Great_scot_selfbuild

@saveasteading can you share a link? We do want them opening as a preference (certainly for the bathrooms), and hence having them matching. But that said, I like researching and making sure we’ve considered everything. That and money is getting tight… (predictably)

@JamesPa very useful advice - TVM 😁

Useful nudge RE: alternative approach to the ASHP grant. It certainly comes across as less of a grant, more of a 'we'll charge you £7500 more and try to convince you you're getting a saving'.

@ProDave thanks - good to know it's a valid approach (we've seen one, but encouraging to hear directly from others. Not seen Jeremey's heat loss spreadsheet - will do a search for it; the SAP output is certainly not signed up to the 'plain English campaign'!

@Gus Potter thanks. We certainly had that approach for the garage but would rather not spend huge amounts on tailored lead flashing, though we know it would work. There were no off-the-shelf flashing kits for the garage rooflights, whereas at least the velux does offer some. Good point about considering the corrosion aspect - the corrugated sheeting is plastic coated on both sides but depending on how the fixing and overlap is done, this certainly needs considering - appreciate it.

@Bramco I should have been clearer - the cladding question was about the timber cladding - I searched for Greencoat, but that seems to be the roof sheeting, unless my searching is off?

@JamesP lovely looking build. We gave our architectural technician the size of velux window we wanted and they have applied the same tolerance gap around the velux window size as the window company wanted for the windows elsewhere - how did your structural opening compare to the velux size on yours?

Well it's been a long journey getting here! We've finally got the SAP calculations done in detail and although we had the assessor use an assumed 6kW MCS listed ASHP, we haven't committed to any brand and are now looking at them all. Some time back we visited a local self-build with a similar performance and sqm specification and have used that as a handrail for what size HP we should expect to need (they had a 5.5kW). Additionally we need to choose the MVHR system, and confirm what overall system / combination will be right for keeping the house warm in the right places. We were advised that UFH downstairs and MVHR around the rest of the house (for a house with passive-levels of insulation) would suffice. Now we're getting close to finalising this though, we're questioning the detail - MVHR seems to extract heat (& humidity) from bathrooms, but if we only have a towel radiator in there will it be enough? Timber frame build summary: UFH downstairs MVHR to move heat around the rest of the house Electric towel rails in bathrooms (1 x family, 1 x en-suite upstairs) Walls and roof U=0.11 Floor U = 0.14 Target ACH = 0.6 Downstairs ceiling height = 2.9m Upstairs is into the roof eaves, with a flattened top at c.4m Area = 260 sqm total As you'll notice form the summary, the design has a large volume, hence my focus on understanding how an MVHR and heating system is sized. Welcome your thoughts & advice. Very early on we got some quotes from companies specialising in renewables and 'whole system' design - and we quickly scared by the VERY large quotes. Felt like they just saw us as a self-builder money pot, which is a long way from the reality!

@Bramco that looks like a very tidy finish. Our garage roof lights were actually from here - https://saris-extensions.co.uk/shop/skylights/pitched-roof/ but we’re looking for opening roof windows and part of the velux draw was the ability to plug in electric powered blinds and u-value. Not that we’ve committed yet so I’m continually reviewing options. What cladding is that you’ve used? Looks great.

Anyone willing to share an example of a construction drawing showing the installation of velux in a roof with corrugated profile sheet covering, plus advice on the flashing kit? I'm wanting to install the 7 x velux roof windows (940x1600) ourselves and looking for advice on which flashing kit we would need and how it will fit into the structural opening. Grateful for any experience / advice. We have all the other windows being installed by the supplier and although our builder could no doubt do these, I'm looking at which tasks we could manage ourselves and try and grapple some control of labour costs where it is more manageable for us to (perhaps) do. The installation would be timed to take place whilst scaffolding is still in place and I'm expecting the windows to be lifted in place from inside the house. Our fixed rooflights on the garage had huge up stands the windows simply sat on, whereas the rooflights openings for vellum have a structural opening (windows = 940x1600, structural opening = 960x1620) and we haven't yet received the construction drawings fro the architectural technician yet (on holiday until early Sep) - looking to understand what we should expect in advance of receiving the drawings. We'd like the velux to be flush with the roof rather than on upstands, and our roofing material will be plasticol coated corrugated (here - https://www.panelsandprofiles.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/TPP-14-3-CORRUGATED-Roof-Load-Span.pdf) - photo of the finish attached as used on our garage. Cross-section of a building regs drawing attached to show the section view with the velux window positions. Our searches of Velux flashings for sheet profile roofing has led us here: https://www.roofingsuperstore.co.uk/browse/roof-windows/pitched-roof-windows/velux-flashings/filterby/code/edw.html TIA...

Yes - not keen on this, hence my focus on understanding this requirement and how it works on site. Thanks.

@Nickfromwales do you mind spelling out TBS?

Here's a site plan view

@Nickfromwales approx 50m from the CU, or 40m from nearest 3-pin socket. Could run a direct line over the protected tree gap and save quite a few metres though. Photo to help set the scene.

We have our consumer unit at the garage (point of mains electricity arrival). I could be wrong, but I don't think we have more than one breaker as there was a discussion about multiple circuits in the garage and we decided more than one circuit there was overkill (background - if we have a chest freezer there then we didn't want it cutting out if use of tools in the garage caused the power to trip, but then again I'd know about it as I'd be in the garage and would be able to reset and sort it out, so we didn't really need two separately protected circuits). See attached photo (need to get one of the CU with the cover lifted up, as I'm not sure whether there is an RCBO (would that be standard to install? it didn't come up in discussion - electrician is good and understood our needs, but ultimately I didn't know what to ask. We have plenty(!) of sockets in this garage - are you saying we could plug yellow 110v transformers in here and run them as far as we need? (from a power/current perspective, dealing with the safety of leads separately (we could ty-wrap cables to the fencing that leads up to where they may be used, as a possible option).

Do you have any pictures of how they’re installed by chance?

@Adrock I’m a little puzzled by the idea that these products would be sold not to be fully used - a bit like a 4-socket extension not being able to be used for 4 plugs at the same time. See my reply a few minutes ago - would you be suggesting a temporary waterproof cabinet, Consumer Unit (is that the same as ‘32A RCBO’?) and metal plug sockets, to then run multiple small yellow transformers off? In my reply to @Nickfromwales I explained my challenge of where this is actually located.

Thanks @Nickfromwales we have lots of metal clad sockets for charging already and the people on site are all part of the same team at the moment. The challenge I’m trying to wrap my head around is where the builder would have this temporary connection positioned as the cable pops out of the ground exactly where it needs to rout up and into the plant room - if we install a temporary cabinet, CU and sockets there, then it’ll be right in the way. I’m wondering if a generator may still be needed if there’s plug-in tools needed until we at least have the cable up and in the footings of the house.

Thanks - I should have made clear - it’s for all trades (we’re a way off from electricians having much to do on the house tbh and so it’s more for hte ring beam and timber frame build first. I’d noted that the small yellow boxes have many comments advising that they’re not much use for more than a single tool in use. I’m not sure what the builder had in mind being ‘installed’ but I would guess something like these 10kVa (pic attached). I’ve not yet found detail on how these are connected? Am I better off having a waterproof cabinet, consumer unit and sockets with multiple small transformers? (They’re far easier to pick up for not much ££).

Hi all, Short version: What’s involved in installing a 110v transformer? The yellow boxes I’ve seen on searches all have 3-pin plugs, but we’ll need ours a long way from our existing sockets; there is a mains cable yet to be connected up to where the meter is - do they get connected directly to it for the build phase? We have mains electricity connection installed, but because of the site layout, the connection and meter is in the garage next to the road and I’ve been told we will need a 110v transformer next to the house (not that far away but using an extension would need quite a lot of length to keep out of the way of foot/vehicle traffic as it’s not a straight line between the two). We have the mains cables etc installed in the ground that runs from the garage to where it comes out of the ground ready for the house and I’m just trying to understand how the electrician will install the transformer; it’s likely we’ll need it in place for a while and so I’d rather buy one myself and sell it on at the end rather than hire or have them loan one (in case we change electricians - hence asking here so that I have a good appreciation before discussing with them). The garage has plug sockets in it and I’d assume in describing ‘connecting up a transformer’ this would connect to the cable coming out of the ground for the house, rather than running an extension cable - or is it really as simply as running the extension lead? (Just seems less safe and likely to get damaged or be a trip hazard, but happy to be corrected!). Many thanks

From the extensive research I had to do for ourselves, I understood that the regulations say you can’t put rainwater into the STP / drainage field. But that said, I it sounds like you’ve discussed this issue at length elsewhere on the forum. I think your comment about a lack of ‘can do attitude’ is probably the most important bit lacking on their part tbh. best of luck.

We’ve gone for black - it’ll match a couple of other doors off the hall, or so our budget is hoping!

Just interested to see examples of where people have used a colour on the inside of the door, that's all... (this aspect of the doors doesn't really feature on the websites or brochures.

Sorry, I'm not following what you mean - @SteamyTea can you explain please?

Looking for inspiration ideas for what colour to go for on the inside of our front door. It’s an aluminium door (Internorm AT540) and we’d prefer not to go for white or black (outside frame will be black though. Photo attached of the approximate door design. There will be a large window about 500mm above the door, with a light wood surround. The walls may be white, but not decided. Keen to see examples of any inside door colour choices people have made, especially if they’re on an aluminium door. Thanks for reading 😁