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Yes - seen this, plus various cabinet builds (in the UK) on Instagram, but none mention fire stops, and from what I can judge by some, they are well over 30sqm but don’t appear to be bothering with any of the detail that we are.

Monarch is one we’ve heard of, but also intrigued as to why it’s so much cheaper than others - Got us wondering what’s the difference etc…

This is a separate issue I’ve just been pondering - unsoftened to the kitchen tap… which is going to be a quooker cube. How do they cope with a hard water supply, what are the options etc (clearly, I’m about to google combimate as a starter…)

Thanks, @Great_scot_selfbuild. Those drawings are really useful. I don't remember seeing any MVHR layout drawings that are as good as those before now.

Nope! Water and gas go off before I leave the place if it will be unoccupied for any length of time. Though if you have a bad water leak then even an hour of flow will likely do a lot of damage so something automatic is a good idea (which I'd like to implement but haven't).

It is what I would do, especially in Scotland.

Am I the only one that turns the mains water off at the stopcock when going away?

JSHarris?

There have been a couple of threads on this, but they didn't;t seem to go anywhere. I have had a few leaks from flexible connectors in the house over the last couple of years, Hopefully, I am OK for the moment due to proactively replacing them. However, it has got me to thinking that now I am retired we go away a lot and we have a lot of plumbing fixtures in the house. In our last house, I was away for a week and came home to find the dining room ceiling almost collapsed due to a leak. That was just a drip and it still caused a couple of thousand in damage. If one of the flexi pipes burst and ran for a couple of weeks the damage would be massive. I think all things considered I should install a smart leak detector with automatic cut off. Unfortunately I can't just turn off the water when we go away and I'd maybe forget anyway. The best know product is probably the Moen Flo but this is really a US product and seems to be just an import when sold in the UK. Grohe make a product called Sense Guard but seem to have discontinued it in the UK, although it is still available to buy. I found this products, the Watergate Sonic https://watergate.ai Does anyone have something similar installed or have any other recommendations? Thanks

I was in the Black Forest in Germany over the summer, and saw a huge amount of houses that used timber shingles. Mostly traditional, but also several new builds. The new builds looked amazing, but I didn't pay too much attention to the detailing. If you don't have much luck finding detailing solutions in the UK, it could be worth getting friendly with Google Translate and exploring German self build sites.

I assume the "50 degrees/auto adaptive" is 50 degree DHW set point and auto adaptive for the space heating(CH)?? So if it's not tripped for a few days, is the DHW up to 50 degrees and reheating as you use it ie things are normal??

I will go and help them for a modest salary. It looks similar to some places we lived in in South of France and the Dutch West Indies.

A Minimax here (rebadged Harvey). No issues. No power requirements. Also, our un-softened kitchen supply is ‘conditioned’ with a Combimate to stop the kitchen hard water supply doing any damage to the Quooker etc.

I am content with my Atlantis Eco-Logic AT350, which I bought as a refurbished unit from a manufacturer local to me (Cambridgeshire). They provided good service. https://www.atlantis-uk.com/at350-technical-specifications

Here are Zehnder's criteria for triggering the bypass - all 4 must apply: - The ventilation system must be operating in summer (based on long-term temperature data) - The outside temperature must be 2°C lower than the exhaust air temperature - The comfort temperature must be set lower than the exhaust air temperature - The outside temperature must be greater than 13°C (below this the bypass is always deactivated) Other brands may use simpler criteria.

Not me, but just in case you haven't seen it.....

Thats what I do.

I can never access that web archive site. Anyway I'm sure it was mentioned on here. What was his username?

Just looking to start a thread on the use of timber shingles and see what detailing people have had specified by their PD. I’ve done a lot of reading, but haven’t seen any of this in practice. Timber shingles on timber frame house Assuming batten & counter battens (25mmx50mm) Specifically interested in: Fire stopping Detailing around windows & doors Ventilation - size of gaps top & bottom Gable Roofline What are your experiences in practice?… (photos encouraged 😁)

I visited an estate belonging to the agricultural university in Peru last month. It is close to Jauja, in a pleasant, fertile valley at about 3300 meters above sea level. Note the night-day oscillations. The Koeppen-Geiger climate type is Cwb (no doubt the drier end of it). There's quite a bit of sun year-round - you can really feel it, since there's less atmosphere above you than usual. It was clear to me that the university's bungalows were designed by someone who knew something about passive solar principles, at least as they were understood some 30 years ago or so. At the same time, whenever something has broken, it seems to have been repaired by people whose main goal may have been to fix things as cheaply as possible, and certainly did not understand the idea behind the buildings at all. There's no heating, so it does get a bit uncomfortable in the morning - I'd say 13C indoors or so. OF course, locals don't mind, in part because the bungalows are rarely used as of now, and in part because almost every other house in the valley (including nearly all modern construction) is surely colder. What is most telling is not shown here: (a) there is a light well in the middle of the bungalow that was surely thought of as a solar collector, but now is covered by glass that is neither translucent nor airtight. Surely something high-translucency is needed. (b) many local houses have beautiful terracotta (clay tile) roofs, but the bungalows have metal roofs, painted red so as to look a bit like clay. I was told that the reason was not hail (there is very little hail, ever, or so my informant said) but simply cost-cutting. s The university is actually thinking of renovating. I told them I might ask my friends over here for advice.

See you are located in London, we bought our plot with full planning permission for just under £100k, and it's 2 acres, with views of a loch. In London you pay more than that for somewhere park your car. Our labour cost are well below half what you would pay also.

So with the immersion enabled for heating (CH) it will be looking for a time to reach target flow temperature, this likely to be adjustable setting within the controller. If a lot of zones call for heat and your screed is cool, the time limit is possibly exceeded to get to target flow temperature. The heat pump controller says I need assistance the heat loss is bigger than I can cope with or the heat pump is broken turn on immersion. This mode is likely to remain the whole time you are calling for heat it should reset when heat is satisfied. A lot of the issue maybe as a result of how you operate the system, having lots of room thermostats are these all timed to go on and off a different periods during the day, or just set to a fixed target all day every day and acting as room limiters? BUT - You need to clarify clearly is the 20 degs room temperature or cylinder temperature? Because to me it's not clear?

really? i wouldnt imagine so

Just go with the original SE design. Send the drawings to Keystone or IG for a take-off and quote for the lintels.

I know what I've said above is a bit off topic from your question @flanagaj but I think it's relevant. If you've already satisfied yourself that the second SE is right and the first is wrong then why are you questioning the seconds proposal? If you have not satisfied yourself about who is correct then I feel you need to resolve that first. Clarifying this, it's likely you need bracing anyway. So the OSB is required in any case. But my point is that maybe the first SE specified heavier OSB than normal or other details about that to deal with the situation that has been missed by the second. If you look at their calculations are they basing them on the same wind load or have they started from a different base? If so, why?