joe90

Not wishing to change your mind and there are plenty on here against wood stoves, but we have one and it’s room sealed, only 5Kw max so a fairly short burn will not give too much heat. We both love a real flame and have access to plenty of wood locally (I am even thinking of getting a saw bench attatchment to fit my vintage tractor ?‍?).

My HP is only 5Kw and heats a 240sm house and DHW, the downstairs is a constant 21’ and upstairs 19’ (give or take) I have no consumption figures yet . We also have a wood stove and when that’s lit the lounge gets up to 30’ (er indoors thinks that’s a nice temp ?). We have no heating upstairs apart from electric UFH in our en suite and electric towel radiators in both bathrooms and my backup plan fir a very cold period is a couple of electric panel radiators for the bedrooms. I recon it’s not worth the cost of upstairs heating fir the couple of weeks a year it may be needed. i did specify an immersion heater in the UFH buffer tank so if the ASHP failed we could still heat the house if at additional cost.

Very interesting particularly:- that most of the houses built before 1900 were more airtight than expected, and in some cases better than required by the 2006 building regulations,

Because of illness during our build we ended up with a 100mm slab, 270mm insulation then UFH in a 70mm screed and that appears to work well.

Sorry guys but I can’t help but laugh, I currently am not suffering from overheating, in fact can’t get the car out because of ice on the road ?. I have been told by many that I will suffer from overheating because of our large south facing conservatory, this summer will be interesting as it will be our first with a completed house (but the ASHP is doinga great job keeping the house UP to temperature).

I really enjoyed the journey of self managing but then I am retired, even my wife was not on site through the week as she worked away. Also I was very lucky in having a very good builder (local) and we worked well together. Also my builder worked to a fixed price for the main construction with me doing all timber related stuff (apart from being taken ill and them doing the roof construction for me). The builder charged ex VAT as it was a new build so saved claiming that back later.

I have never heard that before. The whole point of high mass is to keep temperatures steady. We have a “heavy house”, block brick etc just like Tony,s house. Because it is heavy, well insulated and good decrement delay it’s a very steady temperature and heated by UFH with an ASHP.

Nice story and glad for them. Fact is, there are good and bad people in every country. My local builders were very good and always accommodating (but he didn’t cook me dinner!) ?

I also have a 5Kw ASHP Running UFH downstairs only and electric towel radiators upstairs. We found the MVHR was cooling the bedrooms because it is not yet balanced so I only turn it on when cooking and showering (no noticeable bad air recognised). Our house is a constant 21 - 22 degrees. I do not know the lecky usage yet and our house is on its first winter.

I think I am not far from you, I am near Bude. I have done it, mostly by being on this forum and gaining shed loads of info from others. I am lucky though in that I found a local builder open to Modern techniques.

Yes, on a previous plan of mine I wanted a larder outside the envelope, north side of the house, concrete shelves fixed to a single skin block/ brick wall.

Gosh, must admit it’s a nice sunny day down here in Devon, but not that warm!!! (Wife just told me snow and ice on the way?)

My only regret with my new build is the sound transference between floors (12.5mm Pb) with Rockwell between that and floor, should have double boarded it at least.

+1 for the dual pitched roof, separate from the main roof to make the sides equal on the main roof.

Rightly or wrongly I would expect the architect to give dimensions for the building and the structural engineer to spec the steel type and dimensions to suit the dimensions given by the architect. You don’t want it wrong and an argument as to who to blame!!!

We have similar ground and my builder backfilled with 50mm drainage stone, no membrane (as he reckons it clogs with clay silt) and this was linked to the rainwater drainage to get all surface water away from the build. We did the same with the garage and it has worked very well. I also talked to a land drainage company about our field which is like a bog in places and he said the same about membrane or pipes blocking and stone in a French drain worked best.

My kitchen floor tiles (which may have to come back up! See previous thread). Which are grey are grouted with charcoal coloured grout (as I was advised grey grout on grey tiles is pants) and when wet after mopping look as I wanted, almost black but when dry the grout looks grey like the tiles and not what I expected. The grout is sealed. When I have to re tile the floor should I grout in black? And is there a way of making it look like it’s wet? (Apart from a coat of gloss varnish ?) not sure why these photos came out different sizes ?

Thats exactly what happened to me, we were about to go to appeal and a guy rang me asking what my reasons for reducing it was, as he worked for the council I asked why I would give him my evidence, he confessed the council didn’t want to waste money going to appeal, I told him what my evidence was and he agreed to the band I wanted ? result.

@Weebles I would build it before plasterboarding, my treads are (rushes out with tape measure) 820mm and 480mm between up and down risers (dictated by distance between walls). ?

I found out that you can reduce a 110mm pipeto 50mm then put a 50mm AAV on it.

I hate plastic guttering that creaks when it expands in the sun then shrinks when a cloud goes past, I tend to shave the guttering slightly so it can move within the bracket without creaking.

With mine I used 6 x 2 as wall plate and joist sat on 2x2 at the ends and joist hangers to the wall, 6 x 2 between with joist hangers and oak floor planks to match the stairs (stair box supplied the oak flooring. A picture (or two) speaks a thousand words.

I could not exist without a compound mitre saw, even after my build (lots of diy projects). Frankly the cost compared to the build is minimal and anything that makes work easier and more accurate makes life (work) more enjoyable.

Things like this make me glad I installed my own windows (properly).

Ours is not a cooling MVHR and it’s in a warm roof but the incoming flexible ducting has produced lots of condensation so I have had to insulate it.