canalsiderenovation

They were good about it and I've followed up with an email asking for a formal complaint to be raised. In a way the fact I've been so obsessive about our energy use due to the heat pump saga made me realize something wasn't right because I knew the heat pump use had been pretty stable so we couldn't have used the amount they are saying and certainly not during the times they are saying. God only knows how they are going to work out the split of units now and in the meantime they need to sort out what the actual issue is/technical fault.

Nope. We had a smart meter when we moved in so didn't need any different meter with Octopus but we have never had the screen monitoring thing. I think the previous owner must have taken it or got rid of it.

Checked - that's correct. Indeed. What I'm concerned about is how they are working out my use between 8:30pm and 01:30am when we are only paying 5.5p because if they are basing it on the smart meter readings they are completely inaccurate. The woman I spoke to says if the smart meter readings aren't accurate they have no way of knowing the split so this leaves us in a bit of a situation in that out of our 1500ish units we have used in 41 days no-one can say how many are at 5.5p!

Smart meter! Here's just an example.

I found interesting that in between turning the heating off last night at 10pm and checking temperatures this morning at 10am when it was 3 degrees, the lowest thermostat readings were 19 degrees which were rooms which formed part of the existing bungalow and have no EWI yet (the extension was warmer but this has far better insulation in walls). I didn't think this was too bad with 12 hours of no heating when we have no EWI and no render.

? Because of the ongoing saga with the heating and electric use I know exactly what our usage is but then when I saw the app I thought great, half our meter readings easier to monitor usage.... One particular day they had our total energy use for a 24 hour period as 82 units. Our HP use during the same 24 hour period was only 26 units so they are saying we used over 50 units of 'other' use during this time period. This is at a day when we had a really good solar use and charged everything up, did washing etc and we also have hot water heated with the ASHP when the 830pm Octopus cheap rates come on but this has been minimal as the solar has been doing particularly well in March.

Sorry I posted it in the wrong place the first time. Now I'm sure you're all sick of my saga with energy use but it now gets even more complicated. You will recall I was monitoring my energy use for part of January, all of February and part of March. Once I'd managed to get the heat pump settings a bit more consistent we were using between 20-40 units of heat pump use a day and no more than 8-10 units of other use. We moved to Octopus and I've been getting myself completely tied up with their app and our half hour smart use data because it's being recording some absolutely horrific figures - at it's lowest around 45 units of electricity a day and at its highest 123 units a day which I absolutely couldn't get my head around for a 24 hour period with major use between 2-5am when we ended up programming the heating off during those period and setting programmes for each room (thanks @Ultima357) I've been checking out heat pump meter reading and that was only between 17-39 units a day (even with the recent cold snap) and I've been monitoring our other use. Finally I've gone to taking good old fashioned meter readings from the box and checking every day. Luckily I had a photo of a meter reading the day we moved 12271 and a photo this morning gives 13811 so the past 41 days totals 1540 units which is pretty much in line with what I'd expect given we have had some cold days but also good sunny days when we have had minimal other electricity use as we have been using solar. The app for Octopus, adding up every days units gives a total of 3052 for 41 days - over double!!! I've just rung them to be told the smart meter readings are normally accurate (really)! Explained I'd got pictures of the electricity meter pretty much every day and as I'd been monitoring our electric use for 3 months I know the app can't be right. All went very quiet when I asked them to tell me what the meter reading was they have when they realised the app cannot be accurate at all given the opening meter reading and what they have now. They are looking into it..... I'm not going mad. I'm not going mad. I'm not going mad.

Now I'm sure you're all sick of my saga with energy use but it now gets even more complicated. You will recall I was monitoring my energy use for part of January, all of February and part of March. Once I'd managed to get the heat pump settings a bit more consistent we were using between 20-40 units of heat pump use a day and no more than 8-10 units of other use. We moved to Octopus and I've been getting myself completely tied up with their app and our half hour smart use data because it's being recording some absolutely horrific figures - at it's lowest around 45 units of electricity a day and at its highest 123 units a day which I absolutely couldn't get my head around for a 24 hour period with major use between 2-5am when we ended up programming the heating off during those period and setting programmes for each room (thanks @Ultima357) I've been checking out heat pump meter reading and that was only between 17-39 units a day (even with the recent cold snap) and I've been monitoring our other use. Finally I've gone to taking good old fashioned meter readings from the box and checking every day. Luckily I had a photo of a meter reading the day we moved 12271 and a photo this morning gives 13811 so the past 41 days totals 1540 units which is pretty much in line with what I'd expect given we have had some cold days but also good sunny days when we have had minimal other electricity use as we have been using solar. The app for Octopus, adding up every days units gives a total of 3052 for 41 days - over double!!! I've just rung them to be told the smart meter readings are normally accurate (really)! Explained I'd got pictures of the electricity meter pretty much every day and as I'd been monitoring our electric use for 3 months I know the app can't be right. All went very quiet when I asked them to tell me what the meter reading was they have when they realised the app cannot be accurate at all given the opening meter reading and what they have now. They are looking into it..... I'm not going mad. I'm not going mad. I'm not going mad.

I need to check our info and confirm exactly which spec of insulation it is. I now know it needs to be the grey/graphite version of EPS. We do have cavity wall insulation on the existing as when they took the old windows out it was inside like white fluffy stuff and we found some paperwork when we bought the house confirming cavity wall insulation. The window sills and eaves/overhand definitely won't be big enough for anything over 50mm unfortunately, we have checked. Very frustrating and an oversight really I should have picked up on. Our soffits etc have gone in but I'll ask the builder when I see him tomorrow. Below DPC is happening the same time. I thought the below DPC should be else than the main EWI so 30mm?

50mm EWI

Hi I'd posted a thread on the rendering forum but wondered if someone had any views on Jablite for EWI. Grateful for any comments on this thread and particularly around the issue of our DPC being higher in some parts and possible options such as plinth insulation allowing us to render over DPC (I think)!

We should hopefully getting our EWI and render in the next couple of weeks thank the bl00dy heating gods because we are hoping this will improve the bills! You'll know from the original layout of our bungalow that part of the bungalow is stepped inside (to the bedroom/dressing room) as it is higher. This means the DPC is at a different level. This is going to look really odd as we have our DPC at different levels. The builder was speaking to the different reps about the render and if there was any solution because it's going to look a bit messy with the render coming lower on some parts and higher on others. It's days like today when I wish we would have knocked the whole thing down...... Pic below is our bedroom and dressing room and the bungalow is higher here as we step up two steps to access this part of the bungalow. This pic below probably demonstrates it better and you can see how it steps up. The scaffolding is in front of the living room/snug and the wall window is the middle hall. Ignore the garden walls and any paving etc... And then this is close to our front door where we have the existing part on the left which is pretty much where it is stepped inside and then our extension. We had picked Krend pure white but I've just had an email from the builder with the spec for the EWl and render and it's something called Ecorend and Jablite. Is Ecorend similar to Krend? And Jablite - is this a suitable EWI? Feeling slightly overwhelmed again! EcoRend_Spec.pdf Jablite Spec.pdf

I've now had an uddated referral bonus from anyone who signs up to the (free for the first year) Gold Rewards Card 27000 reward points rather than the 20,000. This is an amazing bonus which you can use for a variety of purposes. If anyone wants a link do let me know. My hairdresser who opened a new business said he got some sort of incentive to take American Express. I'm not sure what fees are involved. I used to have a Platinum Card (not business) but the fees kept getting raked up to make it completely ridiculous. I think it's now over £500.

Hmm could be an option. Need to weigh up this and speak to the builder about costs and the quote.

Pole fit - not pole dancing like you would get in strip clubs! Pole fit is difficult and really hard work. I doubt it! I'm always cold..... When I used to do pole fit in a studio we all wanted the heaters on. Women and the cold.....? No solar on it - no budget for this unfortunately and EV charging is not needed. We already have power to the existing garage/outbuildings but need to make sure we forward plan for electric gates.

Good point, although unlikely I wouldn't rule out some gym equipment and a pole (before renovation I had a pole for pole fit in the living room as we weren't concerned with damage to ceilings etc but it's not an option now)!

I don't know! Do we? It looks a reasonable size double garage from the plans. The other half would probably put her car in there, especially when she upgrades to a nicer car. The rest of it is needed for lots of garden related items as we have a large plot and when we get a boat (long term future goal) lots of boat related items no doubt and if we do end up with a sink and toilet in there it will be useful if we are gardening etc. I'll have to catch the builder this week and go through things and see if there is any room to negotiate - he will probably expect it from me anyway!

Yep it's not entirely clear - will have to double check!

I actually wonder why they have quoted for a full filled cavity. It's only a garage and we don't need a full filled cavity.....

We are in the process of getting quotes for a double garage. This is the first one - thoughts? We asked them to exclude the double door, side door and window (one not two) as we will get these ourselves. Also to connect up to water/sewage for a toilet in future (but not connect toilet/sink as we can get these at a later date and do them ourselves after our experience with the plumber I'd rather do it ourselves)! I've no idea what sort of figures we should be looking at so any advice would be great.

Exactly that but the range Intu offer for tilt and turn windows are far less than for normal windows. Perfect Fit offered a huge selection but the white frame just doesn't appeal.

Thank you. I think the problem is as it's for tilt and turn windows the colour range is very limited for Intu. The normal range has pretty much every colour going! There was definitely no lime green!

Thanks that's good to know. I just wish they had blackout ones or their hive ones had different colours. I'm hoping to see the profile of Luxaflex or at least get some prices from comparison.

I just don't like them, they either look very commercial or just really odd looking!