Hilldes

Thanks @Dan F. Much appreciated. My setup is simpler in that I don’t currently have PV or battery storage. I did google for reviews of the Loxone Wallbox but got no hits apart from Loxone marketing materials.

Any Loxone owners used a Loxone Wallbox as an EV charger? Any benefits for Loxone integration in this product as opposed to non Loxone EV charger outlets? https://shop.loxone.com/enuk/wallbox-tree.html

Thanks all for the replies. Basically got two 12'x36' static caravans in the back garden that won't fit through the side access and no other route out of the back garden 😯. So thinking about having one demolished and removed and keeping the other as a garden building (shed). But shielding it so it looks kind of like a shed and not a caravan.

Can someone help interpret this wording please from a planning condition applied to an approval letter: " Notwithstanding the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015 (or any Order revoking or re-enacting or amending those Orders with or without modification), no enlargement within Schedule 2, Part 1, Classes A and B shall be carried out on the dwellinghouse hereby permitted. Reason: Having regard to the size of the dwelling approved, the local planning authority wishes to retain control over any future extensions at the property, in order to safeguard the openness of the Green Belt and the residential amenities of adjoining properties. " Does this mean effectively that Permitted Development rights have been removed for the plot? More specifically, would it prohibit the erection of a garden building that would normally fall within PD rights?

Received a text from HMRC last week….. ”HMRC: Your DIY refund has been issued. Please allow up to 10 working days for it to reach you, don't contact us before this time. You'll receive a letter with more information on how your refund has been calculated.” Paymet received and a letter received this week. Claim was submitted 30 Nov 2022, so just over 4 months in total to process.

I got a letter this week from HMRC DIY team to confirm receipt of my claim- which was submitted 3.5 months ago. Said they will endeavour to process with 6 weeks.

@Joanna SusskindWe just got our structural warranty - 5 months after the building control completion "final certificate". Now off a self build mortgage and saving £700 per month in mortgage interest. This delay was due to the warranty provider technical auditors being a total PITA (warranty provider is Protek). So be careful who you choose if you do need a warranty. In your case, I'm not sure how you get by with just architect inspection and no warranty provider from the start - I guess it may be different in Scotland? Either way, our warranty provider, building control and mortgage lender valuers all continued site visits throughout lockdown. I think you have a case in saying your architect should have continued inspections too.

I remember when I was looking for a piling solution a comment about investigating an insulated raft foundation with piles - it was you I think. I went for concrete piles with reinforced concrete ground beam, block foundation walls supporting and insulated beam and block floor. This has a number of challenges such as the need to ventilate the void under the beam and block floor and the depth of escalation required for the min 300mm depth of the void. Being yours is a raft so it sits on the ground and has no need for a ventilated void?

Stupid question from me: how do you know if a gas boiler is short cycling?

Guess you would only need one room stat if you are not using devices such a Loxone Pure switches (or similar) a your room temperature sensor.

Good question, would need a zone valve at least for the DHW. For the UFH manifolds, if you switch off the pump will that block all water flow thought the manifold? I would assume not but others I'm sure will know more than me. Mine is a gas boiler, for a heat pump using the heat pump controller may be better - as per @JohnMo...

The Salus Auto Balancing Actuator sits on the return manifold on one of the longer loops - as shown in pic below - 5th loop from the left. It is only required because the WUNDA wiring centre I selected requires at least one actuator in order to enable the pump and boiler call for heat. With a different wiring centre the actuator could be omitted I believe. Yes, one zone per floor - the GF manifold shown.

Great if that is working for you, but for my application planners were not concerned- main reason being the village has an ecclectic mix of architectural styles, which we stated in the design and access statement. Also on demonstrating how you meet policy and make it easy for the planners is kind of difficult in Green belt when the key policy statement is the replacement dwelling must not be “materially larger” - and nobody really knows what this means including the planners. Our planning consultant said it would be interpreted as around a 30% uplift in GEA, but that was not enough for a bungalow on a substantial plot with many larger houses on the same road. But apart from GEA uplift what does materially larger mean in terms of ridge height, eaves height, volume? - no one knows how to interpret the policy. Then you get into more woolly policy wording eg that it shall not impact openness of the countryside, which means… I think it does help if you can actually talk to the planners if your LPA will permit this. We put in two pre-application advice requests and one full planning application and never got to speak to a planner.

@jayc89 I have Velfac windows and bought a load of the proper lugs that Nick describes above. However, I did not use any of them and screwed through the frame in all cases. Whether you can use lugs depends on your wall build up. Mine is 140mm timber frame with 50mm deep battens then render board and thin coat silicon render (board and render about 20mm thick). If you want to set the windows back from the surface of the render by 40 to 50mm, then you may have to screw through the window frame because even the shortest lugs will be too long - with the lug screw holes missing the frame and extending over the insulation layer on the inside of the timber frame.

This week I finally received my warranty certificate of insurance - 5 months after I received the completion/final certificate from Building Control. While there have been many challenges with the self build (as we would expect) this battle with the warranty provider has required by far the most effort, frustration and out of pocket expenses. I estimate the out of pocket expenses being around £7K for this 5 month delay - compared to the cost of the warranty policy £1,435.

@Andehh This thread might help on the spec of the glass...

HA = Home Automation? Our electricals came in at £31K, without the home automation elements it would probably have come in about half that figure. However... if we take the kitchen, it is the HA lighting that transforms the contract kitchen into something that looks much more special. Same with bathrooms, bedrooms. Overall, the HA was worth every penny. It should be noted though that design and installation was largely done by me (professional spark for the 230v side). I think it would have cost another £10 to £20k for a professional HA design & install.

Challenges with our MBC erection: Bulge in the rim board - basically where the floor cassette intersects the GF external wall and FF external wall, the rim board in locations were around 20mm proud of the external walls. Even when a layer 9mm OSB was removed there was still a significant proportion of the perimeter where the protrusion with around 10mm. This meant that many of the vertical battens for cladding had to be notched over the rim board. One section of first floor gable wall was skewed relative to the GF wall below - so basically one end of the FF wall was proud of the GF wall below and the other end set back from the GF wall below. This meant the vertical batten for cladding had to be progressive planed at on end of the wall and then packed out at the other end. This coupled with 1 above basically doubled the effort required to fit the external vertical battens to exterior walls. Anchors for vertical steels to foundation blockwork - expanding bolts were used as opposed to chemical. This caused foundation blocks to beak in a number of locations. I believe the erection team suspected the expanding bolts were not appropriate but used them because that was what had been supplied. This was resolved by MBC applying structural grout to cracked foundation blockwork. One section of internal non load bearing wall - adjoining the stairs a section of wall that was had a diagonal section that ascended in line with the stairs. This was initially installed upside down and shot fixings through to the slab - fortunately the shot nails missed the UFH pipes embedded in the slab. Mix up with steels order, basically steels had not been ordered, so a 2 week delay on site while steels were manufactured. To be fair this did not have a great impact as we had planned 4 weeks for erection and it still completed in that time.

My timber frame was supplied by MBC. They are indeed great to work with, e.g. in the frame design stage, and were good value for money. There were however a number of challenges with our frame erection by MBC. Erection was spring 2021.

@DeanAlanMy other thread focussed on just the two ‘defects’ that were proposed as policy exclusions. Besides those there was a much larger number of random defects. One example being… the building inspector on the completion visit went up the stairs took photos and raised no issues with the stairs in the report to the warranty provider. The warranty providers technical auditor raised a defect saying stairs wider than 1m need a handrail on both sides. Easily resolved by sending in a photo with a meter ruler showing the actual stairs width was 88cm. Just annoying that it was made without justification and wasted everyone's time.

@DeanAlan I replied on my thread that you linked with one suggestion of how to seal and cover the pericope vents. Mine too. Over 3 months since I got building control final certificate and still we splitting hairs. Separate thread on some of the challenges I have faced linked. What I found was building control have done their job highly effectively and been pragmatic but the warranty provider's technical auditors are a law unto themselves. It has cost me thousands.

@DeanAlan If I picture your setup correctly, then I guess you have no option but fitting telescopes externally. They may not need sealing to existing air bricks depending on how you conceal the periscopes on the outside - I encased my periscope vents in XPS insulation and rendered across the outer face which essentially seals them in. Interested in your original design for these vents not needing to be telescope-periscope. Does that mean all or part of your ground floor build up (suspected floor, insulation and slab) are above DPC level?

I've just completed my first build with Protek as structural warranty provider. I would not recommend them. In summary their technical auditors are a nightmare. My out of pocket expenses due to delays in securing the structural warranty are several times what I paid Protek for the warranty in the first place. See some of my recent posts on the subject.

That's right - one Salus on each floor and use the Salus on a longer circuit so it won't be closed prematurely because return temp is approaching flow temp. Only needed though to activate the Wunda wiring centre (and ensure it controls the zone valve and boiler). Mine is a gas boiler BTW.

@BartW I asked a similar question on Loxone control options. Same concern - that for 23 UFH loops in our case a Loxone actuator for each loop was prohibitively expensive. I was also not sure we would need to control each room individually - highly energy efficient fabric + MVHR. I basically implemented this as an interim option: Just two UFH zones - GF and FF. Each floor has one Loxone Touch Pure switch - this provides the actual temperature for the floor. In Loxone Config, each floor has one Intelligent Room Controller - this takes the actual temperature from the Touch Pure switches and enables the setting of the target temperature via the app. Basically this is a software thermostat that will control a Loxone relay - that will call for heat for the relevant floor. Each floor was a Wunda UFH writing centre. The Loxone relay output connects to the Wunda wiring centre as if the Loxone relay was a simple mechanical thermostat. All you need then is a single Salus Auto Balancing Actuator for each floor - which connects into the Wunda wiring centre. The Wunda Wiring centre then manages the zone valve and boiler call for heat. Very simple, but so effective I have no plans to change it. As an example of how it performs, on the GF I have the temperature set point at 20 degC. In practice the actual temperature varies between 19 deg and 21 deg.