Berkshire_selfbuild

Hi, Have a full design and supply of a Zehnder MVHR system provided to me by ADM. I was planning on fitting it all myself but simply do not have the time. If anyone with experience fancies the job please get in touch with me and I can provide you with the design plans etc. and we can discuss labour costs. I’m in Berkshire (RG45) area. Thanks! 😀

Thanks @SimonD. With regards to specifying varying temps across floors, my logic is more down to the fact that that as my property is being built to latest building regs with high levels of insulation etc, heat will rise and upper floors will naturally be hotter and if target temp is 21 for ground/1st/2nd floors, realistically the upper floors will get hotter than lower floors. Therefore if I spec target temp as 21/20/19 then I may stand a chance of balancing the temp throughout. But what do I know?!! It’s certainly a head spinner all of this for me.

Thanks for response @JohnMo. The UFH will have a mixer regardless due to how low the UFH can actually work. Great to know that most don’t even bother with rads on uppers. I don’t think I’ll do without them completely - the mrs gets cold even in the summer! But at least I know that I can change the target temp upstairs even lower and should still be fine. 😀 overheating may be a slight issue on the south side but we’ll have pergolas/canopies above sliding doors to help with. Although upstairs bedrooms may still get hot. I’ll deffo find out about the cooking feature in ASHP.

Hi All, in currently in end stages of my self build - at first fix stage. I need to spec rads on 1st and 2nd floor which provide wattage to match target temperature of each floor of 21deg. Ground floor we have UFH. My plumber has suggested speccing rads to work at 36deg flow. These rads are huge in places. A few options I have in brining down the rad sizes is to operate at a higher temperature (40deg or even 45) which im reluctant to due to reducing efficiency. Or I can bring down the target temperature however I don’t want to compromise on comfort. However as the house will be super insulated and is 3 storey high, would lowering the temperature by 1 degree as you go up be sensible? I.e 21deg ground floor, 20deg first and 19deg 2nd floor?

What is all this ‘parge’ I hear of?

Thanks all for the super useful info. I’ll find out if my main contractor has a plasterer who is reliable to do wet plaster. Otherwise will go down dot and dab route but make sure it’s done properly and sealed around the edges etc.

Hi all. We’re at first fix stage of our self build (cheeky pic added) and need to make a decision of going traditional wet plaster or dot and dab plasterboard. My build is thermalite blocks inside, 100mm pir plus 50mm air gap, and then my facing bricks. I have MVHR going in and hoping for reasonably high levels of airtightness as possible. I have only ever lived in properties with traditional wet plaster and am used to solid feeling walls and being able to hang up TVs etc without issues, and generally the feeling of solidness and quality which I’m worried dot and dab won’t give me. Any wise words of wisdom out there to sway me one way or another? It’s a home for life so want to make sure I make the right decision.

Thanks! Ha, I’m in Wokingham, Berkshire. As you say, surely this is such a minor element that maybe I should just do what I want and worst case drill a hole.

Yes that is an option, however if I can do without that and have a ring door bell instead that would be my preference.

Hi All, My front door on my new self build will be solid with glass side panel on either side which will be obscured. I’ve been told by window surveyor that I have to have a spy hole unless I have clear glass. I raised the question with them if a ring door bell can mitigate the need for a spy hole however they are not sure. Can anyone provide any clarification? Thanks 😎

Hi. Sorry to hear of your ordeal. I had a similar nightmare towards end of last year, double the CIL figure that you are faced with, but after I put my argument forward to the local CIL dept they decided to drop it due to a technicality in them not sending me any correspondence directly. I got lucky. I had written e-mails to my local MP who had drafted a letter ready to send to the LA had it not been resolved. I would suggest, as the others have mentioned, to get in touch with your local MP etc. I have my fingers crossed for you.

Thanks all for the comments and the education. I have some questions to run by my designer/supplier/installer, however I now have some confidence that they are trying to right by me by not over specifying the unit and using data that is realistic. All these figures and calculations etc go right over my head, so I’m glad to have you bright people to run these things through with. Thank you 😀

Far and few between. I would say maybe only 2 days like that over the past year.

I noticed this too. I Will query this as we are definitely having 130mm insulation above the beam and block floor.

Thank for the comments. I’ll query the points raised and also find out the exact model. I’m addition, the installer mentioned following - “If we were to apply the true efficiency at best case scenario we would be looking for a unit around the 3.7kw output range (the 3.5kw arotherm is the same as the 5kw just restricted via software). We would be proposing a 5kw Vaillant Arotherm Plus with adequate water volume to make the oversizing factor irrelevant to any oversizing negatives”.