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Good points. I will think further. I assume I wasn't sharpening the CsS properly: I had a simple round file, and thought I was following the instructions, but perhaps not. Thinking further, the hours of use for these won't be high so cheapo tools may suffice. And the tangled bushes will eventually behave better and the trusty bow saw and pruning saw will be usable again.

Let's go back a stage before throwing money at fashionable tech. Where is the humidity coming from? Is it just wet rooms and breathing? If so then extractor fans as above is the simple first step. But could there be dampness problems through the fabric?

Which airtight tape is best for window reveal cavity closers to blockwork? I need to start buying air tight tape for various areas of the build, but first up, i need to order some asap to seal the plastic cavity closers to the internal block work reveals before the windows get fitted next week. I've just realised I'm going to need to tape one side of the closer before the frames go in. I'm having the frames set back into the cavity by 25mm, so window reveal fixing straps are being used, these will over lap the closer, meaning taping later wont make a decent seal. Siga fentrim was suggested for some areas but its very expensive. Just to add, all block work reveals are painted in airtight paint and closers will be modified to be thicker.

Really! Missing a trick if you don't, the heat exchanger becomes unbalanced and you don't get the heat recovery you should. Do properly or really don't bother wasting your time, effort and shed load of cash on MVHR.

There are a few creaks. I'll get them screwed down. Maybe one area of bounce. I don't think it needs screw for every board - which are nailed. But definitely a big bag of screws is a good idea. They need pilot holes I imagine. I put a few in and I think I made them worse as the board tried to lift

Chainsaws are f dangerous in my opinion, even the diddy ones. I firmly believe that if you’re used to using a chainsaw then fine, if not a sabre saw will be safer for things like tree lopping (to about 3” ) and cutting up pallets. Sabre saws have blades that cope with nails, chainsaws don’t. Chainsaws can kick like a mule with toothache if you hit the wrong stuff. That said, I’ve done many hundreds of hours on chainsaws, and I’d give up my sabre saw in an instant over my light sabre (AKA top handle single battery micro chain saw). I use it one handed for all kinds of stuff, it’s a lot safer to use on a ladder than a two handed saw. May the force be with you.

Easy to DIY MVHR in a banalow, these days I would use a good semi flexible duct system. No need to balance or get airflow 100% correct. But if cheap electricity a dehumidifier is also a good option.

Bloody fair play old chap. I am going to have a celebratery cup of tea for ya. Its a bit late, and means i will need more than One wee during the night, but i just don't care.

I have got One in my posh shed. 10kW. Instant with no stored water. A bit rubbish, but my only source of hot water in there. I do have posh filtered drinking water though. Must check when i last changed the filter😅

You won't have an earth-neutral bond once the grid is disconnected from your installation by the inverter in the event of a power cut. DNO earth-neutral bond isn't necessarily at your intake position either. It certainly won't be in a TN-S earthing system (although yours is likely to be TN-C-S (PME) if a new connection).

Not standard, but best practice, especially if you are doing cooling as well. Make sure the two products are from same manufacturer. I use Adey MCP1+ and MC10+ rapide, can be sprayed into the filling loop, takes 30 seconds. Do once you have all the air out the system and no leaks.

Thanks, that'll be the plan! Is there anything more I can do for belt and braces, as it will be driven over daily? Additives to the SLC, priming with more then water etc?

Magic thanks.. ordered some freeze valves. Q4: Is it standard practice to put BOTH inhibitors and biocides in the UFH loop?

Seen the video, yes you can get a good CoP, but you still have the downward heat loss. Two schools of thought, loads of insulation or none, nothing in-between. Zero insulation you keep the UFH on all the time to keep ground charged. No, unless heat pump is huge. 6kW and 210L is a recharge time of 45 to 60 mins, 300L cylinder would take 50% longer again. DHW heavy usage, gas boiler running against a heat pump cylinder, would give really quick reheat times.

Can you post a pic of the pipework under the boiler and another stood back a bit, so we can see if maybe it goes into a trap or a pump unit etc?

The subfloor needs to be robust, so no loose screws / nails, and no excess movement. Nothing will survive a moving deck. If the deck is nailed down, then I’d punch a 5.0 x 60mm screw in where every nail is, right alongside it, and get the preparation done properly. Is the bounce because they’re original, smaller joists, or because the deck isn’t fixed down properly?

One each side, so two, you then ensure the piping and heat exchanger within the heat pump are protected

With a higher hot water demand I’d recommend staying on gas. Cheap reliable workhorses with a still very reasonable running cost. Oodles of hot water and a very small footprint for a decent sized system boiler. You can still divert solar or battery power into hot water all summer, so the boiler will do a lot of sleeping during that part of the year. Maximises longevity too. You’d have to have a big ASHP and cylinder and the SCOP would defo take a hit, plus you will hurt the ASHP longevity too imo, asking it to do DHW all winter, and heating. Ive done a good few heat pump installs, so I’m good with either machine, but the solution should always be about the remit, and the client.

At the risk or reopening the can of worms and revisiting an old thread I am still wondering about the earth neutral bond relay in the event of a power cut. I have now ordered a Growatt 10k hybrid inverter and according to this diagram (from the Growatt manual) the earth neutral bond is permanent and provided by the DNO at the meter, or wherever it is. (Or at least it seems to be relying on the DNO E/N bond). In the event of a power cut it looks to me like the earth neutral bond still remains in place as the grid and home loads neutrals are connected and therefore the E/N bond is still intact. I suppose here the additional E/N bond relay would be necessary if there was a cable fault between the house and the DNO E/N bond, but doesn't that take place in the meter box? I'll have to have a ground spike anyway given that my grid connection is a way off but once it is in place...what then?

good idea on the mitre mate will have to try this . i fee; your pain with the knees and back 25 years of this has taken its toll

This has got me thinking: due to planning constraints I've ended up with a messy roof design - I can likely go for wide gaps between the sarking boards on the sections that will likely never be walked on, & this will give a worthwhile saving, but I'm guessing my standing seam will be going on before I get onto cladding the dormer faces & cheeks, so I'll need the adjacent roof sections to be more robust.

can you not lift a few of the floor boards and add in some dwangs to brace the floor and make it more rigid ,

I remember why the softwood option was cheaper I left large gaps between each board so used a load less boards not saying how big that’s up to you to decide. all fitted with 90mm galv ringshanks nails my labour was free, it took a bloody age. I researched this forever and found that a lot of EU countries used big gaps, and they have been installing this stuff longer than us.

I realise that. Heating hot water cylinders is where heat-pumps are least efficient. I was thinking a 300 litre (or maybe more) heat-geek cylinder with the 6 meter internal coil set at a reasonable temperature (hysteresis) may not be so bad. My son likes to have a bath almost every evening (helps him sleep) Sometimes he will empty it and constantly run the shower if left unchecked. When he's having the bath so may end up like two bath fills. That's like 200 litres right there I guess. Plus if anyone else is also showering it may end up needing more. Would 30 minutes not suffice for the heat-pump to reheat the cylinder? I realise that they can only do one thing at a time heating or hot water but didn't think it would mean a few hours of no heating. If that's the case I'm going to need massive battery storage to make it work so no money savings there. I'm not averse to keeping the gas boiler for the foreseeable future. Just would be nice to go all electric at home.

Russell's 100 x 25 is probably a better suggestion than my 150 x 25 - assuming there's negligible increase in flex. The 100s likely save more in materials than they cost in additional labour. Furthermore, I can see that fitting these is a job that I'd enjoy doing myself, so it doesn't matter too much if they're going to take an extra day.