Above 1200 Sq/FT Drafty Barn into Everything Workshop - the VolksBarn? (100x40) (U.K.)

[Dixie_Flatline]

@Dixie_Flatline a bit of a photo dump of heavy things hung on the back of my Land rovers of recent years…











and whilst I can’t find any pictures of it on a trailer, we towed this truck to competitions all over the country for a couple of years

You still have the 110? I'd love to have one but they easily bring six figures here, my pockets are not that deep! I'd be happy with an ex-MOD vehicle that is clapped out, you can bet they'd still want big money for them once they are imported. Cheapest Defender I've ever found in my area was 80k USD...and it was an old 90. I came very close to pulling the trigger on a Disco years ago, but the place sold it before I made my mind up. Apparently I waited too long!

 

[Dixie_Flatline]

Ahh tdv8 sport, best tow vehicle I’ve used. Biggest problem is forgetting the trailer is on there

I spent some time as a truck driver/lorry driver so everything kind of feels small after doing that! I've never looked into it in the UK, the rules for HGV licensing, but here in the states you can tow up to 26,000lb. After that its a commercial license requirement, but even then there are exceptions. When I was younger I drove farm trucks without a commercial license legally. Honestly, as narrow as the roads are over there in the UK I don't think I would want to be pulling anything heavy. Has to be a high pucker factor!

 

[VolksWomble]

You still have the 110? I'd love to have one but they easily bring six figures here, my pockets are not that deep! I'd be happy with an ex-MOD vehicle that is clapped out, you can bet they'd still want big money for them once they are imported. Cheapest Defender I've ever found in my area was 80k USD...and it was an old 90. I came very close to pulling the trigger on a Disco years ago, but the place sold it before I made my mind up. Apparently I waited too long!

Which 110? I don’t have either of the older 110s tho - the red one was a breaker, the white Doublecab was my everything truck for 11 years, but I sold it to buy the new defender (also a 110, but no real relation to the proper ones). They fetch silly money over here too, but not quite the same league as in the US - I sold it for twice what I paid for it after 11 years.

The Disco 2 was one of my favourite land rovers. I had multiple Disco 1s and bought the Disco 2 for my wife. It got to the point where it wasn’t worth enough to trade it in, so started using it myself and I loved it. I wish they didn’t rot so much!

we do have the advantage of getting the diesels which you don’t get in the states - certainly on the new defenders. The td5 and tdv8 are great engines. The inline 6 D300 that i have now is also fantastic.

 

[VolksWomble]

I spent some time as a truck driver/lorry driver so everything kind of feels small after doing that! I've never looked into it in the UK, the rules for HGV licensing, but here in the states you can tow up to 26,000lb. After that its a commercial license requirement, but even then there are exceptions. When I was younger I drove farm trucks without a commercial license legally. Honestly, as narrow as the roads are over there in the UK I don't think I would want to be pulling anything heavy. Has to be a high pucker factor!

our roads are great fun

 

[VolksWomble]

Ahh tdv8 sport, best tow vehicle I’ve used. Biggest problem is forgetting the trailer is on there

I loved my Sport, when it wasn’t broken. Sadly the regularity with which it broke rather spoilt my love for the brand for sometime. Towing was sublime though.

 

[f121]

I loved my Sport, when it wasn’t broken. Sadly the regularity with which it broke rather spoilt my love for the brand for sometime. Towing was sublime though.

I dailyed one for a few years, I wouldn’t describe it as fragile, just ruinously expensive to run

 

[Dixie_Flatline]

I dailyed one for a few years, I wouldn’t describe it as fragile, just ruinously expensive to run

I like that! It was ruinously expensive, and I was doing all the work myself! Might be easier today, back in 2005 when I had mine it was a matter of hoping I could find something available on ebay, then hoping the seller you deal with happens to have other parts on hand. That or hope they can suggest another person to deal with. In my case of the cracked manifold I welded mine up until I could finally source the right parts.


@VolksWomble have you considered installing plumbing in the barn? A urinal and a sink would be nice features! I'm still wishing I had thought to do that when I had the trench open while running power out to my shed!

 

[VolksWomble]

Always ask ‘what else are you selling’ whether its eBay, FBM or small ads…

@Dixie_Flatline no immediate plans for plumbing in the barn. There is mains water a short distance away feeding an animal trough, which we don’t use. That may get used to supply a sink. The house isn’t far from the barn - maybe 100ft or so and we also have plans to build an outdoor toilet when we replace the static caravan - the drainage is already in place, so it would be a shame not to use it.

 

[Dividing Creek]

Digging the trialer with the 8274. Have one on my trail 90 and another on the shop floor that needs some love to put on one of the others. Haven't done any of the Gigglepin type mods but have the Albright contactor and Warn 9.5 motor upgrades.

 

[VolksWomble]

The 8274 and its predecessor the 8074 are awesome bits of kit if you are competing. That truck was built for Winch Challenge events, and had a twin motor 8274 (actually a pre-gigglepin prototype) on the front, a single motor 8274 on the back and a superwinch lowline winch in the middle

 

[VolksWomble]

Another day, another couple bays of siding on the barn done.



the end is in sight…



… just a bay and a half to go. Hopefully available time, weather and assistance will conspire such that I can get this done before Christmas.

 

[VolksWomble]

Not huge progress over the last weekend but the flooring on the mezzanine is starting to go up - usually flooring goes down, but there has definitely been a large up component getting this decking in place!



my original plan was just to fork the pallet full of decking up onto to frame and lay it, however the combination of the idea of dancing around on the beams and the need to select pieces for fit means they are going up one by one.

as is the story of this build, large areas mean lots of repative tedious work! Still plenty to go!

 

[roger440]

Exactly what i did. Once you have a few board down, then you can fork the rest up there.

 

[VolksWomble]

@roger440 are you staggering the board joints? I can only assume these weren’t staggered when previously installed, but it makes sense to me not to have all the joints in a line… this does mean some cutting and a bit of wastage tho. Hopefully the extra boards I got are sufficient…

 

[roger440]

@roger440 are you staggering the board joints? I can only assume these weren’t staggered when previously installed, but it makes sense to me not to have all the joints in a line… this does mean some cutting and a bit of wastage tho. Hopefully the extra boards I got are sufficient…

Yes, i staggered them. I has assumed they had a tongue on the ends too, but they didnt, so more cutting to get the end joins sitting on the joists

I failed to realise the joists were on 500 centres which doesnt match very well with boards that are 2440 long!

 

[VolksWomble]

mine are on 700mm centres, which also doesn’t work well with 2400mm long boards… i seem to have a mixture of 2100ish and 2400 boards. The extras I acquired are all 2400 too, so will need to do some cutting…

 

[Dixie_Flatline]

Have you seen the Maxxfan Deluxe? I have one on my RV and they are great. Can be left open when its raining if you need ventilation, folds down low profile for driving. Mine also has a thermostat and can cycle itself up and down. Lowest setting you barely hear it running, wide open and it gets louder, but its also moving some air!

 

[VolksWomble]

Have you seen the Maxxfan Deluxe? I have one on my RV and they are great. Can be left open when its raining if you need ventilation, folds down low profile for driving. Mine also has a thermostat and can cycle itself up and down. Lowest setting you barely hear it running, wide open and it gets louder, but its also moving some air!

Do you mean for our campers? It’s not really something I’d considered if I’m honest.

 

[Dixie_Flatline]

Was looking at the roof of the camper in the photo and it came to mind, sorry!

 

[VolksWomble]

Was looking at the roof of the camper in the photo and it came to mind, sorry!

The white one? Those are just the factory vents, I’ve never really investigated powered vents. The white Van is the only hightop we own, but I’m not a huge fan of them + it’s likely to be a donor for hard to find parts for the red poptop at the back..,

 

[VolksWomble]

I had the offer of some help this weekend as my brother dropped in and we got the remainder of the north side of the barn boarded - I am very grateful that that job is done now, although I do still need to finish off the corners. I can make a start on clearing off the plastic from the inside, which will also mean doing some (re)organisation…



meanwhile the flooring on the mezzanine is still going up/down.



and this afternoon a nice metal workbench popped up on FBM a couple of villages over, so I grabbed MrsWomble (for some muscle) and we went and grabbed it. Turned out to be a lady clearing her late husbands workshop, so we came home with a few extra bits as well as the bench. All currently still loaded up tho!

 

[VolksWomble]

Minor update time…

the Mezzanine floor decking is now finally down. This took far longer than it should have due to reusing secondhand boards - with 3 different designs of tongue and groove arrangement, which needEd modifying to mate together. I also now need to find somewhere to store the leftovers - probably up on top of the mezz…



just need to figure out some stairs now…

having spent a fair bit of time up there, its definitely in need of some cross bracing. Sadly the places where it needs bracing are also where i want to put thoroughfares. I have experimented with ratchet straps, which definitely seemed to help, but still had a bit if stretch in them. I think solid or steel wire would be better…



I’ve also been collecting bits for the electrical and lighting. One major find was a load of trunking that had been powder coated the wrong shade of cream along with all the corners etc… I was very happy to find this lot



ive, managed to acquire 12 high bay led lamps, some cable and all the breakers too (all on FBM), so I will be making a start on electrics over the holidays…

 

[VolksWomble]

Probably time for a bit of an update… the last one was before Christmas, and despite best laid plans to get loads of electrics done, or at least get some trials of the lights hooked up, late December and early January was cold and grey and motivation was low… that being said, some stuff did get done.

I managed to get 4 of 8 bays clear of the rotten plastic that a PO had used to attempt some weathwrproofing.

this is what i was starting with…



one bay down…


two…


Sadly didn’t get a decent picture after this point, but I got to halfway, and it is a vast improvement. There is still a way to go though.

I did take a little trip to acquire some insulation from a place that sells seconds. This little lot of 32 sheets was less than half what it would cost to buy new, albeit I did have to and fetch it. Some of this will be used in the machine shop under the Mezz…



… and some is going into the gym to make that a bit more usable year round. Made a start on that, but got accused of making it look like a space capsule



I also did a run to my old workshop in early December, and amongst other things, I brought back the 2 post lift I had squirrelled away. Not 24 hours after I got home i got a call from a friend locally offering me a rather better lift option.

For sake of a recap, there was a rather old Bradbury 240V hydraulic 4 post lift in the barn when we moved in. I have no history for it, and whilst it worked well, it would ar least need new cables were I to recuse it, and this design has no physical locking mchanism.



The 2 post I had saved was a newer Bradbury screw type lift, but required 3 phase (415V) to run, which I don’t have. My plan was to have this on a phase converter, however the initial load on a screw lift I’d rather high, and anecdotal evidence would suggest this is a bad way to go.…

lift on a pallet…



what it could look like installed (stolen from t’internet)…



so… despite the hassle of moving them about, both lifts are now sold in favour of some much more modern hydraulic versions - both a 2 and 4 post varieties. Sadly both are still 3 phase but that is still solvable…

otherwise, I still have some electrics and lighting to do…

 

[VolksWomble]

In non barn news, we also got planning permission granted for an extension to our house. It won’t happen till later in the year, but if there is interest, I’ll post progress up. Getting the planning granted was a major hurdle and a nice way to start the year!

 

[littlebean]

all interesting - removing the decaying plastic must have been fun..................

 

[VolksWomble]

all interesting - removing the decaying plastic must have been fun..................

Not as bad as I was expecting to be honest - It was held on with a mixture or battens and staples, and all came off relatively easily (with the right sized crow bar...). The worst bit was collecting it all up once it was in a pile on the floor!

 

[f121]

In non barn news, we also got planning permission granted for an extension to our house. It won’t happen till later in the year, but if there is interest, I’ll post progress up. Getting the planning granted was a major hurdle and a nice way to start the year!

Congrats!

 

[roger440]

Probably time for a bit of an update… the last one was before Christmas, and despite best laid plans to get loads of electrics done, or at least get some trials of the lights hooked up, late December and early January was cold and grey and motivation was low… that being said, some stuff did get done.

I managed to get 4 of 8 bays clear of the rotten plastic that a PO had used to attempt some weathwrproofing.

this is what i was starting with…



one bay down…


two…


Sadly didn’t get a decent picture after this point, but I got to halfway, and it is a vast improvement. There is still a way to go though.

I did take a little trip to acquire some insulation from a place that sells seconds. This little lot of 32 sheets was less than half what it would cost to buy new, albeit I did have to and fetch it. Some of this will be used in the machine shop under the Mezz…



… and some is going into the gym to make that a bit more usable year round. Made a start on that, but got accused of making it look like a space capsule



I also did a run to my old workshop in early December, and amongst other things, I brought back the 2 post lift I had squirrelled away. Not 24 hours after I got home i got a call from a friend locally offering me a rather better lift option.

For sake of a recap, there was a rather old Bradbury 240V hydraulic 4 post lift in the barn when we moved in. I have no history for it, and whilst it worked well, it would ar least need new cables were I to recuse it, and this design has no physical locking mchanism.



The 2 post I had saved was a newer Bradbury screw type lift, but required 3 phase (415V) to run, which I don’t have. My plan was to have this on a phase converter, however the initial load on a screw lift I’d rather high, and anecdotal evidence would suggest this is a bad way to go.…

lift on a pallet…



what it could look like installed (stolen from t’internet)…



so… despite the hassle of moving them about, both lifts are now sold in favour of some much more modern hydraulic versions - both a 2 and 4 post varieties. Sadly both are still 3 phase but that is still solvable…

otherwise, I still have some electrics and lighting to do…

Hmmm, this reads just like me! I also have a 3 phase screw 2 poster. Like you, i found that the start up current is too high for a normal phase convertor. So like you, its on a pallet awaiting a new home.

I hate hydraulic 2 posters, and with the locking mechanisim, its very difficult to do precise lowering movements, ie lowering a body over and engine and subframe.

But, i refuse to pay £20k for a 3 phase supply. Especially rediculours as the power is on a pole 50ft from my barn!

So i relented and fitted my hydraulic 2 poster

Your previous post is making me pleased i didnt go with the used mezz boards too!

 

[roger440]

In non barn news, we also got planning permission granted for an extension to our house. It won’t happen till later in the year, but if there is interest, I’ll post progress up. Getting the planning granted was a major hurdle and a nice way to start the year!

Good news, and yes, definitely interested.

 

[VolksWomble]

Hmmm, this reads just like me! I also have a 3 phase screw 2 poster. Like you, i found that the start up current is too high for a normal phase convertor. So like you, its on a pallet awaiting a new home.

I hate hydraulic 2 posters, and with the locking mechanisim, its very difficult to do precise lowering movements, ie lowering a body over and engine and subframe.

But, i refuse to pay £20k for a 3 phase supply. Especially rediculours as the power is on a pole 50ft from my barn!

So i relented and fitted my hydraulic 2 poster

Your previous post is making me pleased i didnt go with the used mezz boards too!

The previous Hydraulic 2-post wasnt too bad for doing small movements -- but there was definitely a knack to it. We'll see how the 'new' one turns out when it materialises...

Currently investigating a Solar solution for 3-phase in the barn. Looking at Solar array and battery storage for the house, but wondering if I can get it to give me 3-phase too - the biggest challenge so far is getting across what I want to an installer who is used to dealing with standard installs, albeit he does commercial as well as domestic... So far I thjink the term 'Inverter' is overloaded, and that may not be helping things...

Otherwise, it will be back to looking for bargain data centre backup generators, as like you, the cost to get 3-phase to the property is somewhat unfeasible.

 

[VolksWomble]

Good news, and yes, definitely interested.

Will post updates on here then... having fun with Structural Engineers, and finding a builder who wants to work with me at the moment, given some of the things I want to do are non-standard domestic...

Also trying to work out if I can sneak a 'new' forklift into the equation somehow... not sure that is going to pan out tho.

 

[roger440]

The previous Hydraulic 2-post wasnt too bad for doing small movements -- but there was definitely a knack to it. We'll see how the 'new' one turns out when it materialises...

Currently investigating a Solar solution for 3-phase in the barn. Looking at Solar array and battery storage for the house, but wondering if I can get it to give me 3-phase too - the biggest challenge so far is getting across what I want to an installer who is used to dealing with standard installs, albeit he does commercial as well as domestic... So far I thjink the term 'Inverter' is overloaded, and that may not be helping things...

Otherwise, it will be back to looking for bargain data centre backup generators, as like you, the cost to get 3-phase to the property is somewhat unfeasible.

Thats going to be some big solar array. I did see a nice low hours kubota silienced genny for £4k recently. I convinced myself not to have a generator in the mix as too maintewnance intensive.

That said, ive got a solar system on a pallet, but even doing that is fraught with complications and difficulty. the DNO want to know the installer qualifications to do it. I have none beyong 16th edition in 1990. Dont think they will accept that.

And so it sits on a pallet, whilst my electricity bill is over £3k a year. The joys of the develped world most expensive electricity. And im going to get a bigger compressor!!!

Have you looked at "easygrid". They do turn key packages. Not cheap mind. Looked at it because we looked at an off grid property.

Will be interesting to see what you come up with. 3 phase is the answer to most questions.

 

[roger440]

Will post updates on here then... having fun with Structural Engineers, and finding a builder who wants to work with me at the moment, given some of the things I want to do are non-standard domestic...

Also trying to work out if I can sneak a 'new' forklift into the equation somehow... not sure that is going to pan out tho.

Its becoming increasingly hard to get anyone to do anything "non standard". Dont forget, changes in building control now mean they cant make suggestions or lead you to an answer. Its just yes, we accept, or no we dont. Theres been some people caught out when their architect or SE's plans are rejected. Then they charge to to do another, and another. These people are paid to know and design something that complies with building regs. Something to consider before getting contracturally engaged with an SE. ie, dont be charging you to correct a design that building control reject.

 

[VolksWomble]

thought I’d grab a picture of the end of the barn with no plastic up… noting it is still chaos!



also, just continuing my random series of ’useful stuff I found in the scrap’…

over Christmas I got round to unpacking my fasteners drawers;



this is an 11 drawer Schaefer(?) unit, with ball bearing slides on every drawer. The drawers are roughly 2” deep (the bottom ones are a bit deeper) and is similar to Lista type units. I paid £50 for it about 15 years ago - that included delivery (it’s heavy!) and all the plastic parts containers in 9 of the 11 drawers…

To illustrate, here’s my commonly used Metric fasteners drawer (no1) M5 to M12 L to R…



on the same day as I found the drawers I also found this bench



its 7ft x 4ft with a 1/4 plate top. It’s not perfectly flat, but it’s not bad. when I got it it had been sitting outside for quite a while and the top needed some serious attention with a (well several) 60 grit zirconium sanding disc It needs another clean now... I also haven’t get decided where in the barn it should live yet - I’d like to make it mobile, but that may come in time and/or may just involve the pallet truck. Oh yeah, £30 delivered at the time…

lastly, just because I like it, here’s my Meddings Paciera bench drill. 5 belt positions, and a high/low gear too this is a fab machine, and despite it’s looks it is in remarkably unworn condition. The scrap man wanted £20 for it, and I didn’t haggle… even if it is 3-phase…



pardon all the swarf, but I wanted to show how nice this is - it has one little mark at the centre of the bed, and not the usual Arc of shame you see!



anyway, enough showing off my old scrap metal for now. I’ll do a post on my lathe when i finally unwrap it, given that also came from the scrap…

 

[VolksWomble]

Thats going to be some big solar array. I did see a nice low hours kubota silienced genny for £4k recently. I convinced myself not to have a generator in the mix as too maintewnance intensive.

That said, ive got a solar system on a pallet, but even doing that is fraught with complications and difficulty. the DNO want to know the installer qualifications to do it. I have none beyong 16th edition in 1990. Dont think they will accept that.

And so it sits on a pallet, whilst my electricity bill is over £3k a year. The joys of the develped world most expensive electricity. And im going to get a bigger compressor!!!

Have you looked at "easygrid". They do turn key packages. Not cheap mind. Looked at it because we looked at an off grid property.

Will be interesting to see what you come up with. 3 phase is the answer to most questions.

I daren’t think what our bill is these days, I just know I’ve got an acre of south facing field doing nothing so it might as well have a load of panels in it. Apparently there is a limit to how much you can put back into the grid tho…

i’ve been considering DIY upto full turn-key solutions. Anything grid-tied will need professional installation, and we are considering a ground array with a battery. However, given we don’t already have 3-phase, we can’t do a grid tied solution for that, so the suggestion so far is 2 separate installs - which isn’t viable.

I’ve used VFDs (inverters) for 3 phase machines for years, but it appears the inverters used for solar installs do a whole load of other stuff too - manage the charge from the panels, redirect between consumer, battery and grid supply, etc so I can’t just run multiple ones.

I also want to complicate the situation by being able to use it in a power outage situation too…

 

[VolksWomble]

Its becoming increasingly hard to get anyone to do anything "non standard". Dont forget, changes in building control now mean they cant make suggestions or lead you to an answer. Its just yes, we accept, or no we dont. Theres been some people caught out when their architect or SE's plans are rejected. Then they charge to to do another, and another. These people are paid to know and design something that complies with building regs. Something to consider before getting contracturally engaged with an SE. ie, dont be charging you to correct a design that building control reject.

yep, trying to work through that in the detailed spec. Whilst it’s ‘only’ a single storey kitchen extension, it involves redoing or changing almost all the services to the house -

we’ll be moving the boiler (currently mains gas) and since we are moving it we might as well replace it - so considering oil and potentially heat pumps as options (Given potential solar install). Which also includes hot water (currently on demand, and really would prefer a tank)

the main consumer unit for the house will need to be moved, and I want to split it so that the outbuildings and the house are on seperate main switches, on seperate consumer units. Coupled with running a new (10mm) supply to the barn, and potentially a feed back from the barn so that some circuits can be back fed in the event of a power outage (either solar battery bank or generator) plus the solar install generally makes this decidedly non-standard.

the water and drainage all needs to be moved too… but I have no opinion on those at the moment other than their need to just work!

fun and games…

 

[roger440]

I daren’t think what our bill is these days, I just know I’ve got an acre of south facing field doing nothing so it might as well have a load of panels in it. Apparently there is a limit to how much you can put back into the grid tho…

i’ve been considering DIY upto full turn-key solutions. Anything grid-tied will need professional installation, and we are considering a ground array with a battery. However, given we don’t already have 3-phase, we can’t do a grid tied solution for that, so the suggestion so far is 2 separate installs - which isn’t viable.

I’ve used VFDs (inverters) for 3 phase machines for years, but it appears the inverters used for solar installs do a whole load of other stuff too - manage the charge from the panels, redirect between consumer, battery and grid supply, etc so I can’t just run multiple ones.

I also want to complicate the situation by being able to use it in a power outage situation too…

Max 3.86kw into the grid. ****** all essentially. Anything more needs specific approval.

Ive been round and round this. Anything profesionally installed the payback is usually over 10 years if you remove man maths from it, and factor in the inevitable failures of the electronic components. I just want to DIY, but everything is against you unless you do it hooky.

Me, i like simple, and have a distinct aversion to complication or electronics.

I do however have a 5kva generator. Which was dead handy after the storms when we were without power for over 2 days. Mind you thats simple to asi have to manually plug it in and start it.

I guess you like modern gadgets more than i do?

 

[roger440]

yep, trying to work through that in the detailed spec. Whilst it’s ‘only’ a single storey kitchen extension, it involves redoing or changing almost all the services to the house -

we’ll be moving the boiler (currently mains gas) and since we are moving it we might as well replace it - so considering oil and potentially heat pumps as options (Given potential solar install). Which also includes hot water (currently on demand, and really would prefer a tank)

the main consumer unit for the house will need to be moved, and I want to split it so that the outbuildings and the house are on seperate main switches, on seperate consumer units. Coupled with running a new (10mm) supply to the barn, and potentially a feed back from the barn so that some circuits can be back fed in the event of a power outage (either solar battery bank or generator) plus the solar install generally makes this decidedly non-standard.

the water and drainage all needs to be moved too… but I have no opinion on those at the moment other than their need to just work!

fun and games…

Sadly, in this country our demands are highest when the sun doesnt shine! And heat pumps are power hungry. Do the maths, but oil is still cheaper. And likely to remain so for a good while.

Nobody is going to part me from my oil boiler. When i re-work the house, the system will be configured to accept a heat pump and run low flow temps. But ill wait until im forced to or the government "give" me one!

Sounds like you have a lot planned!

 

[dutchgray]

If you have mains gas then why do something else for heating stick a conventional boiler in with a hot water cylinder, oil costs a bit more install and to run, heatpumps much more to install and whilst you might get cheaper running costs (with solar and battery storage) you have to pay for all that extra gear and it doesn't change the fact when you want the most heat output you have the least light on the panels and the lowest efficiency from the heat pumps.

Our heat pump installer (we do a lot of commercial work which use a ton of combined heating/ air-conditioning units) has just removed the system he installed in his own house and put an oil boiler back in, got tired of his wife moaning it wasn't warm enough whilst it was using a fortune in electricity.

Plus to not be disappointed with heat pump heating you need to be very well insulated and draft free, plus make all your radiators larger.

I really would get a diesel generator for 3 phase if the utility wants silly money for a connection, because you can run off it when there's a power cut, which is going to be much more common in the future.

WRT building control, haven't used the council ones in years, went with a private provider about as soon as they started (an ex council guy) much more helpful, wants to help find solutions to problems.

 

[dutchgray]

You did well with that Meddings Paciera, in that condition its worth around 4 to 5 hundred nowadays easily.