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Interesting. Daikin does something similar for blocks of flats. Though thats a single unit installed where the boiler would be and will do hot water too. https://www.daikin.co.uk/en_gb/solutions/collective-housing.html Not sure I'd want the noise of the heatpump in my bedroom. Would expect it to be much noisier than a normal FCU.

This may not be in your budget but a route to look at is a small residential plot that backs onto a field. You'd obviously have to make two purchases and the farmer will likely charge a premium for it but it might offer a route around the planning restrictions. I don't know how realistic this is but has been an option I've been looking at myself.

Interesting. All of my valves I can press down manually (no tools). It's stiff sure but definitely movable by hand.

Is the plunger on top of the valve body free to move? Sometimes they stick and need manual manipulation to free up? If the valve body is new I doubt this is a problem. But not sure if you've just changed the TRV or the TRV + valve.

Given the space restrictions you have I guess the answer is no, but is there somewhere outside the kitchen where you could put your washing machine? Might open up more options in the kitchen.

I keep seeing people say that they prefer dry cold of -20/-30 to humid cold around 0. Don't think I've ever experienced dry cold and given I dislike cold I'm in no hurry to try but it's an interesting thought.

Would you mind sharing more about this? I haven't got this far yet (automation is one of those tasks I want to leave until much nearer the time) but this does sound somewhat along the lines of my thoughts.

Welcome! Reguritating some of the things I've learned by reading BuildHub over the last year or so, search the site for more details: If you build to true PassivHaus standards then you won't need much heating. Sometimes on the internet you see people saying don't need any at all but the consensus here is that you do need something, whether its worth the expense of a big complicated system though is doubtful. So think in terms of keeping things simple and the house at one consistent temperature (no zones). With UFH in a PassiveHaus the floor will never feel warm as it won't be running hot enough. Using UFH to provide mild cooling is possibly a bigger reason to get it than for heating. As far as smart stuff goes, try to think in terms of an add-on layer that all basic functions will continue to work without the smart stuff. You want the main services to work reliably (and have the ability to call out someone to fix them if say you aren't around but family is when something breaks). While many self-builders think of the project as a forever-home/once in a lifetime thing, life does tend to throw up curveballs so always keep in mind that you might have to sell it at some point. So avoid doing things that would put potential purchasers/mortgage companies off.

The release of energy is much the same. But the release of energy is not whats causing climate change. That is CO2, methane and various other gasses that act as an insulator in our atmosphere. Our planet has at times been much warmer than it is today and some of the CO2 from that period ended up being sequestered in the ground. Releasing that today is the problem. The sun blankets the planet it many orders of magnitude more energy than all the power plants on earth so the release of a little more from a buried source is not going to change things. Releasing the buried gasses do.

It's not the heat from the reaction thats the problem for climate change. The sun provides many orders of magnitude more heat. It's the CO2 (and Methane) that is providing a blanket of insulation in the atmosphere that is stopping the heat from the sun escaping. That said, the amount of concrete and steel used in a nuclear reactor means that they are a negative for climate change initially much more so than other power generation methods. They work long term because once they are built emissions are minimal. Edit to add: The steam emitted from power plants (not just nuclear) does have some effect on the local climate surrounding the plants, more fog, clouds, etc. Read an article a few years ago about how motor accidents were much more common on a road near a plant due to the commonly difficult conditions. When the plant shut down the issue went away.

I belive that NuScale has one in the US: https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/23/23567711/nuclear-energy-advanced-small-modular-reactor-design-certified Not that it looks like any sort of game changer

They did before all the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima accidents and the regulartory over reaction that followed. All their recent projects are equally overbudget and expensive. The nuclear industry shot itself in the foot when it chose to focus on adding redundant safety systems on top of fundamentally unsafe designs rather than pivoting to self limiting/safe designs earlier. Happening now but a lot of sunk cost.

Agree with all that Steamy. Nuclear is fine if it can be done relatively quickly at competitive cost. Evidence suggests it can not. The only reason Hinkely Point went ahead is because the government desperately wanted to maintain a minimum viable nuclear industry here to support the nuclear deterent. It never made sense financially even before the cost overruns. On this point though, the AI bubble has prompted a whole load of US tech companies to pile into small nuclear. I wouldn't want taxpayers money put into it but if private companies want to push it forward with their shareholders money (and the shareholders agree), then maybe this can bring the costs down. Volume and a sizable order book creates a lot of cost efficiencies.

This LABC doc says a hole of up to 50mm should be ok in a joist 200mm deep. https://www.labc.co.uk/news/how-get-it-right-notches-holes-solid-timber-joists 40mm should be fine for a short run of shower waste. Don't know if that applies in your situation but seems similar. The joist is also close enough to the wall that I would guess you could block out from the wall and attach the joist to the wall either side of the hole to reinforce it if needed or for piece of mind. But please don't take anything I say about this as gospel. I've gone through a similar thought process before with another bathroom but ended up not doing the work so never got to the stage of verifying compliance. Good luck with your surgery. Health should always come first, this stuff (including the plumber) can wait if you aren't feeling up to it.

Can you draw a diagram?

Good luck. Do you have room to angle the bath in the corner? If you are worried about space in front of the boiler it might be an option if you have the space on the wall with the toilet/shower. Tradeoffs might not be worth it but something else to consider.

I found a random freestanding bath installation doc. Looks like this one has space under it to allow pipes to run along the floor to near the edge. Assuming the edge is near the wall you should be able to go under the floor at that point without too much trouble. Again, hopefully someone with practical experience of this will be along to confirm.

What's the current window setup? Most buildings from that age would be brick with a window cill at the bottom and plaster to the sides/above. If I were adding internal insulation I would expect to remove the plaster and cill, build a frame around the opening/along the whole wall to hold the new insulation. Use insulated plasterboard to over both the exposed brick and the new frame to create a new deeper reveal. Then install new, deeper window cill. Having said all that it's not something I've done and I hope someone who has done this will be along shortly. As to how to do the insulation properly, there are other threads on here with detail on that with lots of advice so I would search for them. Are you planning to do most of this work yourself or pay someone? If it's a zero cost option other than a short delay then it would certainly be my preference. If not, then maybe consider what option gives you the most future flexibility. If you install the boiler on that wall and a little away from the external wall (150mm??) then you leave space to add insulation to that wall later. Even if you had to pay someone to temporarily remove the boiler from the wall while you did it and then put back in exactly the same place, if the pipes don't need moving at that stage I doubt the labour/cost involved would be huge. Depending on the boiler it might be possible to create enough access to do the insulation by just removing it's cover (depending how much space you leave to the wall).

If you are going to the effort of this renovation then I would look at insulating properly at the same time, not just panelling. Looks like you have plenty of space so adding 50-100mm of insulation on the external walls should be possible without compromising the room layout and will make for a much more comfortable space. Yep. When your boiler is installed will they be installing things like the towel rail? Worth making sure they don't make things harder for follow on plumbing. It's a tight schedule to finalise the wider plan for the room.

Just realised I meant option 3 (second photo). I think this option solves you routing problems but is also just a much better layout.

Option 2 seems much better to me. Much better use of space, larger area to dry/get dressed, nicer bath position. Could add cupboard or other storage next to sink for towels, etc. Could also increase size of shower or make it a large corner style one like @Onoff

As a 'diy' job, whether he is fully compliant who knows. I just know in Europe it is fairly common to use the rebar in an uninsulated slab as a an earth which is obviously not going to work with an insulated slab and this is used as the alternative.

It's an electrical ground, in theory a better connection than an earth rod.

Just catching up with this, might have missed something: 1. The QR code shown in an earlier screenshot will give access to your device once you get it working. Suggest you delete or obscure it. 2. Have you done anything to verify the technomate bridges are working? 3. The NVR doesn't have wifi, so I presume you have it plugged into the technomate. Any chance you could try a direct cable to your router temporarily? 4. If not, can you unplug the NVR from the technomate and plug in another device to test the connection? Laptop maybe? 5. Is there a control interface for the technomates? Can you access them? 6. Is there a technomate plugged in via ethernet to your router or were they previously connected over wifi? If wifi, have you updated their config?

Thanks Alan. I did look at this at the time but was feeling a bit burnt out so took a break from thinking about it more once I'd decided for sure I was no longer interested in the site. The site has just been through auction: https://www.robinsonandhallauctions.co.uk/property/land-adjacent-to-little-heath-lodge-featherbed-lane-felden-hemel-hempstead-hertfordshire-hp3-0bt/ It sold for £190,000 (vs £30,000 guide) so whoever bought it clearly thought they would be able to get planning for a house. I'll be keeping an eye on it to see if they succeed. I wasn't interested in bidding on it without a planning consultant making positive noises and positive noises from a conveyancer about the restrictive covenants. As it turns out it went beyond what I'd have been willing to pay for it so I'm not feeling like I've missed out on something (most of my money is tied up in my property and can't sell it just yet).