lizzie

I think you need to start from the space you have and work from that. Not all kitchens are suited to an island and if you do have an island then what you have on the island should be what suits you. Personally I like my hob on the island but not a sink.

Oh wow...sorry I didn't know that. My supplier gave it to me as a present - very generous of him!

Don't like the architects one at all!

I have Bora hob - know some of you do too. I love my Bora hob and wouldn't swap it but the shiny chrome look centre grill started to jar a bit. Bora have now brought out some centre grills in different finishes so clearly I am not alone in feeling that. Just got one in black today. Looks a bit shiny in photo but isn't in real life. Love the lower profile look.

We had the gym on the first floor in previous house....it was over the dining room that was hardly ever used and it was a solid brick house with no stud walls all were block which may have made a difference to sound. We also had very good solid floors so we didnt need to reinforce.

My EPC was nightmare... it came back so far adrift of what it should have been I could not understand it. Finally after many emails and scratching of heads it appeared likely my SAP had been done on a completely different house (I had queried at the time why there was reference to a staircase in a single storey house and a zinc roof when mine is rubber and different heating and several other anomalies)......I was fobbed off at the time, but only realised that in hindsight when the epc issue occurred. The end result is I have an epc that is not as good as it should be but I was pushed into a corner as building inspector was booked to come out and sign off and it had to be done for that and for all sorts of reasons I wanted to get that sign off done and get on. I sometimes think I may get epc done again properly but then the moment passes again.

If I was the owner I would be furious at that result.

@JSHarris I know and agree but for the purpose of the epc on the IOW house they are ignored in the assessment and that would seem to be the reason for the low rating as windows walls etc are all 5* rated in the assessment. epc for iow house.pdf

If you look at the detail of the EPC it is a joke and shows what an utter waste of time they are in the present format. The house has ground source heat pumps and mvhr - nil points for either on epc score. Stick a solar panel on at a cost of 5k and it ups the epc rating - cost saving on energy usage nil. Utter nonsense its a very energy efficient house but because it doesn't fit the tick box system it gets a lower score than a lego box.

I have a single storey TF. If I were starting again I would use block and brick. The advantages of speed with TF were not apparent on mine, it may be so for a full two storey but for us single storey limited walls (lots of glass) and us doing roof separately as TF co was not able to do meant watertight took ages. We could have done it quicker, cheaper and easier in B&B.

Guys love the old tights idea...genius thank you!

Ah around the square box outside.....good thought that could work! Yours sounds very sophisticated with all those filters rather than just the one I have.

That was what I thought previously but this latest filter was put in in the day all the work resetting the vent rates and changing to enthalpy was done so that theory doesnt hold. The filthy filter in the picture is the one installed on that day 12th March....47 days ago! I think my windy location next to fields must be impacting, just so glad all that muck not going into my lungs..........and to think we picked this plot being high up, not surrounded by other buildings and for clean air!

That could be worth investigating although getting the foam pipes on and off to clean it would be quite a task as they are now all glued together because they kept falling apart! Maybe something inside would work easier. I will investigate. Thank you.

Yes there always is a lot of large stuff trapped. Think it might mean trying to get something on the outside wall behind that metal box if there was to be any pre filter. Think that will be beyond me though I'm not good on ladders. Thanks.

Not as far as I am aware. I only have that metal box with mesh sides (see earlier pic) on the outside wall and an open pipe straight into the manifold. There is nothing else for me to access filterwise other than the two in the machine.

It is set for 180 day alerts - 6 monthly thats the system default however the level of contamination in the filter seems to over ride this if necessary and this is what appears to be happening. TBH these days I am checking them monthly at the end of the month anyway but I didnt do the check at the end of March as I only had the exchanger changed on 12th and new filters in then. I would have checked next week but the alert came first. Guess I just have extra dirty air LOL. Will have a look at filtershop thank you.

Thanks both - looked at the filterworld site but they dont seem to do my filter - no mention of my brand of machine. Will try Jasun and see if he can offer anything more competitive. I don't think they are anything special so maybe he can. Will investigate settings on filter change alerts thanks. I have tried vacuuming without huge success might give me another week or so at best but it definately affects the pressure when filter is dirty. My F7 is on the the intake I have a G4 on the extract...that is a bit dirty but nothing like the intake as you would expect. I think I could get away with replacing that half as often again as the intake if pushed. On intake and extract I have an open vent with a sort of cowl over and some very large mesh sides both on the outside wall. Thats all there is between outside and F7 so that is getting everything. I dont have any option to put any other filter in before the F7. Its high up so hard to get a decent pic from ground level. Maybe because of the fields my air is very dusty and lots of insects? It costs me about £75 every 6 weeks or so for filters at the mo...seems expensive so was trying to find a more cost effective route but if thats it then thats it I guess.

I am changing my filters a lot....its not me being oversensitive to my need for clean air either the mvhr system gives me alerts. I know its environmental and also weather related to some degree. I am not in a built up environment and have fields all around and high up on a ridge so windy too. My filters last on average about 8 weeks, manufacturers say average is twice a year change. Got an alert yesterday and today I have just changed this filter (F7) after 47 days, so a little over 6 weeks and its filthy....see pic....dirty one and a new clean one for comparison. I know some of you buy filters from alternative suppliers cheaper but I have not found one that makes them to fit my system. Any web sites to try? On another note the change to the enthalpy exchanger has made a big difference to the comfort levels in the house.

My corners were fabricated to fit, we also had end pieces made to finish off ends of runs.

Thank you...I had never heard of this!

Could you enlighten me as to what Bopas is please?

@JSHarris I never said it was. I said it was promoted by a TF manufacturer and it is clearly listed on their web site under useful links. I was given the BH details by this manufacturer in the very early days of talking to them, at least a year before we ended up going with them. It was intended by them to be helpful information to a prospective customer and it was otherwise I probably would not have found the forum not being a habitué of internet forums generally. TBH I thought it was their forum for the first 6 months or so but realised before I went with them that it was not so it did not influence the choice of TF provider. What is wrong with linking and promoting? If other manufacturers had the same links with BH then there would be a wider spread of people - as it is an awful lot come and look via the TF manufacturers link. Maybe people who use other manufacturers for their TF or other build methods should ask their providers to link to BH in the same way. Might attract a wider spread then.

Majority of members are TF...the forum is promoted by TF manufacturer which is why so many find their way here I suspect. TBH my brick and block house may not have been as thermally efficient but somehow I liked the feel of it better than the TF.

I had trades in for everything I did not do anything myself and it was a complete money pit every week massive bills from 'trades'. Lack of funds or 'trades' were not the issue, planning and co-ordination was a factor of course as was terrible weather also TF provider could not do our roof frame we had to get it made by someone else and my carpenter then fitted each individual shaped truss to form our final roof profile, it was a heck of a job for him then the final covering was done by another specialist roofing company. We had some sort of membrane type thing on the boarding provided by TF company but apparently it was not waterproof as evidenced by the niagara falls of water coming in through the roof in the awful weather. This water then gathered in lakes on the uneven slab and so the cycle of wet warm mould etc was able to take hold.