mjc55

That's what I am trying to understand! Have to say that I am finding that price quite high for what seems like a reasonably simple solution! Given that turf costs a lot, lot less (I know it's not exactly the same thing) I don't quite see why green roof solution costs upwards of ten times the price?

Looking at costs for installing a green roof on our new build and I have been quite surprised at the costs being mentioned on the (many) suppliers websites. £100 per sq. m. seems to be average and given that we are planning on having around 250 sq. m. of roof or so (large overhang at rear - about 2.5 metres or so) then we are looking at around £25k or so to do this. Would be interested in hearing how others have gone on taking this approach, whether employing someone to install or self-install (our preference at this stage). I know that there are some on here that don't seem to think that a green roof is a great idea, and I am not averse to having that discussion, but the main thrust of this post is to try and get a feel for the "real" costs of a green roof. Thanks in advance.

In 20 odd years living there we didn't find it draughty at all. Inefficient, need to understand how you quantify that I guess. The house had been completely gutted and timber DG windows installed when we bought it in 99. Did have a mechanical fan in our en-suite, stopped working years ago and didn't bother fixing it.

Looks fab Mr ButterCup 😁

I guess (but am prepared to be contradicted) that opening a window would work! Something we did in our previous house for 20 odd years without ever having condensation or mould problems in our en-suite or bathroom.

You do seem to be very similar in ideas to the way we work Mr ButterCup, noticed this in other threads that we have partaken in! I suppose though that having it installed but not using it to it's fullest capabilities doesn't have many downsides other than cost? Our plan is to have large opening windows and I would fully expect these to be open for as much time as possible. We are planning on pretty big overhangs over the rear elevation so even in rainy weather there would be the opportunity to sit on our "Veranda".

Resurrecting an old thread here but it does focus on something we have been thinking about. We have always (40+ years) slept with the window open at night (apart from the odd occasion when the rain was horizontal!) and embarking on our build leads me to question how this will work with MVHR? We stayed in "passive" house last weekend house-sitting for our Son's friends. I have to admit to waking up and really missing the "fresh air" from an open window. It did feel a bit stuffy. We are still at the planning stage and although we want our build to be passive, we will not be going for any certification for it. I know when we went to the passive house to sort out staying a few weeks ago the owner was very keen that the door was not open for too long wen we came in and did say that he did spend some time looking at the weather for the next day so he can anticipate changes in temperature and react accordingly with their system (combined ASHP and MVHR). They don't have any form of UFH and they have large windows to the East of the property which take advantage of natural heating from that direction in the earlier parts of the day, I do understand, to a degree, the arguments that passive house proponents put forward re the advantages, not least the running costs nut do have problems about how we live in that sort of environment.

Well done, will have a look at further videos. I do think that you are slightly confusing things as regards the type of BR approval you have. As Temp says above this is nothing to do with planning permission it is simply that with a building notice plans (not Planning Permission) are not required the BCO will visit at key points in the build process to check things out. Full plans BR approval is as it says on the tin, plans are required, which are signed off by BC before any construction starts.

When I was working as an Architectural Technologist I would never use files produced by others to produce drawings. They were useful to provide input for a measured survey but I would not trust that they were accurate.

Tell me more? Aren't the specs for for thermalite better than they were back then?

I'm probably a bit old-fashioned tbh, but I guess that one of the advantages of self-build is that you can be idiosyncratic about how you build. I am interested that you say that it looks to hard on your own, is that from a physical perspective, because with lightweight block my perception was that it decreases the physical effort required!

I have had a search on here but there doesn't seem much on the topic! I have been thinking about thin bed mortar option on our project. On the face of it this seems to be a relatively good idea. We want to use block on both leaves, with front and sides to be timber clad and rear to be a lot of glazing with render to the rest. I am thinking of doing the blockwork myself, I have laid bricks before and given that timescales are not at the top of the priority list, any speed issues are probably outweighed by reduction on cost due to self-build. Any thoughts on the subject welcome, especially if this is something that you have done similar on your project, thin-bed not particularly self laid. Thanks

I seem to remember you saying that you built using masonry walls (please ignore if wrong) in which case what did you use for wall ties?

Saw that article earlier and must admit that I was troubled by the price comparison, just not clear what they are comparing.

Anyone gone for triple glazed, if such a thing exists?

Just thinking back to our first flat and that was 30m2 (mind you I do weigh about 25% more than in 1981!) and that was more than adequate for us then! It also included a bath not a shower!

Hmm. Must admit that we were wrangling with the idea of how big it is. Trouble is I don't particularly want to make it much bigger.

Is that a cabin that will stay there permanently? How is it divided between living/sleeping/sanitary functionality? (if you don't mind me asking)

So, one of the options we are considering is to use a separate office/outbuilding as accommodation during the build process. It is attractive for a number of reasons, no more rent to pay saving £1000 a month and living on site so at the sharp end during build process being the prime reasoning. We will be doing as much of the work as possible so it really makes sense. Current plan is for main house with a separate office/summer house at the back of the garden. The "summer house" would end up with a "sleeping area" for those times our eldest comes back with his mates to climb down at Portland. Internal area would be around 24m. and would contain bedroom, shower room and kitchen/living room. The plan would be to make the bedroom a storage area accessible from outside once house is finished. My question is really about what we draw on the plans for this and whether we would have issues with building control when it becomes obvious we are living there temporarily? Obviously we would build the Summer house first, it's what happens when the BCO sees this I guess would be the point at which we could have issues. It would be connected to water and electricity supplies and main drainage. Any thoughts welcome.

What was the opening size?

No heat loss calcs yet, just in the design phase.

So we are currently planning the main part of our build but are also pretty sure that we will build a office/store in a separate structure. This we will use to live in while we build the main house. I don't know an awful lot about ASHP but we are planning to use as our heating system. The question of heating the "temporary" living accommodation is one that I haven't really sorted but I was wondering if it is possible to install ASHP by the office/store (where we would want it ultimately anyway) approximately 15 m. or so from main house. Main house will be around 130sq. m., single storey, office/store around 25 sq. m. or so. Could we then "throttle down" the ASHP to heat only temp. accommodation for the duration of the build and then connect it to main house on completion? Any thoughts most welcome.

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting that I was thinking of moveable panels just thinking out loud I suppose.

In the position I am thinking about there would be no shading at all.

To be honest it makes absolute sense that the angle isn't fixed. The Sun is at different angles at different times of the year so ideally moveable panels would be the best but obviously that would be an expensive option.