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Was away visiting folks for a bit last week and grabbing some scaffolding boards for shelving. Fucking cracked the Volvo windscreen coming back up the road when I had to slam on the brakes to avoid a stag running across the a9.. everything was in and packed tightly, just the boards added more pressure to the front with their momentum..

Before I came back up the plumbers had started on their first fix (just waiting for their sparky to wire the thermostats) and I finished wiring the house with the sparky on Friday. Spent the weekend taping all the wires together in the loft spaces to keep everything tidy and cut all the noggins and bracing for sockets/switches and some other bits before the plasterboard goes on.

Had some pretty fucking stunning northern lights on Saturday as well! I always thought this is what you saw but it’s much more of just a faint glow without a ten second exposure on the camera..

Sorry just noticed this, I sure do, just send me a pm

Noted.

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Haha, I wonder how we could organise that? I met him once, super nice guy! He’s the ambassador for a mental health charity I used to work for. I supported someone I worked with to an event where he spoke and after he came round table by table and made time to speak to everyone individually.

Hahaha exactly!! Apparently with our population density it needs to be 100mph+ for it to be considered a red warning up here.

@tallsam yeah uh huh, had a free couple days. It was really soggy so none of it came out easily, phew..

Had the first day of the electrician here yesterday, got a fair bit of progress done

I’ve been bad at this recently, a cold knocked the shit out of me and then just nothing has happened for a bit.. plumbers still aren’t out for first fix 4 weeks after promised.. been a combo of bad weather and other jobs running long. Stopped in at their offices today and we’re “next on the list”

Sparky is all booked up for coming across tomorrow and Friday and I’ll be helping him run the cables which should be fun.

@user69121 thanks again for this! We’ve made sure that they’re providing detailed drawings of what’s required, all the materials for doing it and they’ve guaranteed all warranty and guarantees will remain in place.

@dbr thanks for your thoughts! We did thanks, we were north enough that we dodged most of it. The day of Eunice it felt like the sky’s energy was all being used elsewhere so we had a sunny day with no wind at all, bizarre.. still consistent 50mph+ winds and lots of rain but that’s just how it is up here..

It’s been one of the wettest winters ever locals are saying so some of the field is getting a bit marshy. Spent the last few days digging some drainage trenches which will hopefully help. Tried to give it as many nice curves as possible and stop them being straight runs down. Trying to channel it all to an eventual pond at the bottom. Going to build up the back side of it and have it sitting above the pond you can see in some of the photos just inside our fence line.

Just in case you’re worried about ever forgetting, troops and freedom and all that, probably an eagle in there somewhere too.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cannondale-Caad5-9-11-Commemorative-Edition-56cm-/284640544696?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

Haha my mate Phil lives just to their left in that photo. That’s the hill I’m up and down when I’m cycling to the ferry, a killer in the wrong winds!

Surprisingly, yes! Digging the holes was a pain in the arse last summer but well worth getting it rooted deep.

@Peter_Carter Oh nice, you caught a good one, it’s such a lottery! Were the seals still about when you were having lunch, there’s loads hang about in that wee harbour most times of year! I kind of knew all the history before but was surprised by just how many turrets there were dotted around, there’s others built into the cliffs just round the corner from those too.

I’ve still not been across there! 2020 was a write off and last year we were too busy with the house starting and my partner having to be around for commissioning that turbine. Haha maybe this summer, but if that’s when we’re moving in I’m going nowhere! You can see from your photo why so many houses were built of stone up here. Just sheets of material to break up and use!

Haha here don’t knock it, a couple blankets and you’re all set! It actually keeps heat not too badly, we’ve got kale, spinach and chard growing away in there just now.

Feeling nice and sturdy now we’ve got the cement on the corners as well too, just stole spoil from the turbine foundation pour but it works a treat to add some weight to the side the gales hit.

Thank you @Peter_Carter, very kind of you. Small world, had you seen this thread first or have you just come across it? Yeah that will have been us, we’re the only building site on island this year. Did you do the coastal walk round past the castle? Quite the wee spot isn’t it?

It got proper chilly up here recently, this isn’t snow though, just loads of hail! Really chuffed with how well the drainage I dug around the polytunnel is working. There’s been so much rain recently that the wee path we’ve made walking down there is a wee stream, none has found it’s way into the tunnel yet though, yet..

Great deal!! If I didn’t have one I’d be all over this, GLWS!

Haha there’s been a good few days of worry so far! 70 overnight on Friday, 60 and a ton of rain Sunday and and last night and think it’s meant to hit 50mph again at least another twice this week.. pretty stressful but a good test to prove that the frame itself is at least structurally solid!

There has been some water in at places with the guttering not in and the wind forcing the water off the roof back up and in at points but every bit that’s got wet can dry out without any impact. The frames are still an issue but the company have now said they’ll pay for all the joiner’s time for putting them right and we can choose whether we want to redo all unaffected frames or just the ones impacted so far.

Had to buy stuff for the plumbers arriving (might be next week as boats to our island are sporadic and not guaranteed with the weather..) so we had exact dimensions for the first fix. We spent this weekend looking at way too many shower trays online.. worked our way through it and have ordered all the shower stuff, the bathroom tap and waste to go with that sink as well as the kitchen sink and tap. Took advantage of the end of as many January sales as we could! Going white ceramic and brushed steel in the kitchen and white with black fixtures in the bathroom.

Thank you so much for all of this. You’re completely right and I’ve talked to the joiners and made sure they don’t do anything with it just now until we receive confirmation from them. I’m hoping threatening them with the billing of the joiner’s time as well as making sure they ensure the warranty afterwards will force them into coming out to look at them.

We had some major winds last night, about 50mph overnight with gusts of up to 70.. all coming off the sea so directly at the back of the house, every frame allowed water in again so I got videos of each and sent them off this morning. If I don’t hear a solution from them tomorrow I’ll be giving them a wee call..

The polytunnel survived too which I was well chuffed about!
Went for a wee walk along the shore at lunch to see if anything good had been swept in by the weather, unfortunately not, but anyone fancy some scallops?

Yeah they’ve been really supportive of things. Because of the all electric systems/fuel poverty context up here there are a lot of properties with turbines or solar panels. A lot got in early and got on the feed in tariffs so also have a grid connection. When talking to folk there doesn’t seem to be any fully off grid houses I’m aware of. Loads of people really intrigued by how it all will work though (me included!).

We’ve found everyone to be really supportive of us being on island and the house build too. Think they’re quite happy that we’re not a retired couple just taking up another property without putting anything back into the community. There’s way too many second houses and holiday homes up here, or people just retiring up here after selling an expensive property south. This means there is a major shortage of properties for residents and when properties do go up for sale locals can’t afford the same as someone moving up here. A large percentage of properties that go on the market do this dance where they’re sold to someone rich down south unseen, they come up and see it, realise it’s a lot of work or they don’t want to live here and then put it back on the market, but more expensive so they don’t lose out, making it even less affordable for people here. There’s currently something like 900 on the housing waiting list up here and no houses..

With us being in our 30s, me working at a local charity and my partner working at a local renewable firm that’s sat well with a lot of the older islanders. I met most of them when I was delivering food boxes to vulnerable folk on island during lockdown and think that set us in good stead while we were new here. Any trades we could hire from on island we did as well. They’re all fantastic folk and do great work, but it also means that most of the money from our build is going to local families and that is looked well upon too.

@cozey yeah I had a wee read at that piece, just to make sure these projects benefit locals now instead of generating private income..

Sorry, it’s been a busy few days..

@tallsam no bother at all, super interesting and nice to see the different approaches and systems folk are working with!

@user69121 Thank you, you have no idea how useful this information and this drawing is! There’s still moisture sitting within the frames weeks after that storm so there must be some issue with the drainage channels. The frames are engineered wood so unsure what impact sitting water will have on them. The resolution they recommended was different tape, another seal and silicone in a few spots.. the joiners both don’t think this would work and said taking apart each frame to do this will take some time and cost a fair bit in their time. I’ve put this back to the window company and asked how the warranty would be impacted if people have opened and modified the frames too and whether they would be happy receiving the invoice for the joiner’s time. I’ve asked them just to send up someone from their glazing team to come up and assess and am just waiting to hear back now.

@JonoMarshall Those sunamp batteries seem great and I had looked into them before but no trades have any experience with them up here unfortunately.. Depending on how the first couple years go and working out how much we’re having to earth we might look at putting a couple of these in as another dump if there’s a way to incorporate it into the full system.

The plumber is coming out today for a look and to assess what he needs for the first fix so should have them out before the end of the week. The electrician is swamped just now but sticking with this guys as he has a lot of renewables experience and will be installing that aspect of the system too. We’re going to get a shopping list together with him this weekend and get everything ordered so it’s all on site for as soon as he can start.

We also had someone out over the last couple days trenching for the cable and installing the foundation for the turbine to sit on. Even managed to steal some of the cement spoil to shore up the corners of the polytunnel ☺️

We got our bathroom sink too and I think it’s a good size and fits quite nicely on the bit of live edge wood we’re going to use for that shelf.

Spot on thank you, and I’ll get that off to you in the next day or two. Thanks again folks, all sold. These selling on again so quickly is just proof that forumers give good deals to forumers :)

Really good to know, thank you!

Looking at this as an option myself, does the a-c throw off the steering or geo too much as this is the only worry stopping me pulling the trigger on one

Sorry @stelfox fork is now sold to @Double_J

Saddlebag remaining, provisional dibs from @Sheppz

Noted, I’ll give @Double_J another wee nudge today and just make sure he wants it. If not it’s yours! I’ll send you a pm either way later, cheers.

Saddle bag first to @Sheppz pending payment

Fork 1st dibs for @Double_J pending steerer measurement

All pm’s replied to

That’s amazing, honestly we’re so chuffed we chose to go down this route! There were 2 years of visiting frame companies, researching materials, planning and building control, finding trades and things before this got started last summer but well worth it!

Keep me updated on your progress please, that’s really exciting and all the best in it mate!

Yeah you’re exactly right, that’s another thing that’s really scary, the power behind some of the surges! The beach below us changes shape after big storms as hige amounts of stones and pebbles are shifted. Wee shelves the length of the beach appear that weren’t there before!

Tyres now sold, fork and saddle bag remaining.