Conor

Thanks Dave. Yeah, I think the losses due to our irregular water use from a thermal store would wipe out any savings we'd make from PV heating. And I'm already worried about over heating. I've been reading a lot on here about sunamp... doesn't seem like the product is there yet - the controls at least. I'm 6 months away from installing a system so lets see what happens in that time. Re flows and pressures.... my day job is an engineer in the water sector, so I've at least got this part covered! The reason why our current combi drops flow when other water is used in the house is old pipe configuration and the boiler has limited capacity. I'll be running a 32mm supply to the house, and the area has decent enough mains pressure.

I agree fully... but my other half is determined to have a fire of some sort. And I've spent the last month chopping 5 large trees in to logs!!! it's on the list and in the budget. It has a single bris soliel, but no active cooling included. We've since had thoughts about the location of the kitchen, which will result in some of the south facing glazing going, and we'll be doing a part buried basement so the big slider at that level will be going. I also think I might be able to use some sort of ventilation to use the large concrete volume in the basement as a heat dump. I will work with our architect more on this, I want it remodelled at 22c in winter. I had thought about those simple single unit heat pumps that work as aircon in summer and heating in winter... you know, the big fan units they use in houses in southern Europe.

Hi. Firstly, not sure this is the correct place to post... never seen so many sub-forums in my life.... We're building a 245m2 passive(ish) house this year. South facing, plenty of solar gain when need (bris soleil and external blinds to minimise when not wanted). https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/9228-hi-icf-project-in-holywood/ We're in a town and on mains gas, so it seems by far the most logical source of energy for heating and hot water. As much as I want to de-carbonise, a heat pump doesn't make sense in our case. So, that part is sorted. As we'll have triple glazing, ICF walls, large thermal mass, high air tightness, our energy demand will be low. I don't see the point in spending thousands installing a central heating system. Plus we'll have a wood burner - will be rarely used, so not fussed if there's a back boiler on it. Our initial PHPP assessment attached. I'm thinking plumbed towel rads in wet rooms and maybe 2kw post heaters (3x 150mm - one for each level - each with own control e.g. central warm water heater) Any issues with the above? Would also consider electric under tile heating mats for the master en-suite for my other half's chronically cold feet... My main query is hot water.... there's just the two of us and we both travel a lot for work so we've no regular routine. We have a combi boiler in our house which is great.... but hate the long delay for hot water to come out of the tap and the massive pressure and flow drops when somebody else flushes a toilet or turns on a tap. So I'm ruling that out. I'm also planning on a 3-4KW PV system with solar diverter to provide hot water in the summer... so that means some sort of storage. What are my options? In summary, we need instant DHW on demand, high flow rates, low running cost, heatable by gas and PV. Thernal store, unvented HW cylinder or sunamp type storage? Really unsure!!! Thanks

I've looked at costs (very roughly!) On this and gas always comes up on top. The payback on ASHP is quite long over gas... And that assumes nothing goes wrong with the unit and service costs are comparable to gas. I just feel that ASHP tech just isn't there yet. I can get a gas fired system installed for half the price of an ASHP system and running costs are about the same (5p/ kWh assuming COP of 300%). My last boiler service cost £45. Am I missing something obvious? I'm all for decarbonising but doesn't seem to make sense if you are on natural gas network.

We bought all of our bathroom tiles from them plus my brewshed. No issues, quality is good for the price. It does help that I'm 5min drive from my nearest store

Think we will be enclosing the rear of the basement at least partially. Going off the idea of having living and kitchen elevated above garden. Think it will also come in cheaper as we'd be losing a sliding door and a bit less material to depose of... But would lose the under balcony storage areas. Decisions! Agree with the colours... Will be a lighter grey than shown. Render will be an off-white.

Cheers! That's what I had initially thought. But struggled to find anything firm online from manufacturers recommending/ approving this. I have priced this method and for our build EPS comes in about £3k where as "passive" ICF is an additional £9k over standard. Clear winner.

Thanks Will, very happy things are working out now! Yes, I'd considered buying standard ICF blocks and adding on an additional 100mm EPS. Not sure how I'd go about it tho, what adhesive would you use? Those blocks look quite a handful to work with.

Hi Declan. Yes, visited a couple houses - an off-grid one just up the road and I've visited one in Carryduff that's similar size and mid construction. Both by Johnny Balantine using integra spec. Also been to John McClatchys house which is a Logix build. Main reasons for using ICF are speed of construction, simplicity, inherent air tightness, ease of waterproofing for basement. I hope to do as much as possible myself.. no way would I take on a traditional house build.

Cheers. From memory it was set at 25c. I'll go back to architect when we're making our other changes. Now to me, that's too warm. To my partner, that's just at the point where she no longer has to wear a wool jumper!

Rear is South West facing, but we've a lot of trees around us. It's been modelled in PHPP and once we add a bris soleil on the big window, we are within normal overheating ranges. Plus there will be a lot of thermal mass in the internal structure. And we're in grey and cold northern Ireland!!

Planning drawings attached. We'll likely make the basement same as the main floor area as it'll simplify construction- esp if using a raft. Will also raise ground level up a bit at rear and lose sliders and all the expensive balconies. Ground floor, we'll be flipping the kitchen to the outshoot, living to where the dining is and dining to where the kitchen is. A few other things changing as well, moving stairs, losing the laundry space etc etc. Not had the heart to tell the architect just yet....

We're in exactly the same situation - residential mortgage on a property we want to demolish and replace. We've spoken to dozens of banks and drawn universal blanks. Only exception is Ecology, they will pay up to 75% of the land costs and then on the building stage. They've confirmed to us that they will take over our current residential mortgage when We're ready to start works and have planning. We also spoke to build store and they said they had two potential lenders that could work with us - but didn't name them. Positive for us is that the site, cleared and with FPP is worth more than what we paid for the house...

@willbish any update on your situation with Logix? One of the builders I'm considering going with on my project uses Logix so keen to hear more.

Hi, We're about to start our project - 250m² 1.5 story house with basement on a sloping site in Holywood, Co. Down. Drawings all done, just waiting for planning to come through. My background is an engineer/project manager in the water industry, so I'm planning on using a lot of innovative, rapid, and non-traditional construction methods - focus on safe, rapid construction and simplicity and reduced dependence on trades. We're also aiming for passive levels of insulation and airtightness - south facing site with lots of glass. So, expect lots of posts about insulated foundations, ICF systems, tanking, shuttering concrete walls, floor deck systems, MVHR, the lot! Thanks.