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We bought our plot over 6 years ago and it took until just a few weeks before the first lockdown to actually break ground. It's been an absolute pig of a time but and we are finally in the house, albeit with still a fair bit to do. Thanks for all the help and advice, going right back to the previous incarnation of the forum. I'll no doubt need more in the coming months.

That''s another good point about air tightness. Check what the building regs say where you are. Another builder near me was set on PIV but then he had his air tight test done and the result was "too good" so building control insisted he fit mvhr, which was a lot harder part way through the build. It would seem insane to deliberately make your air tightness worse just so you can use PIV. Also the stove if you are going to fit one, choose one that is "room sealed" i.e. it draws it's combustion air direct from outside through a duct, not from the room.

🤣 I knew someone would point that out but I beg to differ as it will be rarely be used as the home will gets most of its heat from passive solar through the windows and stored in the floor. Any wood that is used will be sourced locally and modern wood burners if used correctly burn off most of the harmful gasses before they go up the flue. Think how much has gone into making an ASHP in terms of mining all the rare metals for the components, the materials for all that piping that had to be laid etc. The wood burner is here to stay.

Have been getting quotes in for next week and it occurred to me, therefore in BH spirit I pass it on.... For as long as I can remember, the cost of masonry blocks has been very similar to the cost of readymix, in £/m3. This makes sense as the ingredients are much the same. The readymix is handled once, at the factory. The blocks are handled at the factory and again by the merchant, but are risk-free. So if you know the price of concrete, just use the rule of thumb, or vice-versa. Currently £115 for C20 concrete here. 98p for 100mm blocks. £1.20 for 140mm That makes blocks at 10/m2 look slightly cheaper, but add the 5% area of mortar and it is close. Another reason this matters is, if you are replacing timber shutters with permanent blockwork, the blocks are effectively free as they replace readymix.....when appropriate.

should be mitred, steamed up due to youngest 20min shower!

That is so well detailed. Both the views and the house are inspiring. You should be proud of yourself!

My thoughts are that an additional test could add value and it's something I plan to do, probably with a DIY fan.

My thoughts are that there is very little air pressure so as long as you have done you’re best even if it leaks slightly it’s not like plumbing leaking and causing damage 🤷‍♂️

No . It’s shite . He’s not a professional in any sense of the word

What pipework have you used, if flexible stuff there should be no joins hidden to leak later?

house looks fabulous and so does the view! stunning. well done.

Great job, looks fabulous

Your piddly little local tx is likely 20KVA or more. I am still waiting for someone to explain to me how such a transformer might be fried by exporting say 8KVA of PV in the opposite direction. I am convinced the DNO's in some cases are just trying to fabricate a situation to get the customer to pay for network upgrades that are needed anyway for other reasons.

You just take the whole extract nozzle out the ceiling, the filter cone goes over clips that are there already and slots back in place. No need to move any adjustment parts.

I use a Google Nest in the hall to call the heating pump on or off. This also enable the ‘call for heat’ from my CE Carel controller. This means the HP only runs if the buffer tank temp is low AND the heating pump is running. Which prevents the HP running just to ‘top up’ the buffer when the house is warm enough. I run my primary HP at 45degrees for heating and the secondary in weather compensation mode (just looking at buffer temp) so that it only kicks in if the primary isn’t coping with the heat loss in the heating circuit and the buffer temp continues to drop. But this isn’t relevant for those with a single HP. Edit: I just set back the Nest thermostat by 2 degrees (17) at night. Any programmable thermostat could do this. In winter the ‘learning element’ of the google was bringing the heating on VERY early in the morning to achieve the morning setpoint at 19. I just can’t bring myself to set it to 19 and leave the thermostat alone but in shoulder seasons that should be easier.

Well done Ralph It looks amazing

Just bought a chinese three port diverter, I'll let you know what it's like when it shows up. It was only £20 I initially went looking for anti-freeze valves, having objected to paying for caleffi 108601's - AliExpress had some for £18 each that 'start to dribble at 6 and open fully at 1' - for that price I couldn't say no. It turns out the supplier has a pretty good range of actuated ball valves/diverters.

Stunning - house and location.

No your not, that’s crap, I used to fit kitchen and bathrooms and would never instal something that bad, plus I would not pay him till it’s rectified (ripped out and done again 😱).

I had costs from pasquill and glulam solutions for our ridge beam. In the end I used Pasquill, partly as we were buying a load of JJI's from them as well so it made sense with delivery costs.

We could really do with some proper controlled studies on this using real life builders and projects. The academic studies don't tend to allow for various levels of workmanship, waste, cost, time and availability of materials.

There about £3 each, not sure I would bother washing. https://www.epicair.co.uk/products/extract-air-valve-filter-for-8960-125mm-valve-10-pieces

I'm leaning towards the other camp. Mainly because going down the breathable route 1) further decreases floor space and 2) forever limits you to breathable finishes (lime plaster, breathable paints, non-vinyl wallpapers etc). I'd love to have an informed conversation about this though, as I hope to make a start on ours towards the end of summer, ready for winter. My current opinion is; breathable IWI is preferable non-breathable is acceptable, but great care needs to be given to the VCL detailing there's a limit to how well you should insulate to allow some heat still to escape and help dissipate any moisture in the wall - so forget PassivHaus levels, Enerphit propose a u-value of 0.35 when using IWI which is higher than building regs now require of a renovation, so I don't know how that works. the external face of the wall must be breathable - no cement render, well pointed with lime mortar, no ground build up etc. some suggestion that a water repellent should be applied to the external face to reduce the risk of moisture ingress. If I was to go the breathable route, I'd probably use this - https://www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com/product/diathonite-evolution - to provide the insulation and airtight layer all in one.

I really hope you haven't paid the plumber yet..... Others will come along and give you chapter and verse, but : No, it's not good enough. Pay him something less the cost of putting it right

Not at all local to you but I can recommend Buckland Timber but fear delivery costs. Recent updates I've received from them indicate they're having to offer alternative timbers in their glulams, such as Douglas Fir etc. due to supply chain issues and costs.

We used Pasquil last time This time they are 30% more expensive than everyone else Glue lams are near double the price of a ridge timber and no You can use GL or a ridge beam

Yes but it shouldn’t be, windows often on packers should get sealant on the outside as a minimum door sills should not be unsupported

The ASHP runs the heating fir about 3 months of the year max and only coming on fir a few hours a day, it keeps the floor at about 22’ which stops the house feeling cold, for a blast of heat in winter i light the woodburner. The ASHP runs for about an hour a day to top up the DHW cylinder. If and when I get PV, I will time the ASHP to start at 11 am to use any excess sunshine (if). If during the winter this timing is not enough I will over ride it.

I've been meaning to tackle a cracked tile almost exactly like one steveoelliott posted above. I also thought I'd have to remove the shower screen because it partially covers the tile but you've suggested cutting the tile which hadn't occurred to me. Do you think this multitool blade would be any good? https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-tile-segmented-cutting-blade-89mm/2180v

Think you're spot on but 3 years is the time frame to sell it in and claim the extra stamp duty tax back

A philosophical question here - having gone to the trouble of getting weather compensation right, isn't it better (ie more efficient) to set back the flow temperature at night rather than using a roomstat to effect night time set back. The latter just causes the HP to switch on and off periodically but keeps the flow temp high, whereas reducing the flow temp achieves the same result as far as the house is concerned but improves COP. Of course not all controllers implement this function (see incomplete discussion here): but I have heard of people faking the behaviour (admittedly in a different context) by switching a fixed resistor in and out of the outdoor temperature sensor circuit, to fool the unit into thinking the outdoor temperature is different than it actually is.

Hi All I am now in the process of deciding on what insulation to go with etc I was planning to have 200mm PIR under my screed but the general feeling is EPS is more cost effective so could be going for 300mm EPS. My question is jabfloor EPS70 suitable or does it need to be EPS100? my next query is cavity wall insulation, the cavity on the new extension/floor can only be 100mm wide. At the minute I am looking to use Celotex Thermaclass 21 90mm cavity wall insulation but is there any other options to consider? EPS platinum beads? many thanks

Hi Joe. Thanks for the compliment, much appreciated. Pretty much every time I browse BH I learn something new. Some folk like numbers, some less but I try where I can, like a lot of other posters, to weave a lay persons "rough guide" and tell a storey when it comes to SE stuff. BH is supposed to be fun and friendly. I too struggle with some of the numbers especially when it comes to the insulation side of things but keen to learn at my end. Joe I think I can see where you are coming from in that you are looking at each individual cladding board? But even though each board will be counter acting the effect of the one above or below they still have the net effect of loading the truss at it's outside edge. Think of the truss as a column. If you load a column about it's centre all the load goes straight down so you don't have a load set off from the centre of gravity of the column thus no initial bending effects. The same applies if you have a joist bearing onto a brick wall. If the point of bearing is not dead centre over the wall it will cause a bending effect in the wall as well as a compressive load. That's a good point you make about nails at 150mm centres and that they seem close at first glance. However when we design timber frames and check for lateral resistance, to check the house won't move sideways, the starting point in say BS 5268 is to begin with a 150mm nail spacing around the edges of the boarding. Then we modify the nail spacing if need be. 9.0mm OSB is pretty thin and if the nails are too far apart then the OSB buckles not least between the nails, a bit like the thin backing on a kitchen cabinet. The backing on the cabinet keeps it square, same principle applies to a timber frame, just a TF is often more expensive? I have copied, some info below. You can see in coulmn 2 the starting point for nail spacing internally and around the perimeter of the boards.

You need to liquid tank it. Plus use the proper tape at internal corners and junction with the floor. https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DhpoOHm4LiUE&ved=2ahUKEwjcrsr08Mb3AhWA8LsIHSWZCv8Qxa8BegQIBxAF&usg=AOvVaw2OSXc9j_QtUPz8xkvEO9OT

+1 for Loxone, I have it at home and have helped others to install it. Despite what some may tell you, it's very straightforward to do as a DIY install and several members here have done it at a much lower cost than getting an installer in. I agree with much of what's been said so far and echo the view to avoid non-standard wiring like the plague as you'll regret it later. If you wire cat6 and mains back to a central location you're probably covered for most control scenarios.

My opinion of late, is fcuk the DNO and the indignity of going on bender knee to them to “ask permission” to put a wedge of PV on my ( or your own ) home. They can bite my shiny metal ass afaic. I am going with hybrid inverters, ( plural ), zero export, non MCS ( as the payments are an insult ), and going nuts with battery storage. G100 compliant equipment has been chosen of course, so at the most I need the DNO to come visit to do a “witness visit” to confirm that my equipment does NOT export anything whatsoever. Their choice, not mine. I’m fitting panels everywhere so I can get as close to zero import as is possible. I don’t have to worry about how many kWp I’m fitting, as I do not ( will not ) need permission with everything loaded on the D/C side plus zero export limitation. Anyone worrying over what the current or future export payment value is / will be has seriously lost track of what they set out to do. Who cares about what the export value is, as you should be reducing that to a minuscule amount or less.

If you have a steady hand you could easily cut it out. Multi tool online for £40 odd and upwards. Do you have a handyman? We could talk you through what needs doing no probs and it’s not rocket science.

One side expansion foam and the other half mortar. Then report back to the forum after a thorough test!

I wouldn’t but you can, we will never know

would do both, low expansion foam to the back with mortar to the front. have you given the spiders notice to quit as they'll need time to find a new home?

I do too. I get out my auto-levelling 3D Laser and trim ours until it's a sharp as a masonry wall. Could do without box blight though 😬

I quite like the box...

+1 pushed well in to support the door sill.

Filling in with solid insulation between Larsen Truss or I-Beams is a pain, Where we are not having blown in cellulose I made EPS 100 infills which effectively made our I-Beams flush than I could push in the 0.032 insulation batts without the folds around the step and any gaps.

as with the first timber kits, it took quite a while to show and nowadays people are using more plastic sheeting for vcl and it doesn't show for a lot longer. i do think there will be big problems in the future with iwi and modern houses wich are 'fairly' well insulated but not well detailed

I'm not convinced IWI (Internal Wall Insulation - Mod) is fully understood yet. So many differences of opinions, so many reports of people fitting IWI in ways that should cause problems, yet there's very little evidence (on the internet) of actual people having actual problems. My current conclusions, which may also be entirely wrong, are; - Moisture cannot be allowed to escape the warm rooms, through the insulation, reaching the now cold wall. - Every effort should be made to keep the wall dry from the outside (well maintained pointing/gutters/drains, avoiding build up of external ground level etc) - The wall needs to be able to dry if it does absorb moisture (pointed in lime, no sand/cement renders etc)

Thanks! Optical illusion, path slopes up to the front, honest guv.

I love those stairs . Like a dragons spine with Daenerys Targaryen walking down them naked - oops sorry , one of my many fantasies…

Just a case of changing mass to force. Then remembering that force at a distance is torque. And a moment is a place, not a spot in time. And materials fail differently. Holes can reduce forces. CT1 puts it all right.

Not just CO2 though. Wood burners emit particulates at a higher level than diesel engine. Still, everyone I know with wood burners are more than happy for me to come around, in my EURO4 diesel car, and smoke a pack of Marlboro in the front room. They encourage it in fact.