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Update: Hi All and thanks again for all who posted I used some photos when moved in to prove it was empty and furnished, thankfully they agreed with me. So my property was only classed as empty and unfurnished from when I bought it June 21. I won't have to pay the back dated 300% premium but just the normal rate until July this year when I am subject to the 100% premium I didn't want to comment on here until I had my new council tax bill in writing Thanks again

yes they should have left the forks on and used a proper pallet to stand on. Amateurs.

@rich1899 I think that’s incorrect. Here’s the guff from the Planning Portal.

That's a curiously precise number. I'd say the problem is at the temp where condensation starts to form, and then mold is one possible consequence. Condensation is a function of RHI and internal air temp, but sits a bit nearer 15°C in our house.

That's the reality of the commercial world. You might be able to source the components for £50 or so and then spend several hours assembling it, but to make a commercial offering you have to produce an acceptable enclosure, ensure that it's safe, possibly have to pass compliance tests. Once you've produced it you've got to persuade people to buy it; if you sell it through resellers they'll want their 30-50% mark up and you can't undercut them with direct sales. It's a tiny market so there aren't likely to be economies of scale. £300 or so doesn't seem a totally unreasonable price. Then a man in the street is going to have to pay someone a couple of hundred quid to install it. I've never understood why people think that it's worth while paying that much money to save a few pennies.

+1 to Zinsser. We were getting mould above a shower and Zinsser was recommended to stop it. We used Zinsser 123 Primer Sealer then Zinsser Perma-White Interior Mould Resistant Paint. Worked very well. I'm never going to use anything else on a bathroom ceiling.

The key word in there is safely. Great that you and others have sufficient knowledge and skill to make your own, but I wonder if (God forbid) such a 'home spun' device were to have been installed in a property that subsequently suffered a fire, quite what the insurance investigators would conclude - irrespective of whether the device actually caused said fire. Surely the cost of commercial offerings is in part due to the safety testing and certification they are required to undergo before being approved for use. For someone like me whose electrical knowledge just about stretches to rewiring a 3-pin plug, that peace of mind is worth the price.

and why not Every other industry are pushing for a pay rise Whilst the large building companies have been covering our material price rice’s Gypsum are adding another 7% later this month Two large companies we deal with have agreed to re negotiate labour rates in an effort to try and retain an already depleted workforce We are two years into a three year site If we carryon at the rate we are it will take seven years it’s a vicious cycle Higher wages to combat inflation In turn pushing up inflation

Thanks all 3, good comments there - and maybe the idea that they are not great from an enforcement perspective, they do flush out honest, but possibly inaccurate assumptions, by both parties, and of course keep the insurers on the hook, as well as highlight payments. @Kelvinin N Ireland. Ill think we have a Small Works contract too, but Ill get on it. I was titteriing at the "dont do contracts", coz that seems to be a thing here too, maybe a rural thing! Help appreiated all 3

Hi All I have decided to go with the Huepar 603CG. I think this is exactly what I am looking for, for the price and functionality I think its worth a try! With the options to buy the extras also appealing Thanks for all the comments/advice very much appreciated

Will this help 3.5mm Jack to screw terminals. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174582857145?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1TemzJXDnShykDZcP_jD01A38&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=174582857145&targetid=1647205088800&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006886&poi=&campaignid=17206177401&mkgroupid=136851690655&rlsatarget=pla-1647205088800&abcId=9300866&merchantid=420536914&gclid=CjwKCAiAleOeBhBdEiwAfgmXfzHlzp3M4RK9aoX82l1DeVJs1pt-buCVUFugQuRXuyYmR215VNjzhxoCBwAQAvD_BwE

Yes that is loop at switch. the blues in the Wago are the neutral, so if your smart switch needs a neutral that is where it connects to.

I paid roughly £10500 for a 7kW aurotherm plus with 300l UVC, no buffer tank as one zone and full install. Minus the Home Energy Scotland Grant (£7500) I paid £3000 of which £2500 was an interest free loan. This was from an MCS accredited installer which is a requirement for the HES funding. I did crazy different prices from different installers ranging up to your kind of price.

If there is literally a 2 core cable connected to the switch then you have "loop at light" wiring. I assume this is one of your HMO's? Most people wire new builds loop at switch now.

What about having Corten steel on the floor? Nice and thin.

Yeah that was my first thought but I didn’t know if there was a way to end on a full tile at the bottom. cheers for the help 👍🏼

I went into a stone shop two years ago and they had "pillowed" stone at well over £200 /sqm. I understand each piece was hand machined to give it the worn look you get on the floor of a 16C farmhouse.

In PassivHaus terms a thermal bridge is any junction that has a calculated Psi value higher than 0.01 W/m.K. For my frame we tried to work on having a minimum 2/3rds of the nominal insulation thickness in the tight areas, but did have to drop to 50% in a couple of places. Calculated Psi values were still below the target. In standard building regs terms I believe a cold/thermal bridge is when it leads to a risk of condensation on the inner wall ie. the inner surface of the wall dropping below dew point. 21°C air at 65%RHI has a dew point of 14°C. Mould growth doesn't actually need condensation, just an RHI of +80%, but it does need those conditions to persist for a period of time (days).

Well, my architect designed this beam to be essentially sat in a stud wall that was the thermal envelope ! I changed the design, moving the wall outside so the beam's now fully inside the thermal envelope.

313 kWh here, nice little boost at the end of the month too.

It's been a good end to the month for PV, I've generated around 115kWh this month, 10% ahead of the PVGIS estimates.

Hi @Brinners I think the first pictures were the UPSTAIRS bay window. Roof problem?? I would check the roof look in the loft. Lots of ceiling cracks upstairs... Take pictures.

It's just illegal, so no issues really - that sort of temperature can kill a child and do adults no good either. 1 second at 60 to cause 3rd degree burns! Recent case where child had run a bath unsupervised and jumped in. Not sure if child died or just badly burned, but mom/dad ended up in prison I believe.

Apologies I meant approx 9 months and 20 days and it still hadn't been transferred so I asked for it to be expedited and this took approximately 10 days.

Depends how much you pay for water and waste really. You can get inline heaters think @joe90 had one and sold it to someone on here.

Get one from Penzance Hospital, it has been up my arse. Always nice to have a personal connection to other members.

Jilly, Thanks fwiw: I have a thermal camera, used a couple, checking houses. I am more after visual proof/confirmation. Or in places which IR cannot check, say behind material that makes IR difficult; or thermal bridge area, so the IR gives a coldness but whether its say missing insulation or a bridge i cannot be sure. In the case I have in mind, there is too much noise from outside for my liking, so I think gaps. The endoscopes I have seen used/tried out in semi realistic situation (a course years ago) gave an okay idea. Depending how how good scope light was and optics. For me putting a hole thru for the scope is a last resort, could mean going through an airtight membrane. And from outside puncturing weatherproofing layer. Neither i really want to do.

In that case lathe out for the main roof (to keep your full bottom tile) run down the extension to keep the same coursing (or you will see the join) and loose any odd bit at the bottom of the extension, no one will notice it there.

Look round the outside of the house to check for cracking / subsidence. Look at neighbouring properties as well and maybe ask a neighbour if they have had any issues. Have a look at the wall beneath the window on the 1st floor.

No and the the solicitor advised against complicating the matter by expediting it and ten days later took my advice. So 20 days 🙄

Back in November 2019, installed PV in the UK was, on average, £1465/kWp on a typical 4 kWp system. March 2022 it had risen to £2000/kWp. https://www.statista.com/statistics/499507/average-solar-pv-cost-per-kw-installed-uk/ The only way is to get quotes from installers. Realistically the only information you can get from web searching is component parts.

Yes, but you are talking about Organic Chemistry, not Non Organic Chemistry. Activated charcoal is made to absorb other carbon based molecules, so it will work for that.

Pretty normal, it says to the fan someone is here and I have a reason to run. But if you're dimmed and the fan's are not coming on, that's why you have the mould. Put in lower wattage bulbs, so the dimmer switch has to at a higher setting. Dim lights and fan works.

Apparently the unit is end of life, and has been replaced by the IFOS system which won't work on my boiler. Managed to find a plumbers merchant that had some old stock, will get it fitted this weekend - happy days. Fingers crossed it never fails!

Is the extension a continuation of the main roof? Similar to a cat slide or does it join at a funny angle?

Dead simple. As you say, it just gets retrofitted. It gets inserted into the correct sized gap and ‘works it’s magic’ from there. Your brickie will need to be very meticulous when running / returning the brickwork and they need to leave you the correct, continuous gapping to allow this retrofit.

Do you have a fan in the bathroom, if you don't the mould will just come back. Even if you do have a fan it is worth checking it's actually moving air. We had a mould issue in our last house, when I put a piece of toilet paper in front of the running fan it just fell off, almost no air movement. New fan required. Builder had just installed a cheap as chips fan, that a few years was good for the skip.

This needs some closer investigation, the internal photos imply the bay/s have dropped but the external pic doesn’t support this.

If it's to paint over an affected surface Zinsser BIN is supposed to be good as it's shellac based. I've only used it on timber as a knotting barrier. Not particularly easy to work with but the results are tough. I've read it's good for going over mould.

When I sell completed properties it is done via a TP1. I think this is the same for all developers. This should not hold up the mortgage.

There is a good chance that battery systems will be 20% cheaper in a few years time. There won't be the huge price drops that PV modules saw, but there will be one. Also give some time to see what is happening across each phase over a decent time period. And then here is how tariffs will vary. At the moment, basing costings on Octopus's confusing array of tariffs is a big gamble. If imported energy prices drop down to what they were 3 years ago, plus 25%, gas will be around 5p/kWh, normal rate electricity about 18p, and for E7 users, somewhere around 28p during the day and 14p at night. I doubt that these silly number of 15p/kWh to export PV and 5.5p/kWh (or water the best deals are) to import during a short window at night will be about in 2 or 3 years.

Yes that's exactly what I mean. For this to happen water must actually move upwards in the tank, but I agree that the integrity of the boundary could be maintained, at least until it pushes so far up the tank that its nearing the top Whist the analogy with DHW is useful to understand turbulence within tanks, it can only be pushed so far. We run DHW for minutes and in any given run extract only a portion of the tank volume. We run CH continuously and the volume passing through them is a fairly short period of time well exceeds the tank volume. I think its time to 'do the math', it may well be that we agree on the outcome, if not actually the mechanism. Lets consider an 8kW heating system operating at approximately full load, with a 200l tank and (since this is a UFH thread), a deltaT across the emitter of 4C. Roughly 0.5l/s of water must be delivered to the load. If the HP pump and the CH pump are operating at exactly the same speed, the tank water will remain static except at top and bottom where 0.5l/s will pass laterally between input flow and output flow/input return and output return. A static thermal profile will establish. Lets call this the 'baseline' If the HP pump is stopped, then it will take 400s, 6.6 mins, for the contents of the tank to cycle round the CH system, the original thermocline will have moved fully through the tank (and possibly replaced by a new one at a lower temp) and the water exiting the tank will be (roughly) at the initial return temperature. If, alternatively, we have both the HP pump and the CH pump on and the HP pump is operating at half the speed of the CH pump, it will take 800s, 13 mins, for the water initially at the bottom to rise to the top. But rise to the top it must because otherwise there is more water leaving at the top than entering at the top. The thermocline will be pushed up the tank relative to the baseline. Eventually half of the water exiting the tank at the top will have come from the bottom, heating up as it is pushed up, but not quite as high as the original temperature. If the system remains like this it will eventually reach a new steady state where there is a flow temp difference, however small, across the buffer tank. If, we have both the HP pump and the CH pump on and the HP pump is operating at twice the speed of the CH pump, it will take 800s, 13 mins, for the water initially at the top to rise to the bottom, cooling as it falls. Eventually half of the water exiting the tank at the bottom will have come from the top, cooling down as it is pushed down, but not quite as low as the original temperature. If the system remains like this it will eventually reach a new steady state where there will be a return temp difference, however small, across the buffer tank. I imagine what happens in a properly designed system is actually none of these. I expect that the HP can deliver more than the maximum load required by the CH. If the HP pump switches off for a time whilst the CH pump continues running (because the demand from the buffer tank is satisfied but not the demand from the load), the thermocline moves up with the excess water entering at the bottom. However the HP pump switches on again before the cool water reaches the top. The HP pump then, for a while, delivers water at a faster rate than the CH pump, and the thermocline moves down again as hot water is pushed down the tank. This cycle can continue indefinitely, the control system of the HP effectively balancing the input and output to the tank even though the pumps themselves are not balanced. The water in the centre of the tank gently oscillates up and down the tank, but plausibly never leaves it. Thus, over time, the appearance of a quasi steady state is maintained (it would be interesting to build a glass tank, introduce some dye into the water, and watch it move!) Is this more or less correct in your view?

With apologies to the OP for diverting (pardon the pun), it depends on the tariff/SEG. So, for an example without a battery, say for my hypothetical day of 12kWh total consumption I get 12kWh of solar, a diverter does all the water heating using 6kWh, with the remaining 6kWh used elsewhere, net running cost impact for the day = 0. Alternatively my heat pump would use only 2kWh to heat the same water requirement, leaving 4kW exported, net running cost impact @ 15p = 60p (credit). Not forgetting the up front cost of the diverter, would any combination of circumstances and tariff/SEG calculation make one financially justified?

Im not now sure if we are agreeing or disagreeing! Assuming that both HP flow and CH flow are at the top and HP return and CH return at the bottom, lets start with an extreme example. Suppose we switch off the HP pump but leave the CH pump on. Nothing will flow through the HP circuit. Over time cool water will come in at the bottom (from the CH pump) and slowly both the actual water and the thermal gradient will move up to the top. Eventually the water at the top will be more or less the same temperature as the water coming in at the bottom. It will take a while to get to this point because the circulating water in the CH system will continue to give up energy to the house, and thus return to the tank cooler, until it has cooled down completely. That's similar behaviour as a DHW tank when you switch off the element. If we switch the HP back on but it is running at a lower flow rate than the CH pump, then there will be a slower movement of the, initially cool, water molecules from the bottom to the top, at a rate equal to the difference in pump flow rates. If this movement were not taking place, then more water would be entering at the bottom (at the flow rate of the CH pump) than is leaving at the bottom (at the lower flow rate of the HP pump), and more water would be exiting at the top than is entering at the top,. This can only be resolved by the movement of water from bottom to top. The water may well move 'slab-like', but it must move. As the cool water molecules are pushed up they will, if the heat pump is on, exchange energy with the warm water molecules, so the thermal gradient will be maintained. If everything is left for a while, it will eventually reach a steady state. The movement doesn't, if its sufficiently slow and is not too turbulent, destroy stratification, but it does involve energy exchange. In principle the energy exchange could be purely by conduction, but more likely it also involves water mixing in the top stratum as the rising cooler water encounters the turbulence likely caused by the hot water flowing in and out of the ports. If the movement through the tank is sufficiently slow and not turbulent (other than, possibly, at the top) I would expect that the penalty would be small, quite possibly negligible. This could be verified by measuring the temperature drop from flow inlet to flow outlet across the buffer tank. Basically Im saying that I agree that a 4 port buffer tank with little turbulance operated with pumps that have reasonably similar flow rates will not incur a penalty. However If the flow rates aren't reasonably similar (particularly if the CH flow is faster than the HP flow) or there is significant turbulence, then this may not be the case.

If the flow rate of the pump on the heat pump side of a 4 port buffer tank is H, and the flow rate on the central heating side of the tank is C, the H-C must flow from top to bottom (or bottom to top) to balance flows. If H-C is small in comparison with C, the buffer is well designed and the flow rates are sufficiently low that there is no turbulence, then it is indeed plausible that this difference in flow rates of the two pumps is the only source of mixing. A bottom to top flow will cool the flow to the CH slightly, so the flow temp from the HP will need to be increased a little. This does impact efficiency, but if the delta T across the emitters is small and the top to bottom flow is also small, then its again plausible that this is a small effect. A top to bottom flow will warm the return slightly, and increase its volume. There must be a penalty for this, if only the excess pump energy, otherwise we would have a perpetual motion machine, but again its plausible that this is a small effect. So with reasonably well balanced pumps (and in particular, perhaps, a pump on the HP side that is a little faster than that on the CH side), a well designed buffer tank and a flow rate sufficiently low that there is not material turbulence in the buffer tank, its plausible that the degradation is small and outweighed by the gains. Some measurements of the temp drop across a 4 port buffer tank (flow to flow), which sadly nobody seems to be in a position to post, would help understand this. Of course if the flow rates are close it still begs the question, why is a 2 port buffer tank (and one fewer pump) not sufficient, but of course there are so many variants of CH design and requirement that there are almost bound to be cases where it isn't! My enthusiasm for Occam's razor still suggests to me, however, that a 4 port tank and 2 pumps should not be deployed unless there is a clearly identifiable reason to do so. Whilst on buffer tanks I do think the Caleffi 3 port tank is worth a bit more discussion, For some reason, which I don't currently understand, most of their schematics, including this one, show 2 pumps. But a variant of this with a single pump and a bypass valve arranged so that the flow goes either direct to the CH system (when there is demand) or through the buffer tank (when there is not) might have some interesting properties. If anyone does want to explore this perhaps it should be a separate thread!

Battery storage (or any storage) comes in to play when your solar generation profile does not align with your consumption profile, instant by instant over each day. If at one instant in time the PV is generating 5 kW, and your consumption is 2 kW with no storage available, then the 3 kW excess has nowhere to go other than export to grid (potentially at 15p/kWh from Octopus). If at a later instance in time the PV is generating 2 kW with a 5 kW load, then you have a 3 kW import from grid (potentially at 33p/kWh on the price cap). The battery storage will save any excess solar generation during the day, for consumption later whilst avoiding the cost of grid import. Whilst waiting for my battery install (on a long lead time), I have a solar diverter (MyEnergi Eddi) connected to the hot water immersion heater and 2 oil filled heaters. As soon as the diverter detects any grid export it diverts just the excess power to the immersion heater. Once the immersion is up to temperature, it automatically switches to the heaters. The diverter is fully automatic, so when the solar gen drops off or a household load is switched on, a grid import is detected so the power diversion drops to 0. Assuming your grid export price is less than grid import (almost always the case), you get the fastest payback on the solar PV when you self consume as much of the generation as possible. Energy storage helps with this, as long as it is suitably sized to your generation and consumption profiles.

Previous thread on windows in corrugated roof might be worth a read.. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/8984-corrugated-metal-roofing/

I'm thinking this is a case of a build not matching the claimed specification. 1c loss per hour is a lot for a band B house. Was their an airtightness test done on each unit? Are there any noticeable cold spots on walls, any gaps around windows? How does the insulation in the loft look?

One of the conditions of the outline permission on the plot I am buying is that it should be a 1½ storey house. I've just phoned the council to see if they had a definition of this. As it turns out, they had talked about this recently in a meeting, and the planning officer I spoke to sent me a copy of a sketch that they had informally discussed. He was keen to stress that this was not definitive, but it gives an indication of their thinking. It surprised me - 1½ storeys does not refer to the height of the property at all, but rather the relative widths of the two storeys. Look carefully, and you'll see that a 1½ storey house has a second storey that is half the width of the ground floor; in a 1¾ storey house, the second storey is three quarters the width. Go figure. 1.5 storey.pdf

Hi @Trippy21 We put in full planning for a house with dormers and were then able to achieve a Non Material Variation to change to velux windows. Our build is in national scenic area and houses are never the full two storey here. There is a bit of work in dormers, they are almost like a mini house in your roof. We put double ones in our loft conversion and the space you gain is quite limited for the amount of work involved. We liked our top hung veluxs as you can stand out of them. Here is a couple of photos one of the external and internal of the house.