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Managed to get this bad boy on to our site a few days ago, needed to go about a mile over hill and dale, through some very tight gates and round some tighter corners, but arrived in one piece! Just need to position, level, and hook everything up. And work out how 4 of us are going to live in the thing...

I am with Octopus (If you want a referal code that will get you £50 off PM me) They are very transparent, and constantly getting good scores for customer service. They do work on a fixed monthly direct debit. But each month you send a meter reading and they immediately work out a bill and tell you how much your usage is. they keep a running total available on their website saying how much has been paid in (your DD) and how much has been taken out (your bill) and your monthly balance. There is a mechanism if YOU want to vary the Dd amount, there is a mechanism to make a one off extra DD payment if you have had a high usage, and there is a mechanism to request a refund if your account is too much in credit. I too have been looking to switch, but I cannot find anywhere else that is as flexible or gets such good reviews, and some of the alternatives get some shockingly bad reviews

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/galleries/article-9125721/Hilarious-snaps-capture-questionable-interior-design-decisions.html

Did the ensuite one . It was cheap and I can tell . Fixings are all crappy plastic . This one was definitely filled with an oil type product . Anyway , all done !

I have a full PHPP analysis that clearly calculates the heating requirement per m2. Also SAP A rated (91). But my clincher for any buyer would be to show them my energy bill which averaged over the year s £1/day for gas and £1.50 for electricity. This is for a 6 bed 400m2 house, family of 4 and two adults who work from home (even pre -lockdown). Note also that building this passive house was no more expensive (and possibly cheaper) than a traditional min BR standard. I agree that if a developer / builder was throwing up a house (or more) for profit then I'd be very wary of poorly though through systems (such as ASHP, solar thermal, even MVHR etc) to get SAP points. We learned early on that a house is a system and all parts need to complement - fabric (insulation, airtightness, solar gain/shading) and the DHW, heating and ventilation system. Our experience is that winter comfort heating is not an issue but spring/summer/autumn overheating is. Throwing an over specified heating system into a house with a low energy requirement is not a great idea. Cooling (or bettter, preventing overheating) strategies are every bit as important.

Morning all - and to coin a phrase "Well! Well! Well!" ProDave would appear to be psychic! His first thought that "... the heat requirements of your house are too high for the heat pump you have" seem to have been spot on. The installation company rep confessed that they had installed the wrong size pump! The original calculations suggested a 7kw whereas it should have been a 14kw! My uninformed increase of pump size to 9kw, while seemingly a step in the right direction, still fell way short of the mark. So within the next week or so they are to fit a 14kw heatpump. As this 9kw almost does the trick I assume a 14kw should cope easily? A word of explanation won't be amiss even though I have named no names. The installer is a privately owned company who specialise in heat pumps. Until recently i.e. within the last few days! they sub-contracted out the EPC and heat calculationss to a fully qualified third party who it seems f.u.b.a.b. [b.a.b. = beyond all belief]. Mine were not the only calculations he got wrong; there are two other installations that are apparently similarly afflicted. The installation company is now doing all its own calculations 'in house'. Hey ho. For what it's worth, having turned back ON the 'True Radiant' option on my thermostat, the heatpump was thashing away more-or-less all night long. Come the appointed hour [08:00] the temp was 17.5º [as opposed to the 18º demanded]. Temp outside most of last night was about -2ºC according to a rather unreliable trail camera I have set up to record hedge hogs; it is now around 8ºC according to an equally unreliable cheap stick-on thermometer and the heatpump is chassing the target temp of 20ºC demanded from 10:00 til 15:00. Thanks for all the help and I will report back once the new heatpump is up and running.

Here’s mine. We wanted sliding doors to get outside so had to go with a cross beam for wind shear without having double frames where the door is. I also wanted frameless windows from inside and very thin frames so went with the cross beam in the end. It’s also pretty wide at 6m

@Tom well done, reminds me when I sold my static 30 + years ago to a couple a few miles away “you will deliver it won’t you or we don’t want it!!!!”, I borrowed a tractor and towed it to their site on the road?, I got the buyer to drive in front of me to clear the road.

Door blank as Joe advises then https://www.directdoors.com/blogs/help/glazing-doors-cutting-aperture-glass

We have a spare set of Eclise brushes ( and architrave) you would be welcome to from a single pocket door . We used the eclise for the pocket but have trimmed it with a kit form Porta doors so it matched our other doors . We are about 30 miles from Bristol

Nothing like coming in from work for a shower in a nice warm bathroom... apparently! ?

It is difficult. We didn't want a transom on our three quarter glazed gable so window dressing was tricky. We made some vertical blinds as an experiment and they are still there.

I think your kit must be different to the one I did in 2017. Mine was certainly Eclisse and the 8mm glass door. Either side of the door there were brush strips to disguise the gap. mine worked ok as long as no one slammed the door hard. If you did, the kinetic energy of the heavy glass door being stopped abruptly tended to knock the adjustment of the hangers out of tune a bit. The door kit was expensive and I had to more or less rebuild the wall. Ours was the 75mm kit and U.K. wall stud tends to be 70mm so I had to make it all match. Hence a bit of extra and a bit of packing. The steel frame is all a bit wobbly too. Without the reinforcement of the wall studs and the wall boards it would be a bit doubtful. I see you have lined the wall with osb, I used Fermacell. I agree about the kit and the instructions. Not the easiest to understand and strange bits left over. I’m not sure it would do it again. It looked good but a bit like wall hung toilets, I am not sure it is worth the cost and effort.

I agree with this. I've supplied all the materials for my extension and brought trades in on a labour only basis. Lots and lots of research has enabled me to know exactly which materials are required in advance therefore been able to shop around and get the best value possible. A wealth of information exists on here, google in general and also via the LABC technical manual. As suggested with the juggling, it's not just about knowing what you need and ordering it, it's making sure you allow for the lead times of certain items and also not having everything too soon if space/storage is going to be a concern. The pandemic has not helped in that regard. When it's you that's holding up the trades, it's you that's getting the blame. Boils down to the time poor / cash rich or vice versa.

One further thought - tell your architect that you're open minded on the build method and to specify a nominal wall thickness for the design. This can change later and at worst may eat a little internal floor area. Some designs are more economical to build than others - acres of frames floor to ceiling glass, curves, complex angles, funky roof designs etc will be expensive to realise whoever is building. You can often get the same effect in a more effective way e.g framing a view with several smaller windows, high level horizontal windows to let light in etc. This is where your architect can earn their money. Just be careful when you're designing areas like kitchens and utilities where you will be dealing with the usual cabinet / appliance widths of 600mm - don't make it too tight! Also, if you have runs of built in wardrobe, design it around the IKEA standard dimensions as you'll save thousands doing that vs

See how long it takes to fill an X litre container and work out the litres per minute. Bigger container is going to be more accurate. Do it a few times to get an average.

Back again : their German phone number is 0049926153468. The number is not being answered at the moment: and thats because they knock off at 3 on a Friday The website is so badly designed and coded that I think the best you can do is ring them (from Monday 06:30 our time - that far south in Germany, English is likely to be spoken with a strong accent ) . If langauage is an issue, I'll give them a ring for you. BTW, the company's not far our Queens family stomping ground : Coburg

I don't see how your chosen build method impacts the design your architect produces which should be about how to create a dwelling that works for you as a home, looks appealing from the exterior, makes the most of the site and most importantly gets planning permission. How you build it comes second really. Your structure will need to meet or exceed building regulations wrt insulation and airtightness, which all the current build methods can do. Also you can combine any exterior finish (brick, stone, render, timber) with any build method if desired. Most of the methods net out at the same cost as some are material heavy and labour light (e.g. SIPs or TF) and others are more of an even split (ICF, blocks etc). Once through planning we looked at everything from ICF to SIPs to bock before settling on a passive standard timber frame and cast in situ concrete for basement. At that point we'd parted company with the architect as they were no longer adding value to the project. We discharged our own planning conditions and managed the build thereafter, saving at a min the 20% overhead that a general contractor would use and were able to pick and choose the trades we wanted vs being lumped with the ones the contractor chooses. Plus we drove down the budget across the board with a lot of deal hunting. We commissioned our own SE to do the basement design and took that spec to contractors for quote. I did a few bits and bobs like insulating the exterior of the basement and the MVHR plus wielding the broom. Choosing a timber frame package was best for us as it was a turnkey package and got us quite far along (airtight shell once windows had gone in) in a short time. They produced all the necessary drawings and their own SE calcs to satisfy building control. However had we gone down the ICF route, our SE was happy to produce the detailed designs for the whole house. So keep an open mind and choose the option that suits your circumstances. Best of luck on the employment front. The self employed and small business owners / contractors etc do seem to have been overlooked.

Slight clickbait because this doesn't apply to us, fortunately, but we're hearing about lots of self-builders who are having their mortgage drawdowns stopped due to the pandemic. Imagine that you're part way into your build, you go to the bank for your next chunk of money and they say no. Terrifying. Anyone here affected by that?

If you want to take on major work then great, do it, unfortunately because of health problems and age my build would have taken me way too many years to complete (plus I had the money to pay a main contractor to shorten the timescale). I would say do what you can if you feel able, there are plenty of people here to give advise if required.

Don't underestimate how important the organising aspect of a build is. Materials and labour are needed at different times and it's a juggling act making sure the right materials are on the job when the right trade needs them. No other person you will employ will do the amount of leg work to save as much money as you will. Plus a clean and tidy site makes a job run much smoother. An hour with a brush and shovel really works wonders. If you really want to use ICF and your architect doesn't then change your architect.

Hi everyone! Really excited to have found this place! I'm from London, but have just bought a place in Spain. It's quite run down, and so I'm going to renovate it and the detached garage at the end of the garden too. Pleased to meet you all!

Hi look at using a PIR insulation in the cavity for that part, such as Kingspan, ( other are available ) that will provide the u-value

Are you looking at using the reclaimed bricks as a feature? I.E. exposed brick instead of the plasterboard? damn! Mr Punter bet me to it.

I guess they wanted exposed brickwork inside. Increase of cavity would be easiest. You could use Kingspan insulation. You are allowed a poorer u value if you compensate elsewhere.

Use insulated plasterboard on the inside to get your u values acceptable to the building control officer. How deep will be a trade of of how warm you want it to be plus how much you can afford to lose inside. 100mm insulation would be great for heat loss but can you lose that much on each wall.

Use some clearCT1 silicone it works on damp materials and will seal problem area, slacken off j mounts some CT1 on the roof side and tighten down, CT1 squishing out under washer

Talavera. About 90 mins away from the centre of Madrid. If the house renovation goes well, next on the list is a little airport and it'd be the perfect holiday home!

I understand that fully...which is a first! ? Sounds like a plan! When fitting your plant ons, don't bang the panel pins all the way in to start off with. This way you can just sit them on with the pins banged in ever so slightly. Makes it easy to remove and reposition.

Welcome. My name for you will be SirBreathOfFreshAir . I hope you don't mind. Here's why..... I started build five years ago and I've had five years of people - from professionals to Odd Jobbers - who when politely asked in an unthreatening way, cannot explain the simplest things to me. Some have offered barely concealed contempt " Good luck with that mate ", outright denial (a la Donald Trump level ) " Passivhaus stuff is crap" [local TF manufacturer, financed by a famous local footballer], a long meaningful stare. Others simply avoid answering. One or two smile, and with a bit of pride show me. They'll always be welcome on site. I can - to an extent - understand. Their job is not to teach, it's just to do. In other words, encultered learning. They've done it for so long like this or that, that they have forgotten why - and therefore cannot explain. We all do it in our own sectors. The trick is to get them to explain what they know of their own free will. Thats the moment when many realise how much they do know. The underlying processes which contributed to that knowledge is even more deeply hidden. And if you are being paid by the job, the job is - get-it-done-pronto. Explanations? - Couldn't give a stuff mate; now pay me and bye bye. Unless there is a culture in which Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is a requirement to continuing practice (i.e. licence to practice), then very few, vanishingly few workers in any sector will care to explain anything to anyone. Which is exactly why Build Hub is so popular. Its the generosity of the Mods, the Foundation Group, the members, to share what they know, and to care about what you so accurately ask. Why? In the research literature in online learning this place is a Community of practice. A safe place where we are expected to share and explain. And that's not easy. We'll be glad of your help.

We use the MVHR to distribute heat from the bathrooms, which are at around 24C, around the house as well as leaving doors open. Using the MVHR only works because it's a very small amount of heat required.

Join the club ?

Thanks, very wise words! I’m sure all our gutters and drains are OK as we had them all fixed. Funny story... we found them all draining into an old water pit under the house. Which was obviously now leaking so all the rainwater was just soaking the ground. So had it have it all dug out and drained properly. Anyway, that’s the other end of the house so doesn’t affect this room anyway but strange what you find! We do have some flower beds against the walls so I’ve started digging a french drain between the house the soil to lower the levels. On one side we have a cobbled courtyard which is about 6” to high so will do the same there too but that requires a bit more than a spade so will have to wait until summer. I think in general our water table is quite high as we live on the bottom of a hill. Thanks fully very good working field drains which all head off away from us but any opportunity I get I add more acodrains to ensure any surface water is intercepted. The reason for looking at insulation is I did a thermal camera survey and from outside you see this section of the house is noticeably warmer externally (right 1/3 of pic attached). There’s also sections internally where you can see insulation is missing (see other pic, beside the bed)

honest answer...i don't think you should place enough value on my opinion on this for it to be worth me saying, sorry.

Depends on what sort of provision you're making I guess, Joe. In our case, the addition of the Panasonic Air Rad required both a dedicated fused spur and the supply/return loop for heated (or cooled) water from the ASHP. As you know, the provision of cooling capacity was as important for us as heating capacity due to our requirement to keep a sealed environment for air quality.

Two different points of view here. I can see both sides of the equation. On the one hand you have folk that have welding certificates (grandfathers rights) and loads of experience, play by the rules. On the other you have those that don't. For example you may get a price for box a section fabricated steel frame. There are two types of box section.. cold formed and hot finished.. they are two different animals but there are very few folk that know how to distinguish between the two. This is can be a big safety issue.. you find that the cowboys often substitute a cold formed section for a hot finished one as they (cold formed) are cheeper.. and that is where the trouble can start. It's also to do with the provenance of the material. I have surveyed buildings for extension and found some really odd steel sections. Turns out that these were basically fakes from elsewhere, they look like BS sections but when you put the mircometer on them the flanges are thinner! Then you have the quality of the steel to contend with. So yes, on one hand it seems like we are "controlled" but on the other this scheme has gone a long way towards improving safety. Make no mistake.. there can be a big difference between the person (and the conditions they do it under..factory or out in the rain) that welds up your garden gate from the one that welds up the end plate (with the associated quality control) on your steel beams which could be carrying literally tonnes of load! I would happily go back to the "old days" but you can't turn back the clock. Remember that modern design aims to be more economic.. thinner and lighter steel sections... less margin for error / material quality To achieve more economic design you need to have tighter control on the quality of the material and welding process, the bolts, the actual steel erection, grouting of base plates etc.

We’ve quite a lot of sold plots are coming back on the market locally With build costs high and house prices expected to fall Lenders are nervous

Very interesting thread. We have a 1950s bungalow that was heavily renovated / extended in 2017. Walls are twin leaf block with 110mm full fill cavity. Upvc double glazing and 300mm fibre insulation in the loft. floor is beam and block, 100mm PIR then UFH 65mm slab. We have ASHP as no gas, Solar thermal, 7kw PV and a Powerwall. No consideration was given to airtightness etc and having got interested in sorting the place out further and frequenting the forum, there are many loose ends to tie up in terms of making the building more airtight. eg current windows are poorly installed, I’ve found a cavity without a closer in it and we have sun tunnels without there sealing closures currently as they were taken off to paint and then we’re never found, and those things haemorrhage heat to the roof, as when it’s frosty the section of roof with these is always clear, with the rest covered in frost. Have also taken a leaf out of @AliG book and going round finding all sorts of holes and drafts around stack pipes and water pipes etc. Needless to say I will be sorting all this out. Anyway back to energy usage: Tesla Powerwall is telling me we have used 13,168kwh in 2020. Of this approx 3000kwh relates to our two electric cars for the year at about 60kwh per week. Background electricity in the house is about 0.3kwh which is 2500kwh per year and I would estimate another 1000kwh for cooking per year as we have induction hob and electric ovens used at least twice a day, along with the microwave etc So that leaves 6668kwh for DHW and heating. 180m2 floor space = 37kwh/m2. I’ll round it up to 40 :). We generated 6845kwh via PV and imported 9084kwh from the grid, so we have utilised about 4100kwh of solar and exported the rest. Once out first floor extension gets done, and I replace all windows and doors with Aluclad 3G, we should in theory see that figure drop further. I know it’s a crude calculation but I’m quite please with that.

Not at all - it stops steam bubbles forming in the water on the elements which is what makes the noise as they warm up. Sometimes called a wetting agent, or water wetter too..!!

What about a Willis heater connected UFH and to the solar panels somehow? If it’s only occasional heating, it might make more economical sense to have a lower initial outlay.

I think it's a great shame that, it seems, a lot of people are 'conned' into thinking it's a straightforward process to replace a gas or oil fired boiler with an ASHP. This is only relatively easy if it's being fitted to a modern reasonably well insulated house with underfloor heating. Fitting an ASHP into an old house essentially means replacing the whole central heating system and the DHW storage system. I think the government should not be advertising ASHPs as a panacea for home owners heating requirements and government CO2 reduction targets.

I have seen this before, waterproofing causes the rain to run off so it soaks the untreated brickwork below. Treating the whole wall may be the only solution.

IIRC you are not required to register a borehole. We supplied our borehole details to the BGS who put it on the register.

From the description of the flow rate, the plume being something people stop and look at, suggests it is discharging way in excess of 20m3. Maybe if all else fails a bit of local publicity would work, a piece in the local paper, radio, village/town Facebook page!?

This is why I didn't bother asking them to come back and do these jobs. They are quite small and they just wouldn't do them carefully enough. I don't think they understand air tightness really.

I think it's that some LAs "map view" functions have a linear measuring option. Mine used to have area as well, until they changed their platform (buggers). The feature still seems to be there on the Stroud DC Website. Or at least I could use it. eg if the link works https://publicaccess.stroud.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=map&keyVal=QKZ5LJPNITQ00 Then click on the ruler and choose the option. You can even measure the areas of a polygon. Seems to have all the option mine has lost. (Grrr) F

Hi Download from Dropbox here. Andy

Normal isocyanate/urethane moisture curing gun foam does not react with MDPE at all. It contains no solvents or other agents that attack polyethylene, in fact the solvents that do attack foam (MEK and acetone) are supplied in polyethylene containers specifically because they do not attack this particular polymer. All gun foam now sold is solvent-free (hence the reason that even kids can buy it). The same is not really true for PVC or ABS, both of which can be attacked by solvents used to clean gun foam (but not the foam itself). EPS will cause PVC to go brittle by promoting the leaching of plasticisers so must not be allowed to come into contact with stuff like PVC insulated cable, but is fine against MDPE. As a general rule MDPE (polyethylene) is highly resistant to practically every organic and inorganic solvent in common use. It even resists toluene. The only solvents that do attack it (but only cheap LDPE containers, by making it brittle , not MDPE or HDPE) are petroleum based solvents, so it's not advisable to store petroleum, benzene etc in LDPE containers or allow it to come into contact with LDPE pipe (not commonly found in water systems, but it is sold by people like John Guest for air systems). Sorry you got bum info, Nick, but my first degree was chemistry, specifically organic chemistry.