oranjeboom

Well you can't build a wall on most insulation. Anything 'specialist' has special prices unfortunately...

yes, so about £19.36/metre (linear).

Yes, but in this case there is only one way to use them. You can't use these solely to build a wall - only suitable for one course.

Not sure why they price the thermoblocks up at m2 rather than linear metres. You only have to have them around the perimeter, not as a slab system. About £19/linear metre. But worth investigating other options such as a Viking insulated raft.

What I did with my sole plate was to attach it to Marmox insulating blocks. there's also Foamglass blocks you could use (which I found to be a bit more 'brittle' in that any gorilla onsite could easily take a few dinks out of them). To further reduce condensation risk, I will be insulating the outside of the SIP panels with additional insulation - an 'insulation skirt' around the sole plate on the exterior side. You could also ask your SIP supplier for advice, but likelihood they will just stare at you blankly.

Go on @Onoff - buy one and let us know how you get on. I'm particularly interested how it detects those 'abnormal hoverers' at your front door. "The App will immediately push notification to inform you that someone hovers abnormally around the door"

Shouldn't be a problem this time as the pipes won't flex up to the surface as no gorilla's will be standing on the mesh. But I've also tied it down to make it foolproof. PVA would be to help bond the two concretes together and getting rid of any dust? Neat PVA or watered down?

Okay, having dug up those areas of my slab that needed ufh loops to be pushed down from the surface (see below) , I am now ready to fill the voids. Depth wise it needs to be about 100mm and I'll put in some new mesh on top of the ufh pipe. Any bits of pipe that had the concrete grinder skim a bit of plastic from the pipe, I will PVC tape prior to concreting. The rooms to be poured have had their loops pressure tested and all seems okay (slight drop in pressure, but I think that is down to some connections on the manifold). This time round I will be doing the concreting which means no 'professionals' are involved and therefore it's actually going to be done properly for a change. All voids have been cleaned of debris etc so ready to pour. My only question: is a 4:2:1 mix okay? or in reverse: 1 part cement : 2 parts sand : 4 parts coarse aggregate (20mm)

How big are the ventilation holes? Would they be prone to insects clogging them up?

Thanks Jeremy. I've read through that several times and hopefully have this correct in my schematic below. I have two Uniq eDual 12 units but I see from the manual (2018_07_19_V2.0) on page 18 that the wiring is the same as for the eHW. I may place the PV diverter (Apollo Gem) in the same room as the SA unit using a transmitter from the consumer unit.

No problem Jeremy - thought I may have overlooked it. Electrician did come this morning and was scratching his head so I told him to leave it for now, rather than me paying for him to be reading the Sunamp and PV diverter instructions. So no rush on my account Jeremy!

Good morning Jeremy! Did you already manage to update your blog? I had a look this morning, but could not find your "dummies guide to installing a Sunamp UniQ". Have the electrician coming shortly and no doubt he may need input. Not had my coffee yet, so I may have overlooked it on your blog.

I didn't go for ali-clad in the end due to cost. I tried local companies who were abysmal with their service and offerings and indeed nationally I wasn't impressed either. When it comes to begging companies for even getting a quote there is something seriously wrong (self builds should not be seen as any different). In the end I ended up getting my windows from Europe.

Good luck with the rest of the build! Worth putting an ad on here for that window: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/47-market-place/ and then there's fleabay/gumtree etc

Bugger off @Onoff!This one's mine! TBH, I've often found them over-priced and even with their 10% off most items are still more expensive than the likes of Screwfix. Car park's never had so many cars in there though! Suspect there's a lot of people going in there thinking they're walking out with a bargain when TS and SF (500m) up the road have it all for 20% cheaper! There's only a couple of aisles that have 50% off and that's screws/fixings, door ironmongery and smoke alarms. And again, you have to watch out what you are buying - some of the smoke detectors they are flogging are a "do not buy" from Which? !! And yes, I did only find that out after buying one (I'll be sticking that in the shed or flogging it to the MIL with a 50% markup! I'll be going back every week to see the % discount increase on the other aisles, so let me know @Onoff if you are after anything in particular!

Thanks Jeremy. I'll run this all by my electrician to be sure also.

It's only going to be around 10m in length and not too many changes in direction, but a pre-fiitted SWA would probably be easier than forcing a cable down a bit of conduit. https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SW4slash2.html ? 49 A 4mm.... Oh well, no Tesla for me then, maybe just a Renault Zoe. I do have a substation on the corner of my plot however - ideal for charging whatever I need, theoretically. Thanks @Temp for the suggestions. I've left most of the radial circuits for the electrician so hoping he's thought about stuff like that. Although I've already had to replace the hob cabling to 6mm.

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but I',m looking to future proof as much as I can here and currently busy in the 'plant room' which would potentially also be the route for a future cable to outside charging point for a PHEV/EV. It's a cavity filled bungalow wall which will have EWI going on next year at some point, so I was thinking of just chasing a route up the exterior wall, up into the eaves/soffit and fixing some conduit into the channel. This will then be covered by the EWI and hopefully then just means pushing in the required cabling at some point in the future for my Tesla which by then will be half the price that they are now.... If I go with the above, what size conduit should i fit? I was thinking worst case with cabling 6-10mm

Thanks @Triassic and @Nickfromwales. I thought I'd gone wrong. I'll get some 0.75mm2 flex. On offer from SF at the mo at only £18 not including my 10% off! https://www.screwfix.com/p/nexans-heat-resistant-flex-3094y-4-core-0-75mm-50m-white/6848t#product_additional_details_container

Can someone tell me if I've ended up getting the wrong cable? I went and bought 6243Y 3X1+1 1mm from TLC: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CA1slash3G.html But it seems overkill to me (bearing I am no electrician) for what is only linking the thermostats to the ufh control board. Even the cable clamps in the wiring centre won't be able to clamp that cable down: Did I get the wrong stuff? Surely this would suffice? https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CA0dot75HR4.html If not, it'll be a bugger to get the wiring centre all connected (leaving that for electrician):

Thanks @JSHarris. Pics always help. And that wiring info will help my electrician no doubt as no-one seems to understand these black magic heating systems. Just looking to get my floor tiles down before I move my 2x200kg units into place without cracking the floor!

10% voucher for online (Click and collect) from Screwfix received after I bought something instore yesterday. Seems to be given for anyone buying instore at the moment.

That limestone rock will come in handy at some point I imagine!

I know that they are busy in at least one European country on linking up with a local company to start marketing/distributing. But that was not in France (although they may well have something happening there too, who knows). I do have a business contact I can pass onto anyone who wants more info - just PM me. Shame about Andy leaving us here - hope a replacement is found soon. I did already find that they were somewhat under-resourced.

It will be tiles (bathroom side) and a floating floor the other side. I may also need some self levelling compound which would help secure it all laterally if I pour this after the wall is up. yeah, I'm even scared to bang in 5mm at most. Knowing my luck.... mf?? That could be an option though my stud will be 70mm plus pb so would have to get the aircrete blocks to match. I also know how brittle the blocks can be when drilling into them. And also aware of cracks appearing between the pb join on the block/timber join over time with door being banged (teenagers present!).