Nick Laslett

Another good primer video here: Paul Hibbert’s humour isn’t to everyone’s taste, but he is honest about the tech.

Smart home stuff - lots of choices, trade offs and complexity. UK list of Apple HomeKit compatible switches. https://www.apple.com/uk/home-app/accessories/#section-switches List includes stuff that is very recent and switches from 5 years ago. There are new protocols & standards like “Treads” & “Matter” that have superseded Zigbee. Every man and his dog has a hub and an app but some devices don’t need hubs or apps and can use Apple Home app and Matter. An AppleTV helps as it can act as a Thread Border Router. I feel like we are just getting to the point where nearly everything will work. But you do need to think about what you want to achieve. Also, UK, USA and EU all have specific devices due to certifying authorities, so you can easily find a US YouTuber talking about a device that will never be release in UK. Here is a good primer on Apple’s approach to smart home stuff.

On the topic of self design, self install, this forum gave me the confidence to DIY this part of my build. In no particular order, here are some threads that I found useful. In addition to the two Robin Clevett videos, I also found the detailed podcast and associated articles on HousePlanningHelp very instructive. Ben had a rigid system designed and installed for his build. There are some interesting design compromises that give you an idea how malleable a MVHR system can be. https://www.houseplanninghelp.com/hph202-designing-the-ventilation-heating-and-hot-and-cold-water-systems-for-bens-house-with-alan-clarke/ http://www.houseplanninghelp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Alan-Clarke-2.pdf Link to the Good Practice Guide, MVHR for single dwellings (Passivhaus Trust) document http://passivhaustrust.org.uk/UserFiles/File/Technical Papers/2018 MVHR Good Practice Guide rev 1.2(1).pdf Here are some specific notes I collected during my research: House planning help podcast notes Active carbon filter for external intake, with log burners nearby. Turn unit to lower setting. Filter on kitchen extract. Boost when lot of people. Boost when cooking. Set fan speed 2 high enough to remove moisture when showering. JHarris - BuildHub post The issue regarding the number of extracts versus supplies is very important. Extract rates will be higher per room very often, because building regs mandate the minimum extract level for kitchens, bathrooms, utility rooms and WCs, and these rates are significantly higher than the supply rates you would normally want in bedrooms, living rooms etc. It's therefore best to have more supply vents than extract vents, to enable the system to be balanced more easily. That way the flow rates through the supply terminals will be lower than that through the extract terminals, meaning noise will be lower. A bit of noise on boost is normally acceptable in a bathroom or kitchen, but less so in a bedroom. Silencers must be fitted as close to the MVHR as possible, before the main ductwork. MVHR kitchen valve is located at least 600mm away from the cooker. HeatSpaceandLight - blog post comment We put filters on each extract valve (where dust from the room will naturally accumulate) which can be taken out easily and cleaned/replaced to keep dust out of the ducts. We also put a grease filter on the kitchen valve to keep grease and dust out of the ducts. Finally, the unit has F7 and G4 filters which keep pollen, carbon dust and other nasties from entering the system/fans from outside, and these can be replaced and cleaned also.

@Great_scot_selfbuild, like all self build questions there is no one right answer. For most of the members here, price seems to be the guiding factor. I like this page at Paul Heat Recovery that covers the ducting topic well. https://www.paulheatrecovery.co.uk/mvhr-and-mev-ducting-components/best-practice-mvhr-and-mev-ducting/ They recommend both rigid branch system and quality semi-rigid radial system. I also like this website, Heat, Space & Light Ltd. https://www.heatspaceandlight.com/difference-between-branch-radial-duct-which-better/ They have lots of blog posts and pictures of various installs, there are good discussions in the comments on some posts. With a rigid branch system, there is potential for noise transfer between rooms, which might require additional attenuators. With a semi-rigid radial system you can send more than one duct to a plenum which can be useful. Not sure if rigid spiral ducting is smoother than semi-rigid, as one has seams and the other is seamless with a continuous unbroken duct. Rigid has lots of joints, which require the joints to be sealed. Lindab SAFE rigid ducting has double gaskets, but is more expensive than regular spiral ducting. For me, I went with Lindab’s semi rigid ducting at 90mm, but this is quite expensive. I was quite strongly influenced by Robin Clevett’s install video.

I brought a miniscaff tower direct from Lewis Scaffolding. https://www.scaffold-tower.co.uk/product/trade-folding-towers/ This was an investment for me, which I plan to keep long term. You can buy up to a working height of 8 metres. Very easy to buy add-ons and accessories. This was important for me, because I wanted to understand how to use the tower before buying to the full height I required, which was 7 metres. Strong, but light aluminium construction, quick delivery.

Another photo.

I used Thermohouse for my ICF blocks, they are Irish based. According to their technical specs, there is no additional sealing needed at the slab/wall junction. I have an insulated raft and the ICF block overhangs by 9mm. The walls are rendered and there is stop bead along the bottom edge. The EPS upstand of the insulated foundation is rendered with EWI Mosaic Render (EWI-050). Here is a picture. We used the Triton TT as a DPC on the EPS of all the rough openings of the doors and windows. Thermohouse have specific ‘check reveal’ blocks for window and door openings. There was a discussion about water ingress at the wall/foundation junction in this thread. My post in that thread. Response was not to worry. Three years later house seems okay, no evidence of water ingress at this junction. Still have Air Test to come.

@WiltshireLink, I think this is the new name for Triton TT Vapour Membrane paint. https://wykamol.com/products/technoseal-dpm If you look at the product date sheet it has Triton name address on the bottom of the sheet. https://wykamol.com/uploads/files/TECHNOSEAL-DPM-ST02-TDS7.pdf I bought my tubs of Triton TT from The Preservation Shop. They carry Technoseal, tub is the same form factor. https://www.preservationshop.co.uk/product/wykamol-technoseal-liquid-damp-proofing-membrane-dpm/ I think I have 1 unopened 5L tub of Triton TT left, but it is 3 years old. You are welcome to it if you are happy to collect. We are in Suffolk. Don’t think 5L will get you much coverage.

I feel like peel & stick membranes for ICF are a USA building code thing. Some of us here used Triton TT Vapour Membrane Paint. Seems hard to find now. @Russell griffiths Good discussion here:

I like this YouTuber. I only have experience of one plaster and one tape and jointer. They both had very strong opinions about which brand/type of angle bead they wanted to use.

Great post, @craig. Thank you for the corrections. Funnily enough, I actually followed the Illbruck install videos and used all their products. Really rate the compriband TP651 Trio and FM330 foam. I even bought the Illbruck shears and roller! I’ve got ICF walls, so some adaptation was required, my rough openings have built in eps “check reveals”, so the window frame sits in the middle of the wall where the cavity would be with a traditional block wall. I used Siga tape, because they explicitly list EPS as an acceptable substrate. I think Illbruck want you to use a primer for EPS, but could be wrong. The thing about EPS, is that there is quite a variation and quality difference between ICF manufacturers. I did a few tests to make sure I was happy with the tapes adhesion on the EPS. Here is the Illbruck “check reveal” video, I have bookmarked. https://youtu.be/OqFE5Yr6OZo?si=2LbElKxM0JWGCA90

So many different ways to approach this. The quoted price seems fine to me. Airtightness tape can be expensive for named brands. Here are some videos that you might find useful. But a lot depends on your wall construction and other factors. Are they using expanding compriband tape to fix the windows or foaming the gap?

As @saveasteading says, you need some specific preparations for concrete stairs. We have 150mm thick concrete ICF walls on three sides of our stairs. The distance between the walls sets the rake. Rebar goes into the side of the wall as the stairs go up.

I have concrete stairs and a concrete first floor. The foundation design will need to accommodate a concrete stairs. My structural engineer needed to know the stairs design, before he finalised the foundation design. We needed an additional concrete pad under the insulated raft at the bottom of the stairs. I did investigate Millbank for pre-fabricated stairs, but the ICF guys built the form work for the stairs in-situ, and poured the concrete the same time as the first floor walls. https://www.milbank.co.uk/products/stairs/stairs-and-landings/ For me, concrete first floor and stairs were an integral part of my design requirements from the beginning, even before deciding to go with ICF, which actually made it much easier. The ICF guys did my stairs at no additional cost, which was very generous of them. Here are some other links I have from my early research. https://www.ejbformwork.co.uk/in-situ-concrete-stairs/ https://midwest-stairs.co.uk Picture of the form work for our stairs.

I also like this podcast, where they discuss how much you actually can do yourself. https://www.houseplanninghelp.com/hph232-which-parts-of-a-house-build-can-you-do-yourself-with-ben-ribbans/ Also came across this video interview, which looks good.