gc100

Yes engineered not laminate I am refering too. I lived in France for many years and at least in the hot climate there they warped a reasonable amount particulary around the edges and quite often in the middle, so you could 'press down' on the floor before it met the underlay (they where floating floors).

Hi all, thanks for the replies. I'd rather not have engineered boards as they never seem to last and wear as nice as solid wood. However I understand they can warp if not dried correctly.

Hi, we are having UFH on our single story build/conversion. We are now considering what flooring we want in the house. For the bedrooms we would like carpets for a softer feel however I'm concerned about how this will effect the effectiveness of the UFH. Similarly we was thinking of wooden flooring in the hallway and kitchen/living area - again same question? Anyone know definitely facts about this aside from 'its not going to be as effective as tiles/polish concrete/etc '? Many thanks Wayne

Hi all, just gone through this. Anyone got any further ideas? I'm just in the detailed design phase so don't want to miss anything! thanks

Thanks for the information. Thats a good price - my quotes are coming in around 15K for similar depth.

Hi, Our site is in open countryside and its a long way to get connected to the mains. I had always thought we'd need to go the borehole route however it may be possible to get connected to the mains at a reasonable cost I have recently discovered. So I've been considering the pro;s and con's of a water bore, and have some specific questions about the equipment in terms of location. Some of the quotes I have state the bore will be drilled and capped off with a man hole, and that a shed needs to be provided for the pressure tanks and equipment. Does anyone know if this equipment can be fit say in the garage about 50m away from where I was thinking of putting the borehole? Does it need to be next to the actual hole? Does anyone have a idea of the real-world costs of running a water borehole in terms of maintenance, replacing parts, electricity? Thanks

What software ddi you use?

Ah brilliant thanks everyone. This is most helpful. Love this forum. For some reason didn't get notified so need to check...

Hi, part of my many conditions setup by my LPA is I need to create a landscaping scheme document for them to approve. Does anyone have any examples of one fo these? Many thanks Wayne

Ah just found this: https://www.building.co.uk/building-without-borders-construction-needs-a-deal/deal-or-no-deal--constructions-post-brexit-future-hangs-in-the-balance/5095218.article

Can we please keep the brexit debate out of this thread. My question is around WTO tariffs and import duties and % of building materials imported ( for example in 2011 it was 64% of building materials was imported from EU vs rest of world https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78717/bis-13-p125b-construction-building-materials-commentary-january-2013.pdf )

Well a no deal brexit is most likely to kill my build project after already investing 25K it seems. If a no deal is happening, what are peoples best guess on cost of building materials? Aside from the fact we might not be able to sell our house at a decent level (given a market crash) how much do you think raw materials will go up?. I guess the pound will weaken much further especially for 5-10 years. Then we have WTO tariffs/import duty to pay on top which we don't at the moment for goods from EU. I've read that 65% of building materials are imported. I've had a look but it hard to find the correct tariffs. Given I'm still at the detailed designed stage of my barn conversion, I'm know thinking of try and design the build around UK manufactured/sources materials but I think it will be fairly unrealistic without adding further cost. I'm not too worried about labour as around my way they are all local lads and hardly any EU nationals. Thoughts any one?

Hi, wasn't sure which sub forum to post this however one of the (many) conditions of our planning approval was to have a contamination report done. Our barn conversion is currently on a farm formally a MOD airfield in WWII. Currently I'm getting quotes in at 1k +VAT for the desk base, then another 3.5K (estimate) for the phase 2 plus 1.5K for a UXO (unexploded ordnance) assessment. This is a huge amount of money. I've tried a few companies in my county (Norfolk) and they are either about the same or more - one said phase 2 could be up to 30K depending..! ? Looking at what they actually need to do it doesn't seem more than a half a day on site and then say 4-8 hours work back at the office, plus £500(max) for chemical analysis at a lab. It just seems crazy - a bit of a racket/easy money. Wondering if anyone else has had this issue and did they find a lower cost solution/expert? Many thanks

I've looked at every aspect of the quote including contestable etc, I've got is down to 40K from something more!. I'm not too worried about the water, as the farmer just down the road has one and others in the village. The water table is well know in this area. Obviously anything can happen, but I have no choice other than drill.

GSHP vs ASHP - I've not had time yet to look into that. I know the consensus on here is to go ASHP mostly from @JSHarris recommendation/research I believe?. GSHP I was hoping would be covered by the Renewable Heat Incentive but haven't looked into all that aspect yet. I'll be trying to get the project to near enerphit/passive standard.

I have no idea whether the chap/people who does the water bore can do that. as the pipes are normally put down the bore hole on the inside, I can't see how GSHP pipes could be of any good inside?

Thanks all for the replies. Its in Norfolk so not the most windy place in the world. Plus I would need planning permission (I have no PD rights). Biomass might be a possible but not ideal. I'm hands on and technical so maintenance will be ok. Thermal store could be an option I suppose (the ground). Ideally I would need to find someone who could design the whole system and know what they are doing. However I have no idea how to find such a person.

Ha ha yes. Well south facing roof, water will be water bore (160m depth).

No unfortunately not.

Our barn conversion project is in open countryside. Its going to cost about 40K to get electricity to it. Just wondering if I could actually spend that 40K towards a setup so that we are 100% reliable. Is it possible without a very large compromise in terms of living. I'm talking mid winter - 2 weeks of snow.

We only have the planning plans at the moment. No building regs or anything.

Hi all, I want our house to have a good air tightness so that we can heat the whole house with via air source or ground source (180m2). I have no idea of the terms or scale or what values I should be going for. Are their any articles or FAQs that go through all the basics so I can understand ? Many thanks

Thanks all. Its a possible of course hence the post. Are build isn't really a 'standard house' - its a barn conversion ( with extension if the planning committee says yes in 2 days time!). I want to achieve high air tightness and I just don't know if the local general builders will really know what they are doing. It seems its worth doing, but its at a cost. I don't suppose it will save anything other than giving us a much better idea of the actual cost of the build before we start. What plans did you use? 4 months for the architect - I've spoken to 2 or 3 and they all say the same in terms of timescales. Mainly because it involves other consultants such as structural, electrical, window suppliers, etc and introduces lots of waiting. I'm sure its not actually more than 40 hours work.

Yes I should have written: ..reduce the risk..

Thanks