Stu789

Exactly the attraction for me embarking on self-build - I have the skills for PM & some of the trades, time to be on-site & source materials at best prices and attention to detail for workmanship, site condition/safety & invoicing/record keeping. But also don't want to toil for 000s of hours to see no market/resale value for that effort because the economics didn't stack up!

kitchen-dining room is open plan, no wall. Thanks - makes sense. Admittedly not clear in the drawing but the storage spaces are in the corridor and are intended for potentially wet items (wheelchair, coats, golf clubs, driven by Part M wheelchair user dwelling). For Plant & Pantry the transfer grille and S/E valves far apart sounds a good route, thanks. The attic space is inside the airtight envelope.

Thanks for the suggestions above. Here is the current bungalow floor plan showing my first pass at MVHR inlet & extract points - comments/suggestions invited. Planning to site the MVHR unit above bedroom 3 as attic trusses above non-vaulted space will provide plenty of room & its central. I think the dining room inlet could be fed up an enlarged service void from the pantry or maybe easier is along the apex from above bedroom 3 to the dining room outlet in both cases AE35 or AE45 oval ducting reduce the space required.

I'm of the same view as long as it doesn't make the service void massive. Thx

Dining room will be at end of the building, only connected to the kitchen.

Anyone know if it would it be possible / have experience putting these & the associated AE35 ducting in a raft foundation floor? Planning an open kitchen-diner with vaulted dining room at the end of a bungalow and need MVHR feed-in at the far end of dining room to match with an extract over the kitchen sink. MVHR expert I spoke with said ducts in floors are used from time to time for vaulted rooms but we didn't talk about floor makeup. An alternative is route the AE35 ducting in the vaulted roof service void (which requires SV to be at least 50mm) but the grille adapter is then far too deep (287mm) for the SV.

I recently made an application for new-build connection estimate with National Grid with very similar consumption to yours - they proposed 3 phase 60Amp per phase. They called me to discuss, we agreed desktop estimate given we are at pre-app stage and then they emailed details and called to followup - all very helpful. A little more cost for 3P CU but fast EV charging, greater draw and sell-back to grid to/from batteries and 3 phase hybrid inverter is a very small price premium & EV chargers are mostly common model for 1/3 phase.

Thanks - Both look really good and added to the info file as we are looking to build step free and to Part M4(3) + some of the Living Home extras.

Looking to do the same so yes please!

Thanks - 3.7m generally and 3.1m minimum for a short distance seems to be a common requirement - that should be do-able without reducing the garage!

We are looking at building a backfill bungalow which would share existing access from the A-road so no issues with widths, set backs etc there & similarly at the bungalow there is room for turning circles etc. However the drive to access the back garden has a pinch point between the boundary wall and the side of the garage (just the front as the garage and boundary wall are not parallel). Does anyone know what minimum width requirements would be? Currently it is 2.9m at the pinch point which I'm pretty sure is too tight - depending on what is required we may have an easy solution (agreement to remove the kink in the boundary wall) to get to ~3.5 maybe 4m but otherwise it is make the wide double garage narrower which is possible but for obvious reasons I would prefer to avoid. TIA for any guidance/pointers

A big thanks to @ETC for spending time over the past couple of weeks to produce drawings and provide suggestions to improve our initial ideas! Really appreciate the assistance!

Just back from a day at the NEC - ~10 SIPS providers, several good conversations, particularly with MBC so will be sharing the preliminary plans with them next week once they've recovered from 4 days of stand duty! Thanks all.

Thanks - useful pointers here, MBC are exhibiting & definitely on the list!

Does anyone have recommendations on SIP/TF companies to seek out at the Housebuilding show at NEC next week? We briefly looked at Kingspan and Scotframe at the NSBRC but looking more seriously now. Planning a bungalow for an infill project in the midlands, most likely brick outer skin, pitched roof. We have a preliminary plan/layout but have some flexibility, about 150-160m2 + garage/carport. Previous builds we've done (managed) have been brick and block but SIPs or TF looks interesting for the usual reasons. Thanks in advance

+ for other kit, panels and batteries are improving quick enough that 2nd hand doesn't seem to make sense. As I read it inverters have a shorter life and are a small part of the overall cost (if you are including batteries) + split warranty gives you the potential for finger pointing in the event of issues.

Will be watching with interest as we are just up the road from Fenny Compton but at planning stage - hoping to put ~10kWp of panels on the roof and have a decent amount of battery - given our timescales & how fast battery options are evolving it will be speccing everything as late as possible.

I'm considering rainwater harvesting and thinking that a gutter outlet spider + downpipe leaf filter + silt trap + deeper tank so pump draws from higher up the tank more of the time is going to give the best chance of cleaner water - if the downpipe leaf filter is good enough then maybe delete the spider. Really interested how clean the water is for an installation where someone has taken these steps - brown muddy water in the toilets and washing machine will be a tough sell to my other half! Also clear that financial considerations are very much secondary - assisting site water management & being environmentally responsible being my drivers.

New forum member in Warwickshire, looking at feasibility of parting off ~900sqm of our back garden as a plot for an infill bungalow. We have done and managed some substantial renovation/extension to houses over the past 20 years but its now time to downsize & this might be the preferred route. The basic idea seems to fit in with the local neighbourhood plan so exploring in more detail and discussing needs vs wants with SWMBO. Just starting the journey and may fizzle out but there is lots of great advice and encouragement in this forum!