Temp

Various companies make PIR/PUR foil covered sheet insulation - Celotex, Kingspan etc Its thermal properties are better than EPS.

Oh ok. So you can ignore my first paragaph ?

Don't get me wrong, I like UFH but I'd have to be desperate to install electric UFH. Id only use it to warm tiles in a bathroom rather than for heating.. All direct electric heating (UFH, Fan heaters, Radiant etc) is practically 100% efficient, which sounds good, but electricity is about the most expensive fuel per kWH you can buy. Three to four times the cost of mains gas. Three times current cost of oil etc. I would try really hard to extend your heating system. If the rooms are small and have office furniture etc the actual floor area available to dissipate heat into the room might be quite low. So if the rooms aren't well insulated it might not be possible to get enough power out of any form of UFH (bit like having too small a radiator). They say heat rises but that's convection. First the heat has to escape the heating element by conduction and it goes in all directions including downwards. So UFH needs at least 100mm of insulation below the floor. UFH also takes quite a long time to warm up the room. Fine if you are going to be in there most of the day but not so good if its just for short periods say first and last thing in the day. I can't really comment on makes of electric UFH we have UFH but its oil fired.

Disguise it with a whiff of new carpet? Perhaps try brushing in cement dust. Isn't that what they use for oil spills on racing circuits? Desk fan pointed at the patch might speed up evaporation.

My guess is firrings and fixing works out cheaper than tapered insulation or tapered i-joists or similar.

I'm a bit late to this thread but.. If one pump is managing to push 2 L/min through the UFH then Id probably leave it alone. If you had said the rads were getting hot but not the UFH then I would recommend a different approach. A manifold loop pump and mixer is the standard way of doing UFH but is there much point to a mixer if you don't need it to mix down the temperature? Some houses need higher UFH flow temperatures than others. 50kWH per day equates to 50/24 = 2.1kW average. Not sure what COP you get in the cold weather but if you managed a COP of 2 that would mean the heat loss is around 4.2kW. Less because some is used for DHW.

Spray foam has to be sprayed onto something. The exposed surface isn't flat. So it would be difficult to use on a warm roof. If you spray it on the underside of the top layer of OSB that OSB would need supporting. If you spray it on the top side of the lower OSB then the surface would be uneven and the top layer of OSB might not be supported evenly. I don't think Rockwool can be used for load bearing so again the top layer of OSB would need support that penetrates the insulation layer. The best solution I reckon is to: Install the joists. Put tapered firring strips on top to get the fall. OSB Vapour barrier PIR Insulation boards Squirty foam or tape any gaps in the PIR (shouldn't be any but if there are). OSB (Top and edges) EPDM

. Is there a pressure gauge near the boiler so you know its pressurised? There are many different types of store. Ours is vented so the boiler to thermal store side is filled by a cold supply to a ball valve in the header tank.

We have a Bosch thats pretty stable but still moves a bit on our tiled floor. I'd use something to stop it falling off. Rather than build a platform just under the machine might be better to make a false floor over that whole area?

https://nottenergy.com/resources/energy-cost-comparison/

Awhile back i found this doc that has a lot of pricing data in but its horrible to extract. Perhaps start around page 125 and see. https://www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/internet/en/about-us/regulatory-information/documents/UKPN%20CCCMS%20-%20July%202018%20v1.0%20PXM%202018-06-27.pdf Looks like £2000 to £3400 for each new pole and length of cable between poles £1700 to go from pole to underground and first 10m of cable Trenching and cable. From £130/m in grass to £330/m in road

Oops yes. Sorry. Bit distracted. I have my son here trying to ask me questions on subjects I last studied 40 years ago.

+1 You will need Planning Permission but possibly not Building Control Approval.. Planning permission for outbuildings (inc garages).. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/43/outbuildings Building Regulations https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/43/outbuildings/2 If you are putting in power or lighting that will need Building Control involvement but if you get an electrician to do it they should sort that for yo and notify Building Control. Offer to do the digging to reduce cost. Typically they would install a "Garage CU" with an RCD and 2 MCB plus an earth rod, sockets and lights.

They do exist.. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-Clout-Nails-Roofing-Tiling-70mm-long-x-3-75mm-diameter-1KG-box-/184578867246?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

Blocking the vent can be dangerous. If you are tempted to install Carbon Monoxide alarms and not just downstairs.

Probably but Architects can be expensive. There are people around that can draw plans but can't legally call themselves Architects as they arent members of the right institutions etc. They have occupations like Architectural Technician or Plan Drawer. They tend to be cheaper. Whoever you hire it would be reasonable to hire them in two or more stages in case you don't get along... 1) Obtain Planning Permission 2) Obtain Building Control Approval to start You could also hire them to oversee construction but that can be expensive. To do the whole package some charge as much as 11% of the build cost. Has your plot already got outline planning permission? It can be quite risky buying a plot without planning permission. Plots and fields have very different values. If it doesn't have planning already you have to wonder why not?

Planning might be concerned if there are known issues. For example in most areas you cannot put surface water into the sewer. So where soakaways don't work (eg heavy clay soil) they might add a condition something like.. "Before work starts you must provide a drainage plan explaining how you will dispose of surface water". If you can't put it into the sewer and soakaways don't work that can be a problem. If you think that might be an issue for your plot have a look to see if there are any drainage ditches or "piped ditches" nearby, perhaps along the edge of the road?. Sometimes you can discharge surface water into those, sometimes you might need to provide storm surge attenuation before discharging into them. Building Control may also ask for a drainage plan with your Building Control Application. This is essentially a site plan showing your house and lines showing the route of your drains and inspection chambers. They will probably want to inspect the drains before you fill in any trenches and may want to witness you do a pressure test before completion (ours did). Kits are available for doing this.

We have seen a few posts from people with issues with their ASHP. Majority appear to be people with undersized systems, possibly because people are optimistic with their assessment of how well insulated the house is. I'm actually glad we went for an oil boiler because my house isn't as good as I thought it would be. Building Regs have improved since we built ours but I wouldn't build to the current regs - aim for much better.

If you are doing your due diligence checks prior to bidding on the plot your best bet might be to ask the neighbours. Gives you chance to say hello. They are likely to know if there have been any issues with the sewer system. If you need to contact the water co that may take a long time. Its a pity the pubs aren't open, I actually stayed overnight in the village pub near our plot. Turned out that the plot had been auctioned off in the pub a few years earlier (wish I'd been there). Found out that a tree had been planted on the boundary by an 80 year old bloke that lived down the road (mental note not to cut that one down).

Are you wanting to connect into the pipes that cross the plot to serve other houses already or make a new connection into the sewer in the road? I think public/shared pipes are normally at least 150mm (where as pipes serving a single house are 110mm). This might be complicated by the change in legislation a few years ago. As I recall it makes any pipe serving more than one house the responsibility of the water co. Does this mean they don't want people to start sharing pipes?

+1 Here is the link anyway. You can always ask. https://www.nhbcselfbuildzone.com/ https://www.nhbcselfbuildzone.com/structural-warranty Try asking your Building Control Officer if they offer warranties as presumably he has already done inspections?

I think you should check with Building Control. I doubt they would believe you if you just said you weren't going to use the top floor. If it didn't exist it might be ok but that seems like a shame to loose what you want for the cost of a sprinkler/mist system. I've got a feeling Wales have made sprinkler systems mandatory in all houses - or was that just a proposal? Edit: looks like they became mandatory for all new houses and flat in Wales from 2016.

https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/future-homes-standard-sets-new-targets-for-green-building "The Ministry of Housing has set out new energy efficiency standards that all new-build houses will be expected to meet." "...all new homes will have to have low carbon heating and be ‘zero carbon ready’ by 2025" "New homes are expected to produce 75-80% lower carbon emissions compared to current levels by 2025" "While there is nothing about upgrading the existing housing stock, the standard does set down energy requirements for extensions or building improvement/renovation works." Draft Future Homes Standard specification Floor U-value (W/m2.K) 0.11 External wall U-value (W/m2.K) 0.15 Roof U-value (W/m2.K) 0.11 Window U-value (W/m2.K) 0.8 Door U-value (W/m2.K) 1.0 Air permeability (m3/(h.m2) 5.0 Heating appliance Low-carbon heating (e.g. Heat pump) Heat Emitter type Low temperature heating Ventilation System type Natural (with extract fans) PV None Wastewater heat recovery No y value (W/m2.K) 0.05

Most planning departments only care about location, overall size, appearance, road safety, and sustainability. The latter isn't to do with green policies, its about public services, they want to know you won't increase pressures on public services (schools, doctors, transport). So it might be harder to get permission if the local school is full even if you dont have kids. In some cases they get concerned about traffic, car parking, climate change, affordable housing and/or the loss of open spaces/availability of playgrounds. A few councils might have a policy on the provision of houses suitable for disabled people but this is normally an issue for Building Control regulations. If they have a policy its more likely to apply to larger developments like housing estates. They dont care about interior details such as ceiling heights, size of rooms etc. In most cases being virtuous with your design wont out way other planning issues. For example offering to make it a passive low energy house won't make an ugly house on a dangerous bend acceptable. Providing too much detail can bite you later. If a dimension isn't specified very accurately they can't complain if you make the house a few inches bigger by accident. If the planners want a particular type of window they will make it a planning condition. No need to tie yourself down by specifying a particu type now.

PS it looks plenty strong enough to me. Whats the spacing between the railings? I think the gaps need to be less than 100mm.