Leaderboard

Morning, OH and I are just about to complete on a plot in Dorset. It currently has a 1950s pre-fab bungalow on it and we plan to demolish and re-build with an energy efficient house. There is no mains gas or sewage and broadband isn't scheduled to arrive until 2017 at the moment, so GSHP is on the cards as well as solar PV and then a small treatment plant for sewage. We're not sure what to do about internet access, but that can wait untl we're closer to actually having a new home - it could be a while! The site comes with full PP to build a new house, but it's not one that we like so once we have plans we will submit to amend the existing PP; the vendors really went to town with all the surveys they had done so we'd rather not have to repeat all that. I've also had a pre-app meeting with the planning officer and he's receptive to our ideas for a larger and very contemporary build rather than the existing proposals. We're at the stage of researching architects - have seen 5, had 2 quotes with the rest to follow and subject to these narrowed down to a shortlist of 3. An interesting process. So, here we are, terrified and excited in equal measures, wondering what the hell we're doing and hoping to pick the brains of those who have gone before us. Vivien

Stood back took a look, smiled then moved straight onto the next job.

A buffer is basically a wet capacitor that acts as a sponge which absorbs energy and smooths out the delivery. Heating goes via that so, for eg, Ufh can draw lower amounts of heat than the heat source can provide ( lowest modulation / temp setting etc ) when the house is up to 'operating' temperature. It is a TS in essence, but we normally name the two differently when more than one application is required from said vessel. Eg when you add another coil for dhw production you'd typically then not refer to it as a buffer as it's not just a dumb vessel anymore.

Currently my house is specified using dot and dab to attach insulated plasterboard to the inside of the Porotherm inner leaf. The inner leaf will be plastered first with a parge coat so air behind the plasterboard shouldn't be much of an issue. I would prefer mechanical attachment with the plasterboard hard against the blocks, but the contractor reckons Porotherm is too awkward for the number of fixings required. You cannot use standard fixings as the blocks are hollow. Yesterday I came across Insta Stik which is adhesive for plasterboard instead of dot and dab. This would reduce the space behind the boards and maybe allow me to increase the thickness. It is also put on in lines instead of dabs so reduces the possibility of air moving about behind the boards. I then read up on the stuff and there are some people who think it is great and some people who swear by dot and dab as it is easier to move the boards around and get the walls flat. The plasterboard will be skimmed so it doesn't have to be perfectly flat. Has anyone used this stuff and got any thoughts?

I always thought there was a switch, activated by putting a plug in, that energised the transformer. Certainly all the ones we have are like that, so nothing plugged in = no power. That doesn't help though as one or other toothbrush is always on charge. To check, with nothing plugged in, put your ear to the socket and I will bet you cannot hear the hum of the transformer.

How will you stop air and wind from outside, in the loft and in the floor void from blowing around behind the linings? if it does this then the insulation value of the protherm will be partly or totally lost don't underestimate how difficult it is to keep draughts out, lots of people get then coming out of socket outlets even on internal walls, under skirtings etc

Dry lined walls are the work of the devil. Maybe I've just been unlucky but I've never seen one that I'm impressed with.

Just tried again to no avail! Seeking solace in a second can of Fosters and a pack each of the kid's Jammie Dodger Minis & Mini Digestives whilst watching The Yorkshire Vet. Livin' the dream!

It probably would be cheaper to plaster the walls rather than dry line, but the I like the extra insulation from the insulated plasterboard as it helps if there are any issues with the insulation in the cavity. The skim coat on the plasterboard is definitely an extra expense, but it gives a much nicer finish. I recently had a ceiling fixed and skimmed versus all the other walls in my current house which are taped. It looks immaculate whereas I can often make out the joins especially in taped ceilings.

Have you priced up the difference in a scratch coat and then skim against a parge coat, plasterboard and foam/adhesive and then skim. Plasterboard has to be pretty flat as you can only take out 1-2mm with bonding and finish.

So tomorrow, we are going to have a little topping out ceremony. Roof's on and the finial's just about ready to be attached ! What have others done for their topping out, if anything? (PS Its a custom build not a self-build by the way so its the four workers who will be getting the congratulations ...)

There are a good number of critics of dotndab on this type of forum because of issues with airtightness. But, actually if done properly that's not as big an issue as claimed IMHO. As someone said on another thread this week airtightness is a sum of parts and an attention to detail across a number of areas. I for one like dotndab and I side with your contractor that it is forgiving to uneven walls etc etc. It's quick, efficient and effective. Its also proven and works! I would say that ive not used the low expanding sticky foam but I can only beleive it is less forgiving. I would let your contractor use the method he's familiar with and just ensure it's applied properly and not bodged or corners cut. But that advise applies to any system. just my 2p's worth!

Whilst we're deciding on architects/designs and all of that kind of thing, I'd like to start getting to grips with costing out our project. It's a bit chicken and egg because, of course, I can't price up exactly what we need until we know exactly what we want, but I'd like to try and understand ballpark figures. So, for example, if we have a 200sq m house with a 100 sq m footprint and start with the most basic form of a box, how much wall will I need? This will allow me to compare the costs of different construction materials, assuming that suppliers are forthcoming with their prices. Likewise, once I have a basic understanding of vertical exterior wallspace, then I can understand how much cladding we need, how much each type costs, and so on. Clearly, there is far more to it than this, but I have to start somewhere. I have the Housebuilder's Bible which is very informative but also a little overwhelming at first. I don't know how much we will do ourselves in terms of project management, but we have the capacity to do a lot as long as we can understand what it is we are supposed to be doing! I'm working on the assumption that this will save us money and another assumption that everyone else is out to spend our money for us, but not necessarily on us and our house. A healthy streak of cynicism has done me no harm in the past. Any pointers would be most welcome. Thanks, Vivien

In which case you will be glad to hear the OSB I laid over the floor this afternoon was previously used to temporarily close the window openings in the house last year before the windows arrived. It might be slightly swelled at the edges but nothing serious. And I connected the electricity to the shed as well this afternoon. Of course it's a recycled consumer unit.

Many thanks for the information, chaps, very helpful. The links to the previous threads were a real eye-opener, I have to say. I'll do a summary of them in a few days but the main thrust of the various threads seems to be the issue of the thermal bridge between the walls and sole plate which have the potential to condensation and, in time, rotting. I really can see the sense of the points being made and the difficulty for the buyer when you have a groundworks supplier and separate house supplier. The poor old consumer will fall between the two, quite literally if the base of the house collapses, with no satisfactory recourse to either. I've looked at the MBC system that has been frequently mentioned on this forum and it certainly has its advantages. Off to do some more research.

Good! Let me sow some more.... is it sensible to combine insulation with structure? Thermal bridging is massive with SIPs especially at the sole plate, round windows, up corners, big solid timbers are built in, often double ones. air tightness is about careful site work, I have seen 50mm gaps under windows, odd gaps where roof joins walls, service penetrations done with a club hammer. it is good to think about air tightness before you start, you are on the right track.

In that case, I already have 2 and a half garage walls. I just need half a wall and a roof and I'm there

You are approaching your spare garage door problem from the wrong angle. You have the door, so you obviously need to build a garage. All you need is 3 walls and a roof to complete it.

This year, I will mostly be buildin' moi 'house!

It sounds to me as if your friend needs to go on a Landlord Training Course, which will only cost around £100-200. I like the RLA, but NLA and similar bodies are OK. NLA tends to be the one that Local Councils accredit. If he wants to do it properly and manage his own, then the silver standard is probably the NFoPP Technical Award, which is aimed mainly at letting agents. https://www.nfopp-awardingbody.co.uk/qualifications/residential-letting-property-management/england-wales-qcf-level-3-technical-award/ Fireproof labels on furniture are absolutely basic; and - to be fair - functional new furniture is very cheap, And you stick to cheap-but-robust because the Deposit rules write its value down to zero after a small number of years, so you won't be able to recover damages against something with zero value as its value cannot be reduced. And there are oodles and oodles of laws. For a forum I recommend http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/ and the forum there, where I used to post extensively as midlandslandlord. For property type queries rather than How to Landlord, I would recommend https://www.property118.com/, which hosted the campaign that overturned the West Bromwich BS mortgage decision. Ferdinand

This says it doesn't apply to carpets..... https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.essex-fire.gov.uk/_img/pics/pdf_1373545479.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwiYip7L8uLPAhXJJcAKHb_wBCgQFgg5MAI&usg=AFQjCNEWWQ9iGE3_tpYgmou90MBtZPgqtw&sig2=uGr1EgfqaxiG3yztz_nhlQ The main problem was that most people remove the fire rating tags so second hand furniture doesn't usually have them - meaning had to buy new when the regs changed. I'm sure there are websites with all the landlord regs. The last big change was the introduction of the Deposit Protection Scheme.

Thermal Store is a large unpressurised body of water kept hot with a small volume coil at mains pressure with potable water going through it. UVC is a large body of potable hot water kept at mains pressure with a low volume heating coil within it. As the volume of potable water in a TS is so small you don't have the legionalla risk as you do storing large quantities at risk temperatures. The sunamp acts like a phase change TS in essence.

"You.....Boy!" Still sends a shiver down my spine. ? If you've done it before then your obviously happy and know how to best go about it. @Bitpipe had some flush ones which I'll look at for my next projects. I've a very handy mate who works the back shift on a £1m water jet so I'd prob get the cuts done by him. Cheeky £20 and job done. Beer heals a lot of problems. ?

Yes, I haven't seen the price yet, but my architect did warn me it was expensive but that we'll only need one layer thank goodness. Product details link HERE

This post appeared on ebuild, and since it is the work of many people, I reproduce it here. It's a shadow of its former self because I can no longer make the links to the comments to which the bullet points refer. Some you win , others you lose. So, because the text without the link is useless, I have deleted some references to the authors. I have not deleted the names of the original authors who registered with us in the hope that they can provide us with a link to relevant material The checklist is not definitive. Over time I will link this checklist to comments on (buildhub and elsewhere) which substantiate the point made. Your comment on this list is particularly valuable because any work done here improves the validity of the list. And so is likely to save you time and, hopefully, money. Heating Checklist Background reading and considerations Fundamentals Get a feel for what you already use Consider applying PHPP to the design to derive a heating requirement Use J S Harris spreadsheet{J, got a link to that for us?, Ian} Play with PeterW's FingerInTheAir MVHR Checker (PeterW#5) { Peter, got a link to that for us?} Heat Calculations Passiv? Do you need heating at all? Look for Thermal Bridges in your design How are you going to manage cooling? Consider Phase Change Material Storage. Stitching ASHP and UFH together On mains gas? No brainer - it's cheapest Cost benefit analysis. KISS Separate out DHW. Use instant water heaters Selling your house on? Higher temperatures needed? We are all getting older Higher lower occupancy rates in the future? Which thermostats to fit? Smart? Analogue? Radiator? It's not easy. But KISS - off the shelf. (jsharris Blog whole entry and discussion ) Underfloor Heating (UFH) DIY or not? End of lay (Nickfromwales#7) Plot the loops out on graph paper (TerryE#12) Best layout (NickfromWales#15) Useful summary (Alphonsox#17, and Nickfromwales commentary on that #27) ) How to deal with the pipes to the manifold before second fix Testing for leaks (declan52 #25) Avoid piping under toilet and sink traps (nickfromwales#29) MVHR By definition, MVHR = air tightness Forget a traditional fireplace, therefore. MVHR wishlist Where to put the vents? (jsharris#10 et seq) Keep pipe runs to a minimum (PeterStark #10) Minimise 90degree bends (PeterStark #1) Insulate all SUPPLY ducting (PeterStark #10) External Vents at least 2m apart (PeterStark #10) External vents slope downward (PeterStark #10) Fitting metal joists? Fit rigid ducting first (PeterStark #10) Supply to living and bedrooms (PeterStark #10) Extract from wet(ish) rooms (PeterStark #10) Mind yer bonfires ( jsharris#3) Location of MVHR unit Noise concerns: fit attenuation boxes (jsharris#11, jsharris#2) Type of ducting Radial design explained (jsharris#6, whole thread worth a read) While you are at it, try this (jsharris#6) Think through the cooling issue (jsharrisblog 38, 03:48, 1andR whole thread, jsharriswhole thread, TerryE, whole thread, hazymat, whole thread ) Bio Mass / Wood burners A cautionary tale (Steamy#1) The British Medical Journal on the subject (Steamy #1) Heat Pumps (ASHP GSHP) What's your heat load going to be? (Steamy#2, DeeJunFan#3) Are they worth it? (jsharris #4) Caution (jsharris as above) ASHP and DWH (jsharris #7) No need for DHW feeds to all rooms (jsharris#13) jsharris blog post(s) (jsharris) but see recent entries (part 41 and elsewhere) in relation to DWH Controls, how? (jsharris blog 38) Run slab from room stat? (jsharrisblog 38, 03:48) How to cool the house? (jsharrisblog 38, 03:48) Solar: Thermal or PV? FIT considerations RHI considerations Which Solar or PV? (Declan52 #1) PV for Hot water (recommended by jsharris, Ed Davies Blog, accessed Jan 2016) *But* consider separating out DHW. Use instant water heaters (jsharris#5) It's (PV) a no-brainer (Nickfromwales#6, jsharris#8)