jack

Our PV was commissioned in July last year - several months before our as-built EPC was prepared - and we had no problem when we applied for the FiT late last year. You're right that the rule changed in May, but it looks like the only difference was to prevent same-day applications (underlined bits are the only change): "Solar PV applications submitted before 10 May need to provide an EPC which was issued on or before (and not after) the commissioning date of the system. Solar PV applications submitted on or after 10 May need to provide an EPC which was issued before (and not on or after) the commissioning date of the system." Based on the "before 10 May" criterion, we shouldn't have been able to get the FiT! Perhaps the rule was different late last year when we applied? Be interesting to see what your PV provider has to say. P.S. I deleted my previous post because it wasn't relevant. I assumed you meant you got a lower rate due to a drop in FiTs, rather than due to the "lower" designation due to EPC date relative to PV commissioning.

When you say "put through to", do you mean they transferred you or suggested you call them? I'm finding this whole sequence of events a little puzzling if I'm honest. As Peter says, a link to the decision notice (or a redacted version of it if you're shy - let us know if you need a hand with that) would be very useful.

Yep, low tech heat recovery!

Inserted where though? If just a comment by them to the planners during the consultation period, then as others have said, it's irrelevant unless the planners have made it a condition of planning.

Where are the paragraphs you refer to? Are they just in English Heritage's submissions during the planning process as a statutory consultee? If so, they can sit and spin unless the planning permission you received includes such limitations. I'd stop communicating with English Heritage until you have this sorted out.

There exist products that extract heat from foul water but they all have the problem of dealing with biofilms and blockages more generally. Also, the heat is so low grade on average that you'd need something like a heat pump to get much out of it. All possible, but I think payback time might be an issue given the capital and maintenance costs.

I also looked at it as something that could easily last 20 years while helping us use a little less energy every day. The focus definitely wasn't payback!

They're only connected to showers. Depending on the model, you can connect a couple of showers to one. We have one connected to our two main showers (ensuite and kids' bathroom). In our case, my wife and I tend to shower one after the other, and so do our kids. That's the best way to use these units, as it takes time for them to start working. As much as the energy saving, which I know is modest, I was interested in maximising the effective amount of hot water we got out of our 250L tank. I can't say what contribution this unit has made, but we've never run out of water in the 8 months we've lived here, even with multiple showers each a day sometimes (very active family!)

I'd considered that, but what (if anything) is likely to be said if you have a new house with an actual air tightness test?

There are ways around it. Energy consumption is estimated, so within reason there's nothing to stop you estimating your U-values in a favorable direction!

Are you near the sea? I believe that some ASHPs may not cope well with a lot of salt water. ASHPs, in general, work well with UFH because it only requires relatively low temperatures, especially in a well-insulated house. They can be less suited to - or at least less efficient for - DHW production.

The big issue with the RHI is that it rewards consumption. Even if you're using the ASHP to preheat your DHW, a well insulated house uses relatively little energy, meaning that the potential RHI benefit may not make up for the ridiculously inflated charges that RHI-registered installers demand. My electrician managed most of the electrical side of our 5kW Panasonic Aquarea installation, but I did everything else starting from a less technically experienced position than you. Assuming you can acquire the installation manual for whatever you intend to buy (ie, if you're thinking of one of the second hand units in this thread), I think you'll be fine. Plenty of people on here who've done it and can chip in if you get stuck.

Look into one-wire sensors. They're cheap and you can run several of them off one cable. You do need a way of reading the values - we have a one-wire module in our home automation system.

Don't Fakro do made to measure? Give their UK tech people a call - I found them very helpful

Not sure what Jeremy used. I bought two of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FDEX6A4 To be honest, given how long they last and how fast they charge, I could have gotten away with just buying one. I know this is true because one of them went "missing" from the site at some point, and it took me months to notice!

Since buying a brushless Makita impact driver early on in the build, I now won't buy any other brand. I always buy the cheapest brushless version of whatever tool I need and am consistently blown away by their quality and performance. I don't use Makita's batteries though. You can get off-brand batteries for less than half the price that seem to perform perfectly well.

Maybe try again to be sure?

Another thing to do is look at planning submissions in your area going back at least a handful of years. It'll give you an idea about who's managed to get what approved. You might also get some clues about how nearby neighbours have responded to other planning submissions. We learned that our immediate neighbours had had a rotten time with several of the other neighbours, but carefully prodding around for information we discovered that they more or less brought it on themselves.

We wanted a 32mm pipe given that the point where the pipe enters our house is about 75m from the mains. We were told that the standard was 25mm and that if we wanted more we'd need to justify it. Oh, and we'd need to pay for a new water main connection, including paying for a road crossing!

No doubt experience will tell you the answers to all these questions. My best guess is that you'll have enough experience to know just as you finish the house!

I know, it's so frustrating when you're a beginner. That said, despite doing very little of it, I found plumbing far more interesting than just about anything else on the build. I fully expected to enjoy to electrical side of things but found it a very dry topic (not like plumbing, which was a wet topic )

Avoiding going to committee was one of our primary aims, based on some of the nonsense we'd seen others go through. That said, we fully expected it to be pulled in by one of the councillors who lives around the corner, and then expected to have to appeal the inevitable rejection. We were stunned when it went through first time without any significant comment from the planning officer!

I've just spent ages searching ebuild for one of the couple of threads where this was discussed but I can't seem to find them. Short version: we first introduced ourselves to all our neighbours when we moved in. Had them around en masse for Christmas drinks etc (I should add: this wasn't just a ploy to help us getting planning permission - we'd have done this anyway). Over time, we introduced the idea of extending, then significantly extending. We then moved on to the general idea of replacement in view of the costs of such a large extension. By the time we actually went for planning, everyone in the immediate vicinity expected us to be replacing the bungalow with a new house, so that wasn't a surprise (avoiding surprises is, in my opinion, the biggest key to reducing the chance of objections). It's a common mistake at this point to be open with your neighbours about your plans, and to invite their feedback. This would have been my approach had I not been counselled strongly against it by our local architect. He pointed out that once you ask for feedback, you plant in people's mind an expectation that you'll take their feedback into account, not matter how unreasonable it is or how much extra it will cost you. Most people will want you to make your plans smaller and more conservative, if they agree to them at all. Then when you say you can't or won't, they become emotional and object. Worse, you might have different people asking for different incompatible changes, in which case you're bound to disappoint someone even if you're willing to compromise. In the end, we told people we'd show them what we were building before we submitted the planning application, "so you know what we're doing". A couple of days before submitting the planning application, we provided them with an impression of the roadside view from Sketchup (the house is set back quite a long way and partially concealed by a tree, so this showed the house looking very small in the street scene), along with a letter setting out what we were trying to achieve. We talked about improving the street scene (the bungalow was pretty ugly, and we'd intentionally allowed the front garden to deteriorate!) and reducing energy consumption, but half of the letter was about the build itself. We explained how we were using a factory-built timber frame so it would go up quickly and with minimal impact on the neighbours. We explained that we would be onsite every day and welcomed any feedback about reducing the impact of the build on the neighbours. In the end, we had no neighbour objections, and a couple of letters of support. The town council objected, but they always do when anything that doesn't look like it was built in the 1930s is proposed. I have no evidence to support my opinion, but I believe that presenting the proposal as a fait accompli reduced the chances of objection, because people were less thinking about the planning application and more thinking about the (inevitable!) build. We may also have been lucky with "objection fatigue". Two other nearby properties (including our immediate neighbour) did very similar things to what we were planning, and both faced significant local objections. I do wonder whether the fact that both of those ended up getting through left people a bit tired of objecting and losing. But I also think that how you present your intentions will nearly always help your cause.

I don't believe there's any numerical rule unless you're in the green belt (I think the number is 40% in that case). We replaced an 87m2 bungalow with a 289m2 two storey house in approximately the same position on the block without so much as a comment from the planners. A significant question is what impact the replacement house will have on the street scene. If you're in a row of bungalows, you'll face a much bigger battle than I'd you're the only bungalow in a row of large two storey houses. I'll try to find some conversations we had about how to approach neighbours. It's a very fine balance to be drawn between making them feel involved and appreciated, and making it clear that you aren't seeking their permission or input on your plans!

We went with Scolmore lighting retractive switches. Pretty good quality - a little stiffer than would be ideal for fast double clicks, but you get used to it (plus you can program around the need for double clicks in Loxone if you want to). The stiff mechanism means they can be a bit loud in operation if you're not careful. Actually, when I say good quality, I mean the switches themselves. We went for the screwless range of faceplates and I can't say I was overwhelmed by their quality. Very thin metal and not always a very positive click into place. The edges of the plates also have visible dents where the clips are formed. Again, you get used to it, but if I had my time again if have gone for far cheaper screw-on plates.