Dreadnaught

Thanks @jack, I went back to some of your earlier posts. Lots of interesting reading there! It seems you have re-branded Hunter Douglas blinds. I notice that @Bitpipe has roma.de blinds on Gaulhofer windows (fixed to the windows in the factory). I wonder if they produce blackout? (He said in 2016 that "and can almost act as a blackout"). Edit: I notice that the Gaulhofer website says: "People who want their home to be absolutely dark are advised to go for roller shutters. For everyone else who find 99% darkness sufficient and prefer a bit more flexibility in terms of light management, Venetian shutters are the first choice."

I wonder how would security blinds interact with fire evacuation requirements for a bedroom? I saw a reference online to a US site that said such security roller blinds for a bedroom were not allowed there because of building regulations, presumably fire evacuation regulations. It is relevant for the bedrooms in my bungalow I think, for which the windows have fire-evacuation sized openings.

@jack, to what extent do your external blinds reduce light levels? Do they produce near black out when fully closed? My thoughts are whether external blinds like yours would remove the need for internal black-out blinds in a bedroom.

Thanks @HerbJ. Ah so I see they are called "Rollladen" in German.

I am interested in those German windows you see when you visit a German home that have those built-in external window shutters mounted into the window itself and opened with a strap on the inside. Like in this video… Anyone knows who makes them, any brand names? I am expecting that there is a huge billion-€ German company that dominates the market that most people have never heard of.

While it is called a "Duct Mounted Cold Water Cooler", and has the requisite condensate drain, am I right to assume it would work perfectly well as a duct heater in winter to take the chill off incoming air, which will be ever so slightly cooler than room air during the winter?

Which model of Airport do you have? I can probably guide you through its setup if you want to fix it. You can PM me if you wish.

I agree with @Mr Punter and @Temp. There are specialised matched base-station/extender pairs that transmit the signal between a base station and its extender on a different frequency from the usual WiFi frequencies, which gets around the problem of an extender halving a network's bandwidth. But in my opinion these solutions are far inferior to Temp's suggestions. And besides, such solutions require both the base station and extender to be made by the same manufacturer and are expensive. Furthermore, most generic cheap extenders do not actually facilitate roaming. There is no "handoff", even if the extender is set to mimic the original network's name (SSID). A device will hold on to the original router's signal for far too long. You may be standing next to your new extender but your device will still hold its connection to the distant router located all the way across the house until its dwindling signal is finally lost, which is long after the speed of transmission has dropped to useless levels. An unsatisfactory experience.

That looks well done. How did you construct the cupboards? And pre-cut system? I am looking for storage ideas for the two bathrooms in my forthcoming build.

Clever idea. More here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK3s_qJ-BW0

I like the idea of an extra loop for duct cooling/heating. I think it gives the flexibility for duct cooling but also heating too. As @jack said: "If I were doing it again, I'd stick with UFH driven by an ASHP, but add a loop to allow some comfort heating of the MVHR supply air (really just enough to take the chill off the air due to the imperfect heat exchange in the MVHR unit)." https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/7859-top-up-heat-sources/?do=findComment&comment=133325 One thing to consider, with a duct cooler you might need a condensate drain, unless the amount of condensation is so low that it can be allowed to evaporate.

My council has mandated a green roof on my forthcoming build for stormwater drainage reasons. I have chosen the simplest option. A sedum roof using a system of trays and mats. In my case the roof won't be visible, only my neighbours will see it.

There is an example at PYC’s new offices in Wales. (They are an importer of WarmCel). The ceiling of their high-ceilinged open-plan office is fully coated with it. It’s a rather unusual and pleasing texture and they intend for it to remain on show. Good for dampening echos too I would think.

Not witnessed one yet but I believe they do both and take an average of a series.

Interesting to see. I wonder how much they cost.

Welcome @Diane. Congratulations on finding a plot! I was in your position about a year ago. In this post I listed some of the things I looked out for: I am sure others will be along soon with more help.

Sounds like Touchwood Homes. That is their approach. I have visited two of their builds, both good. The other advantage of having the airtightness layer on the outside is the reduced chance of it being invisibly punctured during second fix.

I wonder, can you place any panels on the flat roof at the top of the (huge) dormer, angled in frames? They may not shade the ones on the roof above.

A warm welcome back @SteamyTea!

@lizzie, I believe that your build is not MBC twin stud but MBC Open Panel 140mm (single stud).

At the annual BuildHub summer party, I vote for these two to be the two captains for the tug-of-war

Note that Sageglass, electrochromic glass that tints on demand, is for solar control not privacy. At nighttime, if the interior is illuminated everyone will see in easily. This thread gives some more background…

Personally, I would try to get your 1.5% overheating risk down a bit. Its way lower than the PH requirement (10%) but I would aim for less than 1% myself. There are many examples of 0%. As you may have read on this site, with a near PHs, summer overheating can often be more of a challenge than winter heating.

The advantage of ASHP, UFH and pipes in the raft is that it can easily be used for summer cooling, if that is needed (ASHP in reverse). Gas will likely be the sensible choice. ASHP will be tech-lovers choice for flexibility.

He/she's probably right. Are you having an insulated reinforced-concrete raft foundation?