scottishjohn

the milled lumber --I would just keep it under cover but plenty of ventilation ,its the way all wood was seasoned once upon a time ,slowly-is best

I too am looking at all these systems. the velox internal wall panels --just don,t use them ,if only non load beating then stud walls? or use 2 velox panels at thinner size and pour ? . where your site is makes a difference to costings on all types--due to transport costs --I will be more as in scotland Isotex looks a better made of block and could be a the one -- I still am looking at one type of poly ICF that is ISODOM 2000--looks by far the best poly system and wall blocks are longest,best locking between blocks --so making straight wall will be easier+ biggest selection of different elements of any system the agent assures me that hire of bracing will not be a probelm ,and inferred it could be included --I may have picked him up wrong ,but same as you till I have a design I cannot get comparative quote Isodom agent, ekonect, also build it you wish --they used to be durisol agent -so they are not just salesmen

how you figure that ? how can all makers of membranes say they will be water proof for up to 6 months,with no other layer above them , if they were not basically a one way valve ,as you call it. why bother fitting them if water passes both ways just as easy???? might as well go back to tar paper or roofing felt--which was just water proof -

I see what JS is saying but you have to have some faith that a breathable membrane actually works --they are a one way device -they breath out wards,not inwards so providing there is an air gap above it and not trapping condensation or liquid water by having horizontal batons at sarking face instead of vertical ones,then cross batons for slates ,etc then air movement + heat build up will cause evaporation of water vapour from the surface of the membrane and by evaporation through the membrane from the sarking below . VPC on inside to stop water vapour from inside of house getting through the insulation to the outer cold surface of the roof. this is attention to detail on these layers cannot be over stressed -use correct tapes to seal all joins and overlaps in these membranes and don,t be skinny with overlaps vapour /condensation inside the VPC (in living area of house) ,is in the main caused by you living +breathing ,showering ,etc ,etc So it is down to having a good ventilation system ,which is why on air tight house MVHR or some sort of mechanical system is not a choice but a must

it was his pipe work not the geberit connections i was referring too

my suggestion at this point would be to seal/bond outside of the push connections with sika-flex or something -not sanitary sealer, but a PU adhesive once that goes off it ain.t going nowhere if you made a nice well smeared in bead of it

I would follow the way kingspan do it on the sips roofs osb -membrane ,vertical battons then cross battons +slates I have seen some that like a second layer of membrane between the 2 sets of battons as another water shedding layer should n,t be a a problem if VPC is correct and edges tape sealed well. roof should be cold anyway with a draft up it If your OSB is warm --then insulation in roof is crap +air leaks and if you really want to be belt and braces use the peel and stick type of membrane on the osb , nothing getting through that from outside

chances of getting same tiles in 10years time --pretty slim It will be a nasty job --multicut down grout joints of tiles through drywall -then carefully reclaim tiles . all good fun

--ok ballcock valve yes you not going to get at soil pipe connections though if you spring a leak

silly question maybe --but how do you get to do any maintainence on the concealed toilet if you cannot get to all plumbing connections after you have tiled.

what temp are you charging the floor at ,cos that will make a difference on reaction time . I wouldn,t go as thin as 50mm ,but also would not have it in 300mm slab

just cover the pipe with soil/sand ,old carpet anything --even a small amount will make a difference and keeping the snow of it cos the ground below will be trying to heat it up

so you are really saying you have too much glass area in house and you got to shut out the nice sunshine ? there is no perfect solution --but for sure in summer the solar gain will be many times what it is on the good autumn and winter days .,and veranda will cure the summer problem and maybe if you think the autumn sun is such a problem you should not have as many floor to ceiling windows.maybe bottom part should by wall you never going to get what you are trying to do without a full HVAC system and as you do everything to stop energy usage then that is not going to be a solution. there is no solution if you want a view out of the window that goes from floor to ceiling , having too much solar gain is the price you pay

I read all the above maybe worth comparing isotex /durisol against block construction ,as you would be hard plastering them on inside as well and you can hang anything anywhere on them

getting silly when the price for cladding is as expensive as ICF wall system per sqm

as far as overheating i will take my advice by looking at what they do in hot countries and what they use in super passiv or zero energy houses . a veranda is what is used to solve this problem, on the south side at least ,really hot countries all round so you can move to find the coolest bit to sit and sip your mint julep so again it comes back getting it designed in before building anything for best solution even the waltons had a veranda !! I,ve always been of the impression that the real reason for external roller shutters is to keep the bad guys out ,

yes but really is an afterthought way of doing it -If you have nothing to start with then this must be a better way ,and the neutraliser would not address the solar problem . where the oil burner goes could be solar pv element,if you are that way inclined

If you have not got thermal store yet ,then from my experience runningmultiple input +output coils ,there is no ready made thermal store that is ideal . reason is simple a tall tank is not easily fitted in most houses as a retro fit and stratification of heat in tank and keeping the internal flow of the tank very low ,just vertical if possible is the key to getting best solution the best ready made solution i have seen is the SOLVIS MAX --german -no uk agent old video of how it works you could change oil or gas input for anything if you wanted . my thoughts are to get similar made but taller ,as this unit is only 500litres

reading what you say and agreeing with most of it my thoughts are not to have a very thick slab that I heat for the very reason you say . maybe 150mm slab ,then insulation then thick screed and ufh pipes At this time my house has ufh in the wooden floor and it can change temp with one hour , there is no thermal mass to speak of ,other than the tiled surface so this is why it is in my mind to maybe have a relatively thin heated slab --100mm say so it is easy to keep target floor/room temp and also bump it up quickly if needed I have been in too many ufh concrete floored houses where it takes so long for temp in house to change , if it suddenly gets warmer outside and you cannot raise ambient temp that quick with very thick floor slab the climate here can be summer one day and winter the next add to that the free heat you get to the floor from passiv solar its hard to get it right all the time its usual compromise situation again

PLC, yes that rings a bell now was hoping for something a bit less pc based --will have a look on the net anyway I am a ludite and by look of them I would need a load of relays to actually work things . I was hoping someone had made a different unit 20 years on from last time i looked at this I,ll give it some more thought didn,t really want to have a take programming course to do this. my hard drive is already pretty full and running out of RAM at my age . LOL maybe cascaded thermal stores and back to analog thermostats +relays would be simpler for me thanks for reply

I fitted one of the fancy velux insulated blinds to one in bathroom --major difference first thing in the morning Is a big velux though big as they make I think --so it is a big heat loss source

anybody know a of controller that can work with lots of inputs to control multiple heat sources .so you can decide at what temp a particular device kicks in and then at what temp t changes over to another source . I tried to find one years ago when I had solar and thermal store which was also connected to gas boiler -problem was to let solar have priority when it could make heat,even small amounts to get most hours of usage in a day and not just have boiler take over as soon as temp got too low would need to be able to work on clock settings as well . example early morning --you have showers and ufh is on --tank gets partially depleted ,but you know by 8 or 9 am there will be enough solar to fill it up again and gas won,t need to come on at all ,so you only need gas to come on if temp drops below min ufh temp and once solar is above min that kicks in and turns gas off. I made a simple analog system with min and max thermostats but not as good as it could have been with "what if program "for want of a better word It relied basically on the thermal separation in my very tall thermal store which had 3 coils,solar in and ufh out and dhw out at top and also a heat input to parent volume if needed for gas intervention If such a controller is made then maybe i would have 4th for ASHP or gas coil instead of stirring up parent volume . only thing i could find at the time was very expensive h/vac process controller for a large building ,which ran off a computer . or maybe i just have to build and even taller tank to get better separtion still

insects --yes unthere the midges will be like b52,s.lol

then you just have to suck up the running costs of aircon- how many days a year do you think that will be where you are?

update to this. ISOTEX are now going to make a UKspec block,which will have 120mm concrete core ,which they say will be fine for up to 3 storey building ,with some rebar ,over the 140mm of italian spec -which will save 15%ish in concrete costs -so all the paperwork is being reworked to reflect that . and the main man confirmed to me when he rang back yesterday that the uk spec will say up to 2m height in one pour and no need for any serious type support system,just brace the corners with plywood sheeting to be super sure --that will be a big saving --£2-300 a week for bracing hire +delivery and return transport costs to their base . he also says that delivery of blocks from order will be 1week I will wait to see all this writing in due course