Leaderboard

Hi All Well its been quite a journey ... House is finished (a year after moving in!!) with only the never ending snag list to sort ... Thanks for all those who have posted and replied to my many questions Bob (now an officially retired self builder !)

I would take lots of photos especially of any areas of cracks, etc on the wall and neighbours house then carry on, get the diggers in on a Saturday morning and book the building inspector and concrete for the following Monday! Better still stalk the neighbour on Facebook etc and find out when they are off on holiday and get the shell built before they get back.

In case you want to be depressed like me have a swift read of the summary (press release) of this here: https://www.theccc.org.uk/2024/07/18/uk-off-track-for-net-zero-say-countrys-climate-advisors/ or the full document here, executive summary will either have you head in hands or head in wine cooler: https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/progress-in-reducing-emissions-2024-report-to-parliament/ For us, here on the progressive forum that Buidhub is, much of this won't come as a surprise but when seen in the round and at scale you get the impression that there is a lot to do and the mistakes of the past, including quite recent choices by HMG, need to be sorted and reverse. Here are few headlines needed for 2030 to get us back on track: 10% of UK homes need to be fitted with heat pumps (1% today) we have discussed this already on here. Sort planning and give me the £7500 if I can show my install meets the broad criteria - IE heats my home but only once I can show it is working. Offshore wind needs to increase by a factor of 3 times. Stop making noises that put companies off bidding for new wind farms at auction. The market share of new electric cars needs to rise to 100% by 2030. Reverse the move made by one R Sunak 18 months back even if it does put all the manufacturers into a flat spin! They make some great recommendations about those and others that need fixing. " Make electricity cheaper. Removing policy costs from electricity prices will support industrial electrification and ensure the lower running costs of heat pumps compared to fossil-fuel boilers are reflected in household bills (R2024-011). Reverse recent policy rollbacks. Remove the exemption of 20% of households from the 2035 fossil-fuel boiler installation phase-out, address the gap left by removing obligations on landlords to improve the energy efficiency of rented homes and reinstate the 2030 phase-out of new fossil-fuel car and van sales. The damage of these rollbacks can be limited by quickly reinstating these policies (R2024-016, R2024-017, R2024-029). Remove planning barriers for heat pumps, electric vehicle charge points and onshore wind (R2024-015, R2024-032 and R2024-019). Introduce a comprehensive programme for decarbonisation of public sector buildings (R2024-013). Effectively design and implement the upcoming renewable energy CfD auctions. Ensure funding and auction design for the Sixth and Seventh Allocation Rounds are appropriate to deliver at least 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030 (R2024-007). Accelerate electrification of industrial heat. Strengthen the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to ensure that its price is sufficient to incentivise decarbonisation and that support is available for a rapid transition to electric heat across much of industry (R2023-080, R2024-012). Ramp up tree planting and peatland restoration. Tree planting must be scaled up in the 2020s for abatement to be sufficient for later carbon budgets and Net Zero. There must be no more delays to addressing the barriers to delivery (R2023-192, R2023-171). Finalise business models for large-scale deployment of engineered removals. Finalise and open to the market the business models for engineered removals (R2024-006). Publish a strategy to support skills. Support workers in sectors which need to grow or transition and in communities that may be adversely impacted (R2022-128, R2023-169). Strengthen NAP3 with a vision that sets clear objectives and targets and reorganise government adaptation policy. Adaptation must become a fundamental aspect of policy making across all departments and be integrated into other national policy objectives (R2024-030).[*]" ( (Climate Change Committee, 2024 progress Report to parliament, 2024 - https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/progress-in-reducing-emissions-2024-report-to-parliament/) Any thoughts - I think I will go and eat myself into an early grave or, alternatively, hang on for this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2gr3x3xkno#:~:text=A drug has increased the,cancers than their unmedicated peers. to work itself out and see if I have the energy to help sort it - first get a final, reliable, reasonable quote for an ASHP! PS don't tell my pension plan!

I rest my case

Just a pair from a CAT5/6 cable? I've using a pair in a CAT6 cable from an Eastron power meter to my PV inverter to carry a modbus signal.

Uses shielded twisted pair I seem to remember. Though I think a lot of people use converters then CATx.

Before you fit the board, run a fat bead of some sort of air tight caulk along it, then tape over the join afterwards. belt and braces.

If I have this right - the wall plate supports joists etc, you just need to tape the sheets, wall / roof, together before fitting the wall plate. Don't forget that blown cellulose is pretty air tight when pumped at high enough density - the sort of density you need if you want to avoid slumping.

This is a question for your structural engineer, nobody else. Most likely OK, but you've no other way of knowing unless somebody does the calcs.

Even a bottle gully collects silt, I had two on my drive that I emptied occasional. https://www.drainfast.co.uk/products/surface-water/land-drainage-road-gullies/gullies/600-x-300mm-yard-gully-110mm-outlet

Any SE should be able to do the job, ICF is really just a form of concrete shuttering.

It’s about 160sqm - I’ll drop you a PM with the ones that have been best for us so far.

Exciting stuff, just get them to drive round a few of the big builders estates and publish the data - lets see how they come out.

Somewhere on here I did a site calibration of the Bosch, all my class one tapes and the total station. The Bosch came out well, +/- 0.3 mm over 10m IIRC while the class one tapes were a good way out and didn't agree being very subject to the vagaries of temperature.

We’re in the exact same situation as you. Tree roots and clay. We could potentially have a raft, but we’d need to dig down a fair bit to the ‘good’ gravelly clay, but it’s a hassle with muck away and MOT type 3. I’ve probably got quotes from 8 pile providers and the range of costs has been staggering. From £28k for the piles and ring beam, all the way up to £65k. I’m leaning towards piles, ring beam and insulated beam and block. But I’ve got a guy who does piles and a tied in raft popping over tomorrow for a chat. We’ll see what he says. Bit more expensive but I like the simplicity and shallow dig. All the ones I’ve progressed with have SEs in house, so they include the cost. They’ll give you a rough idea on what’s needed based on a soil report and indicative plans. You’ll need loadings for a final design and price though.

Forgot to include the weather compensation curve. It starts at 10 degs OAT at a target flow temperature of 26 degs and goes down to -5, where flow is 31 degs. So flow temperature increases 0.33 degs with every degree drop in OAT.

Everyone on our terrace has done rear extensions - no-one had a PWA, we just got on with it

Ambulance chasers by the sound of it, I know of two cases where a PWA has caused problems and wasted money so not a fan of them (but realise they are needed in some circumstances).

Who does the wall belong to on your deeds or on his deeds?

My understanding is garden walls are party walls, this from gov website. Party walls stand on the land of 2 or more owners and either: form part of a building don’t form part of a building, such as a garden wall (not wooden fences)

dont put anything over that lead it looks great as it is.

from my talks with panasonic, the largest factor in causing short cycling was incorrectly sized heaty pump followed by zoning. Our was only turned on march, with flow temp set to 25 to give a too warm 21 inside (no loft insulation at time) it was getting COP of 8+ and never really turned off. We have a setback now so wil be interesting come November time to see how it performs now we are fully insulated and air tight.

subframes.co.uk they supply eurocell. can do any cavity size, drop them an email. Have a choice of U values as well. If your outside skin is brickwork dont forget to order them to work brick to avoid cuts.

I simply lapped the fibreglass over the plywood’s that I’d fitted over the cavity Then laid the copings on mortar

Bit of a personal thing, I quite like it. Part of the character of that age of building. If you don't want/need a pristine finish, it would be pretty easy to make access hatches in the panelling- just use an oscillating multi tool to cut through the T+G. You'd need to have a few screws to hold the panel in place afterwards- use nice slotted head brass ones with cup washers underneath. I don't think stripping the paint is a good idea. You could spend ages sanding it back, but you'll never get right in to the grooves. And as you say varnished wood can be very dark.

>>> Apart from the reliability, and nuclear is very reliable, I cannot see a case for it in the energy mix anymore. I just read No Miracles Needed by Mark Jacobson, the Stanford guy, and he comes to the same conclusion. From memory: more expensive than renewables, to slow to build to make a difference to climate change and, of course, security and contamination risks. A weirdly written book though - it may have been pitched at the lowest common denominator of US Congressmen. In fact, on page 57, he says 'I agree with @SteamyTea on this'...

lets see if they can work out which room my wife is in...