jack

Do a search for "DIY MVHR". Someone posted a link to this: http://handmadematt.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/heat-recovery-ventilation-heat.html Note that this is a crossflow unit, rather than the counterflow approach which is used in commercial units. Crossflow is easier to make, but has a hard limit on effeciency of (from memory) 75%. Real-world will be a lot lower.

You can get through-wall extractor fans that have some heat recovery. They aren't very efficient compared to proper ducted MVHR units, but still better than constantly opening windows to get fresh air in. Edited to add: Missed the previous post - the Lunos unit above is what I was talking about.

I agree with this. It's so cheap (especially compared to the rest of the cost of building a house) that you'd be mad to cut corners. Someone above mentioned CAT 6. This is a decent standard - CAT 7 has thicker wire, I think, so you may have more trouble with bends and termination. Also, make sure you have solid copper wires, rather than cheaper copper coated aluminium (sometimes abbreviated CCA). I don't know whether CAT6 even comes in CCA form, but worth checking. Another tip: if you have a central place for things like AV equipment, consider running a spare empty duct or two with draw cord to each TV position. That way, you'll easily be able to replace or upgrade cables, or run new cables in the event we end up with a new standard in 10 years. Again, cheap and easy to do now, versus a nightmare in the future.

I'm not familiar with the PHPP details, sorry, but the issue here is the difference between airtightness and ventilation - see the sections dealing with these topics here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house See also: https://passipedia.org/planning/building_services/ventilation/basics/air_volumes

The 0.6 ACH per hour standard you're referring to is the tested rate at a given pressure difference between inside and outside. In practice, the amount of air that will be exchanged in such a house will be far below this. In still conditions and where the internal temperature is similar to the external temperature, there'll be very little exchange at all. The ACH per hour I'm talking about is the MVHR setting.

I agree with that, and I'm terrible for overshopping when I'm hungry. Unfortunately, my wife has a list all made up, so it doesn't matter whether she's hungry when she goes.

You may well be right, but a background ventilation of 5 ACHs per hour through window vents and general leaks in a freshly refurbished house seems like a lot to me. From memory, Passivhaus, with controlled ventilation, seeks an ACH of 0.5.

Put in several at each point where you will have a TV. Everything is connected now - Sky box, console (or two), recorder, smart TV - it all adds up. You can get by with wireless for some of these, but in my opinion wired is better where you potentially have a lot of bandwidth. If you have a study, or somewhere a printer/scanner will go, it's useful to include an outlet or two there. While most printers are wireless-enabled, if you read the reviews, wireless problems are high on the list of people's complaints. I have another where our music streamer is located in the kitchen. Lucky catch, as it happens, because putting the microwave on interferes with the wireless signal enough to stop the music!

This was my first guess. Depending on the model, you should be able to change the fan speed for each setting, as @dpmiller said.

I hate it when my missus does a Costco shop, because she always buys more than we can comfortably fit in the fridge and freezer. It takes a good three or four days before we can easily access everything again. Thankfully it's a bit of a hike to Costco, so this doesn't happen more than once a month or so.

I agree, and yet we had it again and again. Sometimes, it's a result of people not caring. Others, it's more a case of them not listening properly, or not remembering. We had the latter several times, where we'd discuss something at length with a contractor ahead of time, then come back a day or three later to find that they'd got to this particular job and done it exactly the way they'd always done it. I had a couple of them try and say that they thought my instructions were just me "talking generally" (whatever that means). Others said that they'd forgotten when they actually went to do it, but in any event it didn't matter because my way was no better than theirs. And then we had those who insisted they didn't recall the conversation, even though it may only have been a day or two beforehand. It was difficult to tell whether any particular person was lying, forgetful, incompetent, stupid, or indifferent. ? If I were doing this again, I'd have a site diary, note every conversation, and get it initialed (or at least email a copy of my understanding of what had been agreed).

Fantastic real-world info, thanks. We heard about the pump priming thing on the day too, and had to run out and buy some cement while waiting for the first concrete truck to arrive. Why they can't factor that into the price or at least tell you in advance is beyond me. We also told the guy with the pump exactly where to put the excess from the pump at the end of the day, and that he needed to avoid the area around the trees due to TPOs. At the end of the day, he moved the truck 2m forward while we were distracted elsewhere and dumped the concrete exactly where we said he couldn't. If he'd moved 10m forward he'd have avoided the trees and given himself more space to clean up, but you could tell he just didn't give a stuff.

One of the guys we had onsite used a Henry. He admitted that he'd bought it second hand and had used it on building sites for years before realising it was even possible to put a bag in it! He figured it had lasted that long without a bag, so why start now. He's since had several more bagless years out of it. I wouldn't go bagless anywhere I wanted to keep the dust down though.

It's insane how adaptable humans are. Well done you for cracking on with it.

Lazy git, actually ?

I don't work hard enough to get smelly.

Probably, but it would probably look a bit crap, and in any event shorter showers are probably a good thing.

We (she) wanted something sleeker than that. We do have a separate hand-held sprayhead, but there's nothing to mount it to the wall at head height. Comes in handy when cleaning though!

I'd love it if we could move to a new set of decent emojis. The old ones looked okay but there weren't a very wide range. The new ones have a wider range, but are black and white and pretty darned ugly. @PeterW?

Welcome aboard. We all need to start somewhere. Might as well be with a dream...

Good idea. Also, are you on gas? Not having to run high capacity items such as, eg, stoves, ovens or air source heat pumps would make a lower capacity supply more feasible. Absolutely. There are nightmare stories here and elsewhere of many month delays with utilities. They may want it buried, but are they allowed to insist? Would it be cheaper to replace the (presumably pole-hung) cable that presently goes to the pole on your land? They might be reticent to do this due to the impact on others supplied on the same cable, but might be worth looking into. Oh, and welcome to the forum! I hope this hiccup isn't enough to stop the dream.

We have high overhead showers in the new place. As I'd feared, it's exactly as you say - virtually impossible to shower without having your entire head under running water. I also don't think they rinse as well/quickly as an angled wall-mounted shower head. One thing it's done is reduce our water consumption. I used to be a big one for thinking in the shower in the morning, but now I just wash and get out. Interesting that a larger flow shower would be a net reducer of water consumption!

But only a vanishing small proportion of "self-builders" actually build the superstructure, even if they're involved in a lot of the work that follows. Even for those that do, the level of practice (and patience) that would be required to learn to lay bricks and blocks accurately and fast enough to make this option feasible is beyond the vast majority of self-builders without existing construction experience. I'm sure such people exist, although I'm not aware of anyone on this forum, as least, who's done this for brick/block. I suspect it's a lot more time and cost effective to go the ICF route if you want to build the superstructure yourself. It's also much easier and faster to build than brick/block as a beginner, plus you often have manufacturer training and support. My experience, like many others on this forum, was getting a company to erect a frame (timber prefab in my case). We coordinated follow-on trades ourselves.

I will add that a good architect will not only not build their dream, they'll help you find your way to your dream. You then have to hope that they're also one of those architects that is technically and costs savvy enough to allow the dream to built at something like the budget you told them at the start. Finding such an architect is part of the problem.

I don't think that's unfair. If you know exactly what you want, why pay a premium?