Roger440

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.

This is the nonsense currently being spouted by Plaid here in wales. Its NEVER going to happen. But, regardless, i dont want a few quid, i dont want a pylon in my garden. Nobody wants a pylon in their garden. Seeing as we are going to spend trillions and bankrupt the country anyway, for the negligible extra cost, they could underground the cables. Then everyone would be happy. But there might be a hit to shareholders, who probably mostly live in the cotswolds!

Yes, but only because we think we can stop or change it.

Thanks. I was being dumb. Had a "special" moment. Worked it out and deleted the post, but you saw it 30kWh for £3k is starting to make some sense. Assuming i can do the install (inc my PV) myself. Although, i still dont really want to have batteries as its all just more stuff to manage and go wrong. Too much electronics for my liking. Need to re-crunch my payback time.

Thanks. Not the easiest website that one. Unless you are an expert. Seems like a cheap way into batteries.

As you do every 3 months or so, you put a lot of effort into these arguments, for what im not sure. Because it always goes the same way. But half this thread is full of debate about how climate change is caused. Does it matter? Its fairly evident its changing. However, and as ive stated before, the idea that if we buy a heat pump and plant some windmills everything will be ok, is pure fantasy. Us meddling about with such wheezes isnt going to have any effect. At all. We are just going to have to deal with it. Expending resources trying to stop it, will come to be seen as one of the greatest follys ever attempted by man. And leave us with minimal resources to actually deal with the consequences.

Good as that all is, and i agree with most of it, the reality is, having been bullshitted and lied to so many times, no one believes a word of it. This crops up quite often on some of the traditional building/rural living groups on facebook. About 98% simply think its a money making scam for government, restriction of freedoms or some other variant. Consistently that is the view. There is alnost no one, sometimes no one at all saying that it is actually a real issue. Thats the problem with constantly telling lies, eventually people realise you are telling lies, and assume everything is a lie. There was a story we used to tell children about it..............................

Are you referring to this? https://www.fogstar.co.uk/blogs/fogstar-blog/lifepo4-diy-battery-builds-made-easier-with-the-seplos-mason-kit?_pos=2&_sid=c779d90ee&_ss=r

Ok, fair enough, used the wrong descriptors, but essentially the key point is science is not "fixed", and thus not "fact" as some like to suggest. What a significant portion of the scientific community believe today, may very well be quite different in 20 years time.

There's plenty of wool already. Farmers bury it rather than sell as selling incurs losses. Which is madness. But unless someone comes a long, scales up to make wool insulation at a competitive price, it will continue to be worthless, and we keep using fossil fuels to make insulation. In reality,bis someone tried to do this, they would simply be bought out by the established players.

I can see that as the contractor was working for you, assuming you personally engaged them that they would hold you liable. They were your contractor. Id be very surprised if, legally, that could go any other way. Contractor needs a cat scan tool. Not really doing thr job in a professional manner if he didnt have one. A completely avoidable incident.

I wrote a house book when I sold my last house, the key feature of which was not to paint over the lime with modern paint!

Well it is. Apart from the fact im on the border of zone 1 and 2 for windriven rain. The good news its rendered externally, base coat of render, but never recieved the final coat. 50 years ago. Its fine, but looks terrible. My current thinking is to use hardie plank or similar rather than try to do a render top coat, whick will give me, hardie plank, air gap, good render, inner leaf, before we get to insulation. So, done well, no water should ever get into the cavity.

As already indicated, there are exemptions for retrofit. But a conversion is treated as a new build as far as im aware. Saveasteading is probably the person to answe this?