Leaderboard

I reckon your missus is secretly wishing you took as long and paid as much attention to small details as I do!

A PYC tweet today: https://www.ukgbc.org/news/government-confirms-local-authorities-can-set-energy-standards-beyond-part-l-in-nppf/ My summary: The Government yesterday published its revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Government said as part of the consultation: "local authorities are not restricted in their ability to require energy efficiency standards above Building Regulations". This implies local authorities can can set energy standards beyond Part L now, but just didn't realise it. I would love for a UK local authority to mandate something close to the Passive House standard.

High praise indeed!

Some local authorities already have this in Ireland for a while already. Dun Laoghaire (an affluent area of south Dublin) brought in a passive house standard for all new builds. This was later modified to Passive house or Equivalent as not all buildings could meet the certified passive house standard due to site or other usage conditions. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/new-buildings-in-dun-laoghaire-must-adopt-low-energy-standards-1.2103215

Very sorry Ed, but its BH policy that members who dont yet fully feel our pain are politely reminded not to encourage this madman. Were trying to get it tiled and grouted before xmas. Dont ask which xmas PLEASE !

Actually Bora is the one thats jumped onto the bandwagon and is a fantastic marketing engine. Gaggenau, Gutmann and Novy have been making these for atleast 20 years. Gutmann and Gaggenau in the inline format and Novy in a hybrid inline downdraft format. Bora Basic I believe is made for them by Gutmann. I would rate a hood by any of the above over the Neff/Siemens versions.

Hi everyone. I'm about launch into a self-build shortly and have been reading a lot of the threads on this forum. There are some very knowledgeable people on here, and hopefully, I can contribute something meaningful too over the next few months. I am an ex-builder and ex- energy assessor myself, so I half know what I am doing ?. I expect you lot to fill in the missing half! Cheers

in my experience, which is admittedly limited, some jobbing plumbers, have a limited range of boilers that they have worked with and anything different, it's easier to just condemn it rather than admit they don't know it. Like with many trades - if you find a good one, hang on to them.

Welcome. I'm North Armagh so not much use but @DeeJunFan is building just outside Newry in mayobridge so would have a better idea of what merchants would be the best to visit. You might be better off with a transit van and trailer and save yourself the delivery fees. Just get the bulk goods delivered. 45 mins takes you to the airport roundabout from newry so pretty close. The good thing about south Armagh is there are lots of border crossings in the event of a hard border.

The other AAV is an Automatic Air Vent, often called a bottle vent, which has an internal float and valve to let air out but keep water in, like this one:

Welcome - hope to build in Dublin myself next year. Look forward to hearing more details on your plans. Start a blog up on this site and keep us posted! The admins can activate one for you....

If the flue fills with water it drains out of the condensate pipe ... it’s designed to do that ...

I've spoken to the WB technical support quite a few times and they've always been helpful: 0330 123 3366

What's there not to like ? I surrender. ?

Yes it is ..!! Can pick up a Greenstar 25i for £900 inc VAT and it’s the same size, pipework layout and connections as the one it’s replacing. Its a days job to fit it, even if you powerflush (which is easy with the old one off the wall) so £900 for a days work is a little excessive ... @newhome these are prone to circuit board faults - £60 to £100 for the board depending on where it’s from and 15 mins to fit

By chance - to act as sheeting tie-downs - I have several of these already. As a base and popped into a moveable bollard / cone / marker of some sort, they'll make an excellent deterrent. Thanks everyone for helping me think this one through.

Don't know what to say that is any great help or comfort! There is only so much you can do, when you live at the other end of the country and have a full time career.. It seems that this plumber has taken advantage of her, even if the boiler does actually require replacement, - though you never know if there has been no report or discussion! The one thing that does need checking is confirmation of what boiler he is fitting as a replacement - that is, brand new with a full manufacturers warranty etc, and, importantly, that it is a direct replacement to meet the system load requirements. I know what you are going through. We had similar issues with my mother in law, before she passed away.. She would pay all bills as soon as they arrived, without checking and thought all tradesman could be trusted implicitly. We didn't live so far away as you and normally managed to get control before she got too deep into anything, sometime reversing agreements she had made.

Well you have me beat now. Just what were you referring to in the highlighted bit?

Why do I get the feeling, any authority that tries this will do so as a planning issue, not as a building control issue, and it will end up as a complete mess.

Sorry, I've managed to screw up the menus on my blog that have the direct file downloads. Not sure what's happened, but it looks like the database has somehow got corrupted - anyone that knows how to fix Wordpress when it's broken would be useful! What's happened is that I deleted the old menu entry and upload, uploaded the new file, tried to create a link to it, but it seems that the link won't work. I've FTP'd into the site and looked at the files, and the file I uploaded isn't showing, neither is the sub-directory that Wordpress thinks the file is in. All very odd, as when I look at the details for the media file it points to a non-existent URL http://www.mayfly.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08 "file name". There isn't even a "2018" sub-directory showing, just the 2017, etc ones, all of which look OK. Anyway, to get around the problem for now, attached is the current version of the heat loss spreadsheet, renamed as a .txt file to allow the forum to upload it. Just save it then change the suffix to .xls and it should open OK. Heat loss calculator - Master.txt I shall carry on trying to work out how to repair the Wordpress database...

For those not following this exchange - viewer discretion advised:

It is watchmen reference, and you are now locked in here with me.

Welcome to Buildhub! Your character (assuming your user name is a Watchmen reference rather than the Rorschach test more generally) has one of the best lines of any superhero film, imo. I assume you know the one I mean...

Do actually ! All 4 are in ; 3 have been mastik’d This ‘special ‘ Mastik is a dog - cures in 10 mins . So mastik less than perfect . But this is external walk on - so can be forgiven like your floor grouting ???

In the short term I'd be moving the Heras fencing out so there is just a standard verge width left, perhaps forming a site entrance of sorts. Long term I think you will need something there, planters, rocks, trees even, otherwise people will continue to use it as they already are. Any chance of a longer shot photo showing how this area fits into the lane, neighbouring property etc?

You can have mdf powdercoated...

Dulux have just changed the name of their Diamond range so its appearing in the clearance places. I've bought 5l of Diamond Satinwood for £40, instead of the £92+VAT that it is in most places...

It's listed on Amazon, here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/COMPUTHERM-Q3RF-Wireless-Room-Thermostat/dp/B00SI2XDSI

I’m still going to finish my entire build before @Onoff gets this bathroom complete . I told swmbo ( spell check put demon in there !!!! ) about his biblical saga . She now thinks I’m working quickly !! ??

Worth putting a camera up that you can access remotely for the times you are not there too. We’d love to see some photos as it goes up if you don’t mind posting them. Lots of experienced self builders here to touch base with and check things that you’re not sure of too. Caravan options range from a cheap tourer to a static. Plenty of threads here on the pros and cons.

Thanks all for the input, I think it’s fairly conclusive! Anyone got a caravan buyers guide!?

Keep the faith! Xmas is coming! ?

Not wishing to blow my own trumpet but this has potential: (If I could I would... )

+1 Using a mobile phone to control things in the home is completely the wrong approach to home automation imo. We have ours set up so that everything possible is controlled by switches on the walls. The only time I ever open the app is to access virtual controllers for things like holiday mode or to check temperatures of the UFH or UVC. Home automation enables things like the "bedtime switches" we have at our bedside. They act as switches for their respective bedside lights, but when you hold either of them down, it turns off all the lights in the house. That same long hold could also be programmed to set overnight zone alarms, change the behaviour of external lights, close all external shutters (if not already closed), close the garage door (if open), or anything else you can imagine. We also have a dedicated button at the bottom of the stairs that switches off all the upstairs lights. I can't tell you what a boon this is with young kids and a wife who never turns off lights. I also have certain lights on a timer. For example, the kids' bedroom lights only stay on for an hour. I plan to install presence sensors as well, so the lights will automatically remain on as long as presence is sensed. Certain external blinds automatically close at a certain time each day. That time is set relative to dusk, so you don't need to keep reprogramming to take into account the change in when night falls. Of course, many of these behaviours would possible without home automation, but would require a lot of independent systems, which for me personally would be a much more complicated solution. I wouldn't, however, suggest it's a cheap option, especially if you aren't reasonably computer literate. If you aren't capable of changing the programming yourself, you'd need to get someone in every time you wanted to make any significant changes. In general though, such changes should be rare once the systems are set up properly. Oh, and I've chosen not to expose our system to the outside world. I can't turn lights on and off from afar, but it's a lot harder for anyone to hack into the system.

Loving this thread! I'm just waiting for the passive house police to come along (and to be frank I've seen a few posts from current and past forum members along these lines). So don't forget some of the important rules: 1. Kill the cat, cat flaps will not be tolerated. 2. Remove or reduce all windows. I know you've bought a plot with a view but seriously saving on your energy bills is way more important than a view. 3. Make sure you go paperless for ALL bills etc. There is no way you are having a postbox. 4. Bury your partner under the patio. Far too risky that they may open a window. 5. Kill the dog. Can't think of a reason why other than enjoying yourself cannot be tolerated. OK, I'm having a bit of fun BUT you are going to drive yourself to the edge of insanity doing this self build lark, nothing is more stressful. SO BUILD YOURSELF A HOME NOT A HAUSE!

???? now I can’t unsee that ???