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Dreadnaught

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Everything posted by Dreadnaught

  1. Dreadnaught
    Completely off topic, sorry. If anyone is interested in how Earthwool is made, I found this video fascinating. I didn't know it comprises 80% recycled glass!
  2. Dreadnaught
    @SlivenClod, I recommend you model the thermal characteristics of your house using PHPP. You can do it yourself if you are skilled with spreadsheets and willing to put in some time, or you can hire somebody to help. Either way, the relatively modest cost (in time or money) has the potential to pay-off handsomely in comfort once you have built your home and are living in it. Over heating is not to be underestimated in a well insulated home. We have seen some people here on BuildHub needing much work to control it after finishing their homes. It is always better to prevent overheating in the first place (as mentioned above) than to deal with after it has occurred.
  3. Dreadnaught
    Thanks all. Interesting about the new compressor technology, @epsilonGreedy. Didn't know about that. I will certainly be choosing as quiet a one as I can find. Back to the original question — how best to build a housing for a fridge-freezer that allows air circulation but muffles noise? I like @ProDave's idea of a stud wall. Any other ideas?
  4. Dreadnaught
    I should have explained that the house is not built yet. I am working on the plans so I can do whatever is best to minimise the noise. I was thinking that there might be a solution for acoustic insulation that was superior to usual thin kitchen panels. What might you recommend? By the way, I don't plan to have a build-in a fridge-freezer, with a front panel to blend in with the other kitchen doors. I have always thought that was somewhat pointless as many modern fridges looks good without, especially the stainless steel ones.
  5. Dreadnaught
    Open plan kitchen. How could I reduce the noise of fridge freezer's compressor (while keeping the back of the fridge ventilated of course)? Ideas: A short stud wall section beside the fridge freezer? Sound-absorbent foam behind Any better ideas? (By the way, ignore the kitchen design. Its just a rough draft.)
  6. Dreadnaught
    Welcome @connick159!
  7. Dreadnaught
    Were those Gyspum Gyptone acoustic boards on the ceiling of the blue-steel one? I am interested in those for mine.
  8. Dreadnaught
    Listening to BBC Costing the Earth (Dash from Gas): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ ”Around 90% of homes in Britain get their hot water and heating from gas-fired boilers. There are 23 million of them in Britain. The Chancellor has banned them from new homes after 2025 and by 2050 they'll be history. The government is committed to phasing them out to meet international climate change commitments. So what are the alternatives to the gas that's provided reliable, reasonably priced heat since it was first piped ashore from the North Sea in the late 1960s? Electric heating is a quick and easy replacement but we would need to massively increase the amount of green electricity that we generate. Hydrogen gas could be burnt in home appliances but producing hydrogen takes a lot of energy and expensive new infrastructure would be needed. Peter Gibbs is on the hunt for solutions, basing himself in the valleys of South Wales where energy companies and their customers are trialling new fuels, new smart technology and new payment methods to cut the carbon from heating our homes.”
  9. Dreadnaught
    Welcome @Nicked. We like photos! That looks like a lovely setting for a build. What area of the country is that?
  10. Dreadnaught
    I wonder does anyone know anything about this unpronounceable software, Sefaira, an add-on for Sketchup for thermal modelling launched in 2013. https://www.sketchup.com/products/sefaira https://support.sefaira.com/hc/en-us Smart Modelling Envelope Design Daylighting Design HVAC Design It seems to have been a startup in 2009, launched its product in 2013, and then bought by Trimble, the makers of SketchUp. Some of the web pages are broken which suggests that the acquisition might be in-progress. Seems to fall under the heading "BIM". My architect asked, knowing I was a BuildHub-er. Random screenshot:
  11. Dreadnaught
    Welcome @Annemay!
  12. Dreadnaught
    Yes, all up. It included: "Initial Check", "Design Assessment" (the biggest part at £1064 + VAT), "Completion & Certification Processing" and "Passivhaus institute fee for certification". The only thing it excluded was the house plaque at £75 + VAT! The PHPP modelling, etc., would be all be done by my PHPP consultant. I would estimate about £1,500 to £3000 + VAT for that. In the end I chose not to go for certification for my build.
  13. Dreadnaught
    For information, my quote for Passive House certification was £2,129 + VAT. It seems to depend on the architect: I was told my quote was a bit lower because the architect was both a certified PH-designer and known to the certifier.
  14. Dreadnaught
    WHB = wash hand basin. (I didn't know).
  15. Dreadnaught
    Were such "risks of getting a large pane of glass" explained to you before you signed on the dotted line?
  16. Dreadnaught
    Yes, very interesting. Thank you. I wonder if this extends to Conservation Areas (like mine)? I suspect not.
  17. Dreadnaught
    Solo? I ask as boarding is one of the tasks I am tempted to try my hand at.
  18. Dreadnaught
    Put wheels on said shed and say it is moveable? Personally, I would explore challenging the condition. I recall reading on this forum an example of someone who successfully did so. As you describe your circumstances, there seems little reason for the condition to remain.
  19. Dreadnaught
    You can model it with some precision in PHPP.
  20. Dreadnaught
    The prohibition on using a house battery to continue supplying electricity during a power cut is, I believe, to protect any line workers working on the power lines. I think that there are ways to maintain power in a power cut by using a separate isolated circuit for crucial items powered by a house battery.
  21. Dreadnaught
    I thought tell-tales were little bits of string on a boat sail, the realm of hubbers like @ProDave and @epsilonGreedy.
  22. Dreadnaught
    Haha, so far as I can tell so far it has been to put a label "play area" on an open space on a plan that could have been equally named many other things. I imagine if I was a developer, the requirement could have been for actual swings and slides.
  23. Dreadnaught
    I am going through planning at the moment. My local council has a new Local Plan that is vocal about amenity space but I have not read any specific measurement requirements. It seems to be principles-based and dependent on the house being built. For example, an area for outside play is to be provided if it is a 3-bed house but not if it has fewer bedrooms. My recent learning was that the new Local Plan has been driven by residents' quite reasonable complaints about the inadequacy in design of new houses from the mass house builders. The local plan has reacted to this by instigating draconian limitations to counter it, which in turn has the unintended consequence of both complicating and distorting my build when my build will be hugely better than any mass built box anyway. The law of unintended consequences. Mini-rant over!
  24. Dreadnaught
    Serious consequences then, even if the amount for him is peanuts.
  25. Dreadnaught
    I wonder if that conviction fell under criminal or civil law.
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