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If your house is that cold at night then you might actually want the heat to come in for a bit surely? The house heats up and it loses heat simple as that. How long it takes to lose it is dictated by the level of insulation, the decrement delay of the structure and the air tightness. In your case piss poor for the most part like my house. If you go to bed and the house is warm, then the heating goes off, it'll likely be bloody cold again before you wake up.

In the summer of 2020, having no building or home improvement experience to my name I decided to do some home improvements. With a friends son I put in some new garden fencing, repointed the stone driveway and refurbished the woodwork of the garden bench and table. Emboldend by these accomplishments I felt ready for a much bigger challenge; the construction of a building at the bottom of the garden to provide me with a workshop, gymnasium and bike storage facility. This to be done with my own hands and those of my friends son! There were 3 obstacles in the way - 2 trees and my lack of knowledge / experience. One of the trees was a large Bay leaf tree, located where I wanted to build and the other a more substantial Ash tree located next to where the building foundations would be. to be continued!

Days are getting longer, sap's starting to rise, snowdrops blinking, cockscombs starting to fill out, worst of all the GCNs are about to move: I need to crack on. That means one thing : get our SUDS stuff sorted out. Our Building Regs SUDS submission costs out at over £1500. Stuff that. Why the Hell do we always need a 'product' (in our case Polystorm -' or the like ') ? In our case ' ...or the like... ' is going to have to be a bit of effort a bit of planning and some digging. So far we have read round the subject : susdrain , got the susdrain manual , looked at a few examples of local projects , (Lancaster Uni swale) and the attenuation pond searched for SUDS images to give us some ideas. read the BH threads about it here @pocster found his hard work - (at least someone keeps it real ) Online, everywhere everyone is all for it. Best thing since sliced bread. And that makes me suspicious. Has anyone made their own raingarden, swale or attenuation pond? Is it really as simple as: get a plan, get a digger, just bloody do it? Has anyone got some images of their low-tech SUDS stuff they could share please? If so, would you put them on this thread somewhere? Ta!

@zoothorn What have you got to lose by doing the 1 radiator test? Why are you so dead against it? it is as if you don't want to understand why it is under performing. You can lead a horse to water...........

We could all ask as it was taxpayer funded ...

FFS Try at least turning the workshop radiator OFF to stop wasting precious heat in a non habitable room and see it that allows the rest of the house to get even a tiny bit hotter.

No reason why you couldn't get it right with just a bull float. Smoothing my slab with the float was the best part of the day. Rest of the team had gone home, just me and my Old man, it was strangely relaxing after the preceding mayhem and nerves. From the video you can see we just did one pass, a second pass would've taken out even more imperfections but wasn't really necessary in my case

Turn off all the rads except the one in your bedroom then it will hopefully be warm for you going to bed on the day you do the test. So when you wake up in the morning do this simple task please. It won't take all day to get the rad to temp and conduct this simple test that should have been done ages ago. If after 4/5 hrs that one rad isn't hot to touch then as @ProDave has repeatedly said your issue is with the ashp. But and it's a big but if it does actually get hot then you know then it's a plumbing issue involving the undersized rads. And for all our sanity please record the temp of the pipes on both sides of the rad every hour. This will then give you vital data you can use to prove this system isn't working.

Come on Zoot, learn to find some information for yourself rather than just asking us about everything. Try Google first and if you get nowhere after reading a few articles post back and I, and others, would be more than happy to help. You really are taking the pi55 now and I am increasingly feeling being taken for granted. Here's the link: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=setback+temperature

What floor covering are you having @SuperJohnG? A bull float finish could be sufficient. C35 here

Thank you everyone who has taken the time to comment - I really appreciate your help and it all played a large part in me being able to say the correct things to him. I've finally got an invoice without the vat added - I sent him a copy of my planning approval. So amazing to have BuildHub with it's amazing forumites offering great advice to us not-knowers-but-we're-learning. ?

Hi one and all, Bricklayer who's back on the trowel now after an extended break. I love the site and it's great how helpful people are. I'm hoping to help people where I can but to also learn and relearn as I'm a few years out of the game. I look forward to chatting. Cheers

I am new to self building and stumbled across your forum. I have spent a few days browsing various topics and am impressed by the quality of the advice, information and the kind manner in which it is given. Being new to self building at this stage I'm unlikely initially to be able to offer much advice to others but as my knowledge and experience grows I look forward to being able to contribute to others. I have chosen to start a blog ("Garden Escape") that records the journey of my first self build; a single storey building at the bottom of our garden that is intended to fulfill a number of functions - home gym, workshop, bicycle store and bolt hole - located in London I am completing the build under permitted development and in order to get an internal ceiling height in the range of 3 to 3.25m I am excavating to allow the building to start underground. This introduces additional complications and along with the building being close to the 3 neighbouring boundaries this seems quite a challenging project to undertake. I have plenty of time available to work on the project and along with a friends son I am aiming to minimise the amount of involvement of others to keep build cost down. I do recognise that I will need to pay for some skilled help and through this forum I will look for guidance on when that may be the case. The project started in the summer of 2020 by the removal of 2 trees and the excavation of a hole 12.5m by 6.5m by 1.2m deep, which is now shuttered up with plywood ready to restart in Spring 2021. I have appointed a Building Regulations inspector and had an initial site visit from a structural engineer (not yet appointed). The decisions I have so far made are: 1. Build using ICF either Isotex or Logix 2. Foundation to be Isoquick raft 3. Build in the principles of Passive housing but am not looking for cerification. 4. To build as close as practically possible to the neighbouring boundaries to maximise the building space. 5. The building is to include a toilet, shower and small kitchen facilities - mains drains approximately 40 meters away at the front of the house. I have done alot of reading up online in the last month and on this forum in the last couple of days but as you might expect I have a ton of questions. For now I would like feed back on the best way to get advice through the site. Should I post seperate questions into specific forums, put the queries through the blog, an initial post with all my current queries or message individual members whom appear experienced with the specific queries? Kind regards Andy

Then move your tools upstairs and your bed downstairs and just accept it as it is.

I'm of that mind that if you don't let it run CONTINUOUSLY for about three days you don't actually know what it's doing. Cost and noise be darned, at least you could say you'd done it then.

So essentially you are acting as a property developer? I work in the property development industry and if you are to follow the trend of mass housebuilders you would be applying many efficiencies to your build to ensure that you get maximum return after three years. In which case just put a gas boiler in and try to get your energy ratings up using other cheap fabric insulation methods. Many a council has tried and failed to get national house builders to put high levels of energy / sustainability / etc. into their homes but to no avail. Quite galling given the Govt has pumped billions into the housing market over the past years , pushing up share prices and making houses less affordable..... I could go on.

£100 for a pallet

Could you replace these with a drainage mound?

Can't show you any pics as I haven't done ours. But from the start I'd planned to DIY, partly as I work with suds type stuff for a living. Plus we always wanted something quite natural looking whereas many commercial products are functional but dull. It sounds like you already have a design, so if you know the intended outcome you can work out a functional design to limit the runoff rate and then figure out to make it aesthetically pleasing. FWIW I will be directing all our runoff to a ditch alongside our access track which I will form into a swale and use a pipe to limit the outflow and another to provide an overflow.

SUDS was hard work and bollocks in the end . Ultimately from memory the clever council required a void in the ground 10metres away from everything. This was of course impossible- it would have to of been centre of the site . It’s a ‘general’ thing they stuck on most planning irrespective of the site . So we argued . In the end they accept it was impossible- but would not remove the condition . So on paper I ‘failed’ to implement it . Yet I have seen other applications where Suds isn’t mentioned!! . Of course ! I annoyed the council so they like to be seen to punish . If they push on Suds then you need to throw it back at them and ask what they want . Of course they don’t know !

You typed the first 9 words on your last post that made sense the rest is jibberish , I’m taking a break from this thread again.

quire right but instead of providing the info we all hoped you went on a new tangent of setback! jesus man, listen to what people are saying

your quotes are not comparable on insulation values of walls. also suspect your concrete volumes are wrong at a quick glance either that or wall dimensions are different on some quotes

You first of all have to prove the system functional and all the components. given the history of your install it would be better for you to put the heating on, not auto etc just plain on all the time once it’s functional then start using set back

https://www.vaillant.co.uk/downloads/aproducts/controls/vrc-5/vrc700-user-manual-0020200782-03-1000692.pdf user manual and you tube video attached for everyone

What about an air lock in the pipework at the furthest away radiators?

Quite often its the lap near the ridge, if the felt is undamaged then no need to replace it, carefully peel back/lift up the ridge piece and stick it back down with a continuous bead of mastic or similar to seal the edge

Ian (educated guess), builders struggle to keep up with the new materials, technologies and specs etc. When it comes to compressive strength of materials and floor loadings i know several "engineers" who struggle to get their heads around it. If you have any doubts, err on the side of caution. The denser (not sure if thats a real word) EPS materials are not that much more expensive for piece of mind

Yes, depending on the weight of the structure, contents, usage etc.

I should note that I didn't have any height/clearance issues so didn't need to consider slimline fittings, so don't assume my decision to use GU10s was because the alternatives weren't any good (I don't know either way).

I would hazard a guess at high winds plus rain pushing the water up under a felt lap/joint

No, but it is an easy way to get your dwelling emission rate (DER) below the target emission rate (TER) if your stuck.

20 lt/min = 0.33 kg/s I got that from here: This is to get an idea of the power that the ASHP is capable of delivering.

As I said earlier in the thread we had C35 power floated for our slab but now I would use self levelling concrete and not bother with power floating.

I have a small cupboard above a door which houses, the incoming BT line( copper). incoming TV aerial. I then have cabled away from this central point, for example plenty of TV points wired when we were rewiring, made off into wall plates in each room and an F connector near the splitter, if TV is required, it’s connected in, if old one isn’t, it’s removed same idea for data. keeps it easy to manage the intruder alarm dump box lives in this cupboard too

Tis may be a clue. Are you loosing temperature to the floor where the pipes run? Get a cheap IR thermometer and see what the temperatures are in the areas around the pipes.

I would be more inclined to take a metal box before fitting to the wall and wrap it with air admittance tape. then fix the box to the wall and bring cables into box, then seal the 2 box fixings and 1 cable penetration. Same outcome considerably cheaper.

the insulating powder in the elements is hygroscopic. Same with Pyro cable.

It's easy, you just have to wait for his flash front door to open due to an HA set up glitch. The other option is crack a pipe and float up through one of the many holes in the roof! Hi Guy! ?

Yeah slab was fine bud. If I remember rightly it was C28/35 mix. How are you getting on?

Alll of this. The daft bit is, its not a new system. Its the same system everybody throughout europe, and here, would have had to deal with if they were sending or recieving goods from outside the EU.

loving this thread. We have now decided to build with ICF. We are only extending not a full build. I currently have quotes from Nudura and Warmerwall. Not too much difference except that Warmerwall include the hire of the bracing which I believe is significant. Still awaiting a response from AMVIC, Thermohouse and Durisol. also the Warmerwall blocks apparently have graphite infused into the EPS giving a slightly lower U value of 0.227 as opposed to Nudura 0.24. I don't really understand U values except that lower is better but is this minor difference important? Would appreciate advice from those more knowledgeable. Regards Mark

Subtle Onoff. I would say port of the left (port side) where the hot should be, white on the right and go a mid postition ( Honeywell) valve for roseeeeeee

Faulty rain water goods, Faulty Roof covering , or interface between the existing building and new photos of external would help

Yes you can. From the government guidance: Flooring materials (except carpets and carpet tiles) https://www.gov.uk/guidance/goods-and-services-you-can-claim-for-under-the-vat-diy-scheme

The Arotherm plus uses R290 (Propane)

No, but I did get a quote for it. Very expensive, and not worth it in my opinion. When you say sound transmission, do you mean impact sound or airborne. For impact sound, cheaper options which will work similarly well to the TorFloor RdB, though is more labour, is to lay your structural floor chipboard or ply directly onto the joists, then 6mm rubber matting from a company such as SoundStop.co.uk, then a slim underfloor heating system such as LoPro which is only 15mm thick. If you used something like plywood for your structural floor you could go as thin as 18mm making the whole thickness of your floor 39mm before you add your finished floor material, which can affix directly onto the LoPro. For airborne sound you can fill the void between the joists with failry dense mineral wool, that will help with sound insulation. More costly sound insulation that can be substituted for the 6mm rubber matting is something like Cellecta Screedboard 28 but this is heavy and expensive. It comes in thinner thicknesses as well, check their site. That is mainly for impact sound, but i laid it in a ground floor flat, together with flanking strips, and it muffled airborne sound coming up from the basement flat below us, so it will help a bit with airborne sound.

I am about to install an MVHR. All kit ready, waiting for marginally warmer weather. The reasons for my installation are: 1- Pollen filter to help cut down on my son's Hay Fever. 2- Air quality. I suggest people invest in a CO2 monitor and check the levels in a couple of rooms. You would be amazed how quickly it goes to red without ventilation. Trickle vents would bring cold (bitter cold these days) air in and I hate the cold air flow. Example: TV room ~23m2. Begin at 400-500, two people watching TV, 2-3 hours later in red (1200+). CO2 PPM below 800 is deemed good, above 1200 it is bad and it is acceptable in between. Imagine a similar size or smaller bedroom with 2 people sleeping for 8 hours. 3- It will reduce the gas usage somewhat. I mention this not from cost perspective but environmental angle. Some may argue that the CO2 cost of manufacturing etc probably outweighs this. I live in a 1970s detached house. It does have some gaps here and there which I will need to plug but the important rooms are reasonably airtight, so I am hoping it will serve to increase the air quality and remove the need to open windows and causing cold drafts and therefore providing better comfort. Looking at this purely from cost perspective is wrong in my opinion. Anybody who does, I assume (as an example) has no TV in their house as one can argue a TV provides 0 £ value, and is therefore just cost...so impossible to justify.

A 15mm (ish) plastic pipe for the wire, filled post hoc with airtightness foam. (Daughter works for Open Reach)

Every self builder makes choices as to what they choose to spend a bit more on, and what they choose to spend a bit less on. Some opt for fairly expensive external finishes, or front doors that cost as much as an MVHR unit, some opt to pay more for a plot because the location is worth it for them. For us it was very much "fabric first", getting a house that needed as little energy to run as possible, so we were prepared to invest more in the basic fabric in order to reduce energy use (and running cost) through life. MVHR was one of those choices made to reduce energy use, but having lived with it for a time we both now think that the energy saving is the least important feature of having MVHR. The air quality is just so much better than any house we've ever lived in that we'd have it even if it didn't reduce the heating bill a bit. That's not something that would have initially driven our decision to install it, though.