MikeSharp01

Oh er! How did I manage that sorry @PeterStarck

I would worry that those screws should be securing things! Could they be like the screws left over when you have disassembled and then reassembled something. Although I am reminded of a story told by a 90 year old friend of mine. He used to sell cars to the Americans who were over here after WW2 and he would go to the factory and collect them. On his way to delivering them he would stop and lift all the carpets. Removed the dozens of nuts, bolts and washers left over from assembly that were rolling about in the floor pan and replace the carpets. The cars were quieter and pretty soon he had a world class selection of nuts and bolts.

The FFL needs to be checked with the architect as they may have the FFL as the top of floor finishes (wood / carpet/ tiles/ screed) or the top of the sub floor onto which the finishes go. If the former then you need to also add in the thickness of the floor finishes.

Yep that is what our energy assessor said. So 2Kw = 6 SAP points in our case.

As I undersrand it you get an as designed SAP which you need at the start of BC then for final sign off you get the as built.

0.5 I think.

Thanks chaps (assume Chaps) yes I suppose what I wanted to do was save cost if I reduce the PV I could stay above 100 but only, it looks like, if can squeeze down the MVHR as the fabric is pretty much at its limit already. Maybe I could improve air tightness a little, used the PH standard for the preliminary calc, I would expect to do better than that anyway but cannot find the equation linking air tightness and SAP points anywhere.

Our provisional BC SAP came through at 101 A (6Kw of PV or 107 with the full 8Kw) which makes me very happy. However the assessor told me I could have got two more points if I didn't have the MVHR because of the energy it uses. Can't live without MVHR so was wondering what the collective experience was with SAP and MVHR, can I get a better MVHR (Unit so far in the frame is: Airflow Adroit DV145) what, I wonder, is the conversion from energy use to points (Banded / Algebraic / ?) because I am not sure I will get a much lower figure.

Sad - depressing and distressing for you and the family. Have you any pics of the frames. Might help stimulate ideas.

Yes I have rusty hinges on my barn doors no wind will blow them shut.

Plaster is, as I understand it, a good air tight layer.

Its all about the amount of torque they expect you to apply, it has a standard - there are only 5 sizes, and the design should reduce the cam out potential, against Phillips head for instance, at normal torques. Most of the screws I have brought recently actually came with a free driver bit of the correct size!

SH 1 T you mean they are different - its OK though cos I must be a proper tradesman.

No easy way I have ever come across. Do you have a multitool? If so you can probably cut the wood away from around the screw head and then grip the head with a pair of mole grips such as these. You can then twist them out. One thing to remember about these screws, well most of them, is that the are hard and can be snapped off - they don't like bending, by accident or perhaps for you, on purpose.

I guess they had no stake in getting them out so didn't worry about putting them in such that they could be extracted. That is quite a nice selection you have there though. Some are wood (L-R) 2,3,& 4, some for concrete 1 one for roofing material 5 and I cannot identify 6 but i must be a high torque application as it uses a torx head drive like the first. Plus, it looks like you have rested them on a very neat tea cloth ( dish / towel).

Thanks, will try that and see what happens.

There is a discount, around 20% I believe + free coffee and occasionally shorter queues.

Many thanks Peter, will see if I can get a job lot as well.

Hi. @PeterStarck , Is that a pocket door frame in the last picture? If what make is it and would you recommend it.

Yes but be ready to look for the input (need more input...) it requires. One thing you can say for sure is that it will be better at keeping bills lower than it was although changes in the SAP calculation method, depends on when the original EPC was issued, might mean it does not move as far up the scale as you might hope or might move further. Essentially there is no way of knowing without doing the detail work, sorry.

I hate, well ashamed really, to say it but 'Dem boys have got plenty of jobs' it does help you see why we have full employment and no productivity as everybody is filling in forms and creating work for people who have 'no issues with it'.

Not sure self building is quite Star Trek, to boldly go where no builder (twit, self disillusioned maniac, inveterate optimist - tick whichever applies) has gone before - nope it would not have caught on.

I guess that means you don't count yourself as one - cos we thought you were as bonkers as the rest of us ergo that means there must be others, beyond the self build community who are bonkers to. Or (Can one start a sentence with OR @jack) maybe you include yourself in the renovators category, nuff said!

Great news on the threaded bar front. I was thinking as I drove down (across - as believe it or not our new house is due East of our current one, doesn't seem right somehow) this morning about two things: 1. That these steel threaded bars will be good cold bridges and that you might find just treating the ends with a PU cap to deal with it. 2. That you need to ensure that you mark out the joist positions on the wall plate before you drill the wall, or otherwise control the fixing positions, so that you don't end up with a nut, washer and short length of threaded bar sticking out just where you want a joist.

Great thread - I find it instructive, to remember that stress cuts both ways and in all directions both enhancing perception while often being the root cause of unintended consequences. Reflecting after reading the thread so far I particularly feel that my other half is going through this as well and she still works. Curiously while I am buried in the details she gets her stress from seeing the bigger picture and this past week she has been worrying about the project - why did we do this - remind me, will it be OK. Yes I say, we always said we would do this, the money is in place and I don't think they can take it away - it may not be enough but if that happens we will finish the project out of revenue, it was designed by a proper Architect so the design should be good, it should cost less than it is worth (not that that matters), we have the skills and the time plus life insurance for either of us to finish it if anything happens to the other. To me that looks like all bases are covered. However I get the sense that the my male approach of providing down to earth evidence based practical advice in a situation like this has only limited impact on the stressors she has. I (perhaps we) need to find ways of de-stressing in the affective domain (attitudes, perceptions and values) where I suspect the real stress arises. I am therefore stressed by her stress and I need to help her differently which will, in turn, help me. So if you want practical advice I guess its to try and see things from the other half's perspective.