pulhamdown

Well, we have no problem. We use a natural product which my wife makes up, and after a thorough rinse, the granite gets a final buff. So, fairly easy to keep clean, and doesn't take long. Still looking like new after 6 years of serious use. The home made cleaner is basically vinegar, borax, and liquid soap, and hot water.

I would have thought it is more to do with the way the kitchen is used. We have a large kitchen, and my wife is a very keen and able cook. Our island is 7'6" x 4' with a 5'6 x 3' table area attached to it at right angles. Virtually all food preparation is done on the island's granite top, and the lower level is ideal for breakfast, and everyday eating.

Don't underestimate solar gain, even in NE Scotland. We have a lot of glass, face SE, but only have issues with bedroom overheating in the summer. 1 1/2 storey TF. Late afternoon and evening purging usually sorts the problem. But I find it's my wife who is much more sensitive to hot and cold!

The other side of the coin is that we had virtually no conditions set by the planners. Other than that no trees can be cut down during the build. Of course, any trees in the way were felled before applying for PP?

Sounds like you met the same idiot as me in the Dundee office. He tried to put us off specifying a lot of insulation, saying it was a waste of money. Unfortunately, that chimes with my experience of salesmen in general. A total waste of space. Much better to find out about products for yourself. BTW, our Scotframe house is everything we wanted, despite his best efforts!

Hi. We had a Scotframe kit, and are very pleased with it. The only problem we had was in getting the kit delivered at the time we initially agreed. Being brutally honest, they agreed to our date, knowing fine well they couldn't deliver then. They basically have a production line mainly supplying developers, and single house builders just have to fit in to a slot in between. Probably better to ask them when they can deliver, rather than when you want it. But, that apart, they were excellent. Once deliveries started, everything was on time, and correct. They also supply windows, doors, skirting, etc, etc, and that all went smoothly. Any small items which were wrong, or missing were replaced very quickly. I have no experience of Fleming homes, but can certainly recommend Scotframe. We have now been in our house for nearly six years, and still loving it. One other thing. We changed quite a lot of the interior, and exterior, from the original kit specification, and Scotframe made all the considerable changes without any fuss.

We had two Polish guys doing the render on the outside of our house. They had built several houses in Poland, before coming over here. Their motto was to sell the first house they had built, build the next one for someone in your family, then you will have learned enough to build your own!

Welcome. I'm sure you'll find lots of great info on here. As well as lots of extremely helpful advice. I finished our build just over five years ago, and it was the best thing we ever did. I'm just down the road from you, just outside Coupar Angus. The house in the photo looks great. Is yours going to be the same?

If you are building in Scotland, putting UFH pipes in an insulated slab is a no brainer. Then you at least have the option to use it if you need it. We are in eastern Scotland, and have a near passif standard house, and quite exposed. Our internal temperature rarely drops by more than one degree overnight, and even then, the UFH brings the temp back up quickly. We face SE, and rarely get overheating, so from my point of view we have got the insulation / overheating balance about right. But read @J S Harris's post above really carefully. He sums up the situation in a nutshell. I'd second pinning this thread.

OK. So what about a slightly different slant on the question. What would be a good susbstitute for an oil fired boiler where mains gas is not available. This would be for a well insulated house, with UFH, no radiators, and a 3.7kw solar set up. Are we at the stage where Sun Amp could replace an oil fired boiler, perhaps with an ASHP?

That's because your building warrant would have been applied for before 9th January 2013. My house isn't on there either, but our warrant was applied for in 2012. However, the house across the road from me is on twice - with two different addresses. So, basically not reliable. No great loss. Colin

I reclaimed the VAT on mine. You cant just unplug it like a cooker or fridge!

Not necessarily. Our building inspector here in Perthshire realised quite early on that my project manager, and main contractor joiner, knew much more about building modern low energy houses than he did. In fact on more than one occasion, he asked for a specific explanation of various features. On final inspection, there were no issues thrown up at all. maybe we were just lucky.

Speak for yourself! My string is just the right length.

I'm afraid it's like how long is a piece of string! Direction of solar panels, type of panel, and angle of mounting, etc. We have a large flat panel, facing SSE, at about 45 degrees. On a full sunny day in summer, it can get our 300 litre tank up to around 60 degrees, but usually it heats up the bottom third by about 25 degrees. That's in Perthshire, so I'm sure others further south will do better. The system is set up so that the solar panel has to be more than 7 degrees hotter than the bottom part of the thermal store before pumping begins.

That's pretty much what we do. Our house is near to passiv haus, and does retain any heat well. During the warmer months when the heating is not coming on, just before taking a bath or shower, I turn off the boiler ( oil fired ) to allow the solar thermal to heat up the water in the thermal store. That usually lasts for two to three days, then I turn the boiler back on to top up the thermal store. Works really well.

I don't think so. When I built my house 5 years ago, all labour had to be either zero rated, or VAT free. I only reclaimed VAT on maerials.

It certainly is. We have a pulley - shiela's maid - in our plant room, where our thermal store is. Also a dehumidifier. Clothes are dry within a few hours. We don't have a tumble drier. Colin

I didn't like the idea of a gap under the doors. I kept thinking of a young lad who'd outgrown his trousers. Instead, I inserted a grill in the bottom section of the door, powder coated in the same colour as my windows. I got the door supplier to cut out the section neatly. I have tiled floors downstairs, and carpet upstairs.

I think we may be talking at cross purposes. The filter I referred to is the filter on the outside wall of the house, where the fresh air enters the system. My internal filters are as in the picture @stones posted. I would prefer to be able to stop the insects before they even enter the system

Our inlet filter is only a piece of slatted plastic with a plastic mesh insert. Definitely not very effective. I'll need to have a look and see if I can find something which screens more effectively without restricting the air supply. Perhaps Vent Axia sell one?

Both fans had a thin layer of dust on. I used a disinfecting spray just to make removal easier in the restricted space. We're much drier than you - you would know - we're only three miles away from where you were in Perthshire.

This was a timely reminder for me. We have had our Kinetic Plus B for around 4 years, and it had never had the core out for a clean. I have now just done it. Firstly, no weedy torq screws. Just good quality Phillips heads. Secondly, no mould whatsoever, and the drain was absolutely dry. The core was quite dirty, with various dead insects, etc, but only turned the bath water a mid peaty brown. Five minutes with a tooth brush, and soapy water had it nice and clean again. Both fans were cleaned by squirting household cleaner on them, and wiping off with paper towels. It's out in the breeze drying off now, and I'll put new filters in as well. So, seems like the bean counters have been at work, trying to save a few pence on screws.

A telehandler is much easier to learn to operate than a JCB digger. I rented one for a couple of weeks, and was reasonably competent within a couple of hours. Just need to start slowly with simple jobs, and work up to more complicated jobs.. My rental covered insurance. Colin

Thank goodness I don't have an ipad!