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I consider man made climate change to be settled science. We know C02 is why the earth isn't -18C. We know we have and are emitting vast quantities of CO2. We know what happened to temperatures last time C02 levels were high. We can see the climate is changing. We can see and measure ice melting. We can measure the sea level rising. Can predict the consequences of doing nothing.

The trouble here is the gap is too small for anything to flex enough. Better to leave it, or use clear silicone which will still split but won’t be visible. To be fair the decorator has done a decent job, apart from not covering the floor perfectly. I have seen a lot worse!

What temperature does your tank get to in 45 mins? If hitting the thermostat , I would be tempted to leave the timer as is and reduce set temperature of the thermostat. Once the tank is up to temp, the heat pump will stop adding to the the tank. You shower and wash up at about 37 deg, so you are always watering down the hot water. The lower you can get the temp, the lower the heating cost and the lower the losses. Just a matter of adjust and use for a couple days, once things aren't hot enough add a bit more back on.

I offer a contrary view to the above. Do NOT kill the sale of the bungalow, let the sale proceed and move into the caravan. A 5th wheel van is the top end of the touring caravan market and should be comfortable. The only issue becomes pay for a site or pitch it on your own plot. I offer that as honest advice in a market that nobody understands. There are plenty of things in the pipeline that could kill the housing market, and trust me, as someone that gave up trying to sell after 3 years on the market in a dead market, you do NOT want to be holding a spare house with all the financial implications of that, wishing you had sold it when you had the chance. We actually found that moving from the caravan into the very unfinished house was way more comfortable. But at the very least you can store all your furniture in the dry and set up a laundry etc in the unfinished house quite easily. If you still haven't got electricity by completion day, negotiate with the buyers of the bungalow to power essential items like the caravan and laundry from an extension lead from the bungalow.

And I thought we had problems. Its hard not sound trite responding to a post like yours but - to me - not responding to express sympathy would be unkind. At this remove, staying on site looks the best alternative. £100 of crusher run stone, carefully laid and levelled will reduce the mud bath. Then buy a massive off-cut of synthetic grass (Astro Turf), curt to shape and lay it along the most used walking route. When the mud dries, use a blower to get rid of it. Or an industrial vac will do the same. Systematise common houselhold chores : storage, washing - making those easy and quick releases energy for other more difficult tasks. Dogs are mess-balls. But it won't be for long. Washable mats are a great help. My sincere sympathy to you both and especially your husband . Lets hope for a rapid recovery. Kind regards Ian

Nor is there any attention to detail in the execution of the installation of things like sheet PIR insulation, as it's installed by site workers who get paid on volume, not detail. Their rates are screwed down too, so no incentive to go "above and beyond" as you often would get from a stand-alone builder / sub-contractor. The public get to buy these after it's too late to inspect the work, or they just don't care enough to ask to. One new build on a site is was on back in the day had the deposit-paid clients turn up mid build, and demand a full refund, as the workmanship was just horrific. The site was full of horror stories which ended up in the local paper. If covered up in time though, how would anyone know........

A lot of waffle that actually says just about nothing.

You’re right with the first tip… one of my downfalls lol. I think white silicon bead may be the way to go. I wouldn’t attempt myself but might ask the guy that did the kitchen flooring as that has a nice neat bead around the edge.

1st tip: stop looking at it. No one else will ever notice! 2nd tip: a bead of white silicone would finish it nicely, but it needs doing by someone who can run a neat bead of silicone. (I don't think using clear silicone will help if it's the visual gap that offends).

Really good tower, it’s clean, not been bashed about and looks complete, got to be worth £1500 easily

9npaid £850 for a zarge reach master with a 5.7m working height. So, more expensive but then you get an extra 3m?‍♂️

RH inside will tend to drop when it's cold outside. Mine is in the 40% - 50% range at the moment. I'd normally be at around 60% in the summer.

Well I've done my domestic hot and cold in 16mm, all used from left over Pex-al-Pex from the UFH. The price of Hep2o pipe I found to be significant. Emmetti manifolds take the 16mm pipe and the MLCP fittings are easy to use & so far 100% reliable.

We’re coming up for 5 years with our 3G windows. The only condensation we get is on the outside. They are bog-standard Rehau upvc frames but fitted with 44mm glazing units

If you DIY this it will be very inexpensive and fairly simple.

Wood shrinks/moves just need more flexible caulk, mind it will shrink/move less the longer it’s been there.

We can all see weather happening. Perhaps more effort is needed to observe and acknowledge the greater changes. I think it is clear to anyone who cares to pay attention. And there I also drop our of this discussion. Not beaten, but disheartened that there are deniers, which perhaps is the intention.

No 1 it is very unlikely the ASHP will use the cylinder thermostat to set the temperature. That will usually be by a temperature probe inserted into a pocket on the tank. A conventional cylinder thermostat should also be connected and set to a higher temperature as a fail safe to close the motorised valve if the water gets too hot. You have to decide what your hot water requirements are. Do you always shower at the same time of day so only need hot water then and are prepared to accept possibly tepid water at other times? I work on the principle that anyone might shower at any time of day so hot water must always be available. I have the HW set to come on at 11AM and go off at 10PM. The 11AM start is to ensure good self usage of solar PV power, it should be generating well by then. the 10PM is based on nobody normally showers that late so there should be enough hot water left in the tank overnight for a morning shower.

Not worth the paper it’s written on ! Try the surveyor but don’t hold your breath, they have get out clauses you never heard of. I would want to pull the wall plates back in line then bolt timbers across the roof, I prefer half way up to the ridge or below that if you can, you can always point up the top row of blocks and wall plate. Oh and put more straps on screwed into the blocks.

The temp at the top of the tank will be closer to the temperature your heat pump is set at the bottom at closer to cold. Where the thermostat is you can assume the contents at and above the thermostat level will at or above the thermostat temperature. So if you are delivering heat from the heat pump at 55 and your thermostat is set at 45, at 1/3 up will be at 45 and top close to 55

No platitudes here, I was actually trying to tie @Nickfromwales down on whether something was fact or opinion...

Out of interest if you were to add a 45mm thermal break under the soleplate it would make it worse. Your internal thermal bridge would go from 0.0124W/mK to 0.0129W/mK. Hardly significant , about 1/2 a watt extra power peak heating load but really the definition of throwing money away for nothing. With your existing design (unmodified) the external thermal bridge is -0.02w/mK which satisfies the Passivhaus criteria <0.01w/mK.

Looks like the roofer is in for a big bill.

Well, saved me a lot of money ?‍♂️

Wether commercial or domestic, roof loads have to go somewhere, yes you can have hipped roofs without ties but then they need moment connections at the top. unfortunately you have a low pitch roof, simple hip to ridge connections, weak walls and very little to hold the eaves together…. they could have used trussed or tied rafters and there would have been no problem

To be honest you're pretty good as you are. I've attached some pictures of the Therm drawing. You can see how significant the steel is. It really is a tremendous conductor. You should aim to keep it as far away as possible from the inside corner. I've done a slight modification in the second two drawings by putting an extra 50mm of PIR between the screed and the wall. and putting 150mm x 25mm of PIR in the bottom of the service cavity. I reckon this reduces the internal thermal bridge from 0.0124w/mK to 0.0042w/mK or about three times better. However it only would reduce your maximum heating load by 10w if your house had a 50m perimeter! Like I said your design is fine as it is.

@patpGiven such a stressful situation you have to act in your own best interests and that is to delay or even torpedo the sale. Your priority is to maintain a warm and comfortable home for any convalescence in future months. A touring caravan over the two toughest winter months is fundamentally unsuitable for someone dealing with serious disease and would constitute a medical impediment to recovery. Time to tell the rest of the world to sod off and act selfishly even if that is not your normal self. If the situation is presented as a 3 month delay to the buyers they might decide to hang on rather than start a fresh purchase cycle. Try to demonstrate to the buyers that you have a feasible plan to move out by April into the new build even if part complete.

I concur, I had cancer twice during my build, although living in a caravan on site during the build we still had our old house for me to recover in which made a lot of difference. Could you look for a holiday short term rental locally as another option, fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.

@patp just been having a re read and now take it that your husband who is a plumber has cancer … sorry to hear that and my apologies, I read it as your plumber’s husband.

Yes that does seem a lot. Ive just insured through Adrian Flux a broker who had no problems finding a policy that didn't require a completion certificate. Im at a similar stage, structure and first fix complete, EPC issued. No major works to require site insurance.

Ask Buildzone for a 12 month policy - You may find its cheaper. Also check with GSI Southern as they have specialist policies

Remember reading 40 years ago in Mad (the one with Alfred E Neuman) about changes to come: People in the future having to wear head covers on the beach and put gallons of sun cream on to protect them from the sun. Who's laughing now? Back on topic... I think that the calculations for heat pumps will be superseded by calculations for cooling pumps as we go forward. Even with limited glazing in our house (no south facing) the peak solar gain almost equals the peak demand for heating! Never did like being cold...

I 100% stand by my previous; that anyone signing off a gas install they've not witnessed being put in, or they didn't just come and pull in themselves, is a danger. You just don't play with gas, end of.

If you have agreed a sale already then you could go back on it, yes the buyers would be pi£&ed but would sort you out. trades health problems are not good but not your pain to suffer, tell them to get someone else in to finish their work or you get someone in. mud can be managed, few hundred tons of hardcore and some geotextile willimprove things immensely. can’t advise on going to a camp site because that’s your decision to make. take a step back, write down what’s important and action it. yes you may upset some but it’s your well being you have to look after.

Or an idiot. Anyone who signs off a gas pipe, that they have not witnessed the integrity of for every inch of the pipe, is a danger to themselves and others. It would be different if it was a friend or fellow plumber who's work was known to them, but for a one-off for a self-builder it is just lunacy. The sleeve through the wall should be copper, or a rigid PVC and NOT flexible electrical conduit ( as it is weak as a kitten and very easy to puncture. The sleeve should be sealed into the wall at each end, and then the pipe passed through the sleeve. The pipe should then be sealed with a sealant on the internal side only, so if the pipe ever failed the build-up of gas could only ever discharge to outside, not fill the house. That's the minimum standard I observe when passing a gas pipe through a cavity wall. As for compression joints, there should be ZERO compression joints other than at the source and at the appliance. Surface mounted anywhere else is a huge bodge and would never get past me. Compression anywhere on continuous gas runs = NO, simply do NOT use them, there is no need. If this is to save money to DIY, go save money somewhere else, this is just a daft idea.

The Bellway boxes I have seen are far from efficient, innovative or environmentally friendly. I can’t see many of them lasting more than 50 years if that, and the amount of remedial works is unbelievable. sadly ‘joe public’ is gullible and easily persuaded to pay over the odds for sub standard housing.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1142/1142-h/1142-h.htm

It's an intriguing design. I modeled it in Therm and came to the conclusion it'll be fine without. A couple of other improvements if you're chasing easy wins. The sole plate looks like 140x140. 140*45 would be better thermally. I assume you have 150mm PIR in the floor? If you were to move the entire floor up until all your insulation was above the steel it would help. Alternatively save some cash by replacing 150mm PIR with 200mm EPS. It'll raise the floor level 50mm further from the steel and improve the thermal bridge. I would get the best timber treatment I could for the soleplate and especially the vertical timber in the web of the steel. These will be cold and gather condensation. If you were to glue something like this between the timber and the steel it might help reduce the condenstation risk on the timbers. Someone will be along to tell me off no doubt.

Just to let anyone who is interested in the Circulon pans that @AliGrecommended on this thread that there is a good black friday offer on at the moment. Most pan bundles are half price and on top of that you can get a 10% off code by signing up with your email adress. So I just paid £67.50 for two "infinite" pans with a lifetime guarantee.

You could look at ICF

I have appealed. They could have just put a condition in the planning decision to say it can only be a 1 bed but they didn't and just refused it instead. Have just been assigned a case officer finally so should have a decision mid Feb.

a pack of 500 of the proper long screws will set you back £10. Something not to worry about.

Quick update now turned really cold here -2 last night 0 in day £4.65 total cost for the 24hrs Still pleased overall 94days in now

Haha, I seem to remember a pic with more bullet holes than a Die Hard movie

Never a shortage of screws when i pb ?

Have you had any timberframe companies come to site to look at access and erecting. You might find that they are more used to tight access than you think.

The problem with builders, unless you get a very up to date one, is they are living in 1980, I go on another forum just for builders and the amount of them building very badly insulated houses is unreal they think 100mm in the cavity is mind blowing and they are top of their game, 50mm under ufh and they want a Nobel piece prize. Do your own research and build it how you think is best for what you want to achieve and the site, don’t be led because he used it and thought it was straightforward, he might end up with a shite house whereas I believe you probably want something better.

As an update to this the BCO came out is is happy for the vents to go between the slips at the end of the beams as its 7N blocks. The new brickie has the headache of evenly spacing the vents between the beam ends along the wall and tying in with solid bricks Luckily it seems the new brickie has a sense of humour!

Its good to see comments based on knowledge of the product NOT... it uses Natural gas to split and takes the hydrogen to feed fuel cell while retrieving exothermic heat to heat a water tank.

I cannot see any logical reason for wanting to do more pours than you need to, my first pour was at 2.7 then the next was at finished height, I used lots of starter bars placed in the first pour 600mm apart, I also put vertical bars at all door and window reveals. If a concrete pump is going to cost you £600 you will waste a lot of money messing about doing little pours. As for the digger bucket idea, just forget that right now, do it right use the proper kit and do it like a professional would, hire a pump job done.