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We put in a single row of mixed blackthorn and hawthorn bare rooted 60cm tall in winter 2015/16. They can just about be seen behind the rabbit fence in the first picture. Five years later, second picture, they have grown a bit. They are kept at 1m high as they are on the road edge.

As others are saying, they are easy to self install or install be normal tradesmen. Just be sure they are capable of reading the manual as particularly with the electrics there are some differences from say a system boiler, and some plumbing differences like you never ever use a 3 port mid position valve with an ASHP. And many of us cynical old folk on here believe the MCS scheme is a rip off designed to suck most if the RHI payment out of the customers hand into the installers coffers. a 250L tank will NOT be big enough for 4 showers. We have a 300L tank and it has been know to run out if all 3 of us shower in sequence. Duration of a shower seems proportional to the square of the length of your hair!!! (I don't take long to shower) Remember with a low power ASHP the DHW re heat time is a lot longer than with a gas boiler.

If you turned it into an old people’s home you could move in as soon as it’s done. ?? sorry.

We used Grass Block which we had bought for our driveway turning circle. It stood up to a crane and many many lorry deliveries before we took it apart and used it for the driveway.

We bought £50 worth of offcut of artificial turf (5m by 5m) and put it outside the bits of house we wanted to protect. (kitchen, back door) I ran a branch of our hose and sprayer to the artificial turf edge, and put a boot cleaner there, so everyone could scrape and spray their boots before using the loo. Its been down now for 4 years and has real grass and other stuff growing through it. The chickens do their bit of cleaning up of bits of food, and contribute just as much mess as they clear away. The dogs hoover the rest up Wait for a couple of dry and preferrably windy days , the mud crusts up well, and then get a leaf blower on it - comes up like new. Best £50 we spent.

Hello everyone?, I'm very early in my adventure into the world of self-build and am currently looking for a plot (proving easier said than done) around Clifton, and surrounding areas in Bristol. I'm just me, so not after a huge amount of space, but would like enough for a small garden-Ideally a random infill site or a garden plot. I've spoken to a few custom-build and community project owners, but am very focussed on the idea of a sustainable lifestyle with minimum environmental impact. I've a few architect friends, so really am looking for a nudge in the right direction plot-wise as well as some inspiration from the incredible projects people are posting about here too. Thanks!

12.5mm on walls, 15mm on ceilings. 15mm is surprisingly a lot heavier than 12.5mm. One of those cheap lifters is a godsend. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drywall-Plaster-lifter-Lifter-Construction/dp/B079P4L387/ref=asc_df_B079P4L387/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310971245184&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8427784830050754218&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9074305&hvtargid=pla-698493927319&psc=1 Did all of ours using it on my own.

12.5mm on ceiling you need nogs (dwangs for @ProDave!) At 1200s. 15mm you don't. Saves time.

I have about a dozen of these While they are pricey They are virtually indestructible You can run a tracked machine or 20 ton lorry on them Just pressure wash them down when you no longer need them and put them on eBay for nearly what you have paid

Peter Sarstedt was my first thought...more the "when you're alone in your bed" line...

You are a liar on both counts......And you failed to tell me that it was written by Costello, and McCartney

Plastimatts or ground mats like these are maybe an idea.... We bought 10, over the years have smashed two, and we should get our money back on the other 8. Three or four visitors have commented on them - and every lorry driver does: on our mud , they are a godsend. Even better if you have a digger and can sling them to a bucket ....

Donatien Alphonse François perhaps?

Interesting developments in the last week. While trying to figure out a way forward for my build as cheaply as possible I discovered a company that does SIPs and has just finished a slight larger house for a LOT less than the tender prices that shut me down last year (€375k). So my job this month is to crunch the numbers again, get a more formal quote from them and see if this is a runner. As always there are three factors I've to balance: Architects fees - the crowd I used before are brilliant but very expensive. I've a different Architect doing an analysis to see what he would charge to take over. Also the builder has their own Architect I'll approach to see if I can use them instead. Kit Home - There are two companies who work together and seem to deliver you a turnkey house - just move in the furniture. I'm a bit dubious how they do this for such a good price so will visit one of their builds if possible. I know they use PVC for windows and soffit/fascia so will see what spec of ASHP and MVHR they use and if these are of the cheaper variety or not once they return a spec I can look at. Bank - ah, the bank! Build cost + Arch fees + 10% contingency - I'll get funded max 80% (as a second time buyer) of this or 80% of the projected value of the finished house, whichever is less. I can see some creative accounting coming on here...! Plus my old house has to sell for enough to get me the equity I need - this is attached to the site (side garden) so need to sell before I draw down new mortgage. The builder uses SIPs, nothing against them, should work fine. I've a budget of €260K and their initial guesstimate was €275K so not far off. A more accurate quote is on the way and I'll see how much this goes up (!). Like the build triangle (quality, price, speed / good-quick-cheap) I've three legs that need to all function to get this over the line: Valuation of finished house based on location, spec and current market value - house prices are holding / still going up slightly so ok there so far. I need a good valuation though, got €350K last year but hope for detached I'll get a little more. Builders price for 2021 build - I'll have to pick apart the spec a bit and see what I can live with and what I might have to change but if I can get a decent fabric it might just work. The things I'd like to do might not be possible as this is right on my budget but at least it's a hands off build for the money, so I won't be working double jobs trying to do as much myself as possible. Architect - haven't found one willing to work with me yet, two turned me down, one is thinking about it and the original Architects are bloody expensive. Will see how this goes....I could pay them out of pocket but if their costs go into the costings submitted to the bank I have to prove I can afford them up front, probably looking at 20K just for them with all the reg required in ROI now. Anyway, should know more in a week but will line up other options in the meantime in case. Wish this post was about the build already but if this happens it's going to happen quick and I'm certain this is the best shot I'll get at it for a good while. One day I'll be sticking photos of the build up there and updating everyone as each stage goes up.

Love that Ferd. That ain't you on a scooter is it ? ?

Pick it all out, take off all paint, let it breathe and point with lime.

Hi and welcome! I regularly see garages at the bottom of gardens going up forsale in the wider ‘Clifton’ area... clearly not Clifton but advertised as so. These are typically turned into small mews type houses. Hope you find what you are looking for.

What a cracking job.

I think IN Clifton is nigh on impossible, i'll be searching the surrounding area too! Thanks for the warm welcome and well-wishes.

She portrays herself as a "property professional" yet seems to have an astonishingly poor knowledge of building techniques and the planning system.

You have a flair with words?

It's similar story to Fiesta vs Merc taking you from A to B, but one costing twice as much. What Zehnder offers: - better heat exhange efficiency: each manufacturer gives you percentage, but Zehnder uses PHI methodology and is certified to it - better specific power, which reduces total cost of ownership (I did some figures here) - quiter operation - advanced off the shelf controls/demand control options - Zehnder specifically also offers nice ducting system (Comfowell) saving some space - if that is at premium (eg London), it may pay back for itself For me Zehnder is really all singing all dancing solution, but I found last 2 not important and first 3 satisfied by another solution

I am a “cynical old bugger” who installed his own ASHP etc with a bit of help from others here. Yes RHI is fraud in my opinion. Any bad press about ASHP is where they are not installed/programmed correctly.

I would call that simple Fraud. Tell the public you will get a grant to help with the cost, but don't tell the public you will be forced to use a scheme of installers who have deliberately inflated the costs so they end up with the grant money and you are no better off than if you just bought the damned thing and paid someone normal rates to install it.

Sensible suggestion dangit6.. Never know I might sort of get used to it, like annoying shoes. Cheers Pics of finished room anyway ( bar door to make, but can wait)

I find that a bit of 0000 steel wool with car polishing compound (Meguiars or similar), followed by a polishing cloth with the same polish, will make that sink look like new. That's what I do, Disclaimer - try it on a small discrete area first etc,

I didn't bother to watch. Used to like property ladder years ago, but her big old mansion doing up was so dull. I have no doubt, this will be the same. I'm surprised that they give her anything on the telly now. She just feels so out of date.

Yes, and the blame often goes to ASHPs, not the sizing of them. This is the whole point of this topic, it is to stop this happening. So everytime we see someone say something like "I thought of an ASHP, but they are no good in old houses" or "I know someone that has one, and it is rubbish", maybe my favourite "they are not there yet", which I have no idea what it means. it should always be pointed out that they will work if they the design size and installation is correct.

Precisely Years ago I bought a 1930's semi detached house with 9" solid walls. It had a large storage heater in the living room. That proved woefully inadequate to heat the room in winter even at it's maximum setting. So I had to light the coal fire, use a fan heater, or later I installed a gas fire (much later I installed central heating) But that does not mean "storage heaters don't work" just because that one heater was inadequate for that particular room in that particular house. I think the REAL issue is there are bands of installers going around fitting poorly designed / sized ASHP systems that then turn out not to work properly and it is those poor installs that get "heat pumps" a bad name. I know perhaps half a dozen houses with an ASHP and they were all designed properly and working well. Perhaps it is time for the law to state clearly that someone designing a heating system should warrant that it will work in all normal weather conditions for the house and it's location.

If you have PV you could argue that the cooling may be free I guess, but I struggle to understand how a good PH architect/consultant would design something, in Ireland, that has up to 25% overheating to start with! The night purge should ideally be modelled in the PHPP already, that way you'd know if the risk still existed considering this rather than making any assumptions. Has the brise soliel shading been included in the model? That should help a lot, although you'd probably want something for first floor windows too. Solar glass will impact winter solar gain which is why IMO the best approach is correctly designed overhangs (that will block light in summer, but allow it in in winter) and/or temporary shading (external venetian/fabric blinds). See if your PHPP consultant will give you the spreadsheet so that you can play around with the variables yourself and work out the best balance yourself. As long you don't use it for any other projects I don't see why this would be an issue.

I used these in my build and the MVHR was the one bit I did myself details at the blog. You end up doing both majority of balancing at the box and some fine tuning at the valves.

After around 18 months of planning things have finally been moving a lot faster over the last couple of weeks which is great! I'll try to summarise the interesting bits: Type 2 vs. Type 3 Our EPS was installed on a sub-base of 150mm MOT Type 2 and 50mm sharp sand for blinding. Structurally this is absolutely fine, but there was an awful lot of and fro with the foundation designers about if permeable type 3 + grit should actually have been used as specified in the system certificates. I believe the only potential down-side of this approach is the potential for capillary action causing water uptake in the EPS and reduced thermal performance, but, given we upgraded to 300/400mm EPS this shouldn't be a significant concern. Drainage below EPS While it was a challenge with the invert levels (especially with the 400mm EPS) we decided to try and ensure that all drainage went through the sub-base and not through the EPS. This resulted in a redesigning the drainage runs as well as ensuring we use inspection chambers without drops, but it all works in the end, with just small notches being required in the underside of the bottom 100mm of EPS in a couple of isolated locations. "The bend at the foot of the stack should have as large a radius as possible and at least 200mm at the centre line" One warning when putting drainage in. Make sure the correct shallow bends are used! Our building inspector had, in theory, given us a pre-pour approval, but then when he got the drainage photos it was clear that the correct bends hadn't been used for first floor SVP's which he flagged up, so we had no choice but to mine through 300-400mm EPS and change them! Why so much EPS? Given our house design has stepped sides (something to do with street scene according to our architect) this means there are numerous steels and load-bearing walls internally. What this meant in practice for the foundation design was that around 60% of the slab needed reinforcing and would have 250mm concrete and only 200mm EPS. We had a u-value calculation done based on our actual foundation design and as we expected the u-value wasn't great, so we decided to go ahead and upgrade the EPS to 400mm which ensure there is a minimum of 300mm EPS across the while slab. It might have been overkill, but the price to upgrade wasn't that much and our PHPP calculation was already assuming 0.10.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again..... "Tis a thing of beauty".

Please keep the thread on topic. This is not mumsnet.

As far as I know it is also true, from the original use of perforated blocks to allow breezes in hot climes whilst providing a screen. I'm coot anyway, but not so hairy. I would not inflict a photo on you; during lockdown working through a bit of mum's flyaway hair shampoo - mine has all suddenly flown away standing on end and I look like a teasel.

You know it's like saying Beetlejuice three times?

Veronica elvis Costello . Didn’t use google honest ! You owe me a tenner as I am just about to open a dogs home .

Much older. Remember my age fella. we are talking 80's the best music era.

Just beware of smiley faced landlords on here offering you a tour of their basement!

Call it a Breeze Block, then. Them there are called breeze blocks 'cos they leak so badly ? .

As if I’d make up just stuff . Certainly seems very real in my head ...

Jay Cartwright or what!

It’s true . I met “ the bean “ as I use to call her at a Kylie concert . Split up with Kylie because of her .

How do you start to dig a large pond without planning permission? "Engineering operation" When they were doing the large house I enjoyed that, though I admit I was waiting for the Only Fools and Horses Chandelier trick.

Silly Sarah , use to be the hot Beeny babe . Now she has more grout stuffed in her face than my bathroom