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Yes. I have used their inward and outward windows and sliding doors. I have not seen / used Pure View. The 2 firms are part of Dovista group who also do Velfac and Velux.

The PassivHaus Institute thinks otherwise. Sure, their heat demand/load numbers are based on the theoretical ability of an MVHR system to deliver the required heat based on several other assumptions, but imo that context is of little practical relevance given they don't actually require heat to be distributed in that fashion. But UFH isn't "sometimes" installed for "reassurance" in the UK. UFH is widely installed as the primary heating distribution system in PassivHaus-class buildings in the UK, presumably because people prefer to heat their homes that way than via hot air through a ventilation system.

Yes. Fit stainless screws and black screw caps. https://www.screwfix.com/p/timco-4-9ga-100-pack-black-plastic-screw-caps/378kf

sorry no but depending on your targets I'd be inclined to carefully check thermal and air tightness tests/data. I'd recommend talking to Nordica, even if they don't do pretty sliders - you'll probably get an honest opinion on them! we had final air test last week. 0.45

When I park on the driveway of the parents bungalow in the summer, the car is in direct sun and soon becomes like an oven. In addition, there is a prevailing wind from the road to the right. So I have been thinking of adding a pergola type thing alongside the drive, with slats to give shade and some wind reduction. The small window will eventually become the front door when we extend the shower extension further back to create a larger kitchen. So I need to make sure the structure is in line nearer the shower room window. (blue line) I am thinking of putting in 3 posts, maybe 6x6inch posts, with cross pieces over the car (about 1m) counter balanced at the other side and with a brace. then add slats horizontally down the far side and on the top. Its very hard to describe whats in my head! Here are some pics of similar things. Similar to this. or this. Please dont laugh at my drawings.☺️ The driveway will be north of the structure so should provide a good amount of shade while not obstructing the car doors and i can plant something nice underneath. I even have a wisteria that I layered a couple of years ago that is desparate for a pergola to climb over. Does this sound like a reasonable plan?? Any other suggestions?

Hi there, anyone here had experience with Idealcombi? I'm in the middle of deciding between Rationel and Idealcombi, but leaning towards Idealcombi because of the very pretty Pure View sliding doors.

Good luck with the move!

>>> Don't they still have / utilise 'exchanges' for fibre? Surely it's not direct from source? As I understand it a direct fibre from exchange to you. In a bundled cable with other fibres of course - except for the last drop to you. Cables joined every few km I believe. >>> Although it worked, we found it to be sluggiish and very tempermental at best. The speed of mobile connection, of course, depends on where the local cell towers are and whether you have good sight of then, which networks they carry, whether they have 5G or not, whether you're using an antenna and how good it is, how well it's positioned, and also how clever your router is. I was surprised to see I had 60 Mbps download yesterday, and we're quite rural.

Thanks for the figures/costs. really helps those of us who are still planning/thinking about building our own house. One day.....

One of the tempting routes is an i-beam stick build, designed by Cullen Timber Design, manufactured from their cutting list by a company not too far from us (Gloucester, I believe) and then put together by our builders. We'd use blown cellulose. Certainly no PIR. Fire is one of our main concerns as the external walls will be almost 80% timber frame and 100% clad in timber (it was originally 50% metal, 50% timber but that was scuppered by the planners). We want to mitigate risk, both for our peace of mind and to reduce insurance, but it's hard to find breathable FR boards. We think we have an option from Magply, but the fire risk is one reason we even considered reverting to block build.

Yes, this is our sixth house build (never renovation), three for us and three for other people. Although it doesn't feel like we have any particular knowledge I guess it must count for something. One insight would be: being present and getting involved. We had a neighbour who had a major remodelling of their house. "Tell me when it's over". They couldn't stand the sight of their home ripped apart so the builder was left alone to do as he saw fit. Not good for either party.

Yes i noticed that the other day whilst searching, you can't be using one of their smart tariffs which is a bit naff, though I'm on fixed currently, was seeing how much difference there was between charging and not charging the battery over winter (taking into consideration battery wear which for some reason was quite high whilst grid charging, yet haven't lost a percent since just charging up from solar, almost a year, put me off a little from grid charging), and I think if I go down this route again which I may well have to, it might be wise to charge the battery to 50% in november and then switch the system off until mid Feb, as its consumed around 1.5kWh a day just topping itself up to the minimum charge, not ideal!

Unfortunately it wasn't standard - "no flat roofs!" is our mantra and yet we ended up with three (four if you include the porch). And a member of our extended family lives in a house with windows facing only east and west. Does it matter not seeing the sun at midday? Yes! So we have an elaborate H shaped footprint to get midday sun into the centre of the house.

I can't raise the parking area unfortunately, right next to the house. I can probably just make it work with 1/80 fall, but it's very marginal, i'm having to design junctions very precisely and always wary that the consequence of an error anywhere is that it won't work. Does anyone have any experience of using ductile iron pipe? I've found a few things saying it can be buried shallow as strong enough to take the load, haven't found much detail and not sure how BCO will view it. Mesh bridging - do you mean to reinforce the concrete?

That's the moral to the tale. To which add the onsite management. Was it a fairly standard ( off the shelf) geometry? Bravo.

Agreed that is my choice too IF you have the falls. It is going to have car loading which is considerable. So I'd say you bridge it completely, with concrete downstands (tiny footings) on both sides and a reinforced slab over it. The mesh shouldn't be plonked in but laid at mid height. Thus the load doesn't bear on the pipe. It may need a smart drawing and explanation to show the bco but the work can be diy. I've only installed pumped mains twice and on a larger scale. It was compulsory to have 2 pumps and the cost was huge.

But...AI datacentres are slurping up all the leccy and the ram and the hard drives ... so maybe not for long: Western Digital Has No More HDD Capacity Left, as CEO Reveals Massive AI Deals; Brace Yourself For Price Surges Ahead! https://counterpointresearch.com/en/insights/7times-memory-price-surge-threatens-telcos-broadband-router-set-topbox-supply

I'd be interested in reading that - though I would need you to keep it simple!

Also with EON, looks like that rate applies only on standard import tariffs, 6p/kWh if you are on their EV tariff?

Hi Rick, very valid points- all taken into consideration. If I -could- just block the perimeter loft air from hitting the main room ceiling edges, by injecting foam.. I'd think that's a logical 1st step. Evaluate. If no difference felt, then the whole hog wall renovation of the 2 bedrooms needs to be considered. The tent analogy.. still eludes me! Nevermind. I'll put a line under this cold ingress problem, for now. Nearing winter's end anyway. ----- Back to Vaillant success. Or not.. Erm.. spanner in the works: new Monobloc (Arotherm Plus is the exact wording description I'm informed today by them) system faulty already. 3 weeks that took. No HW last evening, no HW this morning. Otherwise rads working as normal. Engineer visit booked Monday. No fault code showing up on little Thermostat controller screen, nor on the 'Interface' box between cylinder & outside HPump box. These things, are SO fallible, you need a lifetime warranty to be able to live normally-reassured with them. I have only a 2 year warranty.. & I'm panicking about the cost of engineer fix visits after the 2 year mark, already now just 3 weeks in. Zoot

@G and J @zzPaulzz @GaryChaplin @Nick Laslett @JohnnyB @marshian Well if it's just us - am I right in thinking you're IP17 too? If so, you're quite welcome to take a look at my plot else The Poachers maybe? What time suits?

@Iceverge not sure if this is a question to me specifically, but all I can say is - I was paying £18 per month for our internet via a mobile network - Although it worked, we found it to be sluggiish and very tempermental at best. These frustrations led me to research Starlink. I now pay £35 p m with Starlink and the performance is so much better.

NJ side but close to Princeton University for work...personally I think US is a Sh**hole, but a lot of the UK is too...

E.on's tariffs have also dropped, I moved to them from Octopus last August, for 16.5p/kWh, but their new tariff which I'll move to this August is now 13p/kWh 😭

Nice. There's a residential and residential lite. Is the upgrade worth it for an extra €15/month?