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How well is the energy produced currently used? May be worth having a look at what is happening before spending any cash.

Good The next choice is where to put the bottle since the pipe into the wall is much lower (510mm) than the bottle of the waste (730mm). I guess I have two options, drop the height before the bottle or after:

An interesting article, these are the key elements for me: ...I don't think Banks pays nearly enough attention to airtightness, ventilation, humidity control and health. And he doesn't even mention what should really be Step 1: an audit and a plan to determine the best balance of "enough fabric to improve comfort and health" and heat pump sizing. With Passive House Plus being Irish (not sure about Nigel Banks), maybe the fact that most homes in Ireland are heated by electricity, rather than gas, makes choosing a heat pump a no-brainer anyway. FWIW, without first getting an approved audit, it's not possible to get a grant for a deep renovation in France.

Good thing about single storey (as OP) you don't need cranes. Our roof including the over 12m long glulam beam was all done via a dinky telehandler.

Rather than spend time on current radiator. Just go buy a new one. Cheap (unless unusual type), easily available from places like Screwfix. Time spent fiddling now is just a waste. Fitting a new like for like rad shouldn't take particularly long.

That's interesting, thanks. Do you have a rough idea of the cost of it? I've been on their website but it's a bit opaque as they want you to get your installer to fit it. It does look cool though. Edited: Never mind, I've found it here. https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/buy/renewable-heat-accessories/adia-thermal

I like advice to not do anything. Thanks. Before tackling the rad, is there any check I could do other than probing for weaknesses? Maybe it is the tiniest pinhole..... there was such a tiny amount of water in the paint blister. Radiators are designed and manufactured crured to hold water after all. Release any air and see if it leaks and how much? Then patch with Snibbo. Or is that just delaying a bigger issue?

Think it can be pretty easy, just let technology make it a smarter install. You select a heat pump, you install with an Adia Thermal kit (https://adiathermal.co.uk/) and that's about it. No changes to heating system at all initially apart from tying in a box of tricks. After a couple of weeks it tells you what radiators could be upgraded to save on running costs, it's then optional to do it or ignore.

I've come cross adverts for shot-blasting old oak beams. These people seem to ignore that this could be illegal in a listed building, needs planning permission, have structural implications, and it's simply 'a bad thing'. So in case you are interested here is an alternative. Instead of blasting off the black paint and crud, along with a thickness of ancient timber, there is a paint which looks just like the original. Lightens the room up too. I could barely see that it wasn't the original wood even after being told. The cost is a fraction too, as is the disruption.

You worry too much lol. 2 bends for a basin is fine, and I almost always use a bottle trap as 1) they’re more compact, and 2) they’re so simple to unscrew and drop down to service. “Bottle” 👍🤝

So 100% defo one tank for central heating AND HW? Newer (old) systems would have a fish tank sized f&e for heating, and a bigger 50/75 gallon tank for HW. If you have one tank for both then do NOT put inhibitor in or there’s a chance you’ll be bathing and washing in inhibited water. Primatic cylinders use a one-way bellows to feed the f&e into the heating and they fail and can let the two bodies of water mix.

But that argument is utter rubbish in reality and has been for a number off years since the grid started to be decarbonised. You can heat any building with a heat pump and it can be the cheapest heating when compared to gas or oil, and emissions lower also. Only things that are important is heat pump is sized correctly and emitters are sized for a low low temperature. Then it's basic science heat out matches heat in. Add a ToU tariff and battery you savings can be huge in cash terms also. In CoP terms a poor performance building can give way better CoP than a high performance one. Example our current average daily temp is around 9 degs, but the heat pump only runs for a 1 to 2 hour stint, gets a CoP of mid 5s while running, but then spends the next 20 odd hours off consuming standby losses, and although small bring the CoP down on a daily basis. A poor performance building would be taking heat all day and keep at a high CoP level all day, as long as the emitters are sized well. A2W need good sizing of heat pump and CH system, A2A needs only the heat pump sized correctly.

I'm a convert to these having just put 2 into a Spanish place for cooling, but also heating at over 4 x efficiency. So simple, not too noisy, and very direct and instant. €900 per biggish room so in a small house that could be a simple solution.

Inward or outward opening?

It has been there 30 years. Just a plastic tank with expansion and overheating release pipe, and a ball valve. The hot tank is newer, because the old one failed for some forgotten reason. It is in the airing cupboard next to the boiler. So it's easy to look at if info would be of use.

It's good to hear that being suggested in a vessel that has been so nerdy on these other matters to beyond what is economic, for so long. It's never that simple of course.... construction, door heights, and such. The reality is that when our oil burner failed during the winter, we could get a new boiler in a week but an ashp would not have been realistic. For a remodelling or upgrade though, I might settle for 50mm of insulation where possible, and ufh or big rads. With solar and batteries. And/or air to air units in some rooms, permeating elsewhere. BUT how many have the knowledge to think it all through? The heat loss is the same whether ashp or boiler so it's well worth considering. We just filled the oil tank. Gulp.

Are there 2 f&e tanks in the attic, or just one? If it’s very old it may have a primatic HW cylinder and you cannot use inhibitor if so.

No surprises there. Except how long it has taken the industry (passivhaus/passive house) to realise where the quick and cheaper gains are in retrofitting.

I'd treat the EPDM and the 1200g DPM as one continuous layer and lap them rather than just butting them up and taping the edge. Give it a good lap, 150mm or more, bonded with double sided butyl tape or the EPDM primer and seam tape, with both surfaces clean and dry and the lap rolled down firmly. The aim is a continuous tray from under the threshold right across the floor. At the sides, keep your EPDM upstands and bring the DPM up behind them, then carry both up the reveals to at least finished screed level so the screed is fully contained. Under the threshold I'd bond the EPDM to the sill support or the underside of the frame rather than leaving it loose, and seal the frame to the membrane with a compatible sealant. With an almost non existent upstand that joint is your main defence against wind driven rain, so a fall away from the door or a drainage channel outside is well worth having too. On the expansion joint, yes. I'd run a strip of perimeter edge foam (5 to 10mm) along the threshold and round the reveals before screeding. It stops the screed bonding to the frame, takes up movement and gives the microcement a clean line to finish against, so it's less likely to crack at that junction. Trim it flush afterwards and finish with a flexible sealant once the microcement is down. Also worth checking the screed and microcement makers' moisture limits before finishing, as 50mm of screed over PIR can take a fair while to dry out.

I was really interested to read this article in the current Passivehouse+ magazine. It turns 'fabric first' on it's head and argues that installing an ASHP is more important than the full hit of retro-fitted environmental measures ie wall and floor insulation, triple glazing etc. It chimed with me as I recently sold a flat I had bought to renovate after getting completely bogged down in retro-fit eco options. I was extremely concerned that much of what was proposed by the organisations offering this service would stop the building from breathing properly and store up considerable problems in the future. Of course, by then they would be well clear of the picture having trousered a big wedge of government cash and I would potentially be left with an unmortgageable property and a hefty bill to put things right. I do understand the argument that an ASHP won't work efficiently in an otherwise inefficient building, but I do think it is a lot more nuanced than what it is being sold as. I think I'd agree that we have made it too difficult for many people to retrofit to a decent standard, which coupled with a dire labour shortage in the relevant trades, means that progress is glacially slow (pun intended). https://passivehouseplus.ie/magazine/insight/fabric-softener

I'm looking to attach the basin to all this now, so I am looking at trap options. For most situations I'd prefer a P-trap, but am thinking I may prefer a bottle trap here for a slightly odd reason. I'd want the trap to block rather than the pipe in the wall. Remember that the 32mm pipe in the wall has two tight 90 degree elbows so blocking is more likely than normal. Is that logic sound and is a bottle trap the right choice? What's the pipe doctor's prognosis?

Ouch, good effort. Similar size 90's house here heated to 21°C 24/7. A little over 13MWh annual heating and hot water demand. Ashp delivered this with ~3200kWh for a total cost of £519, £358 cheaper than using gas. Cop of 4.1.

the chipboard is there purely to act as a backer for the tiles, ive been informed tiling directly onto P5 is not a good idea.

Thanks, that helps. An earlier leak at a valve would explain it. While it was weeping, the system was losing water and taking fresh water in, and air can get drawn in at a joint like that too, so the top of that rad would have been sitting in an air pocket for a while. At 15 years old I'd just replace it rather than try a repair. When you fit the new one, use new valves or at least repack and reseal the old ones, so you don't end up with the same problem. Once it's back on, bleed it again after a day or two of running, and keep an eye on the pressure or the loft tank for the next few weeks. If the others bleed quickly with only a short hiss, the rest of the system is probably fine, but a fresh dose of inhibitor and a magnetic filter if you don't already have one are worth doing.

Hi Will, happy to help. On the primer, it depends on the membrane. Some self adhesive VCLs need primer over the whole deck to get a reliable bond, while others are made to go straight onto clean, dry OSB and only want primer at laps, edges or in cold weather. The other route is a loose laid or mechanically fixed VCL with taped laps, sealed to the wall airtightness line at the plate. That's quicker and cheaper on a big roof, and because the counter battens clamp everything down it works well as long as the laps and junctions are taped properly. Check the datasheet for whichever product you pick, as primer requirements and minimum application temperatures vary a lot. On slippage, you're thinking along the right lines. A continuous timber stop at the eaves, the full depth of the insulation and fixed back through the deck into the rafters, gives the bottom row of boards something solid to bear on. After that, the counter batten fixings do most of the holding, so the fixing design matters more than anything else. Get the screw manufacturer to calculate spacing, length and angle for your pitch, insulation depth and roof loads, including snow and the weight of the tiles or slates. Some systems use screws angled up the slope, others use crossed pairs. Stagger the joints between the two PIR layers and keep the boards tight, so the load is shared and there are no gaps for vapour or cold bridging. And fix the counter battens as you go rather than laying a big area of loose boards, especially on a steep pitch or if it's breezy. A timber stop at the verges and ridge is worth having too, so the edges are closed off and there's something solid to fix the trims to.