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Thank you. I;ve been in tears over this. After their visit I emailed Ecotec with my summary of their visit 'expanding foam to fill the gaps, wrap in Illbruch ME508 and cover with Aluminium sill.' I'm getting my shit together and going to to man up next week. Thank you for your support. C

We have managed to stay in our home for the majority of previous builds. This time we had to sell before we could buy the plot / donor house. So yesterday, we packed up from our 325 sqm house in Stroud, moved into a 114 sqm rental house, sold Stroud, purchased the plot and by coincidence the Planning Application was accepted by the District Council. A big day. https://planning.newforest.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=_NEWFO_DCAPR_221599 We have a mountain to climb, but already we can look back on some good progress. We have a plot, we have a design, we have planning submitted and we are some weeks into requesting Timber Frame quotes. Many priorities, but one near the top of the list is talking to the neighbours to see if they will comment positively on the planning application. As a courtesy I gave the drawings to the immediate neighbours before planning submission. Good neighbours are invaluable, especially for demolition and a replacement dwelling.

Update: Vent Axia confirmed it's a bearing issue, after I shared the details and the video with them. As my unit is 10 weeks away to be 5 years old, they are apparently sending out to me a complete, brand new motor (497818 Motor Assembly & Patch Cable Kit)! Unfortunately they cannot organise a technician under warranty anymore, as the unit is more than 2 years old, however this new part free of charge is already reassuring. I will update this post after I received and installed the new part to share my experience. However so far, Vent Axia handling the situation prompt and very professional.

There is a post here:- @bladerunner94 Can I ask what they do on "major service" do they take the Heat exchanger out and wash it? or do they just give everything a coat of looking at?

When running weather compensation the thermostat is there as a limit stop. It's not for room temperature control, it's for limiting room or house max temperature via solar gain for example. This thermostat is set to 23 degs if you want a room at 21. So it's always on. With WC (water law) on the heating just flows at low temp all the time. The heat pump will cycle on and off when heat demand is less than lowest modulation allowed. This is normal. The important bit is you don't try and switch on and off all the time as it's then playing catch up and using way more energy than it needs to. If the house gets to warm or to cold the water law temp needs to be adjusted. I see you mentioned you have a passivhaus, your rate of temperature change is low. UFH is fine, it just a matter of controlling it and really is just a big energy store. It just drips heat into the house in a comfortable way. It's also self controlling as the floor temp should not be more than a couple degs hotter than the house. Blasting heat as suggested by your architect is nonsense in any system or house type.

Thank you for the kind words. I'm an SE and an Architectural deisgner as the day job. @PNAmble that is the kind of SE you need on a self build. SE's know a lot of stuff about other stuff and some of us will chip in to make sure you get looked after. Caution: Not all SE's are like this.. some.. I would never have anywhere near my projects.. I sometimes work as an SE on behalf of Contractors. I have a job on my books and the response from the main SE is bordering on me reporting him to the IStructE for negligance... but the Client will probably do this first. .. not all SE's are angels, some have an attitude problem.

Also just to mention, if you don’t have any luck with replacement and they end up making good on what is there, a lot of spray foam will be needed. Ensure they are using an airtight window foam such as Illbruck FM330 gun grade. It’s readily and cheaply available online for next day delivery. And don’t be afraid to hover over them to see what they do and what they are using if they do the making good.

That is me appealing to the refined..hey you can just go out with a cup of tea and hopefully have some pants on so as not to offend. Yes it is. For all on BH you may wonder if I'm having a laugh saying I would estimate an SE design fee of £1200.00 maybe plus vat. The actual SE work maybe only accounts for 50- 60% of the above fee. I know from experience that I could spend at least a day, maybe two trying to elicit the information and drawings from a Client / Builder so I can design the fixings and get the appearance / buildability right. If you want to get the best out of an SE give them the best info you have.. the more you make them guess the more expensive it becomes.

So we managed to buy quite a bit of amtico from auctions through ibidder and it's arrived and looks good. OK still have to get it laid but got a lot off. First experience of using an auction but apart from the note to self - picking up from Sheffield is the pits because access was so bad, overall a good experience.

Lidl. "Mmmmm".....wasnt my first thought.....

Hi Helen. You'll increase your chances of a response if you start a post in the relevant sub-forum: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/140-other-heating-systems/ Give as much information as you can. For example, it would useful to know how big the space you want to mount the ASHP (air source heat pump) is and how close it is to the adjacent property. Also, have you considered whether an ASHP is the most appropriate heating source based on the propery's insulation and energy consumption? That's something else that can be discussed if you raise it when you post in the forum above.

An easy way to estimate the u-value fairly accurately is to use the thickness of insulation only and ignore the rest of the stack-up. That’s one number. The other bits often won’t contribute much and will mostly net out with the inevitable thermal bridges. By all means when you’re getting close to knowing the full wall/roof build up put in ubakhus or similar. Until then I wouldn’t waste my time.

Ask politely for a pointer to which reg this is ‘so you can be sure you’re following the regs exactly’?

Well done. And thanks for the info. Ours is still under 5 years old. Keep the old motor and fit a replacement [quality SKF?] bearing, ready for the next time.

Same ballpark our problem site - 195m2, 0.09 U value, strip foundation with reinforced concrete slab. £32k Strip foundations reinforced at the front 2m wide (due to being at edge of a hill), insulated stub walls, 200mm with 2x rebar reinforced concrete, 200mm PIR insulation (U value 0.09) 70mm upstands and 100mm fibre reinforced finished slab. Included materials, time and concrete pump lorry twice.

Many rafts and slabs are just over-engineered. It's not due to the EPS, I assume they've not been optimised by the SE. My own, similar to many on here, has a single layer of A193 Mesh, in what is generally a 100mm thick "raft". The thickness is increased to 300mm under the external walls with a second layer of mesh and some extra rebar. The cost of the steel was easily covered by the reduced concrete, reduced muck away and no screed.

The quote I got from Greenraft was £27k (164m2)but that didn’t include all the groundwork.

We had this issue, BC insisted we raise the sill up two courses to get the min 150mm flashing... Of course that meant new window. We couldn't lower the roof. Luckily, all of this was spotted by my builder at a very early stage.

Someone posted some excellent advice on here which I followed which was to do a simple cost benefit analysis of every major decision such as floor build up or insulation for example. Pick a value you’re happy to spend up to then really question when you go above this.

My thoughts are: 1. Replace the window above with a smaller one and brick up to new sill height. or 2. Redesign the roof so the insulation is within the depth of the steel and board out just above steels for roof deck. Even at that, flashing detail won't be 100% but can work because you can use the sill in your favour to get a good seal to the flashing. You are meant to have 150mm upstand then dressed into brick, but in fairness, I have 75mm flashing upstand which I dressed in under windowsills. Who made this mistake?

Can't you put joints into the RSJ void 200mm, put the insulation between them, plasterboard below and ply sheets above, then flat roof membrane. Is the drawing you've posted correct? I'm not sure why it shows plasterboard above the RSJ.

Thank you all for the welcoming comments and advice. I am designing the project myself and depending on its outcome will see if it can be used for marketing in the future....... We are keen the construction is as low impact as possible, hence the interest in natural materials passivehaus principals. However the sites orientation and a few design quirks mean that trying to get it passivehaus certified may prove complicated and costly. I will be on site everyday so intend to monitor quality closely. With regards to the insulated raft foundation, this was suggested by our structural engineer as the best solution to achieve a high level of insulation with very minimal thermal bridging.

They all work by convection. On the back there is a "radiator" which is where the extracted heat is removed. sometimes it is exposed sometimes as a concealed flat panel that gets warm. The built in ones have grilles in the bottom to allow cold air to be drawn in at floor level, under the fridge and up the back. They need a gap between the back of the fridge and the wall and the top of the cabinet needs to be open. So they are certainly not "enclosed" and definitely not in a 30 minute fire compartment. I still think rather than argue against dubious implementation of a probably non existent regulation, just make sure the fridge is not there for the completion inspection.

Sounds like motor bearing failure. Several others have posted about similar issues including at least one who replaced the bearings himself.

OK so your second picture shows the internal wiring of the motor and it's encoder I think. They just need swapping over for L vs R travel. so that's mains supply, then 5-core to the photocell 2-core to the closed limit 2- core to the lamp (these look like they're all SELV) and coax to the antenna

https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pumps-power-d_505.html

"non-residential" means the plot has not previously been a residential plot (ie. previous house knocked down or was the garden of a house) AND development has not commenced. Just having planning permission does not make a plot residential. "residential" means either previously residential or development has commenced in line with an Approved planning.

We run one of these: https://www.electroil.it/en/p-23-inverter-archimede-immp11w.html Approx €350 on fleabay With a VS2/14 GRĘŽINIO SIURBLYS FRANKLIN VS 2_14 0.75kW 230V.pdf borehole pump ~ 40 metres down and providing 3 bar head at ground level for domestic use. Deffo doesn't run at 100% most of the time. It doesn't however provide a residual 3 bar head if you're using a 32 mm pipe to fill a bucket. The pressure drop of the pipework between the pressure sensor and the bucket isn't enough. It will then run at 100%. (and most of the water will bounce off the bottom of the bucket and hit you in the face) Note that a "2 bar" pump might only deliver 2 bar at zero flow; or full flow at zero bar; and half flow at half the rated pressure would be expected. All about the pump curve but marketers can be misleading...

A picture paints 1000 words. Ok, the slope isn't mega. I had visions of a cliff like fall. Also your access is pretty good. Looking at your sketches I would be concerned about the maintenance of the wood that near to all that vegetation. Also I would be worried that the crawlspace would be a haven for undesirable wild life. Could something like building up the ground into a patio work instead?

The risk of a fridge going on fire is miniscule. I'm thinking that the bco thinks this is on a fire escape route. What happens if you are escaping from a fire and the fridge also bursts into flame? A fridge in a cupboard will not work, as it needs free air. So pragmatically, tell him you're not having that fridge because, after enquiry you realise it won't work. Scrap the cupboard. Later do what you want. Fridge in a recess with free air above it, or openly in the hall. Not in a cupboard. I'm usually reluctant to say such things, but I don't think the risk is real.

Lenders have tightened up on loads of things. When we sold our house a few years ago we had no end of grief from the buyer’s lender and ended up with several indemnities for relatively trivial things.

So a chimney on a hipped roof, will have a (usually lead) valley behind the chimney to catch the rainwater that runs down that bit of roof and divert it around the chimney. It sounds like that has failed. Being a bungalow it should be an easy repair with no scaffold or perhaps a small scaffold tower. A roofer who won't climb a small ladder to look at that is not the one I would choose to do the job. Find a different roofer to go up and have a look.

Welcome! You will learn a lot about your clients’ pov from the process, I think it will help your future business. Have you thought about designing it yourself to use as a marketing tool in the future?

Hello everyone, And so it begins - home renovation project planning underway. One question, what is the general trend when it comes to buying materials myself versus my builder doing this and baking into the "price" ...? I've had a scan of some sites where I can do this, most obvious barrier is trade prices - or is it? Many thanks all, Jim

Hi! My husband and I have a cottage that we bought in "immaculate condition". Turns out the owners had literally papered over the cracks! We're experienced in renovations so knew a large amount of work was required, but not quite the level of issues we've uncovered. We love our property and can't wait to get in, having rented while it's been uninhabitable. Now we have progress with the council planning department, we hope it will be inhabitable by winter this year. I have questions I'd love this community's advice on, so will post those in the relevant threads. Thanks for adding me to the community.

Previously I've only part-renovated a house before, kitchen/bathroom/re-wire/repaint/new carpets (ok, just planned and then paid the bills). The current work is on a cottage from 1860 with damp issues, and the renovation has been forced on us by a severe flood. The insurers aren't paying for build-back-better as it happened last year and they had only joined the scheme for policies starting later than our renewal. Regardless, we've so far not found builders or surveyors with good knowledge of how to apply flood resilience on an old property when the normal wisdom is to let everything breathe. We have a builder now, seems a good sort and so far admits when he doesn't know something.

I’m Claire snd I live in Sheffield. I’m back living in my home after years of renting it out. now that I’m back I’ve had the kitchen and windows updated and I have questions about the install. When I say questions, I don’t really know what the questions are as I don’t know enough about building regs, specs but I want and need to learn fast. Thank you hugely in advance.

Yesterday we exchanged contracts on the purchase of a house in Lymington and on the same day we submitted a planning application to demolish the house and build a new house in its place. Probably Timber Frame, definitely to Passiv Haus standards (fabric first etc), 225 m^2, no fossil fuels but plenty of solar complemented by batteries. We have done this before with a TF house in 2009, a small development of brick and block houses in 2015/16, and an ICF house built into a hill in 2017. We hope for a simple, fast build with a high quality result. One thing we have learnt is to always be ahead of events and don't change your mind. Let's see

Hi - Mark here! Just found BuildHub online after looking for thoughts on self-build mortgages etc. My wife and I will be embarking on a self-build as soon as we can find a plot (which we think is imminent); hoping to appoint an architect rather than buy a plot with detailed planning permission so we can get exactly what we want. Have looked at Graven Hill a few times as it wouldn't be a huge upheaval for us to move there, but it's not for us. We have renovated a few times before, including large extensions, but this time we're set on a timber frame system as we like the efficiency and time (any advice on which companies to use (or avoid, if allowed to say!) welcome).

Hi all. So after renovating our first house it’s really given be the bug. I definitely think we got lucky but have never enjoyed myself so much and made money at the same time. I’m particularly after some advice on Class Q development but will post this in the necessary chat. After reading through a few threads the members here seem great very knowledgeable and have a lot more experience than myself. Looking forward to my next projects. Thanks for the confirmation Admin 👍🏼👍🏼

Newbie to this forum. gas engineer by trade…….now moving into developing new builds and also some Reno work along the way. After advice around commercial carehome conversion into flats. thanks, have a lovely day!!

Once this was done, I used a jig I made to drill the M16 holes in the Ledger, 65mm from top and bottom according to SE spec.

I think the gutter needs to be finished in GRP or similar and needs a min fall of 1:200 to the outlets. Make the outlets are lower than you think they should be as there is often a build up of material near them so the water does not drain. Design it so if you block the outlets the gutter will surcharge down the outside of the building.

TBH I don’t like either of those designs, have you looked at the capacity of both, what I don’t like is the angled bottom, I believe this decreases the capacity massively, all the ones we chose had flat bottoms. I know you are limited by your wall make up but I would personally go back to the drawing board.

@alexo How did you guess their solution!

That’s really good to hear, thank you. Whilst I readily accept that I shouldn’t ‘over think it’ it’s actually hard to turn the ‘CPU’ off. 😕