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Wasn't sure where to post this but here's our observations after storm Eunice passed through. Initially we watched the storm gather, we could see that that the wind was strong but from inside there was no indication, no sound, no draughts. As the wind picked up something we were not expecting happened, we could hear and feel a draught. We have two fairly large sliders and at the peak of the storm, the wind was pushing against the slider so much that there was airflow between the slider and the fixed pane. Not much and not continuous but it was definitely happening. Our air test was done to passive standards (positive and negative pressure) so we're fairly certain there is no problem with the sliders because if there was then the negative pressure test would have exposed that. Anyone have a contradictory view? A short time later we had a power cut , that doesn't matter. The house is warm, the Sunamp is fully charged (minus two showers), what could go wrong? Well, we're fully electric so there was no cup of tea to sup whilst watching the storm play out. Information gleaned is that the power will be out for over 48hrs And of course there's no heating. But what does that matter because the house is toasty warm at about 21.5° and we've not had any heating on for days. And the house is almost airtight, apart from the few blasts that squeezed through the sliders. Thanks to @Adrian Walker's advice we have a CO2 monitor, well we bought a couple. It was quite amazing how quickly the CO2 PPM started to increase after the power cut. Obviously the MVHR was having a bit of "quiet time", so now we had a toasty warm passive house that was not working as planned. As night drew in it got worse because lots of candles were lit. The only solution was to open some windows and get some airflow. Out of interest, it was only the monitors that informed us of the poor air quality, it wasn't something we sensed. So, we have a toasty warm passive house but with no airflow so a couple of the 'tilt and turn' windows on opposite sides of the house were tilted. That fixed things, air quality wise, very quickly but it also meant the passive house was now going to cool down more rapidly than planned. There are no heating options, apart from the bio-ethanol fire) so we were getting ready to break out the cold weather gear. Fortunately power was restored about 12 hours after the cut. We have a fair amount of PV, and it was quite a sunny storm but of course the PV trips off in a power cut. We were meant to have a battery system but the that didn't happen. The M&E individual who specced that (and didn't provide) had wired in an emergency power supply from which we could run the fridge and freezer in the event of a power outage, which was a pretty smart idea, shame it never happened, but actually my advise to anyone building to passive standards, if they have a battery system then make sure that the MVHR will run off the batteries. That's the main thing we've learned. If you have built to passive standard and have a battery system, make sure your MVHR can run from the batteries in the event of a power cut, I suspect most battery systems will power an MVHR unit for ages. Without that, you're not in a passive house anymore. Oh, and we had the first BBQ of the season this evening. Bit nippy!

Yes, they are good quality. We looked at a whole raft of window suppliers and ended up with Velfac. The quality is certainly comparable to Internorm and Rationel, for our build they came in at 20% less money. Having said that it was a very painful pricing process, started out at 25k and reduced to 15k. We also have roof lights from RoofMaker that we are very happy with.

Stuff he's given me off the top of my head: -2200W dust extractor. -His old uPVC front door is my new back door. -Picture frame guillotine. -Velux he never fitted. -Elliot pillar drill -Wet tile cutter -Various steel sections -Garage shelving -1983 Ford Capri I think often it's stuff he gets hold of and doesn't have the space for! Works both ways. When the main switch in his vintage skeleton cu burnt out one night I was there in the early hours to repair. Always giving him steel, little leccy bits and latterly 3D printing stuff. We go back 45 years.

My advice is buy one with ducted air intake so it makes it a room sealed stove with no need for a vent to let cold air into the room. And make sure that duct supplies both primary and secondary air (not all do) and if the house is well insulated you won't want a big stove. Armed with that specification we spent a day visiting all the stove shops within the locality. We saw a huge range of stoves, some with what looked like "numbers out of a hat" price tags with no particular reason why that one was 2 or 3 times the price of another one. We ended up with a Mendip Stoves Churchill 5kW because it looked nice a blend between traditional and modern, and it was at a sensible price being sold as ex display, so it was there to take home the same day. We have been very happy with it.

Apart from Green Building Store, Internorm and Rationel can anyone recommend any other suppliers of triple glazed PH rated windows? Ideally you have installed yourself and can speak from experience in terms of dealing with the company/cost etc? Thanks I should say that I am particularly interested in any Lift and Slide doors that have low profile frames but are still passive rated. For standard windows this is less of an issue. Also any tips on PH rated entrance doors would be useful thanks.

We left you with a poured slab and we were chomping at the bit to get the ground floor Nudura walls up before the end of the year. Well, I am glad to report we got there - almost ? After getting the slab done, I figured I'd get ahead a bit and it would be a good idea to talk to someone about the waterproofing we would have to put on the outside the walls before we started backfilling. To cut a long story short using waterproof concrete in walls such as these is a complete non-starter, so Type-B waterproofing cannot be used. Visqueen's R400 Radon barrier is not an effective waterproofing method and so we now face having to use a Type A and a Type C waterproofing method - basically this will mean for us a waterproof screed being added to the floor with channel ducting where the walls meet the floor and the "egg-crate" plastic material across the screed and up the inside of the walls. That should eat into our contingency ? ? ? But also it meant a dash to get some waterproof slurry to paint round where the Nudura blocks would be laid the following morning and mixing and painting it on under floodlights (it's the dark grey stuff in the picture to the right). Oh what fun!! But, the following day we were up early to welcome out walls, the bracing and two fine chaps (Louie and Harry) from The Fell Partnership who would be helping us Day 1 to get the first row in place. We then scurried around unloading things off trailers and flat beds, and installing the waterbar between those pieces of upright rebar. By 10am we were ready to go. By about 2pm we had most of the first row in and part of the second row (see below). If it hadn't been for some non-standard corners in the design, we would probably have been at Row 3, but that's what you get for following a design religiously ✝️ (FYI - the T-corner is all to do with the design - don't ask yet) On the second day we were left to our own devices, I had to make a dash to collect some extra Nudura parts and some waterproofing equipment (due to the direction our waterproofing system now had to take) so we made a later start but still we were very pleased to get up to 4 rows installed. Day 3 we were ready to begin installing all the bracing system, and after hitting her head SWMBO was made to wear the Christmas present from her children. and on Day 4 it inevitably rained in Cornwall ? , but before our help arrived again we had managed to just squeeze a block on to Row 6 (the final row before the first pour of concrete) After the help on Day 4, we continued to finish things off on Day 5 by constructing part of an internal load bearing wall, and a wall with the only window opening at this level which will be for the family bathroom. FYI - the rest of that side of the house will consist mainly of windows into bedrooms plus some extra small sections of walling (to be determined) Where we were not able to complete things before the pour happened (time didn't allow) was where the internal wall meets the external wall and there are two doorways to construct (this is why I said we almost made it). I will have to do these in the New Year, mixing and pouring the concrete by hand (just under 1 cubic m) so that'll burn off the Christmas pudding ? A week later (during which we had some more high winds) I came back down to finalise a few bits (like lack of scaffold planks and bracing in some places) to be greeted by a snaky ? wall. so that was all straightened up, the rest of the bracing fitted, and the Nudura joist hangers inserted. (Between straightening and the pour we had Storm Barra, but my remedial work held up nicely) I won't bore you with pictures of hunky men doing manly stuff with concrete pumps etc. but suffice to say it all went very well, with no leaks or blow outs so "he who shall not be named from Channel 4" would have been very disappointed if he was allowed onsite. And so, last weekend (after a midweek pour in the remnants of Storm Barra) I was able to deconstruct the bracing and we are now the proud owners of some freestanding, high-wind-proof walls. Really happy at the attention to detail that Louie and Harry paid to ensuring the walls were straight and true before the pour began - right up my street. So now we have a tidyish site again (for a short while) ready for steels installation in the New Year. We have to finish off the internal wall, then waterproof and backfill outside, and install joists and flooring before we can continue with building the upper floor walls. We're hoping that by middle of next year we can start on those upper floor walls. So until 2022, and the inevitable next lockdown, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas ? and a Happy New Year ?

Afternoon all, Looking into ordering our windows. We plan on installing ourselves so want supply only. Aim is for triple glazed aluminium or timber alu clad. Anyone have any experience with this or recommendations? Obviously quality is important but balanced against a tight budget. Supply will be to Suffolk. Thanks in advance J.

Okay, that is good news that you have extra land available should you need it. No 1, get a firm quote for a mains sewer connection, don't ASSUME anything. No 2 get a percolation test done if No 1 looks too expensive, it is virtually impossible to design a private treatment system without that, and (certainly up here BC would not let you proceed without.)

Siting the tank and the pipework to it is the easy bit. That is just reading building regs for where you are and applying them. The difficult bit, and often the "make or break" of a system is the drainage field. THAT is what you have to work out FIRST. It can end up taking up a LOT of space and that does not look to be a huge plot. so the drainage field needs designing first and then you work out what space is left where you might be able to squeeze the treatment plant into. The basics are you first dig a test pit or 2 and perform percolation tests, and then some calculations tell you what area of drainage field you need. then looking up the BR clearance distances you work out will that area of drainage field actually fit, and if so where, and what space is left over for the treatment plant and pipework etc. What, if any of that has been done? P.S this should all have been done at planning stage. I hope you don't get any nasty surprises in this process.

@Omnibuswomanpost floor plans showing the location of all sanitary appliances - including the location of any condensing boiler which needs a foul drain connection - and I’ll take a look. However keep the layout simple, place ICs at all changes of direction and gradient, place a(S) VP at the highest IC/MH and you won’t go wrong. Work out the inlet invert level of the treatment plans and work back from there. Falls should be around 1:40 and cover needs to be a minimum of 600mm for a driveway and 300mm for a garden. Quite straight forward to do a plan - a bit more complicated root work out falls and invert levels. Also depth of cover will determine the diameter of any ICs or MHs.

All of the above contain good advise But your building control will tell you how he or she wants it’s done I wouldn’t over complicate things Keep it really basic for planners I’m doing our drainage design at the moment We have a 70 Meter run from our tank to the dyke at the bottom of the field I’ve shown this as 100 mil pipe Which is fine with planners BC will probably insist on 150 mil Two and a half times the price i wit and see

Just read this. https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/generators-for-solar-panels

All direct electric heaters convert 1kW of electricity into 1kW of heat they are all equally efficient

You're on quite a steep slope with the tank below the house, so fine there. The drainage field size is done by calculation. The bit between the house and the tank is straightforward but you need to post up a floor plan. It would be best to have stack pipes on outside walls rather than the centre of the footprint. These are often internal, so the drainage is at the edge of the slab. Are you doing a separate system for rainwater?

You have a lot more there than just one, or a pair of wires coming out of a hole in the wall to a socket. There are cables inside the trunking, cables outside the trunking, cables going along the top of the wall. A lot more to unravel and understand before you can devise a solution. Is the garage being rebuilt or something else happening.

You will probably have far more than 1 pipe exiting from your slab, remember you cannot tee into a pipe under your slab as you wouldn’t be able to show how you can clear a blockage. So you will probably have a few pipe exiting. The main thing is making sure you have the fall to the tank, you need a 1::40 fall to the tank from the house. You also don’t really want the tank in an area you will have vehicles, you can no problem but you will need extra concrete and stuff to protect the tank, so better in a grass area out of the way. Get your floor plan with every single waste water pipe marked on it, toilets showers, kitchen, bootroom, laundry. You can then have a bit more of an idea. getting the soakaway to work is a different matter and you will need to look into a percolation test, you will need this for the rainwater anyway.

Not sure I’m going be a lot of help, but as I understand it from our foul drainage design, the drainage field also needs to be a min of 15m from any building, so you might need to allow for that too. At least that’s what the drainage designer told me. I was also told we need sufficiently slow percolation/infiltration rates. In our case the tests were too fast if we dug down, so we have a minimal dig and then 500mm of cover over the top to give the right rates.

Just want to say that I really enjoy these threads. Seeing everyone’s opinion come together to help guide design is great. Thanks to all those qualified peeps who spend their time doing it for free (and obv have a passion and enjoy it). Thanks!

Have you not contacted a different PV installer local to you? FYI, there are lots of PV installers, but very few ‘experts’ tbh. I’ve lost track…..do you have an app / portal to see each panel? Or are you only able to glean base statistics from the inverter? How much was / is the “unwanted gizmo” as that may cost the same as a call out and identify what’s going on and give you far better ongoing monitoring / observations. My guess is, that any PV ‘expert’ would insist in removing and checking the panels to be able to assure you / themselves that all is correct / reliable. You’re going to be spending money either way, so if it was me I’d want the most amount of information available to me, prior to, which says get your monitoring up and running to the best it can be and then report back here with that info for any further possible assistance. Or pick up the phone and start getting second opinions……

That’s funny, the only two stoves I have experience of are Nestor Martins, both have been fantastic: the one at my dad’s place is 12 years old. I think it was the Nestor Martin Harmony range. Because it’s made of cast iron (I think) it takes about 45 to 60 minutes to get warm, but then stays hot for long after it’s been turned off. There are lighter stoves (I think made of steel) that warm up and cool down quicker. we’ve gone for a Dik Guerra Bora this time, though not delivered yet.

We've got a Hwam. I've nothing to compare it to in terms of keeping the glass clean, but I like the contemporary style, and it's room-sealed. We only usually light it in the evenings when outside temps are <10c, but it goes for a week or two without any messing about emptying the ash box.

A typical 1600 sq ft house built to scrape a pass mark for thermal building regs will loose heat at a rate of 6kW at a 20 degree delta. Once your room, mezzanine and hallway have warmed up where will the stove heat go? But to answer your question the Clearview Vision 500 with the mid height bungalow hat makes a statement in a large fireplace with a not ridiculous max output of 8kW. https://www.clearviewstoves.com/clearview-brochure/#16-17

Agree that stove design should fit the style of the interior, finding a quality make that has the appeal you want should not be hard. I have had a clearview for 10 years without fault and will be fitting another soon. Endless research and critiquing of reviews is how I buy expensive stuff…..

Just today i got a ball park cost for a turn key off grid system. Enough for a house and a workshop. £40K + VAT. That included everything required except installation. No user input apart from keeping fuel in the tank. What i found interesting was although a significant capital cost, was that that the cost per KWH was very low. In their best example, 9p per kwh. Ok, its PR and best case, but given current prices, and the near certainty they can only go one way, in your position may be worthy of consideration. Especially if its going to cost £15-20k for a grid connection. Who will then charge you 30p per Kwh for ever + price increases.. They quoted me the 15000 version, which is overkill for a house, so would expect a slightly lower cost. https://www.energy-solutions.co.uk/guides/off-grid-guide.pdf You just have to get past a diesel genset being part of the solution......................

Gate and railing might look better with similar colour as the windows and frames. Currently it appears to be black. Definitely an improvement on the bricks design. Z clad and render looks nice as well. Might be worth considering.

The light in a given area is measured in Lux. This unit better represents perceived brightness and can be provided as a single figure recommended for a particular task. One lux equals one lumen per square meter so an 11m2 room as above, with a 1000 lumen light source would provide around 90 lux. Something like 200 would be more typical for a general domestic setting but it depends on the type of room. Here is one table of recommended lux levels for different activities. 90 Lux might just be enough in an adult bedroom. Nudge Nudge. Oh, and one more thing... it also depends on the age of the occupants. Over 65's require double those figures.

Knock the house down and start again. That’s what I often wish I had done with my 1930s semi…

Are they doing the neighbourly thing? They could be encouraged to reflect on that. What would they do if they were in your position? Sometimes people feel a sense of entitlement to tell others what to do. The less encouragement they get the better. One worker at a site was said to have called a meddlesome neighbour an unspeakable name. Since then, no more open meddling. But such strong action is probably best left to workers who are here today and somewhere else tomorrow. Bullies keep bullying until someone turns around and makes them reflect that there is more than one perception of facts.

Just thought I would update on this. So VELFAC have rung me and advised that referring to distributors for smaller projects is a new process, which started in the New Year, following suite from Rationel. But, customers can still request to deal directly with VELFAC, which I now am doing so for my quote.

Hi there Yes exciting indeed - although I’ve got to be honest, it’s been disappointing to discover how difficult it is to find engineers and technical architects that know this product and can help with the building regs drawings etc. Low point of the week- calling an architect and him asking me “what is ICF”?!?!

I wish I had the same understanding with my neighbours as you have - we are about to commence work on an extension and neither neighbour really grasped the understanding of a PWA and both insisted employing surveyors, our hands were tied (as both neighbours are really petty and would have got a court injunction if we'd have started without an award in place) and we have ended up paying £3,700 in surveyor fees. Angry is an understatement, we just feel so ripped off when we could have done it our selves with a simple letter and agreeing on photographic evidence rather than employ rip off Party Wall Surveyors - I really think the government need to clamp down on the surveyor fees, PWA are a cash cow for these people, but hay ho at least we are protected by a bit of paper now ?

If anyone ever was wondering how unhinged their neighbours are, file a planning application.