Declan52

You can still use a PV diverter with what you have. It tells your immersion heater to heat up instead of sending excess electric back to the grid.

A pic would help. Are you just looking this bit covered in to make it look nice or to stop damp etc getting through.

I only mentioned the issue I had with condensation as in the original post they stated that it was too be sited in a cold loft. Was more of a warning to be careful with the room extract ducts as these aren't usually insulated. Never had any issues with the insulated ducts leaving the unit heading to the tile vents.

See above

Yes was from my utility room so of all the extracts this air would have been the warmest.

Inside. The warm air from the house must have cooled down enough to form condensation on the inside edge of the pipe. It started to drip from the ceiling vent that's how I noticed it.

Have they ever gave you a reason why they have an expansion joint at a corner. Never seen them like that before. Might be a perfectly good reason for it but the corners of any building are it's strongest points and by putting an expansion joint there it's made it weaker. You usually find them along a very long stretch of brickwork/blocks but right at the corner is a new one for me.

I mean what's above that stone ledge as there ain't anything below it to hold it up.

For what they paid in steel and concrete they could have built that entire thing from block and rendered it smooth and still had more than enough to fully kit out that house.

They have used whatever was lying round and hard to pack up a head or a cill to get it level. You can use a deep bed of motar as the weight of the head and cill will just make it sink so you find something to use as a packer. Could be a tile, cement board, slate. Have seen lots of things used. What is holding that up???

But your blocks arent the crumbly mess type blocks. Nail a strap on using the correct nails and try and pull it out.

I used hilti nails as they have a washer. Took some hammering but couldn't pull them out with a winch.

Wall plate straps have been held in place for years and years without any issue. Use the right nail for the job and it will outlast you.

You could start with a few more details. Like size of your PV array and the size of your ashp. Are you looking a sunamp or have you one that you can't get the full usage out of.

Or just nail it.

I have a vent axia sentinel b and my vents out are connected by a straight run of insulated duct to a vent tile. It goes straight up and anytime I have removed the heat sink to clean it out, on my 5th year now, it's always been dry. Just beware I had a short run through my cold section of loft and even though it was an insulated duct I still had condensation form. Had to remove this section dry it out by leaving it infront of the stove and then refit. I then wrapped it in 150mm rockwool insulation and have had no issues since.

Are they going to coat that patchwork quilt with something to make sure the render can get adhesion to it. Previously it would have had the rough blocks. Now it has motar that looks like it was thrown at it from 6ft away and pointed in with the back of the shovel.

There is a cavity there to stop water going through to the inside so I would stop them filling cracks in as by letting rain find it's way through it will allow you to show what is in the cavity isn't doing what it's supposed to do.

Hire of a mixer and a telehandler to load bricks and blocks and maybe the truss. Trestles and planks and scaffolding to build the house.

That's the wrong kind of wall tie that should have been used for your full fill cavity boards. You sure it's a wall tie???

Just buy a quality hammer. For what you will actually use it for and the cost it won't be worth it. Plus it will stop you nailing yourself to the roof at some stage.

They wont mind if there are only a few ducts to work round. If they do mind then tell them to just get in with it.

You leave the ducts covered in the slab by 10-15 mm so it's easier to break them out. You just tap the concrete at that area and it will sound hollow then you know your there. A few more strikes with a hammer and bolster will remove what's on top. Not a big job to worry about.

At your meeting tomorrow message sure you get everything written down so it really sharpens their minds.

What post of his did you think was a dig, The mining one??? Surely the whole concept of putting any kind of renewable technology in a self build is a constant struggle weighing up how much you really want something Vs how much it costs Vs what if any monetary payback you might recieve for using it.The first thing I looked at before I paid for my solar panels was when do I break even then made the choice that I was happy to pay out in the knowledge that I would eventually cover my costs.