AppleQueen

Hello Hub! I would be so grateful of some advice re planning permission. We bought the plot with planning permission so did not design this ourselves. As a side note - the project was architect designed but she has now retired (and turns out she was actually retired when designing our project but we didn’t know this) so we cannot use her anymore. 1. We are having problems fulfilling a very specific external aesthetic feature of the build. I don’t want to say what as it will be very obvious it’s us to anyone reading. But a similar example would be that in the planning permission designs we have to use a thatched roof but we cannot find anybody to actually do the work. I have asked my planning officer if we can use a different material and referenced local properties using this but the heritage officer has rejected it. What are my options now? This feature is purely for appearance and not structural so can I just not use it and leave a space where it should be indefinitely? Can I move in without it being finished in this way? Is there any argument I can use to appeal? 2. How do you discharge the conditions on the planning report that you cannot prove? Eg we have one that says ‘in the future you cannot build an extension, garage etc without prior permission’? So obviously I cannot prove this because it’s not happened… Do you have to discharge all the conditions? Or can I just say indefinitely that it’s not finished yet? Thanks in advance!!

Thank you all! At least now I know what’s happened. They were the bottom of the pile and the pile has been sitting there for a good few weeks now. So brand new boards and reskim then. I’m just glad it happened before we decorated. In the other rooms that havnt fallen down, do they need redoing just incase or is it only if they sagging? Should I get a dehumidifier?

Thanks! Sorry to be stupid but….where do you put the leaf blower? Into the plenum and blow that way?

@iceverge Thank you very much! I can’t wait to use it

Hello everyone!! Help please! We are doing a new build and had plasterboard and then plaster applied to the ceilings last week, the last day they worked was 20th December. I went on 24th and everything was ok. Just been there now and the whole ceiling - plasterboard and plaster - has fallen down over the whole living room!!! What’s happened??! Obviously I will contact the plasterers but I don’t want to today because it’s Saturday night. A bit of background - it’s very cold in there even though fully sealed, probably hanging around 5 degrees. No leak visible. The plasterboard has come down in whole boards or some of them have cracked in half. Most screws are still in the joists. Only affected one room, everywhere else is fine. I’m so sad just when I thought it was nearly there! Thanks for your help!

Hi everyone!! Merry Christmas! So I (finally, after a lot of help from this group) managed to finish my DIY install of a ventaxia sentinel b MVHR and switched it on. (Now I’ve just read you shouldn’t do this because of dirt as we’re not yet finished so I won’t do it again). It does work BUT when I put a tissue next to the plenums (without valves in place yet) some are very strong and pull or push it strongly whilst some others you can barely feel the tissue moving. Is this to be expected?? I have had to use 4 distribution boxes due to the layout but the ones from the distribution boxes near to the unit to supply/extract one side of the house seem to be much stronger than from the far side of the house. I am keen to work out if there is a problem before we plaster it all up! Could it be an air leak somewhere? Thanks for all your help!

Thank you, it’s difficult to get to the vertical face of the kitchen because there is a steel beam across the opening. I could go up through the floor into the landing above and then into the vertical face of the kitchen but it’s not ideal because then I would have to box off some of the landing. BPC did the initial design for me, they put two supplies in the family room (maybe because of size because it’s 6x6m) and they initially said one extract from the kitchen but then I removed a bathroom from upstairs so I thought maybe another in the kitchen to balance it? I have mapped out the vents but not the air movement - is this difficult to work out myself? I'm feeling a bit disillusioned because all the companies have said this is a DIY job but even with a professional joiner and my husband helping, this has been horribly stressful to do!

Whilst I’m at it…. Does anyone think this design might not pass building regs for ventilation? We have a large open plan family room/kitchen but the part of the ceiling in the kitchen is vaulted and then back down to the family room (pic attached). Because it is vaulted, I can’t get the extract vents to the other side of the kitchen, the closest they can get is where I have put the red crosses. I am also planning to have a hob with recirculating vent. Are building control going to have a problem with that?

@Mike @JohnMo Thank you both! I thought there must be a simple reason for it. Back to it with the rigid stuff then!

Hello again everyone! Thank you all for your help along the way here. I'm currently installing the system (and wishing I had just paid someone else to do it) and because I’ve had to re-route the 150mm ducts, I have now run out of the pipework. I’ve just tried to buy some more from somewhere closer than BPC (because it took over a week to arrive last time) and I’ve seen you can get flexible 150mm ducting pipework. This would make it so much easier for me to get the pipework all to fit into the plant room….is there a reason not to use the flexible stuff?? Thanks!

Hello! Everyone here is much more experienced than me so I was hoping for some help to understand the building regs here. We have a SIPs build which will have a single skin of external brickwork. There is a large two storey aluminium framed window going in one external wall. To satisfy building control, do I need two layers of engineering bricks under the window for DPC or can the window sit directly onto the finished floor level? I have attached a picture of the window. Thank you in advance for your help!!

Hi! I’m a bit confused by the criteria for the ASHP grant on the .gov website. Is it true that as a self build we will be eligible for the grant even if we aren’t replacing a gas boiler (because there’s no heating system there at all currently as it’s completely new)? That is what I’m reading from the website but it’s a bit ambiguous. Help please! Thank you!

Ah I didn’t know there was a free/paid for option. I just asked for the correct materials and this is the plan that came back.

Do you think a wall mounted vent here where I’ve put the blue cross would work? Facing into the kitchen? Thanks

Thanks for your help! We have vaulted ceilings in the hall with exposed beams so can’t run anything up there. I was also thinking it looked like too many ducts - the rooms are large but not ridiculous and the dining room has fairly low ceilings. Maybe I should ask BPC to look at that again. Also I’m not sure why the downstairs bathroom and plant room need double ducts - I was just going to put them in there because I do what I’m told… the kitchen is difficult because again it is vaulted with exposed beams so I told them I couldn’t run anything in the ceiling. I actually think I’m going to have to put those extract ducts just outside the kitchen into the dining room where the column is on the plan because I can’t find anyway to get them into the kitchen otherwise. I have also asked BPC to redesign this if possible.

Yes I think this is what I’m imagining! Did you get this from bpc? Thanks for your help! The pictures are really useful

Thanks for the info. So would I need some kind of splitter coming off the unit to feed to two distribution boxes? Then I could have a small distribution box for the rooms left of the hall and another for the rooms right of the hall. Or would two separate units be better with one in the loft above bedroom 2?

Yes this is a possibility, I would then only need to get 4 pipes through that wooden beam. We have a dressing room under the loft that I was going to use for the pipes to upstairs anyway. I didn’t really want to vent to the roof if possible but might need to! Thanks

Hello! I have come to a problem that I don’t know how to get around with my DIY installation. I have a wooden beam above a doorway (see picture) and in order to supply the side of the house through the doorway (both ground and first floor) I will need to get 15 of the 75mm pipes through here. I can’t manage this without seriously weakening this wooden beam. There is no other route to the other side of the house. i have attached the floor plans, the purple line is where the wooden beam is and the purple circles are where I’m struggling to reach. Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions?? Can you attach another distribution box to the first distribution box so I only need to get one pipe through? I have contacted BPC who I ordered through for some help but not heard back yet. Thank you in advance!

Thank you for your response! If they can’t be on the diagonal to the door, is it a huge problem or just a ‘do the best that you can’ sort of thing? I think due to the design, it’s never going to be optimal placement here but would it still be better than not doing it at all? I sort of need to have the system now because my windows don’t have trickle vents in. The dining room is large - 36m2 so could that be why it needs two? No flow rates, this is the first design they have done for me and now the guy has gone on holiday which is why I’m posting here! Do you mean an actual sock?? Thank you!!

Hello MVHR friends! I have been lurking on this forum for months whilst planning my MVHR and I could do with some help please! I have attached some plans that I have received from BPC which I don’t think are quite suitable because the upstairs has vaulted ceilings with exposed beams and there is no way for me to create enough space in the ceiling for the pipes, same with the kitchen, there is no space on the vaulted ceiling for pipes. There is also no access across the hallway void to bridge the two sides of the hallway upstairs. Bathroom 2 is no longer a bathroom so no vent needed there and bathroom 1 is no longer an en-suite it is a family bathroom with door to hallway. I have attached the plans from BPC and then marked my own crosses (red extract, green inflow) and purple for the possible placement of the unit. If anyone could help with any of these points it would be really appreciated: 1. Could you help with the placement of the vents if you can see anywhere better for them? I am struggling especially with bedroom 1, bedroom 3 and the kitchen because they can’t be in the ceiling. 2. Would it be better to have two separate smaller units, one to supply the left side and one right? Or one to supply the ground floor and left side of upstairs and another for right side of upstairs? if you have any other suggestions or words of guidance I would really appreciate it! thanks! MVHR1.pdf MVHR2.pdf