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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.

I just found a lovely use of a zip tie. Couldn't get the bottom screw of the pipe clip in ....

Intelligent go smarlty controls ev charging 24 hours a day but gives you a window of cheap rate leccy every night to use at your own pleasure - the window is actually slightly longer at night than with the dumb version go.

Long while no update. Messed about with hybrid (gas and ASHP) last winter and after doing the total running costs, decided I was approx £100 plus to have a hybrid system, mostly due to additional standing charges - so gas has to go. Meter being disconnected tomorrow, by Octopus at zero cost to me. Ignoring the hybrid settings, current settings are No thermostat, WC on heating and WC on cooling (very small amount of 0.5 Deg flow temp change). Change over (between heat and cool) by a single repurposed light switch. In addition to that I have a second set point which adds 3 degs to heating curve and 1 Deg is removed from cooling curve, this activated by a Shelly relay if I have excess solar PV. CoP when running has been great, high 4s to high 5s. When coupled with standby time it hasn't been the best (measuring all electrical input in the ASHP system and heat meter). So heating CoP overall was mid 3s. Cooling high 3s. However between heat pump cycles the circulation pump was kept on, with pump, valve, performance monitoring and other stuff drawing 117W during standby. Switching the pump off with everything else on, brings the standby down to 31W. So to fix the issue I have implemented the circulation pump to run in sniffer mode, so circulation pump runs for 4 mins after heat pump compressor has stopped and then stays off for 40 minutes, before starting again. If heat pump senses the return temp isn't within limits the heat starts again. Current running cooling and in the last 24 hrs including one DHW heat cycle at night (15 degs) the daily CoP has increased to 4.91. A similar average temp day a week ago the CoP was 3.88, with one DHW cycle in the day at 20 degs. So CoP has increased a full point. Rough calculation is a saving of about £50 per year.

By the way. My timber frame is up. Roof is due on next week. In IP8 if anyone wants a look next week.

Sure. Cost is important. But so are aesthetics! I think there are so many factors to consider. it’s one of the reasons self-building is so stressful. All the decisions that need to be made from loads of various data points.

External blinds are best, internal blinds ok. UFH run in cooling mode. Fan coils.

I bloody hate council idiots had enough experience of them in the past I applied to extend house 2 storey extension on the back to replace a horrible single glazed glass conservatory that could be used for maybe 2 days a year most of spring summer and autumn too bloody hot and rest of the year too damn cold and got planning permission granted. I had a back fence (usual 6 ft cant rail with featherboard) backing on to a turn round/visitor packing space in the cul-d-sac behind - Fence was 25 years old and rotten - I took a 10 ft section down to allow building materials to be delivered to the back of the property and used some heras fencing as a temp security measure. I got a council complaint that the heras fencing was taller than 6 ft (alongside a highway) and could potentially restrict visibility (I sh*t you not - it's bloody open mesh!!!) I dug a hole for the rubber feet and dropped the height to 6 ft - wrote them a letter and said all sorted fence is 6 ft now job done All went quiet - I finished the building works and started re-instating the fence to be served with a notice that the fence cannot be more than 3 ft high due to proximity of the highway (Turn round space/visitor parking in a cul d sac remember) I wrote back saying original fence installed by the builders was 6 ft - I'm just re-instating that and they were applying a rule regarding highway to my fence but not the two other gardens that also back on to this "highway" I got another letter saying in the nicest council language that they did NGAS - because I had removed the 6ft fence now 3ft was the highest fence I could install (Making my garden very easy to access for any local toerag.) So I did this which isn't a 6 ft fence Honestly it's not The council demanded a face to face meeting to discuss urgent resolution and I agreed to their request Came round and we walked round the cul-d-sac together and measured it with me pointing out again it was not compliant So I opened it I'd already unlatched the other side Because it wasn't a fence at all it was a feather board clad double gate and I said should anyone using the turn around / parking space find that their visibility is impaired I've had a sign made to say call at house XX and I'll open the gates................ Council lass clearly very very pissed about it but I never heard another more.

1.4 is m³/h·m² . You know the m² figure You need to work out the house volume in m³. Now you have house m² and house m³. Multiple 1.4 by your m² area. You now have the air loss per hour atv 50Pa. Divide your answer by your volume. That should be your ACH at 50Pa

This is the energy chart for a 6kW heat pump, it's doing cooling but same power is used for heating. Over a 3 minute period it hits 1130W electric draw, then ramps down. Electric is the blue line at the top. So no big energy spikes at all. Our battery doesn't show any spikes either.

That is pretty hot for UFH, unless you are a retrofit or batch charging on a smart tariff. Its still pretty hot. I would be running a weather compensation curve.

I made up my own secondary glazing to cover up my old double glazed windows. The noise reduction was quite amazing. Very rarely does it go above 20 dB now, and I am not far from a busy road. This is what I am hearing at the moment and it is quite breezy outside.

Vent your STP at the tank, run a vent pipe out from the tank and up behind a shed or behind some shrubs, there is no smell from mine whatsoever.

Several tones of concrete doesn’t need to adhere The weight alone will hold It down Pretty much like the screed in the house Id definitely put it down Chances are your garage will never see a car 🚘

Welcome - from a fellow Kent dweller (Kentish Man in my case) This place is an incredible resource, invaluable advice and opinion - I have learnt so much, and continue to do so Much of your plans will depend on your local authority - if it's Sevenoaks then buckle-in it's going to be painful All things are possible if you have adequate budget, patience and a hide of leather Very best of luck Regards Tet

You've made a good looking job of it so hats off. I suppose it's a case of who's going to put the effort/ time to make it good in the end. Imo, it irks when someone takes the easy way out and pushes the problem down stream for someone else to work around later it's not acceptable if your time saved is lesser than the fix to the shortcut. A prime example is footings being way off level, " Ahh it'll do, the brickies can fix that" = just spend a day slicing blocks to get the levels back.

You do and two lines of acoustic sealant to the floor You need your stud to be a fire compartment

Check your pricing, some appear to be block prices (more then a square meter) also look at each blocks features to understand the price difference as well as support from distributor/manufacturer for details available

What are crickets on a flat roof? Crickets are triangular structures designed to divert water away from areas of a roof that may collect water. In residential roofing, we tend to think of chimneys as the prime example – chimney cricket. Here you would place a cricket behind the chimney in a triangular pattern so water doesn't collect behind it.1 Jul 2021

Not updated this thread for a while but now the heating season is over it's time to consider where I go next - let call this an end of term report. Boiler review - Did I buy the right boiler Yes - unlike the previous boiler purchase. Very happy with it's weather compensation and low flow temp capability and by the time we got to early spring I'd settled on a WC curve of this. I still have a little niggle about it's output being a little higher than claimed min but it's close and I am running at lower flow temps. System improvements/changes I've ordered 9 Danfoss RAS-B2 valves to replace most of the drayton EB4 bodies (adjustable flow via selecting one of 6 orifices) Why? 1. majority of the rads are running orifices between 1 and 4 and in most of the rooms the difference between one setting and the next one (up or down) is too coarse and I need finer control to stop the rooms being too cool or overheating without TRV intervention. 2. I want to get rid of nearly all the wiser smart TRV's and replace with decorators caps and I can do that if I have finer control of the flow thro the rads. Leaving them on the rads just gives me an expensive battery powered room temp indicator (where I need to replace that batteries every 300 days) 3. Replacing the TRV bodies means a drain down and that's an opportunity to re-configure the rads from BBOE to TBOE and tweak a little more efficiency out of them (5%) and I think it might help increase the delta across the rads It's quite amusing to think 4 years ago I was 1. running a boiler that was capable of producing 5 times the energy compared to the heat loss of the house. 2. Running the boiler at a temp that was only ever condensing in the warm up phase 3. Micro managing room temps with "smart" TRV's to heat only when needed via scheduled heating (over zoning) to now 1. running a WC boiler at a max flow temp at -2.5 of 34 Deg C so is condensing all the time and running at 97% efficiency 2. Heating 24/7 with minimal zoning 3. Planning to drop nearly all the smart TRV's and just controlling the room temps with WC flow temps Weird journey when you think about it............

With the help of a digger driver site strip & foundations. I did 50% of the brickwork on 2 houses I used my lads to help me I had a team of chippies in for the first fix ( I wish I’d done it myself) We had a great team of plasterers. Electrics and plumbing from my mate who has the second house. Windows and doors supply and fit from a national supplier. Painting and decorating from another friend. I hate painting and he is 3 times quicker and the quality is outstanding. I fitted the kitchen and bathroom units. I did all of the floor tiling and wooden floors. I did all of the landscaping. (I really enjoyed that) GRP roof by a specialist Roof tiling by another mate. We are nearly finished now and getting ready for sign off. The garden office ( man cave) is being plastered at the end of this month This was originally the site office and has served us well.

I would dump the 90 x 25 batten and add another 90 x 90, bring the floor insulation up to 200mm. Then 70mm screed. Insulation mineral wool

Well that sounds an interesting project. Torque settings, to me, suggests a rather finer level of engineering sophistication that I associate with residential construction. Maybe steel frames for skyscrapers would? But I suspect not. >>> Is there something I should be considering? Well obviously the thermal detailing is hard around structural members that are good heat conductors. I expect some marmox blocks somewhere involved as a compromise. You’re happy with the expected life of screw piles? Sounds a great project, have a drawing or two?