Nickfromwales

I’ve installed a Panasonic in a clients front garden, next to the boundary fence, and when on full wallop the lady next door asked if it would be noisy when it’s in use. I said it’s on right now, and she’s said “oh, I couldn’t tell”. Bingo. Another where the client could hear a boiler flue 30m away over the unit he was stood next to, again going full wallop as I was there switching these on for the very first time, the latter in dec and an outside temp of -2°C. Your architect is saying the wrong thing, as regardless of where the heat comes from a kw is a kw, so a 16kw ASHP will produce………16kw, and a 16kw GSHP will produce……..16kw 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️🥹. So, they’re completely out of their depth and should stop giving you advice imho. They may be very good at designing houses, best they stick to what they know.

I’ve been saying this for years…. Ideal for commercial or affordable etc, but not for a dream / forever home. Lots who have chosen SIPs still try to defend the choice, but it’s crap. Take that person to a cellulose blown TF house (walls and roof) and they’ll shut their mouths in a millisecond. Graveyard silent vs you thinking a window has been left open somewhere. Ive had to specify cooling for other such instances, and I get questions on “will I really need to spend out on cooling?”…..”yes you will”.

You don’t mention airtightness? That’s # 1 on the list, and imo more important than the insulation solution(s).

If these are outside your airtight envelope and you have MVHR then the subject is almost entirely moot, is it not? You can choose EPS in the floor, or PIR + additional membrane, so as to minimise / eradicate the effects of such off-gassing. Go twin wall and pump the voids with Warmcell (cellulose) insulation. If you do go SIPs then check the spec as you may find additional PIR has to be installed to meet b regs minimum requirements, which is more time / money / complexity, and often omitted by the frame erector so they can get in and out and on the road to the next one. 😕

There’s so much velocity at the outlet it doesn’t matter tbh, and you can still do a soil stack in 3” pipe if it only serves a single WC, no actually need for 4”. 4” just gives redundancy and is the knee jerk.

Yup. Anything “bespoke” seems to attract crazy uplift with costs, aka supply / demand, but just showing options so you can maybe source similar to suit etc.

The wooden table alongside it has the frameless panel as the tabletop. If you want a better pic of that I can get one?

You can get Solarwatt panels which are frameless and less densely populated with PV, which allow more light through, if that’s of any interest / benefit? They do another which is framed too, but a bit denser, still lets some light through though.

You can use underground fittings which will give you 15° & 30° options, with both available as female / female or male / female (double or single socket). Theres very little wiggle room with the frames so your stated favoured option is best tbh. I assume you know the Geberit pan connector can be cut down in length?

I’ve quoted jobs like these loads of times, and you just have (for eg) 6 flats, do 2-3 panels (or more, depending on roof and budget) per flat, and have 6 systems. Anything else would be impossible / impractical and hugely cost prohibitive. 1 MPAN = 1 PV system, one goes down, 5 stay online. Who’s going to monitor & maintain? Most landlord systems connect to the landlord meter that serves fire alarms and communal / external lighting etc (anything not billed to the tenants). SIMPLIFY!!

Ah. Without compressive strength indicated then this is limited. A bit odd though, that there’s no details of what they themselves are purchasing. 🤷‍♂️

I’ve been installing Brink units for all of my M&E projects since 2018 and can speak very highly of them. Some have been passiv haus certified projects, and I have had great service / support from the guys at CVC Systems Ltd in Oxford. If you buy through them (supply or supply and fit) you’ll get uk support vs buying from Ireland / other grey imports, and also these often are priced lower but don’t have controllers supplied in the box so end up same or more expensive but zero warranty support.

Call them up and ask these specific questions before buying. The majority I see just have the corners stoved in etc, and are otherwise a brand new board / panel. If you fill the gaps with an appropriate foam etc then I see no reason not to use them tbh.

Do you do all inclusive rental or do they pay for their own electricity via unique electricity meters?

Then "YES"!??? Have they refused or have you simply not yet asked?

You just need a good electrician who’s got a bit of GAF, and they should be able to show you options / make suggestions. I’ve done most “lighting designs” for my clients, as a part of the electrical programme of works (FOC), and it’s not rocket science tbf.

Defo make the linings to suit each opening. Dont use ‘the nearest one’ as that’ll create a hell of a lot of unwanted and unsightly making good. This is when a track saw becomes your very best friend. Hire one and make the job a breeze. You can only go over-size obvs, so gap filling would be the only way forward if you want off the shelf stuff. 👎.

Knowledge is power.....and you are now 2.56% more powerful. Use this wisely.

This is a mistake on the suppliers part. They should have given you a new flexible hose which has 3/8” female connectors each end, which will replace the one you have. Just order the new flexible hose and you’ll be off to the races. Have you checked that the new float valve clips into the frame?

Nope. Open end of the upstand needs to be a minimum of 3/4 of the height of the appliance iirc, but as an ‘upgrade’ you can close off the connection to the upstand by fitting a compression 90° bend and one of these: ..which will close off the water from the room altogether.

Eco bricks seem an odd choice. Not so great reviews in term of longevity? Do you mean ecobrix (woodcrete ICF)?

Are you qualified to be the PD? And also for Bregs? I have a colleague who fills in these positions for me when we get a turnkey new build project come in, and he has to be book-worming all the time to ensure he’s up to date with changes in legislation / law. A lot of people pretend to fill this role and hope that nothing goes wrong, which I see a worrying amount of self builders doing. Eyes wide shut seems to be a poor choice, but hey-ho.

Ah. Defo use acoustic PB on the interior of outside walls, as a lot of nuisance noise gets through these PIR boards. I’d go for 15mm if you’re in a built up area / on a main road.

They didn’t insist on it, it’s standard b regs! Acoustic control between habitable rooms is the standard on every job that has stud walls internally. No need for acoustic control on external walls unless it’s to your own advantage. You only need FR plasterboard if you’re less than 1m from the boundary. If you’ve any steels which are behind the cosmetic PB + skim layer they will give the requisite 30 mins FR for the steel. Acoustic plasterboard on the inside face of all external walls is a good idea if you’re SIPs (timber walls with PIR) as they’re quite acoustically transparent vs masonry / concrete or blown cellulose structures. Odd make up for the roof? Why the combination of insulations? Batten the interior to have 400mm oc’s and 12.5mm everywhere will be fine, but at 600mm oc the ceilings should really be 15mm. Bathrooms need 400mm for the weight per m2, all other rooms are fine at 600mm.

Use solvent weld and fit a couple of T’s and cleaning eyes for routine ‘cleaning out of gunk’. Push fit is shart, compression bulky and ugly as feck, sorry! As for AAV’s: You only need one if the discharging water can occupy suffice pipe area on its way down / out to create a vacuum in its wake. That’s the main culprit for slurping and *gurgling wastes. If this is a ground floor kitchen discharging into a drain outside, it’ll defo not need an AAV. *Gurgling wastes at the kitchen sink are caused by those horrid combination sink traps where the appliance connects via a stubby spur. This means that the water discharges between the sink plug hole and the trap, so you get to hear every last slurp…. PLEASE, T off the waste pipe and install a washing machine trap, and connect the appliance(s) via one of those: As your pipe exits horizontally to outdoors you have a T instead of a bend, with a cleaning eye: This allows you to ‘rod’ into the sink and down to the outdoor drain. ”Minted lamb, sir”. 👌