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@Tony K absolutely. In my experience, I've never came across a plumber or heating engineer as a sole trader type person who would ever design a system. My best friend has a plumbing / heating business and he wouldn't dream of doing any of that design side. Thats not to say it's all plumbers but I would say the vast majority. If you want something like that done, you'd be high end high cost with someone to get it properly designed, which would likely be even more then the £25k quoted. do you know the heat input requirements? there is a simplified spreadsheet on here somewhere, done by @Jeremy Harris that can give you the required nominal figures for your construction type to get a max required heat input which would help you size the ASHP. (Attached below) For the the hot water cylinder, 300l seems to be the go to number for a DHW storage with an ASHP as you store water at a lower temp hence you need more volume. It would suit a normal sized family. You could go smaller if there is less than 4 people but IMO better to have 300L, unless you are tight on storage. MVHR - Contact BPC ventilation, give them your plans and they will give you a price and design and its very easy to self install . Underfloor heating - Wunda for all the components (lots of threads to read on here about that) but general consensus is wunda system with a wilo pump option (very quiet apparently). The heat recovery unit is the MVHR. The above is what I have selected based on countless hours of reading on here and going with general consensus, but obviously your build method, U value, airthightness will all be specific to you. Do you have high levels of insulation and air tightness? what stage are you currently at? hope this helps Heat loss calculator - Master (1).xls

Do you need gas in your house anyway e.g. for cooking. If not and you choose ASHP then you cut out connection and standing charges for gas. If your primary driver is cost, gas if probably better as noted above. If you want to be green then ASHP gives you the credentials as your are not (directly) adding harmful stuff into the air.

That's not a "fault" of ICF though. They also had some blowouts doing the pour, but this is also the first time I have seen an ICF pour with no shuttering so not entirely surprising.

Go back after boarding, cut the holes, make sure the wires are still there and leave them within reach above the boards. I would MUCH rather mark out the holes on a bare plasterboard where you can still see where all the joists and PB joints are, than try and do it on a finished ceiling and risk drilling into the bottom of a joist or dwang. I learned very early on, don't trust other trades to cut downlight holes, not if you want them to be in a straight line.

Self level of you are bothered about height. If it only a few mm the adhesive can deal with it. . . Clear dust the SBR . And use a decent adhesive . Bal or Weber Weber are my preference.

Yeah, you could be right; more 'poly' than 'crete' Good luck!

Today the last batch of visor bands I printed passed their QA check so that makes 100 I've now shipped. I've got another 30 or so being hand finished. Poor old printer getting fed up printing the same thing over and over. They give you points for each band delivered and these can be redeemed for filament. You don't get enough to replace what you have donated but gives me the chance to build up a collection of different colours. Latest one I've ordered is glow in the dark. Will probably use it to print stuff for Halloween later this year.

Noticed that too which is bizarre as the bracing is supplied by Polarwall in the price - crazy not to use it when you have it Doesn't all ICF need a lot of bracing though? Doesn't matter too much with Polarwall, as I said, it's not rented but in the price. I know I would have bought the bracing if I had to rent it because of my build time..............

No need to think of it as one system at all. Especially the MVHR... It has nothing to do with heating and its sole job is to maintain good indoor air quality (whilst recovering some of the heat energy). So you can go to one of the many online companies that will do a design and supply you with all the components, BPC for example. You can then chose whether to fit it yourself. A lot of systems now just use semi rigid ducts that go back to a central manifold. Would just be a matter of pulling ducts through the house, hardly highly skilled. The units themselves are almost out of the box, screw to the wall, connect up and go. You'll just need somebody to wire it up, and you'll also have to commission it properly. Plenty here have done it and will give you loads of advice. Expect to pay anywhere from £2k for a supplied system for that size of house. Double that to £4k for supply and fit. Same goes for UFH... It's just pipes under the floor. Wunda will design your layout and sell you a kit. You can then install all the pipework yourself and have it terminate at the plant area. Let's say £1k for supply only. Then your left with the ASHP and cylinders etc... At this point it might be worth getting a plumber in to supply and fit. Fyi monoblock units are much simpler and cheaper than split, if a little less efficient. So, lets say £5k for 5kw ASHP and pipework connection to buffer tank and controls. Buffer tank, cylinder, controls, room stats etc, all traditional plumbing and you could get that all done for £3k or so. Maybe £5k if there are lots of pumps, manifolds etc required. But shouldn't be on a 100m2 house. I'd question the need for a buffer tank, but I'll defer to the likes of @Nickfromwales The supply and fit prices for all these new things are sky high as it falls under that new/different/eco category which means companies can charge a fortune. I've heard of people paying £15k for an ASHP... That's about £7k materials and £8k labour for a couple days of work. At a guess, if you did things seperately, and even paying for partial installations, no reason why you couldn't get that all done for about £10k-£15k. Edit: I've just spotted the post above and I swear I wasn't copying John!

You may have to settle for qualified

Go for ASHP if a long term investment. You’ll save money in the long term and it’s better for our environment, in a few years time younger buyers won’t want fossil fuel houses as we wouldn’t want to buy a house now heated by coal. Won’t be long before house builders won’t be allowed to install mains gas. It’s old technology. I’m not an eco warrior BTW just my mindset has changed since looking into the options for my own build.

Understandable concern but consider that the water pipes buried in the raft are continuous, no joins. I suspect and hope that the chance of a problem is remote. And attaching those pipes to the steel mesh when the raft is being constructed doesn't cost much. I have mains gas in the road in front of the plot and for a long time assumed that I would connect to it. But with the arrival of electricity tariffs with overnight electricity as low as 5p/kWh for a nighttime window, I have been persuaded that installing an ASHP is a better solution, especially for the long term.

If you thought that you needed gas for cooking, from a green and a health point of view (gas cooking turns out to be horrible for indoor air quality), may I please nudge you towards induction + electric fan oven? The combo has worked nicely for us. http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-IKEA-SMAKLIG-built-in-induction-hob.html And yes, ASHP is locking in green gains from our electricity getting greener, whereas gas locks you into burning stuff, already less green than electricity, for many many years. Rgds Damon

I know in grand scheme of things it won’t be huge amount but I like a good bargain and every little will help I guess.

Its very common to pour Durisol without shuttering. Most of ours was done without shuttering until......

I recommend the BPC quote, you really do not need to pay any more. MVHR is very straightforward to fit and set up. Flexi is easy to install and the system just runs very quietly in the background. Depending on the possibility of overheating in your property it might be worth considering a water coil or cooler. Lots of info on the forum.

Watch this weeks Building the Dream programme which is about an ICF build where as usual they run out of money.

In your situation I would use gas with skirting radiators. UFH only works well with a very well insulated floor and even then is less efficient than radiators. There is also the potential problem of finding repair/maintenance companies for ASHP. ASHP supply and fit companies seem to spring up and then disappear but finding a service company for gas appliances is easy.

Presumably when you fid your extension it was done properly and somewhere along the line someone considered thd structural engineering implications. Surely your neighbour should be having any such calcs before the build is done rather than throwing it up ad hoc and only then will the council get involved?

Hi @joth No information in the supplied UK manual. I found some supplementary info for cooling online. Its very easy to move the dip switch though I did need a magnifying glass to see it. We only tried it for 24 hours so can only say it was having a minimal effect. The floors were noticeably colder as the flow temp was set to 12*c. Will try again in next warm spell and report. The Ecodan is excellent, we have the 8.5 for a 285sqm home, well insulated. Its also very quiet when running. We moved in beginning of March and up to today the delivered energy was 4070 and consumed 677 so a COP of 6. We have a PV diverter so that will have had an impact on the figures. Try this link : http://www.mitsubishitech.co.uk/Data/Ecodan/Controls/PAC-IF041B-E_FTC3/PAC-IF041B-E_IM1.pdf Cooling ASHP.pdf

Humm... He may not need planning permission to build a car port or roof over part of his garden but he DOES definitely need permission if he wants to build a raised deck/balcony to sit up there. The problem is proving what it's for.

I have friends who have requested that I make some for them. That is what I am doing tomorrow. I made these three this afternoon as a test run. Nose wire in place (you need that if you wear glasses or you will steam up within seconds). A filter pocket, three layers of cotton and removable elastic. I figure we will have to wear these things for many months so a lasting version that can survive many washes is better (hence the ability to replace the elastic).

But ideally you wouldn't skim tge parts that are getting tiled

See if you can find a streetview pic of the tall bushes to support your argument

When I bought my risers from BP Plastics, they told me to use Silirub LNR silicone

Relative to 70°C outputs at 30°C/13.5%, 40°C/32.1%, 50°C/53.0%, 60°C/75.8% for rooms at 20°C and 'ordinary' radiators

If they're round cross section rubber O-rings you can buy the cord and just join with super glue. https://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/Seals-O-Ring-Cord/c19_4549/index.html?page=1 Need to make sure it's clean before flying with thinners or car brake cleaner etc, but easy to do.

I'd take the extension down or move the party wall in to my side and erect a rickety fence. Just to f*** him up.

Almost believable but you included a photo...

The builder has now asked for 4,000 pounds for the alteration . i am now screwed . Also he say that the build is 500mm to low . he said 29,000 to raise build . i know not what to do . i confront him . He get funny about the 33k I haggle , we agree on 25k i now must make savings . i will do no more plasterboarding to save money I like the beams and roof visible