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It has been a cold week, so just after 12:30 on the 15th of January 2024, I started a small, but limited, experiment. This was rather prompted by a comment by @Garald who wanted to insulate at the back of his book shelves, and mentioned our favourite insulation, multifoil. @Gus Potter also has a project that may benefit a thin, easy and cheap to make, insulating panel. I think I also made a comment to @saveasteading about this experiment, but can't remember in what context. Now I have always been dubious of reflective type insulation. Works great at high temperature, especially in a vacuum, it is how the cameras on the James Webb Telescope are kept cool. But we are not Billionaires, so I used hardboard, pine, white emulsion paint, double sided tape, small screws, clingfilm and aluminium foil. Basically I made some small St. Ives picture frames, put them face to face, separating the 24mm air gap with clingfilm in one, and aluminium foil in the other. The total thickness of the test panels is 30mm. Each side of the test material had temperature sensors (DS18B20s) inserted via holes in the frame. These had been calibrated before hand and the analysis is based on the calibrated data. Other sensors where fitted in the room and externally to log ambient temperatures (why being a cold week was so good). The panels were then stuck to my kitchen window with double sided tape. The position of the sensors allows for a combination of temperature differences to be logged, logging was at the minute interval but the analysis was based on 6 minute means. A quick calculation to check the standard error showed that accuracy was a factor of at least 10 below the 0.1°C accuracy of the experiment. The data analysis was based around temperature differences, but for some context, internal and external air temperature is also shown on the charts (right y-axis). A frequency distribution line was also added, this is black line (right y-axis) and is called Ambient ∆T Probability Percentage. The Ambient ∆T is the difference between the inside temperature and outside temperature. This is also used for the 0.1°C temperature bins that create the x-axis. Mean temperature differences between each side of the clingfilm or foil (shiny side towards warmer room) were also calculated and binned according to when they happened with respect to the Ambient ∆T. This method is used as it is more relevant than a time series that can fluctuate during the day, it is the properties of the insulation that is being tested, not the absolute 'comfort' levels. The below chart shows the total test period results. Test period (15/01/2024 12:26 to 19/01/2024 12:42) Always remember that these are temperature differences and not absolute temperatures, except the Internal and External mean temperatures (yellow and green lines) and the probabilities (black line). Those 3 are read from the right hand axis. The Clingfilm is the red dots and the Aluminium Foil is the blue dots. Linear trend lines have been added more for clarity than actual predictions. A can be clearly seen, there is not much difference between the two datasets. The Clingfilm performs better overall with a mean difference of 2.5°C, to the Aluminium Foil's 2.3°C. Above an Ambient ∆T of 19°C the Aluminium foil performed a little better. This is actually saying, the colder it is outside, the Aluminium Foil performed better, which may be important comfort, but overall, there will be greater energy losses than with just using Clingfilm as a separator. It is, purely from a climate change viewpoint, the overall energy reduction that is important. Climate change has caused the mean temperature at my end of Cornwall to average -0.1°C for 4 days. I have lived back here for 20 years and never known such a prolonged cold period. I am now running a second test, using one panel without any separator at all, and the other one fully filled with silica micro balloons. Micro balloons may sound exotic, but they are just filler used in the plastics industry. I don't think the temperature differences are going to be so great next week, which is a shame as the greater the range that can be tested, the better. I can always raise the temperature in the room to compensate, but as I raised it up to 24.5°C a few times, which resulted in only getting a mean of 23.5°C in the room, it will be a bit costly and not very environmental. I shall post up the results of the second test next week, all going well.

I'm a fan of it but.... One heavy lorry braking or turning hard can wreck it. The edges chip off over time. I'd repair with more planings. It is an engineered blend of stone plus a little bit of sticky stuff, as long as it isn't fine, footpath material. Clean and prime the potholes. Put the new material in in stages, bashing it with a rammer.

I think the paragraph you quote is fairly standard. It is common for Planners to remove PD Rights apparently without much thought about the consequences . But in this case, they have given a reason for their decision. (Often they don't give a reason) The answer to your question ' ... Now does that read as no [...] ...' is No. It means that you'll need to apply for Planning Permission. That's all. The quickest way round problem that is to look at similar Planning Permission applications and see what the Planners decided to permit or refuse.

How much OIL did you burn in a year with the old boiler?

Wish it was for me. It is, as you acknowledge, small because of our leaky houses. Environmentally heating water with a resistance heater is not going to be a problem, the problem is generating enough low carbon electricity. If we say a house uses, on average 4 kWh/day for DHW, that is 120 GWh a day for the nation. A basic HP with a CoP of 2 will halve that.

Honestly, the time cost and stress will out weigh the slump in insulation you'll find. Once all is said and done, whatever improvements you make will take 10 years to pay off.... Probably more. If you are hell bent on it, it a good sized central hole, so that when you find a gap in the insulation you can fix it via the same hole. Reality is.... You'll never notice the difference before and after. Ignorance. Is. Bliss.

Radiators, not sure the source of the hot water for the rads. It's not mine, I'm just staying there. I posted it to point out that there other ways to deal with one of the current disincentives to ashp retrofits, if only we would get out of our box and learn from others.

Look into your drainage. Any running water e.g. rainwater, will wash away any non hard surface.

Then a 50mm high grid and gravel should remain stable, with good edge support, but will cost a lot more than planings. I have planings on the farm track up to the property, done years ago and was never rollered. The surface does break up, similar to what you are saying. A similar track at a neighbours doesn't break up and his was rollered in hot weather. The local farmers tale is that you need to roller in +18°C. I'm planning to put another 50mm on mine and do just that.

I think gravel grids are ok for paths and driveways and car parks if the right duty grid is chosen and laid carefully on a solid base and with good edges. I have some paths in the garden I’m pleased with and expect them to last ok. An actual road with an occasional lorry? Less likely I would think. Also gravel grids are expensive - my back garden path refurb was £5K and it’s not a big garden and most of that was materials.

Out of interest, what did the road planings go down on? Are the pot holes the planning surface breaking up, or is it the sub structure moving? The interlinking plastic honeycomb tiles require a sub structure (150mm hardcore), same as planings, so I'd expect it to move just the same, unless your issue is the surface layer breaking up.

Another vote for multipanel. Used them for several bathrooms and not had a problem.

Wouldn’t a 4G router and normal Wi-Fi camera work, add a 12 volt battery, 230 volt inverter, solar charge controller and panel and away you go

@Jenkiis the small unit expert. A new build is better value than a mobile. For small timber buildings there is a particular design guide for non-experts but it still requires high numeracy. Going out, more to follow.

ASHP, heat pump unvented hot water tank, heated to 48 degrees. What challenges are you thinking of?

I am not so sure. During a cold, grey winters day, or more so at night, there is no extra, direct energy received from the body from the sun. This tends not to be the case in the summer, even when a bit cloudy. But you may have noticed that even in the summer, you can feel quite chilled when the sun sets and darkness comes. I have spent the last 30 years going to see the sun set at Land's End, 15 minutes before sunset it can feel quite warm, come the moment, and most people are shivering.

@dpmiller it goes in a cold oven that is then heated to 200 degrees (iirc) for an hour and then left to cool down. The kitchen is a no go zone for a good couple of hours. Obviously not a problem in the summer when doors and windows are opened.

Often thought, point of use heat, almost on demand, with some nominal local storage was a good solution.

Small outside space, and looks like you have already made the house smaller on the plot from previous applications, to accommodate.

Our down draft hob has a washable grease filter and a rechargeable charcoal filter. It expels the air at floor level below a standard ceiling mounted MVHR extract duct. I didn’t expect it to be completely effective for the reasons @Dreadnaught mentions, but after two and a half years of use I’d have to say that it is. There is no evidence of grease etc in the MVHR extract duct and the pendant lights that hang down to about a meter above the back of the hob are equally unmarked. We don’t fry a great deal of food which will obviously help but I’d say the down draft hobs are more effective than you might expect.

You've effectively had permitted development rights for extensions (class A), roof alterations/additions (class B and C) and outbuildings (class E) removed. The space around the house is very small so it makes sense why they would not allow for you to add any extensions or sheds/outbuildings without applying for permission.

That is a small outside space in my book.

Concrete footings turned out to be 1m wide with a 300mm slab on top, I had guessed it would be 100 mm thick at best.

Unfortunately it's instructions give two ways to install, low loss header with hydraulic seperation or volumiser without hydraulic seperation. It really best to install without hydraulic seperation, to have lowest possible flow temperature. So clarity required. So layout should look like this

nothing in Wigan area but in the south west mine was £235 late last year,

If it was not compulsory very few developers and builders would bother at all with airtightness.

We used Air-testing Staffordshire New Build Airtight Testing And More | Airtight Testing Staffordshire Airtight Testing Staffordshire | Newbuild Airtight Testing and More | Airtight Testing Staffordshire From Stoke so not to far from Wigan [about the same distance the other way from us. £200 [Nov 2021] so will be more than that now. [no VAT then as they had just started out on their own]

Most are franchised out I’m only about 20 minutes from you and we used a company from Wales The hardly ever fail a residential property I’m not even sure why it’s compulsory

The house will need to achieve or the airtightness that was used in the as designed SAP, which must be less than 8.0m³/(h·m²) @ 50Pa. With leakage rates this high you would need to add huge amounts of insulation, PV, etc. to compensate. Typically the design will based on the notional dwelling and will be less than 5.0m³/(h·m²) @ 50 Pa.

We've used EasyEPC for our interim Air Test, they effectively broker appointments across different testers in England; cost was approx £380 plus vat. If it fails, you have to fix the problems and re-test. Given the regs your house has to be pretty leaky to fail.

Possibly slightly on a tangent, but when i had the dubiuos priviege of looking after a fleet of trains, we always had lots of complaints about cold carriges in winter, and to a lesser degree too hot in summer. Investigation usually revealed all was working as intended. ie, the system was controlling the internal temp to 21c as expected. However, humans being fickle, this wasnt the answer. So we ran an test one year, to increase the target temp to 23 for winter, and 19 for summer. Being rekleativelt simple, this involved a manual adjustment twice a year. The results were better than expected. complaints dropped to a fraction of the previous levels. Illogical? Maybe. But its the reality. Having stood on a freezing cold platform for 15mins, you wanted it warm when you boarded. 21c didnt fulfil that criteria. I confess, it applies very much to me in that circumstance. Like wise in summer when its 27c outside. Getting on, 19c is great. Im the same at home. Despite the fact the living room is at 21, im layered up. In the summer, it would be just a t shirt. At the same temp. Maybe im odd.

We are converting a barn and about Aug this year a car drove in and it turned out to be the planners. He was doing the rounds of all the local barn conversions to check. He was happy with us as he could see the old walls and what we were doing, but he told us that there were 3 people who had lost their planning because when he did his random visit there was no existing barn there and they had obviously knocked down and started from scratch. 2 others lost their planning because they hadn't started in time. So, go for planning for what you want to do, but as others have said don't do anything until a rebuild is approved so that you have a fall back option of renovation.

Sure no problem attached below with /without bead so you can see both. I see you are in Angus. You’re welcome to come & see mine, when travel is allowed.

We have these Rationel windows. Lots of them. Lots of fixed panels plus some of their window doors. And their exterior doors x 2. They are excellent. I have attached a pic during recent snow. Couldn’t tell I was cold outside, temperature wise. And we don’t have a vestibule. I did look at Nordan liked them but the Rationel beading etc was less ornate more streamlined. Didn’t get a quote just went for Rationel & pleased I did.