scottishjohn

bottom line is If your house is very well insulated then the amount you will get is diddly squat only works out if you are revamping an old house with bad heat retention and poor insulation the better it is the less they give you - so for your house --no it worked for me cos the man that did the survey was sensible and told me not to upgrade the insulation and windows etc level till after he had done calculation or i would end up with too good a rating got the grant -then upgraded the insulation new house yours will be far too good to get anything

you miss the point -the range which it is allowed to vary is now wider than it used to be they will of course try to keep it correct ,but in outlying areas ther can be big swings and its within the tolerances allowed

I think the voltage 230 or 240 is neither here nor there as mains voltage can go up and down like a yo-yo - and since the regs for supply has changed some years ago the suppliers are allowed much wider range of voltage variation. if voltage drops -relay will still pull in just draw more current to do so but yes bigger amperage relay will give a better margin of service life you see it much clearer when working with low voltage dc --as in cars -where current is much more --engine cooling fan relays --they can spike 60 /80amps on start up although running current could be only 10amps or less --so you fit big 40amp relays to extend contact life -and big cabling to stop heat build up on connections . If i were going to get really tricky then some sort of soft start device so there is no BIG initial current load at start up.If there is such a thing for that type of load try running an electric kettle on a small generator -although 3.5kw output -will trip every time if you plug an electric kettle to it --for the same reason -surge is just too much -thinks its a dead short

looked like TF construction with render looking at pictures EDIT --CHANGED MY MIND LOOKS LIKE SOME OTHER SORT OF PREFAB PANELS SYSTEM - my guess no sprinkler system the fact everyone got out shows the fire alarm system was working --maybe it burnt that bad due to lack of water pressure for the fire fighters? now if they had built it with ISOTEX /DURISOL-the most of it would still be standing just the roof gone one advantage of concrete

greenfell was nothing like a sips construction the main problem with greenfell as I understand it was a man had a fire with dodgy fridge --he opened the window and door of flat to get rid of smoke --which he should not have done --that allowed the fire to get bigger flames to go outside , -made its way to the air gap behind the cladding-then that made a draft like a chimney -- and-the rest you saw - sips panels are sealed units so fire danger is no more than any timber framed house -maybe less cos there will be less gaps in between panels for air ingress to fuel the fire remember the fire triangle -fuel - oxygen -heat remove any one and no fire most foams will self extinguish if not a good source of oxygen -eg outside any amount of it- only true fireproof insulation is mineral wool and you need twice as much of it as a foam product the insulation of any type of product is by the trapping of air in the material

that about what i thought -guys problem is it is next doors garden my sewer line goes through there to join to a common man hole and the roots are coming from a tree in their garden . that will be a nice conversation and who pays the bill and remakes the garden? my view is drains were there before they planted things --so they have caused the problem the fail attachment to cut the roots --i would worry that it would also damage the plastic drain maybe in between way -cut down the tree -kill it -attempt cut roots and wait and see what happens in a year or so

surely your blocks must be same depth as the beams? a picture of your suggested build of floor please this detail surely is noted on your plans

any magic cures for roots in drains .other than the obvious way of digging them up

seems sunamp are still using "tombstone technology " like aero industry did at start of jet era ---when enough wings fall off -time to upgrade them not doing themselves any favours long term for sales especially when cost of these peripherals is so little in overall cost of the system

send plan to suppliers to get a correct quote for what you need -just a price per sqm will not be accurate you wouldn,t expect a TF supplier to quote without a plan --its no different

even the wife can drive it --if pushed first problem with it last week --a puncture hardly a surprise when you see where i been with it

having bought one benford dsr3000 swivel tip -which was probably not the cheapest --but first class condition and also air cooled engine --no freeze problems things to check --does the hand brake and indeed the brakes work --expensive to fix as they are inside the axle units and not working on most old s/h ones and on flat sites they never bother to fix them 4wd -wouldn,t consider any thing else swivel tip is very handy but depending on site not essential i needed swivel tip to make up sides of my road iwth rock do you need one to fill a skip --thats a different thing again . I see you have several acres --did you get a felling license ? you can only remove trees less than 4" in diameter without one measured at 1.3m for gorund and the fine is £1500 and then they can make you replant - there is also a thinning licnese which allows up to 40% removal of trees without replanting worth a talk with forestry man to see if you need one maybe the bottom line is they do ont want to loose any forest cover at all -and a few acres will not be classed as a garden you can remove up to 5 cum of wood per 4months without a license and iwhtout replanting requirement

plan with dimensions ? so this house will have no vehicular access when finished?-just a foot path of 1m wide. that is shared access. and surrounded by neighbours good luck with that -- you can forget working at weekends or at night --they will be complaining and getting you stopped by council and having you restricted to normal working hours for making noise not really trying to upset you have you had a valuation by estate agent of value of this house when built and ease of selling it you may want to do that now and see if it is worth doing ?

its certainly in my plans to laeve aspace to install a lift some time in futre when stairs are too much #1.5mx 1.5m which can be used as cupboards in the mean time but floors designed for it at the outset got ot be 2 levels to get best from the views

get as big a dumper as you can -a micro one will not move much at a time -hire prices might not be much different . same goes for digger been checking hire rates here and 3t digger is £270+vat a week . 6ton is £350+vat big difference in what they can do I bought a dumper for my job 3ton swivel --and the hired digger, a 14t one over filled it in 3 bucket loads, if soil and about 3-5mins to do it the 14t digger was 2.7m wide --so if you will have a gate , so any smaller digger you get will get on site maybe getting your entrance sorted and hard cored would be a good place to start -then access will not be a problem getting delivery trucks and things stuck in the mud would not be ideal -must be soft site if you need screw piles is where my thinking is coming from

it is a serious consideration how he can replace fridges etc in time to come not just getting them in once

I will definately have gone towards too much when i did it .lol but no problems so far

I can see the attraction for DIY and also if the surface is not totally flat to start with but probably comes down to getting the prep and the base surface right before any tiling starts I know i had a problem with 600mm tiles on my wooden suspended floor over my ufh - my fault made the assumption that it would be flat all over as it was chipboard --only when i started did i find some floor beams were not same height caused dips etc i should have checked better and got it flat before commencement of tiling the result was I used twice the flex adhesive i should have done to fill in undulations get all things level and edges all correct 20 years on it all still fine and yes for my job they would have been very helpful measure 3 times, mark twice ,cut once needless to say i won,t get caught that way again

yes that would be my thought -how you going to replace these units when they die in years to come @Russell griffiths has a genie he was wanting to sell--2k if i remember right -and sink it into the floor make it permanent fixture ? not sure how you get that down there though --"not a packet of peanuts" -to quote snatch cheap chinese scissors lift for pallets ?

basically if you buy and replace roof --could you resell and get all or most of your your money back --if not the price is wrong that would be my view

Idon,t know where it is --but terraced houses would give a better return maybe?--you will get a lot more with less materials

If its make money ,then i agree with all that has been said when i was considering selling my house --estate agent asked me If icould remove the solar panels easily ,as that would reduce interest and value for profit go for basic required insualtion levels and if you have the choice -then mains gas heating are these going to be a row of semis houses --if So i thinkthat ICF like durisol or isotex will be a good choice --but you need to send finished plans to suppliers as that is the only way they can quote you correctly and maybe will suggest slight changes to make them hceaper/ easier to build bound to be discount if you are buying more at one time certainly if you built them all at once - -the walls =founds that is then there should be good savings on the concrete and pump hire charges as well proper finished plans -send to suppliers and ask for quotes and suggestions on how to do it cheaper would be my view even if you can only afford to do the founds+-services and walls at first go --that will be cheapest way to do it for sure in the long run-certianly at least all founds and services then you half way there --no more diggers and mud plugging and get hardcore road in If your council are like mine they will not allow occupation in ANY of them till roads are up to council spec if you have to make roads +drainage etc

anyone now of godd plant insures for self build

you personal opinion is noted certainly not the case with my system -each zone has its own 7 day programmer+thermostat in room I doubt new house will be as complicated with MVHR and gaps under doors etc -zones will be much simpler -so heat source is only turned on and pumps only run when that zone calls for heat which activates both pump+heat source as for being an expensive option --not as expensive as you suggest considering the high spec and efiecent plate heat exchange +2 bronze pumps +all control circuitry+high class plumbing +filters+expansion vessel +pressure gauge which it comes complete with all you have to supply is one electric supply +one cold feed then just connect to your DHW+heating circuit and i doubt any plumber /electrician would ever get all the bits in as compact a unit and so that you can get at everything for service plus if you have problems then same man to repair all the ASHP system + its associated bits all you have is a simple wifi or hard wired panel for you to control everything about it new house when built I will be looking at same thing again and comparing with other units on the market at that time -that has a proper service network backup -I will not be wanting to guddle about with heating systems in my 80,s cheap basic ASHP + cheapest tank and pumps etc etc will not be on my list this is my personal view on the subject "the quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten"

this was my choice for fitting to house - not a new one I already had UFH but was changing from LPG boiler heat source and still use part of my old system control --as in zone valves and timers for each room -been very happy with it