joe90

I agree, it’s also been mentioned on here before about houses with MVHR that people don’t understand (cleaning filters etc). I am sure there are people about that don’t service their gas boilers, just wait for them to go wrong before having to do something!

Superglue them open, for their own health/benefit.

“HMRC has blamed EU tax laws for the planned rise because they rule out lower VAT rates for energy saving equipment under state aid rules.” well Boris will sort that out (tin hat firmly on!!,) “The 5% VAT rate will still be allowed for housing associations and buyers who are over the age of 60 or receive certain benefits. The lower rate will also apply to the labour costs associated with installing the system while the 20% rate will be applied to the hardware only.” so it will be cheaper fir those of us over 60 who won’t live as long to receive the benefit of PV? BONKERS

Not sure about that, my chap was here fir half a day with a load of tech equipment, taking readings at different intervals after I run around with joss sticks (to find any droughts) and a tube of silicone!,! Then a comprehensive data sheet created from his office in a few days.

I used a 40 to 50 adapter out of the shower trap and ran all my waste pipes in 50 to a main 110 within the house. I was advised 50mm tends to get blocked with crud a lot less than smaller sizes.

I paid £250 plus VAT for my air test.?

I used a floor scraper and it made it fairly easy, two hands standing up.

I have read that OSB generally is “vapour open” I.e. it breaths (which I think is a good thing) but is airtight. My air test supports this. I ordered I think it was 12mm smartly, it had no tongue and groove but my overlap strips made it airtight with glue. I am not a fan of membranes and sticky tape. Wash your mouth out with soap and water before @JSHarris reads that ?????

No insulation installed as the loft is a warm loft, so house should all be the same temp. U value given as 0.14.

Will just have to wait till said plumber returns to supply it ? BCO didn’t mention it on his final walk round, I just supplied certs fir what he asked for ?

No, plumber forgot to give me one and he is on holiday so I am just going to see if the BCO spots it ?

After reading lengthy posts about it I used OSB (smart ply) bubble glued on all joins. The join to the wall/rafters was the most difficult but I just foamed it to death. When we did the airtest we first kept the loft hatch closed (rubber seal) then opened it to see the difference, after an initial surge (to pressurise/de-pressurise the loft space) the figures didn’t change much at all so I am pleased with it. note, rather than try to land all joins on rafters (not possible with horizontal joins) I installed whole sheets so the joins were between rafters and glues osb strips to overlap all joins. It was less tricky this way and I had less waste. As it was a hip roof I also glued a strip down the hip inside to make sure.

The only calculations that were done were by the architect (predicted SAP?) who listed materials and dimensions that I specified. Then the “as built SAP”, EPC, airtest and “U” values . All done by people that knew what they were doing (hopefully). None were done by me.

Well I am different from most on here, I don’t have any qualifications, I didn’t do a passive house spreadsheet thingy, frankly I didn’t do any calculations at all, perhaps I am lucky but I just went with what I thought was right. (Sucks finger and sticks it in the air ?). What I did do was listen to everyone on this forum, particularly @JSHarris who has done a wonderful blog, I even went to visit his build to see it in the flesh. @SteamyTea told me of a chap in Cornwall who built his passive type house by going with his gut instinct and it turned out really well. Regarding my DHW tank I listened to the resident expert @Nickfromwales who even got a few of us a decent discount when we bought them. Yes it was a gamble, but I would not change anything apart from fine tune my MVHR and heating parameters to get better efficiency. (And I may go to E7 in the future).

A tip I got from another forum from a passive house builder (who was nearly as tight as me ?) was to let the bath water sit there after a bath till it was at room temp, it helped heat the house, better than some fancy heat recovery system in the drains,!!!

As I said my losses (judging by the lack of temp in the airing cupboard (not very tech eh!). ) appear low, and I believe @ProDave has found the same with his identical DHW tank and similar lowish water temp. Now that my build is finished (nearly) it is my intention to fill the rest of the space around the tank with leftover insulation so it will get even better (but the wife might complain that the airing cupboard is not warm enough ? isnt a thermal store run at hotter temps than a DHW tank? (Or did I make that up?)

This from my report, “Measured cylinder loss: 1.95 kWh/day Permitted by DBSCG: 2.24 kWh/day”

Heat loss from a cylinder is relative to not only the insulation level but also the temp of the water within it. My EPC recently told me my UVC has a loss of 1.95kWh measured, when I questioned this (as my DHW is set at 48’) they said it’s standard to measure the loss at 60’ and it could not be altered. Our airing cupboard is barely warmer than the house so I question the losses.

Just to add another thought, small holes in the floor (4?) acros downstairs with blocks up through the holes, put the tray on top of the blocks with enough space to lay the adhesive/mortar, lower the acros evenly. Just trying to think out of the box. ?

totally agree, can she come visit me and lend a hand ?

I did notice the snow was still on his roof, some people think that means it’s a cold house but means the opposite, the roof insulation is better. (Or he is too tight to spend money on heating ?). Perhaps that was when he was reading his meter!.

Steady on, you will upset ST (tho, he does not originate from down here.?

Great presentation, puts things in more perspective, shame he did not mention passive housing.

Copper beech is nice!. We have some beech hedging (green) but it struggles a bit with our clay/boggy ground, I have been told Hornbeam does better on damp ground and is very similar in appearance.

Is it the correct type of hanger for that situation?.