canalsiderenovation

We have month invoices from our builder and it is him we are paying for the work but we are meeting him this week so I am going to tackle this. I didn't know if I was being picky but I'll mention the edges and corners and that covering it up with extra flowcoat is not dealing with the issues. I'm not entirely sure how they will deal with the issues but I don't want to be fobbed off.

Yes and I get the feeling this will be exactly what they do again. If they actually properly sort it and don't just but extra coats over it. Now the fascias are up I get the feeling if they can avoid doing owt they will.

We had lots of iy and bramble on an old railway embankment. Like @Mr Punter mentioned Gallup 360 or similar works but don't expect immediate results, it's a few weeks. That all said with the bl00dy ivy it has been just good old fashioned pulling and digging it up that has worked better.

I'll start with the GRP roof but I'll dedicate this whole blog entry to which I will deem the God-awful Rubbish Period. This probably seems like I'm over exaggerating but there's just been a lot of things combined with work, personal etc and I have really been feeling the pressure. Intially, as they started laying the fabric the GRP looked OK but, despite what I would say is perfect conditions for the GRP going on from what I know through reading on here we, were appalled by the quality of the work. Without bombarding this blog with pics unless you really, really want to see them, just take my word for it, it was bad! I believe I this was subcontracted but as we have not been on site I think it's been done by the builder themselves. Needless to say I was not happy so met with the builder who muttered something about weather and acknowledged it was poor. There has been some improvement but I can't say I'm entirely happy but I believe this will be rectified, hopefully. I also raised the issue of the rooflight upstands not been GRPd to the roof and something is happening with lead flashing so I'm hoping that will be rectified too. Here is the current GRP as it stands, comments welcome because I don't know if I'm being over picky but I want to be prepared for meeting the builder this week so please give me your opinions. Roofing aside, thanks to the people that contributed to the thread on our ASHP and solar @PeterW and @ProDaveothers as I really feel I would have had a complete meltdown. For some reason the idea of fitting a PV immersion controller seemed to cause all sorts of issues and it's literally blown my mind trying to explain to people that should know more than me how to do it and what is needed. And my final rant, how is it despite giving delivery drivers instructions they still turn it in an articulated lorry the size of a double decker bus.... er no you will not that over a canal bridge! Took delivery of a bathroom suite after it was pump loaded over the bridge with the lorry blocking the farm who were not happy and finally unpacked it to find the whole lot was damaged. Can't get the same items now as they are out of stock but in some good fortune the bathroom company decided it was far too much hassle to collect them again so let us keep them and refund the money so we can flog them to try and pay for an alternate suite. We did finally get all our 12 panel GSE 3.84kw PV system and immersion controller for under £2300 which has now been delivered which is a relief. If the builders make as much of a dog's dinner of fitting this as they did of the GRP I'll have an absolute breakdown ?

Easier said than done ???

This is so incredibly frustrating. The plumber is putting pressure on us to order eveything tomorrow but I've no idea if what he is quoting fits with what we have ordered works with the solar. Perhaps he has sent the wrong schematic.

@PeterW success, I've got the full schematic and I'm glad you mentioned the 4 points because, I'll quote "I'll be using Grundfoss Alpha 2 pumps, I've double checked the drawings, we will just be using 3 pumps as the U/F for the whole house is counted as one zone, from the low loss header. this would reduce cost by £139.80. I will be using a Honeywell 3 port valve". Full schematic attached, any alarm bells let me know.... FTC6 Ecodan with 3rd Party Cylinder.pdf

Nope just updated the quote. If they were all required before I'm not sure why it's quite a bit more expense. I'll ask which brand the pumps are.

Initially he had quoted for the pre-plumbed Mitsubishi 210 but has now changed the quote completely and got rid of this because apparently we can't have it with the solar immersion controller thingy (and we wanted the bigger tank) and has replaced it with the 400litre Gledhill and all that other stuff.

@PeterW forgot to include you too as you provided some initial advice. Just want to make sure this is all OK before giving him the go ahead and I'm not missing something or paying over the odds for something we don't need. I think the previous 210litre tank was around £2500 but I believe the Gledhill 400litre is cheaper but then there is the additional parts and work so perhaps that accounts for the price difference. I'm so confused.

I'm still really confused and then came across this thread on a similar matter by @gc100 OurPV controller we had earmarked is the Solic200 but we can look at alternatives. I still can't work out if what the plumber is now saying we need to work with the solar is correct. Along with the heat pump is my plumber correct in saying we also need a 400 litre Gledhill Heat Pump Pressurised cylinder, low loss header, 40litre expansion vessel, 4 x circulating pumps, 3 port zone valevs and all other required items for new design. @ProDave @Nickfromwales Can you confirm if this makes sense or is far more complicated than what we need.

Now we have finalised the solar materials quote we have had an updated plumbing quote. It's around £900 more and the changes seem to be from the initial heat pump and 210 cylinder (quoted as per the plumbing quote above £7749.08): To this (£8690) A Mitusubishi 11kw 1P air source heat pump, 400 litre Gledhill Heat Pump Pressurised cylinder, low loss header, 40litre expansion vessel, 4 x circulating pumps, 3 port zone valevs and all other required items for new design. As per the suggestions on here we asked for the larger tank, to 400 litre rather than the 210 one as I believe this will go in our favour for solar and hot water.

Our Internorm windows/doors have been delayed 2 weeks from the initial 8-10 weeks we were told. So far John Knight glass have been doing all they can and they are expected to arrive there one Friday and they will install on the Monday so I'm just keeping everything crossed installation goes ok.

Does that even exist anymore?

I don't care on covering the sliders and glass gable. Priority due to scarceness of newspapers ? Good point, I'll start stockpiling Amazon boxes. Order a mobile phone case and they will pack it in a box the size of a small child.

It always surprised me when I'd stay in hotels in central London as no-one bothered to shut curtains in their homes despite being overlooked and surrounded by offices, hotels, other residential places etc. I could literally look out of my hotel room into someone's dining room and see what they were eating for their tea and no, not everyone bothers with curtains or if they do have them they certainly don't always use them ? Curtains and blinds aren't in our budget at the moment so we will be moving back in with newspaper on the bedroom window!

Nope. The MCS install cost wasn't worth the extra as we both work from home so are solely doing it for our use. In my case with various quotes it was more than double the cost for an MCS install, some quotes were triple. I know we need to add the fitting cost onto the material cost of the quote above but I can't see us ever getting back £3-£4k plus with SEG it would cost for the MCS install.

We have had a variety of prices and I've been negotiating for a while on materials, spec etc and it started far higher. I've been back and to to various companies negotiating. We aren't going down FIT or MCS so our electrician/builder will be fitting so my priority has been trying to get the materials at a reasonable cost.

This is the quote, the 320w ones are cheaper.

Thanks @Dan F it makes more sense I guess to go for the 320w then I guess. The quote is with a Growatt 3600 inverter and Solid 200 immersion controller.

So, need to make a decision on which actual solar panels for our in roof system of 12 horizontal panels. It's either the JA Solar 310W LW Mono Percium All Black with MC4 or the JA Solar 320W Mono Percium LW Black Frame with MC4. Aside from the watt, there is difference in the panel itself as the 320w has a white backsheet and the 310w is black. Any advice on which I should choose. There is around a £50 difference with the 310w ones being more expensive so negligible.

From what I can gather it is Alto energy who seem to have caused a lot of the confusion but I would have expected the plumber to have known what I was told in this thread. In fairness to our electrician who just happened to be on site as we're meeting on another matter, he picked up on part of the conversation and seemed to know exactly what I was on about and spoke to the plumber.

Well sounds like that is a definitive answer on that point then

I had to google RTFM ? I'm glad I checked before I told the plumber to do this ?

Literally just had a call from the plumber. The penny has finally dropped! I've sent all the information summarised in this thread hopefully he realises what a plank he has been!