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The problem with all the consumer smart home stuff I know if is what happens when you come to sell the house? Does the new owner need to re-pair every individual lightbulb, blind and heating actuator into their own cloud account? (Or more often, multitude of accounts). Not to mention what happens when the cloud provider gets bored and shuts it down. Centralised systems are only marginally better for succession rights, but for the most part they offer some glimmer of hope. It still requires the seller to transfer ownership (e.g. hand over the admin password or project file) for a smooth transition. But at least I can point to examples of this working out. ... Put another way - an "non-centralised" solution is worse than useless if it exchanges an in-house single point of failure for a cloud-based one.

In my case the controls are attached directly to the mixer valve. The wall behind the shower is hollow and accessible from the other side for service access if needed (and pipes are easily accessed by removing the bath panel). But yes a little awkward if you don't get in before turning the shower on.

Anyone seen any thin lights for recessing into the bottom of kitchen wall cabinets that are actually smart and can be controlled remotely to change colour temperature as well as to dim ?

If you used PIR, that is already acting as a VCL. If you are careful with taping then an additional internal VCL would not be needed. I have a combination of PIR and Woodfibre in part of my own roof (due to structural loading, woodfbre alone was too heavy) with the PIR Internal and taped as the VCL.

I designed my place with 50mm PIR on the inside, which allowed me to use 145mm studs whilst eliminating thermal bridging. You want your wall build-up to be progressively more moisture permeable as you move outwards. So mine goes VCL, PIR, mineral wool, breather membrane.

Using woodfibre & I-Joists with a direct rendered external sheathing board will give you a quick build, that will give you more decrement delay (probably more important than ultimate u-vale in our ever heating world. You can also do away with membranes entirely and have no worries about moisture. The example build up uses (taped and sealed), 15mm OSB3 as a combined racking and V-VCL layer internally. External, directly rendered woodfibre sheathing board. I've shown 240mm I-joists as these are more common, but 220mm are available I've also shown a service void behind the plasterboard as this makes wiring easier.

Hmm seems really damn tricky to find a suitable Surrey or York Flange with 22mm fittings and 3/4" BSP female connection to the tank..... Did find this Warix Flange 3/4" BSP Male connection to the tank and 22mm compression suitable outlet fittings I wondered if I can use this 3/4" BSP Threaded Socket To provide the required connection to both tank and Warix Flange Only downside I can see with the Warix Flange is the non aerated feed for HW comes from the vertical top connection and the bottom horizontal connection feeds the normal circuit (in my case that would effectively be connected to the cylinder vent pipe that finishes above my cold water store in the loft above the HW tank)

Hi @flanagaj, I tried to send a private message, but I gather you cannot receive them. Have you intentionally disabled the PM function, or has it just disappeared and is this an issue for Forum mgt?

That's probably what I would go for too.

garages are generally designed without the factors of safety required for a house. So the timbers will be on the light side already. I.e. it's unlikely anyone would die if it collapsed in a storm, and cars don't matter. The snow load will still apply as it can sit on the solar panels, so this is extra load even beford ballast. So the joists will need help. The easiest solution may be to sister the existing ones. But uplift in wind will be the critical force As the oaneks act as a wing and kite. You don't want holes in the roof, quite rightly, so you may need a gantry to spread the load, perhaps strapped to the walls. I'm reinventing the wheel here... there must be a standard way, although don't count on contractors or vendors to know or care. Is it a building regs thing? I'd have to check but I think it is as it's integral with the house. I don't think many people ask, or do it right.

... and I was just about to write that too. PIR externally amounts, in my view, to a VCL on the wrong side of the 'sandwich' - and I wince every time I see a TV show depicting it. How about rigid wood-fibre with a scratch-coat of lime render before the battens and (?hit-and-miss?) larch?

Ah okay, yes there was a quiet update on the coil sizes. I think they still list the coil area as 2.7m2 but when you get the new ones, it's at least 3m2. Special order only, but that works fine for me on my jobs.

It's QRSC180 so older model (build date on it is 2025) In my research I did find out that the new QR2SC180 has a 3.2 m2 Coil surface area but even though my pockets aren't deep enough for that when I searched no-one had any stock.....

Yes, I wouldn't have the pir on the outside either. Principles are definitely to have insulation to reduce thermal bridging. In Sweden, for example, it's very common to have a continuous layer each side of the stud walls. You can then use smaller dimensioned stud. I wonder what the cost implications are of this compared to the cost of the 220 studs plus continuous layer?

Ballast buckets, do a good job of spreading loads

I like the Grant cylinders, nice to install. They're also very competitive compared to the various others. I'm now gravitating towards these as a standard option.

FH Brindle, Made2Measure. Make sure if you have a drop the other side you get the correct structural specification. Also if in a high wind area, you also account for wind loads.

Have a look at Brundell. https://www.fhbrundle.co.uk/handrailing-and-balustrade/?campaign=267256041&content=794638935313&keyword=fh brundle handrail&utm_term=fh brundle handrail&utm_campaign=&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=1133268878&hsa_cam=267256041&hsa_grp=174725159712&hsa_ad=794638935313&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=kwd-365342768374&hsa_kw=fh brundle handrail&hsa_mt=b&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=267256041&gbraid=0AAAAAD2WxzuHTwb5d9pG0CRbcq3RV46Pz&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5pfA-oDKkwMV8pFQBh050yNhEAAYAyAAEgI_6vD_BwE

Thanks, I was wondering what the English name for this sort of floor was! Had a quick search, it does look similar. Luckily I'm not attaching much weight to it, and I'm hoping to not have to drill into it at all, if possible!

@craig thank you

Ignoring a boiler that won't respect the range rating...... Finally got a HW Tank Brand new still in shipping packaging with installation kit for £625 Suitable for either ASHP or Fossil Fuel Boiler 180 Litres 2.4 m2 Coil Surface area (largest one that I could get without going pass 180 litres) It's a Grant and they seem to be happy for it to be used as vented I had to drive 400 miles to Wales and back to fetch as seller wouldn't ship but he was really good to deal with. Next job try and find a suitable surrey/York flange that will fit the 3/4" BSP Male outlet on the top of the tank - current Surrey flange in the existing tank is 1" BSP so I can't re-use that and it would probably be too big to go into the tank from memory. Both showers are pumped and before I fitted the surrey flange I trashed a couple of pumps in a short space of time due to air in HW supply.

I think it may work well with either internal pir or insulated plasterboard, so move the 50mm celotex inside. It follows the rule of thumb of having the most insulating and vapour impermeable materials inboard.

We're building an extension on to an old stone cottage. The new foundation will be insulated raft with UFH. The extension will have a pitched roof section and a flat roof section with steel frame connecting to the old building. A builder friend is helping us design it. He's suggested 220mm studs so we can have a thick layer of insulation. He said twin studs could end up costing more due to added labour over any material cost saving. But will the cold bridging mean it's not worth it in the long run? Should we apply an external layer of continuous insulation too? I've mocked up his suggestions on ubakus to look at performance (edit it here). And this is a build up that I've put together based on other research, with an external PIR sheathing (edit this one here). Would this kind of PIR board be able to wrap up and over the roof too?

It shouldn't ever require the customer to come up with a detail for thermal detailing but in all honesty, it's not really something the installers know about either in the typical replacement window market which is not the market that most people on here are looking at. They "know" about removal and installing back in the same place with new windows. If they also surveyed, they should be allowing appropriate tolerances (usually 5mm all around on a replacement and dependent on opening, it may require 10mm or more). It would be interesting to see the report from Fensa and what wasn't in line with building regulations and why if possible?

It's a surprisingly difficult question to answer simply, for a number of reasons, mainly what's included in the build cost? What I can say is that we have done it for the amount we sold a similar-sized but less well-equipped house in the same area. That's taking account of the old house sale and new plot purchase costs, 18 months' house rental, planning, architects fees, utilities, the build itself, kitchen, bathrooms, solar PV and batteries, decorating, and landscaping. Then again, had we not moved we'd have been needing new kitchen, bathrooms, ASHP, and other expenses in our old house before long. Our per m2 figure is about £3,900, £3,200 excluding landscaping. We could have done it for a lot less but we consciously chose to spend what we had and made some expensive choices: bespoke single-storey design, zinc roof, upmarket kitchen, 3G windows, high levels of insulation, 15kW PV, 27 kWh batteries, oak joinery, etc. etc. We were lucky enough to be able to indulge ourselves, but that does mean our costs may not be a reliable guide, sorry.