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MVHR doesn't have anything like the airflow needed to provide serious cooling. Design in air conditioning (completely separate from the MVHR), and throw on some PV so you can run it for free on hot days. MVHR will help keep the heat outside.

my 2 cents..... 1. external blinds are a must. plan them now so they can be built hidden in to the fabric of the house. we use ours to shade from the sun but also as curtains at night so don't have internal curtains for privacy. 2. just install AC when i was researching i read a lot on here about fan coils and underfloor cooling etc and, in the end, it was just too complicated for me. not being able to heat water and cool the house at the same time just seemed a pain. so we planned for and installed ducted AC in the bedrooms and wall mounted units downstairs in a few rooms that we thought would need it. it is fabulous. the external blinds help and we have them automated to shade and follow the sun around but sometimes you just want to open them up fully and enjoy the view! so the AC takes care of the overheating and it's powered by the sun via our solar pv so i don't worry about running costs at all. our south facing bedroom has been a steady 21°C since April regardless of the outside weather. keep it simple, install AC.

36C outside yesterday. The aquarea purring away at 16c (ramping up/down automatically to keep the right side of the wet bulb). walking into the ground floor is like walking into a fridge even theough its 21, the ufh loop does its work. The bedrooms though with the panasonic fan coils are sitting at 21 while the bathroom and landing are 26/8. CoP is reported as 27, although i guess its not setup for cooling ? Free anyway with the mega excess of solar. added the new 2025 model into the loft and also included the condensate drain, this is the largest unit they do and the heat exchanger is about 80cm wide so should be a beast for cooling.

We put our vat claim in a week ago Just over 43k They have just contacted me to ask me to check my figures as they get it to £60 more Requested 6 receipts Then will pay it Hernia op in two hours Then 3 weeks taking it easy Hopefully paid out by then

All finished

Solar panels on - 10 minutes for two of us. From above From below Paint slats next and wire PV up

It definitely is a bumpy road, but the wife and I haven’t fallen out (yet) and we are seeing progress! All we can do is keep moving forward 😀

We had similar. I don't even know the make or type, the builder supplied them to the SE's specification. They pass over the top of the ridge beam as one piece and down to the rafters either side. They looked quite substantial metal not like most joist hangers.

I have said before, sell up and retire. Being a LL is not worth it these days. Let someone else have the "fun" of upgrading that to the required standard.

Your torque tighten, to ensure the bolt is stretched and is ideally mid way in the elastic range of the bolt or stud. This allows for changes of temperature, vibration etc and the bolt to maintain tightness of the assembly. If you under torque the bolt is not in the elastic range of the bolt material and if subjected to cyclic fatigue will give a very early failure of the bolt. It will break. If you over torque the bolt goes out of the electric range of the bolt and will stretch the bolt permanently, the bolt will yield. At this point you are applying almost no clamping force with the bolt. Your correct tightening torque changes due Bolt minimum dia Bolt coating Threads being lubricated Grade of bolt - 4.8, 8.8, 10.9 etc So you have dissimilar materials, aluminium and steel. You hot dip galvanise the steel structure, but be aware a strong galvanic corrosion can occur especially when wet between aluminium and zinc (galvanizing). If the top of the screw piles are steel no issue, if they are aluminium - ideally you need an insulated bolt kit, this will sleeve the flange holes and below washers, the flanges would need to have gaskets as well.

Firstly now have a 4G smart meter, commissioning time was about 10 mins. Spoke with Octopus just after commissioning to change tariff (16:00 on Friday) and am now on a smart tariff (Saturday 08:30). Octopus mini hub is also being delivered today. Decided to go Octopus Cosy. Super easy battery scheduling, should never run out of cheap rate electric, not super cheap but 12.65p per kWh, 2p cheaper than my E7 tariff. Have used Wonder Watt to schedule times. First cheap slot is setup as a smart schedule so it charges based on forecast generation of PV, second slot set to 90% SoC fixed target. 90% chosen so it does not interfere with immersion or heat pump diversion, and by this time, if the smart charge is ok the battery should already be above this level, so will only come in to play if forecast is wildly out etc. Final charge is set for a fixed 100% SoC. May need to tweak over the coming days, but will see how it pans out.

Was the title meant to be *pipe* clips and zip ties? I had assumed not and was waiting for an exposition on the myriad alternative uses for paper clips (apart from temp. replacement clips on split-link chains and repairing my reading glasses).

I'm no structural engineer but it looks fine to me. Taking that much out of the middle of the stringer would be a different matter As it's turned into share a picture of your home made stairs these are mine and are made of maple and cherry built around a central steel box

We had quotes for norrsken and kloeber as well as from our local aluminium window supplier who is a Smart Systems manufacturer. We are going with the latter, full measure, supply and fit. The cost was about 25 to 30% lower BUT the decision was based on the facts that 1. They are local with a good reputation 2. The can deliver the u value we "need" and all of the window door options we want in the same range (alitherm 400) 3. Both other quotes "bent" the truth ..." building regs say you must have 3G", " you can't have an outward opening front door and comply with pas 24", and both changed the size of at least 1 window opening to suit their range without mentioning it (double chk what the quote says) 4. Our suppliers order in the profile, spray to the ral colour we want, THEN measure the actual holes and manufacture in about 5 weeks, the others had timescales that meant windows would need to be surveyed off plan or would have a 10 to 14 week lead time. Our decision was also helped by the fact we actively did not want a wood finish inside and if necessary fitting could be done in more than one stage. Time will tell if we made the right decision.

Bro I made these 👊🏻

Thank you the op went well I’m home and up on my feet

Doesn’t the whole installation look a bit shit.

This is the thread I was thinking of with an excellent post from @HerbJ breaking down the MVHR numbers for another member.

Well it’s all back together and working, nothing has gone bang and nothing (apart from the Willis heaters!) is getting hot. I think I’ll chalk that up as a good result. ~~~ I’ll keep hold of these two in case the installer or his boss wants them.

We’ve just finished doing our vat claim I made a massive error when doing the build spreadsheets I wrongly assumed that the claim would have been as previously and would have to photocopy every recipe and send them off Well this time round no need for that BUT I didn’t add the vat numbers yo the spreadsheets So one full day and two evenings adding 650 vat numbers Lesson learned for next time 😁 (369k)My figures checker has just informed me that I’ve missed including legal lfees and CML Cert 3k FINAL TOTAL SPEND 372k Including fees and contributions 43k vat claim 420m2 over two floors Valuation 1.3 million Fingers crossed for the vat claim Just to add Ive carried a hernia for two years My wife blames the 7000 blocks I carried Ill get that sorted out next week So a month sunbathing for me 🌞

After a lot of research into UFH cooling with ASHP and Fan coils replacing radiators, this is the approach I'm going with. UFH with standard MVHR. Separate multi-split Aircon system to cool down the key rooms (bedrooms and living area). Heating things keep house nice, warm and relatively airtght. Cooling system blows nice cold air when I want it. Solar PV will mean you can run the air con on extremely hot days for very low costs.

Fill out your form showing minimal lighting, get the condition signed off. install all first fix wiring to all the places you actually want lighting, second fix minimal lighting as per approved plans, get house signed off. get electrician back and fit the lights you wanted. if I complied with everything I’m supposed to on my site, I might as well not live here. natural England wanted to know how many times we cut the grass. FFS.

@Hoops we had some remedial issues with doors/windows. The installers sent ASD Servicing for an independent inspection, to fix where possible and write a report for outstanding issues (almost sorted…). The ASD team were good - friendly, very thorough and informed. Might be worth contacting them? Looks like you’re in W Sussex, we’re midKent and so they might cover your patch. And really sorry to hear all the issues you’ve had. The self builder’s road is a bumpy one - so keep going, ask for help and it’ll be worth it in the end. Good luck!

I have lived in a large number of different houses and I agree that a traditional wet plaster finish feels best. If you can find a good plasterer who can do a good job with a bonding coat and a finishing coat then go for it. Finding a decent old school plasterer who can do it though might be difficult.

Bitumen paint applied . Pretty warm today so will go over it again in 5 hours or so

agree with that. My Google doorbell was/is battery, lasted about 2 weeks. "No problem" the missus said, just charge it. Easy for her to say, but it was me having to remove it every fortnight for the next 10+ years and that sounded hideous so i sent cables to it before plastering, job done.

We had a lot of room to play with, and ours dealt with it like this: As built, we ended up with a parallel-sided channel rather than the complex things the architect drew. It's important to make sure that there are decent falls all the way to the exit of the outlet into the downpipe. In our case, some of the falls were a little marginal. As the underlying USB has sagged a little over time, there are now places in the gutters where water pools.

If these are the architects own clients, maybe the issue is with the design of the build, not the ASHP? 🤣 You'll get dozens of replies endorsing ASHPs here, and few, if any for GSHPs.

New to the forum which looks like a wealth of knowledge we’ll be calling on. We’ve just completed on a building plot purchase in Moray, Scotland and starting the daunting task of a house build. No doubt we’ll come across various issues which you that have already trod the self build path may be able to advise on.

@flanagaj, this is an area where you could potentially save some money. You can get good u-values from 2g windows. For aesthetics we had to go with 2g, we wanted the crittall style look and steel windows are another level of expense. Our windows are only 1.3 u-value, but the coating on the inner leaf of the outer pane is what makes all the difference to how the window feels. This is a pretty standard thing to have and it helps reflects back your body heat. We have Smart Alitherm Heritage windows. A lot of companies use their systems but market them under different names like Duration and Cherwell. In the UK windows market you have system manufacturers, underneath them you have local fabricators, then you have installers/retailers. Sometimes the installer will also be the fabricator. The fabricators supply the local retailers. There are many exceptions to this. You could have the best window system, but be let down by the fabricator or installer or both. This website does good coverage of the aluminium windows market and will list a lot of system manufacturers. https://www.doorandwindowexperts.co.uk/aluminium-windows/who-makes-the-best-aluminium-windows/

Doesn't look too unnatural compared to some staircases I've seen.. I built my own because the quotes were coming out insane for mine. But they were an unusual shape and design

Wowzer! That is efficient. Hopefully we will be submitting ours in a years time. Good luck with the op and enjoy the time off 🙂

If you want proper 2-way switching without replacing the cable, wireless is probably the way to go https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Quinetic/index.html replace indoor switch with a "Quinetic Wireless Switch c/w Built In Receiver". Add one (or more) "Quinetic Kinetic Wireless Switches" wherever you need them.

If the AAV has failed and is letting air out, then it will inflate the plastic bad you are about to tape over it.

The way to operate is to run with a single flow temp for both fan coil and UFH. It means the fan coils are bigger for a given output in kW. But running everything above dew point, means no condensation, so no drains required. A quick look at an online dew point calculation, house kept at 21, RH 60%, dew point is 12.9. I set my target flow temperature at around that. I get no condensation on the UFH manifold. Floor surface temperature is around 19 to 20 depending on floor covering. So a mile away from condensation. The heat pump cycles based on return temp of around 19 degs. This is in the morning no solar gain So short 10 min runs then off for an hour or so. This it when we get solar gain Much longer runs. When we get to heights of summer, the heat pump runs several hours at a time. Our house internal temp almost all driven by solar gains, without internal blinds and UFH cooling our lounge l easily gets to 27 degs. Now it may go up to 24, but it recovers back sensibly levels quickly. But with a floor that is cooler than the air, it always feels cooler than it says on the a temperature gauge. Think old stone church always feels cool even when it's baking hot.

Just a point about the grinder. I have the dust attachment, which greatly increases its stability. There are brushes and a spring, so the disc does not touch the concrete until you apply some pressure.

I’ve just had our build signed off and completed the Cil form 7B Just a reminder to others not to forget this When we completed our previous build I’d no idea that we had to do this Till someone on here printed me So easy to fall foul of these things

I’d have loved to have kept our rentals on This is why we have so far sold nine rentals in the last two years Over legislation and everything loaded in the tenants favor

Yes. But gravel does that and, I think, better . It's the same principle as gravel in trays for car parking....no oil interceptor required. The oil, or the stp discharge runs on and into the gravel and coats the very large surface area. Micro-organisms consume it. So gravel around perforated pipes is my choice...Best and cheapest. I've done this for very testing facilities. 1000m2 office, 4 team sports pavilion plus others. No problems ( I would have heard). The crate with media may be viable where there is no land for French drains. But the flow out of an stp is nearly clean...when I've taken a non -technical sample it has looked clean and had no smell. I vaguely recall one installation (by others) needing maintenance but it was the wheel-going-round type that had stopped going round. In summary. The crate ticks a box.

Idea. I have lights in some walk-in cupboards that come on when the door opens...but they are presence detectors, not on door switches. Another in the kitchen has the option of lifting off as a manual torch. They simply stick on the wall, so cheap and easy. I had a client once who made a contractual claim, including that the toilet light was always on. In front of the adjudicator, I asked if his home fridge had the same problem. Nobody quite laughed.

Mmmm - if only that were true - I spent many years in Building Control and came to the conclusion that many architects hadn't a clue whether their design complied with the requirements or occasionally even if they would be buildable. As for SE's I had to point out to him that the steel bars in the raft he designed for my house wouldn't all fit into the depth of concrete he'd specified given the spacing, so even those with PI can make mistakes.

Just another idea: Personally, I wouldn't buy a property that didn't have a full bathroom on the same floor as the main bedrooms. I suspect plenty of other buyers are in the same boat so moving the bathroom downstairs may affect future saleabilty/price. I think the above fits space wise with 2 x double bed and 1x single/(or double bunk). Making this change doesn't require touching plumbing and so should be much much cheaper (it's possible this was the original layout when the property was built).

Get the water off the roof by the simplest method. To me that is a single slope and an oversail then a gutter and downpipe. Architects should have a month of their course working with roof repairers. That should be the end of valleys, parapets and internal downpipes. Philistine I know. But the primary purpose of a building is to keep us warm and dry. Second is durability and keeping the bears and burglars out. Third is the need to impress the neighbours or amuse designers.

The biggest issue I see with these installs is the outlet is formed first, which creates a high point. Then the main roof material gets laid to them and then that has to climb up over that step, albeit a few mm’s, but that’s enough to cause water to pool in between / around the outlet(s). On the next one I’m getting in the drivers seat, and the 18mm OSB3 deck will get a load of attention to furring, levels and falls, and then the lot will be getting a second sacrificial layer of 9mm OSB3 which will be cut around 300mm square away from the start of the outlets to create a step down there. The outlets will be formed to stop short of the step where the 18 meets the upstand edge of the 9, and left to cure, with layers built to lose say 4mm of the 9mm OSB step. Then the main roof covering will go to the cut out sections, get dressed in over the preformed and cured outlet material, and then be welded / bonded down to have the steps falling down not up. I’m quite fed up of roofers pacifying me and saying it’s fine, they all just think that standing water and leaves needing to be washed out all the time is fine, as the roofs can handle standing water. IMO that’s a load of crap, we can do better people!!

Get him to book it out to your address plot 1 ####

Wow, it is always a surprise to find another building reg, that you haven't observed. My inspector didn’t seem to care about front door spy hole, nor the security chain. Is this actually a building reg? My door supplier never mentioned it. The answer is YES. It gets worse, apparently the DDA Compliance (Disabled Discrimination Act) dictates the height of the spy hole. Sometimes you will need to fit two to comply, eek! Here is the passage from Approved document Q: @Berkshire_selfbuild, you will be alright with a Ring doorbell.

What a load of bollox fit what you want, if bc questions it just point to the ring doorbell, if they get arsy then drill an aftermarket one in. but I would push back against this. are you in Beirut or somewhere.

Take this on board. Ensure your research is sound.

Definite no here. Having just retrofitted an ASHP to my 1930s house there is no way I would bother with gas in a new build. Its cheaper to run by about 20%, much more comfortable (because there are fewer thermal gradients due to the way it works) and can do cooling as well as heating. Whats not to like? Incidentally, ignore the people who falsely claim that hydrogen heating is the way forward. Hydrogen does have a place but not for domestic heating, its for applications where there isnt an alternative. There is a very simple reason for this - to be green (which is the argument for swapping to it in the first place) it has to be made from electricity, and this is a factor of 3 less efficient than a heat pump, so is guaranteed to cost much more. 'Hydrogen ready' is just filibustering by vested interests in the oil industry so they can continue to sell gas boilers.

If the architect is endorsing gshp then this is concerning, unless you live in a volcanic area or have a flowing aquifer. Manchester? No. Tease them, they deserve it and need to learn. Show us, dear architect, some gshp projects in the area. Show us projected figures for our ground type. Will you give any financial guarantees on their performance? BTW you must not spend any of my money on your research. There are, or used to be, some honourable gshp contractors who would mostly advise that it was not suitable. Unfortunately they were pushed under by the others, one of whom perhaps has the ear of your untechnical architect.