lizzie

Every ‘trade’ on my build said dont touch mass new builds they are rubbish.

Just awful feel so sorry for the poor people. I used contractors too and am reliant on them to have used the right ‘mix’ on the brickwork....and on the rest of the house.

I have the Bora with flexi induction think it was about 3k but I would have to check. I much prefer it to the extractors that come up out of the counter (had that before). The Bora is very efficient and so easy to clean. I am extremely happy with the Bora....I would go for the flexi option its worth the extra money. The teppanyaki pan is amazing as an extra, my kitchen supplier gave it to me as a gift. I love it.

We wrote in after buying the plot asking them to agree our proposed name. They replied and agreed and said they would advise the postcode people. We had our address registered before we put a spade in the ground. We were not charged ......lucky I guess!

There is a small development of passive houses - social housing - near me. Finished in the summer they have just won the national award. Princess Anne went and did a visit recently. Lady who makes special occasion cakes for me has moved into one. Its lovely no cold spots, mvhr working well and its nice and warm - seems a high standard on build quality. They built the whole development (about 12 houses I think) in a quarter of the time it took us to build our one little bungalow.

All of ours were in the wrong place. We didnt have any floor build up as UFH in the slab so concrete had to be hacked out.....I prayed silently in the corner that we wouldnt hit an ufh pipe and thankfully we didnt. Messy job.

Cant you get a signal booster? I had one in temp house as mobile signal was almost nil most of the time. At new house I am not using the booster as signal is better but I do use wifi calling when at home anyway so dont need a mobile signal. Think you can get simple texts on the wifi system, most mobile providers have the option of wifi now.

@Moira Niedzwiecka sorry I can’t offer any practical help but will keep everything crossed you find the help you need.

Ive just checked back and it was installer who said it should be disinfected as best practice not regulation. The pump goes after the tank from his spec. Before the water was in local water co advised me to expect 1.5bar..a dribble...the water board man recommended a tank and pump system to ensure good pressure and showers etc. As they took 18 months to get the water in and we had pretty much built a house by then we had to provide for this solution but given the costs I was quoted we elected to do the provision only not buy tanks and pumps etc until water in and and we saw what we ended up with. I’m very glad we did that because although it cost us a little more on the groundworks end we saved a fortune on tanks etc because when water finally came in it was at 5 bar. I have constant readings of between 5 and 6 bar on my system now .......great showers nice and powerful even with a 30cm shower head. Think they put pressure reducers on the basin taps. Whatever they did I have a great water supply throughout the house and no cold tanks or pumps.

We would have needed to pump from garage to house and as it included our drinking water then we were advised that disinfectant was necessary. I forget the regulation but I was given it at the time. i think it depends on if you pump, if you need an accumulator then it is a possibility you will need a pump to get any decent pressure for showers (so I am told) but I am single storey and have no cold water tanks in the house my cold water is all direct mains so no doubt that makes a difference.

I did a lot of research into the accumulator tank set up as we could not get water connected to test pressure and I was led to believe it may be low. We provisioned for an accumulator in the garage. In the event we did not need the accumulator as pressure was ok but I still have the main coming up in the garage and going back out to the house - its just an above ground insulated loop. If ever pressure did drop I can fit an accumulator system. They are not cheap. The ones I was looking at use UV as the disinfectant.

I have looked at mine and it reads Permeability at 50Pa (M3/h/M2) 0.479. Air change is 0.58 Building volume is 474 with a floor area of 189.1 and an envelope area of 570.1 My house is single storey and quite a bit smaller than others.

Fantastic - look forward to seeing the pics.

As I said I am fine with that as a result. My point is that it was the result on the day but I doubt it would achieve that again as the many leaky areas that were taped temporarily for the test were not properly dealt with afterwards. My windows being the main problem, I definitely have cold spots and areas of rooms colder than others, you need a blanket to sit in one armchair that is next to a window. My bedroom is really cold and one side of our open plan area is very chilly. I have to have UFH cranked right up in those rooms. If I knew then what I know now (thank you all) then the problem areas shown up at test time would have been properly dealt with but I didn't know and the people who were supposed to either didnt know or didnt care. Its too late now and its a lesson for those like me who in hindsight should have educated themselves more and not devolved responsibility.....I took the dog and bark yourself approach which now has been shown to be a big mistake. I blame no one but myself.

yes I dont have an issue with .58 happy enough just saying it pales a bit in comparison. B windows are and were a debacle. I am told all adjusted to properly now. Very frustrating to have lovely windows ruined by cowboys who installed them and to get the leaks and cold spots after all the efforts.....I have a roll of the stick on sponge draught excluder from old house ( hardwood double glazed and leaky) if it was grey not brown might try sticking it on the Internorms LOL. Will ask man sorting threshold problems if he thinks any more adjustment possible, thanks for the tip.

Mine came in at 0.58 so although within the MBC contracted limit of 6 and I’m fine with that it seems poor by comparison to others here. I suspect that the finished house is nowhere near 0.58 because it was very air (and water) leaky for the test with windows not fitted properly etc (everything was just temp taped over by the air testers and I was told by the testers it needed to be properly sorted) the issues were never properly resolved afterwards and I have seriously cold areas around the window/wall junctions. The areas around the tilt and turn windows in the rendered walls seem worse than the sliders on the clad walls. I have areas in some rooms that feel colder to sit in if nearer windows/walls and I have altered positions of furniture to take account of these cold spots.

Great results well done all

@Moira Niedzwiecka house is looking great, well done.

Have you looked at Thermowood I beleive that is maintenance free

aaarrrrgggghhhhhh

+1 to @JSHarris suggestion

The key to any window you choose is the installer. Internorm fantastic windows but I had a totally incompetent installer and am still trying to sort issues. Rationel, Gulhaufer, Nordsken, Ideal Combi et al lots of window companies out there. All good windows, people on here will have covered the range some good some not so good in the final result. Check out the installer before you place the order

Window colour is important in getting the look of your house right. Also the overall situation and design of he house should be considered. I love that soft green against brick...the right brick of course. A lot depends on the colour of your brick, I have seen the dark grey against some brick and it looks good also seen it against other brick and it looks b awful. I would not go for the light silver grey against any brick personally. A soft cream can look good too if the brick is not too harsh a colour. You can have modern materials in any colour it doesn't have to be Grey. Get a sample of your brick and some colour swatches of potential window colours as a start and put them together then when you find something you like go and drive around and try and find a similar look....google streetview via Rightmove can be very useful and save hours of driving.....Pinterest as well of course. I know Internorm showrooms have lots of colour samples on display (they do their Ali clads in pretty much any RAL colour not just grey) you could take your brick and try it next to some colours if you have a nearby showroom.......you dont have to buy internorm windows.

Looks fantastic. well done!

+1