Nic

Ok thanks for all the differing views ( I thought as much ) I currently have planing for a 1.5 story hip roof home in Devon on a tight plot . Planners are not giving an inch on dimensions of the home or roof design ( tried to go a tad higher with a mono pitch roof and they are having non of it . ) even tried a couple of “ bolt on “single story pods ( util and down stair loo and office combo) but flat no! so thought ok leave all the above ground as is and do a basement or even half a basement for a little more space currently foot print of living space ground floor is 55.6m2 this is the dilemma 🤔😁

So say I was going to build a two story home 10m x 7m as a guide . what is the likely ( ball park figure ) extra cost in effectively have the ground floor as a basement and only one floor above ground? forget all the complex what if’s , such as ground type . Is there such a thing as it’s likely to be … x amount more expensive 🤷🏻‍♂️

No nothing built yet ( new build ) and pressure not yet know. . just trying to insure I have decent set up for showering best course to go down as will not have gas at the new site solar and electric only ashp. Cylinder will be on ground floor

No nothing built yet just trying to insure I have decent set up for showering

I appreciate the water pressure is key if running a shower with just a thermostatic control over an electric shower with a pump … but what other things do I need to consider when choosing a shower to run off either a hot water cylinder or electric heated? only ever used a shower run via a combi boiler thanks in advance

can anyone recommend a good roofer in the Exmouth area?

If this is still an option, if you can PM. The details that would be helpful also . Thanks in advance

Can’t change the roof slope as not allowed a larger visible mass on the NW side !! which is of course what I would have preferred for the reasons mentioned

thanks once again How are Solar connected through the roof sheet? I know on the standing seam style they have an external clamp that attaches to the seams

Can’t change the roof aloof as not allowed larger visible mass on the NW side which is of course what o would have preferred for the reasons you mentioned

@iceverge kindly looked at this for me and replied as below. As they said any other comments are welcome.. the two add on ‘pods ‘ as I call them are because I will never be granted a bigger overall house from planning but they may allow the little extra single story ‘pods’ which would help. So here is the message . Which I’m very grateful for. This forum is invaluable I’ve learnt so much from my posts . Thanks to everyone Nic Here we go. I've thrown about an hour at this drawing. Its like a cardboard cut out template of a house PHPP uses external dimensions unlike SAP. NE wall 46.7m2 Window 3.3m2 NW wall 51.7m2 Window 14.5m2 SW wall 46.1m2 Window 4m2 SE Wall 61.9m2 Window 12.3m2 Floor 94m2 Roof 94.6m2 Your current wall thickness is 400mm. Roof is 350mm. This would result in U values of about 0.16W/m2K with ICF and a joisted roof. Lets assume you can install a floor as thick as you wish with a U value of 0.1. Windows at 1.1w/m2k installed. I note you're in the south coast. Lets assume zero as a minimum temperature. A good airtightness score and MVHR. Take any internal heat gains to be cancelled out by minor thermal bridging and the inefficacy of the MVHR. That leaves us a simple enough sum to do. Area X U value X delta T = Heat Loss Total Your heating load as stands would Roof: 94.6x0.16x20= 302w Floor 94 X 0.1 X 15 = 141w Walls 206.4 x 0.16 x20 = 660w Windows 34.1 x 1.1 x 20 = 750.2 W Total heating demand 1853 w. The foot print is 94m2 and the floor area is about 150m2. You're at roughly 12.5W/m2K specific heat demand vs the Passivhaus limit of 10W/m2K. There's a couple of things you could do to adjust. The small add ons to the south and west adddisproportionately more external surface area than the floor area. For instance the one to the west adds only 5.5m2 of floor area but 131W of heat load or 24W/m2. It's twice as bad as the average of the house. Designing from scratch they'd be a far more expensive option than just making a house a pure 4 sided box or even a full height "T" or "L". I understand you are size limited but slightly thicker walls or roof would help. Only marginally. As you can see even good triple glazed windows loose a tremendous amount of heat. More than all the walls combined. You have 14m2 of windows on the North wall. This will loose heat all year around as unlike the South facing window's they'll never gather energy. ( Nett loss) Consider making them smaller. For mainly this reason it's very unlightly you'll be near the annual heat demand of a passivhaus. I would guess you'll be about 4000kWh per year. Assuming a well functioning ASHPand 25p/unit this will translate to about £250/year for space heating. A passivhaus might be £150. Over all, if built to good standards of airtightness and thermal bridging you'll have a very warm house.

Thanks main reason is to make sure I get it right as it’s all new where can I find mr Harris’ spreadsheet ? thanks

hindsight is a wonderful thing ... however I need to move forward... sorry in advance for the long request I have an architect I really like and have submitted a design for an ICF, with raft, low energy build. The site I have did have planning for a small dwelling which was already approved ( another architect conventional build ) but due the changes I made it was thought best to pop in another application. That has been with planning now for a month , so far no objets , fingers crossed. The footprint of the building is a box shape ( no fancy details) only 94m2 and has a single mono slope roof at about 5 degrees. The plans submitted have kept the sw and se windows relitively small The corner of the property is on the south axis . I now am thinking I should just go fully for the Passivhaus certification. So I see I have these options if I choose to go down that route 1. find a new architect that is PHPP and start again ( not ideal ) 2. ask if there are any PHPP consultants who are prepared to just work with my architect ( in principle am I then paying almost twice for the same thing? ) 3. Is it possible to ask someone who has knowledge of the PHPP software to look at the design and plug in the basics of what I have to see how far off the design is and discuss options there? 4. can you ask someone to do all the PHPP ( who may not be officailly accredited ) to then just have an accredited PHPP done at the end and then either pass or fail ( but know you are very close to passive having worked mainly with the PHPP all the way through the build .... yes I know and apology's in advance.... really not sure best course of action and of course budget is tight as it always is with these things

Yes, at the moment Octopus is the only energy provider that has removed the need for PV systems to be MCS certified in order to access the SEG. A PV installer without MCS certification (or the means to certify under an umbrella scheme) is limiting themselves to only working with Octopus customers. ME: is this still the case?

What did you go for in the end ? How has it turned out ?

ok deffo no WiFi CAT geek … how does this work ? I get putting cable in the ceilings what would you need to connect to the cable to make it a PoE for the WiFi ?

Hi anyone got any experience with the post heating combination that Paul heat recovery are recommending as an option to my build?

Ok getting a plot ( part of a garden , if that makes a difference) in order to build our two bed house ( no buildings there at the moment and there is planning agreed for a small house . how what is the correct way to deal with the SDLT as solicitor states they cannot advise on the tax for land purchase non residential or residential etc thanks

Hi is there something that looks like a slate roof that can work on a low pitch, As in at 5 degrees , or will it need to be zinc or something like a flat roof ?

Thanks again

@JohnMo I’ve only noticed coil ratings not sizes … is that likely to be in the tech sheet somewhere?

My question ( as an uneducated man ) if I go for a ASHP in a new ICF build for my DHW ( there are three adults one of which likes a soak in the bath a few times a week) is there a better cylinder for ASHP …. What do I need to know ?

I two will be interested in low u value doors and windows …. Best bang for your buck recommendations

Ok I guess I understand that principle thanks.

Sorry I think it was this or a bigger version of it . https://www.totalhome.co.uk/ventilation/?pid=594 early stages of my fact finding and drawing just being sorted . the whole house heating calculatio, is that easy to do?