Leaderboard

We are now working our way through first fix for the self build. Our electrician has been busy drilling holes and threading many reels of cables around the house. The other area where we have made some progress is the ducting system. I’ve never ordered ducting before and it took me some time to order all of the parts and then have them to delivered to Skye. This came into two deliveries, both times some of the items were dented and buckled. Some were easy fixed but others required replacements to be sent. I wonder now if this is a common occurrence with others that have ordered ducting online? Once the last parts arrived, I was able to lay it all out to check back to the plan. My plumber will be fitting the ducting which should happen soon. Our brickie will also come back to construct the blockwork for the stove. My next job will be painting the house as the render has now had sufficient time to allow any impurities to be washed away. Although I have been busy with the house and work over the last few weeks, I was lucky enough to be given a wee boat. It was a group effort taking it down the croft and felt great to be on the loch after a few years. Might be the start of a new hobby.

There's an old adage: "Follow the money...." Review sites are funded by advertising in the main, and their advertisers are the very companies that are being reviewed. Are they likely to be impartial? As heck as like! It's a bit like trying to discuss the negative health impact of burning stuff in stoves to heat homes on a certain "green" (what a joke that is) forum that is sponsored by wood burning stove manufacturers... There's a very good reason that the founding members of this forum have a pretty rigid stance when it comes to remaining free from commercial influence, and relying on volunteers to run the forum and donations from forum members to keep things running. It's to try and ensure that views expressed here are a fair representation of the views of members, free from any commercial influence or bias.

This is the 3rd thread in recent months on the subject of marginal fuel gains relative to U value improvements. On the face of it the annual saving is typically small, however if you asked a pension annuity provider how much cash would be required to fund an annuity to pay that fuel bill increase, inflation indexed for the rest of your life then the upfront insulation costs would look like a better deal.

No leak testing is most likely the problem

Four days in and the front part of our drive is done Myself and my good lady have worked hard in the heat Better than rain Just about

If you read the earlier links, it does say that someone was told an engineer would be quicker to fix a fault if they removed their negative feedback on trustpilot ..!!

I fitted those in my previous 3 houses . Easy to do and works brilliantly. A lot cheaper than a pro installed unit. They work perfectly fine for around 1-2 years and then need regassing (sometimes ). But the regassing /topping up should be done for a few quids, rather than full installation costs.

Wife reminds me we still have the unit in the garage! The indoor unit is "portable" in that it's on castors but you can't move it around much. The outdoor unit is intended to be hung on an outside wall. Here is a photo of the pipe connections and the instructions on the back of the indoor unit. They are fixed permanently at the outdoor unit. The pipe is oval and has in it.. Flow & return pipes, a condensate tube and an electrical cable. Overall dims of the pipe are about 50mm x 25mm. The connectors on the end are 24mm (across the flat) but can't be sent through the hole individually. So I think the hole in the wall would need to be at least 50mm and 60mm diameter for comfort. The grey stuff on the cold is foam tape. Underneath it looks similar to the hot connection.

I reckon I could stomach it for a while ...!! May give them a call ...

@JSHarris I’ve just read the “Chinglese” instructions for installing one of these pre-gassed units .... So basically you have a compressor that is overcharged, and they calculate that 4/6m of pipe and a known evaporator coil has a volume. A quick PVT calculation later, and you can work out the “over gas” weight needed. The instructions get you to open the T-Valve (usually used to gas the unit) by quarter turn and wait 5 seconds “using a digital clock”... Close the T valve then open the vac valve (Schrader type) by pressing for 3 seconds. And then open the T-Valve and the isolator fully.... So in essence, they purge the pipes using refrigerant gas ..!!! Not the most environmentally friendly way, and I bet it’s easy to over vent ..!!

4inch grinder with a diamond blade. Wiggle it from side to side whilst plunging. Would take less than a minute per slot.

The floor layout is still bonkers IMO. Am I reading it that to get to the kitchen you go up 2 steps from outside to the front door, then down 4 steps, then avoiding the new diagonal steps you turn right, go up 3 steps, turn left in an inner lobby then through a door and the kitchen is at about the same level as where you started?

We had a small precharged split unit purchased in Belgium 12 years ago. The unit came with instructions on how to separate the two units to allow the pipe to pass through a hole in a wall. As I recall the ends of the pipe had some valves that automatically sealed when disconnected.

CPC have some, here is there smallest / cheapest one https://cpc.farnell.com/airconditioningcentre/kfr-26yw-x1c-m/black-wall-split-air-con-unit/dp/HG0073606?ost=HG0073606&ddkey=https%3Aen-CPC%2FCPC_United_Kingdom%2Fsearch They seem to be inverter driven with a Panasonic compressor. Only has 4 metres of pipe. I have often wondered about these but I assume the units are pre gassed and the connecting pipe either pre gassed as well or evacuated and they must have pre fitted push fit self sealing connectors. As such I suspect the hole needed will be dictated by the connector size and of course there is no details about that in the data sheet. EDIT: I may be talking BS here, just seen that this unit must be installed by an F Gas engineer so probably not pre charged. Back to the drawing board. This is what ebay throws up https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TCL-12000-BTU-WIFI-Smart-A-easy-fit-DC-Inverter-Wall-Split-Air-Condit-iQool12/143003395499?epid=4016472121&hash=item214baaa5ab:g:fTAAAOSw2h9c-oyj Definitely pre charged but still says needs an F gas engineer. Talks about pre flared ends on the pipe so some form of compression fitting? But surely that means the pipes are not evacuated so a small amount of air will get in the system?

I would have a serious talk with the vendor and see if you can buy one of the plots where work has not started, make the offer subject to getting PP reinstated. It will be less of a problem and gives you freedom for your design, without having to undo any previous work.

I know if it was here -in scotland and the planning was for 5 in one development ,then ALL the roads+ services + street lamps for ALL the sites would have to be in and up to council spec before you could move into any of them --so a check with council before buying

Your referring to the coating Alex? When you say a bad reaction, what do you mean? Colour clash or the coating causes a reaction/distraction with the colours of the kitchen? Happy to have a chat.

... though it does give an unsightly bulge as it’s compressed out by the creep of the building.

To extend PP beyond the normal 3 or 5 years the work has to be _lawfully_ started not just started. It sounds like he may not have got necessary planning conditions discharged before starting work. For example there might be a condition requiring materials be approved before work starts on site. If he failed to get that discharged the PP might well have expired some years ago. In which case you would need new PP just to build the original design. It should be possible to get that PP but watch out for policy changes that may have occurred since it was originally granted. You should ask the planners if they consider the site still has valid PP that could be implemented. If I was selling the plot I would increase its value by either getting a certificate of lawful development confirming work has lawfully "started" or renew the PP.

If the previous developer had PP for the whole site the consent may be locked in for all by just starting one plot. If you stick with what is there you will be constrained with layout and possibly need to build cavity wall with limited space for insulation. Does not look like all the floor has been grouted so you can mess about with pipes without too much damage.

There's also the question as to whether the existing beam and block, plus foundations will meet building regs or not. There's no way of really being able to tell now, so unless there is a record of building control sign off, together with the original foundation drawings, then it's all a bit of an unknown. Far better to just rip it out and start again, as apart from giving more design freedom it also removes any doubts, and possible hassle with building control, over what's there. Building regs have moved on a fair bit in ten years, too, so what was OK in terms of floor insulation then most probably wouldn't be OK now.

0/1/2 for floors BD - Bed L01 etc all fits in 6 characters. Use different colour wheels too so you can see all the yellows are floor 0 etc without turning them round. OCD..?? Yep..!!

What @epsilonGreedy says. Insulation and (to a lesser extent) on-site renewables are amongst the few index-linked pensions available to most of us.

Hot air gun I use.

Not much that Cable Craft don't do: www.cablecraft.co.uk

If you want to stop labels coming off, then you can stick clear heatshrink sleeving over them: https://cpc.farnell.com/search?st=clear heat shrink This works to protect hand written labelling with a felt pen, too.

I would buy the plot and pull all that had been done out A mornings work for a man and a digger While it sounds drastic The foundations are the most crucial part of the build and what you suspect is true Tge land owner won’t have taken much care when he installed the slab Starting a fresh would allow you to have everything just right and prevent issues with floor buildup due to having to put insulation and screed o top of what is already there

Bifolds aren’t the bees knees and need a lot of detailing for something that could cost you £6-8k where a couple of pairs of french doors could be less than half that and be more practical. One consideration you may want to make is that the roof height and wall thickness of the house will be based on 2003/6 building regulations insulation levels so beefing up insulation in the floor especially could move the ridge height slightly if you want to keep the ceiling heights the same. Post the plans up here if you want comments on what can be done within the existing shell.

If you don’t like the bathroom layout it is fairly easy to lift those blocks and change the pipework i myself have changed my mind on an en-suite and in a days work I lifted the blocks and re routed the pipe work, so don’t feel you are stuck with that layout.

How does the price change from the plot that is built to one of the ones that isn’t started, are they all for sale? if you had a virgin one you wouldn’t be locked into that shape. You need to get a set of drawings and see what the design was, as being built 10 years ago you will need to add more insulation to the top of that floor than in the previous design. Is there the height to get all the insulation in without messing up the planning if there was a height restriction on the original design. You will be looking at adding minimum 150mm of insulation plus 75mm screed plus 20mm floor finish, so your finished floor will be 250 ish above what you see in that pic. Go back to the planners and check you can build it to comply with current regs before you commit i personaly would not want to pay much for any work that is done as I would rather see it go in correctly in my own eyes.

No Just fit it... CT1 (or cheap sealant if it’s coming out in the next 24 months) to the wall and be done with it, but bear in mind you should really have a fall on the duct to an outside vent so any condensation that forms inside runs to the outside not the inside. Bit of fibre insulation around the first part of the duct will help stop it initially.

Hi and welcome to the forum My guess is the vendor built the foundations to lock in the planning permission by "starting" That won't stop you changing thee plans but a new planning application will be needed. He probably did that as 10 years ago was the financial crisis and he probably thought nobody would buy it then, so had to do something to ensure the PP did not lapse. I would contact your building control and also ask the vendor if building control had any input into the building of the foundations. You want to be sure building control are happy with what has been built so far before you proceed. the one thing that would concern me is that is a block and beam floor, I would want to know if there is any insulation underneath it. I would be assuming not and designing the build to have insulation above the B&B floor. Also find out about services, has it yet been connected to the drains or is that still to be done etc etc.

Yes, softened water does leave some slight marks on the glass if not squeegeed off well, but not as bad as hard water. I just wash ours with softened water, squeegee them off then give them a squirt of Screwfix own brand window cleaner, polished off with the cheap Screwfix microfibre cloths. Seems to work OK, and a bottle of the cleaner easily lasts a year or so.

Well here is a "ball park" example. My house has a U value of about 0.14 for just about all walls floor and roof. Total heating cost for last winter was £234, ASHP and under floor heating. This is in the Highlands, a less harsh climate the cost would be less. If the extra insulation halved that heating bill, so say £118 saving per year, then at a £5.5K cost, then it would take 46 years for the energy saving to payback the extra cost. Even if it reduced the heating bill to £0 it would take 23 years to pay back the extra cost. This is the law of diminishing returns.

I've always used a standard label printing machine. Easy to use, pretty cheap and the labels stay put if wrapped right around a cable and back on themselves.

A few companies that I've heard of but not used. Well, except for building a shed base from Hanson Regen mixed cement but that's not really comparable. I've seen up to 50% GGBS specified on larger projects but with a structural engineers input. According to Hanson you can substitute as much as 70%. They have a UK technical line. Sorry, can't help with costs. http://cenin.co.uk/ https://dbgholdings.com/cemfree/ https://www.hanson.co.uk/en/products/regen-ggbs https://www.wagner.com.au/main/what-we-do/earth-friendly-concrete/efc-home

I am fastidious when it comes to marking up cables (and pipes), but I just use a fine-tipped permanent marker (Staedtler 318-9) and haven't found a need to go beyond this.

I knew a bloke whose father converted horseboxes to campervans. He must have been good as he was featured in Watchdog.

I like paved drives, but did you have a case of the Merkel's when taking the pictures.

Thank you. It’s a new concept combining communal bathing and water saving.

Hello, this is my first post but have been reading for a while. We are just completing on our plot purchase in Scotland and are looking to use solar pv instead of a normal roof on a passive house. I find it really sad that people base there decisions purely on economics. If economics area all we base our decisions on then there will no planet left and the point where we won't be able to stop that being the case is pretty much now. The decisions you are making now about how to heat and power your home have a direct impact on whether or not we will have a planet to live on. The Government can't do it alone.

Not to get into a discussion about saving the planet, but the reason we are in such a mess is because doing the right thing for the planet has never makes economic sense!! It we all tried more, even with a negative economic element it would make a difference.

Such an arrangement is common in larger buildings. It's called a Sub Main to feed the second layer consumer units. You could avoid the use of rcd's at the distribution board by using something like SWA for the sumbains and then have conventional CU's at the second layer. In theory there would not be much need to ever visit the distribution board.

I've quoted recently for 48m2 worth of windows and the prices range from £356 to £485 per m2. You can see a chart of them below: PM if you want the breakdowns in excel! Edit: X axis is the area averaged U value of the whole window (glass and frame combined)

Some excellent reviews here for Fischer: https://www.aspokesmansaid.com/energy/company-10965/fischer-future-heat/1 ?

The main problem with horseboxes is that the floors rot out. The rubber flooring is rarely watertight (often it's just loose laid thick rubber anti shock mats) and as a consequence the timber underneath just tends to sit saturated with horse pee for long periods of time. Having slept in the hay loft space of a horsebox a few times at shows (where the horses had the luxury of being in loose boxes) I can say that there is a unique smell that permeates everything inside them.