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  1. Apart from the “picture from the mound” timelapse blog entry, there’s not been much of an update since mid September 2022. So, get your preferred hot drink (maybe a SteamyTea), and settle back for the next instalment. Where were we? SWMBO was still in recovery from her foot infection - you remember? The one that might have killed her? The second floor ICF had been installed, and the concrete poured. I’m still going to spare you any pictures of the foot, but here is a concrete pump truck instead. So, next on the list - a roof please. But before that, the final steel beams had to be installed [FX - thumbs twiddling in the foreground and whistling can be heard as we wait for the steelworker once again], but it wasn’t too long a wait, and by mid October 2022 we had the beams installed. In late October and early November I set to work with the ground worker to do some backfilling, and of course on the days I chose to have the digger onsite, Cornwall delivered some of its traditional autumnal weather so any attempt to properly compact anything was nigh on futile. In the meantime, more joists, endless sheets of T&G OSB, vapour barrier, 160mm deep sheets of PIR insulation, and some of the biggest screws are readied for ordering. The joists arrived in and in early December I had my supervisor and client (SWMBO) back on site 🙂, and she has graduated to being a mountain goat. She now refers to the site as her "happy place", even though we have a strong suspicion that the infection was started by a visit to a local beach. By mid April, with help from some now local family members, we’d installed the roof joists, and in mid May we were ready to start boardin’, vapour barrierin’, and insulatin’. The GRP was installed in mid July 2022 (by others). I’d also been readying the Great West Wall (GWW) to have the triple glazed sliding doors and windows installed (by others), and this took place in mid August, just in time for my significant birthday. There were some fitting errors, but I have to take my hat off to the installation company, they have been back to rectify their work, and have supported me with making the suppliers change some of the sliding door fittings as they were just not correct despite their protestations. In October, we had the mains electric and meter moved from their temporary location to inside the house. Over the ensuing autumn and winter months, we’ve been installing some of the final internal partition walls, running water pipes, installing more insulation around the GWW windows, and recently started on the ventilation ducting following some core drilling being undertaken (Tip: always ask for a hole to be drilled that is about 10mm bigger than you need - expanding foam is your friend. I donate my scar tissue to you all 😂) In December, I got made redundant. No worries, this may actually be a blessing in disguise. Next up on the list: Finish ventilation system Finish insulating the GWW Finish backfilling Electrics Floors Walls ASHP and HWC Kitchen Bathrooms The remaining plumbing Outer wall coverings But, in the meantime, we have the small matter of our daughter’s wedding. DOES SHE NOT KNOW WE’RE TRYING TO BUILD A HOUSE!? (Time to end: 2 years 🙂 )
    13 points
  2. Hi, I wrote an introduction post on here back in 2021 and shared some floorplans for our planned new build in North Wiltshire. As it's been a while, I thought I'd re-introduce myself and do an update post. In early 2023 we broke ground. Since then we built the insulated raft foundation (Greenraft) and the ground floor walls in Polarwall ICF. It's slow going as I'm doing almost all the work myself. We've had a fair few issues, the biggest were our first wall supplier (Isotex) going bust after we’d paid them, and I had to fire our combined engineer/architectural technicians (probably worth a post in itself – but long story short, I can't recommend Build Collective). I’m hoping to ask around the forums for some help/advice on a few things in the coming weeks. In the meantime, enjoy some progress photos! The dig and backfilling, with roller. Sand layer with insulated drainage pop-ups Greenraft insulation for insulated slab foundation. 200mm insulation and 300mm concrete slab Mesh, rebar and underfloor heating Concrete pour And today, with ground floor walls up - ready for the pour
    8 points
  3. Good news everyone! We just called their office just to follow up because they didn’t reply from my email. The glass is on order and they will get back in contact to arrange for fitting. (will update you once they have done it) The heavy weight on my shoulders have been lifted!!! Thinking of the court proceedings had given me so much anxiety. All your inputs and advises have helped me so much, so thank you ever so much. This has been a big lesson for me and hopefully this will be a lesson to someone else. Again, thank you!!!
    7 points
  4. Works no problem, I even have 300mm pipe spacing, 100mm concrete and again no issue. But they are a bit of a learning curve. Few things I found through experimenting, you need to be aware of. Changing floor temperature and house is quite a long process (many hours), so a normal thermostat is just rubbish and you get big under and over swings. You really need to use a 0.1 Deg hysterisis thermostat. You cannot use room compensation as the algorithms cannot cope with the long reaction times. Don't bother trying to do temperature setbacks, they generally don't work the way you expect. You cannot switch the heating on at work and hope to have a warm house when you get home (unless you do when you arrive at work). There is zero point zoning, run as a single zone. Two options of how to operate, charge the floor and use like a storage heater, or continuously feed the floor at a low temperature. I have done both and they work equally well. 5 degs difference in flow temp is the difference in the two methods. I am on E7 with ASHP, battery and charge the floor at 33 degs (overnight), for between 7 and 12 hrs depending on outside temp, automated with a timer thermostat. Generally it takes another 12 to 18 hrs to cool enough for the heating to come back on again. The wife was quite shocked the other week when it was near freezing outside (6pm) and I told the heating actually went off at about 10am and was not coming back on until after midnight. You can't do that with 50mm screed.
    6 points
  5. The timber frame arrived this week from the factory. There was a large crane onsite all day yesterday. Got decent weather, no wind and only a bit wet in the morning. The lads have the walls fully up, 1st floor done and a ridge beam in place. They are starting cutting the roof today as that is built in situ. Really surprising walking around the rooms after looking at drawings for years! The window openings are a LOT bigger than I ever thought though, huge would be the description! Had a lodger arrive already - neighbours cat performing 1st inspection! Thanks to everyone on BuildHub for their support, advice and inspiration from their own experiences to help me get this project off the ground after SO long!!
    5 points
  6. Around 11 months ago, we started from a stripped site, the treatment plant was in and running the cabins / static so drainage just required connecting up. we had to wait for the warrant to be amended (change to the certificate of deign) this held us back ma month or so until the BCO just said "get on with it, we can sort that later"- top guy!! If we had waited for the amended certificate of design we would still be building, it took him 5 months to get it to us. I've documented most of the build in blogs on here, partly to have a refence to remember the process, partly as pay back to Buildhub for the inspiration and pointers in the planning / design stage. I'm so glad I spent hours looking at and reading others blogs that we made the switch to ICF. I'm convinced there is no way I would have achieved the efficiency I have for the money spent. Budget was always tight, so some decisions have been made due to Hobson's choice, leading to triple glazed UPVC windows and composite doors. The front door, south facing GRP Composite with low threshold and a slim glass panel leaks with 40mph winds, this leaks through the gazing cassette, and the low threshold. as I know we wont use this door much, we went for a slam lock, another mistake, it blows a gale through. To be fair the company are re making, I'm just not sure if there re-making the panel or the full door, I did ask, if they were remaking the full door to change to standard handle and lock, so it can be adjusted to minimise the drafts. we will see what happens, a full door replacement will mean taking off the reveals in side so a complete PITA, but worth it for no drafts. We had the airtightness test carried out, and they used the front door for the blower door to mitigate any issues with that door. I had put caps in the MVHR. so he just cracked on, the back door is not perfect again due to the low threshold. He didn't seal the blower door to the frame, not sure what the procedure is but seemed a little frustrating. We achieved 0.88 Air permeability, which I'm very happy with, budget wise we didn't spend hundreds on airtightness tape, just designed good solutions, and the doors leak a bit . Our As built EPC came back at A103 , with a possibility of A128.. the report say A105 if we install Thermal Solar EST saving of £40 pa , and A128 with a wind turbine EST saving of £1100 pa, so pretty much the best we could hit. To finish we need to sort out some paths outside, ramp, and the rain water pond, but other than the second bedroom need decorating the house is done. Next week we will hopefully get building control around to see what he 'needs' to get a completion cert. I'm hoping for some flexibility on the ramp and pond, . We need the VAT refund to pay for this stuff. We are working our way through the invoices, but we built for less the 90K and we still need the VAT refund. I've enjoyed it all, and we both agree we have a home. Good luck to all of you with your current builds.
    5 points
  7. They look good the HEP20 ones...
    5 points
  8. My DIY H or C manifold under test using my DIY tester at 2.5 bar
    4 points
  9. By way of 2016-17 prices, our village plot was worth about £150-200K, bought-ins about £350K, labour and profession fees save by our contribution maybe another £120K giving an effective total of £650K which was about what roughly comparable houses were selling for in a village setting at the time. OK, splitting the plot off probably lost us only about £50K off the selling price of our old farmhouse. We have no CiL then and saved on stamp duties so probably saved ourselves maybe £250K on buying a "comparable" previously built house in the area. Except of course that you could buy a passive-class house and certainly not the exact spec that we wanted nor to the build standard that we actually achieved. There were some major cost elements imposed by the LPA, e.g. local stone exterior skin, and natural slate roof, that added to our bought-ins. At today's prices we would probably be looking at £750-800K to do a custom build to this spec. Can I suggest that it might be worth looking at an MBC twinwall TF build as an alternative to ICF at least for the main living space? Their warm slab and TF design patterns have been well tuned to a passive-class standard over more than a decade's refinement. I agree that if you've run your own building company, then you and whoever else in your family that worked in it will have lots of relevant experience, and you will have many areas of expertise in-house that you can either use directly or to enable a decent level of quality control. One thing that many here evangelise is achieving a passive class build as this has major running cost savings, as well a far more comfortable living environment. We are in our early 70s now, so we appreciate this as we age. We keep our entire house at 21-23 °C (the first floor bedrooms are a couple of degrees cooler than the ground floor) 24 × 7, and really miss this when we visit our children and other relatives. I personally would recommend that you or one of your close family really gets their head around the implications of building to passive class: where the heat goes and (through solar gain) where it comes in. Relevant contributions of: slab losses, external walls, roof, fenestration, air exchanges. Get a good feel for the impact of U values and how these reflect unit costs and performance; air-tightness and air exchange losses, and so on. You will need to make various trade-offs to optimise costs vs achievement off your overall spec, and you or someone you really trust has to make these decisions. Achieving this class of house requires an attention to detail both in design and in construction. It is not unusual for two houses with the same nominal as-designed spec to vary in as-built performance by a factor of 2. An example "close to home" is that my daughter's living room is impossible to heat economically: the large panel of bifold doors leading onto the garden have a poor U-value and leak terribly; areas of wall and ceiling insulation are missing. You haven't mentioned your age, but I infer that you are getting close to retirement and therefore this will be your property "to retire into", so living comfort will be important. You've mentioned a gym and workshop but what you have mentioned in bridging space to the exterior: a conservation or atrium. I am not talking about the 5 × 4m bolt on the side of an existing property, but in your case you have lots of area to include a decent spacious environment that to could properly integrate into the building fabric, and that could connect you to the garden. OK, not needed in the summer where you are planning to build, but this could extend you comfortable "outside-ish" space for another 3-4 months of the year. BTW, even Nick (@SteamyTea) would admit to being a tad irascible at times; yes, he is also very particular about units, dimensions etc., because the implications of kW vs kWh, etc. are a lot more than a little "h". He is also well respected for his contributions here by the forum regulars. 🙂
    4 points
  10. Hire a Spit nail gun. Will make clipping / mechanical fixings a doddle. No more drill / plug / screw etc.
    4 points
  11. But the principles apply. Play with them. Avoid their gimmicks for the last 1/2% improvement, and other fads. A lot of people on here have aimed for 'close to passivhaus' standard, in their own terms. In my opinion. Low and slow ashp, with the units positioned for aesthetics. No windmills. Consider future solar panels, by putting a cable duct in. But mostly, quality design detailing and construction, which trump everything else and are hard to achieve, so read other people's issues on BH for what to look for.
    4 points
  12. I'm not an electrician or anything so I can't comment other than to say that with option two you need two additional junction boxes so more places for things to go wrong. Easier if the cabling comes off the sockets so you can access it more easily to check for problems in future.
    4 points
  13. Advise you don't do this.. you'll make more of a mess and it is not worth it. Find a local digger driver who knows what they are doing and is used to working with your soil type. Pay them well and they will give you all sorts of other tips about drains etc.. the founds and with a couple of bacon rolls even more. They could also tell you what ground workers to avoid and who is good locally. I love working with local digger drivers etc as they are doing this day in and out.. they hear what past SE / Goetec Enginners have been telling them and can "feel the ground and see" with their machine. Why not rely / take into account on their local knowledge? It's a no brainer for me! I always want to work with an experienced local machine driver when doing say trial pits or doing founds.. they have saved my bacon on occasions! I know you are thinking you may make a saving getting a machine yourself.. but look at this holistically and the advice you may get.. also you'll get a found in the right place. Digging founds is not easy as you have have a digging strategy.. so you don't box yourself in. Also if you want to have a go yourself then there is a soil bulking factor.. what you dig out grows a lot and if you don't stockpile it properly and seal it ( a skill) then later you'll have a harder job to handle that.
    4 points
  14. Its viable But dont underestimate how crap you will be with a digger first time out. Creating a neat level trench isnt as easy as a good operator will make it look. And if your trench is all over the place, you will munch up a load of extra concrete. Ive done a lot of diggering. Not sure even now i could do "nice" trnches for foundations.
    4 points
  15. Nobody listens to instructions, nobody reads drawings. They're forbidden from thinking. Not because they're not capable but because there's a cultural rift between those allowed to do the thinking and those allowed to do the doing. It's totally archaic. If I was to do the house again I'd lock the site with one key and keep it that way unless I was there.
    4 points
  16. Kitchen and utility room finished. I need to fit the overflow for the utility room as it wasn’t in the pack and fit some black laminate tape to the top and bottom of the cookers as the light grey carcass stands out like a sore thumb. The sink drawer unit has been a pia but I managed to get the kitchen manufacturer to make me two short drawers and I cut out the back of the top drawer to get it to go past the sink. Feels a bit bodgy but it works and looks fine. I’ve made a bit of an arse of the Quooker plumbing insofar that the flex bit doesn’t really work as the weight is fouling the other hoses. I’m not entirely sure I can fix it to be much better. A job for another day. Main thing is we have hot and cold water in the house now.
    3 points
  17. It's the "system" built up around the BUS grant that forces a cartel to charge as they please. Perhaps the journalists would do better if they looked at an installation in detail, costed the equipment supplied, noted how many people and how long it took then ask "so how can you be charging £4K for 2 man days work"? (for example)
    3 points
  18. cheapest is definably solar, heat pump and an eddi diverter. As for capital cost, buy a 5k kitchen instead of a 25k kitchen. Same reasoning.
    3 points
  19. If it's a summer house with sofa beds which are very occasionally used, who'd know? who'd care?
    3 points
  20. I wouldn’t do that as it could cause you different problems. Figure out how to fix the problems you have. It’s all doable with a bit of thought, care, and the right products.
    3 points
  21. Right, so I was able to test to 6 bar using the pump I had. I now have two sealed manifolds ready. I guess the next test will be when I connect them up to the mains in a few months time. Thank you to everyone for your input. PS, I am a convert to the liquid sealant which worked first time on the joint I was having problems with. (High-Tech 35 S 77 PTFE Sealant for Gas and Liquid WRA compliant from my local (non-chain) plumbers merchant)
    3 points
  22. Welcome, I am probably one of the few people with a similar sized house on the forum. I think this is quite a general discussion and if you want advice on anything specific such as ICF then it is probably best to create a specific post referencing that. This kind of intro post is likely to become quite rambling. To some extent you are really building three houses which makes things more manageable, but I would not underestimate the costs and time require to maintain such a large building. I would maybe try and decide this within the family before going ahead. There is always something breaking, not working as expected, needing replaced etc. it takes up a lot of time and money. Think of the maintenance on 10 standard three bed houses. How will it be owned, costs apportioned etc. My house is around 1000sq metres including the integral garage. It cost around £2m to build 8-6 years ago. We just finished a smaller house for my parents last year and it cost around twice as much per square metre. I would be quite concerned that your budget is low and already seems tight. In my experience I got constant questions from the architect and builder over the course of construction. The questions always went along the lines of we can do A that costs X or B that costs 2X. 9/10 B was the right decision. It would get very stressful if the budget was tight.
    3 points
  23. There is no easy way to command the ASHP to start up heating DHW when there is surplus PV, and in any case on a partly cloudy day PV production can go up and down in quantity very rapidly as clouds come and go. Yes the immersion is a COP of 1, but the energy it is using if "free" and not using it, it gets exported and wasted (at best paid at a low export rate if you are able) so better to use it than lose it. The PV diverter responds very quickly to peaks and troughs in the PV generation
    3 points
  24. I entered this thanks to a poke from @MikeSharp01. What @NailBiter is going through now is a journey that we started back in later 2013, with us moving into our new build in Dec 2017, a 3-storey passive-class (almost) house were we live on floors 0+1 and my son has bedsit style area in the warm loft on 2. This is about a quarter of what NB is planning. We've been living in the place for over 6 years, and we are still amazed at how well it has all turned out in terms of performance as built against design expectation, and also in terms of its extreme durability and ease of maintenance. We build on a split plot by selling the other ½ with its 17-19C stone farmhouse. We saved a lot of money by doing a lot of the design, procurement and internal trades ourselves. So the entire process was extremely profitable My rule was only to take on tradework where our standard of build / finish would be at least as good as we could get from local tradesmen, and since we kept a very tight control on compliance and quality, the overall build standard is consistently high. Overall we put in over 3 person-years of equivalent effort. This was a big percentage (effort and therefore saving) of a 230m2 build, though it took us years to recover from putting in this effort and the general strain/stress. Our sort of input just wouldn't dent a 1,200 m2 build. You are going to have to rely on buying in at a realistic commercial rate a far larger percentage of trades and professional services. Also guessing your extended family size, I suspect you have an expectation of a lifestyle, per-person use and general quality of finish that is also on a different level from what most members here aim for. I make this comment with no criticism intended, but more of a level-set from my experience and costs at 2015-2017 prices: my instinct is that you are at least 100% out on your budget expectations. I would strongly suggest that you have the entire project plan and scope independently reviewed and costed by an experienced quantity surveyor: your overall project scope needs to be realistically matched to your finances, as there is not point in running out of cash with a half built project. I have a few technical comments, but I will defer them to later posts.
    3 points
  25. 3 points
  26. @phykell thanks for recommending my Permitted Development videos. In a previous life I did some planning consultancy, submitting appeals on dubious planning decisions. Nowadays I lurk on BuildHub when not progressing my own selfbuild
    3 points
  27. Me. Please don't do that. Erector. If I was going to fall off, I would have died years ago. Me to HSE: I want to use fall nets. HSE: They are a continental idea and we don't allow them. The erectors must shuffle along and hook themselves* to the structure. Now? At least the rules are clear, albeit costly. * that's a slow (15 mins?) way to die of blood blockage, hanging in a harness, unless there is a mewp to get you down.
    3 points
  28. +1 on the above. done far too many small portals as fill in jobs and lost money on every one …. And that was during 90’s when steel erectors walked over portals, climbed columns and monkeyed across purlins.
    3 points
  29. Erection only? I'd say that will take 4 skilled men : day 1. Offload and prep. 2 erect primary steel and a few rails 3 to 5 remaining rails. 6 sundries and clear up. 7 contingency so 7 x 4 x £250 average? crane or FL 2 days mewp 7 days 10% sundries 30% markup if a working owner. Otherwise 50% £13k. To £15k assumes ready availability of the skills, if not, add accordingly. and a hard running surface. Inside and perimeter. If not, forget the above. assumes all parts correct, foundation bolts correct, and no drillling. would i do it for that? No. Too many things go wrong with other peoples frames on other peoples sites.
    3 points
  30. Misery really loves company. I had to have an ecology survey including bats, newts, etc. together with an aboricultural (tree) survey for my house renovation together with an archaeological report penned by an archaeologist who was on-site whilst all of the foundations were dug - the same archaeologist also did a full report on the structure/design of the house as it was to be added to the heritage asset list - it was built in the 1750s and the conservation area it's in was mentioned in the Domesday book - the land dates back to the Romans as well so I didn't mind the archaeological report to be fair but the total cost of all of the surveys was quite something. OK, so around a year later, I then wanted to demolish a dilapidated garage and replace it with a much larger outbuilding. Despite the fact I had all of the surveys from just over 12 months before, the council demanded that I redo the ecological and the arboricultural ones (no archaelogical survey required, luckily), despite the fact that the earlier reports had found no bats, newts, etc. and the old garage/new outbuilding, were nowhere near any trees. I asked if the previous reports could be "updated" but was told that wasn't an option. The ecologist visited and decided that while he found no evidence of bats, that the old garage, before it was to be demolished, needed to have a bat survey done as there were places where they could easily access the garage, though that would only happen in roosting season. I was told to have another survey to check if bats were using the garage to roost but I'd have to wait as it wasn't the right time of year, delaying me by several months. However, I then repaired the roof/eaves of the garage to be demolished so that if bats did turn up to roost, they wouldn't be able to, obviating the need to conduct a roosting survey (so I thought) - however, I was told that wasn't an option either! Fast forward to roosting season, two people turned up, sat in their car watching for bats to enter/exit the (now fixed) garage roof and eaves, walked around the property a couple of times and left after a couple of hours. Despite it only requiring a tick box to say "Bats present - NO", the report was delayed and took over a month to complete. Money for old rope indeed.
    3 points
  31. I would take a blend of both. There are a lot of very well versed individuals on this forum, and I for one have zero ‘credentials’ to relate to building a certified passivhaus. However, I recently engaged with a PH certified architect, 25 years of PH design experience, and I got my design in at 88% efficient vs his 87%. He asked me a lot of questions, I gave very robust and reasonable replies, he conceded and the client then changed the MVHR design (well, the entire MEP design) and supplier on my say-so (and agreed to accept they’d lost £1k on the 1st design deposit). A PH certified home builder now builds differently, after 30 years of PH experience, after meeting me and hearing how I have approached creating homes that consider M&E etc and how we’ve integrated things on other clients previous builds. In terms of qualifications, I have a clean driver license, that’s it. But I do have bucketloads of tenacity, a passion for what I do, and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Most of the stuff I’ve learned has come from exchanges here, with invaluable input, argument, reason, and real-life data (there’s a HUGE amount of it here if you want to spend some time digging). One PH certified architect overlooked insulation in the foundations (😮), also didn’t have any clue about MVHR or space heating. Credentials coming out of every orifice, none that they understood or practiced well afaic. 💩 I’d rethink your confidence in ‘all that glitters’, as only a select few turn out to be gold… but I certainly do hope you have some of the best at hand. You’ll need it, as there’s a LOT to correlate and execute correctly at yours.
    3 points
  32. I’ve wet dashed ours with K Dash Ive several pumps that spray the dash but my wife wanted it more random Like I used to do 30 years back in the Lake District White cement Silver sand 3-1-1 The silicone renders keep there colour better
    3 points
  33. i understand this but one thing i've learnt (and there have been many!) during my journey is that not all 'accredited' professionals are created equal. nothing beats getting the opinions of others (even if they are complete strangers on the internet) as they generally do not have any sort of vested interest in the questions you're asking or solutions you're trying to find. and then you can compare the answers and make an informed decision. Also there are many ways to skin a cat. and just because someone says one way is best doesn't mean there isn't another way that is equally as good. just my 2 cents.
    3 points
  34. I am curious. You've had plans drawn up, commissioned a builder and started work. Why did you conclude that it wouldn't need PP? I am assuming that you have read the "Permitted development rights for householders, Technical Guidance" before starting the development (I see that @joe90 has already given you the link.) As far as I can see, the PD limit for an infill extension is 8m not 10m. You've also got the side elevation within 300mm of the curtilage and added two fenestration openings directly overlooking the neighbour. IMO, stop and start talking to the planners.
    3 points
  35. My house (EPC A rated) has done nearly 60 years so far. Stick built. Rgds Damon
    3 points
  36. Finished the Kore Passive Raft Foundation this week. Just in time as it's currently sleeting it down out there! Cold enough to make a pour more difficult. they set in a 70mm rebate for the lift & slide door and also cut out the kore to let the concrete out to the edge (up to shuttering) for a steel post to carry the blockwork over the two corner windows. We'll insulate around that later. the Kore went in really fast, then rebar, ductwork for the kitchen island and getting it finished before more cold weather kicked in. It rained just after lunchtime which slowed down the curing. But really pleased with progress and we're ready for the timber frame next!
    3 points
  37. Just to add to the wealth of knowledge on here. We have just completed our insulated raft using xps with concrete 250mm thick at 100m2. Installed the foul drains and surface water out to a soakaway. All in, including labour it's come to £26K and a bit. Hope this might help with others budgeting.
    3 points
  38. We are right on the border between Dorset and Devon so possibly even closer to you. If I'm not a divorcee living in a box I'll invite you round when done. This house is being built for 3 generations of both my partners family and my family (5 people, extra on the way) and includes an Annexe, a Flat and what we call the Winter Garden which links the two buildings (building A: house, building B: flat and annexe). Large yes but I believe excusably so (the architect politely disagrees). The workshop, courtyard and the garage are about 200 m2 of that too. The combined building is a rectangle that is 42m long, 10m wide and it gets thinner as it goes up. The basement is 500m2. We have planning and we have gentlemen on site forming the access route. Geotech drilling round 2 is currently ongoing fingers crossed for a good result. Planning required a ratcheting approach that took 3 permission across as many years. I didn't want to leave too much to chance and didn't want a refusal. Why not build something smaller and extend: 1. CIL costs would apply to any extension but not the initial build. This is a not insignificant saving of something like £200,000 for the whole build. 2. The site is beautiful and I want to get it landscaped before completely the entire building beyond first fix (we don't need all the space yet). 3. With inflation nothing is getting cheaper, we had a windfall and we don't want money losing value in the bank. 4. Due to the layout of the building (flat, annexe, winter garden, house, 1st floor house south, 1st floor house north) it is easy to take on piecemeal. 5. My family ran a small building company but this is far beyond our capabilities. Once we are water tight we are back inside our comfort zone. 6. VAT exemptions provide further savings. The goal is to try and get substructure and superstructure finished externally inside of about £1 million to 1.5 million. After that I will be starting to run out of money so need to prioritise carefully and not give up my day job! I really don't mind if I'm still plodding on this project in 10 years time as long as my (extended) family are happy and comfortable.
    3 points
  39. Final two photo's 8053 is the steel, sorry it was getting dark when I rembered to take this. Layer of A393 mesh in bottom and top with a further layer of A393 min 1.0 m wide around the upper perimeter (we just used the 1.4m offcuts from the main mesh). A couple of embedded beams using 16mm bars where the main load bearing walls are. 8059 is the finished raft with a muddy surface due to the state of the ground whilst the rain water drainage was being done. I'll power wash it off before the frame arrives.
    3 points
  40. im doing this, Cotswold stone cut down to form a stone slip.
    3 points
  41. Woodcrete ICF, used exterior quality tile cement and real stone slips direct to the ICF. Photos were taken a couple of years apart.
    3 points
  42. There is a vast difference in a digger driver and a guy who can drive a digger. To learn that quick to undertake the actual footings is a massive risk. It's a lot harder than you think to dig a straight line and have the bottom flat. That takes a lot of experience. The cost implications of being out of line are massive. Hire a digger driver with his own machine in and give him a hand. Mark the site out and peg the corners and do all the dirty work and let him dig and earn his money. Help with the concreting and the other jobs he needs a hand with. If you really want to hire a digger in do it later on for tidying the place up and putting the road, paths, drainage etc in. There is a lot more scope here to not be as accurate as you need to be when doing the foundations.
    3 points
  43. Fitted the big feature wall tile and the island pendant lights. Bit of centering issue so had to move two of them by 7cm to fix so some holes to fill. Also finished the first room (utility room) apart from final paint and sealing the edges of everything.
    3 points
  44. Yes BUT. The replacement plant will be electric. That is a lot of extra green electricity needed if it is not to simply shift the emissions to a power station instead. AND that will only recycle old steel, not make new virgin steel from ore. We probably still need that new virgin steel somewhere in the world, so it is almost certain that new steel will just be made somewhere else, another country getting the jobs and the profit, while being "blamed" for the polution. But not to worry, it helps us meet our target so none of that metters.
    3 points
  45. Recently we have had a few people talking about domestic hot water (DHW) and how large the storage cylinder should be, and how long it will take to reheat. So in the best tradition of the scientific methods, I got a 2 litre jug, a thermometer and started the stopwatch on my phone. Then I measured the flow rate from my tap. Now I have a combined tap that mixes the hot and cold. As it is an old fashion one, it does not a thermostatic mixer, I put my hand in the water and see if it sensible temperature. Today I actually measured it at 38°C. A bit colder than I like (once my feet have got used to it), but perfectly good for a relatively quick morning bath. My two litre jug filled up in 8 seconds, so a flow rate of 15 litres per minute. After 3.5 minutes the bath was half full, which is fine for a quick morning bath, so it took 52.5 litres, which is actually less than I thought. I also measured the temperature of my incoming water, 9°C. The energy needed 4.18 [kJ.kg-1.K-1] x 52.5 [kg] x (38 - 9) [ΔT, temperature difference] = 6,364.05 kJ, or, 1.77 kWh So allowing for standing losses from the cylinder, that can be called 2 kWh. As I have not check the flow rate of my shower since I fitted it nearly 20 years ago, and I checked it when it did not have a shower head fitted, I thought I would do it again, properly. 8 litres per minute. Now this does not seem very high, but to be honest, it is better than most showers I have used recently, so I have no complaints. Now when I get home from work and want to wash the blood, sweat and tears off, I usually spend about 3 minutes in the shower. It actually runs for about 4 minutes to get the cold water out the pipes, and gives me a chance to get my buff body out of my clothes. So that is 32 litres of water. The energy needed 4.18 [kJ.kg-1.K-1] x 32 [kg] x (38 - 9) [ΔT, temperature difference] = 3,879.04 kJ, or, 1.08 kWh That is 1 kWh less, another 3 minutes and it is the same as a bath. To reheat with my bog standard Economy 7 2.8 kW heating element takes 1.77 [kWh] / 2.8 kW = 0.63 h or 38 minutes for the bath 1.08 [kWh] / 2.8 [kW] = 0.39 h or 23.2 minutes. As I have E7, I obviously have to wait until the early morning for heating. I currently pay about 16p/kWh so a bath costs me 28p. Now to take a stab at how large a cylinder is needed. My cylinder is 200 litres, but the top temperature is generally 48°C and the bottom temperature is 20°C (about house ambient temperature). That gives the top 100 litres, which is two bath fulls, a mean temperature of 42°. That is enough for 2 baths, or 3 showers. You could probably squeeze an extra shower out of that without raising the temperature, or raise the temperature and easily get 3 baths and 5 showers. The reheat times will obviously go up, but not drastically. To heat 150 litres of water 4.18 [kJ.kg-1.K-1] x 150 [kg] x (38 - 9) [ΔT, temperature difference] = 18,183 kJ, or, 5.05 kWh Reheating at 2.8 kW 5.05 [kWh] / 2.8 [kW] =1.8 hours or 108 minutes.
    3 points
  46. When we do long journeys there are 2 of us sharing the driving, stops are usually dictated by the need to empty ones bladder. Doing that and refuelling takes minutes. At the moment, people are pretending that an EV is no less convenient than an ICE car. And yes if your usual pattern of use is short journeys it probably is. But it is not there yet for more demanding usage. Perhaps it will get there? Or perhaps those who want us to change to EV's might have to start being a bit more honest and admit at some times things will be a but less convenient, sometimes perhaps even downright awkward with an EV compared to an ICE. We are a multiple car household, and I see the likelyhood that at some point our present small hybrid car will be replaced with an EV and that will do most of the miles, but retaining my big ICE lump for the tasks the EV is not suitable. Particularly with me retiring, that ICE car will probably end up not doing many miles which seems a pretty good compromise to me. I will nearer 2035 take the opportunity to upgrade it so something newer (not new) so it stands a chance of remaining in service longer. But in contrasts to switching to EV's, switching from an old leaky fossil fuel fired house to an almost passive house new build heated with a heat pump gives all the benefits without a single disadvantage that I can think of to the end user and many benefits.
    3 points
  47. Thanks both. The floor people have accepted liability (how generous!) although not actually apologised. They are paying for the plumber to dig out that section of pipe and replace. However I will now be left with two compression fittings buried under the floor. Honestly, the level of incompetence displayed by some people is astounding and is a never ending source of wonder and amazement to me.
    3 points
  48. Don't assume the one in COM is L feed. There is an equal argument for putting L feed into L1 for 1 way switching. The switch probably works by harvesting a tiny amount of power through the L-Sw connection and a tiny current passing through the "off" light. In which case it probably does not know and will probably work either way. But really, it makes me shudder anyone doing ANYTHING on electrics without something to test for live, or more important test for dead. I am old school (and some will flame me) but I have a motto "Never touch anything that my neon screwdriver has not touched first. If you really must use a volt stick instead, then make SURE every use you test your volt stick on a known live wire. The other mantra is "test your tester, test for dead, test your tester again.
    3 points
  49. If you're using an ASHP, I'd go larger than the recommendations suggest. A larger volume allows you to heat more water to a lower temperature, giving you the same useful output but allowing a higher COP.
    3 points
  50. Reliance is a very well known valve/pneumatic type company they where bought out by John guest. it’s good gear.
    3 points
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