jack

@GTM_88, I've moved your original post to the underfloor heating subforum, as it's turned into a heating discussion rather than an intro. You're likely to get more input here, as a lot of members don't monitor the Introductions subforum. There's a link to the new thread location in the Introductions subforum, so people who've already replied can find the thread easily.

Welcome to BuildHub. What a great intro! As you've seen, lots of our members enjoy getting back to first principles when it comes to working with things like UFH, MVHR, ASHPs and the like, especially where there's a novel angle (like UFH in a boat).

Hi Joe BuildHub is a strictly non-commercial forum. As such, the sharing of business names, websites, and email addresses isn't allowed. We've therefore deleted the rest of your post, which read as an ad for the business you work for. That said, we do welcome members who work in the building and related trades. The way to approach it is to take a long term view of your membership. Share knowledge and offer advice based on your skills and experience. Once people realise that you know what you're talking about and might be able to help them solve their problems, they'll find you via the private messaging system. Plenty of members have had business through the forum with this approach, without falling foul of the "no commercial posts" rule. It just requires taking a slightly longer view. Good luck.

This is slightly different. I thought from your first post that you'd paid for them and were going to re-use them. It's probably still fine to do what you've done. It's hard for a company that isn't trading any more to sue you for copyright infringement!

Submit them. If they find out and complain, and can explain why what you're doing is in breach, they can threaten to sue you for damages. IANAL, but presumably damages are realistically likely to be no more than the original charge for the report (or their current charge for the same, not that that's relevant if they're no longer trading).

Welcome to BuildHub. There are definitely at least a few BuildHub members who used 200+ mm concrete slabs in a raft construction. More common is a nominally 100 mm reinforced slab on a raft with 200-300 mm of EPS underneath. However, by the time you factor in a 300mm deep ringbeam, 200 mm deeper reinforcement ribs and 200 mm deep reinforcement areas for structural walls, the average thickness is actually much higher than the nominal 100 mm would suggest. Overall, the performance of a flat 200 mm slab probably isn't that far off a 100 mm slab with all the extra deep bits. Try these two Google searches for more info: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=250mm slab raft site%3Abuildhub.org.uk https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=200mm slab raft site%3Abuildhub.org.uk

Summer bypass also takes into account the outdoor air temp. The settings on ours let you set the exterior temp above which the summer bypass will operate (if the indoor air temp is higher than the outdoor temp). Ignoring summer bypass, MVHR tries to maintain any temperature difference that exists between the inside and the outside. If you have the heating on in winter, or the cooling on in summer, such that you've pushed your house temperature up or down in a direction that makes it more comfortable than the outside temperature, then you want the MVHR operating in its normal (non-bypass) mode. It will stop your hard-won heat/coolth from being lost to the outside through ventilation. In summer, when the temperature outside drops below your house's internal temperature (in the evening, say), but is still above a threshold temp, the summer bypass kicks in. Instead of operating to maintain the temperature difference, the MVHR ejects warm air from the house and draws in cooler air from outside. Nothing special happens. Assuming it's cooler inside than outside because of the operation of the UFH, then the MVHR will try to maintain that temperature difference. Some people turn down the ventilation rate when it's very cold or hot outside. That reduces energy losses due to the large temperature difference between the inside and outside. It also reduces how much moisture is taken out of the air in winter. Overventilation when it's very cold can result in very low humidity inside.

That's the plan, in conjunction with screens in at least the bedrooms to encourage stack ventilation (assuming I eventually manage to fix the electric rooflight opener - yet another thing on the to-do list).

I didn't get much mould for the first few years, but as time's gone by, I get increasing amounts building up every year. You've reminded me I need to do my annual clean. If I remember, I'll drop a photo (if it isn't too disgusting!) into the thread.

We run water through our UFH at around 15 deg C and get a breath of condensation (not enough to drip) on the metal parts of the UFH manifold. From memory, that gives us a floor surface temperature of around 19 deg C. Although the air temp tends to still be quite warm during long hot spells, walking around in bare feet or socks seems to cool me down out of all proportion to the amount of contact area with the floor. Walking into the house on a hot day feels like walking into a cave. Lying down on the floor when you get back after exercising in hot weather is absolute bliss! This is all downstairs. There's no cooling upstairs, and during longer periods of hot weather, I do wish we'd installed some form of cooling, whether fan coils or aircon. The other thing that I think is even more important is insect screens. Even during very hot weather, most nights the temperature outside drops well below the interior temperature. If we had insect screens we'd be able to open all the windows upstairs and let out a lot of the heat that's built up during the day. Retrofitting insect screens is on my increasingly long list of things to do.

It's worse than that: the council at leasty implies that mitigation measures wouldn't be allowed:

And they wonder why planners have a bad name. How do "formalised space" and "unneighbourly" map to the requirements of planning law? Similarly, I don't see how "engineering works" have anything to do with the need for a planning application. You built a small(?) retaining wall (planning not needed), replaced the paving over a slightly larger area (no planning needed), and didn't raise the level (no planning needed). I agree that it all sounds like complete nonsense, and I'm sorry you're having to deal with it. Depending on your appetite for stress, I'd be tempted to write back and tell them that you look forward to them initiating enforcement action based on the actual planning laws of which you're alleged to be in breach.

Thanks. I appreciate it takes some navigating at first!

Can you please repost your question over in the planning sub-forum? https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/108-planning-permission/ A lot of members don't read posts in the Introduce Yourself section. It's also helpful for future readers for discussions about specific topics to be in the right sub-forum rather than in this section. Thanks Jack

Let me know which post and what you want edited and I'll do it for you.