SteamyTea

Dig all the dirt out, line with several millimeters of GRP. Then, after a month, put the dirt back in. Leave for several years for the wall to dry properly. Then repaint. Probably won't work. You could try the opposite. GRP the outside and hope it is not too damp to stick to the wall.

Too right. There does seem to be a lack of scientific research available. Makes me wonder what the plant manufacturers use when they come up with a newer design. Many years ago I lived in Aylesbury, one if the larger employers there was Klargester, only knew one person that worked there. He was a nob. Did interview someone from there, he had lost his job. I soon worked out why. He was a nob as well.

You are in the right place to start making plans. As above. An Architect is probably not the place to find the solutions to reducing energy usage. Thermally, houses are quite simple. Stop the air leaking out, then insulate, a lot. As it has cavity wall insulation, make sure it has not failed anywhere. Unexplained damp on walls is a giveaway. Probably worth getting hold of a thermal camera, overheating the place, then take pictures all around it, late at night. Don't get bogged down with 'eco' technology at this stage. Find out what is easy and effective to do first. Then you will know what needs to be done second, third ....

'Open' at night as well. Wish I knew where my equivalent road was. Would be cheaper than my girlfriend, cheaper than my car today as well.

So why does it cost us, in the UK, £2000/m2 $10,134 for 38m2,

And this is what Raquel Welch looked like, even though it was only 1966. “Sexual intercourse began in nineteen sixty-three (Which was rather late for me) between the end of the Chatterley ban and the Beatles' first LP.”

9 years ago today my Father died. Is my Mothers Birthday today as well. This is the first time I have not visited her on her Birthday. Car decided to split a water pipe.

Bad workmanship. If the people doing it don't know what they are doing, it will not be very good. That tends to be true of everything though. I think EDPM can too easily give the impression that it is as easy to fit as a newly ironed bedsheet. I would do the same checks on both trades.

I worked, as a manufacturer, in the health and leisure industry 30 years ago. A few suppliers set up an organisation called the Fitness Industry Association. This was on the face of it to ensure high quality, but in reality it was to hamper some people in the industry from selling. Was totally crooked.

Yes it is. Working out heat losses is not that difficult, but it is very boring. Basically a case of finding out all the wall, floor, window, doors and ceiling/roof thermal properties (the W.m-2.K-1), all the areas, and an assumption of the weather extremes, as well as any temperature differences between rooms. Then the power loss from the air changes has to be added, and adjusted for the MVHR. Then the water usage is added, but you can probably work that out pretty well from current usage. There is a spreadsheet floating about that is pretty accurate. Search for @Jeremy Harris as he created the spreadsheet.

How accurate do you think this is?

Don't let the Architect fob you of with a minimum level. With UFH, because there are two temperature gradients either side of the pipes, the losses to the ground can be quite substantial. You also have to be wary of cold bridging around the periphery of the building.

Welcome. Passivhaus standard is quite complicated and finickety. Getting to the thermal loss standard is not that hard. Just a case of reducing losses and limiting inputs. The easy way to reduce thermal losses is to insulate and try to eliminate uncontrolled air losses. Now you say you want to use the existing slab, how are you going to insulate it so that it is suitable for UFH i.e. 0.15 to 0.2 m of insulation before the pipework and final floor finish. As you will be building under the latest regulations, how are you going to design out overheating (Part O)? Many people like large windows, but they are probably a thing of the past now. But that can save you loads of cash. Do you have enough space for a sewage treatment system? Where are you putting your PV if it is limited to the 9m2 ground mounted limit, why not on your roof? MVHR is, as mentioned, a stand alone system. Forced heating, it is not, though it can be designed to be both. If an Architect says something i.e. systems talking to each other, then start some proper research, there is probably a mate in the background that has a solution, at a much higher price. I can fit my bike in the back of my car, and they are both transport systems. That is where the similarities end. As a general rule, a house is a very basic engineering structure, just complicated by legislation and a disjointed industry. As @ToughButterCup says, break things down into simple questions, then find the solutions. @pocster is a (expletive deleted).

I think there is two issues here: How it work. Making mine work. I am sure your local agricultural college will have an expert on AD, it is becoming all the rage now, even Farming Today (which should really be called Middle of the night farming) was talking about pig poo and stuff this morning.

I have been grappling with this problem for over a decade. Even at our current inflated energy costs, I am still better off just using E7. Yesterday, with just the smaller storage heater on, usual daily use and a go with the washing machine, I only used 9 kWh. Come the summer I will be down to between 3 and 5 kW/day. For me, it is just not worth putting in PV.

Not really, for the reasons that @joth has said. Why there should be a lot of effort to get uncontrolled air leakage reduced.

I was in the dog(house) last night.

As a general point, MVHR, or any extraction system, adds to the ventilation losses. So if a house has an ACH figure of 4, and the MVHR/ESHP changed the air every hour, then the total losses are 5 ACH (or whatever the numbers are). This don't matter much in the summer, but may well affect overall usage in the shoulder periods, like now (end of March).

An oil boiler is either on or off, an ASHP can run for prolonged periods of time. So you may find that your current radiators can deliver the required energy needed, but at a lower flow temperature i.e. 45°C. Just a case of working it out.

I have never run the numbers, but generally, when temperatures are high, so is the RH. Condensing water takes a lot of energy. 2256 kJ/kg. Water between 0⁰ and 100⁰C is around 4.18 kg/kg.⁰C. Quite a difference, even allowing for the relatively small mass of water present in a kg of air.

Yes. as you say, it boils down to the efficiency in the end.

My feeling is separate is better, Space Heating is at different times, at a different temperature and for a different purpose than DWH heating. Bit like buying a RangeRover and hope that it can pull a plough occationally.

Yes. With a bit of imagination they can be effective. If they cost the same as ten years electricity, about $1640 at my current inflated rate, I would consider one. "Rich man sweating in a sauna bath, poor boy scrubbing in a tub" "Me, I stay gritty up to my ears, sitting in a puddle of mud"

All you need. Stick to comedy for the podcasts. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m000dpqn?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I find books better.