Bancroft

How are you supposed to get upstairs? Might be re-defining the term 'botched'!

The Iranian Navy isn't/wasn't a key player. IRGC fast attack craft and mining are. Some estimates have up to 3000 FACs/Speedboats in the Iranian orbat. Just takes a lucky RPG and a tanker is in a world of hurt (and Lloyds make others uninsurable). And I would be very surprised if Iran hasn't been building up mine stocks as that is, potentially, their key weapon in the shipping war. Dhows, fishing boats, FACs can all be used to lay nuisance minefields and the US can do little to stop it. Interestingly, heard on the news this morning that the majority of the very few ships still transiting the Straits are Chinese-owned. Clearly sailing without Lloyds insurance. Soon, the world could be buying our oil stocks from China...

Good that you seem to have a solution for this. Thinking creatively, I wonder if anyone has gone as far as building their own fire hydrant system? Would just need a hose connector at each end and a 4" pipe in between. Fire engine plugs in one end and fire fighter plugs a hose in the other. Granted there would be some cost but probably cheaper in most instances than a sprinkler system.

So how does this work if you have planning conditions that you are required to complete 'before commencement'? For example, one of our 'pre-commencement' conditions was that we had to put protective fencing around a tree root area. So, Heras fencing went up after planning had been granted but months before commencing the build as there were other pre-commencement conditions we had to achieve. You may be right though as I'm applying logic to a joint planning department/HMRC scenario...🤦‍♂️

When Trump visited the UK last year and said a great deal had been done with the UK for AI, what he was really saying was he wants the UK to pay to build new power stations to generate power to supply to US-owned AI projects. Thankfully, I believe that is just another of his 'deals' that has turned to nothing. But, the power requirements for AI are still under the radar and few people have really clued into it - especially government. Similarly, government are lauding AI but not thinking about how increased unemployment will reduce income tax and NI contributions as AI expands, leading to a tax/spending gap. We live in a disconnected world...

If your patio/back garden is big enough, how about an earth tunnel? I was quite keen on trying to incorporate one into our new build but the architect just went into tilt mode whenever I tried to bring the subject up. Just wasn't on his radar so didn't exist in his mind.

Thanks for that. Were the outflow/return pipes from the ASHP individually insulated within the larger black pipe? Does it impact performance with them being so close together?

@Nickfromwales - can I ask why some of the pipes shown in your first photo above have been clad in additional insulation? Was it just to stop rubbing/interference before entering the manifold, or was it for other reasons?

Looks very nice - congratulations. I think I'm going to have a similar problem...

Broadening out the topic slightly but when do people think screeding is best sequenced in the overall build? I had in my mind that it would be done early in the process once the main structure was watertight. But, I've seen a number of University of Tube videos where ufh pipe and screed has been laid after first fix electrics and after walls had been plastered. I think the instances I saw were for floors screeded with modern liquid screed, as opposed to the more traditional concrete so there may be a difference with regards to moisture levels. Thoughts? Pros/Cons? Pooh traps to be avoided?

Thanks for that - still struggling to get my head around how best to achieve a sensible ufh set up. You mention your previous heat pump didn't modulate well - was that because it was not being 'stretched' in terms of required output because of the efficiency of your build? I presume it's as important to have a heat pump that is not too big as it is to have one not too small but guidance on getting the Goldilocks size seems lacking.

200mm seems to be the 'go to' spacing for ufh - can you explain: why you went for 300mm? does that result in any 'heat striping' across the floor? what impact does it have on the SCOP of your heat pump (I understand higher target temperatures that 300mm would require would heavily impact the SCOP)?

Only going on the experience of others but I have read others say that while dual systems can cool they are never able to get to the cooling temperatures that a 'proper'/dedicated aircon unit would be able to achieve. If that assumption is incorrect, then great because that's what I'm looking for. But, opinions seem to vary and I'm just trying to find ground truth.

How well does this all work in practice? At the moment I'm planning on separate ASHP and aircon systems for two reasons - one, not all eggs in one basket, and two, I've read elsewhere about a setup like yours that, although it does both jobs to an extent, is a compromise overall. Interested to hear about your real life experience with such a system.

Will be interesting to follow the Home Assistant journey so please keep us informed. I've just started playing with HA as an experiment while I wait for our build to start. It's been a useful exercise as it's helping to shape my thinking between 'need/want' and 'necessary/just for the fun of it'. I haven't fully decided on the way forward yet but my thoughts are trending towards the following: Keep lights and other household stuff 'normal' - eg lights/light switches to be mains powered and wall mounted. Yes, having multiple scenes and lighting setups might be sexy but I imagine we will soon tire of them and revert to using the forefinger as the primary method of switching lights on/off. Also, we don't plan on selling the house at any point but having all the lights etc operated in a familiar way will avoid future owners having to learn how to use HA or whatever). Flood the house with Cat 6/Cat 8 ethernet points at appropriate places (ideally Power over Internet). This is to deal with stuff that will benefit from being plugged in to permanent power and benefit from faster speeds (security lights, gate intercom, wifi extenders, etc). Use HA sensors in a secondary manner which doesn't impact the structure of the house. So, temp/humidity/vibration/presence sensors where appropriate but not where they are vital to the basic house functions. Smart plug adaptors can easily be used for floor lamps/side lamps can easily be put on smart wall plugs. It's unlikely that our house will become the poster boy of smart home integration but it should be enough for us.

I'm a long time woodworker and my basic rule is - the more detailed/better/bespoke the finish needs to be, the more expensive tool I go for. You could also say the closer the tool's job is to the final product, the better the quality needed. So, I have a couple of Festool tools (Domino, sander and track saw) but, at the other end of the scale I've got belt sanders that I've got free off Facebook marketplace. I suppose my middle of the road sweet spot is Bosch. They seem to have the right balance of quality, price, capability and - importantly for corded tools - long power leads.

I'm sure 99.9% of builds would be easier without the spousal input!

Your example looks a lot more sparse than ours! Couple of questions: I notice you haven't put any pipe under the gangway between kitchen units and island - does that not create a cold spot for people working in the kitchen? Also, in the bedrooms, you've not put pipe under the bed locations - does than not limit you for switching the room around or altering the layout? I've been playing around and looking at loop sizes for 200mm spacing and managed to get down to 14 loops but I did this using a spreadsheet - how easy is loopcad to use and what other data do you need apart from room sizes/locations?

Thanks for that @JohnMo. Plan attached below as recommended. I think the design given to us was a lazy one and doesn't really look at the issue intelligently - hence a hefty dose of scepticism on my part. 150mm centres in an ICF house with thick slab foundations seems a little excessive... I agree that pantry and hallway need to be deleted, and going to 200mm centres - or even 300mm - will massively reduce the pipework. I just need to get the re-assurance that the wider centres will still achieve the aim with regards to heat output required. If we are able to reduce to one manifold set then the lobby between bedrooms 2 and 3 would seem a logical place (centrally placed and cupboard space available) but I still like the idea of getting stuff like this out of the way, even if it does mean a bit of extra insulation.

1. Can manifolds be fitted in the loft space of a single storey building, instead of on the ground floor? Our loft is going to be within the warm envelope of the building. I'm already looking at housing the MVHR and DHW in the loft area and I'm wondering whether mounting the UFH manifold. system there too is a good idea or not? To my mind, the more 'plant stuff' I can shift out of the normal living space, the better. As some houses have UFH on the first floor, I imagine pressure differentials shouldn't be an issue (but that's just a guess). There's also a strong possibility that the pipes from the external ASHP into the manifold will be entering the house structure at ceiling level anyway so they're going to have to go from ceiling height to ground level at some point, so why can't the manifolds be at the high end of that drop? If they are mounted in the loft, what are the potential down-sides of such an arrangement? 2. Can multiple sets of manifolds be run off the same ASHP? We're building a 211 sq m single storey building so there's lots of floor space to cover. One initial design I had done resulted in 18 different pipe circuits - although they did include laying dedicated circuits in the hallways, utility room and pantry which we could probably do without. The maximum number of circuits on a single manifold system seems to be 12 and the likelihood is we will hit this and perhaps exceed it. So, how easy is it to have two separate manifold sets in the system? Having two sets might also help to reduce the number of pipe circuits/length of runs by having the manifold sets strategically placed apart, rather than trying to run everything back to a single point in a building that's 25m long.

The whole CIL system seems to be a trap for the unwary, and something that doesn't tally with the name. If you're demolishing a 3-bedroom house and replacing it with another 3 bedroom house (as we are doing) , what additional 'infrastructure' do you need to pay for? And, did you know that when you add that bin store and bike shed (that the council requires), that is counted in any CIL calculations. Or that putting three sides to an open space area also counts? And getting the initial form in doesn't mean you're safe. You then need to make a new application if you have a Section 73 notice go through planning, ensure you fill out the Form 6 before you actually start, and also make sure you send another form at the end to tell them you've finished. Also check that merely putting a Section 73 in doesn't negate any earlier application you might have made - I had already made an application but only found out by accident that our additional Section 73 notice had triggered the CIL office to cancel our previous application (without informing us). And, it seems like this is one of the few areas of the planning system which is actually joined up with others. Getting ahead of the curve, I put in a demolition notice in anticipation of starting and immediately got a warning from the CIL office that any sort of demolition counts as commencement so where was our Form 6? Having finally got our Section 73 approved I then had to re-apply for everything and had a heart attack when the new liability came through asking for £18k with no relief. A quick phone call to the CIL officer and she apologised for not giving us relief saying '...that has never happened before...'. Despite all the negativity about our situation I have to be fair and say the CIL officer I'm dealing with has been good. She's the only person in the whole planning process who's actually taken the time to call me and talk to me about the process, answer the phone promptly whenever I've called, and actually been helpful.

You're going to hate it when you start talking to your Rolex dealer!🤣. Look carefully in any Rolex dealer window and there will be a little sign saying that none of the watches on display are for sale. Their general policy seems to be that they will only sell you a Rolex if you already own one. But how do you get the first one...?

Theory or practice...? It's all a bit complex but have a look at the following link and work through your personal scenario: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/determining-a-planning-application There is a 'planning guarantee'. (yea, right...) that states: The planning guarantee is the government’s policy that no application should spend more than a year with decision-makers, including any appeal. In practice this means that major planning applications should be decided in no more than 26 weeks and non-major applications within 16 weeks. Appeals should be determined within 26 weeks. The planning guarantee does not replace the statutory time limits for determining planning applications. So, work the figures and then, if necessary, start holding your planning department to account.

Some really useful information here, thank you. I did start to look at Loopcad but my brain just said no; I may need to go back and review because this seems like one of those things that the phrase 'If you want something doing properly, do it yourself' applies. I like the principle of paring back the number of loops and also the widening of centres to 300mm to reduce both the number of manifolds and also the amount of pipework. I'm not so worried about response time as I expect the system will essentially be on for winter and off for summer. More work needed from me but thanks for the direction and guidance.

General consensus seems to be to NOT put pipes under walls. Presumably that's in case pipes need maintenance/repair later but as they're in screed it seems a bit of a moot point. Also, if putting into screed (as opposed to slab foundation) most of the walls would most likely be in place by the time it comes around to laying out UFH pipework. I do agree, though, that doorways etc create tight runs which is one of the reasons why I was asking about multiple manifolds in order to spread the load.