Roger440

Came very close to fitting 2 in my office and "clean room" in my workshop. Well, the propane filled ones, so no need the an F gas person. Sadly, my "electricity supply" issue means that ill need to go oil for that too. Lots of second hand boilers around at the moment for bugger all money. And easy to DIY. Which is a shame, because this would have been much simpler.

I know you dont want to, but id be talking to these guys for an "all in the box" solution. I found them very helpful when i was looking at an off grid property. At the very least it will give you an idea of whats possible and the costs. https://www.energy-solutions.co.uk/applications/off-grid/easygrid

Good point, missed that. Got those at work. Dont think id want them in my house though.

Thanks for the explanation. I see 2 issues preventing me here. One, i wouldnt have the first clue about how to manage or deal with the electronic/IT side of all that.. But probably more importantly, if it subsequently showed a problem, that would mean major rework to deal with it. Thats not something i can do. If i do something it has to be right first time. Paying for WUFI is yet more money not spent on actual upgrades. Its not about justfying it, you still have to have it. If it just ended at that report it wouldnt be so bad. But it doesnt. As i suspected, and you essentially confirm using a ubakus model isnt without risk. Which leaves doing nothing as the only "risk free" option. Which, im not keen on as the extension is really quite poor thermally, not helped by fronting into the prevailing wind. The old stone part of the house is far better in that regard. As regard joist ends, that something ive yet to establish what has been done. If its through to the cavity, that probably the end of cavity fill ideas.

Nothing much, aside from no insulation other than in the roof and ancient failed double glazing. I knew all that when i bought it though, so that was my choice. But it does have a relatively new, perfectly adequate oil system and keeps us nice and warm. Sure i "could" replace it with a heat pump, but the obvious blockers are cost (substantial) , woeful incoming electrical supply (60amp (has to run my workshop too)) , and probably more importantly, the unreliability of the incoming power supply, which is just what it is out here. If i go to an ASHP, im going to freeze in the event of another multi day power outage. Currently i can fire up the generator to keep the basics on including the heating. Id need a rather larger generator to keep a house with an ASHP running. Lets call that another £2k. Are you able to expand on how you got an ASHP system for £4k? SimonD in another thread, when i asked why ASHP's cost so much to fit showed his workings for a house just completed and it was £11k just for materials. So, id guess at least a £15k job. Thats a vast difference. As you can imagine, the payback at £15k is essentially never, as oil is at least as cheap, if not cheaper than an ASHP. Even at £4k it wont payback, but one might choose to do it anyway for future proofing.

If thats what other people are happy with then thats good for them. Ive lived like that, and have absolutely no desire to do so again. There plenty of opportunity not to live like that in the UK.

Not with the things i wanted i couldnt. Well not for this money. I guess i could have bought a small house on a normal street with a postage stamp garden and single garage that was super efficent. But then my life would be pointless. I would simply die of boredom. But, hey, one less person consuming resources.

Who do i vote for? Id like a warm cheap to run home. Problem is, to get that i have to spend out big. Bigger than makes any sense. I aquired a bigger oil tank instead so i can be more choosy when i buy my oil. And the old tank gets recyled as a tractor food tank.

This. Was no issue if i didnt do the cavity, but U value not as good, obviously. Regardless of what i do, there will probably be an additional rainscreen of Hardie plank or similar outside

But how would one monitor the effects if the dew point did actually move into the wall build up?

What indeed. Having an 1980 built cavity wall extension and needing to do same as you. Down at base level ive done some build ups in ubakus. Which clearly isnt has clever as WUFI, but even grossly exagerating humidity levels inside and out doesnt suggest a problem. Perversely, ubakus say i should be having a problem now with as built, and clearly i dont! So, question for me is, would anyone actually commit to using that model in the real world? WUFI would be better but comes at considerable expense, i assume, as actual iinformation on what that really costs seems to be non existent, so guessing its not , maybe, as widely used as i think?

Depends where you are on it. Economically, yes, it can be expensive, but if you want a home in a more rural location, conventional planning is rather stacked against you, well, in the more busy parts of the country. There is a degree of logic to the rules. Interesting though that Wales does not have class Q, and so, as a consequence there are many thousands of small farms and smal holdings still in existence. I think thats a good thing, but im sure many dont, or dont even care. Prior to abandoning the dream of a self build, barn conversion projects is what i was mostly looking at (in england)

So a house inside the barn? So the barn is just a rain/weather shield? Always wondered why this wasnt done more often given the grief people seem to go through stengthening the barns,

Its all somewhat moot. The only thing that matters is shareholder value. That there might be significant environmemntal and social good attached to undergrounding is of no consequence at all. Added to which is lots of "speculative" projects being proposed all over the place, each one of which creates a permanent financial blight on the houses and villages close to it. The reality is most wont ever get built, (that would result in massive over supply) but there is simply no overall plan. Its just a free for all of speculative planning proposals, at the expense of the people in those areas. That before we get to the illegal land entry, breaking and entering sites, criminal damage, proposals with large amounts of redacted info about the effects and costs, MS's on the payroll of the companies while publically stating their objection. Failure to register their interest. It goes on and on. All to make money.

There were 3 proposed pylon routes near us. One of them DID put a pylon, yes a pylon, not a wooden pole (i have those already) directly behind my house, circa 150 ft from my back window, in my field. Fortunately they have moved on to an alternative (read cheaper) plan. For now, Until that runs into the sand. So may get resurrected yet. If it does i get £1500. Great, as though thats recompense for effectively making my house worthless. Apparantly i should suck it up, its all for net zero. For as long as nothing is built, the house is effectively unsellable, as theres always the risk it comes back. Undergrounding isnt 4-5 times more expensive, unless you read the reports from the companies who are gaining planning for the pylons. Is it more expensive, yes, but nothing like the figures quoted. None of that matters, its only about how much money can be extracted. The environment doesnt figure on the list of concerns. We are not the south east, so, thus expendable. Its all very easy to say its a necessary blight, when it doesnt affect you.