NSS

Literally just back from a week's holiday. House has been locked up tight with just the Sageglass (it's actually electrochromic) and the MVHR left running (no active cooling). Temp inside upon opening the front door was a reasonably comfortable 25C in the south-facing rooms and upstairs, and 24C on the north side. As I've said before, the glass may have been expensive but it does the job, automatically, without losing the benefit of the solar gain when we want it.

Google icatcher by icode systems. They have wildlife and security solutions. Don't know if they'll have specifically what you need but worth a try.

I've applied a fair bit of vinyl in my time and the guy is right. However, there's a knack to getting it right (and bubble free) and there's a big difference between applying decals to a van in a controlled environment such as a workshop, or to the inside of windows, and covering whole, large panes of glass outdoors. The film may not be particularly expensive, but it would be easy to get it very wrong. I certainly wouldn't attempt it as a diy job.

That's not a garage, that's an aircraft hanger!

We used Scandia Hus, but deleted many of the items you mention (stairs, windows/doors, MVHR, internal doors, skirtings etc) not only to save money but to improve choice. Could we have got a cheaper TF kit? Almost certainly. If I was ever to do another self-build would I invite Scandia-Hus to tender again? Absolutely. As @PeterWsuggests, quality comes at a premium.

The TF supplier we used has numerous 'standard' designs but, as we understood it, they rarely build two exactly the same as most clients want a degree of bespoking. We actually went to them with our own design and then they produced the manufacturing drawings, structural calculations, etc. Of course, these 'services' don't come free, but their price for that work was very keen (a fraction of what an architect/SE would have charged) but I guess they make their money on the TF manufacture and erection.

In that case, the film seems the logical (and most economic) solution for your specific situation ?

@PeterStarck, I accept the up front capital cost is high, but I'm beginning to think it's probably a very cost-effective solution in the longer term, and it's such an elegant one also. Reading the latest in a long line of threads on the subject of overheating caused by excessive solar gain (posted by @lizzie ) it's obvious that this is a significant issue. It's also obvious that other solutions, such as solar reflective film, external blinds/shutters and the like, come at variable cost (both in capital and ongoing terms), and at least some form of aesthetic compromise. Reflective film may (reasonably cheaply) cure the issue of too much gain, but it also stops you from benefitting from it when you want it, and that means spending more on heating the property year after year. I'd also question what it may look like after several years of exposure to the elements, window cleaning, etc. External blinds/shutters will I'm sure be equally effective as reflective film (albeit at a significantly higher cost) and will allow the benefit of solar gain when desirable, but at the expense of the view out of the windows when you perhaps most want to enjoy it (and with the aesthetic compromise of the external frame/box of the blinds/shutters). And' of course, for such a solution to be reliably effective it needs to be automated, which I suspect brings this solution close to the extra cost of our Sageglass (bear in mind that whilst electro-chromic glazing is expensive, it replaces the 3G glazing units you'd otherwise be paying for). By contrast, excessive solar gain is controlled automatically but we still get the full benefit of it when desirable (reducing heating costs); the need for active cooling (and the cost thereof) is reduced/eliminated; there's no compromise to the external aesthetic of the building; and (perhaps best of all) we enjoy an uninterrupted view out, regardless of the solar intensity. As I said previously, it just works.

Thought I'd update this thread with our experience to date. So far this month we've had 15 virtually cloudless days (out of 21) including a run of 8 consecutive such days. We've left the Sageglass in auto mode and it has worked extremely well in restricting the solar gain and effectively regulating the indoor temperature. Granted, the sun is relatively high in the sky now and approx 25% of the south-facing glass is shaded by our 50cm soffit overhang, but I'm pretty confident the Sageglass would cope even if we'd had such a run of cloudless days earlier in the year. So far, to coin an old Honda marketing strapline, it just works! Edit to add: by the way, the privacy element is fine during daytime when the glass tints as it reflects like a black mirror when viewed from outside, but is far less effective at night when light are on inside. Suffice to say we now have blinds at the bedroom windows!

This is precisely how ours is configured (7 x 285w panels facing east, 3 south and 4 west) and whilst we are generating less in total, the spread is far more usable. For example, today we were generating 1kW+ from 0715 until 1745 this evening but our peak was only 2.4 and total for the day 22kWh.

I 'finished' over 6 months ago and I'm still knackered!

Depends what you mean by 'amateur'. I'm an amateur but am comfortable using my tools even though it's a long time since I used them for a living (35 years). Cedral Click is, IMHO, a great system and we're delighted with the look/finish. It's definitely not a single-handed job erecting it though, and takes a bit of time to work out a 'routine'. Other down sides are; A) it's a bugger to cut. Don't be fooled into thinking you can use any of the guillotine type cutting tools that are out there, it has to be cut with diamond tipped circ/chop saw blades and you'll need good extraction on the saw (lots of dust!). B) if you want the smooth finish like ours (rather than the wood effect planks), they only sell it in full pallets (144 planks from memory) so you need to carefully plan the areas to ensure you don't end up needing a few planks more than full pallet loads. If you're in South Oxon then we're not a million miles away so feel free to pay us a visit if you want to take a look and pick my brain. I'll dig out the invoices for the materials and get back to you with a cost. Labour wise my time came free and mates helped me for a few beers, but I hate to think what it would have cost to have it done 'professionally' even if you could find anyone who has any experience fitting it.

Feel sorry for them but the council are, IMHO, right to refuse retrospective approval. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-44068562

@Ferdinand @jack forgive me for butting in but @lizzie will not want to be opening windows for the same reason that we don't, air quality. Ours is not an MBC build but some would say our multifoil insulation (due to relatively poor decrement delay) would more likely overheat in a spell such as that we've had for the last week (hardly seen a cloud before this afternoon), but we've actually managed quite well. The Sageglass has been busy managing the solar gain while the MVHR (once I realised the summer bypass had been set not to open until the extract temperature exceeded 24.5C) has been doing the rest. No windows have been opened and we haven't felt the need to put the heat pump into cooling mode. It's been interesting looking at all the houses around us, including the equally new (but developer built) two virtually next to ours, opening all their windows in an effort to keep cool at night, while we've been very comfortable.

Hang in there @lizzie and keep your eye on the prize. It will be worth it.

@Russell griffithswhatever solution you go with, and whatever it costs, it'll be worth it for that view. Stunning location ?

Windows that darken, and you don't even have to press a button (though you can do that too)

Worth planning fitted wardrobes far enough in advance that walls can be placed to suit the optimum configuration of the system you intend to fit. We based ours on the IKEA pax so have a 2255mm deep walk-in wardrobe that uses 3 x 750mm wide units on either side, and another wardrobe run in a 2555mm alcove allowing 5 x 500 wide doors on 2 x 1000 and 1 x 500 units. By the way, don't be put off of using the extra tall pax units just because IKEA say you need so much (100mm from memory) clearance above in order to be able to stand them up after putting them together. We built them in situ without any difficulty so they go pretty much right to the ceiling (which we also planned for).

They are indeed, in fact the ex-US Ranger bomb disposal guy who is driving much of it (started by printing new limbs for himself) is the best buddy of one of my very good friends.

@lizzie, if you know who did the 'as designed' SAP calcs then they should also be able to do the 'as built' and EPC, and if nothing has changed it should be very easy for them to do so.

Great stuff Dave, though I'd rather hoped the 'news' was going to be that you'd sold the old house.

I suspect the 'could I make living doing this' question will have passed (however briefly) through the minds of many of us - it certainly has through mine. If I was 20 years younger I'd possibly have had the energy, but I'd also have had a young family (and all the commitments that went therewith), and none of the financial security required to take the risk. Now that both my financial need and my parental responsibilities have diminished (in parallel with my energy levels), a part-time, low/modest income role that helped to keep me active (in mind as much as body) would be attractive. If that was assisting others who aspire to build better homes, be that for themselves or others, I'd jump at the chance. Customer Advisor at B&Q anyone?

Hi Dave, I suspect the recent (significant) rise in the RHI rate for ASHPs may have changed that dynamic somewhat.

It's a 9kw Panasonic Aquarea ASHP. Our EPC is 96 and our predicted heat demand is; Space Heating - 3,415kWh/annum DHW - 2,290kWh/annum

Submitted it online last Wednesday and had an email within minutes to confirm it had been received and another one last Friday to say my application had been successful and I'll receive my first payment on 28th May.