Jilly

Sounds great, fingers crossed

Hello! It looks to be a great design. I'm swamped with clay spoil too at the moment! Try to keep the neighbour on side if you can, now you've got the planning. ?

Just had this done for the mini piles on our extension. We are on clay/tree roots. The piling contractor asked my builder for a level surface compacted with MOT. 'That looks a bit high', I muse. 'Nah, it's fine'. The pile people made the builder come back and dig more out...or threatened to charge him, I think. I was very glad the builder was sub contracting the pile people...

I think @steamytea meant me, sorry my question hijacked the thread!

Well, that's a bit of a con....?

Thank you! That makes sense now. There sees to be a huge difference in price. Has anyone else used an air to air ASHP?

In my ASHP research, I spoke to a friend who recently built a garage with flat over, heated by what he told me was an ASHP. I went to have a look, and saw a Mitsubishi unit on the outside wall and an air heating unit thing directly opposite inside the building, which, in this well insulated space, apparently works well. I didn't want to contradict my friend, and so did some research and it transpires air conditioning units can be used as a heat pump. So... my question is, how does this stand with BC? Is it possible they didn't notice? Or took it on face value. Could it actually be working at 300-400% efficiency as ASHPs do...? I can't see that it could work with UFH? The inside unit had the appearance of a fugly, clumsy radiator , which is the only drawback... Anyone have any experience of this?

Yes, it's a conversion. To dig out the old slab would have necessitated underpinning...

What would be the minimum viable insulation for UFH ( retro fit concrete slab) only 150mm available...?

I'm getting overloaded (emotionally, that is!). Please keep things simple.. On our stable conversion, the existing floor is 150mm concrete slab. The architect's technician specified: T & G floating floor 80mm celotex with 22mm DPM (linked to DPC/RIW/tanking as minimum to get the BC regs passed and achieve u value of 0.22 However, now the builders are here it looks like we have 2 courses of bricks to Finished Floor level, which is 150mm. Not sure exactly how this discrepancy has happened... I'm wondering how to improve the floor from that specified. Will this small amount of insulation make UFH perform poorly ? (wanted it from a design and comfort aspect) Would we be better off improving the floor insulation and having radiators?

Wow!

Thank you Peter!

One more question, please! What about trickle vents? We are not PH nor airtight, and no MHRV.

Glass Structures Ltd Sliding doors.pdf I need to get out more.

So, for this main room, the windows are 9.4m2 of glass, and the floor space is 33.6m2, so that's 28%, so I'm guessing I'd be safer to use ordinary glass and then figure out some shading for the very hot times? Or even stick on stuff. I hate irreversible decisions, you see... We are not passive, it's a block built conversion with exterior cladding.

Hi everyone! I've read all the troubles others have had with the big double glazing companies and so I've had my patio doors and windows measured up by a local double glazing company whom my builder works with as he will measure, supply and fit so it seems to reduce the hassle. The windows don't seem quite as sexy as some I've seen, but not bad at overall. There are some add ons I'd like to run past you: Having triple glazing isn't that much extra, so I'm thinking its worth having, but might the patio/French/sliding doors be too thick and heavy for easy usability? On the south and west corner glass he's offered Suncool glass. I can see that it might help with summer overheating, but will it reduce solar gain too much for the rest of the year? I'm fairly convinced we will have very useful solar gain and would hate to lose that benefit. Another possible extra is acoustic glass for the road side windows. He recommends this more that the more expensive triple glazing. Am dreaming of windows ATM...

You can pay for pre application meetings at most councils which should be reliable, but is also slow, and my local council are making them very low priority.. . Mine did free morning consultations with the duty officer (pre Covid) and you get their opinion, but beware, I got completely rubbish advice and wasted weeks with no recourse (I wanted to stay on friendly terms!).

Presume you mean 500mm? (She Who Must Be Obeyed) If they are internal changes, it doesn't seem to matter much, just put the changes onto the Building Control drawings. Minor external changes can be done on a 'Non Material Amendment (NME).

The main building is made of block with 600mm foundations, (external insulation and weatherboard), the extension has to be piled (trees and clay). I'm struggling with the decision of whether to continue with block (which seems logical) or to use timber frame. I'm wary of the differential movement and had assumed timber will be more forgiving. We are planning to use a compressible material, but are there other things I should be considering? Is insurance more straightforward if the building is all the same construction? CHIMNEY floorplan copy.pdf

It's a big learning curve. 5 years should do it!

I'm just going through the shared duct thing and my builder said the water needs to be lowest at 900mm and the electric above at 600mm, I think, but double check properly.

We have a garden compost loo using tall plasters buckets (£7 from B&Q) sitting on a frame. We don't bother separating and use a handful of wood shavings (horse bales cost about £10 and will last a long time) after each use. It really absorbs the smell well.There's a book called 'Humanure' which explains the different types. You could experiment with this very simple low cost set up and see how long it lasts, I'm suspecting most people just want a quick pee at the allotment after their cup of tea?!

I haven't done that, I don't think many people have. Not everyone even has a written contract with the builder...

Yes, I'm worried that the water pressure from a high water table will push out little plugs of cement he will probably put in...

140mm block