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Go to B&Q and get a dozen rolls of loft insulation. Best couple hundred of quid and half day of work you'll ever spend. You want another 300mm on top of the joists.

+1

This is what I did I needed an additional 100mm, so I cut short pieces of 47x50, fixed these at 600mm centers, then further 47x50 were attached to the short pieces. In my case the whole lot was filled with spray foam. Then a reflective Air tightness vapour control layer and then a further set of counter battons.

See..

Re Ferdinand’s blog changing supplier doesn’t save any energy, may save money, and spending that on energy may make house warmer but still not saving energy. LED bulbs save electricity but the building will be cooler without the heat formerly produced by the luminaries, relevant in the heating season. I like it overall though.

Aren’t these free insulation offers means tested?

How much is very little? I must have spent at least £1000 on IWI (Celotex 3") and associated stuff like plasterboard, battens and VCL plus additional quilt for the attic spaces. Well worth it though as we slashed our heating oil consumption from 3000L to 1500L p.a.

The drain connection from the caravan to the mains does not need to be done "properly" for this, as long as you can find a way to get it to go downhill (otherwise you want a pumping chamber) It can even run on the surface or up in the air with supports if the site is awkward.

Some good info and ideas here in @Ferdinand's blog:

+1 to this. If you look carefully at the photo you can see the slot I have arrowed You need to put a flat blade screwdriver in to the slot, push back against the spring and turn it counter clockwise. Just do it half a turn at a time as if you go too far it won’t roll back on the frame.

I was on my roof this afternoon, sticking the rubbish corrugated flashing back on as it was starting to lift at one end. The lead flashing looks very tidy.

Those those little white nylon catches tend to have a slot in the middle into which you can insert a screwdriver. You then turn the screwdriver to adjust how far the catch projects (you might have to push the plastic ball back into the body of the catch before you can turn it). You never know, might be just enough to stop the door blowing open. You also try changing the catch for a new one of the same size - the spring inside the old one could have lost its oomph.

I run a dry lining-Framing business With tailing company also Fully booked till Easter 2023 Two TF companies have gone bust Causing a delay of 6 weeks I have work for the three gangs earmarked But probably would place them elsewhere if something fell into my lap There is always delays More so now with material shortages I’d concentrate on getting your bricks ordered and have everything in place

Thats the difficult decision we had to make. Never mind how the self-builder gets to cashlessness, many self builders get there in the fervent hope of achieving the opposite : a bit to spare. But, when after deciding to accept that we're going to have to have a lower VAT reclaim than if we'd submitted a full-on Completion Certificate , to find that HMRC are Hell-bent on trying to apply a hidden trigger for the application process (Occupancy) is more than a little annoying. I have spent several hours reading today: HMRC internal Guidance, BH, @jack, @newhome 's posts, Finance and Tax Tribunal decisions (Category Builders 37, subcategory Do It Yourself, 37.1), and the like , I see it is common for inconsistency to reign. In fact the only thing that is consistent is inconsistency. @jack blows a fuse about it all over this sub-board. I'm currently reading up on what consitutes occupancy, or rather which aspects of a self build automatically discount the classification ' fit for occupancy' . Hell, thats a mine field too. Off to go and swim the dogs in the river. 'kin' 'ell am I cross.

Door locks are tricky and need decent tools as well as the knowledge. The knowledge is on youtube. But the first time will still be trcky. The tools are in the shops. For a one-off, I recommend getting a joiner.

The operation is somewhat as you say but also prevents vacuum build up in the waste system when you flush. If you don;t have one of these you may have a breather somewhere else on your system, usually out side somewhere and / or a vacuum breaking valve (Called Air admittance Valve - AAV) somewhere in the house. If it is a new build building control won't sign it off without one or the other or both depending on your situation.

It don't help having to listen to Tony Blair on Broadcasting House this morning. He may well be right, but I hate listening to him.

If I could go back to the second second of the universe's creation, I would edit it. But we are only given half an hour. Richard Feynman was asked to explain his Nobel award winning research in 2 minutes. He rightly pointed out that if he could do that it would not have been worth a Nobel.

Not one of the Isles of Scilly @pocster the pimple.

The clue is in the name @SteamyTea .... come on wake up lad. Bad as @pocster

Was the claim filed within 3 months of you receiving the valuation in April? If so that could help.. The claim form says your claim must be filed within 3 months or you must explain why it wasn't in a covering letter. I think I would take a two prong approach in the letter.. 1) Provide evidence to support your view of when it was completed and make meet the 3 month rule. 2) Point out would wern't aware the "back dated" valuation had been issued until date in April and even though this was before you were complete you managed to file the claim within 3 month of you receiving it. Presumably the valuation officer doesn't have evidence to the contrary?

Think , then set target u-values, air tightness, energy demand

20% hydrogen can be run into standard boilers without any changes. Green hydrogen at 20% blended gives about a 7% reduction in CO2 due to the lower calorific value of Hydrogen. The Gas industry is lobbying the government hard to get Hydrogen as an option for heating homes, without it the gas network asset they own has no value. Blended grey Hydrogen is being pushed as a stepping stone to, blended blue hydrogen (made from gas but with CCUS), and on to 100% green hydrogen (produced from electrolysis using renewables). The lobbyists are pushing hard for a door to be left open for Hydrogen "ready" boilers. A recent unofficial press briefing is suggesting they've got their way. My view is this is a disaster for Net Zero by 2050 if they have. Blue hydrogen is being mis-sold and over-promised by the gas industry. The process releases more climate change gasses than burning natural gas directly, when you include the fugitive methane released. Heating your home with green Hydrogen would require 6 times more renewable energy than heating it with a HP. We will struggle to build the amount of renewables required to achieve Net Zero by 2050, without needing 6 times more of them for the heat in buildings part of the equation. (Unless the Unobtainium catalyst is discovered mentioned by @SteamyTea) Green Hydrogen is definitely needed, to replace the 70,000,000 tonnes of grey hydrogen current produced plus de-carbonising the industries that are hard to electrify. Unless there is a breakthrough in green hydrogen research that significantly reduces that amount of energy it takes to produce it, its going to struggle to replace the existing uses for hydrogen, let a lone find new uses. If a door is left open for hydrogen ready boilers, in the hope of a research breakthrough, there's going to be a very low take up of ASHPs in the existing housing stock, and ASHPs are the only current clean technology that can get close to the the day-to-day running costs of a gas boiler.

A gas boiler could be converted to run on just about any fuel. Hydrogen has some specific challenges that need to be overcome first: Production in a zero carbon and energy efficient manner. This is not easy as there will be many calls on power being generated, and until some catalyst made from unobtanium comes along, it is more efficient to just store thermal energy in bricks and water, like 7 million homes already do. Transmission. Natural gas is a large molecule that is fairly inert, so is easy to pump, pipe and store. Hydrogen, at 101.3 kPa has a 0.01188 MJ.l-1, Natural Gas, at the same pressure, has 0.0364 MJ.litre-1. So you have to pump more litres as the existing gas system cannot be run at a greater pressure than it already is. Hydrogen Embrittlement. Because hydrogen is a tiny molecule/atom that is reactive, it wants to attach to other molecules/atoms. This can significantly change a material's properties. So reliability could be a problem (though I am told gas boilers are pretty unreliable anyway, usually the control systems). Cost. Even the cheapest hydrogen is expensive, and then the CO2 has to be captured and processed and put into long term storage (some real prices in this show https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0010qb7 ) It sounds a great idea, couple of wires into a bucket of water, tap of the gas from one electrode and put it into the gas grid. If it was that easy, we would have done it decades ago. Not as if we have just discovered hydrogen, been about since the second second of the universe's creation, well the middle bit was, the outer bit took 370,000 more years to combine with it.

Welcome. Plan your work and work your plan Marvin (Not like me still retrofitting)

Have a full medical first...you would be surprised how many self builders have heart attacks.

@Dave Jones will do it in 2, and fit you a new gas boiler during his tea break.

So are you building an extension, then demolishing the existing bungalow, and building a new structure and connecting it to the extension? I doubt HMRC will see that as a new build and you won't be able to claim VAT back. I'd leave everything as it is until you get planning and do a proper demolition and rebuild so there is no doubt.

I wish I understood it, tho i did understand the 1 and 3/4 hrs bit ?

I think the glazing and stonework around the door looks beautiful. I'd have little faith in any modern window or door company keeping that looking as good as it is. I think I'd be looking for a good joiner to make and fit a new timber door. Please don't go anywhere near PVC. The PVC window on the right doesn't look great and a PVC door with that ornate stone and glazing would look worse.

Have you considered knocking the chimney and the wall between the kitchen and the living room and making your kitchen larger this way. Much cheaper than an extension. You could put external insulation down to the footings and out. This should bring the floor inside your thermal envelope. No need to dig. As an alternative consider floor coverings that aren't cold to the touch like tile and stone. Use LVT, lino, carpet, laminate or wood instead. Don't be too hasty on this. ASHP isn't a panacea. Concentrate on minimum heat demand first. Tricky and expensive to combine all. I would discount solar thermal and a wet stove. Their day has passed. Good plan. Probably should be the first thing you do before you insulate. My mantra for proceeding. 1. Sort any bulk water issues. 2. Ventilation (preferably continuous mechanical, ideally with heat recovery) 3. Airtightness (cheap and hugely effective) 4. Improve u values. (Including windows) 5. Consider your heating system. 6. Renewables (PV) If you are determined to have a wood burner, get a small one. ( They make the house colder when not in use and like asbestos leave plenty of nasties in the internal air) Put it in a central area. Use a proper insulated flue and run it hard when in use. Don't connect it to the water. Just open a few doors to heat the house. If logburning is a lifestyle you enjoy and are committed to it long term @Thedreamer has a nice setup with an EASHP.

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