What have done towards your prep?

[Lightspeed]

Amazing efficiency SS.

I thought we were doing well here, but factoring the differences in dwelling volume, yours is costing around half what I'm paying. OK we've been enduring severe minus temperatures for more than a week now, but that doesn't make up for the difference. Looks like you've got it very right indeed.

We're running at .5C indoors too, and with the wood stove running we very often see 30C. The more we insulate and draught exclude the warmer it gets, and coincidentally the more we have to open windows to get combustion air in to the stove. I guess the last part is even more relevant in your new dwelling?

Tell me, what insulation are you using? Glass fiber in the roof I seem to remember. What's in the floor slab and in the walls? Upstairs loft rooms that I was building last year are still not complete. These have 300mm glass fibre under floor, 2000mm. rockwool insulated stud walls separating from unheated attic space and Gable ends and 150mm Kingspan between ceilings and pitched roofing. One of the rooms is now semi-sealed and warmth is detectable in there even though radiators are not yet installed. If I end up with the sort of efficiency you're enjoying, I'll be well pleased.

Another advantage that you have is fuel convenience: Today we went to collect fuel for the next month or so. ( 6mm wood pellets.) This was the first DIY haulage of fuel. Just one pallet was ordered even though our cargo trailer has floor space for two. My god was that a good decision. The one pallet was around 8ft tall and weighed in at around 1.2 tons. First we had to strip of half its height and stow it in the load area of the car, then I had to buy additional ratchet straps to hold it down. Big hills and snow bound roads gave the car good exercise on the way home. And once we got here, frost heave in the ground meant that the yard gates would not open wide enough to let me drive car and trailer in. So me and wife ended up handballing everything off and barrowing it uphill into the yard, before decanting into the fuel store. Your big gas bottles ( bombs as my wife calls them) sound a lot easier to deal with in this respect...and for sure a whole lot lighter.

A final comment on Mirrors: Please advise Mrs SS to have them all removed so that rather than preening himself in front of tem all day, Mr SS will be more inclined to get out in the cold and get that veg garden seen to