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The UK is pursuing a "green energy at all cost" strategy. By that I mean it looks almost certain the Cambo oil / gas field will not go ahead "because it's not green" so as the North Sea reserves continue to decline, we will increasingly be bidding higher to import foreign oil and gas in a diminishing supply market. But it's okay, we are not the ones causing this as we refused to take any more out of the ground. Imho we should push ahead with Cambo on the "energy security" principle, while still pursuing the drive to cleaner alternatives.

We left you with a poured slab and we were chomping at the bit to get the ground floor Nudura walls up before the end of the year. Well, I am glad to report we got there - almost ? After getting the slab done, I figured I'd get ahead a bit and it would be a good idea to talk to someone about the waterproofing we would have to put on the outside the walls before we started backfilling. To cut a long story short using waterproof concrete in walls such as these is a complete non-starter, so Type-B waterproofing cannot be used. Visqueen's R400 Radon barrier is not an effective waterproofing method and so we now face having to use a Type A and a Type C waterproofing method - basically this will mean for us a waterproof screed being added to the floor with channel ducting where the walls meet the floor and the "egg-crate" plastic material across the screed and up the inside of the walls. That should eat into our contingency ? ? ? But also it meant a dash to get some waterproof slurry to paint round where the Nudura blocks would be laid the following morning and mixing and painting it on under floodlights (it's the dark grey stuff in the picture to the right). Oh what fun!! But, the following day we were up early to welcome out walls, the bracing and two fine chaps (Louie and Harry) from The Fell Partnership who would be helping us Day 1 to get the first row in place. We then scurried around unloading things off trailers and flat beds, and installing the waterbar between those pieces of upright rebar. By 10am we were ready to go. By about 2pm we had most of the first row in and part of the second row (see below). If it hadn't been for some non-standard corners in the design, we would probably have been at Row 3, but that's what you get for following a design religiously ✝️ (FYI - the T-corner is all to do with the design - don't ask yet) On the second day we were left to our own devices, I had to make a dash to collect some extra Nudura parts and some waterproofing equipment (due to the direction our waterproofing system now had to take) so we made a later start but still we were very pleased to get up to 4 rows installed. Day 3 we were ready to begin installing all the bracing system, and after hitting her head SWMBO was made to wear the Christmas present from her children. and on Day 4 it inevitably rained in Cornwall ? , but before our help arrived again we had managed to just squeeze a block on to Row 6 (the final row before the first pour of concrete) After the help on Day 4, we continued to finish things off on Day 5 by constructing part of an internal load bearing wall, and a wall with the only window opening at this level which will be for the family bathroom. FYI - the rest of that side of the house will consist mainly of windows into bedrooms plus some extra small sections of walling (to be determined) Where we were not able to complete things before the pour happened (time didn't allow) was where the internal wall meets the external wall and there are two doorways to construct (this is why I said we almost made it). I will have to do these in the New Year, mixing and pouring the concrete by hand (just under 1 cubic m) so that'll burn off the Christmas pudding ? A week later (during which we had some more high winds) I came back down to finalise a few bits (like lack of scaffold planks and bracing in some places) to be greeted by a snaky ? wall. so that was all straightened up, the rest of the bracing fitted, and the Nudura joist hangers inserted. (Between straightening and the pour we had Storm Barra, but my remedial work held up nicely) I won't bore you with pictures of hunky men doing manly stuff with concrete pumps etc. but suffice to say it all went very well, with no leaks or blow outs so "he who shall not be named from Channel 4" would have been very disappointed if he was allowed onsite. And so, last weekend (after a midweek pour in the remnants of Storm Barra) I was able to deconstruct the bracing and we are now the proud owners of some freestanding, high-wind-proof walls. Really happy at the attention to detail that Louie and Harry paid to ensuring the walls were straight and true before the pour began - right up my street. So now we have a tidyish site again (for a short while) ready for steels installation in the New Year. We have to finish off the internal wall, then waterproof and backfill outside, and install joists and flooring before we can continue with building the upper floor walls. We're hoping that by middle of next year we can start on those upper floor walls. So until 2022, and the inevitable next lockdown, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas ? and a Happy New Year ?

Hi All, Here we go ! Have planning approved for the attached. Plan is to be as Eco as possible without going full passive. The main house is new build, the existing bungalow being converted into a garage. Plans are fluid internally, it wasn't our approved design so changes will be made. GSHP , UFH , MVHR , seeming to favour ICF over SIP as I want to do as much as possible myself. Likely SIP roofing. Externally a mixture of zinc (maybe) , render and timber clad. It's off mains so waste plant going in. Full electric , sadly single phase so will struggle until we can get that ramped up. I'm looking to modify the designs to make it as off the shelf as possible and simple to build, for costs and my sanity ! What have I missed ? Thanks Ian

No, it needs to be this, or another that mentions water repellent. https://www.knaufinsulation.co.uk/products/dritherm-cavity-slab-32 Could be. The pipe already bridges the cavity, so make sure it is level or sloping down a tad (outwards). Expanding spray foam is difficult to control and you have no idea what is happening out of sight, So put in the barrier the best you can and spray from both sides. If there are any tiny gaps the foam will probably start to penetrate and give up and expand the easy way...outwards. You will probably end up stuffing bits of mineral wool in as best you can until it looks about complete.

Won't work off a combi - and with that mains pressure you are going to need an unvented cylinder and I would have thought and even then it would be shite. 10ltrs/m is the boarderline for the definition of low water pressure.

Heard of the Building Regulations? Nothing to do with the warranty provider bud.

Of course they will. The Trump right will have a landslide in Murika, Alexander Johson will spout more lies - peepl will believe him, and @nod will have finished another self-build.

Would you prefer a bit more thermal inertia in your slab? Is your floor base level mm perfect? If not might an extra 10mm of screed cover up some errors? The thinnest flow screens are very runny. A set floor that leaves some UFH pipework exposed constitutes a major disaster. History is littered with the failures of over confident engineers. My inclination when I arrive at this decision point will be to design for 60mm if a manufacturer claims 50mm will be ok though will need to ensure the extra depth does not generate too much heat and trigger an excessively fast cure.

Agreed.

If you use cavity batt mineral wool it is designed to be waterproof so it can be left in place. ROCKWOOL Full Fill Cavity Batt Thermal Insulation 75mm - or Knauf Otherwise no, as it may get soggy then fall some where and wick water through.

working on both at the moment, you'll find that the costs are up on everything! trying to get steel on site has provide quite challenging on a couple of jobs so I don't think you'll find any method which is a signifanct saving over the other, but in Argyll most companies will be used to timber kit which might help with costs of labour

I have used Build Zone for my last few projects. Fine to deal with and competetive - only complaint is that they are a bit slow on the back end processing of paperwork.

Hi and welcome. Yes the present price rises are not good news. Others will advice on cost effectiveness of other build methods.

UK Power Networks have done their bit and we have 3 phase live to the cabinet. I have emailed them as they ask you to do that rather than phone. If no reply then I will phone them.

It depends so much on ground conditions, access, loadings, contamination etc. Just get several prices and see what works out most economical.

It's no good if they cherry pick and only present good cases, that helps nobody and just ensures there will be dissatisfied customers in the future. I don't think anyone disputes that you can get a heat pump of some sort to heat any property. What many of us are sceptical about is just how much work is needed to do it properly (insulation, changing radiators and piping, changing hot water tanks, even installing UFH) and how the running costs compare to the previous system. If they are being installed without addressing those issues then you may be left with a "green" system that ticks a government wish list, but misses the ACTUAL target of reducing energy use and reducing CO2 emissions by a mile. Which is why I think the No 1 target should be to find a way to properly insulate and make air tight the older poorer properties first, and then think about a greener heating system for them.

Hmmm only had a quick skim (the reports themselves are behind a registration page) but I don't like the reporting methodology. It seems they're mixing up two different study endpoints: - installing 742 and reporting that by large "installation" was successful on them all (i.e. just to the point of commissioning, not report a month let alone year of successful operation!) - publishing a few cherrypicked case studies with individual participates giving glowing reports of how well the thing works. To give confidence that they work at scale we need to hear multiyear results from all those 742 participants (or a statistically powered subset of them) really.

you are almost correct. Appreciate the points as that’s why I’m here ! the design is 95% of what we would do. The 5% really is the personalisation and change of materials etc as we go. I will be going back for minor amends but that should cover it. Things like materials haven’t been dictated on the approval so we have flex.

Map consumption to degree days over some time as a spot test is subject to a wide margin of error

Given your stage of planning the book titled The House Builders Bible will give you a good breakdown of total costs. In the latest edition the author includes alternative building methods since many self builders adopt new building techniques.

And don't forget to be valid you need to run the test during cold weather, e.g. several day sustained period below 5º for most of UK.

That is good. Always makes ense to cross check that the open market will value the final result at no less than your total project spend. This is just a sanity check even when building a forever house. At a very rough guess I think the split is 50% to water tight shell and across the whole project materials/labour is another 50/50 split. You need flesh out this concept and create your China shopping list. List the items here and see what people think. 85% of Britons live in a property with under 180 sqm of internal floor space. 450 sqm is a ginormous multi millionaires mansion.

Self build zone, found them pretty easy to deal with.

I love this debate ? if an architect isn't giving you a functional space there's something very wrong! We have recently taken over a couple of jobs from AT's where the client "knows what they want" so decided not to employ us to do the "expensive" design stage... they've now come back after paying an AT to draw up what they thought they wanted and then realised that they've missed a massive opportunity to make the most of the jobs

No, not living in it, but were before the works! it's only habitable for rats at the moment! Depending on your circumstances, the things that really bothered us with it all was: 1) We couldn't move *everything* offsite, so there was still stuff we had to leave on site (in storage boxes or wrapped up etc). No matter how much you try, it will get damaged and ruined 2) Literally nowhere to store stuff away from the elements when ordering in advance or if materials end up lying around longer than anticipated. 3) Egger board went down on first floor joists, even if laid 100% as per manufacturer spec with zero gaps in the glue etc and all edges sealed (which I suspect no paid labour will ever pay as much detail to as you would yourself), this ended up being exposed for months and months, way longer than the "design allowance" as we still haven't got a roof 4) Just the lack of an area where you can work in the dry (to cut timber/sheets) is annoying As per my previous post, these are all not insurmountable, and may not apply to your situation and on a smaller budget/build it may certainly not be worth spending extra on it, but if it were me doing it again, I would 100% want a cover, as I won't rely on builders/trades sticking to a schedule, and taking care of the building, materials and my stuff the same way that I would.

@Zak SYou need to go back to the beginning and ask some fundamental questions. When you purchased your plot with a large 180 sqm bungalow, what proportion of the plot value was for the building? Is it habitable? For example if the property cost £350k then it is likely the market value was assessed as £200k for the plot plus £150k for the building in need of £50k of upgrades. Why do you want to spend serious money demolishing this large structure to replace it with something only 25% bugger? Why do you need to build something well over 200 sqm? A couple can live very comfortably in a house with 130 to 160 sqm of internal floor apace. What grounds to you have for thinking that you can beat the market on sqm build costs by sourcing from China? If it was such a good idea the industry would be doing this already. I doubt more than 25% of the material inputs to a house structure could be sourced at a sensible price from 10,000 miles away by sea. The existing property is presumably structurally stable which contrasts with your view that knockdown and replacement with a raft foundation is the route forward. Without building trade skills and 1000's of hours of hands-on labour you will be unlikely to better £1500 sqm build costs during a period of runaway material price inflation and labour shortages. Do you have the cash to fund the £300k build plus another lump sum to demolish and cart away the debris? In your position I would visit another architect with proven skills in property renovation or extension and see what could be evolved from the existing structure. Replacing the roof could gain you 8 tons which would then allow some lightweight small upper floor to be introduced to provide 45 sqm of upstairs floor area. Insulated plasterboard would boost the wall u-value. Wood cladding or other exterior finish could rejuvenate the street appeal of the existing structure.

Then a 3-ph inverter is a no-brainer. Have you sat down yet with a bit of paper, and drawn out your CU with the 3 phases and actually worked out how you are going to practically and safely ( and economically ) divide / allocate the loads of the dwelling over the 3 phases? What will go on which etc? All of the issues with ‘economical’ go away in an instant with a 3-ph inverter, so why would you not get one? Fronius is what we’ve just specified and installed ( my bonafide PV associates and I ( to save any of the previously received pedantic comments )) to alleviate such issues. This has left me much more flexibility to allocate phases throughout the domestic dwelling to maximise safety, practicality and above all safety for the clients. 3 story residence, so power and lighting most likely going on a phase per floor, kitchen ring on the same phase as the sockets in the open plan dining / living space ( as it’s immediately off the kitchen ), but appliances on fixed wiring will be ok to go over the other 2 phases. I’ve designed the electrical system to maximise divisibility / balance of the power available from each phase of the inverter, for best utilisation of the PV productivity + the output of the DC battery system, eg so the clients will not have to remain constantly mindful of how / when / which way to optimise this discipline ‘manually’ on a daily basis. The other downside of the single phase inverter is the max throughput. Even if your max PV generation doesn’t get close to the stated throughput threshold of the 3-ph inverter, you’ll still be guaranteed to be using every ounce of the PV you produce on a bright sunny day. Question here is of economics; 11 panel / ~4kWp array could be manageable by such ‘manual’ intervention, particularly if fortified with a diversion controller to scoff up any excess linear to it being produced, so it’s down to some maths to estimate the possible savings and how that overlays on the ROI eg when will it offset the uplift in capital expenditure. Next point would be, why go 3-ph CU at this time? Who’s idea was that? Why not go 2-ph, with the main domestic CU ( DB1 ) on ph-1 and then the remaining ph-2 ( DB2 in a garage for eg ) made off strategically to adopt an EV charger or 2 later down the line? You won’t have that much excess to harvest in an EV IMO, certainly not enough to warrant going 3-ph throughout with associated costs, 3-ph inverter so time for a reality check on the proposed 3-ph install IMO. Even with a 3-ph head + meter and initially just using the 2-ph setup, you can still retrospectively add a 3-ph compact CU for a 3-ph EV charger if you ever needed one. There would need to be a very good reason to go 3-ph in the house in this particular instance, and I’m not hearing one yet? Is there something significant you intend running off electricity that were not aware of atm?

Most of the builders merchants offer a QS service I think TP charge around £250 for a full house Just send your drawings in While you are able to qualify the materials and also get a pretty good idea of Labour cost You will have to keep an eye on material prices As they seem to change on a weekly basis

Hi Ian Thank you for your reply. I haven't completely ruled out using an architect but I just don't think I need one. I didn't explain the reason in my first post. I am very much a function over form person, which is why an architectural technologist appears to make most sense (not that either would ignore function or form). I hadn't considered that location isn't important but that's very true - thank you. Chris.

Don't have a spreadsheet that high level but was in a similar position when we bought our plot with a tired 1950's detached 3 story house on it. At this initial 'either / or' stage then you're better off working to a £/M2 figure. Talk to architects and builders. Find local people who have done similar (self builders love to share stories). A couple of questions based on our experience. Is there a fundamental problem with the existing (aside from general condition) i.e. is it badly orientated on the plot, very poorly insulated etc? Do you have a scheme for the re-build vs the refurb, has an architect done some thumbnail sketches ? How radical would the refurb be? We have friends who basically ended up with about 3 walls and a slab before building back. In our case the existing was at an angle to the large garden behind it and was not cavity built. While we could have rectified that somewhat with refurb and extension, would have been a lot of work. The clincher for us was that a new build is zero rated for VAT, has fairly predictable costs and complexity (cost) can be designed in or out according to your budget. We were able to build a high performance (i.e. low energy), aesthetically pleasing house, well orientated on the plot in a reasonable time frame (12 months construction). Also included a basement which would never have been an option in a refurb. No-one could give us a fixed price for a refurb, new build elements (extension) were easier to cost but the problem with a refurb was you don't know what you're dealing with until the house gets stripped back and there can be surprises that cost a lot of money. We spoke to quite a few people who had completed projects and many said that they wish they'd been brave enough to just knock it all down and start from scratch. We certainly did not regret it at all, however it's a leap of faith to do it. A QS is indeed worth the money and are are often not that expensive in relation to the overall budget. However they will only work off a reasonably detailed set of drawings, which as you say also cost money and imply you have already received PP. They're best employed to get a working costing of the final scheme and to look for economies / opportunities to save money and to keep track of costs. I'd caution that if the cost of drawings or QS is putting you off at this early stage, you'd better get used to spending a lot more on services before a spade goes in the ground - it's one of the often forgotten costs in a project. However one benefit of demolish and rebuild is that all services and access is in place, often one of the largest 'starting costs' in a new build.

depending on the scale of your rebuild, 1 room or whole house etc then it will be worth your time investing in a QS. Expect to pay £1500 - £2000 m2, with the lower assuming you do the labour. If your planning to spend 6 figures or more you would be mad not to get plans and costed. How is a builder supposed to quote without detailed plans ? https://www.estimators-online.com/

you could look at helicoil screw piles as a tree safe alternative.

With trusses, you have various bits of wood, typically with a loft truss forming the wall of the dwarf wall, and then a diagonal between. IF you are trying to make a proper air tight house, then you will be trying to sheet the whole of the inside with an air tight membrane with all joints taped. So what do you do? Take the air tight membrane following the roof line right down to the eaves and cut and tape around every single timber that sticks out from the roof line on each truss? A lot oif hard work to get it right. A cut roof hung from a ridge beam has single rafters from ridge to eaves with nothing else. One nice flat surface to tape and seal, and then you build up the dwarf wall structure inside the sealed envelope.

Right. Just as a general note: Always switch the AC side off first to isolate the load from the modules, then the DC side.

My view after going through the process is that they are not worth the paper they are written on. It’s a necessary piece of paper if we ever want to sell or raise a mortgage on the house, but I am very doubtful about a claim. in our case we took out the policy after starting work on our retaining wall (we are building into a hill), and although less than 10% of the foundation of the wall was poured, they would not allow the foundation to be inspected and issued a policy at the foundations stage. All it did was push the price up a little and I guess makes an exemption in the event of claim. I would view as an indemnity policy at best.

@patp I wouldn’t count on it. The emails from Octopus are geared around switching from an existing supplier and they are not tailored to a new supply. I still had to call them to get a meter installation date, once the supply cable was put in place by Western Power Distribution. In my case it was about 4 weeks after the “welcome to Octopus” email. I would call to check there is a meter installation planned and fix a date if not ? from my experience, I would imagine a meter installation some time in January I’m afraid. I was told I could not book a meter installation until WPD had done their thing on site.

I think it is something to do with the number of pipe connections that it has. Yes, you're right. Incredible. Here it is, has six different screed drying profiles: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1418392/Viessmann-Vitodens-200-W.html?page=148#manual

Every reason to doubt them, do not confuse celcon with hebel they are like chalk and cheese. Get a blower test done before plastering or parge coat and I bet you will have a heart attack. A torch won’t show you anything. Any hole big enough to get light through will be a howling gale when you ramp the fan up on the air test.

Sounds moot as he' already installed them, but FWIW they have a couple other benefits besides handling shading: - smaller, cheaper, cooler running and more reliable inverter (as it doesn't have any MPTT built in) - per-panel lifetime performance tracking

True,though when you are required to point up any work you’ll naturally try to keep joints full as it’s easier & quicker to joint them if they’re full to begin with.

Foam them then trim back and fill with a couple of layers of mortar / render / plaster where appropriate.

I use a Raspberry Pi Zero W with 3 1-wire DS18B20 temperature sensor. One is on the input pipe, one on the output pipe and the other is in the cold storage tank in the loft. Not ideal, but gives a good idea of what is happening.

Yes, I opened an account as soon as I got a date from Western Power Distribution. They wouldn’t let me book a meter install until the supply line was in.

Be very careful when someone presents a painted wooden door. To keep costs down a number of companies use strips of inferior grade timber and veneer it over with Oak to create the impression of a solid oak stiled door. Ultimately you will get what you pay for. Since you prefer a more traditional style door definitely avoid anything that is lacquered over foil (smooth or grained). Try and get to the bottom of the source of the doors you are buying and the construction of the door. If what you are looking for is a painted wood shaker kitchen, then either buy solid tulipwood doors (its a softwood but its absolutely fine and you wont be fooled into believing you have paid for some super duper timber) or pay more and get a solid ash/oak framed door. Your worst outcome is to pay for a door as described above believing its something that its not.

In our neighbourhood, for some reason, our PV seems to be producing power even in the night.... 20211214_225256.mp4

Party at Steamy Tea's house it is then! ?

You can read all about it here. https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy.html Seem to remember the UK has had 3 years worth of gas left, for the last 15 years.

MODS, please delete the post referenced above. Reasons as follows Too much reality. Its Christmas Boastful claim of refub experience Inappropriate reference to domestic arrangements ( @Big Jimbo doesn't do the washing up) Innapropriate violence towards TVs. 'Nuff said ?

Yes ! Can you finish the other jobs please ? ( your SWMBO asked me to say that )

Does it have a coin operated vibrating mechanism too?