Leaderboard

I think those of us who are not retired or won lottery have done do We lived on site which helps massively with logistics but is not essential. My big discovery was that a PM is not a site manager. Many will not be on site every day and certainly will not consider opening & closing site, taking deliveries etc as their job. So if you need that, you need to pay for it separately or do it yourself. Neither will they clean up at the end of the day, check what's been done, tidy stuff away etc.. They will likely be there for more 'mission critical things, but if you're using good contractors then that should not be necessary. We parted with the architect after planning was obtained as their costs for BC stages were quite high and as we were using packages, somewhat duplicative (drawings etc). I spent a bit of time discharging our planning conditions and reviewing the detailed design of the basement and frame and I think this gave me the confidence to oversee the work itself - at least I understood what the expected end result was even if somewhat clueless on how it was actually going to happen. We hired a PM to do a PHPP analysis and commission a QS plan and this was a really valuable tool as it quantified all the 'things' we needed stage by stage and put default costs against them so when I was getting real prices, I had something to act as a guide. That said, the QS pricing was about 25-30% above what we ended spending and the PM's fee would have been 10% of the build cost so we saved both. Packages for the key initial parts of the build help remove the need for a PM or even site manager. If the build is being done piecemeal then a main contractor is a good bet as they will combine PM and site management but will impose an overhead for management costs / profit. You're also dependent on the trades they choose. From there you can use good subs (electrical, plumbing etc..) do do their bits and you act as a bit of an orchestra conductor. On our build we did one package for the demo / basement and another package for the timber frame - very much observers for all of that, I did some sourcing & install for basement insulation and lightwells as they were not specialties of the contractor. Once the frame was up, we got the windows in, roof tiled and render applied plus soffit, fascia, rainwater goods etc in one busy month while the scaff was still there. Again, effort here was initial sourcing and agreement of supply/fix contracts (windows took most effort, however I independently sourced the Velux and saved a substantial amount on those.) and generally watching what was going on and making sure we were happy before the trades were paid. I did the rite of passage that is MVHR first fix and sourced all that kit at a decent price. Thereafter during the rest of first fix the trades came and went as needed - it was slow and steady and we did not need to source anything for them but we did start to accumulate second fix items (mostly sanitary ware). We did not have a pre-existing M&E plan (saving ££) so the first fix designs evolved with discussion with the trades and a few things were added last minute. Main input here was confirming locations of things (sockets, sanitary etc) but only required a few hours of onsite time with each trade plus a few phone calls. Use of FaceTime etc would make that a lot easier now. After first fix was complete things got a bit more involved - we hired a joiner to make good the first fix (boxing in etc) as since he was labour only, we needed to do a lot more sourcing but also got more involved in design of some elements. We then moved to plastering and decorating - again, largely hands off for that aside from choosing colours etc. Tiling & floor finishes required sourcing but that is very personal in taste and part of the fun - as most of second fix is 'what you see' you will want to be deeply involved in it anyway. Joiner back in for second fix carpentry (doors, skirts, architrave etc) then second fix electrics & plumbing and the kitchen was one of the last things to go in before we moved back. We did final stairs a few months after that (didn't want them getting wrecked) and landscaping came the following year - again we had a labour only deal there so did lots of sourcing and speccing. So it was not a huge amount of effort, no real skill required aside from knowing what you can and can't afford and what end result you want.

Hope this helps, a bit lengthy but... You maybe can use mesh but if you want to achieve the same equivalent bar area to 12mm diameter H12 bars then you may need to look at the B type structural meshes, perhaps a B785 mesh? The rub here is that the bars are different sizes in each direction with different spacing. Has the slab (maybe basement walls too) been designed as a two way spanning slab. Roughly meaning that all the edges of slab are fully supported all round so that the main reinforcement bars act in two directions perpendicular to each. If so, then you may need four layers of mesh (2 top + 2 bottom) as opposed to your 12mm diameter H12 loose bars top and bottom as the secondary bars in the mesh may be too small. Although mesh can be great you can have a problem with “nesting” if using lots of layers. Were four sheets come together it’s difficult to lap them properly and keep the concrete “cover” to the reinforcement. You can get a flying end mesh but on a small project this can add to the cost, difficulty in sourcing and you may need to detail it up so it fits. Also think about how you reinforce the corners of the basement walls as you can get congestion here too. Although mesh can be appealing if you have congested reinforcement it’s harder to compact the concrete properly and that can cause problems later on. Perhaps have a look again at using loose bars. An H12 is not a bad bar, not too floppy and not too heavy. They come in various stock lengths, easy to source and price match. Also, if you run out you can nip to the stock holder and grab a few more. Any off cuts are great for garden stakes or using as dowels etc. Once you get going with tying loose bars you’ll get along fine I’m sure. If you make a small mistake then all you need to do is remove the odd bar or two rather than sheets of mesh that you may have cut. Just remember that when rebar is tied together it is very heavy so make sure it is properly braced and shuttering is supported. Clay soil (say when you have cut down a tree) can exert a significant load on the walls of a basement. The soil can take a number of years to readjust to the new ground water conditions. There are a good few ways of designing concrete basements / floor slabs. When you don’t have other buildings /sewers etc close by then broadly some key areas considered are; strength (so it does not collapse), deflection (so it does not bend too much and damage other parts of the structure) cracking (to control water ingress and again damage to other components and finishes) and buoyancy / drainage... it’s not a boat so you don’t want it to float if the ground water rises. When a floor slab is say simply supported at each end only and it is loaded from above you will get tension in the bottom of the slab. Steel is good for resisting tension hence your main bottom steel. If you have a load bearing internal wall in the basement then you have a two span beam. You still get tension in the bottom of the slab as you approach the middle of each of the two spans. However, you usually get tension in the top of the slab over the internal wall. Hence your main top steel. It may be that the basement has been designed as a continuous box. In effect the concrete and reinforcement work together at the corners (often called a moment connection) as opposed to say the basement floor and walls acting together with the suspended slab only designed to prevent the basement wall heads moving inwards and to carry the loads from above this is more of what is called a pinned connection. If this is the case then you also have tension in the top of the suspended slab and the outside of the vertical basement wall at and near this junction thus you need some steel in the top and outside of the vertical walls and this can be a congested area. You can ask the Engineer how the design works, often they are more than happy to explain. It’s worthwhile to know how something stands up, especially when you are finished the project and enjoying the fruits of you labour in front of the fire on a windy winters night.

PV goes through an INVERTER to turn it into 230v ac sycnchronised with the mains frequency and phase so anything in the house can use it. A PV diverter is a separate device that detects if more power is being generated than the house is using (so power is being exported to the grid) and instead sends some power to the immersion heater so no or little power is exported. You can't sent power from a PV diverter directly to anything elecronic as it is genearlly bursts of power pulse width modulated. but what you can di is what I do, in the summer I time the ASHP so it does not come on to heat the hot water until mid morning, when there is a high probability of there being a decent amount of pv generation, so it is more likely it will use PV generated power and import less or none from the grid.

Hi Paris22, I've had a quick word with my wife who's a retired town planner with 30 years experience working for local government and, latterly, as a private planning consultant. Her first suggestion is to establish what you can do without having to apply for planning permission (PP) under permitted development rights. If you can do something similar without PP, then your neighbour isn't an issue. This link to the Planning Portal will help: Permitted Development: Extensions (single storey) Part A of this link is a bit more explicit: Permitted development rights for householders Her second suggestion is that a condition could be attached to any PP granted that specifically prohibits the roof of the extension being used as a balcony/terrace. This achieves the result your neighbour is seeking without the hassle and expense of getting a covenant. If you - or subsequent owners of the property - ever want to use the roof as a terrace, you/they would have to get the condition lifted by submitting a new planning application, at which point the neighbour would be able to object. Hope that helps. Tim.

Just be aware that the concept of reasonable can vary between the purchaser and the vendor - QS will decompose your build into component tasks and materials and use Spons to incrementally build up a cost model. This will only ever be indicative and materials and labour may well come in cheaper or more expensive - highly dependent on local, national and International variables plus your own trade off between time and quality. A main contractor will offset their own financial risk by either agreeing a cost plus or fixed price (with built in contingency). Yes however be aware using a single contractor will typically incur an overhead on the underlying costs (10-20%). They will also make their own decisions on how stuff gets done and what materials are used to do it (aside from finishes where you will have more input). You will not be consulted on every bag of cement or box of fixings purchased. Unless you're building something very complicated and expensive, you will just need to leave them to get on with it and hope you have a good set of professionals who will do their best. If you try to impose micromanagement then there's a good chance they will walk - seems to be the number one gripe of all the trades we had on site. Look, a professional will get a job done in the time allocated and the budget allowed. They will not agonise into the night whether they gave you enough options on your door handles or spent enough time hunting down the best possible deal on a box of glue to save you £5. No but I think you have an unrealistic expectation on how much above and beyond they will go for the fee you give them. Most will do a competent professional job that meets the requirements. If you want more you need to pay more but I'd suggest you're going to be spending more than you are saving at some point. You've obviously not got to the stage yet of ringing 20 plastering / plumbing / electrical contractors and being told that nope - they don't want your £20k job as it will probably take too long and they can make more money doing 4 smaller jobs for £10k each. Or that they'd love to do it but their developer mate has just booked them for the next 12 months at short notice so if you still need them after that then great. Etc. Or even getting them to start and then they disappear for week sand you're begging them to get back to unblock the next trade who is ready to go. All part and parcel of the experience. Keep in mind that self builders are a tiny fraction of the building market - majority are commercial & volume builds and then the smaller jobs like extensions and the like. I spent closer to £1500 /m2 - you only get well below that if you do a lot of work yourself or are prepared to take forever to get the build finished. If I were building today it would probably exceed £1750 as the pound is much weaker (most of my purchasing was pre Brexit). I did very little actual work myself but organised all of the trades & sourced materials etc. I would just find the time - that's what weekends, evenings & lunch breaks are for. BTW, it's not as time consuming as you make out. Trades are not children, if you get the right ones, they do not need constant supervision - they do need clear instruction of what you want though and the ability to get hold of you asap if a snap decision needs to be made. Self build is a big sacrifice of your finances, personal and professional life - it will consume you for the duration but at the end you have something special (hopefully).

Yes that's right. the heat pump heats the tank via the input coil and uses a temperature probe in a pocket on the tank. I have the mechanical tank thermostat set to it's maximum of 65 degrees and that shuts the motorised valve to shut off the ASHP heat input in the event of a malfunctions (very unlikely) The PV heating is completely separate via the immersion heater which has it's own thermostat and will heat the tank way hotter that the heat pump ever will.

I believe the PV heats to higher temps via immersions not driving the heat pump? yes.which is why @ProDave and myself have larger DHW tanks as we only heat up to 48’ using the heat pump.

You won't need them on the ground floor as the impedance mismatch between concrete and timber will do a fair bit of isolation for you. At first floor I am not convinced they will make a bit difference as aren't the wall sole plates going to get screwed down to the joists negating the isolation provided by the pads. Btw that drawing doesn't show resilient bars

I don't know about anyone else, but am I the only one eyeing the paddock as a potential plot? So the existing driveway passes through the edge of the paddock. that would be good enough for me to route the new drive through the paddock. But in view of the above sentence, round the top edge of it, not through the middle.

I've not been on site for much of the week because I had plenty of paid work to do, so I left my scaffolders alone. They're getting there. One more morning and we should be good for the first stages of the SIPS installation. Finally the boss has acknowledged the house might not be tiny. This side stays open for the first few days of SIPS installation to allow acccess for the panels. Hoping for some reasonable weather for the weekend to get the last few bits of tidying up done. Fingers are crossed for everything going well on Monday!

The partnership as far as I understand is that they've tested Sunamp with the ASHP and produced model-specific controllers. This means that when you order a Sunamp you have to order the right controller depending on which ASHP you plan to use. I may have said this elsewhere, but the fact it is different hardware, and that changing your heat-source means you may need to get a different controller, it's unforfgivable in 2020 in my opinion.

No, your are thinking 'Inverter', which turns D.C. into A.C.. A diverter is a device which redirects electricity which would otherwise be exported to another load (usually an immersion heater)

I would give them a quick call just to check.

I'd read bits and bobs over the last 6 months on sunamp and the last two pages of this thread. I still don't fully understand it...but there are far too many red flags and niggles for it to even be considered. I'll be going 300L UVC with ASHP. reliable and you know what you're getting. I did consider gettinga 4kW PV and a divertor as I want to have some form of reducing energy consumption but from spending some time reading I'll never recoup the cost and seemed a bit pointless now?

Hope this helps. Lintel sizing. Engineering units an explanation and how to get a rough gut feel for how heavy / how much load a simple wall for example imposes or a beam / lintel. Keeping it simple if you weigh 15 stones this is roughly 100 kilograms. An old Volvo was commonly referred to (reputably) as weighing 1 Tonne = 1000 kg. You may wish to take this as an Imperial Ton but let’s not split hairs! UK Engineers tend to work in units of load called Newtons (N). Often seen in structural calculations is the abbreviation kN = kilo Newtons thus 1 kN = 1000 Newtons (N). To convert kilograms to Newtons you multiply kg by gravitational acceleration which can be rounded for most practical purposes to 9.81m/s^2 (metres per second squared) when producing the calculations. To get a feel for things just say this is 10 m/s^2. Now 100 kg x 10 m/s^2 = 1000 Newtons (N) = 1.0 kN. If you weigh 15 stones in Engineering parlance the load on the ground when you are standing still is ~ 1.0 kN. An old Volvo weighs about 10.0 kN ~ a tonne. What about the lintel? Dense concrete block wall (block compressive strength 7.0 N/mm^2) weighs round about about 20 kN/ cubic metre (density) including the mortar to stick it together, (ref: Structural Engineers Pocket Book. F. Cobb). If you have a wall 3.0m high you have a load per metre run of wall of 20 (density) x 0.1(thickness) x 3.0(height) = 6.0 kN/m ~ 600 kg per metre run of wall. You often see this referred to in calculations as a “UDL”, a uniformly distributed load. Key Point! The load calculated above is a “working load” per metre run of wall (kN/m) also called an unfactored load. This calculated load has to be less than the “safe working load (SWL)” declared by the manufacturer. Some manufactures give tables based on a “total safe working load” or “total permissible load” thus if you have a lintel of 1.2m long the total load is 1.2m x 6.0 kN/m = 7.2 kN Some give information based on a safe working load per metre run of lintel (kN/m). Look carefully! You’ll also see data tables that refer to a “characteristic load” Please do not confuse the two as the SWL / permissible load tables have some (but not all) safety factors built into them. Characteristic loads do not. These loads have a higher value so are not safe to use without safety factors. You still need to make sure the rest is adequate and anything below and to the side. Not all lintels are the same! For pre stressed concrete domestic type lintels there are generally two common types. One is called a “composite lintel” the other a “non composite lintel. A composite lintel works mostly by creating a triangulated “A” frame where the masonry above acts in combination with the steel rod in the lintel which is in tension with the masonry above acting in compression. Essentially, you create a deep composite beam to span the opening. To make this work you need a good few courses of continuous masonry above it, a bit either side too and generally no concentrated loads directly above. This is usually qualified in the manufactures tables. However, if you have say an offset opening above the lintel which introduces concentrated load or some floor joists perhaps that bear on or near the top of the lintel then you can lose the effect of the composite action. You need then to perhaps consider a non composite lintel. I have copied a screen shot from Robeslee data table below for a flavour. For a clear span (structural opening, not to be confused with an effective span... best for another day) with 5 layers of brickwork above and assuming correct and adequate lintel rest at the ends, the lintel will support a UDL (distributed load) of 30 kN/ m run. This looks promising when we look back at a 3.0m wall leaf loading of 6.0 kN/m run. If you have the wall width you possibly can use two side by side and introduce a header course or two of brick to tie them together along their length. But “without brickwork” to create the “A” frame / composite action” it drops massively to 3.86 kN/m which is ~ 380 kg /m and that is roughly a ninth of the allowable permissible full composite load Now you have overloaded the lintel by a serious amount when we compare this to the load from a 3.0m wall leaf. However it looks like you are using blockwork not brick. When used to support blockwork the composite strength of these lintels can be a good bit less than when used with brickwork so check with the manufacturer. Much also depends on where you put the DPC. Clearly if you are opting for the composite route and you have a slippy piece of DPC inserted in the bricks that are acting compositly it stops working. Practically you may just want to go for a non composite lintel in case you want to knock a hole in the wall later on! In summary. Look up, see what is above and what you need to hold up and just as importantly how stop anything moving sideways (lateral restraint) or twisting (torsion). Remember that the inner and outer leaf of a wall could be carrying different amounts of load. Also remember that it is important to look down too and see what you have below as a support. There is a saying “if it doesn’t look or feel right it probably isn’t”! If you have any doubts at all it’s always best to ask the structural designer which you may want to do once you have had another look.

Sorry to contradict but there must be a min 12mm level change (Part J, Diagram 27 top right hand side). Apparently it's to discourage rugs migrating onto the hearth where embers might fall out onto them.

The costs all depend on who you use and what you agree. We're using a main contractor but only for "fit out" post timber-frame, so while there is a percentage for overheads and profit it's lower than you might expect across our whole build. How much a main contractor does/doesn't involve you depends on both what you have agreed and how they work, not all main contractors are the same and not all work on a fixed price closed-book basis where they make most of the decisions. I was very against working with a main contractor, until we found someone that agreed to just do fit-out, has reasonable costs and didn't insist on charging a % on groundworks or frame. Also we get on very well with him and we're comfortable that he'll ensure quality, consult on the important items and allow us to be as involved as needed, but not bother us if he needs to order bags of cement. Are we spending a bit more using a main contractor post-frame rather than PMing ourselves? Yes, we almost certainaly are. But, having someone that's run this type of project multiple times before will mean the process goes more smoothly and is completed a bit quicker. If you consider this means i) less risk/stress on us ii) that we'll save a potentially significant amount on rent and iii) I'm less likely to loose my job because I'm too distracted on the build then for us, in balance, it's worth spending this bit extra. I beleive that the right way to run a build depends on everyones own personal situation: budget, skills, interest, work/family situation and if they are in a caravan or paying rent every month etc.

Or you could still be talking about it on BH ?.

1) Someone (a PM or QS) who can help you setup a project timeline, cost plan and help you find a main contractor at a reasonable price and set up a contract with them. 2) A good main contractor. (Who won't necesairly cost any more than a PM hiring individual contractors, but unlike a PM will i) own the site ii) take on main contractor CDM responsibility iii) have a price/time commitment) If possible pay PM/QS by task/hours, and avoid them taking a % as a contract administrator. If you have a good main contractor you can trust and have agreed prices/formulas and a contract in place, I can't really see why you need all the meetings/valuations and other items you listed. If you have a mortgage that needs a valuation, they'll send someone out to do this.

For AGD I meant Above Ground Drainage ?

Had agreement in principal last summer from the contractor to replace the system with a view to doing it this summer but Covid has hit and I need to chase him again - last spoke 6 odd weeks ago as they were restarting operations. Fundamental issue is that their batten did not overlay the structural ribs in the TF outer wall (which were marked) so at least half of them were just screwed into Panelvent (i.e. MDF) and the fixings have failed.

If it’s fused then you need to replace the wiring plate for a Fused Spur - preferably a double pole one - if you are removing the plug.

Haha...and your To-Do List does like the The Great Wall of China Joe, you may get to that task....in 2154. I think based on all of the above I will just go ahead, cheers all. PS. @Temp yes of all the myriad options that is actually the least attractive tbh, it would be like the postman driving right through your front garden...not appealing at all.

Had my test done early when all windows were in but before plasterboard. Got a test result of 0.47 if I remember rightly with a big trim missing off my sliding windows so was quite happy even though I was miffed as it could have been lower. The air test people said they needed to come back to do another test when it was finished costing another £200 ish. I contacted my BI and asked do I need to do another test as he had never had such a low result before seen as I was doing all the work and he replied he was happy with just one test. I might add he already knew I was quite an anal self builder and would not be doing anything to jeopardise my airtightness result. Some may add it would be worth doing another test just to prove nothing had been done that would lower my result but I am happy with my efforts in being meticulous with sticking!!

If you just build it the planners will either ignore it or they won't. If they ignore it all well and good. If not then I reckon their first move will be an informal approach telling you they believe you need Planning Permission. If you keep ignoring them they will have to decide if they want to initiate enforcement action. If they feel strongly they will probably write a scary letter that talks about initiating enforcement action if not rectified by some date. At that point I reckon it would be pointless submitting an application for a Certificate of Lawfulness because their letter will state their reasons why they believe PP is required. Once you get that enforcement notice you should file a planning application. That will delay any enforcement action until the planning application and any appeal is processed. If they are extremely concerned and think you are going to do something much worse like create a lorry park or travellers site or tarmac the whole paddock they might hit you with an injunction to stop work. Personally I doubt they would do that as they would risk costs of perhaps £10K. I'm not sure why you cant convert that curving footpath into a driveway? I can see reasons why you might not want to.

Yes exactly like that I’ve done this on a number of occasions with bays and replacing rotten joists also Simpson strongtie are ideal for this

I still say crack on, worth the risk (IMO). I am supposed to re In state the fence between my field and house but it’s last on my “to do list” (if you know what I mean!).

Thanks to all, I must admit that I hadn't expected so many responses so quickly, if I had, I would have been online sooner. To add a little detail, I am a Certified PH Designer, and I have been studying PH for more than a decade now. I'm not being all that hands-on, it would slow the build, though I do tend to be on site about 4 hours most days keeping an eye on things and doing what I can. To respond to Russdl: I made sure that our house is a pretty simple box shape, with a side lean-to construction (the latter basically a planning requirement) - no problematic dormers or chimneys. We are building at Long Four Acres. We'd love to find the reason for the loss in performance before proceeding, but we cannot really afford to delay the trades. The impression we got is just that a lot of what was okay previously, is a bit less okay now; thus it is a lot of small issues rather than any major one. Thorfun rightly asks what has changed since the MBC. 1) I put conduits through the wall for power and other services, these all had grommets; Some conduits have now been permanently sealed, others had a temporary seal for the test 2) MBC cut lots of holes in the ProPassiv board to blow in the cellulose, the discs were replaced and well taped in. 3) Two windows had to be replaced, these were taped in at least as well as the original windows; however a pane wass cracked during this exercise, and is yet to be replaced. 4) AGD is as yet incomplete, but again was carefully taped. These were all checked with a smoke pen during the test and other than small leaks nothing untoward was found. But I am now adding SL tape to seal the small leaks. I had rather assumed it was required to do an as-built final test for BC, but perhaps if one betters 0.6 early on then it is rather a given. It's disappointing not to find others who have done second tests. Personally, if we had time and funds, it would be best to stop work, reseal everything and retest - but this isn't really something I can do. Perhaps if our second test had been terrible... but actually it's around 0.8, so I'm reasonably confident I can get it back under 0.6 - it would just be good to be certain. Oh, and more leakage is a moisture in the walls issue as much as a need for extra heating. thanks all

Mine were short pivoting shower screens for a wet room where it does not matter that some "escapes" over or under the screen.

Home made cabinet now in with only a mirror and a couple of other small jobs to do. This job dragged on and on!

I’d be interested in reading about your research , maybe you could start a new thread and we could all contribute towards best practice.

When we were getting ready to start this journey we initially were going to get a turnkey build. A local company quoted for it and we were handed the quote along with the QS paperwork, the quote came in at £100k over the amount of finance we had available and that was not including any landscaping, driveway or garage and was only allowing £8k for a kitchen but it didn’t take long to discover that the prices the qs was quoting for materials were way above what we knew we could get them for. We couldn’t have paid his price so we had no option but to go it alone, (it probably helped that we had done it twice before ) We were fortunate that we found a builder who was willing to work on a labour only basis for the majority of the big stuff. I spent all my spare time (I was working 3 days a week and babysitting a 4 year old and a 2 year old two days a week) sourcing materials and organising deliveries and checking things were happening when they should, it took a lot of time and as the money started going out it was very stressful, don’t know how many sheets of paper with calculations I had and it made me into someone I didn’t recognise as I had never been a confrontational person but quickly discovered I would need to be to get things done! We did save that £100k and ended up with a better spec house than we would have had if we’d gone with the first company, nobody is going to look after your money the way you would yourself!

why not just widen the current path into a driveway?

Would any of your neighbours “drop you in it “ ? Can this be seen from the road?. If the answer to both is no I would crack on ?

You can set the thermostat temp for the immersion to whatever you desire and excess PV (via a diverter) will lift it to that setting so long as there is sufficient excess from any other energy usage at the time.

Yes - does the Ecodan control the immersions then ..? If not , just up the setting of the immersion stat to 80c

If the road is not a trunk road or a classified road then you don’t need PP to create a field opening. Anything onto a classified road requires PP and highways approval. Nothing stopping you putting your field shelter near the house and creating access to it ... 0.4 Hectares (0.995 acres) is the limit that applies to agricultural PP for class B permitted development rights.

if you think their view is wrong don’t be afraid to challenge it. With ours the planners also told us half the garden was agricultural and when I challenged them and asked how they knew this she said she looked on google Earth, well, I laughed out loud at her and explained there was no fence, hedge, ditch or any other type of barrier where they said it changed and I could get signed letters from more than one member of my wife's family to say it had been garden in excess of 30 years, she sheepishly conceded. (and you wonder why I don’t trust planners!!!!!). p.s a simple plan of your plot may be helpful. p.p.s. Do the paddocks have their own gate to a road fir tractor access?

You'll no doubt recall @Jeremy Harris(hope he's okay btw?) describing multifoil insulation (and/or claims about its performance) as 'snake oil'. I wonder is there a new candidate for the description ?

UVC, larger than you think you need and use ASHP to heat it. Manifold distribution from a central point, blended to suit the outlets.

Things seem to be happening very quickly and progress has gone really well. The block and beam of the huge extension is coming together now and the focus has been outside, although with the occasional downpour the inside is now half empty with our 1970s bathroom suite finally gone. In the interim I've sold everything inside, the kitchen, boiler, naff internal doors and even the crappy floor tiles we took off. All copper and rads ready for my dad to weigh in. Have now run out of stuff to sell! Here are a couple of pics from this week. The final pic, the bank you can see and the path runs 90 metres from the entrance to the end of our garden from one old railway bridge to the other old railway bridge the other end which is over the canal. The railway at the top of the embankment is no more. It was the line that ran from Whitchurch to Chester and we can clamber up to the top of the embankment which is now an overgrown mess of bramble and ivy, no track any longer. We cleared some of the ivy and when we were clearing the garden of shrubs, bulbs and plants that we knew would get disturbed I literally moved every one by hand and planted it on the bank and we have been lucky that the majority of the plants have taken and had daffs, bluebells and lots of other things flower so it looks quite nice, even the foxgloves that seem to have gone crazy. We do need to sort out some sort of wall or something to replace the rockery' bit which was already there. I dread to think of the cost for such a long length. It's not as high in some places and levels off.

right. so digger experience. dug 20M of drain run, had a bit of a bend but managed to get pipe to fit ? 2M deep at end, about a foot at other but now covered with more soil so a couple of foot or more down. managed to get slope pretty even by eye which was a miracle tbh. Hand shovelling stone in was hardest part! now all filled in and running fine. Started digging out a slope to create a flat level for garden. getting ground level with digger is hard compared to digging trench but a few days work would have taken weeks, at least, by hand. in fact not sure I could have done it given how hard the ground is. best 250 quid ever spent

you just have to be very careful with this approach, really millions of fixings and movement joints etc otherwise you'll get cracking in the render as the timber frame settles

OK, I'll give them a bell and see if I can get some pricing. Meanwhile I've had a long crack with Andy at Insulhub this morning and you're right, they're happy with putting up 2.4m of Isotex at a time - at least up to a certain height, he thought it might be necessary to rein things back a bit if you start to get high and the weather's crap. He was also forthcoming on the reinforcing aspect: not really needed for a bungalow in a sheltered spot, but if you were building 3 storeys in an exposed position in the North West then some would likely be needed - even if it's not up to the Italian earthquake standard. Apparently they're also going to be doing a series of British videos soon which will be interesting to see.

We have a Sunamp Uniq 12 heated electrically for our DHW - it ran (via an Eddi controller) entirely from our 10kw solar from early March to mid Nov and at other times of the year we give it an overnight (potentially economy 7) burst. This is with the 10kwh electrical battery taking priority, but even then the Sunamp has been getting solar power the odd day recently. There is no hot water tank installed. UFH is powered from a low temp Daikin ASHP. Re your OP: Our EPC certificate (101 rating) says 11,000 for space heating and 2,400 for DHW while actuals were 1,800 (input to ASHP so output around 6,000) and 1,000 (only 2 of us though). We're 380 sq m.

@Joth - it's a Daikin Altherma low temp split EHBH08CB3V indoors and ERLQ006CV3 outdoors It needs to be EHBX for heating /cooling

Anyone heard of / got experience of "Roof Maker" rooflights & skylights? Luxlite for pitched roofs Roof lights overview - inc fancy stuff like sliding lanterns and a round one Quoted U values are good, typical best cases in the 0.6 area. Remote control opening and blackout blinds as an option. Targeting the Passive House market. 20 year warranty. Made in Leicester, UK What am I missing?

As usual, when talking about heating systems, there is a lot of bollocks spoken about the details. There are two basic ways to heat DHW. Directly when needed or heated and stored until needed. Directly heated when needed requires a large boiler, the more hot water needed, the larger the boiler. Stored until needed can use a much smaller output boiler, but it needs to run for longer to recharge the DHW cylinder. All the rest, that nonsense about vented or unvented, large cylinders or thermal stores, thermostatic valves, heat exchangers etc is just the detail bollocks. Similar with space heating in a way. You can heat the air directly or heat some water, then pump it around the place to radiators A radiator is really a convection heater, but an UFH systems is really just a large radiator. The theory is the same e.g. how much power will it deliver. All the rest is detail i.e. gas, oil, solid fuel, heat pumps, solar, PV. What it really comes down to is how easy it is to install and how well you can insulate the parts that need insulating and place the parts that are hot. One of the problems is that we have got used to combing and system gas boilers and most plumbers are only happy to use these. They are not really that efficient, just that natural gas is so cheap that it looks that way. But I think it is about time one of the plumbers did a few sketches of different wet heating systems and explained the differences between them. Trouble is that prejudiced comes into it and to the unwary that can cause problems and confusion. My view is keep it simple and split the space and DHW systems if possible. One size does not fit all.

I used a single motorised ball valve to isolate the buffer tank from the ASHP when it's in cooling mode, just where you have one shown. I chose a motorised ball valve rather than a conventional motorised valve as I wanted to be 100% sure that it would seal when closed. Having looked at the inside of a conventional motorised valve I wasn't 100% convinced that it would be a 100% seal, and as even a small amount of chilled water seeping past into the buffer would cool it down a bit, I opted to use a ball valve that I was confident would be a 100% seal when closed. You could use a manual ball valve, but you'd be operating it a lot in warm weather, when you want to keep the buffer tank warm for preheating hot water but also want to have the floor cooled a bit.

I'd 100% be using the ashp for DHW uplift. Why have such a good resource and not use its full ( good CoP ) potential? A buffer with DHW uplift coil ( so actually a TS ) is a no-brainer afaic, unless you have a good PV array where the argument becomes less one sided. With a typical target 'set' buffer / TS temp of 40oC, and showering requiring 38-40oC max, most of your DHW production can then be from low grade / high CoP heat energy, rather than having the ASHP running in DHW mode, at 55oC, with zero or negative CoP.