joe90

Well I too am on solid clay with zero water permeability and can only discharge to a ditch ( which runs 10 months a year) I went for a vortex which is the only system that can manually regulate the air pump to the amount of people using it, as I have read that not balancing the input with usage can lead to problems ( Jeremy, I would be keen to hear of your self modulating experiment). We have to have a 6 person unit because we have a three bedroom house but most of the time there will only be 2 of us. One local treatment plant dealer says they no longer sell Reed beds as a previous customer died as a result of sepsis when cutting back his reeds!!!!. However I still fancy a reed bed or wet location for wildlife around the ditch we will be discharging too. I did have a hankering to be “ off grid” and considered a wind driven air pump, like the Wild West water pumps you see in westerns ( we are in a windy location) .?

Yes the interview was 7 years old but what caught my eye, and supprised me about him was this:- His personal favourite Grand Design cost just £28,000. It was built by Sussex woodsman Ben Law from the trees in the woods in which it stands. Recycled newspaper insulates the floor and thick straw bales line the walls, covered in lime plaster. All the electricity comes from solar panels and wind turbines, while water is taken from a nearby spring. "He built the most delightful home and he built it all on budget. It's the extraordinary personal values of people like Ben Law that matter. It's not about half a million or three-quarters of a million pounds. It's the brutality of those sorts of figures that stops people in their projects." Beautiful crafting, innovative design and highly personal touches are what makes a home improvement work, not piles of money, says McCloud. He points to Monty Ravenscroft's home built on a sliver of land in Peckham on a small budget as one of the enduring stars of Grand Designs. also:- "Your home should be about enriching the daily experience. I don't want to be too philosophical, but next week you might be under a bus. Figure out what you have, do you like it, do you really want it? Don't try building a fantasy of how you should be." food for thought.

Yes, I too think I can do it all but my builder, my best friend, and my wife all tell me I am overdoing it so I have subbed out more work than I originally thought. As far as the architect bit is concerned, I didn’t need one, I knew all along what I wanted. As I have been a project manager in a previous life I didn’t need one of those either ( but I am retired so can be on site all the time). I am not saying there are not good architects out there to help people “ discover” what they want. I just don’t like the architects that push their own “ wet dream” despite the customers requirements. Typical example on TV recently, a programme about turning an ugly house into a dream house, client tells architect what he wants and their budget, architect comes up with a scheme that’s double the customers budget, but it will look good!!!! So sad about that self biuld, did they not have insurance.?

"Your home should be about enriching the daily experience.” i found this interesting. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/apr/09/grand-designs-kevin-mccloud

I bought my ASHP from Ebay for £380 ( should be £4K) and with the help of a neighbour ( plumber) will be installing it myself so I don’t know the real world cost!. The ASHP will also heat DHW ( with immersion top up) into a pressurised DHW tank ( very well insulated) . Some people on here have gone with a sunamp (instead of a cylinder) which has very low losses but others have discovered that if the DHW temp is kept low ( about 42 degrees) the losses are a lot less so that is why I went that route. I have to say if we had access to mains Gas I would have had a combi. ( one of the joys of living in the wilds ?)

NSS so glad it’s worked out so well for you both and thanks for letting us all know, I cannot wait to finish my house ( with MVHR) and move in as my health has not been good for years ( mostly stress related) looking forward to living the “good life” in a healthy house with healthy surroundings ( and a healthy state of mind ?),

Well we are having wet UFH downstairs ( run by ASHP as we don’t have Gas) with tiles and engineered wood flooring throughout ( we will have a dog(s)) but carpet all upstairs with no heating except for our en suite with electric UFH and vinyl floor with a heated towel radiator. As a backup I plan to have slim electric radiators in the bedrooms for exceptionally cold weather. We are going to have a no shoes policy throughout the house as this will keep dirt to a minimum. ( my daughter in law is Spanish and she does not understand why people in England wear their shoes indoors).

Right, been playing with this and found that the metal inserts have a barb on them to grip the inside of the pipe when inserted and you need the pipe to keep the insert dead centre when trying to remove the pipe from the fitting. It appears some of my inserts had less than perfect barbs so easily came out of the pipe. With just the insert in the fitting it’s almost impossible to keep it dead centre so even with the tool it catches on the grips within the fitting. I now make sure the insert barb right to grip the pipe when inserted. I tweeked the barb and re inserted the pipe, then removed it complete with insert. Job done. ?

I will try harder sir ?.

Hi Guys, I am in the process of designing our sliding wardrobe doors and wondered if anyone can recommend a brand of kit/ track. I would like to have top mounted rollers so no track to step on underfoot, just small posts in the floor within a reveal in the bottom of the door. All info greatly received.

I too have a stack externally on the side of my detached garage ( which has a toilet) at the high end of the pipe run and an aav within the house to avoid vacuum. The internal aav is a 50mm one on a 50mm pipe as this is all that’s required so negating a 110mm vertical pipe for the aav.

I am also using a single contractor builder but we are very lucky in that he is very good at what he does, not included in his quote is Work that I want to do so we know our boundries.

On recommendation from people on this forum I have used HEP20 for all my plastic plumbing and generally found it great to use. One problem however is when de mounting fittings ( using the proper tool) I find the metal inserts ( pipe supports) stay within the fitting and if force is used to get them out, the “teeth” in the fitting get ruined. What am I doing wrong? Happy new year to everyone.

+1 on road plannings, I have put down 150 ton and it’s brill, compacted really well, just need to level it off and finish with tarmac when we have finished the house.

HA, no screwfix in Bude but there is in Launceston ?

Just come back from Launceston and the road was blocked due to fallen trees and flooding.

Originally I was going to have the UFH within the 100mm concrete slab but due to Ill health and short timescales I had to settle for liquid screed laid afterwards and as our house is heavy weight I wanted the thickest screed I could to even out temp swings. I was informed 60mm is the thickest they recommend.

Well I have just had a pumped screed and it didn’t appear to have a laitance ( scum) on the surface ( they told me it was a new type that didn’t suffer from this). I just need to know what I need to do with it before I start tiling etc. I have got two industrial dehumidifiers running 24/7 and they both pull about 20 gallons of water a day from the air ( floor).

WORKED using a very good local builder with an excellent reputation DIDNT WORK cant think of anything ( yet)

Yes Ian, my builder and the liquid screed layer told me the floor dries at 1mm per day (60mm) but this assumes it is actually drying ( I.e. not in damp deepest Devon in winter) and the UFH should not be used till it is fully dry and even then in small doses at low temps. My pressure is getting the tiling and wooden floors down asap.

I agree, I have a warm roof ( usable loft space) so don’t have to worry about cable penetrations at ceiling level and insulation in the cavity is easy to join with rafter insulation.

They have been running fir about 4 hours and collected about 1 gallon of water so far. I am on site every day so emptying containers is not a problem, it also gives me chance to monitor how much water is removed each day. As it’s Christmas and the hire company are moving premises they have let me have them for two weeks for the price of one, not sure I will need them that long. I will report back.

Two dehumidifiers ordered for today to leave on over the Christmas week, £60 each. Thanks one and all ?

Yes your rooms look great, we ( she)has gone for the same grey / white combination and are very pleased with the result. I am very laid back with my builder and he has been brilliant, I know if something gets delayed it’s not a real problem and can be sorted and because of that attitude my builder bends over backwards to accommodate me.

Thanks guys, just messaged my builder to find out where I can hire a couple of dehumidifier,s.