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Apart from the “picture from the mound” timelapse blog entry, there’s not been much of an update since mid September 2022. So, get your preferred hot drink (maybe a SteamyTea), and settle back for the next instalment. Where were we? SWMBO was still in recovery from her foot infection - you remember? The one that might have killed her? The second floor ICF had been installed, and the concrete poured. I’m still going to spare you any pictures of the foot, but here is a concrete pump truck instead. So, next on the list - a roof please. But before that, the final steel beams had to be installed [FX - thumbs twiddling in the foreground and whistling can be heard as we wait for the steelworker once again], but it wasn’t too long a wait, and by mid October 2022 we had the beams installed. In late October and early November I set to work with the ground worker to do some backfilling, and of course on the days I chose to have the digger onsite, Cornwall delivered some of its traditional autumnal weather so any attempt to properly compact anything was nigh on futile. In the meantime, more joists, endless sheets of T&G OSB, vapour barrier, 160mm deep sheets of PIR insulation, and some of the biggest screws are readied for ordering. The joists arrived in and in early December I had my supervisor and client (SWMBO) back on site 🙂, and she has graduated to being a mountain goat. She now refers to the site as her "happy place", even though we have a strong suspicion that the infection was started by a visit to a local beach. By mid April, with help from some now local family members, we’d installed the roof joists, and in mid May we were ready to start boardin’, vapour barrierin’, and insulatin’. The GRP was installed in mid July 2022 (by others). I’d also been readying the Great West Wall (GWW) to have the triple glazed sliding doors and windows installed (by others), and this took place in mid August, just in time for my significant birthday. There were some fitting errors, but I have to take my hat off to the installation company, they have been back to rectify their work, and have supported me with making the suppliers change some of the sliding door fittings as they were just not correct despite their protestations. In October, we had the mains electric and meter moved from their temporary location to inside the house. Over the ensuing autumn and winter months, we’ve been installing some of the final internal partition walls, running water pipes, installing more insulation around the GWW windows, and recently started on the ventilation ducting following some core drilling being undertaken (Tip: always ask for a hole to be drilled that is about 10mm bigger than you need - expanding foam is your friend. I donate my scar tissue to you all 😂) In December, I got made redundant. No worries, this may actually be a blessing in disguise. Next up on the list: Finish ventilation system Finish insulating the GWW Finish backfilling Electrics Floors Walls ASHP and HWC Kitchen Bathrooms The remaining plumbing Outer wall coverings But, in the meantime, we have the small matter of our daughter’s wedding. DOES SHE NOT KNOW WE’RE TRYING TO BUILD A HOUSE!? (Time to end: 2 years 🙂 )

Good news everyone! We just called their office just to follow up because they didn’t reply from my email. The glass is on order and they will get back in contact to arrange for fitting. (will update you once they have done it) The heavy weight on my shoulders have been lifted!!! Thinking of the court proceedings had given me so much anxiety. All your inputs and advises have helped me so much, so thank you ever so much. This has been a big lesson for me and hopefully this will be a lesson to someone else. Again, thank you!!!

I think the suggestion is that a measured solution is based on gas consumption, not existing boiler size (which would obviously be stupid). In your example error boiler will be less efficient it could be, but by how much? That's actually a serious question - how much does short cycling and running at a high temperature reduce boiler efficiency? Is it 10%, 20% or as much as 50%? or more? With the spreadsheet measurement, how do you know that the fabric has been correctly modelled (particularly invisible fabric upgrades) and and the ventilation loss is correctly estimated. In a retrofit which has changed hands these things are not even knowable with any certainty in many cases. At least you can tell by inspection what temperature the boiler has been set to and thus infer an efficiency, you cant actually tell the ventilation loss of a house or the degree of insulation by inspection. I dont doubt that the spreadsheet is an advance, so far as I am aware plumbers haven't bothered sizing systems for decades, they just shove in a well oversized boiler, whack the flow temp up to max, and leave it knowing that this is the best way to guarantee minimum call outs (even though if it does render the 'condensing' feature useless). The question is, is it the right advance, or is there a better way? This is a debate well worth having given the extensive evidence that heat pumps are all to often wrongly sized.

I think there are plans for changes to PD this year, which might include wraparound extensions. I expect a general election will affect that though. https://www.planninggeek.co.uk/2024/changes-planned-for-permitted-development-rights-for-extensions-roofs-and-outbuildings/

Hello buildhub-ers Just about to set of on what (we hope) will be a great build adventure. Hoping to build a new home in Newcastle/Northumberland area and am so glad we found you all and this site!! Will be looking for tops tips from the basics up. Looking forward to it. Hugh

Measurements over a single day are intently suspect, because the heat capacity (sometimes called thermal mass) of a house is often in the same order as the steady state loss for 24hrs or more. So I would personally sense check this against a seasons loss or some other measure. That's not saying it's wrong, just sounding a note of caution before making a commitment.

I did my first heat loss calculation on degree days. But it was miles out. The degree days are closer based on 10 instead of 15.5 or 16.5 OAT. That is key step missed by people generally, made way worse by zoning. Winter average temp is somewhere near 7 degs, so around half the heat demand compared to design temp. So short cycling becomes ever present

I’d think plywood would be the best option, stable and won’t suck the moisture out of the wallpaper paste as fast as MDF. Hardboard goes bendy the second you look it so probably not ideal for putting paste on either

I was thinking to do this myself and found this post. This is exactly what I need to do now and great to see the details of someone else, so well done and thanks for sharing! I have a double detached garage I'm splitting in half with a dividing wall however the envelope of the garage is 100mm brick then 70mm cavity then 100mm block. The current U-Value is around 1.1W/m2K, it would cost too much to insulate on the inside and lose precious volume so I'm going to fill it this way. I already have a leaf blower, compost bin and 32mm swimming pool flex hose. Luckily for me I can access the entire length of the cavity from the inside without having to drill any holes. I only need to insulate 2 walls as the front garage door is being replaced by glazing and the internal partition will be 75mm Kingspan stud wall so I calculate I need 1.6m3 of polystyrene beads. Building control regs says I need to meet 0.7W/m2K threshold for an "existing" element. I calculate it should be 0.39W/m2K after I finish so when the inspector comes round if he does look at this "existing insulated wall done by the previous owner" he will see it's insulated but more so I don't want to waste energy when we heat the new repurposed space. I'll come back and attach some images of my setup maybe in a few months time if I remember

Immersion thermostat. I found I had to lots of different configurations on the spreadsheet to get anything usable.

I am nervous about fixing it over a flexible surface. It will rock if shaken, and crush the underlay. Then it moves even more etc. I've had a steel barrier come loose (rawlbolts to concrete) through repeated pushing by children, because once it starts to rock it becomes a game/ challenge. Perhaps if tightened down hard enough the floor will compress and resolve this. I would do this by fixing the whole system, then repeatedly tightening from end to end That brings us back to the weakest link being at the nut to aluminium interface. It needs hefty steel washers or plates. I've seen steel cladding sheets ripped off screw fixings. The sheet fails before the screw. Aluminium is much softer. I am rather shocked that the manufacturer doesn't specify how to fix your rail in any way. On a positive note, If the ends are also fixed into walls or at returns then this issue will be much reduced. @Gus Potter sometimes looks at my input so I'll @ him too, but he is probably busy doing paid work. Don't panic though. steel coach screws n every fixing hole, with washers, tightened up til the floor compresses and the screws stop tight, and all is probably ok. Fixing direct to the floor board is best though.

I would agree with that my first quarters gas boiler heating was more than twice the expected. Some mods (huge buffer) later it was as expected. Just short cycling away prior to the mods

Has the new gas main been laid? What size of pipe has been left to connect to? The pipe that comes to the meter is generally no more than 1" in diameter. Provide a 1.5 - 2" hole. Caveat: I am not GasSafe registered.

Because they could be running a 40kW boiler that was slung in by some old school plumbing wizard that thinks they can size a boiler using their finger, a bit of spit and sticking it in the air - these are the ones complaining the most about heat loss calcs....probably. So the boiler is set to heat the house intermittently, without having any radiators balanced and it short cycles every 3 minutes. The customer is happy because the radiators are burning hot at 80C. All when the house only needs 8kW of heat input when it's -3 ..... Whilst in no way perfect, heat loss calcs actually do represent a leap forward in heat system design and installation in this country, believe it or not.

It is indeed, it’s a Neff N70 80cm venting induction hob. The duct curves down under the cabinet and has a large wide final piece the air exits from and will come out beneath it at your feet. There’s quite a wide void between the two cabinets that are back to back and it fits between them. You can exit the vented air either into the room, as we are, or it could be connected to longer ducting to extract externally. The ducting is an additional purchase and there are three options depending on how you need to extract the air. The hob comes with an adapter that fits into the back of it that then screws to the back of the kitchen unit. You don’t use this if you fit the ducting. The worktop supplier did all the cutting. Very efficient. They sent a guy out who templated it as per picture. The sink and hob holes were cut in the factory. The two tap holes were cut on-site. The same guy then came back to fit the worktop and the sink as the sink is inset under the worktop. It’s from these guys. https://www.stoneworldltd.com/products/cliveden/

e.g: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004603268614.html? Chinesium no doubt, but just like @Pocster they'll always find a back door.

This is the lounge, not putting in UFH here. UFH is only going in the kitchen room, am considering plinth heaters, but had them before and as nice as the blowing warm air is, there is the additional comfort element that UFH provides.

My personal view is that whole house sizing should be based on measurement unless this is not possible (which clearly is the case with a new building). In a retrofit there are too many unknowns for the spreadsheet method to be reliable (I think there is ample evidence that this is the case). Obviously existing gas usage is one good measurement point. Even MCS admit that the spreadsheet method isn't good enough (I asked them), but they say they don't currently have an alternative.

I don’t see why, if it currently takes that much energy to heat a house as you want it (practically not theoretically) then that is the energy the house requires surely.?

If you are going for a grant, then the installer is mandated into doing the heat loss calculations. But you can use your measured consumption as a sense check.

It's not impossible. Its very difficult, but possible. Let me describe my experience of successful local practice. Full disclosure: I had to spend a lot of money on ecology, and then watch neighbours use my survey as their own in a PP application. The LPA response to the neighbour's PP application was that he should put up a notice using the RAMS guidance - cost £100 tops. A few years before PP is applied for you take steps to kill any and all wildlife. The steps taken locally are encourage people to shoot on your land ignore reports of dead buzzards or other protected species - especially Heron fill ponds with pig slurry cut down any trees encourage the local Rat Pack to hunt on your land spray your land with toxic chemicals make sure that there's as much monoculture on your land as possible get the local badgers dug out and harassed to death After successful a successful PP application, apply to as many grant funders as possible to encourage re-wilding. Choose your ecologist wisely. Read their reports and draw your own conclusions as to the veracity and accuracy of their surveys. All ecologists are not equally insensitive to a builder's requirements. I do not condone or suggest that anyone should copy this technique. It's just my way of documenting the duplicity of some members of my local community. One ecologist said to me that self-builders aren't the problem. Its the 'Big Boys' - to use his phrase - that are the problem. He made this quite perceptive point to me directly - "No matter what you kill on your build - it won't make much difference : it's just one house" I doubt that he would have made that statement in public. My naivety in this sector - and openness - cost me about £6000 and about a 9 month delay. That admission does not, in my view, detract from the accuracy of the statements above. In anticipation of your interest in a RAMS statement - here's a reading list

Yup, been there done that, put my build back 18 months and cost money, we were surrounded by woods that was full of them!!! Council even tried to make me put bat boxes IN the house despite the ecology expert agreeing that building bat boxes in my workshop was sufficient for the site, luckily I went to appeal (fir the planning permission) and they over ruled the council on that point.

Dropped you a message with number for installer, he’ll help ya and it won’t be £1,750 👍 Have you ordered yet? Speak with him on measurements, I’d be lookibg for 5mm all around on a brick opening like you have tbh. That’s enough for a 3 to 5mm Compriband or a nice mastic bead.

Thank you. I found the blog post but can't seem to find the actual doors, it only gives a wood grain option for all doors on their designer. I've emailed them to ask.

I fitted the hob yesterday. The daft duct for the recirculating hob was a faff. The kitchen fitter fitted it as part of the island installation but he made a proper arse of it and also managed to break it. It’s supposed to just ‘click’ together but the least movement and it fell apart. Not sure how other recirculating hobs work, presumably much the same thing way. Anyway quick visit to screwfix to get some self-tappers and it’s now properly fixed in place. I have a spare back for the cabinet to cover up the cutout and I’ve painted the exposed cuts.

This is a chance for hometec uk to put right their wrong and make sure that they don't suffer business reputational issues, such as a public forum indicating their error showing up in google searches

The encasement and foundation are essentially the same thing, just depends how far down you need to go to get to competent ground. 700-800mm is thinner than the pad and should be able to be mostly not under the existing walls, which I would have thought was the main issue. Last one I did was 600mm wide but I think you've more load coming down onto that part of the building. Ultimately it will need to be what it needs to be.

Because deluded people voted to be better off, not worse off. Not going to work out that way. The controls are down to the manufacturer's interpretation, not the secretive, bullying EU commission that has only one purpose, which is to put the British in their place.

@tw18 I highly recommend you install: 1) a Shelley smart plug (or if you pump is wired directly into the mains with a fused spur) a Shelley Plus1PM on the cable powering the pump); and 2) a Shelley motion sensor in each place you want to trigger the pump - we have three, one above the kitchen sink and downstairs loo sink and one underneath the vanity unit in our website bathroom. You connect them to your WiFi and then you configure them via the web portal to switch the pump on for 60 seconds each time the PIR is triggered. It took a day or so of trying different sensitivity settings on the motion sensors before it was working really well. Saves us energy and heat loss but still gives us instant hot water. In response to @ProDave’s question, all of your HW taps will still work even when the pump isn’t triggered, they will just take longer. So if that bothers you, just add more sensors, but at £75 a pop, three was the right balance for us between practicality and budget.

I'm a consultant within the precast concrete market. A joint venture between Milbank and a Beligium company called Danilith looked like it was going to get traction back in 2015 but it never came to full fruition. I know Laing O'Rourke do housing but not sure if they do one-offs, a few other Irish precasters do small housing developments but I have not come across someone doing the full package yet. You could try https://www.mahousebuilders.com/ we supplied them with magnets and shuttering nearly a year ago which I believe was for wall panels. I'm not sure if they do the full package in precast. I think the main issue for one off houses is the structural calculations and the lifting design and production planning for one offs. However I would be happy to supply MA with all the lifting design calculations free of charge for a one off house for you as I'd love to see precast more widely adopted in the house building sector. I think it's better suited for mass production though.

A couple of £k ? Try £8k plus bat boxes plus temporary bat boxes plus a years delay costs ( This was when inflation was at 10 %) Materials for my build are roughly £500 k so before could have been £454 k oh and plus the rip off final bat boxes. Total cost for all bat boxes £520 PRA and survey report £650 + VAT, 4 dusk surveys @ £800 + VAT, Bat Licence £500, extended bat license as the starlings had moved in and caused another delay £101. It's not over yet !! I still need to get it signed off on completion.

there was nothing anywhere when we bought it --but a year on we suddenly had a bees nest --not a problem local bee keeper came and got the queen and the swarm I mean where do you stop if your house is in the country? ,badger sets --fox dens toad and newt migation tracks across to a water source you may have on the site worlds gone mad next thign is you cannot dig a hole in the ground because of worms robins always follow my digger around

Ours was an empty field Still wanted a bar survey

Turning off rads can save you very little........... The balance of the circuit on the remaining rads is no longer correct Unheated rooms steal heat from heated rooms so those rads have to work harder The circuit volume is reduced so the boiler short cycles which is bad for efficiency

thtas the one thing I did not need --no roof on anything but they got me with archaeology surevey --to make sure no important remmnants of the previous quarrying history just a bloody joke even wantedto be there when we dug hole for treatment system

It’s money for old rope We paid £800 for a guy to walk around the field and spend 20 minute telling us why the location was an unsuitable habitat After he had gone The neighbor told me they have bats roosting in there garage and under the hanging tiles

Get her sanding woodwork for a day, then point out that a fingerprint reader will never work. You get a day's sanding done as well.