gc100

https://res.mdpi.com/d_attachment/forests/forests-11-01373/article_deploy/forests-11-01373-v2.pdf There is very little info out there how well it will weather. You can’t compare it to the original as different wood is used in Europe. tread carefully. there is a shop in NYC which has it now for about 15 years and it looks very different - I can’t find the link to though.

https://woodtechpaints.com

We was planning to use this . However we know of an architectural practice near Wizbeach which has been constructed for about 6 years I think now. We went to go see it to see how it was weathering. Short answer was not very good. There was many places the charred wood had cracked off to expose the wood underneath. It looked a mess and would only get worse. Given the cost etc. we decided on Matt black barn paint in the end , miles cheaper , both sides can be painted before putting on and can be refreshed whenever it needs to be at not much cost to keep it looking sharp.

Thanks all.

Hello all, i'm considering have a punt on an excavator in auction (and dumper) as I have a large amount of groundworks to do in the coming year and I'm thinking it will be cheaper long term than hiring. Is it possible to reclaim VAT though on these does anyone know? Many thanks.

I don’t really know the details. I’m sure if he could avoided it he would have .

My dad has oil at his farm house. He had plastic tank that was about 20 years old. However the oil supply company refused to fill it up recently because it wasn't doubled wall, so he was force to install a new one.

IMO biomass boilers only make sense if you are a farmer or producer of something where your left over 'waist' can be used. They are messy , dirty, not cheap and need a lot of maintenance. If you have gas on hand, it will be the cheapest solution by far. Regarding aga's and the like - have you lived with one? I hate the bl**dy things - century old tech has no place now for me.

Just looked at my ASHP and the how long it takes to heat up the hot water tank (300litres) but looking that this is seems about the same as when I had a gas boiler unless I’m looking at this wrong

I have 3 large windows (5.2m, 6.5, and 5m) all in the same room. For the 6.5m I had a box section of steels due to wind shear and the fact there is another (4th) triangle window above . The other 2 just had flitch beams (plate of steel sandwiched between to lengths of wood. None of was very expensive - maybe 1.5k for all of them. Personally we just went with a vey airtight house and ASHP. We don’t have crazy level of insulation (150mm in the floor) and the heating hardly ever comes on. Just set your house to 23 and be done with it unless you actually like it cooler most of the time. I think ASHP/UFH is terrible at heating a room up quickly- if you need to have that, then perhaps a wood/gas stove would be the most practical and pleasant for the odd days you want it. Or just get an oil heater and hide it behind the sofa!

Crazy - I'd hate for you to hit me in my car (750kg)!

The extract fan is broken. I still don’t understand why air is being forced out of the external supply. I’ll see what Nibe says.

I know right. So strange, I can only presume because only one fan is running its pushing/pulling air differently through the unit. But it makes no sense to me as the air has to be coming from somewhere to push into the house and out of the unit...

See above - no.

Ok, so just doubled checked everything. The ducts are all connected correctly. I just took the panel off the front of the unit (Nibe) and it seems the extract fan is not running. I've checked the settings and the extract/supply speed are matched so perhaps the fan is broke? I will contact the suppliers. As a side note I've had nothing but issues with the Nibe MVHR and also ASHP. Not recommended at the moment.

I'm not sure my MVHR is right. I just been running the fan speed at 100%. When I put my hand over the Exhaust vent outside I feel a good strong air flow. However when I put my hand over the supply vent outside I feel no air going in - putting a tissue is front it appears not to be pulling any air in. However when putting my hand over the supply vents inside the house I feel a good flow. So this is the first odd thing. The next thing I notice is the air coming in the supply vents within the house is really quite cold. Looking at the temp information on the MVHR unit I see this: Now according to this document http://www.cres.gr/greenbuilding/PDF/prend/set4/WI_25_Pre-FV_version_prEN_13779_Ventilation_for_non-resitential_buildings.pdf Exhaust air is the air going to outside whereas the extract air is the air coming from the rooms. It seems to be that the temporatures are back to front? and also given the supply temp is also low. Shouldn't it be : Exhaust air : 9 oC Extract air: 15.1 oC Supply 15 oC back into the house?

I was considering hardcore but BC said it needed to be surfaced !

I can't find anything about if the access needs to be permanent in Part M though everyone seems to say it must be to comply with the these regs - however I cannot find them (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/540330/BR_PDF_AD_M1_2015_with_2016_amendments_V3.pdf) HA hahah . Just measured how high the threshold is currently - if I need to do a 1:20 ramp, its going to be 13meters long. Arg - kill me now and put me out my misery. I'm going to email BC and see if they will accept access to the property from slider glass door/windows the other end of the house which is basically at ground level.

I do have piles and piles of broken up concrete and bricks here, so I could make a slope out of them and cover with concrete. I was hoping to avoid putting down concrete as its expensive and not good for the environment especially if temporary. I might have to BC dig their heals in though. Some aspects of building really don't make any sense when I am actually trying to finish with the correct outcome.

Thanks. I'm going to find the guidance on this and see what it says exactly. I could concrete the posts in as well with postcrete which would be super quick and definitely make it more permanent/hard to remove on the face of it.

I think I need to lookup and find the building regs around this.

Thanks nod. Interesting - however if it states 'not removable' surely a wooden ramps remove-able so why did they allow it?

I asked about a wooden ramp and he said no way as it can be removed. Obviously your BC are more flexible than mine!

Hi, So building control have been around to give me a list of all the things I need to do before completion. One of the items is a ramp up to the front door for wheelchair /general access as the door is currently about 2.5 feet above the original land . Now I have a LOT of landscaping to do but it will take a long time and things need to be done in a certain order. The whole area in front of the frontdoor and garage (which is next to it within the building) needs to be built up and landscaped but I cannot do that until I sort out the rear of the house other wise I cannot get good access with heavy machinery. I really want to get the house signed off within the next 3 months incase HMRC try and reject my VAT reclaim because we are living there. Talking to BC the entrance ramp/access needs to be permanent and the finished article. But logistically I cannot do that for at least 6 months if not more. I asked if I could built up a hardcore bank/slope but he seemed to think that was not acceptable so I need to surface it as well. (He wasn't bothered about access to garage or any other landscaping.) Whatever I do, I will need to pull up and redo the whole area as part of landscaping and then put down the final surface in one go (including access to garage and drive). Does anyone have any suggestions that would be quick and cheap to implement?

On the surface it looks/ed dry. It is possible that its still wet deeper and pulling the heat away, though I thought I'd feel some form of warm. I have ask the installers to come out as we keep loosing pressure in the buffer tank.