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Finally IWI has commenced onsite. The good advice given here has me sold on the benefit of a parge coat. I think no matter which IWI system you select a parge coat will sit very comfortably in the mix, its effectively the same material as a victorian brick wall (sand and lime) so little concern about introducing non-compatible materials that the building may reject. We have spent a few day pointing up the bigger gaps in the jointing, will parge now and expect much like a mist coat it will show up which areas need further attention. I'm mixing 3:1 Sharp sand to NHL 3.5. This mix seems broadly accepted to be OK, however I've seen @Iceverge add a shovel of cement and elsewhere others say NHL 3.5 is too strong, so again noo hard and fast rule it seems. I will say that its not as easy to put on as I thought, not in terms of hard physical effort but getting it from the bucket to the wall. I'm applying with a soft sweeping brush, the mix in the bucket need to be constantly agitated to keep the sand in suspension, or else you end up just whitewashing the walls. A lot of material goes on the floor, which when gathered and put back in the bucket dries the mix and so more water is required to bring the mix back to a brushable consistency. @Redbeardsuggested a pre-bagged mix which certainly would be an easier material to work with, but I figured I'd need 50+ bags so it works out to be a much more expensive option for my project. Here's how the first gauge is looking.

I didn't realise it took so many killer whales to run these things.

This is it. I’m a PM in construction. I’m used to bad news, delays, failures, damage, combinations of the above. All I ever ask is that I am told what the problem is, the impact and the preferred solution. If the preferred solution to them doesn’t work for me we explore the alternatives. I get mental health. I really do. But even with this, SOME communication is imperative because generally, problems CAN be resolved, but not without a basic understanding of the scope of the problem which could be as simple as - apologies, don’t have the capacity to deliver X right now. If it works for you I can complete by Y.

The more air you take into the house that is cold and heated up (MVHR heat exchanger, heaters) the dryer (low humidity) it gets. This normally balanced by humidity generators (people, showers, general life) the bigger the house the few the people per m² the bigger the issue. We are down to about 40% humidity after a few cold days. Got down to 35% last year. My first quote for MVHR was £10k, ended spending closer to £2k

Go to building guidance notes, for MVHR and the rules are there. Plenty of posts on here also. Your trouble with a big house is going to be over ventilation. Big house needs big flow rates, a few very cold days will drive humidity down low, if you are not careful. Those prices are daft, but you are building a mansion so you get what you get. Hope you end up saving £350 in heating costs a year, because thats what you are paying just to buy the MVHR over 20 years. Two units (what we have) can make install easy with way shorter runs, but two sets of filters to change each time.

I went for two 400m³ units for our 350m² (gross, 275m² net). Largely driven by shape of house and needing one unit on each side of the building. Other than duct run savings, other advantage is both units are only running at 25% capacity, so dead silent. You really want to oversize you mvhr so it's running on low rpm. Don't get a unit that scrapes the flow rates for your floor area

Blauberg are well known, but don't have any MVHR units in the Passivhaus database, which lists models independently tested to more accurate standards than those required in the UK and those used by manufacturers. So it's difficult to know how good it is. https://database.passivehouse.com/en/components/list/ventilation_small

Good work, keep us posted. We're all learning.

Trouble is if you have a heat loss in the property of 2kW, you then require 48kWh for 24 hrs. To deliver that in day 7 hours needs 7kW input. If you had a 4kW heat pump you need 12 hrs of running.

I asked Wendy and she said, form D is for where invoices have VAT shown separately and form E is for where the prices include VAT and therefore VAT is not shown separately. Wendy did all our VAT refund return, she's very organised, I'm not. This was done a few years ago now though, things might have changed.

I get frustrated in my day job about professionalism… here was me hoping it would be different when it’s a bit more up close and personal! I’m now reminded of a time earlier in my career when I did a few Barn conversions… time heals all wounds. A reminder that the current job is always “the worst” and one has a tendency to look back with rose tinted spectacles! PS looks like we’re on. Panic over. Thanks for the support!

The very left hand item in your diagram is an isolating valve and double check valve (non return valve) that will stop back flow. That is a requirement for any new house now. with or without accumulator or anything else.

The check valve you show at the left hand dashed box

There has been a big announcement in Parliament by the Housing Minister of State about big revisions to the planning framework. These were my expectations posted elsewhere, which seem mainly to have been delivered, though not necessarily quite in this form: IMO they need to hit the vested interests which are blocks (eg speculative private land banking), in a way that aligns Local Political interests with development following the legal principles. In a way which is enforcible. My checklist of what is required: 1 Local Councillors to be focussed on long term direction / strategy / local plans, not micro-management of individual applications. 2 Individual applications to be determined by Planning Professionals following law, not Planning Committees following parish pump politics. This should also remove some conflicts of interest / opportunity for corruption, though not all. 3 Housing targets to be mandatory, and obsessed objectively. 4 Possibilities for robust intervention if local Councillors sit on their hands. 5 Planning Gain to be capped in some effective way. 6 Encouragement / facilitation for local councils to be more proactive in Compulsory Purchase, potentially involving the opportunity to intervene on sustainable (in planning terms) development sites. 7 Possibility is streamlining enforcement. 8 All of the above will require capacity building. My tentative assessments (just from the speech) on what may impact self-builders are: - Much increased pressure on councils to pass local plans, and have them in place quickly. Transitional arrangements for a few months. - The pre-Election NIMBY-pandering done by the last Government is being summarily reversed. Good. - Planning Committees powers to micro-manage individual application will be reducing. PP will be tipping towards determination by Planning Officers. - Building on grey or brown belt to become more straight forward, ie on scrubby bits of the Green Belt. Likely to be a slow-burn - 6 months not next week. - If a development follows planning principles and does not walk the edges of what is acceptable, chances of getting it through straightforwardly are better than before. - Heavy circumscribing of use of "viability assessments" by developers, which is a tool used to control the planning process. Not really relevant to self-builders, but interesting. But these are major changes, so take time to do the homework. There are a few webinars being announced. NPPF announcement and document:: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-planning-policy-framework--2#full-publication-update-history https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/675abd214cbda57cacd3476e/NPPF-December-2024.pdf

This is where my VAT guy did so well, he chased and queried any anomalies with the provider for me and got proper copies before sending it off i didn’t expect that 👍 https://www.vat431.co.uk/our-fees

I understand now, what you mean about triangle of blocks.. doh! Yep 6" away from stairs. I'm happy to go at most things so Yeah I reckon can do this!

Welcome! You'll find lots of people doing similar things to you on here - I'm one of them. Definitely have a read through this thread when you get a minute. I, too, am confused by the membrane on the cold side - I think the idea is that because wood fibre insulation is very hygroscopic (will absorb moisture), it will act like a bit of a sponge making your walls stay relatively dry but your insulation becomes wet. This goes against the idea that wood fibre should be able to buffer moisture in the walls, and will inevitably create air gaps between the membrane and the wall. Seems unnecessary to me! "Knowing nothing of your building I'd guess that 100mm maximum" - I'm fairly sure this is referencing how much insulation you can use. If you are insulating internally you are limited on how much you can use, because the more insulation you put in, the warmer your house but the colder the stone walls become which increases risks of condensation within the structure. I think that what Redbeard was saying is that 100mm of insulation might be on the edge of being too much internally for a solid walled property. If you are familiar with U values, it would seem sensible to aim for something in the region of 0.4-0.5 rather than trying to get to modern standards (below 0.2) with internal wall insulation. "What about the window reveals?" - I'm probably going to use something like a thin layer of wood fibre or mineral wool to take up the unevenness of the stonework, then a thin layer of modern PIR insulation on top, all fully taped to the windows and any airtightness/vapour control membranes but this is open to critique. Low thickness is important here to avoid impacting window size. "Don't forget to ensure the wall ins touches the roof ins too." - this means that your wall insulation should be continuous with roof insulation to avoid any cold gaps or bridges. It looks like you're wanting to retain the cornice detail from your photos so not exactly sure what you'll do here but probably just careful attention to detail around the edges to avoid gaps.

On paper looks fine, 5 year warranty - but How much are filters to replace? You need to look things like that. Do they require an approved contractor install and commission to get the 5 year warranty? Is there UK technical support? Do need modbus and WiFi connected? My opinion no, install, commission, forget (except servicing). Do you need CO2 response? Not really. I would look a Titon also, UK made, UK technical support, good solid unit.

I am on Lifestyle with Battery storage option :

You might be able to staple a membrane behind the stud if you are a contortionist. Then fill between studs. Then a service gap and a finish. That adds up to a half decent insulation. The wall itself is contributing if the outside is well pointed.

That’s tidy for a build site…. So you are moving 6” away from the stairs ?. Judging by the second pic (where you can see where the blocks are) you are at risk of only dropping one block (the one in the middle which can be motored back in no probs. Cut away carefully (no lump hammers, drilling out the mortar) along the top of the lintel first, then under each end till the lintel falls away. Cut a piece of timber to temporarily support that central block from the floor (in case vibrations drop it on your head). Cut away the left wall 6”. Either use starter kit https://www.screwfix.com/p/sabrefix-wall-starter-kit-stainless-steel-1200mm/56037?tc or cut into existing blocks at a couple of places to stagger/tie in the extra 6” of block work (I prefer cutting in! And cheaper). Do one side at a time. Crack on mate 👍

+1 for WF, but the existing structure will make it difficult for you to get a membrane on the *cold* side between the stone and the insulation, I think. It's ar*e-covering, but I would not want to risk moisture in the wall being 'wicked out' by the insulation. I would use flexi WF with a lambda of 0.039W/mK. Get one of the merchants who offers them (I am not sure Mike Wye does) to do a WUFI dynamic condensation risk assessment. Knowing nothing of your building I'd guess that 100mm maximum would be deemed 'safe', and possibly as little as 60-80. Intelligent VCL (e.g. Pro Clima Intello) on the warm side. Then plasterboard, 20mm rigid WF or 15mm woodwool. What about the window reveals? ''Floor is concrete/dpm and chipboard on 50mm (battens??) and not insulated'' . Is that to come up and be insulated? Could do a floating floor and lose the thermal bridge of the battens, and get tight insulation-insulation contact between floor and walls. **Ah, sorry, just re-read re UFH. How much insulation underneath. Remember the greater delta T at the floor level. Don't forget to ensure the wall ins touches the roof ins too. Any egg-sucking tuition is not intended!

I had this recently. He was the boss so i gouldnt gomplain uiwards. Resolved it by speaking to the secretary. When she said he wasn't available I expressed how glad I was that he wasn't off ill, as he hadn't been answering any emails for weeks. Just an acknowledgement would be some relief. I got answers that day. Speak to anybody. Good luck.

I would recommend wood fibre board insulation. Had a similar stone built barn, battened, wood fibre then lime plaster. Have a read at https://www.mikewye.co.uk/product-category/natural-insulation/wood-fibre-insulation/steico-wood-fibre-insulation/

Contact Warm up they will do you a full design FREE of charge

It all depends on how good a swimmer you are. It works perfectly for me, a professional swimmer might prefer a swim spa. This totally misses the point. I can think of hundreds of jobs around the house that are easy and yet no one wants to do them thus they are better automated if possible. Because the underground temperature is higher and steadier than the outside temperature, the insulation of the room is more important than the insulation of the pool. The underground temperature is usually considered to be a constant of around 8 degrees so the temperature difference between the pool room and its exterior will be higher than the difference between the pool and underground. Clearly though more insulation is better. I was shocked how little insulation pools came with as standard. There are evaporation losses as well. Yes but it looks like the pool has a cover as does mine. Otherwise I would strongly recommend one as evaporation losses are very high. Heating my pool/pool room uses around 15-20000kWh of gas a year. Hard to say exactly as I have never turned everything else off except the pool. The room is 10x7x2.7m plus another 2.5x5x2.7m for the plant and changing room. Plus 9x3.7x1.35 for the pool, so the pool itself is only around 15% of the heated volume, hence I would focus more on the insulation of the whole space. The cost that people tend to miss is the dehumidifier and pump. They use around 4500kWh of electricity a year. I have timings set to maximise use of PV and night-time rates, but basically they cost as much to run as the heating. Including chemicals you are probably talking about £2-2500 in running costs a year. It was a lot less before utility prices increased. The real cost is the cost of the pool and a very large room to house it. That’s probably about 400k at today’s prices.

A heat only aka system boiler gets it's call for heat usually from a wiring centre and one or more motorised valves and a programmer. There will usually be a cylinder thermostat and a programmer and possibly a room thermostat somewhere as well. A smart thermostat would go in place of or as well as the standard programmer usually. Whoever connects the smart thermostat needs to understand what controls are there and how to connect it to work with those.

Wot I said!!! 🤣

We didn’t want to cover our beautiful slate roof with horrible solar panels As stated our buyer has decided to put these things up The salesmen has predicted around £700 per year saving 12 k supply and fit If the saving is correct and I’ve no reason to doubt a salesman 15 years to break even is a long time and the batteries will probably need replacing by then Definitely not a no brainer

Our pool is effectively in a small basement as described. The thing they are missing is it had to be tanked to stop water coming in and it has to be insulated. Otherwise you will lose heat to the ground. The pool costs the same to heat as a space that size would cost heated to 28C. It actually costs more to run the filter and dehumidifier. I have a Niveko pool which is made of polyurethane resin. It looks and feels a lot nicer than fibreglass but is a bit more expensive. Have they not mentioned air handling and dehumidifying in the costs. That was another 20k for mine. It heats the pool and extracts heat and moisture from the air. Also the filtration equipment looks quite minimal. I have a sand based filter, pump, centrifuge, uv disinfecting and automated pH regulation. There is literally nothing to do, the pool looks after itself.

My view based on a friend who owns a fair few buildings like yours that he rents out. offices, you can build these to a very high standard inside the main building envelope, so easy to heat. I would fit air conditioning units in here so you can cool in the summer and heat in the winter. fit Solar to offset the cost of running the air conditioner in the summer. the warehouse space is a different ball game, forget the u values of those sheets, unless you build this meticulously it will still be a draughty warehouse, you will struggle to get any form of sensible amount of heat in it without it escaping out of every roller door, or roof to wall junction, the floor is one huge cold spot sucking any warmth from the building. either an oil or gas hot air blower system is the only thing I know that will heat that amount of volume. or a big biomass boiler and thermal store.

If you are going to re-roof the buildiing you should max out on the PV generation in any event, it will pay for itself in short order. You can estimate the output using PVGIS. As for heating with an ASHP (or several) you should start with an estimate of heat loss, you can DIY by downloading the free sw from heatpunk. This is primarily designed for domestic buildings but should give you an idea. You can model the offices as a separate building with an ambient of 10C to begin with. Capital cost likely to be higher than oil-fired, running costs maybe somewhat lower esp. as your target temp is modest so CoP should be high. Sounds like you need a local firm who are into heating commercial buildings in a serious way, has yr architect/surveyor not got any suggestions/contacts? If you say whereabouts it is someone on here may have a recommendation too.

You need to take a step back. Mitsubishi and Vaillant looks like it maybe 6kW flow rates, the other numbers are nonsense. The numbers you are looking are the extreme the pump can flow not the target flow rate. The important number is the target flow rate and max pressure rise to achieve that flow. You need to look at the pump curve and where you need to be on it. For those flow rates in most likelihood you will need 28mm. I am flowing around 1m3/h (16.6l/min), the path mine takes is quite convoluted about 12m each way in 28mm in Hep2O and the longest pipe in the UFH is around 110m (16mm pipe), all flowing from the ASHP circulation pump. Plus the same pump also pumps to a single fan coil in 15mm Hep2O another 15m each way in another direction. I would choose something you can get parts for locally, Hep2O is readily available on Sunday morning if you need a bit. Find your target flow rate and the max pressure drop first. Calculate the pressure drop on the proposed run second, size pipe to be under pressure drop max figure. If you piping goes up 4m and 2 that's a 2m head ride when you calculate. Put a bleed at high points, makes life simple when filling and getting of air. A tee will add little or no resistance, Hep2O is good for this also as the pipe inserts are thin wall steel. Or you can do these sections in copper and use straight connector between Hep2O and copper.

hi could you give me your opinions on 110mm waste traveling through 150mm concrete slab, its a garage conversion i have taken floor down allowing for 150mm hardcore 30mm blind DPM 1200 gauge this is where the existing soil pipe bottom level is, i have allowed 200mm for insulation and 70mm screed, and would like your opinions on how to move forward allowing for protection expansion and the possibility of movement due to the clay ground built off. i have checked nhbc & will be changing the toilet access from that T to Y connection, i have been scratching my head for ages on the best interpretation of best practices. thanks for your time

Pay £300 for somebody to do the math and advise? (heat geek will do it off visits or plans) You'll not need larger than 35 mm on a unit < 16 kW. You'll not need larger than 28 mm on a unit <8 kW. 22 mm plastic is marginal. splitting 28 copper into 2x 22 mm plastic or 3x 22 mm plastic then running to a 22>15 plastic manifold arrangement fine. Running a single 22 mm pipe for flow/return is unlikely to be ok unless <6kW.

I didn't see a copyright anywhere, so "play ball"

Tidier than my house now !!

Success!! I’ve got the dome thingy off 😃 I’m not sure if it will go back on again though, it didn’t come off without a fight. We have two of these taps, here’s the dome thingy from the other tap, the one that isn’t leaking. Incredibly thin material. And I’m delighted to say that the manufacturer is going to pop a new one in the post. I’ll keep a closer look out for a slow leak this time around.

(expletive deleted)