Category Archives: Groundworks

Outbuildings: Week 38, Day 1

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Outbuildings: Week 38, Day 1

The main build team were on site all day sorting out a few of the smaller groundworks tasks:

  • Finishing the installation of the last of the Marshalls GrassGuard blocks around the perimeter of the block-paved parking area
    • There’s around 2/3 of a pack left over but those will be saved for future use
  • Filling in the holes excavated to access the water mains and electrical ducts
  • Clearing a trench around the foul drainage pipe that runs under what-will-be the vehicle access to the parking area, so that can be encased in concrete to maintain its level even with traffic passing relatively closely over the top of it
Completed block-paved parking area with its GrassGuard block perimeter / buffer area which then transitions to topsoil that will grow grass

The right-sized replacement concrete headwall was allegedly due for delivery today but is now said to be coming tomorrow.

Outbuildings: Week 34, Day 5

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Outbuildings: Week 34, Day 5

Close to zero progress on the Groundworks, after concluding the precast concrete headwall delivered yesterday – with a much larger pipe aperture and protective grating than specified – can’t be used, so needs to be replaced.

The team from Carbon Legacy were back on site to complete the installation of the Tesla PowerWall 3 system, which was finished by lunchtime. All of that seems to be working well – including the 90m Current Transformer clamp connection back to the House, to let the PowerWall monitor the generation from the existing AC-connected solar PV system – and the temporary hook-up of a wired network connection for the PowerWall (which happily connected at 1Gbit/s).

For now the PowerWall monitoring is purely a ‘real time’ display via the Tesla smartphone App; I need to investigate the options for API access and integration into Home Assistant.

The outdoor unit for the air-to-air heat pump was due to be delivered today, but that will now arrive tomorrow. The team from Chellaston Renewables dropped off the three indoor units which they had previously collected from the distributor, ready for installation to start over the weekend.