Bitpipe

We have the same TF style as Jack, 400m2 over 4 floors. Basement has no heating but is very comfortable as all the plant is down there plus TV, xbox etc, all kicking out heat and the 300mm concrete walls are externally wrapped in 200mm EPS (300mm under the floor). UFH on ground floor only (has to penetrate nearly 50mm of OSB/ply and then 2-3mm resin) and it's fine, even in the recent cold weather - currently set to 21o air temp on the stat. No UFH on first floor aside from 100W/m2 electric mats under tiles in the three bathrooms ( about 3-4m2, set to 24o, timed) plus wet towel rads also on timers - rooms are on the cooler side but comfortable, usually around 19 degrees. Our plan B would have been to tap into the towel rad circuits to add room rads if needs be but we all seem to be fine. Loft rooms can be a bit cooler in the evening or on dull days but we're never in them and have a Dyson fan for guests if they need warmed up a touch - loft rooms are liable to overheat if the Velux blinds are not down on sunny days though. Another vote for MVHR having a slight cooling effect but overall I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Note, It's not easy running UFH over a pozi joist floor and we had quite a bit of head scratching getting it down on the ground floor originally as you can't notch the joists for the loops and it's impossible to thread 100m of pex-al-pert through the webs. We cut long slots in the 22mm OSB deck to allow the pipes to cross over the joist ends, knowing that we'd be dropping another 21 mm of ply on top for the resin. I know HerbJ found an acoustic floor product for his upper floors that allowed him to run UFH up there too but it wasn't cheap and I believe he put it in mainly for resell purposes.

Yes Mains Can only assume so, we have a similar setup in the kitchen (6 spots) and living room (8 spots) with no issue so could be the min load. I'll ask Smiffy and tell him you're offering to come and fix it

I have a different issue (sorry for hijack). In our study we have 5 LED spots on a MK dimmer module. When they're set low, their brightness can suddenly increase for a moment and then dim again. Spark has swapped out the dimmer module a few times now, wondering what else it could be.

Yep, I have Neff and get the same result. It's also a steam oven, you need to remove the water cartridge first. Few comments, the steel grill racks need to come out and get hand washed (brillo pad brings them up nice) as they will discolour otherwise. The enamelled pan can stay in. One of our ovens (the non microwave) also has 'stunt' side racks that allow you to remove the normal ones (which are made of the same stuff as the racks) to take the pan. The oven gets very hot and the process takes about 2 hours - if you have PV, do it when the sun is shining! Any un-enamelled areas on the inside of the door will not clean and any dirt here will get burned on - we were advised to use a cold cleaner on these the night before so they're clean before you do the main oven.

We chose a Haecker kitchen with stone worktops, wrap around glass splashback, full height fridge, full height freezer and four Neff ovens (don't ask) plus Siemens induction hob and extractor and a Quooker tap for much less than that. The firm we used are primarily stone / glass suppliers but do a sideline in Hacker kitchens.

Hmm, we've got lumped on the top band but as the house is fairly large (over 350m2 internal) however will pick this up as well when they call?

Thanks Jeremy, I'll be sure to raise that point with the valuation office when they call me back later this week.

I just had an email from my LA stating that they will continue to charge me 50% of the Band A rate on the caravan while it remains on site. We removed water, electricity and LPG from the van upon exiting but the LA do not believe this is relevant. Have put a call into the valuation office and they're calling me back tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get it sold asap - the financial impact is not huge, £40 a month, but more the point of principal.

I had the same thought as the MVHR and my distribution boxes are there, plus UVC, boiler etc. Unfortunately I didn't have any spare extract ports so it was a moot point!

A friend has posted this object on Facebook, is trying to understand what it is. It's on their hall ceiling, other side goes into loft. Come on Hub - solve the mystery!

Sure will need to dig it out and scan it.

We're using resort deck for our balconies and basement mezzanine deck. This place looks good value - http://www.compositedeckingcompany.com

Another BPC customer here, we wired the MVHR boost function (sentinel Kinentic +) to activation of bathroom light switches and also put a PIR in for daytime activation. These also activate the secondary return pump for DHW. So we had no need for the switches.

Our plumbing contractor (as used by Jack and HerbJ) did a more traditional radial layout for us with a hot return - calculated all the flows and sized pipe accordingly, every bend allowed for -we reviewed his drawings before his guys started. Their preferred material is copper but that does not work with pozi joists so they used straight runs of grey plastic (no idea what the proper name is) and we have connections in the walls & ceilings. Before completing 1st fix, they tested the system to 7 bar (we have an incoming PRV set to 3 bar) so some confidence that it will all stay good. Copper tails where the pipes are visible and the whole boiler / heating / UVC plumbing in the plant room is in copper. Across the whole job, it's interesting to see where the labour and experience was required. Once the design was done and the run locations agreed, it was only a couple of days for two lads to carcass out the whole hot and cold network. As much effort was spent on the waste & soil pipes, getting the required fall in the space available (post MVHR install). Locating the Gebrit frames was also trickier than I expected, they need to be completely flush with the wall and have the necessary support. All the first fix work was very neat & tidy Second fix (including shower trays) was a bit laborious, as much time drilling porcelain tiled walls to hang sinks and install showers as doing actual plumbing. Freestanding baths were a pain, both the sheer weight of them and the need to cut the tiled floor to make more space for the traps - this was an oversight on both our parts, I should have been more on the ball. The final install of gas, boiler, UVC etc and commissioning of the whole system was a few consecutive days. No major issues, aside from discovering that the tackers had put a screw through a cold cistern feed and a mix up between primary and secondary feed from Hansgrohe ibox - both were resolved quick enough and made good. I guess most of the above can be accomplished through DIY but wondering what's the point where a professional must be involved? Will a plumber be happy to commission a system they have not been involved with and what happens if there are problems down the line?

Our last house before acquiring the one that we demolished to build this one (still with me) was a new build. It was a one off in an infill plot in a mature Victorian street from a small developer, a few guys who used to work for one of the majors. Local builder used, we only got involved at the last minute and got to install fireplace and wood / stone floors prior to completion. From the exterior it was a pretty house, blended in perfectly to the street. Internally it was nice enough and warm, functional. However after a few years it was clear that the plumber had cut corners and we had lots of issues, from leaks to underperformance. Build quality was OK, the quality of kitchen and bathroom fittings was so-so, joinery was very average (MDF central, hollow doors etc..). Sure, all of this could have been upgraded over time. It was the layout that eventually didn't work for us, too many ground floor rooms disconnected from each other and the bedrooms were odd sizes (some square, some long and thin. To resolve his would have been too much - also no plot space to expand the footprint. What I like about our new build is that it's a space that works perfectly for us - right blend of individual, social and sleeping areas that logically flow. Also we have the quality, performance and finish that we want. Yes, it's come at a price but it is not so quirky that we would never recover the investment should we ever need to.

Stairs are not to be sneezed at.

Took our LA a few months to catch up to re calculating our CT as Band A, was backdated to demolition date so all good. The van was in the garden for about a year before that while we arranged services etc. Now we're in the house, LA have flipped us back to the higher rate CT based on our moving in date but have charged us 50% for the van as it's 'unoccupied'. I've written to them stating that upon moving our power, water and LPG supply were disconnected so the van is not habitable. Hopefully this will get sorted.

I have e-cloths but forsee much of my future cleaning fingerprints off that! Glad we used the diamond coat paint on the hall walls as without a banister they were filthy, however it does wipe clean pretty effectively. Maybe I'll hold off selling the caravan and just park the kids in that for a few years...

If you get a package of some sort, whether from a timber frame firm or a traditional builder, a PM should really not be necessary unless you have zero time to spend on the project or have a very complex project. PMs are not cheap, they will want a min of 10% of the build cost and that is based on their estimation, not yours. We engaged one early on and spent £1800 on a detailed budget and PHPP analysis before disengaging. We got some value for money, having next to no idea what we were doing, and the cost plan put us down the more cost effective road of timber frame vs ICF which had been our original idea. It also gave us a useful structure to plan to for costing and estimating. PHPP also gave us peace of mind that the design could work as a (near) passive house. That said, doing the PM ourselves, we came in about 20% less than their original cost plan suggested - no doubt they would have achieved similar but would have taken credit for the 'saving'. Note - I'm not disparaging PMs, I'm just suggesting that if you can put some time into managing the project yourself, or select good contractors from the outset, then you can make a substantial saving. We used lots of contractors and vendors, some for specific tasks and some for more general works but we did have a very comprehensive package from the groundworkers to build the basement and the timber frame firm to get us to airtightness (windows from separate firm). Using this forum and its predecessor, trades and fellow self builders, we managed to stay half a step ahead most of the time.

A bit more 'readers stairs' promise this will be the last - unless there are some requests for specific angles Sparky is coming to do LED strip in handrail later - he buried a cable in the wall and will use their pre drilled fitting to get cable to the rail.

Ah, the infamous 'Fanny Trap' as my plumbers called it. Correct name is a HepVo I believe. We looked into these when we realised that there was not enough clearance under the floor standing baths (on freshly tiled floors) for a normal trap. Decided against using them as when horizontal, they can get fouled with hair etc and will then allow smells back. Plumber was happier using them vertically. We ended chopping a nice hole in the floor to take a traditional trap for each bath.

Maidenhead - I guess all distance is relative

Good idea - one set has been outside for a month, still look ok. Will put a tarp over them.

In conclusion I learned a few things from this: 1) don't order stairs until your finished floors are complete and walls are plastered - final dims can change from drawings and you don't want to be hacking expensive stairs about to fit. Also check what support your stairs need - if not sure a big wodge of timber in the wall to cover all eventualities is probably not a bad idea. 2) if you're after a certain look that's really important to you, don't compromise. I'm glad we held out and went for the more disruptive option to get the look we wanted. 3) most mistakes can be remedied and often are not as drastic as first though. 4) removing and reinstalling MDF staircases is a great way to stay fit. The three that we have must have been in about out a dozen times each during plastering, painting and this recent malarkey. Considering selling them as a keep fit accessory. Seriously though, what to do with 3 x Jewsons softwood & msg stair cases?

The fixings are very clever. The first riser is bolted vertically into the floor below. The tread is secured with dowels and the next riser is held by three steel bolts through the tread. There is also a steel fixing that holds the riser into the wall (that's where the reinforcement was needed).