Dreadnaught

UFH pipes go under the floor but, when linked by a ASHP, they can be used for cooling as well as heating, @JSHarris-style. But… air convection works against the cooling effect at the floor. So wouldn't it make sense to put the UFH cooling pipes in the ceiling not under the floor? Or… is the best compromise for both cooling and heating is not put them in the floor or ceiling but in the walls instead? Is this a silly idea? (I thought of this because, in my build, I may not have a concrete slab and have an insulated timber-frame floor instead. It strikes me that it could be just as easy to put the pipes in some of the internal walls as it is it put them on the floor.)

@JSHarris is yours a monoblock?

@jack, wow, spectacular!

Oh interesting. What was your motivation? Did that one bedroom not have much external light?

Oh that's a clever idea, and most encouraging.

What do people think about internal windows in a design? I have large plate glass floor-to-ceiling window on one side of a corridor which could throw light into a bedroom on the other side of the corridor if I put an internal window. That internal window could perhaps be high up (I have 3m ceilings in that area). Its also worth mentioning that that bedroom has no other windows other than roof lights. I am slightly concerned about sound ingress with internal windows. And whether they can be made to look any good. Anybody have any internal windows in their design? What do you think of them?

Its perhaps worth considering that that those USB-A sockets may well be obsolete in a few years time. I personally wouldn't install them now. USB-C is on the way (for all my bits and bobs at least).

@Lots2learn, lets organise that. PM inbound.

Why would you want to pre-warm the air through the ground? @JSHarris points are well made. An alternative if you can really justify the expense might be a brine loop system? But as you are going for a near passive house levels of insulation, your heat demand will be very low so I suspect you wont be able to justify the expense.

@Lots2learn, oh I am interested in how Bartram will make a frame for a PH. Looking cursorily at their website they give the impression that most of their frames are not for PHs. On my list is MBC, PYC and Touchwood but I am far from making a final decision and am interested to learn from your example. While not going for certification, are you going to model your house in PHPP? I have a first model for my design and I found the process revelatory. Recommended.

@Christine Walker, I will be following in your footsteps, quite some considerable distance behind. I have read all your posts with careful interest. I too will not doubt have times when its hard to see the end. I am rooting for you!

@Lots2learn yes I do have PP but I am going to go back to vary it, so I wont be breaking ground until the next spring at the earliest. Bartram is new to me. Looking now. Nearby I see. How low-energy do you plan your build to be on the spectrum between building regs at one end and passive house at the other (I plan to be at the passive house end, myself).

@Lots2learn, nearby indeed. I will be following your build with interest. You're ahead of me. Do start a blog, if you can find the time! Which timber frame company have you chosen?

Welcome, @Lots2learn. Your forum name could equally apply to me! In what part of Cambridgeshire are you building? My plot might be nearby.

An article in this week's Economist (might be behind a pay wall), entitled: Smoke and mirrors. Wood-burning stoves, the picturesque polluters. The government wages a careful battle against a middle-class favourite. https://www.economist.com/britain/2018/08/25/wood-burning-stoves-the-picturesque-polluters?frsc=dg|e

Welcome. For new builds, there is an optional standard for energy efficient homes called the Passive House standard. I wonder if you are familiar with it. There is also a related standard specifically for renovations called EnerPhit. Either route has the potential to provide a supremely comfortable home with very low annual energy builds.

That's great to hear, Moira. And for everyone else, having had the privilege of seeing those windows in person at an earlier stage of Moira's build, I can confirm that those windows really are rather wonderful.

Good point. What might be the monthly rent for a 20m x 20m for a site hut plus container? How might I go about guess-timating that? Any ideas anyone?

Good question, Russell. The boathouse has shared a drains survey with me. It shows both a foul drain and surface drain in the access road immediately in front of my plot (and next to theirs). I am assuming I can connect in to those. The boathouse needs to put in a new manhole for the surface drain so will be opening up the road for that. Could I ask them to do some works for me while they have it open? Good point. The boathouse has offered to send both my quote (£12k) and theirs back to the DNO and ask for a combined quote. For joint matters, such as the electricity connection, the tree works, and possible even laying drains to the boundary of my plot, could I ask them to do my works too at their cost, and no cost to me? Is that too much to ask? Would the marginal cost for them be low?

Actually not, Russell. Their boathouse (and the river beyond it) sits on the opposite side of the access road that lies between us, down which will come the services.

Now there's an idea, haha! I wonder if I need a firearms (or artillery) licence for such a thing.

There will indeed be a bar. Hence one reason why I am keen on building a sound-proof, thicked-walled passive house, haha! As for for boat race, that remains to be seen. Given the amount of rowing going on just beyond my front gate, I suspect I will probably be immune to its charms by the time it comes around.

Thanks @Ferdinand. Helpful. Haha, come to think of it they did indeed offer free rowing lessons.

I have a tricky little negotiation to undertake over the next few weeks. A range of views would be welcome. The question: How much and what in-kind benefit (not money) could I request in exchange for letting a neighbour use my plot during for their build? Background I am soon to buy a small 20m x 20m plot to build my new house. Its a rear garden plot in the centre of a city One neighbour is a rowing club on a river, a charity. They plan to knock down their boathouse next to me and rebuild starting in October for a 9-month build. I will finish buying my plot just as they start. They are influential in the local area so its worthwhile for me to keep in their good books They have nowhere to put their site hut and storage container during their build and have asked to use my plot They are as poor as church mice, despite having found the money to re-build I am in no hurry to start. I will need to go back to planning anyhow. And a pause will give me time to plan properly The negotiation I do not expect them to pay me to use my plot (see 4 above). But I would like some in-kind benefit that is fair. What amount of benefit would be fair? Some ideas for what the rowing club could provide, in-kind The only thing they have offered is that I could use their welfare facilities during my build (I presume that would mean toilet, washing facilities, drinking water, rest area) Other ideas (which they have not offered): Utilities availability. We both need to open up the access road to lay a new electricity cable (my quote for this is £12k). I also need to lay a new water pipe along the same route (they don’t) Some of the tree works are in common between us My plot is not prepared. Its a garden with ruined foundations from an old greenhouse and over growth. They could prepare the site for my development and leave it in a suitable state at the end Any other ideas? Comments and thoughts welcome! (I will ask another question later about having a contract with the rowing club for their usage.)

I tend to agree. Joe Public does not give a fig. Even the term Passive House, translated as it is from German, its unfortunate. In my experience, people think it applies to houses only, not other buildings, and invariably implies no heating system at all.