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So the latest on the crash barriers. We have continued and encountered a few issues such as old concrete, water pipes and not to mention the fact the embankment isnt straight so we couldn't just continue in a line. As many of you know we are also in a split level bungalow so we also had to deal with varying heights too. Much to dad's annoyance we had to curve slightly and dad being dad also had another idea to put in a woodstore opposite our back door for our logburner (it will have anthracite corrugated roofing).

A word about concrete slabs, especially in hot weather. Concrete is a highly sophisticated product, and with proper handling it produces effectively rock to the shape you want. Many things can go wrong, but they can all be controlled. The principle is that we are gluing together bits of rock, back into the form we want, using cement. There should always be a proven formula for the mix. For a bridge or multi-storey it is very much more precise and controlled than for a garden path, but it is always worth attention. The main thing that most public don't realise is the difference between cement and concrete. Cement is ONLY the dust that goes in the mix to make mortar or concrete. The biggest important thing that many in construction do not know is that concrete is strong through curing, not drying. Do not assume that your groundworker knows all, or much, of this. For a strong concrete mix there are large stones, with all the gaps between filled with small stones, and the further gaps filled with sand. Every surface is coated with the slurry of cement and water that has been carefully mixed in. There are no pockets of cement, it is all aggregate to aggregate contact. A chemical reaction then happens that makes the cement stick everything together, and water is used in this reaction, and taken out of the mix as a permanent part of the matrix chemistry.. Any additional water will simply sit in the mix, until it evaporates, leaving lighter concrete and miniscule gaps. It is essential that there is the right amount of water. a) enough to allow the chemistry to occur. b) not too much that it spoils the mix and eventually leaves voids in it. The chemistry takes many days, and concrete gets harder for at least a month, if properly looked after. For this to happen, the laid concrete must not be allowed to dry out, so it must be covered with plastic or wet hessian. Once the surface is hard, water can be sprayed over it. Don't use too much water, and don't allow the concrete to dry out through sun or wind. If it is very hot or windy, postpone it. (Frost is another matter). Why do supposedly expert groundworkers have problems with cracking? Mostly because they add extra water, by hand or by asking the delivery driver*. This makes it much easier for them to handle. Secondly because they don't know the difference between drying and curing, and want it to go hard so they can go home. Thirdly incorrect use of steel mesh (which is for cracking control not strength), dpm, and joint preparation. (* A readymix company will allow water to be added, but will record this on the delivery chit, and thus it is not their problem. They may also takes samples and make cubes for testing, and store them in a tank of water for ultimate strength, for 7 and 28 days.) All concrete cracks. How and how much it cracks is the skill. Enough for now, do ask for clarification or more information.

This is what the Esbe ARA662 actuator mixing valve I mentioned is for. If Z2 (UFH) only is on, the ASHP pushes out 15C water, but if Z1 and Z2 are on it pushes out 5C to send to the fancoil, and the mixing valve closes back enough such that 15C remains circulating in the UFH (The controller is really graceful - it completely closes the mixing valve off first then changes the primary flow temperature, then slowly opens the mixing valve until correct temp is reached, so as not to shock the system with under/over temp flow )

Series connection could do it, the return from the 5C circuit would be a bit warmer...

PS. The product itself isn’t that expensive. What costs the most is the fabrication as it’s so hard it needs specialist tooling. You need to find a fabricator who is experienced with Dekton as it’s easy to get it wrong … apparently

Hi @wozza Yes, the hob is recessed. The company who measured and installed the worktop took it away to make sure it was a perfect fit when they did the fabrication. Our worktop is 20mm Dekton. It’s a composite of quartz, glass and porcelain and is so incredibly hard wearing. You can put pans straight from the oven on it, use it like a chopping board (but don’t use knives made from the same material as it will damage both the worktop and knife), and it’ll take any product on it. When we first saw it we had a demo of it having red nail varnish poured on it, left for a few moments and clean wiped off with a piece of kitchen roll! Pic of the edging … Oh, and thanks for the tip about the paper. I’m presuming parchment paper will be sufficient.

YouTube has some interesting stuff on in. Though too many people are trying to be presenters or influencers these days. A random search found this. And there is that old boy in the USA and his quiet brother that do good instructional videos.

Weigh them in or list them for sale. They are of zero use whatsoever to you for a domestic new build.

Hmmm. A 250L TS services by a 37kW modulating boiler would just about be suffice eg for the list of hot water dependant devices you list earlier in the thread that you wish to run nigh-on simultaneously. That it a BIG ask of DHW flow rates. That setup would promote almost instantaneous reheat of the cylinder, with a great degree of heat transfer from burner to DHW. Also, a 28mm DHW coil is an absolute no brainer, forget 22mm. I would fit a bigger TS ( minimum of 300l ) or a 500L UVC. If you go UVC you 'could' go for a smaller boiler, but the cost increase is negligible for what extra oomph you're going to get, plus with a bigger max output, even at 37kW, you'll still be able to drop to 7kW-9kW fully modulated. The boiler will only ramp up to suit the demand, and, with your remit for DHW, this is the minimum system specification I would ( and already have done multiple times ) specify and install. Anything less and your wife will be chopping your two best friends off........ Thank me later To get away with a smaller boiler, if you're feeling brave, you would 100% need to configure the system for W-plan aka hot water priority where the boiler > cylinder / heating zone valve is a 3-way DIVERTER valve giving heating OR DHW, never both mixed; ergo the boiler max output would be dedicated solely to reheating the cylinder of choice ASAP. The cold mains will need to be 28mm, from the mains to the UVC control group or TS cold inlet and cold manifold, where the 28mm pipe would then tee off into 2x 22mm feeds to each ( the DHW device and the cold manifold ). In terms of flow rates you are mentioning both types of DHW devices ( TS & UVC ) which are both COLD MAINS DEPENDANT. If you do not fit a minimum of a 300L accumulator ( or 2x 150L if space is difficult ) you will never get the earlier requested DHW performance, not even a chance. In respect of the hot return circuit ( HRC ), you won't manage without it. That is because you will have 28mm primary hot pipework, cascading down to 22mm going to a 3/4" DHW manifold, and then your 15mm and 10mm radial feeds coming from that. The runs from the manifold may seem short enough to give the confidence to abandon the HRC, but the dead cold leg before the manifold will soon shatter that dream. Fit the HRC, insulate, insulate, insulate, and again, your wedding tackle remains to live another day. You could just run the HRC to the end of the DHW manifold, and just one branch to maybe the kitchen sink, and the ensuite basin tap. Enjoy!!

Thanks for all the replies to my plight. I’m trying to get over myself and just use the blinkin’ thing, but for now while we’re opening boxes and have so much crap around I’m covering it between uses. Sorry, use, not plural! Only used it once so far!! Some pictures of the thing of beauty that it is at the moment. I’m lining the base of the kitchen and utility cupboards with a specific felt liner for the job, and while unfurling and letting it lay flat before cutting to shape it’s making a great cover!

That's a bloke selling stuff to make it less slippy. Of course he wants you to have it the slippy @Onoff way up !

The reason they recommend higher setpoints is thermostatic mixers by the way Cheap thermostatic mixer showers can't create 40C water using hot at 45C and cold at say 10C. They need 10C "headroom" on the hot supply temperature. So 50C to generate 40C at the outlet. Add in heat loss en route from big old uninsulated pipework or pipework direct buried in a masonry wall (e.g. shower feed) and you can find that a supply of 55C is needed to hit 40C blended. Avoid poor quality fixtures and bad pipe routing and you can safely drop to 48C. It's bum covering on their part not a technical requirement in all scenarios. Safety and efficiency aside (the cooler the less risk, the higher generation efficiency, and the lower the losses), you also get a response benefit by running the DHW cooler. Making 40C out of 10+45 rather than 10+55 means a greater fraction of hot water and means the hot pipework purges faster; thereby improving responsiveness. I work in the district heating sector and plumbers - including the NHBC whilst a prize muppet by the name of Peter Gray used to be in charge of heating - specifying 22mm pipe and 55-60C delivery temperatures then whining about response time are one of the banes of my day job. "Turn it down to 45" is a standard band aid to improve response. (and safety/efficiency) You're always fighting backside covering equipment vendors and unthinking 'more is better' specifiers though. Fire over fagpacket schematic showing fixtures and runs and we can size the flowrates and pipes on this thread ?

If your boiler can't modulate down to meet minimum load then you need to introduce thermal mass. (such as a thermal store) For example: wood burners, some oil boilers, ye olde gas boilers. If your boiler can modulate down then you have no requirement for a thermal store. Design CH for a maximum FLOW temperature of up to 55C (even with rads) and you can't fail to condense in operation even if the balancing is awful. Well designed gravity systems will spank unvented cylinders for everything but high pressure drop showers on upper floors. They don't work well over you start adding fixtures designed for high pressure (most mixers on market today) or fitting low flow fixtures onto pipework sized for high flow (again most fixtures on market today) or indeed fitting low flow fixtures full stop (pressure drops at the velocities needed for fast response are too large on smaller pipes) Also plumbers that aren't numerate, which is most working on the domestic sector, can't design gravity systems. Flowrates, velocities, and pressure drops are beyond them. Mixed systems (gravity cold tank feeding the house via a booster set) spank everything. You're in total control of your supply at this point. Direct mains fed unvented cylinders and direct mains fed heat exchangers (combi or thermal store) are a workable compromise in most situations. Unvented cylinders have low pressure drop on the potable water side and higher on the heating side. Thermal stores are the opposite. Your application suits the former. Just because the previous install sounds like a fudge up (I keep banging on about starting from the fixtures and blended flowrates for a reason - you probably had naff taps (low flowrate/high pressure drop) on oversize pipe (causing slow response but you dare not downsize because flowrate was poor and plumber will always blame pipe) doesn't make this one the same - and the thermal store will only be worse than the unvented in terms of pressure/flowrate/response. G3 isn't worth the paper it's written on IMO. The mucking fuppets can't even fit the systems right let alone inspect for proper operation. Fair enough if you actually intend to pay for the paper each year then yes there will be a saving. Most don't service unvented cylinders or boilers to no ill effect.

I recall this being discussed before. If an average EV does 200 miles to a charge, and the life of the battery pack will withstand 1000 charge / discharge cycles, then you have a car that will do 200K miles before the batteries are worn out, Not to dissimilar to what you can get from an average IC engine before it requires some serious work. But plug it into the grid and give them free reign to charge and discharge it at their whim, how much is your battery life going to be used up? Why would anyone choose to let the grid discharge your car battery, unless you are paid properly to compensate for the fact it may not always be full when you want to drive off and it may shorten the battery life?

I'm thinking larkspur would be befitting along that bank...

Stupid question though . Can you not get induction pans with a non scratch ( soft ? ) bottom ?

The planting on the bank looks good. Are you paving in front?

Don't buy a non modulating boiler. There's no reason not to have over that can dial itself down for when it is in space heating mode. Personally I'd KISS with an unvented cylinder. The pressure drop on the DHW side will be lower so better flow. And they're cheaper. Go for one with a big coil in it though, and check what the power it can accept at say 70/50 flow return is rather than t he e old school non condensing 82/71C. Personally I wouldn't be fussed about reheating at 24 kW (almost as quickly as it is used). Go bigger rather than faster. 210L is nothing. Reheating at anything over 12 kW ought to recharge it more than fast enough. Don't set to 50C. You need (or should have according to regs) thermostatic fixtures for bath fill if you do this. (Low flowrate) Set to 48C and have no thermostatic fixtures at all. (again kiss) Do look at the fixtures - something like a bristan 1901 bath filler (for gravity systems) has 3/4" inserts not little ones and can do bath fill at over 100 litres/minute of you've got more than one bar available at the fixture - whereas cheapie high pressure only fixtures all have widdly little cartridges. In the interim before mains upgraded: https://product-selection.grundfos.com/products/up-a-home-booster Totally illegal to direct fit this these to the mains without asking the water board...just in case you drop the line pressure enough to suck in nasties upstream...but for adding 1+ bar at up to 30L/minute the 15-160 works well and for 0.8 bar at up to 15L/min the 15-120 works well. (e.g. the latter overcomes the 0.6 bar pressure drop in most combi boilers at their rated flow) Common in Europe where regs less strict.

Not sure where I heard it but someone stated that if all cars went to electric and gas was ruled out the National Grid would not cope and would have to be massively upgraded.

Yup 5KW ASHP, I do have a woodburner as well but mostly for very cold weather (cave man effect?).

It is easy enough to run the numbers and see what comes out. While the performance in mid winter may not be good, all months except December and January, PV could me a major contributor to the energy demand of a heat pump. The trouble is that matching the times that PV generates in with the times that you need the HP to run. This is not a problem for DHW as that is stored, though parasitic heat loss can eat away any advantage on a badly designed system. Space heating is a lot harder as you need a way to store the energy for later. This is usually done 'in the slab', but would mean that you may get an unacceptably high temperature when you don't want it, or the HP is cycling too often. So what would normally happen is that you have to work with averages and accept that at some times you are importing energy, possibly and a high cash price i.e. 6 PM. We are now getting fairly close where a combination of PV, Battery Storage and HPs together with some software could probably make a very cost effective system.

@joe90 has about 200 m2 I think and his ASHP is 4 or 5 kW. His DHW demand is lower than most (2 of them) and he is in a mild part of the country. I think his ACH number was around 1.5.

I think your mad, as the tiles have a pattern 1 broken sliver means the whole tile is scrap. If it was me i would just venetian plaster it ??

Similar build to yours, 275m2, 3G, MVHR etc and 8.5kW, Ecodan, 300l pre plumber cylinder. Works perfectly for our family of 5.

I have a similar size build, high insulation levels, 0.2ACH and have bought a 8.5kW Ecodan with a 300l pre plumbed cylinder.

Concrete too wet when laid, then dried too quickly. And esp too much wet paste at the top. Probably inappropriate reinforcement, and lack of debonding at joints. Hot day and fast evaporation. (The difference between curing and drying is for another essay). This is a very common problem and I am constantly amazed that groundworkers do not know this. I can only assume that they have not been docked for it before. Adding extra water makes it much easier to move around and level. But then that water evaporates and leaves voids, where there should be concrete. In any ready-mix delivery there is a space on the chit to record added water, and the driver will fill it in and want it signed, because the supplier knows this can cause problems, and they don't want the blame. A concrete mix is an exact science. When 'just right' for strength it is awkward to shovel, so they will add water, without asking anyone in authority.. They may well have sprayed some sealer on top, supposedly to keep it from evaporating, but it hasn't worked, probably because it has just sat on the free water. polythene/wet hessian are more fool-proof. It may not fall apart, or maybe it will. As stated above it will let water through the cracks, and that will freeze, and that will break the concrete. I think the top surface of paste (no stone) will abrade quite quickly. Also, all concrete cracks, and it is a matter of controlling it to a minimum and to multiple invisible microcracks. The reinforcement , and debonding at earlier edges, helps with that, and I can't comment on what you have in that regard. whether it was appropriate, and whetehr it reached the edges/ overlapped etc. The choice of appropriate steel mesh is well proven, but I have no idea with 'thickish basalt' mesh. Certainly plastic fibres don't work as well as was originally trumpeted, or as steel mesh. More info would be interesting. I would worry that a small mesh would reduce bonding at the layer. But it is new to me and I don't know. Depends what you have paid really. If you have employed a bunch of labourers who don't know the science of it ( and simply have not been paying attention) then perhaps it is your problem, and is decent value, as you have saved 25% oh and p, and management. If there is a specification or a known performance requirement then you have an argument. If this was for a formal contract it would have to come out and be redone. as a private job for yourself it is up to you. Whatever, keep the whole roadway damp throughout the warm weather and for a month in total, as the cement needs that time being damp to do its job.

If the neighbours walls are well established and not cracked then its very unlikely they will do unless someone is negligent on your build. Excavate close to or under your neigbours house and there is a good chance it will fail. You have to se common sense and if something doesnt look or feel right then stop! take a step back and reassess the task.

What valves are you using and are these controlled from Ecodan wiring center or via Loxone? Do these values take a temperature set-point or there is also a temperature sensor and the fancoild feed and an feedback loop used? We have 25L buffer by the looks of it. That would be good, assuming it supported. If the API allows for adjusting set-point as well you could have 4 modes: - Cooling 5C (UFH + fancoil) - Cooling 15C (UFH) - Heating 30C (UFH) - Heating 40-55C (UFH + fancoil)

That’s 415 again. Ask for one with a 32a single blue socket outlet if poss. As it’s short term, get one which just connects to the CU without arsing around

Absolutely agree! Reminds me of the story of a lady who had the most beautiful set of expensive lingerie with petticoats, the lot. She kept it in her drawer and just looked at it. Her husband kept asking when she was going to wear it and her reply was that she was saving it for a ‘special occasion’. That occasion never seemed to happen … and then she died suddenly, so never got to enjoy the luxury of her very expensive and very beautiful purchase. He ended up burying her in it. Sad! Wear the lingerie. Use the hob. Don’t save things ‘for best, or special occasions’ as we never know when our time is up! Wanted to hear from anyone who has the Bora and has used it. Does it scratch easily? Either way it’s too late as it’s in and so will we be, just wanted to know really! Thanks for your reply ??

I sometimes wonder if the Grand Designs production team arrange soft loans to help get properties completed rather than having to write off a few years of filming. We know from another thread here that they ship in loaned designer interior decor furnishings on occasions for the final happy-clappy grand reveal.

Take a look at these: https://www.myappliances.co.uk/Cooker-Hoods I got mine from here, was far better performing than any big brand I could find, and a lot lot cheaper, its really quiet too.

Hi all, Some of you may remember me pestering you all for advice on best extraction on a island with 3m high ceilings. Well, we've now decided after much deliberation to now place our hob on an outside wall with a canopy type hood (is that what you call it when it's built in to your overhead units?) Can anyone please recommend some really good makes please for this type of extraction? I obviously need it to be powerful as I do a lot of smelly cooking but not too noisy (if that's at all possible). There are so many on the market, its so confusing so would really appreciate some guidance. Also, we would be looking to duct out through either the outside wall or out through our flat roof. If we duct out through the wall, it would be very close to our neighbours property and I wonder whether there is any laws against this?

@Dunny1234I should say that are also considering using an aluminium roof PREFA / Preflaz and it seems to have a good reputation.

I echo all the good advice above, avoid 'greenwash' and the implication that a low energy house (I'd like to ban the word 'eco' - a Grand Designs disease) imposes a lifestyle on the occupants. MVHR is a good example - provides energy efficient ventilation to your otherwise airtight home by harvesting the heat that would otherwise leave with the stale air being extracted. Some people extrapolate this to 'you can't open a window in summer'. Of course you can, winter too if you like. Our slider was open for hours yesterday as the dog pinged in and out. Invest in good fabric design and attention to detail when building. Treat the house as a system, not a set of unconnected functions (e.g. heating, DHW supply, ventilation etc.). Pay as much attention to summer overheating as you do to winter cold. You can spend money on capturing waste heat from your shower, use rain water to flush the loos and even try and recycle your grey water but you quickly enter the world of diminishing returns where you spend much more than you will ever recover in benefit.

Hi, you can purchase directly through the website. should you decide the installation is too demanding, skill level for example, a training course is available. If you need tooling this is also available. If other constraints such as time present an obstacle we provide details of competent Installers

Chop saw and a flap wheel on the grinder is what I use. Still got all my digits ...

Charging of dildos you mean ?

This is like a heavyweight battle. The Welsh Dragon has his belts on the line but the up and comer is giving as good as he gets. It would help if I understood any of what is being said!

Stop it, you will never become a mod. Next you will claim that you need two jugs in the kitchen to fill up pans abreast of each other on the nob.

I think it’s fair to say when a beautiful hob is scratched the perpetrator has to be executed.

Couldn’t possibly say. We haven’t scratched ours yet but when that day comes I suspect there’ll be a certain amount of bitterness, so I’ll go with: ‘yes’.

There it is in black and white! “the proper way to install a board is ridge side down”