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Brilliant news! I've past Building control! Best news for a very very long time. Thanks everyone, could not have done it without you!

I guess it depends whether it is the "highway" or an "access road" that they front...

How deep is the chamber? Normally, cover pipe with fine gravel, a EPS plug goes just under the lid. More than enough.

Putting an MVHR into house refurb (not passive or air tight!) and have various questions I hope people can help me with hence joining.

It's very simple. In the winter when you turn the heating on, for the 3-4 months of the year that you will be heavily reliant on space heating (in the majority of homes) you'll be at <25% or less PV production, so if you have a 4kWp array you'll not be getting even a reliable 1kW of PV production (when it's one of the sunnier days in the heating season ). That <1kW will be sucked up by the house, so there's "goodbye" to any dreams of diverting excess ANYWHERE as you won't have any. If, for eg, you have space & budget for an 11-12kWp array (maxed out on 3ph, for eg) and it's all South facing, then maybe you'd still get DHW from excess. But even with that size array, during the heating season, you'll be very lucky to get a reliable 2-3kW return from the array. Costs of PV then go beyond the costs of just feeding cheap, grid electricity into the ASHP in the 1st place, for dumping steady low grade heat into a big thick insulated raft slab as a 'storage heater'. Get the calculator out, remove the rose-tinted goggles, and the evidence will support itself.

Of course!

Hmm, interesting! There are a lot of people in my area who are not following this rule! 😅

Hello, Ross here, based in Munich but planning on building a house in the Trossachs for retirement. Not sure how much of the work I'll do personally, but from what I've read so far, the forum seems to contain a wealth of experience and advice. Seems like a great community with a really positive spirit...and I guess you need that attitude if you ever want to get to the end of a self build project of any nature. Looking forward to learning from you all. Ross.

Isoquick laid, feels like a bit of a milestone. Next is dpm and rebar

Can't find any search for." affordable budget builder Ltd. in your area that is trading. Could be £20 Limited Company. Steer clear. Builders quite often tout for your work on the back of the planning application's. I'd like to see their last couple of job's and speak to the households if it went smoothly. As mentioned above quality of the window's and the budget for them is a big factor in this build, and it needs to be right. I'm very surprised your architects have not provided contact details of their preferred contractor's.

@Pocster with Mod power …. Be afraid …. Be very afraid! But it gets my vote just for the sh#£s and giggles.

Yup. 👍.

Wow, yes! Why has your transformation not been recognised with moderating power?

you need to be able to see either the Tun dish, or the discharge point. you don't need to see both to be compliant.

Do it after. They will get in the way and make the renderer even more angry.

Not that I think I'm a short-arse but I already find myself on one of these a lot of the time. One of the best tools I have. It hangs permanently on my service bag:

Yup, and yup, but I blame the project manager anyway @Mr Blobby 😜. When the cat’s away, eh? For completeness, I am currently mid install on a build in Gravenhill, and I’m putting the manifolds up and over the cylinder there, to maximise the residual ‘airing cupboard’ space. Extending your right arm over the cylinder isn’t exactly difficult, albeit you may need a small hop-up if you’re a short-arse, but as this plant room (the OP’s) is sizeable I doubt there’s the same concern. If the ceiling height is 2400mm or thereabouts, then there should be plenty of room up / over / around the top of the cylinder. Putting the UFH manifold behind an UVC and making a cupboard around it is not really what anyone expects here, and that job clearly wasn’t ‘managed’ at all. I’m still finding massive f*ck-ups on another client build in Leicester, gifts left from a quintessential cowboy builder long since dishonourably discharged, and his utter lack of care or consequence is staggering. Anyone considering a build in Leicester is herby invited to PM me to ask which skill-free, clueless donut it is that you need avoid. He’s still ‘at large’ and his website is (was) very attractive, just nothing on it that he’d actually built ffs. Not even 1st year apprentice bad, but malicious, damaging actions which they knowingly covered over to deceive and defraud. Shocking.

All questions are silly , because they all have answers . All answers are silly because they all have questions . You obviously can tell how enlightened and righteous I am now …

I'm so glad to hear what must have felt like eternal solitude resulted in such deep enlightenment. I obviously can't speak from any experience of how this must have been for you, as I have yet merely experienced the deep shame that comes from a public shaming by @Russell griffiths that a question is just 'silly' which I'm sure pales into insignificance compaired to your brutal treatment!

Max drop of the worst duct run from MVHR outlet to and including the outlet nozzle / terminal. As this run will also determine your fan running speed the nozzle should be in the fully open position, so its lowest pressure drop.

I'd be very wary of the budget option - but definitely ask if you can go and see any of their completed or current work. They should be happy to do so. Try and get some quotes from reputable bi-fold producers and see if they match up with what is being specced - easiest way to see if they're over/under by a considerable amount.

Be aware of quotes that look too good to be true. They normally are too good to be true. Also ask the architect who they like to work with, they are normally the ones that get on with job are zero hassle - that's what you want. 5m bi-folds, cheap will leak air like a sieve, so get specifics on what is being quoted and look at the item. Get whole window U value (Uw) if double glazed you want 1.4 U value or better. If they give you Ug value that is just the glass and not what you are looking for. One of our quotes for windows, came with recommendations, we went to the showroom and half the opening mechanisms didn't function correctly (broken) and frames really bulky - we went elsewhere .

Done

But I would not change the agreed layout without first discussing it with the customer.

No, one is fine. Can't have more than two.

You have to show him the drawing, and get him to explain why it is not according to the drawing.

Welcome to THE forum for people like us - wherever they may be.

Just spoke with someone who seems to be prepared to accept that I know what I'm doing and talking about, and will trust my heat loss calcs (based on Jeremy's ss). Will report back on what transpires

The best bang for your buck in terms of energy saving + comfort is. 1. Airtighness 2. MVHR 3. Triple glazing Have you considered higher quality uPVC 3g windows. Something like Veka 82 or Kommerling 88 or Gealan S7000. They're both the cheaper and better performing than almost any aluminium or timber window. I'm going to pull a figure out of thin air here of a heating demand of 40kWh/m²/annum and a peak heating load of 20W/m². Say you're 200m² then that's 4kW. A 5 to 8kW heat pump would work well. My recommendation is a monoblock ASHP with single zone UFH on the ground floor only in 1 zone and a 300l UVC. Electric UFH just under the tiles in all bathrooms including those already with wet UFH. Maybe @Nickfromwales can disagree.

From what I have read the additional cost doesn’t justify triple glazing over double glazing.

Internal drain is fine

Go for it! It's only a wall and you can have the satisfaction of learning. What's the worst that can happen. I would mix 3:1 sand cement for a scud coat. Throw that on. 4:1 for a scratch coat. 5:1 for a finish coat. Sponge finish. You can put battens into the wall to get it level. And remove them once you're close enough and fill in the gaps they left. https://youtube.com/@macplastering?si=nnB3dXmray0UDeOa This lad is easy enough to understand.

Hi Everyone, Nice to e-meet you all. Currently looking for advice on a 'driveway' house build. Thanks, Robert

This is the requirement he should use: 4.1 The surface linings of walls and ceilings should meet the classifications in Table 4.1. Table 4.1 Classification of linings Location Classification Small rooms of maximum internal floor area of 4m2 D-s3, d2 Garages (as part of a dwellinghouse) of maximum internal floor area of 40m2 Other rooms (including garages) C-s3, d2 Circulation spaces within a dwelling Other circulation spaces (including the common areas of blocks of flats) B-s3, d2(1) NOTE: 1. Wallcoverings which conform to BS EN 15102, achieving at least class C-s3, d2 and bonded to a class A2-s3, d2 substrate Sorry the table doesn't come out but I think you can see for small rooms it's D-s3, d2 and others C-s3, d2, hallways etc B-s3, d2 So if your bathroom is over 4m2 then it ought to be C-s3, however if your panels do not cover all the walls then paragraph 4.4 says: 4.4 Parts of walls in rooms may be of lower performance than stated in Table 4.1, but no worse than class D-s3, d2. In any one room, the total area of lower performance wall lining should be less than an area equivalent to half of the room’s floor area, up to a maximum of 20m2 of wall lining. That may help you work it out. If all else fails and you are a bit over then try to point out that a bathroom is a low fire risk. They do not need fire doors when opening onto a protected route because of that very reason so the chances of a major conflagation starting in yours is low..............

Thought I should join this site as I am undertaking my first extension self build. After receiving extortinate quotes from builders I have decided to try it out myself, gulp. The project is a ground floor rear and side extension 65sqm and a first floor extension over the side 20sqm. Wish me luck.

Hi all , I am new to the forum , and have just started a wrap around extension on my house. Approx 100sqm , single and double story. I will be calling on you experience from some advice very soon if that’s okay. looking forward to the journey. thanks JeffB

Hi everyone, looking forward to hearing your views. A little about us. We're planning to extend our north London 1930s semi. My wife and I have two young girls and love the area. We already did a loft conversion and the house has as a 3m rear extension, but many on our road have "maxed" the houses out with 6m and first floor too - we're thinking of doing the same. May seem crazy but next worthwhile step up were taking double cost of the house and with stamp that's huge amount of dead money. My initial hope is for your feedback on our initial design. If we go ahead sure there will be more advice to seek 🙂

We started with a combi boiler, driving UFH, thought nice, easy, cost effective. But getting a big gas boiler to work well in a low energy house isn't easy. They just short cycle, using way more gas than they should. Eventually got it working well. But swopped it last year for an ASHP, all self funded. Doing it again, ASHP every time, 3m2 coil UVC for hot water. House heated as a single zone. Three ways to heat Fan coils not the cheapest option, but good for cooling and heating Big radiators run on weather compensation or UFH on the ground floor and any upstairs bathrooms. Add provision for electric panel heaters in bedrooms, just in case you need them. If doing UFH do a 100mm thick screed and charge on a cheap tariff the same as a storage heater, or thin screed and run on weather compensation. MCS grant scheme should be the cheapest, but just seems a rip off get quick scheme for installers. From everything I've seen Panasonic ASHP seems very good, something like a 200L cylinder, and heat emitters is all you need. £4-5k all in, plus install, and there is nothing complicated. Insulation and ventilation will have an impact on heat source sizing. Best advice I have seen. We have done many kitchens in many houses, back in 1999 we spent 25k on a kitchen, latest one in 2022 was about £7k and way nicer.

It was not to bad😁 and the house is 260sq meters which helps, just having a 8 and 3 year old and trying to keep it safe for them was the main concern. The outside was a typical building site so had to make a temporary patio and fenced off area so the youngest did not escape.

Anytime, really. 5ho I think it's different in Scotland. When we moved in we didn't have running water in our kitchen, any floor coverings, and only one working bathroom. Bear in mind, work will grind to a crawl when you move in, and you might have vat reclaim issues as seems HMRC have (in the past) used the date of occupation as a definition of complete, and the three month countdown on vat reclaim starts.

If you have MEV, dMEV or MVHR extract in the kitchen then you are already covered. Hob extract isn't required. If you don't have a either of the above, then you will need the extract working.

Correct, @jack But the LPA Valuation Officer may also initiate that process by visiting the site and declaring that (you) are substantially inhabiting the site, and therefore that Officer can choose to initiate the process of declaring your property as ready for inclusion on the Valuation List. So to refine your sentence above a little ... but that both the applicant or the Local Valuation Officer may choose (to initiate the process) .... meaning the Habitation Letter from the Local Authority as below (Abstracted from VAT FORM 431NB page 7 ) The line that the LPA Valuation Officer took (with us) was that her judgment on the matter was the key issue : were we 'substantially' living in our new house - or not? In our case she initiated the process. And what does 'substantially' mean? Her answer - water supply, electricity supply, kitchen in, sleeping overnight. The (HMRC VAT Form 431NB ) notes above merely hint that the LPA may choose tell the Valuation Office. The initiation of that process is hidden. Thats the danger for self-builders. Hence the importance of continuing to secure your site until well after completion : thieves, or inquisitive children aren't so much the problem - its snooping Valuation Officers wandering around on-site without permission that could well hit you right in the bank balance. Like most of us, I'd become fed-up of the build looking like a building site after a few years - so I took the HERAS down: there are no dangerous areas of the site anymore. Our build is right next to a minor road. Easy off-road parking deliberately provided for visitors' safety. Arguably another self-build rooky error. I would recommend everyone to examine the reading list given by @jack above as a bit of quiet fire-side reading this autumn. Think hard before removing the HERAS from your site.

LVT flooring is only a couple of mm thick. Just lay it under the dishwasher, sink, washing machine and leave the other bits as bare ply. I like to mastic round like a dam so if anything leaks it will appear from under the plinth.

Pulling up this thread again, I've just started waterproofing our wet rooms. We bought the AKW formers from a company called Hurlston on eBay. They were very good value and excellent quality. They are 22mm the same as the flooring. The floors we covered in 12mm marine ply so we cut the holes for the formers and re inforced underneath as per @Nickfromwales instructions and then filled these with the ply to bring them up to the same level as the finished floor, then I glued and screwed everything down. I was pretty concerned about doing all this we haven't done anything like it before. The tanking of the rooms has not been difficult, I just watched the YouTube videos and followed instructions. A bit of a messy job but very quick and easy. So really just wanted to reassure anyone considering doing this for the first time that it's a pretty straightforward job. I'm just hoping our tiler is happy with the result!

Well ! It was a week . During that time I turned to celibacy , no alcohol , no interactions , no internet . I wandered the hills day and night looking for a meaning, a purpose . On the seventh day I had an affinity . A voice spoke to me … ” You do not need buildhub “ it bellowed. ”You can survive and prosper without it “ I let that realisation sink in . I wept at the thought of freedom from the confines of the forum . Time would be my slave . I could do what I wanted . I could prosper ! But then the voice spoke once more with the immortal words I shall never forget … ” But ! ; BuildHub needs you !!!! “ So ! My destiny is to haunt these feeble threads . Ambition is to of course become a full time moderator. It’s inevitable……

Welcome. The answer to that question is writ large all over this forum.