Iceverge

How about an outdoor bog?

Were they struggling to shift the houses?

Like I said before, you're stuffed, it costs too much. Governments fault though. In reality a house has 3 parts that make up the value. 1. The structure 2. The value of the land underneath 3. The legal ability to exist. The government has massively inflated the price of each by: 1. Insisting we build houses to look like they did a century ago, bricks and chimney pots, clay tiles, dormer windows, porches annexes and flat robes galore. God forbid you install an ASHP outdoor unit. 2. Zoning restrictively, saying what you can build, and where you can build it. 3. The planning permission system. Horribly slow, expensive, massive power to NIMBYs. Loads of different government agencies weighing in with completely uncordinated requirements. The state so effectively control supply and restrict innovation is why we have such expensive and crap houses.

Yup, buy a metric only tape too. It'll make your life much better.

Maybe you can see why I think most old houses reach a point they need to be rebuilt. We still build houses like we did cars 120 years ago. Every part is bespoke. We need production lines with standard parts building passive houses at an affordable cost, not messing around with old piles to get them to a still poor level. Excellent result. You're a good bit colder than we are in Cork too. Its the fabric of your build rather than the ASHP is the star of your show however.

https://youtu.be/4nRz0D0bNmg?si=p_0DA455ijXADWUk

I'm assuming this is an external wall? From an amateur look at it I have a couple thoughts regarding thermal bridging and timber use. 1. I don't think noggins are required assuming you have a structural racking board one side of the wall. 2. There's an awful lot of jack studs, consider clips or splitting them. 3. Have a look at mindsparx video on you tube and his framing. Particularly the Hammer-Band as he calls it. It does away with individual headers and uses one of the top plates on edge instead around the whole perimeter. 4 The double bottom plate could go I think. 5. I'm guessing the breathable racking board is something like Medite. You could move to something cheaper like OSB internal to the studs as a racking and use the T&G Gutex externally on its own like @ProDave although I don't think rendering it is the way forward in a wet climate. Then tape the OSB for airtighess. WHat is your final external rain screen? Bricks/blocks or timber/fiber cement cladding.

I wouldn't be surprised if super duper insulation (passive house ++++) and solar PV was the cheapest long term method. Out heat demand is about 3MWh. If we knocked about 30m2 off the footprint, assumed the same internal heat gains, used an insulated raft foundation and externally insulated over all the frames of doors and windows, and made some of the windows smaller PHPP would have our annual heat demand at about 1200kWh. Direct electric for space heating and PV for summer water heating would be the cheapest option then. For reference our house only cost €4k more in added insulation and airtighess products than a bregs build. I didn't price the window difference but a neighbour did and 2G to 3G was €800.

Direct electric. Stored in a water tank. Reminds me of something. There is a financial case for this setup over an ASHP but only when your electric demand gets as low as about 2MWh/annum I think.

Opening this dusty tomb of a thread again. Simple controls + no hassle ownership. Whats the latest thinking?

Rather than 3D printing something I think it's actually a worthwhile exercise to make something out of plywood. Not cardboard or balsa wood. Some 9mm ply that you need to jigsaw and drill. It gives you a really excellent feel for how hard it is to build something at scale.

Rather than 3D printing something I think it's actually a worthwhile exercise to make something out of plywood. Not cardboard or balsa wood. Get some 9mm ply that you need to jigsaw and drill. It gives you a really excellent feel for how hard it is to build something at scale.

There's an obvious answer with what to do with the cash here. Do another self build for the amusement of the forum!!

A tidy bead of sealant would be my choice, the gap doesn't look too big

Every time you go on "holiday" you will spend your whole time painting, fixing, plumbing, redecorating and gardening. It might take the shine off the arrangement.

Is there any "K" or "A" shaped brackets rather than the "L" shaped ones to provide more mechanical advantage. In the mean time I will work on Von Trapping my kids within an inch of their puny little existences!

Are these type any good?

We have a few small Tarzan type humanoids running around the house who make great theatrical use of the drapes. Alas with inevitable consequences for the doily airing spindles that home stores sell as curtain poles and brackets. I particularly admire how the bracket is shaped to pull any fixing from the wall with tremendous efficiency. Law of the lever and all that. Does anyone have any suggestions. Ideally something that small people can practice for Olympics with?

20 of these stuck under the cupboard should do. All for less than £1000. That would be a mega toasting arrangement.

I like screw piles but they're rarely the cheapest or most durable option. You have to do very little ground disturbance and can easily deal with undulating surfaces. They are dear however. As far as I know you'd need to mount a say 200*75 timber subframe to join the piles together and then drop your sip on top. Run the screws from the top down threading into the 200*75 timbers. If you used pan head screws and didn't do mad with the impact driver the sips should be ok. Here's a video of the subframe. From 3:30.

I love all this . Larsen trusses. Double stud walls, truss walls etc. Dense pack cellulose of course if you can too. They really shine where you need to hang the cladding from the structure as you can nail or screw easily into the studs. Where they fall down a bit is the ease of insulating properly around door and window frames. EWI systems really shine here. I like the fact that they keep all the wood products good and warm year round too.

£200 for a toaster is mental. However it's your money, you don't have to justify a damn thing! Buy it!

Sorry I misread about the kitchen with its concrete floor being an extension. Is it recent and does it have insulation? Breathability only becomes an issue when you use two non permeable materials to enclose a structure. Not an issue for Pir between joists. Differential shrinkage and contraction of the PIR and the timber is though and long term I fear you'll get gaps all around the insulation, no matter how careful you are installing it. I've heard reports of carefully fitted PIR boards dropping out after a few years. If you are concerned about efficiency I think I would stay away from UFH in your situation. Rather get some large radiators and run them at a low temperature. For comfort stay away from ceramic tiles, carpet vinyl wood or LVT is much warmer to touch.

Don't know yet. Its losing a teaspoon a day. Its on the list of jobs to fix.

@FreddieW Where is North on the plans?