LowCarbonLiving

Many thanks for the Kwikstage tip. This is most likely what I'll be getting, with optional safety attachments, and a few hours worth of safety training videos.

Totally agree with the comments above. I do retrofit plans as a full time job. Your energy rating will drop (by a full 10 points) if you have a MVHR system in your property. This is controversial, and looks to change in the revised rating system(definitely should not reduce the rating of a Passivhaus). However, I think the assumption that an MVHR system inappropriately installed will simply make a house more draughty, with very little heat recovery benefits, is correct. The middle ground is to have passive ventilation features, with a designed ventilation path utilising mechanical extract fans (look at a floorplan of the property, work out how the air will move inside the house based on where trickle vents and fans are located). I've designed and manufactured such a system which I plan to install in the house I'm buying. As my system is CO2 and Humidity sensor driven, it's fairly agnostic of your actual air tightness level. The system will simply extract as actually required to keep occupants and the building healthy (Wifi networked extract fans being controlled by an air quality monitor reading CO2 and humidity). It's also fairly low cost and DIY friendly. You can simply swap existing extract fans with my system, and add fans as required by occupancy levels(rough guide, 1 extract fan per adult). The single room Heat Recovery Ventilation systems work out as very expensive, and you would need one for every room, and the same counterproductive pitfalls of a whole house MVHR system apply (very high air tightness required).

Glass units spontaneously crack all the time. When they crack when still fairly new, it's usually either a manufacturing defect or transport damage. In older windows, it's often heat (differential expansion) distorting the glass and the frame materials unequally. There's a reason why windows on an airplane are round.

Hi All, Very new to the forums so a warm hello to all. I've been thinking of buying scaffolding as well to install solar panels. My main thought, train yourself well in putting them up securely, and using them safely. DIY is fun, at height, it's automatically dangerous.

Hi There, Very new to the forums so a warm hello to all. My question is, are the current windows PVC casement with double glazing units ? I work in the Retrofit Industry, and we tend to rarely recommend window replacements, as the energy performance improvement rarely justifies it. If you are able to just replace the individual glass units (assuming they are faulty double glazed units), this would be a cost effective/environmentally friendly option. You can order units online to size that use low e glass , meaning you would end up with high performance windows with minimum cost (higher cost= higher CO2 footprint). Hope this comment is not off topic as you may already have firmly decided to replace the windows (not liking them can be a strong and valid reason).

Hi There, Just signed up to the forums so hello to all. I concur with what Redbeard said. I work in the Retrofit Industry. The aim is to have an air tight space, but, with controlled ventilation. The easiest way to have some degree of controlled ventilation is trickle vents in the windows. It's impossible to know if this is going to be adequate however without an Air Quality Monitoring system, on any given day, as wind speed (and building exposure) will be the main determiner of ventilation . In my experience, once you reach a level of air tightness considered decent for energy efficiency, you absolutely need an active ventilation system to keep CO2 and humidity levels in check. The Retrofit Academy (Retrofit Training Provider) have a Ventilation Guide on their website. Among other things, it tells you how many liters of fresh air are required per person indoors per unit of time. Get an exhaust fan that can handle the ventilation you expect to need based on this guide. An extra consideration would be that a "workshop" might need even higher ventilation rates if hazardous substances are assumed to be introduced to the air (burnt petrol, paint fumes). Then you may need to refer to basically industrial workplace guides for ventilation, I believe the Health And Safety Executive publish such guides.

Hi All, I'm completely new to the forums so a warm hello to all. I work in the Retrofit Industry, where MVHR is the theoretical gold standard. I say theoretical because the majority of retrofit homes will not reach the air tightness required to make MVHR worthwhile. You would need to carry out a very deep retrofit to EnerPHit standards for MVHR to work poperly. What we tend to routinely instead recommend to our clients is some form of passive and mechanical extract ventilation combination (window trickle vents + continuous running extract fans + 10mm door undercuts) . I've invented a system that uses these principles, but with the addition of a demand driven component (Co2 and Humidity sensors), and plan to use this in the house I am in the process of purchasing (1950's semi-detached house up in Bedfordshire). The system is on my website if anybody should be curious.