Stu789

Buildings insurance for the existing house has a (low) limit on the value of building work that can be happening (anywhere) on the plot (even though there is separate insurance for that building work). Land Registry won't split the plot into separate title deeds until you are selling to another party. I will continue to hunt around for insurers with a more sensible outlook!

Does anyone have any suggested companies for existing house insurance when doing a backfill self-build please? We are shortly going to start work on a self-build bungalow in the back garden - I'm getting/have quotes for site/self-build insurance (Buildcare/Howdens/Protek) but when looking round to renew the existing house buildings and contents insurance all the providers I've found so far have a limit on the value of the building work that can happen under their policy (ranges from £30-75k) - maybe ok for an extension but not for a detached bungalow! Any suggestions appreciated.

I'm hoping we have enough headroom in the attic for a conventional cylinder - something like the heatgeek HG230B6 which is 211l and 1560mm high - spec looks very nice but the price less so which means we may look for another option that gets close to that. Yes WBS is fed via an external air feed through foundation!

Makes sense to drop the pantry supply and add 2nd outlet in lounge. Its a warm roof & the room extract/supply ductwork should be under the loft boarding but good point on avoiding summer heat gain. I had put the extract/supply on the north facing wall - south facing is all glazed (with decent overhang, triple glazing etc) - could put it through the east facing roof as alternative. I agree its busy round the coat/pantry area - I'm for dropping the coat door but some negotiation with SWMBO needed... Will look at headroom and DHW cylinders as agree it would free up a chunk of space. All very helpful thanks

Thanks @JohnMo - the kitchen extract makes sense now & those other changes simplify the design further.

Thanks John/Post and beam/others - this is very helpful. - MVHR moved shortening outside connections - Reduced kitchen to 1 extract - Does the dining room (south facing lots of glass) not need some airflow as air drawn from lounge won't cover it? - Larger alcove will have be wheelchair and golf club storage - could be wet hence thinking an extract would be helpful, deleted extract in coat alcove - Pantry was a supply and plant room an extract - generous door undercut or vent between the two - Yes - External vents were 2m apart - a little more on the revised plan - Will keep an eye on MVHR unit size & hatch - obviously not an issue when building but if it needed a whole unit replacement... - Yet to look at vents - will check their requirements - would be nice that they don't sit proud of the loft floor! Updated version:

We are hoping to push the button on the timber frame order shortly and I'm keen to avoid MVHR ducting issues. Please chip in with any suggestions and also recommended companies for design/supply/commissioning (unless I can satisfy BC by self-commissioning) - I'll very likely do install. This is a self-build bungalow - 170m2 floor area excluding the garage, MVHR unit and manifolds to go up in the attic and use radial ducts to 7 inlets/ 7 outlets. Warm roof, posijoists/attic trusses/2.4m ceiling throughout except the vaulted dining room. Outside air inlet/exhaust on North facing wall with an extra pre-filter box on inlet connected via Aerfoam ducting. Ducting to/from rooms using Ubbink semi-rigid ducting. Thanks for suggestions

I'd echo Conor's suggestion - contact the planning department and ask for status (validated, allocated (to whom) and ask for update) - seems all planning teams are overworked, some more than others. We did planning & listed pre-apps last year in Warwickshire - submitted mid-May, waited 2 weeks and then chased via phone to get on-site meeting dates confirmed (happened end June & mid July) and received their responses mid August. Good luck!

I've posted a first Buildhub blog here on our experience and learnings from concept through PreApp, planning application and getting a recommendation to refuse over-turned at planning committee. Its a pretty niche situation - listed building curtilage, conservation area and also wheelchair mobility needs but hopefully some use to others.

Thanks - this is all useful. Was thinking 000L but easy to go 7500L capturing from 200m2 of bungalow / attached garage roof. The larger units don't cost much more than smaller sizes and extra digging/muckaway isn't large £. Motivation isn't so much financial but rainwater management -> smaller attenuation pond, happy neighbours & severn trent.

Does anyone have experience of direct feed rainwater harvesting systems (no attic tank) with automatic plant watering systems & also using a pressure vessel to reduce pump cycling? The hydroforce pump manual has a note: "Pressure-sensitive pumps are unsuitable for use with low flow applications such as drip feed irrigation systems. To be used on such a system a pressure vessel must be installed and charged to 2.1 bar (30 psi)." Planning on using the small tube plant watering on timer for raised flower beds (not the constant drip feed style) so might not be an issue but it also occurred to me that a pressure vessel ~10-15 litres could significantly reduce pump cycling (would get a couple of toilet flushes before the pump kicks back in and then runs for longer).

We've experienced a high failure rate of small DG units with narrow edges to suit narrow window bars in our G2 listed house (hardwood casements, sash and doors). If going that route I'd suggest check on guarantees and ask around for customer experience over the medium term. Our CO is pretty reasonable - like for like work, email conversation only. Changes to any detail put in listed consent (no charge) with drawings and a sensible rationale - been no issues. Good luck!

Not yet - Planning app is Pending Consideration.

I'm thinking over a similar issue on a much smaller bungalow - is running 15mm pipework for bath/shower hot water & a 2nd 10mm hot water pipe for the sinks almost as good as HWC? 2 bathrooms and kitchen sink, longest run from DHW cylinder is ~10m to Bathroom sink / bath, mains water pressure is pretty decent at over 3 bar. At 4l/min flow out of the tap & 15mm pipe it could take 20secs to get hot water to the furthest tap (6-8sec if using 10mm OD pipe) Alternatively run 15mm pipe to shower and bath and a 10mm pipe to ensuite sink and then on to bathroom sink It does mean there are 2 hot water pipe runs to the bathrooms but they are not particularly long & a HWC approach would have a 2nd hot water pipe for the return anyway.

If siting batteries outside you may want to look at insulation within your available space - in general (not vendor specific) they really don't like charging when cold. Also there is supposed to be an efficiency penalty for low voltage batteries (48V) vs high voltage (300+) - I'm considering Fox ESS EP12s which are quite slim and have an inbuilt heater. Good luck and please do post updates/outcome - interested to read!