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Slight rant there. Sorry - close to my heart.

Ahh the fond memories of the ISO 7 layer model 🙂 Thanks for all the valuable info, always good to learn. I think the cable installer just had a brain fart and systematically crossed the oranges in the faceplates - he was being assisted by his old man so possible that there was some miscommunication. Even though seems to work I'll swap them to align with the labeling for piece of mind and at the same time check the + punch down again to make sure all is good - not too many anyway. May also go buy a more comprehensive tester - not long until Christmas!

I’d like to offer help to anyone who needs help doing drawings or designing their home or extension. I'm a Registered Architect with some time on my hands. I use my iPad and an app called Concepts to draw and have already helped out a few Forum members.

Hi - As a intro, we have moved to the North Norfolk Coast and are trying to convert a 1960s bungalow with views over fields and 10 minutes walk from the beach, into a Norfolk Cottage with a ultra modern extension to the side and rear. We have got planning permission and have started work but I lack the skill to be able to ensure the fabric is as good as I can achieve. We have also built a SIP annex that will act as a workshop and Gym but having issues with building control. As the decision was made to preserve an old apple tree we pushed the structure within a meter of the boundary (not helped that I have put a new boundary fence up in front of our boundary due to neighbour issues). I will create a post about this as the BI is demanding master board etc which I think is massively overkill when we have tower blocks full of people in clad buildings! I hate inconsistency. My main concern will be trying to insulate the home. The roof is being replaced and the new extension will have 100mm celotex (or similar( in the cavity to ensure building regs. Hoping to put in triple glazed windows as well. New floor is 150mm celotex but the old footprint is just a concrete slab. The old walls are thin (260mm) and the cavity has been filled with powdery white stuff that I believe is now banned and has slumped. As we have no gas in the village I want to try and up the insulation, make it airtight and as warm as possible. Finally we intend to put a load of solar panels on the roof with battery. This will help run our EVs and the ASHP. The floor will have thin insulation and underfloor heating. All good fun and I hope the vast experience here will be able to point me in the right direction.

For reasons I don't understand Architects sometimes seem incapable of designing things that I imagined were well within their capabilities. Its either ignorance or a risk/insurance thing, I don't know. I'd get an SE to bash out a proposed floor design/cross section. Give it to the Architect and I'm sure he will be happy to include it in the BC Application. Likewise the EWI. Find a company or two and see if they have detailed design drawings. Might even be on their website.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think we are going to go down the hedge route (leylandii) and put down a picket fence (3 foot just behind it) and hope no one tries their luck and move the shed behind the front of the house. Thanks for the all the help.

Johnny I have done exactly what you are doing, I designed and installed my own MVHR, used different parts from different suppliers and it's all OK. When you first turn it on, for a couple of day you will hear it, unless it's on it's lowest setting but you(your wife) will get used to it and ignore it. In my case I would have had the next size unit just so I can run it at a lower setting and be able to use more boost when needed. Good luck!

The biggest issue I can see is BC signoff for the first house. The plans will show a party wall, which has a different specification to an external wall. Your brother will have to change the design of the wall to an external wall sepc - e.g a insulated and vented cavity wall. So extra cost. And when it comes to build your house against it, there may be other implications. Does a cavity wall meet the same requirements and a party wall? How do you tie the brick work (if applicable) together? At the very minimum you'll be adding tens of thousands in extra costs by not doing at least the main structure at the same time. Biggest costs savings would be groundworks, floor slab, walls and roof. Would you be able to do the slab, services, walls and roof of your half? Then do your fitout down the line.

You would be mad to at least not get the footings poured at the same time.

Ahh, yes I read it as chimney capped, when you meant the gas supply. Good thing you didn’t shove insulation up there as it would get wet and cause problems with plaster etc. plus always a good idea after capping the top to keep a small grill or vent in fireplace to ventilate the space and allow it to dry out for a while but this isn’t critical if the chimney is in good order

from https://www.gov.uk/vat-building-new-home/how-to-claim If an invoice is not in your name, you’ll need to explain why. If an invoice is in your business’s name, you’ll need proof that you’ve refunded the amount from your personal bank - for example, a bank statement.

I love all the cutting to get things to fit. 😂 I spent ages making up a template for the bottom of my electricity kiosk for three ducting penetrations - one in and two out. Placed it on the bottom of the kiosk, cut out the holes then did the same when I was building up the foundation. Perfect I thought. Measured twice as well. When i came to place the kiosk over the ducts one of them was out by 5mm and no amount of cajoling would get it through the hole so had to cut a notch out to get it to fit. Hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things but annoys the eff out of me whenever I open the kiosk 😂

Which should see you in and out in a flash then? See you back here in 10 mins with said chrome elbow. How I would laugh, literally until each of my nuts fell from my sack, if it was out of stock when you got there, but the website said they had 3 🤣

This is where the magic happens You could have used a chrome compression elbow ffs! I’ll post you a fiver now to cover the upgrade cost.

You can just make it up. Box ticking exercise at best. Most don’t even read it.

Not true. In my case for example I will pay a total of just over 3k, grant is 5k. I do think the 5k grant will cause price inflation as it creates more demand while supply is, at least in the short term, relatively closer to constant. But I suspect the inflation is more like 1-2k. In other words the existence of a 5k grant brings down the price by 3-4k and installer pockets 1-2k. If true, I don't think this is a bad thing at all. We want greener heating systems to be more profitable so that they can grow their business and others can be attracted to join the space.

I totally agree. Sorry obviously I wasn't clear - the Master bedroom is on its own loop. Master bedroom ES on a separate loop. For the reason you state.

Nope, not all. Check the BC document and it gives guidance on unvented runs. Here in NI, if it's less than 6m it doesn't need to be vented. None of our basement runs are vented and go straight to the outside manhole

So a small, positive update. I tried removing the battery then performing the forced reset (?) on it -- hold the O/I/P toggle in the P position for 5 secs -- before re-pairing it to the inverter. After doing this the self-test diagnostic still failed (passed the comms test, but failed the charge and discharge steps). However, it now appears to be working again. 24hrs plus in. It charged from sun yesterday midday and again today, and from Go cheap rate overnight, and discharged as expected at other times. When I get chance, I need to re-attempt another self-test diagnostic. If that now passes I'm not sure what next steps to take, as I don't want to be performing this fire drill every month. I've not been able to contact the supplier/installer at all, and SolarEdge have escalated the ticket to higher tier but no follow up yet.

Thanks @Iceverge - If money no object then this would be preferred, however there is a budget for the work. That being said, if the builders quotes are astronomical it would sway this point of view.

As I said, not perfect, but a good gauge. We should really use emissions or an environmental damage factor (large hydro is problematic). Also depends on, as you mention, imported and exported factors. It is an interesting area of environmental science, and there is no agreed international standard that is applied evenly.

@Nickfromwales Thanks for the link, just what I needed. Hopefully he'll be happy, mind you he's the 7th Inspector on my build and he's finding that the other 6 didn't file anything, so he's having to tick all the boxes himself.!! @LA3222 I measured my water flow with a jug. It's too cold around here to use my wig !

Thank you for the reply. I like how thorough you are with your thought processes. I have found many of your threads and posts very helpful. You have a knack for creating interesting discussions. I appreciate that there are a number of variables that effect the water dynamics. My take away is that a 15mm pipe over 10m, could be tee’d and supply two standard showers simultaneously with enough hot water. But if you can, give them both there own direct feed.

Neighbours are fine with it to be honest. Preferred fencing because of the instant security you get. The side leads to the back and we have had some burglaries in the area (who hasn't) recently so wanted piece of mind with the 6 foot panel. However maybe a chain link 3 foot fence or chicken wire behind the trees may do the job..

Auto MDI-X (auto crossover) is well specified, and mandatory part of 1000base T. It specifically deals with the TX and RX pairs being swapped, but doesn't explain the cores being inverted within a pair. Gigabit ethernet uses AC signalling so there's the possibility the negotiation completes even with a polarity inversion. It means one pair is phase inverted so highly likely to mess with max bandwidth performance and maybe the PoE function too. Tldr the gigabit light lighting up is not proof of a perfectly wired cable. @Adam2 You definitely need a new testing protocol as the existing one that works according to pairs of pins on the connector is not giving a sensitive or specific diagnosis. Tip: is buying a new tester go with a 9 LED one with screening (ground) continuity test too, just avoid ever needing to buy another should you ever need that, LOL.

Just bumping this again for newer members to bookmark / reference.

FWIW, I think satellite manifolds are a bad idea.......unless you have a mansion and a HRC 👎

Defo do NOT run 22mm radial runs, unless you're using a hot return setup? The delay in getting hot water out of the basin taps would be painful. Those would be huge dead legs, and very very wasteful in unused water having to be first discharged, and then the amount of lost DHW left to go cold in that increased volume of dead leg the same. Bear in mind that you'll only ever be using one outlet at a time, so a 15mm feed, fed off a primary manifold from 22mm pipework, will be more than suffice afaic. Also bear in mind that most modern taps / shower valves etc have a max flow rate restricted by manufacture, so you can only get a certain deemed flow rate out of them anyways, waaaaaay less than a 22mm pipe has to offer.

+1.... in a nutshell. Kind of a pointless pursuit imho, but the question was asked Switch the heating on, balance it all out at the switch on, go to pub, drink beer.

i dont even think you can have them , i just googled it up and they are considered an outbuilding too.. madness

The height is irrelevant. An outbuilding is an outbuilding. But you will find people putting up stores, sheds in their front gardens without Planning. Technically, they’re in breach but Planning would need to take a view as to whether they would take action against it. It only needs a neighbour to report the potential unauthorised works.

TBH I'd say that is your front garden, not the back garden. And you are likely to need PP for the shed in front of the building line, unless perhaps you use one of those semi-sheds that is a storage locker 1-1.2m high. Unfortunately it is likely to be determined by the building line, not by calling an enclosed front garden a "back garden". Sorry 😒. If the shed has only just gone you may get away with whumping another one there immediately, and hope no one notices. Otherwise imo you will need PP. except perhaps for the new driveway if you make it permeable to water (which makes it Permitted Development). Or you just do it and see if anyone jumps on you, then go for a Retrospective PP. But then you have a risk of not getting it and having to take it all away again. Since you will be spending a few thousand, I'd say go for PP. It may be worth phoning up the Council and making an appointment to talk to a Planner at the front desk, where you may get some useful guidance as to the rules that will apply. Frame it as you being intimidated by the system, and take your before and after along. It looks like an attractive scheme for your kids, so I'd say give it a try. HTH. F

I can’t see any problem with 6ft fence panels, no line of sight issues and the container at the end would be a bigger violation than any fence you erect. I would just get on with it.

Thanks very much @joe90

Just picking up on some of the points made. I was suggesting the incentives should benefit those in most need. Sure, wealthy people like a freebie, but I don't see why they should get one. If their energy bills rising from say £3k per annum (I have a friend who was paying that a year ago) to say £7.5k is not incentive to invest in better insulation and the like, what is. As has been mentioned, landlords are already on the clock to improve their properties, but that's no reason why low income tenants shouldn't still have access to incentives if the payback is almost immediate and worthwhile. Of course part of the long term solution has to be less reliance on imported energy, of any origin, but that can't be provided over night. Smoothing the peaks in demand is similarly desirable, but again won't happen in anytime soon. I actually see the sudden and huge rise in energy costs as a perhaps unique opportunity to do something to improve the energy efficiency of properties, something we've all been saying was needed since this forum existed. The question is how best to achieve that. And the window of opportunity may be brief. Once prices start to fall, even if such falls are relating modest, or once people get used to paying higher prices (at least those that can afford to), the motivation to fo something will diminish.

Still picking runners here:

Well I made mine and it works great, ply box lined with acoustic foam. I had heard that noise can be generated by the room terminals so I made my “throttling” within the distribution box and unless on boost completely quiet and only just able to hear it on boost.

You can get a good idea of the typical prices online, but local supply should be better. Go in to 2 or 3 of the local merchants and talk to the lead salesperson. They will remember you and take your first enquiry for a quote very seriously. Be perfectly straight that you will be comparing suppliers. A good merchant will be aware that they might not get all the job, as there are some areas where they can't compete. But a good relationship with one is ideal, for cost and service. For example, our drainage supplier advised that prices were about to double overnight, which they did, and so saved us a lot. Wickes is great for cost guidance. If they can sell 1 piece of wood/ ply etc at their published price, then you know your target is below that. And all their prices are published, to their great credit. And keep discussing here as someone else will have recent knowledge of best prices. BUT always remember that efficient design and avoidance of waste is worth more than any last few % you manage to extract.

https://glidevaleprotect.com/products/roofing-ventilation/

ETC helped me out massively after we were lumbered with a terrible set of drawings from our initial technician. His help and advice ultimately shaped the overall direction of the extension we're hoping will be granted final approval this week!

Our warm roof is pitched. The BCO was happy with pir between rafter as long as was not as thick the top layer. I think it was 80mm between and 100mm atop.

A 10m run of 22mm pipe has a dead volume of about 2.5litres so a 10l/min shower would take 15seconds to heat up, presuming the thermostatic valve runs pure 'hot' until actually hot water arrives. 23 seconds for 15m. It's a waste if water, but not too much time. It feels like under 10s is awesome, under 20s, desirable and under 30s acceptable. I've no idea what an pleasant shower flow rate is, but have read figures like 12l/min down to 6l/min for Part G. According to this calculator, 15m of 15mm OD 11mm ID pipe needs 3bar pressure to supply 5l/min which if the shower is running at 50/50 is at total 10l/min. A 22mm OD 17.7mm ID pipe needs under 0.2bar. Can anyone report good results having run over 15m of 15mm pipe to a shower?

I've worked out that if I have all my outlets as independent runs from the utility cupboard, I'd have 31 runs (12no. 10mm and 19no. 15mm). It would use 108m of 10mm and 132m of 15mm and no additional fittings vs 34m of 10mm and 108mm of 15mm with a dozen or more fittings. The extra cost at the manifold likely wipes out the saving on fittings, but means if I have a leak it will most likely be either at the manifold or at the outlet itself. It would involve passing 26 pipes through a blockwork wall though, rather than just 12 pipes. I haven't made provision for this, so is the simplest thing to do to core drill larger holes, passing multiple pipes through each? The cold ones would need to pass 15 pipes. Whilst that could all fit through a 70mm core drilled hole, that would be a nightmare to route or make any future changes. Below shows that you can fit 4no. 15mm pipes or 7no. 10mm pipes through a 40mm core drilled hole. Using a 50mm core drill should make it easier and might allow the holes to be lined. I'd want a good gap between the holes to ensure each behaves structurally as a single hole, guessing 100mm would do that. I'd end up with 6 such holes, spread over about a metre. Does anyone know the spacing of the outlets on the brass manifolds?

I used thermolite blocks, topped with engineered concrete blocks 65mm thick. This gave a good fixing point for the walls above. Floor build up from top is 100mm concrete screed, 200mm PIR insulation. So the thermolite block starts above the insulation. Gives an effective downward u value of around 0.7 at the stub wall.

What @newhome says. The only part of building regs I.m aware that requires a bath to be installed and accessible on the same storey as the master bedroom is in M4(2). However this is an optional requirement that only applies if compliance is stipulated as a planning condition. So if you don't have a planning condition, the regs for accessibility are M4(1) which just says: Sanitary facilities WC facilities 1.17 To enable easy access to a WC, a dwelling should comply with all of the following. a. A room (which may be a WC/cloakroom or a bathroom) containing a WC is provided on the entrance storey or, where there are no habitable rooms on the entrance storey, on the principal storey or the entrance storey. b. There is clear space to access the WC in accordance with Diagram 1.3. c. Any basin is positioned to avoid impeding access. d. The door to the room opens outwards and has a clear opening width in accordance with Table 1.1. I've quoted the other sections below in case you're inclined to read: Part G says in G5 Bathrooms: A bathroom must be provided containing a wash basin and either a fixed bath or a shower. Scale of provision and layout in dwellings 5.6 Any dwelling (house or flat) must have at least one bathroom with a fixed bath or shower, and a washbasin. Scale of provision and layout in buildings with rooms for residential purposes 5.8 The number of fixed baths or showers and washbasins in buildings with rooms for residential purposes should be in accordance with BS 6465-1:2006 and A1:2009 Sanitary installations. Code of practice for the design of sanitary facilities and scales of provision of sanitary and associated appliances Building Regs for Access to and Use of Buildings Part M4(2) Optional requirement M4(2): Category 2 –Accessible and adaptable dwellings 2.18 The provisions of Section 2B apply only where a planning condition requires compliance with optional requirement M4(2) for accessible and adaptable dwellings (see paragraphs 0.3 to 0.6). WC facilities on the entrance storey 2.27 To provide step-free access to a WC that is suitable and convenient for some wheelchair users and, where reasonable, to make provision for showering, dwellings should comply with all of the following. C In a two or three storey dwelling with three or more bedrooms, the room with the WC and basin also provides an installed level access shower or a potential level access shower, and the shower, WC and basin (together with their associated clear access zones) meet the provisions of Diagram 2.5. Examples of compliant WC layouts are shown in Diagram 2. Bathrooms 2.29 To provide convenient access to a suitable bathroom, the dwelling should comply with all of the following. a.Every dwelling has a bathroom that contains a WC, a basin and a bath, that is located on the same floor as the double bedroom, described as the principal bedroom in paragraph 2.25b. b.The WC, basin and bath (together with their associated clear access zones) meet the provisions of Diagram 2.5. Examples of bathroom layouts are shown in Diagram 2.7. c.Provision for a potential level access shower is made within the bathroom if not provided elsewhere within the dwelling.

AFAIK you only need a ground floor WC to be accessible in buildings that are not defined as accessible and adaptable dwellings (it will state that as a planning condition if relevant). If not you only need one accessible WC on the primary entrance level but they like a shower too, or provision for a shower. Not sure why the BCO is going on about the upstairs bathrooms WRT width of the internal doors. There is absolutely no need for a bath. Sounds like the BCO has been looking at Category 2 in the M regs which is not relevant unless defined in the PP.

Stick with whatever is easiest tbh. It's not worth losing sleep over 15mm always to showers / baths, and 10mm to basins. WC's remain a bone of contention because some take an excessively long time to fill back up on 10mm feed. Geberit etc makes no odd's as the tiny flexi inside the cistern s about 6mm or 8mm so restrictions are present there anyhoo..... All 22mm. ?

NRVs and drain off, points noted ? The second hard manifold is debatable I suppose. I have a 50mm duct to run through. I thought a single larger bore pipe that splits to smaller near point of use might be easier than trying to get 2x 15mm and a 10mm pipe down the 50mm duct. I suppose I could go with just 2x 15mm and T off a 10mm for the basin (from the bath 15mm)? I've read that 15mm is recommended for high demand items like bath+shower. And that WCs and hand basins are fine/better with 10mm. But I'm not sure about appliances like dishwasher and washing machine - is there a minimum size they need? Last thing, any pointers on what size pipe I should use from the softener to the UVC? And size pipe to the 2 (possibly 3) manifolds? Thank you ?

You have to be careful with cable size in DC applications as they can sometimes refer to the diameter of a cable including the insulation. Shouldn't be an issue in our applications unless off grid.