Moira Niedzwiecka

I am trying to sort out an MVHR at the moment. I had a quote a long time ago from Nuaire & also Systemair. Both seemed expensive. I have just had a quote from CVC for a Renovent Excellent 180 , but again a lot of money. BPC have quoted for an Xpelair that I am quite keen on. It is the installation cost that is a problem for me at £1800-1900 from any supplier. I am also in a quandary because both of latest quotes have an installation plan & they are very different. Not sure which is best. The CVC has the intake & exhaust next to each other. I thought they had to be about 1.5m apart. I would be really grateful for any thoughts. I have attached both plans. Thanks Moira NIEDZWIECKA_MOIRA_MVHR+INST-RE180-AE48-REVA.pdf HRVMN130717Q_MOIRA_REV04-A3_GF FF.pdf

Looking great. Some really interesting angles in the vaulted ceilings. We have the same. We weren't sure what it would look like until actually built. How wide is your service cavity between the airtight smartply & the plasterboard? Is this what you have stuffed with rockwool? What insulation is within your timber frame? I am really interested to know as I have been thinking of doing the same.

Thanks Ian, That is really useful information. I have not looked at costs yet or fully decided on a glass balcony, but I will certainly take this into account if I do decide on glass. I am also considering a brushed stainless steel balcony or maybe even an anthracite powder coated one. Aalco have some interesting products. Moz

@HerbJ Your glass Juliet balconies look great. Where did you get them from?

We thought long & hard about fitting PV. We decided that, hopefully, this is where we will stay it was worth it. The heating, hot water & MVHR etc will all be electric. We will use any excess generation to heat & store as hot water & set washing machine for during the day. We will still receive the deemed usage & the FIT. Eventually battery storage will become viable & next car will be electric. We decided it was future proofing & more cost effective to fit at this stage, we have gone for in roof panels, while slating the roof. We believe electricity prices will continue to rise, especially if they build the new nuclear plants at exorbitant cost. We found the cost of optimisers very expensive & were advised that only really needed if shading was an issue (in which case why would you fit PV anyway) & that a good quality string inverter was the way to go. Binky from the electricians forum was very helpful with totally independent advice as he was not selling anything.

We too were originally going to recess the landing area & have a covered balcony. We decided in the end to pull out the landing wall & have a juliet balcony. It means we can take advantage of the great views all the time instead of the relatively few days when the weather is favourable. We now have a lovely first floor sitting room & study area where there would have just been a smallish landing with an under used balcony. Also saved money.

@Luckylad We are having an anthracite aluminium dry verge that will just cloak over the top of the cedar. It will be the same on the gable ends with the render. We are also having anthracite aluminium box guttering. @ragg987 I am hoping to pick up some lighting & Sanitary ware in the sales. I have some already.

Hi Nick, I am trying to project manage the build. I work full time & my husband is not well, so I am spread a bit thin. The window debacle happened while my husband was in hospital so I could not be there to oversee the installation. I have had a full refund from the timber frame company for the installation & they are paying for the replacement window frames. I think the windows are a bit unusual & not something they had come across before. We are very happy with the timber frame structure. The windows were just a step too far.

Our windows were installed about 3 weeks ago very badly by our timber frame contractors. 2 of the frames were damaged beyond repair & have had to be re-ordered from Denmark. The 6m sliding patio doors were installed 25mm too low to achieve the finished floor level & many other problems. They have all been taken out & re-installed this week, properly, by one of Ideal combi's registered installers. The guys who did them were very professional & meticulous. Have to say Ideal combi have been very helpful in getting this sorted out for us. The cedar cladding had been started & looks lovely. The weather last week stopped the stonemasons. We are having ironstone & it was too cold for the lime mortar. Ditto the render, has to be dry & above 5 degrees. We are now weather tight & first fix wiring & plumbing booked in for early Jan. The roofers arrived at 8am this morning & will finish the roof as much as they can until the render is done. We are going to spend the Christmas break putting several coats of osmo on the rest of the cedar cladding before it is fitted. The cedar already on has been treated but we might give it another coat, weather permitting. After lots of delays & trauma we now feel that things are coming together.

Thanks Peter, I have seen the one on offer at Total Home. I have also spoken to a supplier from Denmark, very helpful, perfect English. I can get the model you have at less money than the one Total Home are selling. My only reservation is having any back up if it goes wrong if I buy from Denmark.

Hello Peter, The Genvex unit you have is the one I have been looking at. In spite of the leak problem how are you finding it? Does it give sufficient hot water & is the heat pump effective? What is the sqm of your house? Any feedback would be very much appreciated.

We will have a downstairs loo under the stairs & a shower room with a loo above, but offset. On the other side of the house we have a bathroom with a loo above the utility room. I was hoping to duct the internal SVP's & incorporate them in dividing walls as the bathroom & shower rooms are quite small because of the pitch on the roof (chalet Style house) Would we need SVP's for both sides of the house with AAV's on them? I can have them both going up into the warm roof space so the valves could be a 7ft+ above the sink or loo. They would just not be very easy to access & may have to have a bend put in to get under the large glulam roof beams.

Hi everyone. Does anyone have any Pro Clima Vapour control membrane going spare for sale? We need about 3mtrs. Thanks Moira Sorry I put this in the wrong section. Could it be moved please.

This sounds like something else to worry about. After, hopefully, solving the issue of not having to have an SVP exiting the house but a low level one venting from the manhole outside I could just have a couple of AAV's in the house above the level of the water in the loos. I did not realise that access to these would be required & had thought I could build them into internal walls. I had thought they were just venting & no water would be involved. Is this not the case?? Sorry to be so dim.

Spur of the moment thing the Christmas Tree. We were at Ikea & they are doing fab real trees for £25 & you get a voucher for £20 to spend in store. So tree was actually a fiver. We haven't had a tree for the 20 years we have lived in our cottage as it is just too small.

Oh Liz, Good news. This will make such a difference. It makes you feel that at last some positive progress is happening. Ours was connected last week. We have the electricity connection now too but are waiting for a meter to be fitted next Tuesday. Shame all of our glazing has to be taken out & re-installed next week. Of course, that, & the weather has put the complete kibosh of getting all of the external finishes completed. To cheer ourselves up we have put up a Christmas tree in the new house.

Fab house. We would have loved to build something like it. Sadly in a conservation area & were restricted. What is the interior wall cladding on the stairs?

We have taken a warranty with selfbuildzone. Cost £1500. House 147 sq mts I can't believe how thorough our inspector has been. Wants drawings & calculations for everything. Came out again yesterday to inspect how the stonework was being done. Checked the cavity for snots & cavity ties. Discussed how we should close the cavities. Advised on best way to do guttering. Looked at the new proposal for the low level SVP (thanks again, Jeremy) & passed it. He said he is there to help & to call him anytime I needed advice. Agreed window installation pants. I am really quite chuffed. He is a second pair of eyes. After all it is in our interest for things to be right. I am glad now we decided to take a warranty. Never had any intention to sell but when Henry was diagnosed with cancer in April made us realise that nothing can ever be certain. Through experience I know that NHBC warranty worthless. When a developer builds a new estate it is only the first couple of houses that are inspected. It is assumed the others will be all be OK.

Been there, feel your pain. I don't know why it's so hard to just install windows properly the first time. @jack It is unbelievable & most people seem to have the same problems. What gets me is that they had to remove a course of block work to be able to fit the patio doors incorrectly. I imagine they then stood there scratching their heads wondering what to do with the great gap they had just created between the top of the glazing & the timber frame. One of them then came up with the solution. Shove a bit of timber in & stick some tape over it, job done??!!** Aaaarrrrgh!!!

''anything that goes wrong can be remedied!'' @Bitpipe thank you for this comfort. I am going be like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz & adopt this mantra. I am going to say it 3 times & click my heels whenever I enter the house of hell. Thanks for all the info guys. I will wait until the windows are refitted & then get quotes from Magicman & Plastic Surgeons.

Hello All, Has anyone used Magicman or similar for repairs to anthracite windows following installation? Our window installation has been a complete disaster. The windows have got to be removed & refitted in the correct position within the timber frame. The rear 6m of sliding patio doors have been installed too low to achieve the correct FFL. They actually reduced the block course to achieve this & then filled in the gap at the top between the doors & the timber frame. You couldn't make it up. They also drilled through the frames of two of the windows that now need repairs. Windows are great, just installed by cretins.

We have wood effect vinyl in our present house. It is great, no wear after 6 years & we have animals. It is warm underfoot, easy to clean & very practical. We are going to have it throughout our new house. We have a product called Innova at the moment but I think it is discontinued. This time we are going for Moduleo. Very realistic & similar price top Karndean.

Dave, My heart goes out to you. I hope your windfall comes through. I have just cashed in my pension to be able to proceed with the build. Be careful, they hammer you for emergency tax that you will need to claim back if entitled. As daiking says, as hard as it may, be relying on your tenants to buy the property in two years time is risky. People's circumstances can change overnight, as I know only too well, & they may not be in a position to buy the house. Why are they waiting for 2 years? I will keep everything crossed that it all works out for you. I am sure it will if a bit later than planned.

Thank you for your replies. Sorry I made a mistake our roof & walls are both 0.13. The smartply is the airtightness layer. The photo is the large dormer that sticks out the front of the house & will remain vaulted. This is where I was thinking of putting the additional insulation between the battens before the plasterboard or birch ply (not decided which one yet)

Thanks Peter, I was just thinking that at this stage is was an easy & relatively inexpensive thing to do. I should have added that our house is a chalet style so we have a large area of the roof within the bedrooms. The theory was to make it doubly snuggly as we were not planning to put any direct heating within the bedrooms.