puntloos

One additional question though: How much noise does a plant room make?

17. No wait 18! Do I win? Fair, although the idea of putting it close to the bathrooms does appeal to me. I'm not quite sure yet what a 'hot return' is that supposedly fixes the cold pipes. Will research a little later. OK but indeed def not a negligible box. And I think there's also a ton of manifolds that might sprout up above it? Yes I did mean AC. My current plan is to "hope" (with science!) that ASHP/MVHR/Insulation will work well, but to have a backup plan, e.g. maybe not yet purchase an actual AC unit, but at least be ready with ducting and indeed a spot on its wall. Ceiling void, why is that the best spot? Are you suggesting to e.g. have both the internal and external unit inside+outside the loft will be optimal somehow? (presumably on the shady side.) As you noticed I'm a bit hesitant to accept ASHP to work in 100% of situation this house will encounter in the coming 40 years, so while I might not actually buy a boiler during build, I figure making it easy to add one as a backup (so allocating space and maybe some plumbing) seems sensible? I've looked around but can't find pictures of yours.. care to share? Fair enough.. I guess I am a bit more 'pre-planning' for things like a boiler and an AC that might never materialise.

How much space am I going to need just for "heating, cooling, water" equipment? I tried to find a few representative pictures on these devices.. MVHR Forced Air System which includes the airconditioner condenser coil I think ASHP, ASHP Buffer Tank & Hot Water Storage (or can one cilinder handle all?) Gas-based boiler (backup for deeply cold days) Rainwater storage? Photovolt convertor and electricity Storage? Is the above anywhere near fair, and if so, am I correct you need a pretty sizeable 'plant room'? Feels like a 3x3 space is the absolute minimum if leaving out rainwater storage

Thanks for all the info! Not sure I get this one, other than a joke Huh, didn't think of this one. But clearly we'd have laser anti-fly defense. Seriously though, from the inside it will still be a bit of a faff, but the windows, from the 1st floor, would be only maybe 4-5m away from my head, I expect, so that's doable once in a while?

Yep me too, am gravitating towards Markilux 3300 pur, based on this post - this is the very first in-wall one I've seen which makes it a LOT more elegant. Did they tell you how the architect should build the wall to make it ready for this awning? https://patioawnings4less.co.uk/ ? One further note: make sure that your wall will actually hold an awning whilst the wind hits it. From I think the haus company: - 5m wide awning weighs 65kg - needs 40cm space above the roller - 6 fixings (3 on each end) - Each fixing max load 6.925N (under windy conditions) Frankly that 6925N sounds crazy (because it implies that effectively each fixing needs to be able to hold 700kg.)

Fair question, I'm assuming the inside is permanently fine ? - we aren't smokers. But perhaps that's a little optimistic, but still, indeed I was assuming the poles would reach Dunno, maybe? Yeah I was wondering about this, I haven't done the math yet (hmm pytagoras where art though) to figure out how long a pole you'd need and how steep a roof. My hunch is the pitch has to be more than 45 degrees, at least? And then not *too* far off the ground, but we only have ground, first, and "loft/roof" so shouldn't be insanely high.. It is an interesting point that indeed also any PV might need an occasional good clean..

So we are considering skylights almost at the top of our 2 storey house, to form a double height hallway all the way up, so these windows would be about 9m up, on a pitched roof? Given the current design of the house, they would not be (easily) reachable from inside the house. Maybe with lots of ladders.. A bunch of questions came up: 1/ How quickly do they dirty? (There's no big trees near) Would they become noticeably grimy after.. 6m? 1y? 2? 5? 2/ With zero accommodations for cleaners, when will cleaners simply say "NO". E.g. is there a certain steepness of the roof that has most/all of them refuse to do it because of danger? 3/ Would any window in the loft help? Would they want to climb out there? Or would they simply use their own ladders? 4/ We are thinking of a smallish balcony on the 1st floor, would installing a permanent staircase from there to the roofline help? Or are we overthinking this?

Just two quick notes: 1/ If you're serious about a basement, probably better to do a ground water level check sooner rather than later. If your basement is going to have to hold back the water price jumps massively. 2/ Assuming ground water is not a problem, I received a handwavey quote from a builder in the area of 2500/sqm

@epsilonGreedy why did you revise your ideas? Purely because the quality was poor?

Quite so, there are some very cheap internet brands, but I think my 'quality' selection has been narrowed down to: - Luxaflex - Haus - Markilux - Brustor As a rule of thumb, these awnings cost 2000 GBP per meter width, incl install (probably a fair chunk)

Ha my dad sent me the flier for the awnings.. just as a blast from the past (I want horizontal extending so you can walk under it..) - Max 450cm wide, should be 10cm wider than the window on each side. - Dralon anti-mould fabric. Eh. It lasted 'okay' for 60 years.. - Simple 1m rotating area.

Interesting, indeed we were thinking to create indeed some awning-able area. And perhaps an awning like the IQ might be a bit more 'solid' (wind resistant) than the standard stretchy-army one. One thing I haven't found yet: my parent's 60's awnings are actually built into the window frame. The 'control' is actually some band that you can pull around from the inside to raise/lower. I'm not quite sure I'd want to build this stuff deeply into the house wall even if I could (replaceable parts and all that) but it's worth considering..

Stripes also feel very 'candy store' to me. No. But exactly I am wondering about what is an appropriate color is. For integration with the surroundings, green might be quite nice (blending with the garden), and fwiw it would be a very good color to hide a bit of dirt and mould.. - but aesthetics and 'weird skin tone effects' I'm not quite sure. Funny, my parents' awnings are orange.They were the vogue in the 60s. Orange works fairly well (60yr Anecdote for you there..) but I'm still tempted by green, although indeed perhaps grey might work.. feels a bit... grey..

FWIW my parents, in the Netherlands (which is pretty much identical climate) have had the same, built-in awnings for 50 years, and while the fabric at this point has some mouldy spots (don't leave standard cotton it in the rain and then roll it up..) it's still quite serviceable. Frankly, awnings are a great example of 'simple' technology that everybody should use, like 'the washing mashine'.. I'm surprised that the UK has mostly ignored it.

Yeah there's a few around - this company has german awnings: https://www.appealshading.com/awnings/?ppc=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA98TxBRBtEiwAVRLqu-jbyh4fM8E5iSZdf6SRzu9wPLOInqjnJTyH5zpNrk8lv6zqo1vtuxoC0osQAvD_BwE - and are immediately 6x as expensive. You're right, a 5m awning could be 80kg or so, and I imagine if fully extended and perhaps swaying in the wind, the load on the actual bolts that secure it to the wall will be even worse than a straight load. We probably need to pre-plan this carefully..

Well, clearly outside power is needed, but presumably we can do this without puncturing any thermal barriers..

I've lived in many countries, and it keeps on surprising me that the UK is extremely conservative on technologies that seem obvious anywhere else. This ranges from toilet design, to window construction, and in this case... Awnings. Why is there no topic at all on buildhub on awnings? Is this a magic technology people are not yet aware of? Seriously though, what am I missing? Why are awnings not a default in every house? They literally keep the sun outside as long as you want, and move politely out of the way if you want the brightness. Cost? 1500 delivered for 6m wide electrically operated one. , 229 for 1.5m wide one. (primrose are possibly a bit on the cheap/flimsy side, but frankly that's just a hunch). To awn-ify your entire sun-facing side you're probably out 2500 GBP and any solar gain problem is effectively gone. Anyway.. for those of you who have them: - What features to look out for - What are bad design features to watch out for - What color works? I am thinking some natural green style color but perhaps it feels wrong when inside on a sunny day? And if you actively considered but rejected them: Why? My current ideal are: 1/ Folds up ideally into a wall, rather than a cassette stapled to the wall 2/ All awnings in the house controllable from one spot (ideally with smart home but at least RF or one button) 3/ Backup manual control from the inside. 4/ Waterproof so can actually be used as a rain shield for a BBQ style party Thoughts, experiences, comments welcome!

To be clear, you mean same amount of floorspace allocated to beds as to living? Frankly I'm going a bit more towards living. We have a very small family and also feel we just don't spend a lot of time in said beds. (with the exception of the kid, he probably will want a nicely sized place for doing his own thing, away from us..) Yeah I think we're moving away from this idea, also because it's too awkward (with the steel beam etc). Sadly my (uncharitable) render is a bit jarring, perhaps we can apply some patterns/detailing that makes it more palatable Why would the garden room be particularly hot? (let alone the kitchen?) - purely because of the amount of glass used? We haven't quite settled on how open vs closed everything would be, indeed the current design is on the glassy side, but I was planning to install awnings above all the glass to control the heat, and of course 'proper' insulation? Yeah I'll be sure to evaluate those closely.

Fair enough. I guess the reason for me pulling it back was just to gain space for the living room... but it's only a few cm anyway..

Thanks for the responses so far- to be clear, this is my design, but working with an architect to make it into something 'sane'. Correct. Good question, I can play around with the views. But another good question is 'how often will I be in the garden looking exactly that angle'... answer is probably 'not too many' so indeed that factors deeply into 'is it worth it'... (but if the price difference is 10 quid, then probably yes?) Interesting point, my fault certainly, I have just 'inserted' those doors blindly, I never figured to think about where they would fold into. Is it bad to just have the panels accumulate at the edges of the window? Or am I missing your point? My cold-bridge understanding is still a bit rudimentary. Where would this cold bridge run? Can you be more specific? Do you mean the full house size vs the plot size? It's definitely trying to maximize the floor space, but this is an inner city build, space is at a premium so some corners are cut Apologies for the newbieness but I'm completely failing to understand your next sentence: I assume you mean this one: Frankly, I don't understand which part is the 'shade making return' is? This is all sun-facing. Of course there needed to be place for the pocket doors, that cause shade?

Take a look at the attached picture, showing 2 variations of the same house: The two big differences are - the slightly retracted top floor, also splitting the roof (theoretically allowing for e.g. skylights) - the angled light catcher room vs a more square version. My questions: - Assuming we do sacrifice space (so the house has about 10sqm less floorspace, at 10x2000GBP=20,000 GBP), what the cost of putting in beams to support the top floor , the extra roof part, insulation issues etc etc add up to? Are we going to break even? Make a little money perhaps? Or will it be costly? - Assuming the angled room is about 11sqm, and the square one is the same how much would angling the wall cost? Perhaps assume 11*2000=22000 for the square one?

Yup, perhaps this is a solution in search of a problem.. although having a camera permanently monitoring the build site doesn't seem like a terrible idea?

Since both my wife and me have fulltime jobs, we probably can't be onsite too often during daytime building activities.. A friend suggested that maybe a smart doorbell would be a cool solution. If builders have any questions, they can literally 'ring the doorbell' and ask their questions, have a chat with us, no matter where we are. Does this seem like a worthwhile plan? The doorbell would give a good video feed of proceedings as a bonus, but the hard part is getting internet enabled for this.. (neighbors don't seem to have wifi!). How often would builders have questions or other points to discuss with us?

Tis tough, I do have a lot of data but I'd say the accuracy I can work with is in he area of 250mm.. agreed it does start to add up..

I'll plug this one too: