Iceverge

Nice. They also have UFH fitted in 2 renovated rooms I've discovered. They're beside a milking parlor that's dumping about 300kWh of heat daily through milk cooling too. HOWEVER...... Simple wins. Oil boiler + TS + RADs + UFH. Would 15mm push fit Hep2O to large rads + UFH work ok on one zone from the TS at say 45deg flow temp?

Yes. That crossed my mind too. A good option for DHW but given the short window for payback maybe an immersion on TOU would be as cheap. What do you suggest for CH? I was thinking an outdoor (system?) oil boiler to an UVC or TS. A parallel two pipe CH setup with TRVs on each rad. Larger heating pipe diameters and rads to allow for lower flow temps? Would that work?

Good suggestion. However given the high heat demand I would worry about meeting the total heat demand. An electric fan heater doesn't touch the sides at the moment some of the rooms. From my own experience it works well ( immersion + A2A HP ) in a well insulated house however out peak heat demand is less than 2kW. Also would the cost of install be quite a lot more than a DIY-ish Oil system? I think solar is in the pipeline for the farm side of things at some stage. Running costs aren't a huge consideration at the moment. Getting something up and running quickly and cheaply that will keep them going for 5 years is the aim. Small kids etc so cold water gets boring quickly.

Friends of mine are living in an old farmhouse. It will need to be entirely replumbed. They have a good supply of well water. Insulation levels are poor. Stab in the dark estimation of heat loss may be 20kW. Their desire is to build a replacement house within the next 10 years but will need to live here for another 5 at least and need a low cost heating system to carry them through until then. They have 3 phase on site but the cost of an ASHP may be too much and I worry it would not have the power to heat the building. I suggested a basic oil boiler and Rads. There is no gas on site but they may be able to get LPG. Would a second hand boiler or even oil fired cooker like an Oil Rayburn be a suggestion? What layout would you use? Pressurised DHW would be appreciated. What is the best format for this? I installed a Maxipod thermal store in my parents house and it's working very well but an UVC may be simplier?

Yes. Without it good airtightness wouldn't be possible. Combined they make the house comfortable and quiet and there is never stuffiness or drafts. Damp boots and clothes dry quickly, important in the West of Ireland! I would go for rigid silencers next time rather than flexi as I can just about hear the ventilation noise in a quiet room ( my wife can't). We have a very simple setup, A unit in the utility to a radial semi rigid distribution ducts. No boost switches or remote controls. I might change the ventilation rates a little on the unit interface if we have guests but by and large I never touch it. I put in a combi external terminal. https://www.proair.ie/products/proair-fex-terminal-2/ I wouldn't bother the next time. Just shove 2 plastic pipes through the wall and save some money. i don't think they even need to be separated in reality as the level of mixing once they're outside will be almost nothing. I had the cover off the terminal for house painting for a week with inlet and exhaust pipes adjacent and it make no discernible difference. I would do it again in a new build for myself for sure. If you were a person who didn't want to get hands on installing and servicing it will be a more expensive option than others. If you don't service it you will have a poorly performing and noisy system and it'll break and lightly not get replaced. If you're retrofitting an old house it may be a pain to run the ducts. In these situations dMEV is an excellent option. Especially with humidity sensitive trickle vents.

I've had MVHR 5 years now. I take it apart and clean it every 2 years. 2hrs DIY. I did the fan bearings after 4 years. €8 and again about 2hrs labour. I change the filters every 6 months €40. 2 mins. I vacuum them out about every 3. 2 mins. I reckon 40w fan draw so at 20c/unit maybe €70/year. Our MVHR unit lives in the Utility above the washing machine so it's nice and accessible. This is important. Anyone putting one a pokey corner of an attic is daft. If I was to pay someone for the bigger services I would say it might cost €250 a year to run so far. Time will tell how often a motor needs replacing or the entire unit.

Literally did the exact same today. Antenna is sitting on a mound in the garden as we speak. This turned up today. Pretty happy with the quality. https://www.reichelt.com/ie/en/shop/product/satellite_wall_bracket_wh_60_a_double_pipe_aluminium-332349 I got this to go on top. It's cast aluminum and seems pretty robust too. https://starnetlink.uk/2024/05/17/unlock-ultimate-starlink-performance-discover-the-best-pole-mounting-adaptor-in-the-uk/?amp=1 I was suspicious of any of the Amazon offerings regarding corrosion and sturdiness. Hopefully this will work ok. I don't want it blowing off the roof.

http://tonyshouse.readinguk.org/category/the-build/ @tonyshouse detail and blog. Similar to my windows but put a sheet of OSB behind the plasterboard as my airtight layer and taped this to the windows. I didn't use any cavity closer or PIR board but rather just filled the whole thing with EPS blown beads. Another very good video. They changed the design for the next passivhaus they did. https://www.21degrees.com/guides/golcar-passivhaus:-windows-doors/ The main thing is they pushed the windows towards the outer leaf and primed the plywood boxes.

I couldn't figure out what the vertical DPC does so I cut ours off with a Stanley before the windows went in. 5 years and no issues so far.

A strip of PIR wedged in the cavity or more often now a J bead screwed into the window frame and plaster board slotted in and returned to the inner blockwork. Normally use 2 x seperate concrete lintels for each leaf but it's mostly blockwork near me. For brickwork a seperate steel lintel.

The bigger dimensions buy you some more space alright.

11m*8m externally buys you more options. Our external render sand and cement came to 20mm externally and internally 15mm. 375mm total wall width will be 140mm cavity which I don't think will meet regs. If you discount the external render you could have a 150mm cavity but this will rely on the dearer 032 batts and more expensive blocks to give you a true 0.18W/m²K. 200mm would allow you use 2 x 100mm 036 batts (@ £12/m² + Vat total) which are a cheap as they come and would result on less chance of screwing something up on site too. 200mm is the standard for cavity builds in Ireland with about a decade now. Noone here uses catnic lintels or cavity closers anymore. In terms of payback you're probably right. However in terms of comfort and noise I think 3g are worth it, same argument for MVHR. What external finish will you have?

A shrunken version of when we built. I really really hammered costs as it was our 3rd set of planning and I was trying to save money. 400mm cavity wall for good U values at minimum cost. Some plans have walls 200mm wide total which might bite you when you come to a detailed design. Similarly some of the stairs would be very steep. I would allow a run to rise ratio of at least 10:7. With a 185 rise you'd need a 265 run. and if you have 2650 ceilings you'd need nearly 4m of stairs run. Ours is 191/250 rise to run and it's too steep. I can't make peace with stairs that aren't straight as they waste so much spaces floors. The plumbing is concentrated in one corner. All the waste pipes can run through the stud between the utility and the downstairs WC. The upstairs blockwork matches downstairs. Good for costs and noise. The whole thing can be built with standards timber joists even with MVHR. Just drop the ceiling in the utility for services. A utility cloaks off the front door gets use all the time and a "walk through" design is far far better than one with corners as they always get blocked with crap. Sensible window spans mean you can use all off the shelf concrete lintels. £1000 would do the house. Every bedroom has cross ventilation and windows on two aspects which make them feel bigger than they are although this may not be possible in your situation. With a bit of DIY I would think you'd get the above built for £250k.

Where's North please? Am I correct in assuming this is a complete new build from the ground up or are you reusing foundations? Do you have any neighbors that you will be in danger of overlooking?

Congratulations. I like the forest shower. What is that?

I would do 10mm to every hot tap except the shower and bath. 6l/min is what we get at the kitchen tap and I think it's plenty. If you want 10l/min I just blend in a bit of cold with the tap mixer. It also limits less economical types than yours truly pouring endless quantities of hot water down the drain too if you're feeling a bit scrooge like.

Chemical anchor and threaded rod.

Hopefully prices will drop. I have zero idea how London functions when normal housing is so many multiples of normal income.

Congratulations on moving in. You could borrow a thermal camera and check what the worst offenders are.

https://airtightnesstapes.co.uk/products/3100-black-airtight-tape?variant=48379082309911 This stuff looks identical to the stuff I used but a different brand. It doesn't look fancy but i was very impressed with it in person. Better than the Belgatape and Tyvek tape. I've used it externally on the garage too and it survived the weather for 6 months before I clad it.

Some small lumps of insulation I found around I just tossed them into the sea of blown cellulose in the attic. They sit there little boats, reducing my energy loss by nanoWatts.

Ran this through a few times in THERM when doing ours. It is worth doing a layer of aircrete in line with your floor insulation. You also need to have continuous insulation outside it. They must be kept dry as they loose most of their insulative qualities otherwise . I would make sure the cavity extends at least 1 block below the Aircrete to make sure there is no water ponding there. This detail would perform very well and is fairly cheap. We filled the whole cavity with EPS beads (ok for use below DPC) so it was a simpler detail to construct.

I know a house with that. It looked sharp when new ( although it really exacerbates anything less than a perfectly level floor). However it with the passage of time, kids and vacuuming etc the bottom of the wall has become a bit scruffy.

MDF here. It's been fine apart from any edges that have gotten wet. It is just mush really when it comes to taking screws or impact. I don't think it'll last the journey. The dust is horrible when cutting too. I'd much prefer to work with pine. Is there any cement board options? Maybe hardiplank etc? I think you can uPVC too but I've never seen it.

Has anyone got examples of Dot and Dab blowerdoor tests(not gamed!)? Did anyone get below 2ACH ? When it comes to passivhaus airtightness the build types I've seen to have achieved those levels are wet plaster, tapes membranes/boards in timberframe, ICF, SIPS. Two one offs were @Gone Wests Icynene TF and an archive building somewhere in England that used Passive purple paint. I haven't come across any dot and dab getting below 0.6ACH.