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I spoke to a rep(?) at AB about a woodcrete ICF job for a member on here and they say it’s just done on m2 vs the substrate so it should matter with block tbh. They just asked that you prep it as well as possible, carry out 1st fix, and they state that they will then make a ‘good’ job ‘great’.

@Great_scot_selfbuild We have black corrugated roofs and walls to the 2 storey section of the house - images here -> https://lhc.net/projects/ashcroft-creating-a-low-energy-family-home/ Our son was the architect and specced the tin. From memory it has at least a 45 year guarantee - I think it was Firth steels. We used a company in Leominster to do the actual supply - Thomas Panels and Profiles. They suggested a contractor to do the actual build but we sacked him off half way through and our main contractor finished things off. fastenings were EJOT. I can get more detail if you need it. We found it hard to find examples to go and see in real life - there's probably more around now. You're a long way away in Surrey but you're always welcome if you are up our way to have a look at ours.

Difficult to say really, right now we are a family of 3, and looking to grow to family of 5. So just trying to future proof ourselves to avoid moving again.

I see them all sat in front of pianos now

We've got a black sinusoidal roof, bought the panels from here: https://www.panelsandprofiles.co.uk/ they might be able to advise on build up too, also some info on the Cladco website (though they seemed the most expensive IIRC). You'll also need to get flashings (eg for the ridge) and foam fillers

I’m lazy, what can I say lol? 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

I did a dicitation on flywheels back in the early 90s. Run them on magnetic bearings and either partial or full vacuum, the losses are miniscule. You can run smaller flywheels at many 10s of thousands rpm. Never wear out either. But if you loose control or they explode there is lots of energy to contain.

I think it was a North South temperature gradient, not the countries mean temperature. The European Grid is like the USA Grid, basically point to point. If one part fails, it cascades down the line. Switching off an overhead cable in Germany to allow a large ship to pass, caused a monstrous failure across Europe a few years back. Going to take a punt here and assume that you think the affects of climate change are not real, or at most, very minor.

There are big flywheels, like this. It's a good thread. I am not sure on the overall picture, though. The Telegraph now being a lobotomised honorary tabloid * which mixes opinion in with invective, and largely ignores the concept known as "news", it's no wonder they jumped on the bandwagon. * I'll never forgive them their front page last year about killer cyclists doing 50mph in thousands of places all over London, using falsified data. The record short course time trial in the Tour de France is 35mph.

Bump.

Why not use a rubberised roofing paint in a neat, black horizontal band along the bottom? It'll get into all the nooks and crannies of suspect seams.

Also, where there's several power lines that run parallel for a bit - do they need 100mm separation too?

Scotland is a big place - which bit of it?

@Mattg4321 Did you ever get to the bottom of this issue? Was lowering the pressure to 1.5 bar your ultimate solution? I have an ongoing issue, not yet resolved here: The latest I've gathered is that EV pressure should be ~0.2 bar lower than dynamic pressure. But what is an accurate way to measure it. We are fortunate to have a gauge on the PRV at the stop cock. Is just opening up a tap enough to measure pressure? The thing is the pressure shown on the gauge will vary depending on the tap used / flow rate etc.

has anyone considered that the power was diverted to Blue Origin to send Katy Perry into space for 5 minutes?

Can't say I fully agree. But if it makes us more self reliant on energy, what's not to like? Better than being at the beck and call of Russia, USA and the middle east, and they decided to do next.

Doesn't seem to happen in Scotland, we have lots of renewables only days!

Tried searching for sinusoidal cladding? There are plenty of options.

Leak is slightly damp to touch . So this time I hosed just the bottom of the render - completely sending water over all the roof seams in that corner . That was 30 mins ago . Zero difference inside . I’ll repeat this again in a few hours ; hot day so will dry out better . So looks like it’s still getting in somewhere on that render to stone joint .

Assume min 60 yr life required, so not corrugated bitumen board, in my experience (although poorly-supported bitumen boards 'go' a lot quicker). I took off some (?pre WW2?) corrugated in about 2015 and yes, it was 'chewy' at the edges, but (a) so much thicker than modern, (b) still with most of its galvanising on and (c) solid as a rock at all but the edges. Self-coloured, of course. Epoxy if you can. Layers I could guess, but I'd be guessing, so I will leave that to others. Battens and counter-battens will be involved, I suspect.

Coupla questions I couldn't find an answer for: + can I run a MDPE water pipe below a 110mm rainwater drainage pipe in the same trench? I plan to put a bunch of power / network stuff above that lot too (in their own ducts). For instance, Essex & Suffolk Water has the diagram below, but doesn't show drainage pipes. + when I cross an open ditch do I need to be way below the bottom of it (UKPN docs suggest 1m) as though it was level ground? Simiarly under a piped culvert?

Not gonna lie, when I saw what had happened in Europe my first thought was the drive to net zero is behind it. Think it was Spain which only a day or so ago had a days power entirely driven by renewable and then this happens. They are blaming the weather....really. 22 degrees in Spain. Sounds like bullshido to me. To be clear, I believe the whole net zero drive to be the biggest con of our lifetime. I do believe in building houses to high standards and the like, but the rest of it..nah and it's too long and complicated to go into the weeds on this. The world is very polarised nowadays and I don't think people really budge from whatever camp they are in, they just get angry instead if their camp is the one not being listened to/making the decision.

Ah, to report back - I was recomended a QS as a way to solve the 'am I getting a reasonable price' problem. That's where there were few apparent takers for the job. That worked a treat. The QS thought the bid from the single contractor was fair.

won't you need Part P qualification to sign-off the new electrics?

I think you'll struggle to get qualified because of the apprentice / proof of work accomplished element. There is an episode, I think, of Artisan Electrics where one of their clients got qualified - so it's not impossible. As an ex-EE consultant, I would love to find a way too. You might be able to do a deal with a sparky where you do all the dumb and time consuming cable pulling & practical installation work and they do the 'intelligent' work - wiring up, testing etc.