cmdrawesome

I have a 250mm thick RC35 fibre-reinforced, waterproof-admixed concrete slab that has a ~30mm dip in the middle so it will need a screed before a finished floor can go in. It has the underfloor heating already installed at the bottom of the slab, with a further 225mm of insulation underneath that. At some point soon I'll have a roof on and will be able to start drying the place out with a couple of rented dehumidifiers, and once the glazing is in and the plumbing is connected up I'll be able to fire up the UFH too. My question is - How can I know when slab will be dry enough to screed? I can get a cheap surface tested from screwfix, but that's not going to tell me the moisture content of the core of the slab. One screeding specialist was recommending simply waiting 1 day per mm, but I have 250mm!

I'm struggling to find options for this door, and it can't be a new problem. What have you wonderful people done? I obviously want good thermal performance, because it's the thermal envelope for the house. Similarly for airtightness. Building regs also require FD30 and self closing, which rules out most of the regular suppliers and choices. So far I've found a door from Hurst that has limited finish choices but does seem to tick all of the boxes, and that's about it. Supply and fit is about £2000 which I'd like to improve on!

Ok, I'll respond to some points: - The Ground floor UFH is at the bottom of 250mm of concrete, which is sat on top of 225mm of insulation. I expect it to be a strong stabilising influence on the internal temperature of the house, but have huge latency. It could easily take 24h to react to any changes in ASHP activity. - Aircon is non-negotiable for me. It can react to changes in temperature demand very quickly, and provide substantial cooling and heating. Mrs Awesome is at the stage of life where her demands for temperature changes can be unpredictable and volatile. It's expensive to install and operate (coincidentally, Mrs Awesome...), but the UFH should keep things stable so it isn't needed frequently. MVHR does not have the circulation rates to provide decent levels of cooling. I'm very dubious about switching the UFH ASHP into cooling mode as I still want hot water in a heatwave. - Yes, I have a big glazed gable but I will also be fitting external louvres and shutters to mitigate solar gain. - I'm going big on solar PV / battery, and also will be fitting a basic but decent MVHR. My system is coming in around 5k for a 4 bed house, 12k seems a bit excessive. My question is all about the MCS grant - if the UFH is providing heat to all rooms from the bottom of the slab, is that enough to obtain a grant or do I actually need to have wet pipes in all the rooms?

Ok, so in my 4 bed, 2-storey self build I'm having wet UFH installed at the bottom of the concrete slab, which sits on top of an isoquick passive slab. Walls are passive spec, roof is almost passive spec, ICF construction so airtightness will hopefully be <1. UFH and DHW all powered by an ASHP. Yay for acronyms! I was planning to put aircon in the upstairs bedrooms, electric UFH / towel rads in the upstairs bathrooms, and leave it at that. MCS are saying that in order to qualify for the £7500 grant the UFH needs to be in every room. Is this really the case? the aircon will be able to provide a small amount of top-up heating if required.

Thanks all - the tip about VAT is particularly useful.

Hi all - I've been lurking here for a few years while finding a plot, waiting for probate and the land registry to actually buy it, then the simple joy that is planning. We've just obtained planning permission for our self build, but there is a condition to provide a landscaping plan. The thing is, we supplied a basic one as part of the application pack - see attached. The delegated report says "Further, landscaping would be required to assist in the screening and soften the mass of the dwelling. It is noted however that a although a landscaping strategy plan has been submitted as part of the application. The plan shows little to no details of a comprehensive landscaping plan appropriate to the application; a landscaping condition will be imposed on the approval." We're unlikely to actually have a coherent view on how we want to landscape the site until after we move in, so want to keep it simple with minimal detail to keep our options open. What extra detail should we submit to clear the condition? LANDSCAPE_PLAN-6585726.pdf