Bitpipe

It was mostly woeful, I really dislike when they present 'eco' homes as either something a hobbit would want to live in or a £4m Surrey Huf Haus on rolling acres. GD often guilty of this also. Sends the message that to be more efficient you either need to be super wealthy or massively compromise your living conditions. The segment on improving insulation was better but rarely any mention of airtightness as the core source of heat loss in many properties. On a side note, Times has a EPC look up tool in today's online (if you register you get 2 free articles per week per email you use). Reading the comments is free https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/carbon-footprint-calculator-how-energy-efficient-is-your-house-zkr6j7mtd

For all the recent hassle, I do love having an instant boiling tap integrated into the sink tap and will be relieved when it's up and running again.

Interesting - the cold feed to our fusion tap split a few months ago, it was quite long and had been looped when installed. Must have perished on the bend as it stated to leak, probably after me moving the tank again to descale. Those ones are standard tap hoses though so easy and cheap to replace.

Tank is easy to descale, if you call the help line they send a free kit. Is the thin hot water hose from tank to tap not replaceable? I called them today and an engineer call out is £150+VAT plus parts on top but two week wait. However they will send me a complete new tank for £250 in 2 business days provided the courier can take the faulty one back for refurb. Pleased with that, was expecting a much higher cost.

We have an ion resin exchanger that uses salt but provided the hardness is at or below a certain level then there is no risk. Also it's just hot water for tea & coffee so again, risk minimised.

So after 6 years our Quooker tank is shagged. We live in a hard water area so I’ve had to descale it a few times, which in itself is not that tricky. However the seal between the water intake and the brass lid has obviously been weeping as I found a leak today and upon opening it a corroded interior. Amazed it had not tripped the power. Tap is fine, but it does not look like you can just replace the tank? Plan to call Quooker tomorrow to confirm but I’ll be pd off if the only option is to get a whole new unit, tap and all. We replace it with something and I plan to use a softened cold feed for the tank to avoid scaling as there is one adjacent. The branded sea along systems are very expensive. Have tested the hard water and we’re just within the limit to allow the softened equivalent to be potable.

BTW I bought the yellow pack a few months back, not mega sized batteries as it's just for DIY so rarely need that much charge in one go.

My joiner had a lot of Festool, Jesus they were expensive. He said they did an eyewatering piece of kit that put hot glue edging onto contiboard, trimmed it etc. This is where he drew the line and just used an old iron and a sharp chisel.

I knew a freelance sound engineer who worked on the original Sarah Beeny shows. He said that if you don't eff it up they will find a way to edit the footage to make it look like you did. Participants have zero editorial control and a the end of the day these are entertainment shows so entertainment will be delivered.

I knew one of the original MBC builders in Oxford, was very active in the previous forum. He spent a fortune on internal soundproofing - heavy rubber mats, resilient bars for his plasterboard etc. Admitted defeat in the end as it all made little difference - it's very difficult to completely prevent noise transmission within in a house. Much easier to keep unwanted external noise out though with 3G glazing, high levels of airtightness and the MBC twin wall construction / insulation method is quite effective.

Shhh, you'll spoil the fun.

Ok, just seen your post Well done! If it's built to passive standards then you should be able to look forward to year round comfort with good efficiency and low energy bills in winter. The main risk is actually overheating in summer as the house will hold onto any heat within and if that is generated by unwanted solar gain then you can have an issue. Also occurs in spring and autumn when sun is lower in sky and can penetrate further into the house, but as the outside air is cooler, you can mitigate easier. Investigate the MVHR system which will provide energy efficient ventilation when you want to keep doors and windows closed in winter - how often they change filters etc. Not much else to add really, you will find that MVHR and the more controlled environment can mean humidity is lower than in a naturally ventilated house which has advantages (clothes dry quickly) but can lead to dry skin if you're sensitive to that. Just to be clear, you do not need to live in a sealed box have as much fresh air as you want, doors & windows open etc but just remember you don't need to if it gets cold outside.

Welcome, very nice but I understand very £££ / m2. Don't think anyone active here has built one or a Huf Haus but we'll soon see! Most here have built or are building low energy homes using traditional (block) or modern (ICF, TF, SIPs etc) methods. Eco is somewhat meaningless unless grounded in terms of specific performance such as SAP, PHPP or similar targets for insulation, airtightness, solar gain, water usage etc

This is an area where I saw a lot of variation between frame companies. Aside from differences in what is supplied above and beyond the frame itself (floor decks, internal stud walls, temp stairs, airtightness detail, roof felt & batten, insulation, external batten ie for render or panel system, internal batten for service voids etc..) there was a lot of variation in assembly. Some expected on site crane or tele-handler with operator, scaffolding, fall arrest (air bags or cable system) to be supplied by me at my cost. The most comprehensive quote, and the most expensive, only needed scaffolding. They also did the slab as an option (passive standard) but as I had a basement, this was not required. However, as novice, I chose them due to the turnkey aspect and was very pleased with the end result which just needed doors & windows fitting, roof slated and exterior cladding to be fully weather tight. Was about 6 weeks after they came on site to when scaff came down - 3 weeks for their kit assembly and 3 weeks for the other trades (with some overlaps). They were then able to complete the interior detail wrt insulation and airtightness allowing first fix to commence about a month later.

Regarding balances… https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/inews.co.uk/news/consumer/what-happens-energy-supplier-bust-rights-explained-companies-risk-gas-crisis-1213069/amp I was in credit, will I get my money back? Customers owed money by firms that collapse should still be able to recover their outstanding credit balances. According to Ofgem, the new supplier you are switched to should arrange for any credit to be paid back or taken off of your bill. The cost of energy during the period of the switch-over will also be deducted from your account balance. On the other hand, if you owe money to your old supplier, it’s not necessarily so simple. Debts may still be outstanding to your old supplier, insolvency administrators appointed on their behalf, or your new supplier, depending on who arranges to take on customer debts.

Moved to Green in May after coming off SSE which we were moved to when Tonik went pop. Was in credit with Green due to low summer usage, requirement to pay one month upfront and they just took this months DD before today’s news so question is is that balance protected? I think I was in debt to Tonik by a few pounds so can’t remember what happened there.

I'm with Green, hopes are not high they will survive. Was previously with Tonik and got ported to Scottish Power when they went pop. I note the Govt are pushing a 'the lights will not go out' message which is a nice diversion.

I used Ubliflex (lead substitute roof flashing roll) as a barrier and a dressing for the base of the frame to cover the insulation .

Have you considered project managing it yourself and pulling in individual trades? Many here (including us)have done it, more out of necessity and to save the 10-20% overhead of using a single contractor. We had zero prior experience and felt we did a decent job - puts you in full control of the cost model also. Requires plenty of leg work in evenings and weekends and ability to take a few calls during the day, plus being on site at start and close of working day is advantageous but not needed every day.

The challenge with most MVHR systems delivering meaningful heating/cooling is the relatively low airflow. This is ideal for discrete background ventilation but usually not sufficient to quickly cool an overheated house for example. If your house is of passive standard and you minimise overheating due to solar gain and maintain airtightness then MVHR could be enough, however in the real world it probably wont.

Is this one of those BH posters from whom we never hear of again and wonder if they took our advice or not

We have clay on gravel on chalk - typical of thames valley. When we excavated the basement (3.5m down, 11m square) it was interesting to see the strata - they were far from horizontal and undulated widely with one corner being almost all clay and the other exposing chalk. Some kind of ground investigation is helpful ahead of excavation of footings, even if you're considering a slab style foundation. This often starts as desk investigation, the BGS maintains a free database of local boreholes.

I was with Tonik who folded last year and SSE took over their customer base. Moved to Green a few months ago on a variable tariff and now they're hiking prices in line with the wholesale increases. Going to take a look at the market again but as it's only going in one direction suspect it will be hard to find any cheaper providers who won't go the same way as the other low cost ones. I model my gas & electric usage monthly so always get a pretty accurate quote, we don't use that much gas which is fortunate as it's going up the most whereas the electricity rise is more modest.

Plenty of free advice here from some very knowledgable people. Lots of moral support too, which is undervalued in a self build, whatever the budget. Also a place to have a laugh and let off a bit of steam. Best of luck!

We knocked down, met many other renovators who wish they had. Zero VAT gives you 20% more money and building from scratch means you have no surprises with existing fabric and can get the footprint & orientation you want plus the same quality of fabric throughout. We did not have to upgrade to a water meter, had no dealings with water co at all during build. Electrics were re-routed to a kiosk where they stayed (non smart meter too) and gas was disconnected (££££) but was quite cheap to reconnect. Most of the onerous conditions were tied to the basement we built also (another benefit of knocking down!) such as ground contamination surveys & archeology etc. I was able to discharge the rest myself, most were standard ones related to adhering to homes for life policy and plans for considerate construction. You will need an asbestos survey before any demo contractor will engage, quite cheap (unless you find some).