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Being as we are getting pressed by our buyers to vacate our previous build I’ve started going through our spreadsheets Though at one stage it seamed pretty pointless with materials costs rising weekly 420m2 We set out expecting to spend 350k Though I didn’t intend doing so much of the foundation work myself this time We have spent 305k But still have the oak stairs to pay for and tiles for one of the four bathrooms workshop d door and s door and all the landscaping and drive I’ve fitted the German kitchen and templates for quarts have been done today First job in the morning is to tell them to hang fire as I’ve fitted a run of units in the wrong place 😁 We have about 37 k to come back in vat we’ve followed and improved on our previous build Mostly German and Italian brands I we’ve both managed to carryon working full time plus 30 hours per week on the build But have spent far more time shopping around for materials Like last time We will post a spreadsheet showing a breakdown

Same with me, built all the roof structure from inside scaffolding then got the roofers to fit the slates as I could not go there. Although on one day I did crawl to the apex and sat there to let the roofer take a picture of me as he said I needed to own it and the worst that could happen was I slid back down onto the scaffolding at gutter level. Actually over the build I have got more confident on ladders and scaffold but once outside support like that I have to get out of there.

Lytham is very expensive Around ten times more expensive than parts of Blackpool

Sorry to hear that and good luck! Great info eg. use of Strava! Thanks for sharing.

Well at least you tried, their loss, just crack on and they can see what you propose from the planning portal.

The neighbour who sold us the plot and then insisted we met a couple of times in person, has now gone completely cold on me when I sent them an email of the revised house design we want to go with. They didn't even respond to my email. I wish I hadn't bothered now..

Just tell them you are about to start, crack on, 🖕to the neighbours then decide if/when you want to change your plans.

It took me 6 years to have my Eureka moment. The only principle that matters is: The average amount of DRYING must exceed the average amount of WETTING. This is the only thing that matters. If you heat and ventilate any space sufficiently then there will be no problem with moisture buildup regardless of insulation and airtighness layers etc. Take an aircraft for example, the impermeable skin is outside the minimal insulation, often at sub zero temperatures but there's no issue with moisture despite hundreds of people breathing it out. That is because they are ventilated and dehumidified to within an inch of their lives by the air-conditioning. A well built thermal bridge free house with a vapour impermeable barrier inboard may still suffer moisture problems with excessive moisture generation and poor ventilation. It is a highly dynamic situation and in reality all you can do is make a best guess with a model then suck it and see. If you find yourself at the wrong side of things then you need to add DRYING and reduce WETTING.

Probably from desperation. I saw a good neighbour loose his house in the early 1990s. It was horrible to watch.

Damn, that does look good!

Could you just staple small hole chicken wire under you floor frame?

I appreciate your bluntly honest assessment of my calculations - seriously! I’d assumed an eight hour working day, with two hours worth of energy to get up to temp in the morning. I’d thought if this was compressed into an hour beforehand to get up to temp, and OAT would rise during the day anyway, it might average out over the day. Mindless optimism.. The issue with sitting wall insulation now, is mostly time and money. I’m taking time off work to do this, and of course it’ll take longer than I expect, as nearly everything does. It may be more realistic to get the building up, so my wife can use it over summer and autumn for her business, return to work for some funds, then insulate walls before it gets too nippy. Also, looking at JohnMo’s thread, walls look more complicated than I expected. I’m just getting my head round the layers to do the floor and roof properly! I’ll probably feel better about it once I make more progress. I spent two hours yesterday just getting the rear first log straight and level, but hopefully that will pay off.. My best mate said I’d learn a lot doing this, and he wasn’t wrong!

Do you have the full background to why it failed, things like after hammer, can easily exert enough energy to break things. Pipe stain can do similar. Age etc - Without the details all a bit meaningless.

Suggest level invert where you are properly challenged on fall (this also allows a little adjustment on pipe centres). The other where the drop in fall (and the pipe concentricity) isn’t a problem. p.s. there are probably many situations in a new build where either would work fine.

>>> I do already help as much as I can. Well that’s probably all you can do then financially … apart from being a sympathetic ear.

If your LPA doesn’t charge CIL, then several on here have started and then changed plans mid-flight. I’m sure they be along in a minute. A different matter if CIL is involved.

Layout and control schematic Heating Layout and Control.pdf

Sorry no. A long time ago I did a post on here what it me, but never compared to any other build method. But two of us neither done it before, took about 4 weeks to build our walls. 70m perimeter and and average of 3m tall, with quite a few changes of direction on the front wall, which fiddle and time consuming.

A one off gift is often spend with haste and quickly forgotten. A persistent small annuity might buy more comfort in the long term.

As a counter to this discussion, and from someone in a very not-passivhaus house (but OK insulation!), we have MVHR, and a log burner. The log burner is in a room with a supply vent. I agree with all the above points about it defeating the purposes of an MVHR in a airtight house, but for us the MVHR is more than about heat recovery. It runs on the lowest setting, so is quiet, but it provides good background ventilation to closed habitable rooms, which (at least subjectively) means the air doesn't seem stale in any room (which can't be said for previous houses we've had) and even the completely enclosed tiny wetroom bathroom we've got dries out wonderfully. We also didn't want window trickle vents and lots of bathroom/kitchen extracts, so I'm still happy with the MVHR, even if it costs us money to run. Arguably we could've fitted a positive ventilation system for some of the above benefits but there really isn't that much in it in terms of cost (all was DIY'd, the MVHR unit was a good deal.) Probably further offset by the fact we have free wood to burn! Having said all that, if you're after optimal thermal performance, then lose the WBS.

Just completed a proof of concept on the boiler flow temp switching. Started boiler via the hybrid relay manually, as a DHW heating cycle started. Boiler temperature is held back in line with the temperature curve for WC, boiler thinks it is 7 degrees. Once flow from ASHP gets to 40, WC switches off and boiler ramps up. When heating cycle is complete, WC relay remained energised, (wrong logic) supposed to be de-energised until hybrid mode re-calls for the boiler start. Found I had an OR instead AND in the switching logic. Quick correction, all good. Boiler seems happy having WC on one minute off the next and back again. So now have a combi boiler converted to PDHW (or X plan), for the cost of a relay.

Parts used 1. A large 40 plate PHE, this could of easily been a close coupled tee. Already had this cost zero 2. 8 pin 230 volt relay. Already this cost zero 3. 4x Shelly plus 1 relays and 4. 2x Shelly plus 1 add-on and 5 temp probes (using for commissioning and one for control) items 3 and 4 £120 5. Plumbing bits and pipe. Around £100 Everything else was already in the system. 6. A resistor already has a box of 1000. Costs circa £220. Control logic Settings within heat pump sensor out a 230v signal. Shelly relay energised by the ASHP. Then via a Shelly scene, both boiler relay, CCT relay energised. A further relay used to select two boiler flow temperatures. A scene again controls this - hybrid relay on and ASHP flow temp below 40 low temp mode, above 40 high temperature mode. Need to wait for next heating season to test UFH hybrid mode. Any questions fill your boots and ask away.

Phase 2, part 3, UFH hybrid mode The following differences occur when doing hybrid UFH. CCT pump is started, warm water passes through PHE and is heated via boiler. The water then goes to the cylinder diverter (not energised) so by passes the cylinder and goes to the downstream tee at the CCT. This water flows through the UFH loops as normal just a bit warmer. A few things needed to be added to make the above work The 3 port diverter at the UFH and CCT pump needed to be electrical separated and controlled together and seperately. So on DHW heating both are energised, for hybrid UFH mode only the CCT is energised. So power supply from ASHP now goes to a standard 8 pin relay. When energised the 3 port valve is energised and the CCT starts via separate circuits. A Shelly relay is energised when ever the ASHP hybrid Shelly is energised. This voltage by-passes the 8 pin relay powering the CCT pump directly. Next a summary of the additional bits added and the control logic.

Phase 2, part 2, Basic requirements are 1. single zone house and summer house, 2. no buffer 3. keep as simple as possible 4. no mixer or pump on UFH. Original plumbing had a return booster pump from the UVC as piping was too small and long for the heat pump circulation pump alone. This is the plumbing at the UFH. ASHP supplies hot water from the left to the CCT and pump and to a 3 port diverter. Normal operation mode ASHP and hybrid mode for cylinder heating is exactly the same. DHW heating, ASHP puts a 230v signal out to move a three port valve. This supply is used to start CCT pump also. 3 port valve when energised opens lower port and closing upper port. This flow goes to the return back to ASHP teeing into the UFH return pipe. The CCT pump running takes hot water at the first tee and pushes it to the cylinder coil, via the PHE and cooled water comes back to the second tee, goes to the 3 port diverter and back to ASHP. At the cylinder there is a second 3 port diverter. This is controlled by the cylinder thermostat. This diverter will be used in hybrid UFH mode. UFH on, flow goes to 3 port valve (not energised), up and to top UFH rail, then out of the UFH to bottom rail and back to ASHP. No zone valves, pumps or mixers. The summer house is close to the ASHP and the flow to that is simply teed into the flow and return with 15mm Hep2O pipe. Next Phase 2 part 3 hybrid UFH

a few mixed in wont hurt but you dont want all of it. They hold onto water which come winter time the frost turns them to dust over time.

‘Cause you’re short 🤣

Yeah, but a while back a mate of mine who was flush at that time helped a friend who was out of work pay his mortgage for a bit. After 6 months or so, my mate said he couldn’t afford to support the friend’s mortgage for eternity and the arrangement had to end. The friend got upset and this resulted in conflict. Rather than the friend being grateful for 6 months of support the friend ended up being hostile. Human nature for you.