joe90

We had bat poo anylised to determine species but the result was inconclusive.

None of us knew all this “once upon a time”, personally I have thoroughly enjoyed the learning curve ? and this forum is a brilliant way for knowledge to be shared, all hail the forum ?

Support even for toilet roll holders!!!

Just a note, my plasterer wanted the front edge of the metal back box nearly level with the finished plaster otherwise he said the plaster could crack around the hole when fixing the front plate.

I am not a sparky but on my sparks instructions I put noggins/dwangs (whatever) between verticals for metal back boxes to be screwed too , bit of 3x2 on edge so the box is deep enough to just be flush with plaster finish (15mm proud of studding).

I am going to watch this tonight, but I do remember his foray into building houses before (it did it go well) .

I did not think bats could get in the small gaps around the roof of our previous building (which we demolished to build new) but they did, right little Houdini’s they must have been.

Although I was very impressed with MBC timber frame on passive slab build I went brick and block with passive levels of insulation, locally made very good (double glazed) windows. Whatever the construction we wanted a brick skin outside. Going timber frame would have allowed me to do more ( I love woodwork and have all the tools). We are very pleased with the result but was lucky to have a very good builder. Only one thing I would change is the lack of sound insulation between floors, voices can be heard so I wish I had double boarded the ceilings or sound bars for hanging the ceilings. It’s a “heavy house” and with UFH downstairs only but towel rads and electric UFH in the bathrooms we find that sufficient (well, er indoors says it’s cool sometimes but I point to the readout on the wall and say “but it’s 21’ in here!) she is only warm if she is next to a red hot radiator or roaring woodburner ?.

Yup, I fired a 90mm paslode nail into a finger (it hit another nail in the wood and turned sharp left ?), I managed to extract it with a pair of pliers and my workmate said shouldn’t I go to hospital, my reply was “nah, they know nothing about paslode nailers ?”. Finger works fine ?. i have both first and second fix paslode nailers and apart from cold gas not working (leave it in a cup of tea for a while) they have been great, expensive to use but speeds up work no end. I have air brad nailers in the workshop where the compressor is.

Anything below DPC on my plot is lawyer saturated anyway ?

Time for another thread methinks ?

Thats what I thought ?but judging by this winter it would only be used fir a few weeks or a couple of months tops so I wonder if it’s worth the bother ? It’s certainly not on my urgent to do list but will consider it for next winter.

Depends if you want metal back boxes (that can be fixed to the noggins) or plasterboard ones ?

Cant, to late to put pipes from buffer and UFH up to loft, but my DHW tank is just under it ?

As I already have DHW heated by the ASHP near the MVHR unit it would be simple to use that to heat a wet heater within the manifold.?

No, someone did some sums for me and the thermal bridge was very small and in my opinion not worth the expensive price of basalt ties. I spent the money on more insulation in the roof ?

With my set up I could either use direct electricity for the post heater or use DHW in a wet heater which would give me the benefit of the ASHP, COP. The hot water would have to come from the DHW tank as that is near the MVHR unit and we are too late to put pipes from the UFH buffer to the MVHR. The benefit of not using direct electricity is the smell of burning dust from the element after a long period of non use. The DHW temp would be low so the temp raised in the inefficient air transfer would be minimal, but saying that we are only talking of requiring a few degrees. I would almost like to split the delivery manifold in two so I could heat the bedroom air only (and this would only be for a few weeks a year anyway ?

We had two damp courses!!!, one as per the above diagram but on the internal wall at floor level (which meant it was below ground level on the outside wall), the second was just in the outside wall level with the internal floor level. The reason fir this is my builder, who has done as per the above diagram, found the internal plaster cracked at the damp course level internally which was above the skirting board, by lowering it and providing a second DPC this problem was sorted.

I too had insulation right down to the strip foundation, it was part of the insulation buildup to alleviate a cold bridge. I forget the name of the house that I copied this from on the internet but here is a drawing I supplied the BCO and they passed it with no question.

I thought about this a long time ago and shelved the idea, but!!!. Would you not put the duct heater after the MVHR as the outgoing air might cool the air after going through the MVHR. What is the heat source for the heater?

No jumpers here and only one pair of socks ?

Yes we have 200mm cavity full fill with rockwall slabs. We also have a wood stove In the lounge but have only lit it for short periods on a cold evening fir the effect rather than the heat (28’, she was happy). We get a fair amount of solar gain from a sunspace across the back of the house. I was told we will overheat in the summer but at the moment with this unseasonal sun it’s great, I will let you know what mid summer brings ?(we have the option of reverse engineering the ASHP to cool the slab.)

I too have not bothered with one, I have been told you can buy an indemnity IF we ever sell (which we don’t plan to do till we’re past it?).

We have no UFH upstairs but heated towel rads and electric UFH in the bathrooms only. Only when our MVHR was not balanced properly did upstairs feel a bit chilly. We have UFH downstairs which only comes on in quite cold weather.

Also a caravan is very well ventilated to stop condensation so is nothing like airtight (which is a factor in well built houses) note, I lived in a caravan for most of two years during my build. My new build is a “heavy” build (a term I have used since reading about therxxx mxxx! ) mainly because we wanted a brick finish and solid walls and we are very pleased with the constant temps in both cold and warm weather.