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I actually have one of those. It was a bungalow built mid 1920s. Ours is 1st generation cavity wall of all things. We bought it as a development property, and following professional advice (from several sources) decided to go for renovation and extension. Taking it from about 76sqm to 200sqm. I really do kick myself on many days we didn't explore knocking it down and building new, especially because we're building an energy efficient home. (the reality is that the planners probably wouldn't have let us knock down and rebuild but we'll never know). Sometimes these projects can be amazing and fun, but you really do need to love the house because you'll be problem solving all the way. This has been the most difficult part for me. In our last place we renovated a mid 1800s cottage and I loved it to bits. This one I didn't love so it has been much harder. However, I'm now getting to a different place since the windows went in and I'm really warming to it again.

Which is the issue with the system - as someone who has applied (at least in our area) you are only allowed 3 minutes to state your case. Objectors can also have 3 minutes. But...... The committee then debate things - and in our case, they are seriously not au fait with planning law - it's all 'well I think xyz' etc. and if the chief planning officer has recommended refusal, then he'll egg them on. If on the other hand he's recommended approval then he'll gently teach them a thing or two.... And yes the chairman has generally taken a position in some pre-meeting with the head of planning. In our case it was recommended for refusal but one quite senior councillor pointed out the stupidity of what they were saying, it ended up 5 for and 5 against and the chairman voted against - we resubmitted, our champion was on a skiing trip and the councillor who was sitting in for him was one who had voted against the previous time and someone else was back and it was a draw again - and the chairman voted against AGAIN!!! The appeal inspector was polite but essentially said - I don't know what on earth the council are on about - permission granted. There have been some twists since then - we had outline but on trying to talk to planning about what we wanted to do a contractor was assigned as planning officer who pointed out that the original application wasn't valid because the red line didn't show access from the public highway - it's on a private lane..... the law actually says that the red line 'should' show access to the public highway, not that it 'must' another few months of stress..... DON'T GIVE UP!! simon

The black polythene over the insulation and under the pipes is debonding / separation / VCL. Not normally anything over the screed apart from floor finish.

Let's take a step back from the heat loss / demand etc provided by companies trying to sell you something. How well insulated is your house? I'm tired of hearing horror stories of heat pumps installed in houses that simply aren't insulated enough to be effectively heated by a low temperature system.

Going on 23 years here our oil boiler. Mind you, it's like Trigger's Broom!

If build hub had a motto....

See what your local BC says. A now ex employee of a company we were thinking of using suggested six for a single story 5m x12m extension. I rang BC and asked what they would advise, he was dry but asked was I doing a hosing development or car park he was unaware of. Do one and then go from there I have been told since, if you need more than two something is a miss and a raft may not be the best option.

Porcelain looks great and is maintenance free Timber requires to much maintenance for me Unless you just let it weather I’m working on some apartments that have used an engineerd timber cladding on a simple Top hat and clip system 25 year guarantee but expensive £50 for a 2.4 length

Fully intend to appeal and confident I'd win given how weak their objection is and easily disprovable it is. Just annoying what a waste of time it's going to be.

our boiler was installed in 1983, oil, now making odd noises so looking at replacing. Will have to be oil as house leaks like a sieve and is not really possible to insulate enough as it is 200 years old and single skin.

Most new site use them If you contact your widow supplier They should be able to supply formers to you

Just checked it was that company.

I've dug through it before no problem. Only like when they do a utility connection in the road. As long as you compact in layers

Building and related work has been very busy over the last few years Made worse by the COVID and the government paying companies and individuals not to work The extension to The Furlough will only make matters worse Keeping materials and labour in short supply This is Something we will all have to put up with

Yep, in some ways it's a more sensible approach. We're not actually in Germany (although I can see it from here) - we're in Luxembourg, right by the Mosel river which forms the border between the two.

£4152.55 delivered (to Orkney) for 8.5kW ASHP with coastal coating, FTC5 controller and 300l preplumb cylinder. That was in 2016 though.

Unless you need to go beyond 3m due to a risk of peat,silt or possible contamination etc there is no real need for boreholes. For anything else a 3.5t mini digger is more than capable of doing the job. But you do need some one there who can examine the spoil as it comes out and tell you what it is and if it's suitable to build on.

Knock it and rebuild I'd say.

Don’t be afraid of going to appeal. After 4 planning applications (the last one was what the council wanted and enabled us to get on with the foundations) I then appealed the first application, what we originally wanted, pointing out several assumptions the council made that simply were not true (with proof) and we won hands down, council even got a rocket fir “not following their own planning guidelines”. I did our appeal myself, not rocket science just attention to detail.

Do be very careful as these places can be quite a money pit.

You mean an inadequately sized system.

Whoever installed the system and didn't put in a mag filter or certainly inhibitor then they are not good guys! 2004, the original install? Boiler replaced in 2018, I'd have expected a flush and the suggestion of fitting a filter then. I'm no expert (as many on here will attest to btw). To me yours is a "modern" system. Having no inhibitor and a dirty system just increases your fuel bills and raises the chance of an issue / pricey call out. The time to add the filter is when it's drained down. Thereafter it is a doddle to periodically remove the filter and wash away debris the magnet has collected and again a doddle to add inhibitor via the dosing pot. This is atypical of a mag filter on the return leg to the boiler. At it's simplest: With the boiler pump off, the black valve either side isolates it. Once you've done that you let the air out on top via a bleed screw (screwdriver). You then unscrew the long magnet that goes down inside the pot. All the crud that was held in the pot by the magnet now floats loose inside the pot. Hold a jug underneath and unscrew the plug underneath (Allen key). The cruddy water falls into the jug. You can unscrew the lid completely to withdraw a gauze screen that catches any big lumps. At the same time you can add inhibitor.....don't forget to put the plug back in underneath. Once done you open the isolation valves and any air comes out the bleed screw. When you see water tighten it up. Takes less time to do this than it did type! Before a flush you want a cleaner running round in there for a bit to loosen everything up. NB: The black crap that comes out will stain anything! Hands, white sinks etc.

My oil boiler is a 13 year old Grant Vortex feeding UFH via a thermal store. I've no intention of replacing it any time soon. I see no reason why it won't do another 10 easily.

I think it's worth noting that we talk a lot on here about Passivhaus levels of airtightness and insulation, but there's a lot more to the Passivhaus standard than that. Things such as specific controls on cold bridges, modelling of various types of energy use, and other issues like summer overheating are sometimes considered generally by self-builders, but the PHPP software requires strict, quantitative attention to these and many other factors. Certification also ensures that the as-designed house is what is actually built. I think some believe it's just a desk exercise, but you need to show with ample evidence that what was designed and modelled was what was actually built. This adds a time and supervisory overhead, because someone needs to be involved in documenting everything that's required, which itself requires continuous knowledge of what's going on - and coming up - on-site. Personally, I think PH certification is more than just a rubber stamp. Certainly, given two houses with similar airtightness/insulation values, but one with PH certification and the other without, I'd go for the certified on every time. How much more I'd pay is a harder question to answer.

Haha... I had a place like that once, 12 Victoria terrace houses all connected with one open loft space. You could pop up through your loft hatch and visit any of your neighbours through theirs! I built mine up so it was ‘secure’. my 1930s semi was just like your photo above... I left it alone.

I agree with @Nickfromwales, I have a 70mm screed with UFH pipes In it over 250mm EPS on a ground slab throughout my whole ground floor, I expected cracks in the doorways but no, no cracks at all anywhere . ? the only thing I would consider is a thin sand layer over your base concrete to give a flat surface fir the insulation to rest on ?.

Breathability not too much of an issue with EWI as the wall will be warm. As long as it can dry to the inside and you're not planning on having an extra humid house EPS will be fine.

contact the Energy Saving Trust, https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/ and ask about the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and anything else locally.

I’ve used Facebook marketplace a lot, mainly to sell building related stuff. We all end up with things that are too good to throw away. Someone will want it. My tips for selling are: You’ll be amazed at what generates a lot of interest, and what doesn’t. It is free to advertise. provide lots of pics price sensibly. I’ve seen people try to sell a £1000 wrongly sized made to measure door for £900. What are the chances of a buyer wanting that precise sized door for 10% cheaper than retail. don’t advertise too many items at once. I’ve had 5-6 enquiries for certain items. If you try to sell 10 items that’s a lot of messages to answer. respond quickly to enquiries

I've bought and/or sold quite a few thing through gumtree; heras fencing, cement mixer, generator. I like it, because if you find something local you like the look of, you can go and have a look and do a deal pretty much straight away - no messing around bidding etc. More and more stuff does seem to be migrating to Facebook marketplace though.

EPS external insulation is normal with a render covering Yes there are grants

Our oil boiler in the old bungalow lasted over 30 years.

Don’t mix up pressure and flow rate, you can have good pressure but p*** poor flow rate if there is a restriction in the line (PRV, shower valve or small bore piping). Boosting the pressure won’t improve the flow rate if this is the case. Agree as above, you need to measure the pressure and try adjusting the PRV before spending any money...

Bargain. Road closures are not cheap. I think we've done three on a project in work and it's cost €50k so far. My connection was £2300 and that was literally 10ft of digging through my neighbour's garden to bury the existing service.

You can insulate over the frames for improved performance. Use sill extenders for greater depth and take the insulation right down to the foundations if you can. EPS gives the best bang for your buck with external insulation.

Seems pennies to me. Albeit....I spent 18k crossed 3 fields with 6 poles and have my own transformer.

@MortarThePoint I'd avoid any form of manual labour required to paint your own windows, seems madness to me. I'm going with Zyle Fenster, timber framed Aluclad from @craig.

I'm sure that's true today, but I'm talking about (say) 25 years from now. And I accept it's only a theory. As awareness of the benefits grow, and PH or near-PH becomes more mainstream, then having certification could add value. How about we check back in 2050 and see? ? PS. There was a time when having PV on your roof allegedly reduced the value of your property, but that particular nonsense has been consigned to the dustbin.

This U-value calculator seems to work quite well: Concrete Block Association u-value calculator

let me know your current build up of the structure and when I’m on computer tomorrow I’ll do a u value and moisture calculation. assuming builder has said 75mm for window sills, normally with EWI if you aren’t moving the windows out you use under sills to extend them.

If they originally created the drawings for building control approval they may not be accurate enough to use for construction. For example Building Control may want to know the total area of glazing for heat loss calculations but they don't need the drawings to show the exact position of a window. So the position on the BC drawing may not be a multiple of a half brick as you might on a construction drawing. Perhaps that's not the best example. It is never good practice to scale from a drawing. You should always use the dimensions on the drawing and if any are missing ask for them to be added. This would apply to a .pdf or .dwg.

No benefit I used 300mm of EPS 70 under our ground floor slab. It's been down 4 years with no issues. The slab was 100mm concrete with a D49 mesh with UFH

And Bloodlands (NI drama currently on BBC1) - just make sure they don't find the bodies.

Doesn't matter, as it will make an excellent raft to sit the rest of the floor on. It's been in long enough to have settled, and will be fine to take the non point-load of a new upper deck. What's it like when you walk slowly over it? Any movement in the corners?

I would respectfully disagree on that last point. In a near passive house (and I have lived in mine coming up on 5 years) it is really not needed. We have a 110m2 passive basement, no heating whatsoever and is always 22oC. Ground floor (same foot print) has low temp wet UFH which is active year round and set to 22oC but only comes on Nov-Feb and even then only on the really cold days. First floor bedrooms have no heating and are always comfortable (21 usually) due to solar gain, convected heat from the rest of the house and occupancy. Bathrooms have electric UFH as tiles will feel cold even at an acceptable room temp and wet ufh towel rails. Rooms in roof have no heating but always warm due to solar gain (roof-lights) and convection. If there was heating installed where it is not, it would never be on so the invested cost would be wasted until such times as the house needed sold (which is no time soon). If I really wanted heat in bedrooms, I'd just plug panel heaters into the wall. I don;t have much time for NHBC to be honest, especially looking at the appalling design and quality of the builders boxes churned out annually that all meet NHBC standards.