally. Here's a well-reviewed one of the latter.

I'm after a submersible solar or battery powered pump to fit to a water butt to IBC to drive a garden drip watering system in the summer, or on occasion a handheld hose. Can anyone recommend a suitable product? Thanks Ferdinand