Kelvin

The NG has explained this as a worst case scenario planning and say it’s unlikely to happen. Their plan includes bringing coal power stations back on stream to make up the shortfall and implementing load shifting which is the more interesting plan and something that should/will become the norm. If we do have an intense cold snap it’s not likely to go on for weeks so even if we do have rolling power cuts it will be very short term.

Good effort. Congratulations. You must be really pleased with the new hoose. Looks ‘triffic.

We did ‘blind’ testing and even my kids with their young ears couldn’t tell the difference between the various bits of kit.

Tannoy DC3000s. I also have a pair bought new some 30 years ago at a discount as my neighbour worked at the Tannoy factory. During lockdown a local HiFi place had the idea to loan out his demo gear as he figured it might be safer and he might sell some of it. At one point I had £30k of speakers and turntables at home. I was in the market to upgrade my old Tannoys so compared them directly against some big floor standers from PMC and Fyne Audio. After extensive listening I concluded there was nothing in it and kept my 30 year old speakers. Interestingly the Fyne Audio F702s I had on loan are technically the successor to the DC3000s as a similar design and the Fyne team are ex Tannoy.

I’ve gone with Paul Heat Recovery. They come very highly recommended but they aren’t the cheapest. They’ve been pretty responsive so I’s recommend them so far.

What’s the source of your 8K likely to be? If streaming then your internal network won’t be the weakest link.

She’s not going to wear the handbrake out in the car by parking on a slope. You must have better things to spend £6k plus on if you think the other two reasons are subjective. Putting sand down might make it less slippy underfoot but the first heavy rain will wash it to the low point.

I suspect her issue is as much about rolling backwards than over revving the engine spinning the wheels. Automatics make steep hill starts easy.

Asus Zen very good and easy to setup. I have the BT Wholehome setup. Strictly not a mesh system and doesn’t have an ethernet backhaul but it is very reliable, provides terrific coverage, plug and go so no fecking about necessary, is fast enough for our use and has worked reliably since I switched it on. I might choose to swap it all out for the new build but probably not. Everything that is fixed will be ethernet.

If you worktops are covered in stuff now the new kitchen will be the same. It might start out tidy because it’s new but if this is your habit then you’ll revert back to it. Increasing the worktop size will just give you more flat surface to leave stuff. Much better to introduce some better habits that keeps the area tidy.

Gosh I’m sorry to hear that but also great to hear about your positive progress.

Yep got all the data on the various blocks. Just need to make a decision on what to do.

That's old data. The current thermal conductivity (according to the info I have) is 0.047W/mk which gives a U value of 0.72. In terms of the Thermolite block the compressive strength and dry density also matter. As far as I can see the Thermolite block with 0.15 W/m.K doesn't have either the compressive strength (3.6N/mm2) nor the density (600kg/m3) that's been specified for my build for example (7N/mm2 & 730kg/m3)

Are they? There's 65mm standard thickness and an extra thick block at 100mm. Widths are 100mm, 140mm, and 215mm

Swap the car for an automatic. She clearly can’t drive a manual. Make sure you tell her that too. “Look love you clearly can’t drive a manual car. I’ve told all my internet buddies about your terrible driving skills and they agree.” Then smack her on the bum and ask where your dinner is. Sorted.

Met with the lighting designer last night. She has an Air BnB that doubles as a lighting show home. I get it now. Illuminating in fact. Not sure we can justify her cost but I have a better idea what we should do.

I love all the cutting to get things to fit. 😂 I spent ages making up a template for the bottom of my electricity kiosk for three ducting penetrations - one in and two out. Placed it on the bottom of the kiosk, cut out the holes then did the same when I was building up the foundation. Perfect I thought. Measured twice as well. When i came to place the kiosk over the ducts one of them was out by 5mm and no amount of cajoling would get it through the hole so had to cut a notch out to get it to fit. Hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things but annoys the eff out of me whenever I open the kiosk 😂

Sure although neither of those are to my taste. We have picked a few wall lights for the entrance hallway by Wever & Ducre

Cheers thanks. Good to hear. For clarity the room to the left of the utility room is a cinema/Hi-Fi room. Of course that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be well lit 😂 Our slight reticence about wall lights is that we had them around our previous house and we hated them. They compromised where we could place pictures etc plus they didn’t particularly help light the rooms due to the type of lights as they were boxed in up and down lights. They also highlighted all the bad paintwork and plaster work 😂 I loved them on the outside though as they highlighted the character of the uneven brickwork of the 150 year old barn.

Cheers all. It’s hard work this house building lark 😂

It’s a tough call. A great plot is a great plot at any time. Folk with money will buy it and possibly just sit on it. We bought a plot at the start of the year, have planning and looking to start building early next year. We won’t need mortgage but have had to compromise on what we originally wanted due to cost increases.

Thanks all. Most helpful. I have a meeting with another lighting designer on Wednesday who I like the sound of. To answer some of the questions: Local to me is Perthshire (the company I visited is called Terkan Lighting) Half the cost of the control side of the quote was two 18 circuit power packs @ £4166 each plus 8 programmable button keypads came to over £2000. The lights themselves were quite nice to be honest from SLC and Lodes pendant tube lights among others. This was their cheaper end of the controller range! I have taken beam angles, colour temperature, lumen output into account so the downlights aren't all the same and some of them are tiltable to point at the cupboards and the back wall of the kitchen. I also have more low level lighting in the bathrooms (under the sink and around the bath) that isn't shown on the layout. We have a number table lamps and standard lamps that I've not included which will light the living room. I am concerned about lighting around the sofas so was thinking of having either something on the walls pointing down (it's a double-height ceiling) or fit plugs in the floor for table lamps. Upstairs is a master bedroom suite the room on the right is a seating area/dressing room. Both rooms have big rooflights that come down to about knee height I've reduced the number of downlights in the kitchen area as the first lighting designer had more! lol Be good to see some of the things you've done in your self-builds for ideas.

As I fight my way through the foundation design my attention has turned to the electrics and specifically the lighting design. I went to a local lighting specialist for what I thought was going to be a cost effective lighting solution but the quote was £17k for all the controls and £14k for the lights plus fitting and cable on top! I could automate the whole house for that much This was an eDIN+ based system with scenes and dimming controllers etc. I've knocked up the attached lighting layout but I am bit lost on how best to control it. I would like some dimming control in the open plan room. I'm also speaking to a Loxone installer about home automation. Any comments on this lighting layout? lighting scheme v0.1.pdf

I’ve rented a boat with one and it was fine. Might be worth asking on a boating forum as they’ll have more experience of them.

There is something very satisfying about producing your own compost from your waste food. We have chickens so thry eat a lot of the scraps too and the chichen poo goes into the composter. Ultimately I have a problem with the amount of waste that gets produced and thrown away. It needs to be dealt with at some point.