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Showing content with the highest reputation on 07/23/21 in all areas

  1. I'm pleased to say finally we are insulated and have render. Credit to our plasterer who has been brilliant and done an amazing job. The colour is Ecorend marble white so is a very clean white looking colour rather than the yellow/grey looking off whites we saw but we like it. The plasterer came in the early hours before the sun as it was blinding trying to apply it in direct sun over the past couple of weeks. Once we have the aggregate round the house and plants etc I don't think it will look too crazy. Waiting for the anthracite guttering to be fixed on and some of the plastic work and roof edging needs some TLC and if I hear the word 'mastic' again - which seems to be the answer to everything cladding and plastic related I'll strangle the builder. Also need fan covers attaching and our lights putting on which should be next week. Thought I'd share these pics. We have started to apply Bitumen paint on the bricks below DPC and this has smartened up the area where the bedroom/dressing room is where it is the split level inside with steps and rooms are higher than the rest of the house. We haven't finished all the way around yet. Loving the front door now with the render. Despite it being black in a silver frame and the anthracite windows we think it looks fine. This is the back of the house into our utility with the stable door. The hose pipe isn't on the render it's fixed onto a galvanised post. Of course we still have lots of garden work to do, no double garage and no dressing room etc but prices so high we have shelved things for now. Probably the most exciting non-house related news is we bought a boat which took a chunk out of the house budget!
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  2. Members take from BH content what they will. We cannot make assumptions about content not read. Or read but not remembered.
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  3. Hi all, I've been meaning to say hello for a while - hoping I could share some more detailed info of the project we're just embarking on! I'm an architect and have finally got into a position to undertake a self-build. The project is an extension and renovation of an 1860's cottage which is rather small at present. We will be going from 55sqm to circa 135. First phase is the extension and we are adopting PH principals (airtight, triple glazing, reasonably well insulated, MVHR) - phase 2 will be the refurb of the existing cottage element later down the line (over insulating, new windows, doors etc). I'm enjoying the chat and info here already. Through the job we're generally presented companies and products via CPD and sales - it's nice to see and hear people recommending products from experience, likewise suppliers etc. I'll be managing and undertaking a lot of the build myself. Contracted works so far are groundworks and timber frame (stick build on site). For anyone on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/crouch_bungalow/ I'll hopefully start a blog soon. Let's see how much time I have... Cheers. BP
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  4. It's depressing to see so many dodgy roofing job posts here. Our Slater's have nearly finished, here's their work to date: I've never had a roof slated before, or seen one close up. But I'm very happy.
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  5. Yesterday on a hot tin roof VID-20210723-WA0003.mp4
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  6. there is an upstand on a dry valley to support small cuts.
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  7. Looking very sharp ?I personally love the colour if going for white, go white.
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  8. Congratulations, almost there!
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  9. If the pressure in "mm of water" is greater than the depth of water in your trap you will get bubbling. So have you got a very shallow trap in the shower? Have you fitted the innards if it's a top access trap? Try topping them up with water slowly to making sure they are full of water before doing the test.
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  10. Like I said it's more of an English method for doing valleys. Most tiles don't have a tile and a half version and those that do would have extreme wait-times just now. Usually when I do a small cut it has a decent bit of the tile buried so it's not a weak point, but based on how this is done I wouldn't bet on it.
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  11. 16k and 18kW, jeez that is a hell of a price tag and a huge heat pump. If you want to size your pump the easiest way is to use the heat loss calculator. You know this. You've been knocking around on this forum since day dot so all the discussions r.e. heat loss, ASHP sizing, cooling mode via the slab etc have all been covered at great length whilst you've been here. You're not new to self build either, so you know that RHI is crap if your house is built to a high spec. Surely you are building to a high spec so why bother with RHI?
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  12. That is a big ASHP and price tag, is it a big house? I have just had a quote back for 9kw R32 Monobloc (£2.1k) and 250 litre pre plumbed cylinder and 50 litre buffer for £4.5k supplied, and £1.5k for the under floor heating parts, at trade prices (No RHI scheme required or MCS20) Beats the £12k quote i got from another supplier just for supply. Now i need to find someone to install it! (any ideas how to track someone down?)
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  13. Looks expensive to me. I paid £11K excl. in 2017 for a 12kW Nibe + Cooling module, with a 500l Nibe UVC, 200l buffer, Modbus module and controller, installed. Nibe seemed more expensive than most, but offered the cooling module, which few others did at the time.
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  14. Have a look at RED heat pumps they look pretty good Great looking design as designed from scratch and not just a revamped air on unit I think they might be expensive though
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  15. Have a look here: https://www.heatpumps.org.uk/manufacturers/ There is a large green one, can't remember the name of the company, but been told they are alright. Kensa make GSHP down here, but they buy in the compressors.
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  16. Toughened, and laminated if it is to stop you falling. Toughened only if it is to stop you getting cut.
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  17. Who is designing (liable) and what are their objectives? (comfort / opex v capex / ethics & efficiency / future proofing) Start with outlets. What are your flowrates (blended, hot, cold) and time to temperature requirements? (e.g. I'm fine to wash hands in anything >20C and always dishwash so don't give a monkeys about the kitchen tap hot water whereas SWMBO would freeze to death if washing hands at <35C and insists on washing kitchen oddments by hand in hot water and scattering them about their place) Washing machine and dishwasher and toilets can have negligible flowrates. Then the fixtures. What dynamic pressure do they require? Some are well designed and happily operate from 0.5 to 5 bar. Others are garbage and need 1.5-3 bar else they barely dribble or make a racket. Then diversity. What needs to run simultaneously and (how far) can the flowrates drop when multiple outlets are in use? (e.g. kid brother runs two showers off a 35 kW combi - 10L/min each individually or 7.5L/min each if simultaneous is fine by him given how rarely this actually occurs; bathrooms in use together being rarer than fixtures in use together. Then heat source. If you're in any shape or form interested in future proofing you'll have stored hot water of some form (tank or thermal store) rather than a combi. That will dictate positioning. Combis are cheap. Combis can also heat tanks in addition to supplying direct, and your don't care about the distance from combi to tank quite do much as you do combi to outlet. Tank for bathrooms so that you can utterly deluge a bath or shower at your full incoming mains flowrate. (store the water at 45-48C so that you don't need thermostatic mixer on bath, then use taps designed for a gravity pressure system that can do 30+ litres/minute at 1 bar, fed from you 22 mm off the tank) Combi then to supply ensuite and kitchen/utility directly with neverending supply. Like two boilers but not two boilers. Downside is heat losses in non heating season (from tank and pipework). When gas gets banned or ethics are a consideration you switch to heat pump to the tank and a long pipe run in 15 mm pex to ensuite/kitchen. Fit a temperature controlled and timed secondary return to this so that you're not waiting too long in mornings without keeping it hot unnecessarily overnight and whilst out etc. Combi probably has a keep warm timer on it too. Nothing wrong with viessmann boiler itself. Just their UK operations. The other thread was using the incorrect settings to control the boiler. Changing the setting (after also changing every part on the boiler pointlessly) addressed the issue.
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  18. You can never get the soil stack to hold more than the shallowest trap holds, plug the top of the svp and the manhole then push the manometer hose through a trap, WC is easiest blow in some air or water, the guage should stay at a positive pressure marked with a pencil after a few mins and not leak away to nothing 50mm of difference in level would be good but with shallow seal traps 38mm might be the best you will get
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  19. I understand it needs to be toughened and laminated as there is no independent handrail. I think the minimum thickness is 13.5mm but check with the supplier. When they do a system they normally have all the calcs to back it up.
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  20. The regs say positive pressure of at least 38mm water gauge for at least 3 minutes. For below ground pipework it is 100mm.
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  21. You can pick them up for peanuts secondhand on Gumtree. Often you'll have to take tools and remove / transport it yourself. Can be pretty cheap too as people want shot of the memories etc...so turn that to your advantage. You may of course have to deal with a grieving family, telling you how Mum loved going up and down. They might also smell like when Brian Potter's packed up in the power cut... Or make one... Add rope or cheap engine hoist... ?
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  22. I'd fit the gear next to the two bathrooms. 15 mm pex to each bathroom, running past the appliances (sink first, shower last, so that the sink responds fastest), and lagged. I'd run 15 mm pex to the other end of the house too. Either live with the matter ensuite pressure dropping if the kitchen/utility are used and share. Or run two pipes one to ensuite and one to kitchen. In kitchen hot fill the dishwasher and tee kitchen tap before dishwasher so that the pipework up to it is warm more often than not. 14 metres of 15 mm pex gives you a 1.5 litre dead leg. That'll clear in a few seconds..9 secs at 10l/min. 18 at 8l/min. Again lag it the whole way. Check pressure drops at desiredflowrates. Sounds like you have plenty available. If you want to do better then you'll need hot water recirculation and a single 22 pex across the house. Else 22mm is dumb as it comes without recirculation. You'll be waiting an age for hot water. Electric trace heating to kitchen tap is the other inefficient option. Depends whether you use a dishwasher out not... The volumes that matter for response are between heat source and the outlet.
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  23. Same here (we are staying in an old mining hamlet across the valley whilst working on the workshop) - this used to be my great granny's house. My grandad, and great-aunties and uncles all grew up eating fruit and veg grown in the 'contaminated' soil. Two of them have lived here all of their lives and were daily consumers of potatoes and veg from the garden. All have lived into their 90s. I suspect that the arsenic is a preservative if anything! It was heartbreaking having to scrape away the topsoil on our plot last year.
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  24. Have you also looked at armtherm? https://www.armatherm.co.uk/
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  25. Give @joth's post on bedroom overheating in spring a read.. then you might change you mind ? Some people do report bedrooms being 19C vs. 21C in the winter. We don't think this will be a concern for us, but the Comopost will allow us to add a very small amount of supplementry heating if it's ever required.
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  26. @Murdo We had Howden LVT (Quickstep) fitted last year. It's the one area in the self build where we have had some snagging issues. This has now been sorted following the fitting of a couple of thresholds/expansion joints, but the staff who advised about this not being necessary for the size of the area we were fitting. A pain taking of skirting boards. It's fine now and the LVT stuff is very robust no scratches, easy to clean and waterproof etc.
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  27. I assume she's scratch the ceramic/porcelain finish, so maybe something like this might work? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ronseal-KBTUE-Kitchen-Bathroom-Enamel/dp/B001GUAAQW/ref=asc_df_B001GUAAQW/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=256502455094&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15255175247868001783&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045958&hvtargid=pla-426979660982&psc=1 Or maybe https://www.drench.co.uk/p/cramer-professional-scratch-chip-repair-kit?ppc=true&gclid=CjwKCAjwruSHBhAtEiwA_qCppvVTxOUctNEOrE_8mYsIs0t37nGIWIeiAdWMZhxpcEda1uEzcAazyhoCPvoQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
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  28. About 80% less heat conduction relative to dry autoclaved aerated concrete
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  29. 2 boilers is just way overkill. Scrap that idea Ok, does the alpha have a secondary hot return connection, or will they allow you to feed that back into the cold inlet? If you have no option for hot return then your problems can only be managed by reducing pipe size to outlet and getting rid of the huge amount of 22mm supply pipework ( as that is where all of your major dead-leg issues will stem from, not the pipe runs ). Centralise the boiler and manifolds wherever you like, and run a HRC to the furthest most outlets to suit. You can run 22mm feeds to 2x DHW manifolds either ends of house for max flow rates, that would be best case for flow, but they would need to be serviced by an HRC and be worst case for efficiency.
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  30. Drill one 50mm hole in from the 3rd boss on the fitting under the branch, then T everything waste wise in, inboard of the beam? At worst you'd be drilling 2x 50mm holes and then going through those 2 holes either side of the boss once per side? If a BCO is involved you will need to demonstrate that you've drilled the beam in accordance with the MI's Check before drilling !
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  31. Put the insulation in after first fix mate. Not an issue with posi joists. Get some decent safety glasses before tackling it too - you really want goggles but they fog up so quick at this time of year!
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  32. Philmac universal connector will get you down to 25mm. Measure the pipe first and get the right coupler. https://plasticsuppliesdirect.co.uk/philmac-universal-transition-joiner-black-27-34mm-x-25mm-3-4-utc-x-pol.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwi9-HBhACEiwAPzUhHC0KLEE9TW7GqBYtsTd-mGS3L714LjIfyElq6ds3PS2bQx3uNQExrxoCziQQAvD_BwE Why 22mm? You're underground so you need to use either 20mm or 25mm MDPE.
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  33. In that case you can do it in a couple of stages, i dont know of a 35 to 22 fitting.
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  34. The OP isn't building flats...
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  35. RHI paid out considerably more for me, but even at £3,290 would cover the difference on a new build. Cost of Electricity v. Gas is in parity today, but Gas will soon be loaded with the green tax that will be coming off of Electricity, and then I expect additional carbon taxes to be added to Gas to make it less competitive. There is no compelling reason to install a Gas boiler in a new build, let alone Oil or LPG
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  36. Apart from future proofing your home at no additional cost (with the help of RHI), rather than using a technology with a shelf-life.
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  37. I nearly watched it last night, dont think ill bother now.
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  38. What do they call high electricity costs? That is probably cheap developer house and lack of insulation rather than anything fundamentaly wrong with ASHP heating.
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  39. Similarly, we have a drying area in the utility room, and I fitted an MVHR extract into the ceiling above one of those hoist up clothes racks. Works extremely well, and dries stuff very quickly:
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  40. No Radon is high in this area so they say but who knows just have to do what we are told, same as contaminated land. The man who lived here before has grown fruit and veg and is 93 but I can not grow anything in the soil, but the council must be right ?
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