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Yup, we have a stone-clad 3 storey MBC TF house with UFH in the groundfloor slab. This UFH is heated by a single Willis heater. Though typically Dec -> Feb or thereabouts I also have a small electric oil-filled heater in an office that also dumps some kWh into the first floor during E7. The single Willis could do everything, but using the heater means that we do most of the heating on E7. The house stays at ~22.3 °C with maybe a ½-1°C ripple over the day. We've also got the ducting in place for an external ASHP, but after over 2 years living in the house, I haven't bothered to buy and to install one. It might save maybe £4-500 p.a. on electricity charges, but then I've got the purchase and installation costs to amortise and this only makes economic sense if I do the work. If I get an installer to do it, then I won't even recover the costs over the expected lifetime of the ASHP, and I would also need to consider an annual maintenance contract. Nope, I think that "keep it simple, stupid" is the best option for us. BTW, no buffer tank. No extra pump. The slab is the buffer, all 27 tonnes of it. The UFH manifold does include a TMV but this is because it was std in the Wunda kit. It is always set to open so the single pump will always cycle the water through the UFH loops (which are configured as a single zone) and the Willis. Each night at midnight my NodeRED control system calculates the heating estimate based on the forecast temp for the next 24 hours and the delta between the actual average house temp for the previous day and the set point (22.3). This number is then used to plan the heating profile for the Willis the next day. I don't really get involved in the day-to-day control; the system just does its thing.

https://www.expressdoorsdirect.co.uk/external-doors/hemlock-external-doors/2xg-hemlock-unglazed/1981x686x44-2xg-hemlock-unglazed-external-door

In case anyone else gets these error messages, the problem turned out to be mice had eaten through the communication cable outside that goes to the external unit. This has been replaced and it's all working now.

Needs some sort of threshold but in something hard wearing so you don’t need to constantly paint it. Have you got any LVT left over ..?? you could get a piece of hardwood such as sapele which is quite “solid” and bond it / screw to the concrete and then have LVT bonded onto that - would look like a small internal step and low enough you won’t trip over it.

Interesting. The email I received yesterday includes the following sentence: "Based on our latest calculations, you're actually using an average of £135.30 more each month than your monthly payments account for, and currently your account is not at the balance expected for this time of year." We have a lot of PV, and we're electric only, so there's a huge difference between what we use in summer andb winter. I assume a system somewhere has put December's numbers into an algorithm and decided that we're going to get behind at some point. What I'm frustrated by is that the email doesn't include any real information. As I said above, they want to change my direct debit from £82 a month to £140. Based on my annual usage that's utterly ridiculous. There're other reasons I want to leave. Despite several attempts, they still haven't managed to let me access the app for both electricity and PV readings. I'm also slightly wary of just how much a force for good they really are, based on a number of stories that have appeared in Private Eye over the last few years.

I know somebody who's just run an oil line underground...in green hose pipe! ? (No it wasn't me!)

??

While our temperatures have been cold for down here, they are not really cold, hovering between 0°C and 4°C. With our relatively high humidity, this is the worse temperature range for an ASHP. Not cold enough, for long enough, to condense moisture our of the air and lock it up as ice, and not hot enough to reduce the density of the air, and hence the amount of gaseous water in the air is at a maximum. We knew it would happen @joe90's, just seems the last few winters have been exceptionally mild, and it is probably just a statistical fluke (stochastic) event, probably would not have noticed it via the house temperature, just that it happened when the ASHP was trying to heat the water. Possibly, as a solution, in this type of weather, running the DHW cycle at the coldest time i.e. <=0°C, would produce less icing when the ASHP is working at its hardest.

It does look OK but I would prefer the Intello on the warm side of the 50mm PIR layer, much bigger difference between actual and saturated vapour pressures. Are not 25 x 50mm battens inadequate without fixing to something else?

Nothing to do with disabled regs, but try not to have doors directly built off the side of another wall, always have a sub of wall before the doorframe, otherwise the door will never open fully, and you will also have problems putting architrave around the frame.

Ok - have a look at the amendments as they have better drawings. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/506376/AD_M_Corrigenda_SECURE.pdf Next , the door has to open outward - see 1.17d Also look at diagram 1.4b and 1.2 in the main regulations. - you need to also comply with these. Has the architect not drawn this up to meet regs ..?

I think you may need a wider door. The regs specify a "clear opening width" not the width of the door. When a door can only open 90 degrees the door itself obstructs the opening reducing it by the thickness of the door and sometimes by another 10mm or so. If you specify a room width of 760mm that only gives the builders 10mm for errors, plastering, tiles? Id be inclined to allow a bit more.

Wish I had seen this earlier. Always remember to check Quidco when buying online, 3.2% cash back at B&Q

Looks like it won’t - needs an 800mm space in front of the WC plus the sink is in the way of the minimum width. If this is English regs, just look at the Part M for a WC as this is the only ground floor WC so must be accessible.

4 way refrigeration shuttle valve ..!!! Complex way of working but they are very neat.

@canalsiderenovation how about putting in an over sized doorstep type board which sits above the finished floor?

A massive reduction in cold legs on hot water feeds to basins..?? Faster hot water delivery ..?? A 15mm pipe holds 2.5 times the water a 10mm pipe does. So it is a significant difference when you think of taps on basins in WCs and bathrooms as the hot is delivered significantly quicker.

The trouble with that is at my price point it is "own brand" territory, even though they may look identical. I am not in the Bosch or Meile category. Anyway I tried again (having calmed down thanks to dinner and wine) and tried again on the big orange DIY shop website and this time it went through with £10 delivery. I was keen to use the big orange shop as Father Christmas sent me a £50 voucher and I could not think of much else to spend it on. This will probably be the last item on my VAT claim which I will be posting shortly.

Eh?

Yep - 90 degree Hep2O elbow and a Talon pipe cover over the holes.

Could be because your DD is due in the next 5 working days - they will pre-process the request so changes can’t be made normally.

Ask for a reason, then ask them to come up with a better plan .. ?

I prefer oak for this kind of stuff but if no other “wood” in the location might look a bit odd. What about a piece of bullnose UPVC, Would not need painting an would match your white door/skirting https://www.fasciaexpert.co.uk/upvc-trims/white-window-trims/architrave-white ? edit. These are near you ?https://www.gbplastics.co.uk/Products/White_Architrave_PVC_UPVC_Skirting_Trim_torus_ogee_dmould_quadrant_fillet

I can get decent heat for a few nice hrs 2x a week, from my log burner. It even pushes a bit of heat into kitchen between 7-10pm. I cant afford more than 2x (my work dried up), logs impossible to buy unless green here, so my stock's 1 thin ash of mine felled here last year.. needs to do all winter. But its a big treat I look fwd to: due to huge house cold (2x rads in main room only ever take the nip off, nothing more) bc it takes sooo many logs to get heat into room, a big fairly heavy basket's gone in 2hrs. 'My' forest felled too so my fab source of foraged softwood gone (or it'd be 4x a week like winters before). So the CH is there to serve one chief purpose: warmth AM, in 1 new bedroom. But it can't even do this (unless you keep rads on overnight which I don't like or want). Its this AM heat that's essential but just elusive here. All other times its not essential, but a bonus. Log burner doesn't help in mornings of course. Takes 1hr to get heat from so not conjusive to light say 8AM, for me, unless I had a mountain of free logs. Yup during beast from east, I had no choice but huge long walks to keep warm/ exercise I know great way to keep cold at bay.

The Hybris product is very flammable - class F. There will be some spiel about it being fine as it is protected by plasterboard etc but get a sample and hold a flame under it for a few seconds before you decide it is what you want in your house.

You should check that the roofers took the backing tape off that's over the adhesive on the roll. It's on the bottom edge where the membrane touches the tiles. I had a dry ridge down back in September and to me it looked like the membrane wasn't sitting properly. I asked the roofer to check it and he refused and told me that it supposed to be like that. I didn't believe him and hired another roofer to check it and he discovered that none of the backing tape had been removed along the whole 30 metres of roof. I ended up not paying the original roofer and he hasn't bothered hassling me for the money as he knows I have photos of every screw up he made on the job and I could ruin him if I posted them on review sites.

Would finish it nicely and be neat.

+1 on threshold, needs to also fill that small cutout in the skirting on the right, I am sure your builder could sort something.

I thought 1981 x 686mm was a standard size. https://www.internaldoors.co.uk/mexicano-modern-veneer-oak-door As an example.

Will take some pics today when we are on site

Yes, you can also put the cable in the duct while its lying on the ground nice and straight. Just make sure you have enough out each end. In my area duct comes with a thin string in it. Use it to pull a proper 8-10mm thick draw rope.

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

We recently changed to octopus energy, they ask for a meter reading every month and you can pay more if you’ve gone over what your monthly direct debit is, still not like paying a monthly bill but because they’re keeping track of your usage you don’t get any surprises when they suddenly say they need to up your payments.

No problem @Adam2 I was AWOL for a long time due to being utterly buired in the build (luckily not literally!). What I'd say worked nicely is the the continuous Hep2O runs to each appliance (apart from my en suite basin - I really couldn't be arsed to run another pipe just for the loo right next to it). The manifolds were made up in 22mm copper. As I mentioned, I didn't bother with the thermostatic mixing valves on the manifolder either, just not needed when you're talking about DHW only up to 50C anyway. I have used more Armourflex lagging then makes any financial sense too! UVC discharge dumps into Hotun high flow tunish which then uses PP to eventually dump into an internal stack - much better than any nasty pipes going outside. I took the outside taps off after the PRV, in hindsight maybe they should have gone before but hell I am not loosing sleep on that one I didn't bother with any raditor feeds - these are now going to be electric ones controlled by Loxone (as is the comfort electric UFH in the bathrooms). I also didn't bother with electronic thermal shutoffs. Also I should've allowed for really good sized service voids to run all this stuff more comfortably, it was tight in places and bloody hard work due to that. The biggest pain I had was trying to work with the layout the house has ended up being - I think my ASHP is about 15m from the loft as the goddam 28mm Hep2O wiggles... next house I have already got a list of things to do differently and I am so far from done on this one...!

We switched to a Mitsubishi Ecodan and Panasonic Aqueria. Both are miles better.

You shouldn't need a back up boiler - when installed in the past they were only meant for taking over from the ASHP when temperatures drop too low. This is not really a problem now, although the efficiency does drop significantly. It sounds like you want a part fossil fuel and heat pump system.This means you will have reduced RHI payments as only the heat pump heating/DHW is eligible. You would need to submit meter readings as it can't be based on the EPC/heat loss calculation. If you are worried about only heating water when needed, the HWCs are highly insulated so only lose a few degrees each day and you can spec even thicker insulation. It is quite efficient for an ASHP to heat a tank up as it doesn't need to cycle on and off, which can happen with space heating. I know oil prices are very very low right now, but when I calculated pre-Covid, the heat pump was considerably cheaper to heat water than fuel oil. Presumably over the next few years when aviation restarts, we'll see fuel oil return to a high price. I would use the money you would have spent on an oil boiler and do extra insulation or solar PV to offset electricity consumption.

What's wrong with metal coat hangers? They make excellent cavity ties! ?

The valves don't have to be close to the taps. We have a free standing bath and instead of floor mounted taps went for wall mounted taps and spout to make cleaning easier. We actually built a false wall with all the pipes hidden behind/in it.

Thanks for the advice @Bitpipe I'm sold on the idea of no rads. Our u-values seem strong enough to support this. However, my partner is a bit of a 'traditionalist'! We've never lived in a well insulated or airtight home so is a little concerned she'll be freezing in bed at 12C on winter nights ?. This is the direction we'll probably take. I had planned a gap of 1.5m between recirculating hood and extract vent. This should be ok, shouldn't it?

I still think ground screws would be best for you/that location with insulated timber timber floor. Any ground heave from flood or roots will have minimal impact.( I prefer woodwork to concrete/bricklaying). I think the cost is worth the lack of hard graft shifting concrete etc, just wind them in to the level you want ?.

I'm re-creating a few threads from e-build where I shared experience of building my 'passive' basement, useful starting points for follow on discussions --------- The original poster was enquiring about waterproofing basements and dealing with the conflicting advice from architect and contractors. My reply: Unless you're 'in the water', which your ground investigation will reveal, warrantied waterproof concrete on its own should be sufficient.We're on undulating layers of clay, lynch hill gravel and seaford chalk so relatively free draining and don't hit water until 6m. Basement excavation was 3.5m so we went for 300mm waterproofed concrete with a land drain around the slab base to a 5m deep soakaway and a 1m wide clean stone backfill.We used an approved Sika contractor and had regular inspections from Sika during the pour, checking water bar placement, penetrations etc. We now have their 15 year insurance backed warranty against water ingress.The overall 10 year build warranty (from Ark) was satisfied by this as were BC.We have friends nearby who built close by the Thames and their basement is half submerged in ground water - they used Glatthar and were very satisfied but it wasn't cheap.We did our entire 122m2 basement for £120k with a single contractor which included demo & cart-away of existing building, excavation & muckaway and the construction of the basement itself - plus all services (fouls, rainwater, water, gas & BT duct & electric). I sourced the under slab & wall insulation separately as they weren't familiar with it at the time.Glatthar wanted about £100k for just the basement construction and we would have had to fund the groundworks separately - which would have been at least half as much again.We also designed our basement as an 'open box' with no structural internal walls so we are free to change the layout if we wish, currently having it framed out which is only costing a few £100 in labour and timber.Good luck, lots FUD surrounding basements and many of the contractors push their preferred systems (typically with additional cost) in a take it or leave it fashion but get what works best for your site and gives you the necessary peace of mind and suits your pocket.

The good the bad / ugly? Here are some photos from a project that is covered by one of the major home warranty providers.. who have been arguing for some time that there is nothing wrong with the welding. The steels and aluminium sections you see are holding up a substantial glazed structure subject to snow drift loading in addition to the run of the mill design loads. I think I may have shot myself in the foot earlier by extolling the virtues of CE marking...but there are benefits. The fabricator who did the work claimed they were CE marked but on investigation it turned out that they used to be under their old company before they went bust. Anyway, some key points are: try and avoid site welding unless you have access to a real pro who can over head weld etc. Believe it or not the “goodish” and the “ugly” work was carried out by the same firm.. I cannot explain.. If this sparks some interest then I’ll try if I can post a blog on what to look out for if you are self builder looking to buy and get some steel fabricated and some practical tips I know of to get best bang for your buck and so on. As always if anyone feels free please comment. The "goodish" Not a bad end plate weld on the box section, it is covered with a galv finish though.. seen worse. Oh dear going downhill! And now we are somewhere else.. how do you classify the quality of the weld when it is kind of not there?

I mean in a recessed doorframe. It could be that one or both walls continue straight. (He said, convincingly.) F

Sorry, that'll teach me not to read the title properly

Just tried to buy sanitary ware from Germany> all the comanies will not deal with UK customer (Reuter, Megabad, Skybad) as they do not wish to register with HMRC to get a UK vat number. In summary they told me that it was quite bureaucratic and they had to collect the UK vat for HMRC not only on the goods sold but also on the transport. Further they told me that I would have to pay import duties on all items bought if the total price exceeded £135 this depends on the goods and this can be anything from 1 to 2.5% of the total cost! So much for a free trade deal!!

Seems events overtook me.

I think that is an excellent idea. Why didn’t you think about it a couple of years ago so I could have plagiarised it!! (More to the point, why couldn’t I have thought about that myself!)