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You'll need to put an end cap on the hot flexible tail which isn't connected up to a hot water system or you can have cold water coming out it under the sink. Found this out the hard way!

A bit slow to update the blog, been busy making frames up to the first floor, Caberdek laid to make it all a bit easier to work off, second hand Kwikstage up and 2 x 6m glulams for the ridge. Rafters and counter battens on top for the 35mm Isoroof. Membrane on top. The weather has been great until today. Some photos enclosed.

This was last Monday and was quite a challenge for my Dad and I. Steel was 10.5m in length spliced in the middle, about 400kg + the added timber ridge and needed to be 4.7m high sitting on two 100mm square posts. Overall length was 15m.. The night before I realised one of the posts was 400mm to short. We carried on using some blocks until the post was replaced on Tuesday. Blocks visible in 2nd picture on top of post. Rented 2 x Genie lifts and away we go. Well, it took all day really making sure it was all seated properly and square. Felt slightly sick all day. Hopefully rafters next week.

They have just been dropped off to the site today. Fairly firm it up!

Use high density Rockwool between the rafters and celotex over it.

Go with two layers of rock wool at 95mm each and then add a 30mm overlay of PUR and you have your 0.15 for pitched. Then seal it up with membrane to stop the real leaks ..!

Welcome, As above, it really comes down to economics. A GSHP might be a few percent more efficient than an ASHP, but the installation cost is likely to be at least double, probably triple, the cost of an ASHP if doing a DIY installation. A fair bit of the cost is hidden, it's things like the much greater volume of antifreeze, and the ongoing cost of replacing that every few years. GSHPs are also inherently more complex, with an additional brine pump, plus brine heat exchanger, filters etc. When looking at the whole life cost, the tiny efficiency advantage can't usually recover the additional capital cost through life, so overall a GSHP may cost a fair bit more over the life of the unit. In terms of ecological cost, then again the ASHP wins, not so much because of the energy used, but because it probably has a smaller impact on the local environment. As an example, our house is fairly low energy (it's not a certified Passivhaus, but would easily meet the Passivhaus requirements). In winter we need a few hundred watts of heat to keep the whole house at around 21 deg C (the floor area is 130m2), and in general our ASHP fires up for about an hour or two once every two to three days to charge up the slab and keep the house at an even temperature. IT might come on for an hour or so every day in really cold (sub-zero) weather. The ASHP cost £1700, including delivery, and took me around half a day to install. The total installation cost was under £2,000. The cheapest GSHP I could find cost around £4,000, and even with a DIY installation would have cost another £2,000 to install, more if I'd opted to use vertical borehole collectors. In winter we use between £0.20 and £0.30 worth of electricity per day for heating and DHW pre-heat, for around 100 days, so the cost is around £250 (ignoring our PV generation contribution to that cost). If we had a GSHP, it might be around 10% more efficient at best (bearing in mind that things like the brine pump increase the energy use over and above the basic COP difference), so a GSHP might save us around £25 a year. To recover the additional £4,000 cost of the GSHP, without accounting for the cost of antifreeze replacement, would take 160 years.................

That genie lifts are cracking wee bits of kit! Our second ridge beam is going up tomorrow.

Try this: and this http://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Self-build_home:_Prepare_for_construction go onto other sections for other items This was started but never finished on ebuild: http://www.ebuild.co.uk/blog/39/entry-371-check-list-index-and-summary/#comment_1831 and this: https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/centaur-wp/homebuilding/prod/content/uploads/2012/04/a-self-builders-checklist.pdf

I worked for Acorn. Arm actually got a chunk of funding from the EU.

The membrane on top of the insulation is also useful to stop any concrete seeping between the gaps where the sheets of insulation are butt jointed or tape becomes loose if you've taped the joints. This concrete that seeps down creates a thermal bridge which can create a cold spot and also at it's the wetter part of the concrete that will seep down it can allow the concrete to dry out unevenly and even hairline crack. Not a huge issue with a regular floor but important for polished concrete floors. It's just an additional layer of protection usually 1000g plastic so not expensive.

This is a good idea - some, non obvious, things that we have done (and a few we forgot). - Permanent kiosk for external electricity meter, removing need for site temps (and the associated costs). Especially useful if demolishing an existing building. - Internal and external power for seasonal needs - we have a lovely large window where we locate the xmas tree, unfortunately no socket so had to put a hole through wall to the study (face plate either side with brushes). - Cat 5 in kitchen for internet radio / TV (forgot this, will need to rely on WiFi) - Cat 5 in plant room for Solar PV controller (remembered this) - Ducting between wall mounted TV and wherever the boxes are - Speaker cable in walls / floor / ceiling - allow for things like Atmos where you may need additional audio channels - IR sensors to activate hot return circuit for DHW and MVHR boost, removes need for dedicated switches and timers - one of the big tips I got from this site, plumber was impressed - We have a large rear square lawn (well, mud for now) where the caravan sat during building, so we had a 25mm MPDE water main running to it. Will now relay this to the centre of the lawn and will hide in small gully - this gives us a central point to water the lawn from in the future (when the RWH tanks are empty). - getting the FFL correct for sliding doors to allow a level threshold (managed this). - noggins for bath cabinets, sinks, mirrors etc - but allow for FFL and read the instructions to see where the actual fittings are. If in doubt, ply the walls. - cheap electric UFH for bathrooms (we did a very last min scramble to fit the conduit and electrics for ours, just after tacking). - lead flashing under external doors (inc, sliding) only remembered this for the front door. - power for velux integra (or equivalent) windows that will be inaccessible. - built in internal / external blinds to minimise solar gain, especially on roof (the Velux external ones are great and patch into the window power system). We omitted one window on the south and regret that, thought it would have more natural shade but forgot about low sun in spring. - allowance for MVHR duct and soil pipe routes, especially if you have steels anywhere, we had to get creative in a few places. - pocket sliding doors for bathrooms - really free up floor space. - running power and control cable for potential future things like video intercom, gate control etc. - ducting for underground BT to avoid overhead cable. - provision for LED lighting on stairs - our bannisters have a strip in the underneath that comes on with low lighting - low level led lighting in hall wall that comes on when it's evening (together with a timer) - useful if guests or kids are popping out to loo or getting a drink at night, also saves having the full hall lighting on in evening I'm sure there will be more...

Qty .

So the UK government is looking to spend (not necessarily invest) £264M and expects to become a " world leader in the design, development and manufacture of electric batteries"? Remind me again how much investment has gone into building the Tesla Gigafactory, plus all the Panasonic/Tesla R&D spending? I'm pretty sure Panasonic alone have invested over £1bn in it, and I think that there has been another £2bn or so from Tesla and their backers. Just how deluded is our government to think that investing less than 10% of just one of the many companies investing in battery technology is going to somehow make them "world leaders"?

Get the house wired for an all RCBO Consumer Unit too. Plenty of segregation and a bit of redundancy is good. Less to lose if a breaker trips. ? Outside socket for every outside tap is a good rule, jet wash or Hoover etc.

We can't forget a username like that Welcome back Bigspud .

Swimming pool? Obviously swim in it then use the water in an emergency.