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Hi @epsilonGreedy Further to your original question. I think price of the kWh is heading higher. Over the long term prices will rise because humans are generally greedy. Its not rocket science.

Your going to have to play with setting, including flow temperature. Change one thing at a time. See what happens for the next 24 hrs. Write down what you did and energy consumption and things felt. This will make the whole process reversible and see what works and what doesn't. But you should be able to reduce flow temperature, by setting the runs times longer. Lower flow temps equal higher COP. Was your ASHP a retrofit, did you increase the radiator size? Read your manual to see if you can set to weather and/or load compensation.

My View on this and any design was simple, my budget is tight, so functionality wins. If you set out with this in mind then be prepared for a lot of compromise. Its great to draw complex foundations with different roof line, roof heights, and you can get a stunning effect, but each little change from a rectangular box costs more money. More in materials more in labour or both, then each of these decisions effect the cost going forward. The easiest building to build is a rectangle, with gables and 1 roof line (Well a rectangular box and a pent roof) any deviation from this will cost money. My Design uses the rectangular box, but over a single level, (this is with an eye on the future) I think I could have saved a little by going room in roof with the bedrooms upstairs. Smaller foot print etc. If your budget is healthy and mortgages are in your future then treat yourself to a porch, different roof planes, different roof heights, dormers etc. If not resist the architects desire to break new ground, (and your bank balance). One thing to note that the timber frame costs of these designs will vary little, but the cost of building it can be vastly different. I would have thought as a quick example, a dormer would cost 10 times the cost of a velux window, but the kit cost would vary a few hundred quid. Building your own house should be a great experience, but reality has to be upfront. I'm sure all the compromises, and "discussions" we had at design stage, will make the build process less stressful, when the money is disappearing faster than Abramovich's. I know. 3 1/2" nails, disappear in 1 blow.😲

personally if i'm paying for a footprint i want the same floorspace on all floor, i've no interest in paying over the odds trying to impress others and therefore have no need of wow factors. when we bought our plot the design had two mezzanines and four beds, we've now got four beds and no mezzanines. house next door, same footprint has 5 beds and two mezzanines, go figure the room sizes. they also have floor to ridge 2g glazing in two of the gables and steel colums sitting on the foundations. we have 350mm blown cellulose walls and roof with 200mm recticel under a 100mm floor slab and 3g windows and doors.

The message here is an UVC does not have much to go wrong with it, and anything that can go wrong is easily repaired. But a Sun amp has some complicated controls, and it appears from other threads, a heating element that cannot be replaced easily if it fails. I think you have to have a very good specific reason to choose a Sun Amp, e.g you really need it's lower standing heat loss or you really need the more compact unit compared to an UVC. If you don't need either of those features I would choose an UVC personally.

I had that nonsense with my first dead ASHP where they wanted me to return it for repair. Until I found the parent company and involved their CEO.

myself 🙂 It's really simple. I make the decision - I pay for it, my kids pay for it. I have skin in the game. I need to make the best one possible. The same applies to everyone.

I don't feel offended at all - I said before that I don't take myself seriously. Thank you anyway. I don't argue with the fact that we the public can make bad decisions. But it's still better than letting "specially chosen people" make these decisions. Technocracy doesn't work, covid has demonstrated it perfectly for anybody who had any doubts. I understand your concerns very well. I obviously have counter-examples but it doesn't matter. You have your vote and I have mine and this is how these issues get resolved. If only those who said "lets lock down" actually paid for the consequences - and those who chose not to protect themselves and ended up in a hospital paid for their treatment. My beef is not with you, it's with "the experts" and even more so with "establishment" and so called professionals, i.e. people who don't actually know much more than you and I but claim that they do and make decisions for us or pressure the government to make such decisions. I read numerous posts by former scientists who left ages ago and moved up the administrative career - it was absolutely pathetic, the only thing they do well is deal with dissent. This is not a covid thread though, I really tried to get back to the energy issue.

An estate agent gave me a piece of advice that proved invaluable: if you think that you might ever convert your loft into living space or warm storage, then by far the cheapest time to do it is when you build the house; you can always defer second-fit until when you need the space. So we went for warm-loft and now my adult son who lives with us uses the loft floor as his bed-sit.

Just saw this on another page https://www.russwood.co.uk/blog/russwood-statement-on-siberian-larch/

+1 to @ProDave suggestion, we used 350mm I beams for walls, roof and floors with blown cellulose, u value if 0.11

We’ve decided we are going to carefully try it out first before making any changes as the staircase company says they leave the treads slightly textured so that they are non slip. I tried it in socks, and it doesn’t feel slippery, but we need to see how it performs. Still a bit worried about the kids slipping though.

Just to correct something, maybe I misunderstood but if you hire an architect, it’s perfectly possible to tell them you’re designing on a budget and you want things to be as structurally sensible as possible. From my experience this saves money. I’ve also worked with timber frame companies and they charge the same for catalogue designs as new bespoke designs. Just use the in-house architects for free too.

You can make your own using scraps of OSB 👍 Oh shit.

Many years ago, some of us, over at the other place, logged our weekly energy usage, along with some basic details of our houses. All it really showed was that some houses use less energy than others.

I don't have the patience to do the sums to convert to monthly, I log my usage weekly. But it is easy to do a whole year, so last 12 months ASHP has consumed 1015kWh heating DHW and 1480kWh heating the house. Well insulated to near passive house levels, good air tightness with MVHR, triple glazed windows, EPC A94 in the highlands to colder climate than most.

Thanks! It's all I've been doing! I'm a bit obsessed 😁 My mrs is sick of me talking about it now.

there is an acoustic benefit when using heavy rockwool insulation in pitch-roof construction.

So, I've found a UK supplier and have now ordered a 24v version from theheatxchange

Welcome, sounds like you have been doing your homework

It may be that you can pinpoint the end of a clay pipe that used to lead to the stream, probably less than 1m or so depending on how it originally terminated. I'd start by estimating the 'epicenter' of the flooded area and have a dig. If you can find a pipe (it often runs in short, disjointed sections) you may be able to trench it out to your rainwater system.

Hi Zak No, builder is not NHBC 'Registered' - it's an important distinction - they're not 'Approved' in the sense that there is no technical prior assessment to become an NHBC member. As I understand it, NHBC membership allows your builder to sell you Buildmark - the NHBC warranty. NHBC will still come out and perform inspections on your build, for your warranty. I think it is only large-scale house builders that can self-certify with NHBC on a development by development basis BUT NHBC will still perform inspections on a random sample of buildings on that development. I think it says it all that large scale developers can 'self certify' for NHBC Warranty, and yet often sub-contract to local gangs that can produce really shoddy work still. I think, to be honest, the whole concept of warranty is a joke, and should NOT be relied upon for the quality of your build. Remember that a 'Warranty' is basically another Insurance Policy, that tries to derisk claim payout by assessing at key stages that, across all policies sold, on average, that any claims made do not exceed the total value of the policies. They're designed to protect against the exceptionally bad work, not ensure good work. So basically, this is why I didn't bother with the NHBC Warranty, and instead chose Self Build Zone for their combined warranty and building control service at a cost of £3248 (not included in the prices I gave). Mainly because my self build mortgage required it, and if we sold in the next 10 years.

85' TV panels laugh out loud at this statement. Food prices are massively lower relative to incomes than they used to be even 50 years ago. Why hasn't greed raised those to exorbitant levels while world population increased massively? I am not sure whether you imply that "greedy is bad". In reality greed is the source of investment, innovation and general development - not to knock altruism in any way. Can you not imagine for a second that one of probably hundreds of research projects to find cheap(er) energy source will succeed? What are you going to say then? "It was not supposed to happen"? And since you are sure the price will only go up here is an opportunity to prove the market wrong. Settlements for 4+year contracts are way below 2022 prices. https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/energy/crude-oil/light-sweet-crude.settlements.html You can make easy money buying calls at the current level. https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/energy/crude-oil/light-sweet-crude.quotes.options.html#optionProductId=7574 There is an economics professor in the US, his name is Bryan Kaplan (https://betonit.blog/ not to be confused with any actual betting sites!) . One of many points he makes is we people don't want to support our statements with money (i.e. bets) even when we claim that we are "very certain" about something. Here is a wiki of his public bets - he's won over 20 so far, no losses. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qShKedFJptpxfTHl9MBtHARAiurX-WK6ChrMgQRQz-0/ His blog is worth reading, he used to write for econlog.org where a lot of his texts can be easily found (for those who have a lot of free time).

It is good news I was talking to the MD of one of the largest insulation suppliers in my area He confirmed what you have been told and added that everything is readily available in stock or within days Just to add underground drainage has dropped dramatically All available Except the 6 inch Nice to have good news

That is the self certification scheme for major house builders, not for spec builds by individual contractors. The NHBC warranty is also the most onerous in terms of build standards - if you go outside their spec they may not cover you and a lot of it is minimum building regs stuff and if you want to do better then it’s all non standard.

I fully agree with the second statement (obviously, it includes me). Yet when it comes to the first one... I would not complain about statements missing nuance if only I was not FORCED to do something based on these statements. But I was and I am and this is absolutely infuriating for me. Somebody believes eating meat is wrong? Then stop eating it (and deal with health consequences) and leave me and my kids alone. Someone thinks fossil fuels should not be used or even extracted? Good luck leaving without any plastics - but I won't do this. Somebody wants to self-isolate for 5 years? Knock yourself out. Fifth booster? Be my guest. People saying "you are too stupid to know what's good for you" to an adult may well be right. But adding ".... and this is why we are going to force you" makes them pure evil.

I don't disagree with a lot of what you say - here's the challenge as I see it. 'Big science' issues are usually extremely complicated, rely on different models and interpretation of data, expert knowledge and a lifetime in that field of study, funding, competing branches of science and mathematics etc. Lots of nuance and very little absolute certainty. Were the discussion focused on the expansion rate of the universe or the existence of some disputed subatomic particle then that debate could rage on within the confines of the relevant scientific community and Joe and Jane public would be blissfully unaware until some media friendly conclusion or discovery made it onto the 'panda' slot on the news. However when the debate does impinge on normal life, like Covid or Climate Change and 'something needs to be done' then governments need to deliver a simple, understandable and clear message and action to the public. Nuance and uncertainty don't work so statements are often made that may not have 100% certainty but to call them lies is probably a step too far. Bluntly, the vast majority of the population don't have enough education, experience or even inclination to look at the raw data and make their own conclusions, I mean even basic literacy and numeracy in the UK are shocking. Also, when the issue is solved with herculean effort (e.g. Y2K or even Covid so some degree) the reaction is 'what was the big deal'? It's like we need Ukranian levels of devastation for people to say 'Oh - that's bad, we shouldn't have let that happen'. I recently watched the comedy movie 'Don't Look Up' about the discovery of a comet set to impact earth and the superficial media and political engagement until the inevitable happens - while funny it reflected a lot of the issues described above. Also, I'll direct you to this - more comedy making a serious point.

Yeah, basically put the above would be showing the blind on the outer skin behind the external finish. Different boxes existing where you can render over the front face of the box.

I think that you may be allowed to notch out the top chord to line with block courses, ask manufacturers technical dept

my apologies to @DragsterDriver for hijacking the thread but I have another question about this as I work through doing the work. I have put up battens over the AVCL and all is good....apart from the fact that the wall feels 'squidgy' due to the PIR not being solid. this is probably expected. but I'm wondering if I should've covered the AVCL with OSB before battening to give a more solid base for the battens to rest on? Another thought I had was that with 25mm deep battens and 12.5mm plasterboard there is only 35mm for fixing things to the walls using plasterboard plugs. is that enough is what I was wondering or am I running the risk of, down the line, puncturing the AVCL when I attach things to the walls? so I could, in theory, add 11mm OSB to the front of the battens and then plasterboard directly on to that to give more room for fixings? obviously, OSB in either position is going to add substantial cost to the build so I wonder what others have done that have PIR internally to the TF studs. I've got this far in one room so still not too much effort to take the battens down, tape up the holes and start again!

You said But with reference to When it comes to new capacity, RE is now the cheapest on levelized costs. In the UK subsidies have just about stopped for new developments, though the fossil fuel industry is still claiming them. https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/climate-change/energy-subsidies Don't get a 'strike price' mixed up with a subsidy. A strike price is just a form of price hedging, and we have seen the consequences of not doing that recently. The is an interesting area, it is what I was studying when I did my Masters. The models where not BS at all, most where very accurate. They were local models, glorified weather models and the limitations were very well known and understood. In the last 15 years, we have collected and analysed much better satellite based data and now, as I understand it, they are proving useful, two recent reports about forest fires and sand particles have confirmed what was already know, and over a greater geographical area. If you think that all models are BS, then I cannot help you understand how they work and the limitation they have. The fact is though, that even the old model projections are holding up extremely well. They are not weather models, which you seem to think they are, they are climate models, different things, with different names.

Our Thermino 150 ePV went in yesterday. https://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-solar-DHW-for-16WW-UniQ-and-PV-diversion.html#2022-03-09 This evening after dark, my daughter had a shower and my son had a bath. All but a fraction of a kWh of the DHW covered from the Thermino: the combi cut in for the last couple of minutes of the bath fill. Since we also turned our central heating off the day before, I'm hoping that our gas consumption will be much much less than usual this month onwards, at least until circa September. Rgds Damon

If I was to ever self build again this is the route I would take. Fitting glass wool and PIR yourself saves money but is a real pain and slow and maybe the one thing, so far, I wish I’d done differently.

OK, my understanding of the real risk of climate change is not just it getting a bit warmer than usual each summer and learning to live with it, it's irreversible (on a human timescale) change to the environment. These changes are also known as tipping points. e.g. if the Gulf Stream current slows down due to an increase in fresh water from melting polar ice then UK will shift from a stable moderate climate to North America style summers and winters (we're on the same latitude). Our national infrastructure is not built to deal with that so it will be economically challenging and disruptive to adapt. If extreme weather events, such as storms and flooding, move from being once in 100 years to once a decade or more then that will be extremely disruptive. If ocean levels continue to rise due to warming seas and melting polar ice then costal regions globally will be challenged. Lots more examples out there but they're all connected to a steady rise in temperature and other human activity and each one has the potential to be very disruptive to our way of life. And history shows that when life becomes untenable in parts of the world, people move en-masse to where it is better. Calling it a 'brigade' is a cute way to discredit a global scientific consensus and I doubt the world would have convened for the latest COP (even though the output was somewhat disappointing) were it just some fringe notion. You may well not like the medicine being prescribed and you may well be right that other nations need to do more but just ignoring it

ok thanks Russell I'll dot and dab then

ask manufacturer/engineer, I think top chord can be built in, if it was mine I would build in both chords Only needed for cavity walls or air leaky walls , if wall is wet it should not be , use lime pointing or render

get the fabric right from the off and put basic kitchen/bathrooms etc in to start with and then upgrade them to more 'top-end' if you want at a later date when you have more disposable income. you can easily change wall coverings/kitchens/bathrooms etc but it's not easy to add more insulation!

I have researched this quite a bit and finally settled on @JohnMo method. I mix approx one cement (mastercrete), three sand (building sand) and a bit of hydrated lime (hydralime), mix to a slurry / double cream thickness. I apply it by hand one block at a time with a block brush, rubbing into the surface so all holes are filled, then after 3/4 metres go back and brush the excess off with a softish brush. It's taking ages but doing a good job of it, and saving a huge amount of money compared to airtight paint / membranes etc. I'll be using the paint and tapes at junctions and windows but for the large wall sections this is going well. As they say, want a good job doing, do it yourself. Here's a photo of the mid floor area done, before fitting the wall plate for hanging the posi joists with joist hangers.

I often wonder what useful info I push out by keeping all this nonsense in my brain.

it's important to some but not so important to others. for me on some things it's not important at all but on other things it is. e.g. we're having RWH which will never repay itself in a 100s of years at the current cost of mains water but we want to reduce our use of mains water so those that need the mains water more than us have it available to them. and some people just like new toys and tech to play with! I'm one of those and I get the feeling that @pocster is as well. obviously, budgets play a major consideration and some don't like to frivolously throw money away on things. personally, I want to enjoy my life while I can. having seen my brother suffer from heart attack and stroke at 45, my father pass away 3 years after being diagnosed with MND at 73 and my mother taking a massive downturn in her health due to heart failure at 76 I'm now thinking that life it too damn short to worry about stuff like ROI or payback period etc. As long as my kids have an education (and a habitable planet to live on!) and I can leave enough equity in my estate to help them when I finally go I'm all for enjoying it all now! I guess I'm very fortunate to be in the position financially to allow me to do this and others aren't and I get that. horses for courses and all that, right?

A new EV isn’t justifiable compared to a petrol car in most cases . Petrol car nice and cheap in comparison. If I built my house solely on lowest cost I’d have single glazing , gas combi , less insulation , no glass balcony , no ASHP etc etc etc Lots of savings to be made ! But why ? I have a chance to produce something better - losses less heat , costs less to heat , less co2 , a ‘better’ house , a nicer house - but yes ; it costs more . BUT. - it’s all relevant to what my house is worth . This is the real key imho ! I’m trying to put in all the researched and viable technology I can whilst it’s easiest to install as its a new build . I go on really expensive holidays . Why ? Because they are really nice !

I am sure you replied to me, not @Bitpipe because this was my message you quoted I don't think you fully understand what I am saying, otherwise you'd not give an example of drink-driving laws. I understand the concept of externalities at a basic level, I am not a complete moron.

We need there local planning officers working over here.