gavztheouch

@tonyshouse Did you have to get a Fgas certificate to install it yourself? or even just for buying the unit. A lot of the online shops need evidence of certificate before they sell a unit but im not sure how strict they are?

Thinking about installing a 2.5kw mini split to heat a 15m2 bedroom. Currently using resistance heating and costing a bomb to heat. I am in a purpose built rural 2 bed flat, upstairs flat. We are using a 5kw wood stove to heat the main living room but the main bedroom is the only area that could do with a little heat to help with damp issues as the dehumidifier is struggling to cope with the low temps around 14-18 degrees. Looking at the Mitsubishi mini split ac units that can heat and cool. The COP of the smaller units ie 2kw compared to 5kw seems a lot higher. Not sure how they are tested? Anyway the latest 2.5kw Mitsubishi https://www.saturnsales.co.uk/Mitsubishi-SRK25ZSX-W-Air-Heat-Pump.html have a much higher cop than their standard R32 model. Does anyone know why that is the case as I can't see any info on what is different about them?

Have you looked at polar wall? They are a UK based company and seem helpful. I like the fact that you can change the insulation values easily and It looks more adaptable than the standard blocks. They also use XPS rather than EPS which I think is stronger/better u values per mm. I also am waiting on a quote from Nudura, I like the fact that Nudura have a good track record and there are a lot of users on this forum. Polar wall quote was £56.30/m2 for the block that's a 80mm/80mm XPS foam with 0.19 u value

My dad did a basement for a friend using his digger and a wide bucket. There is also a good blog on here where a contractor used a bucket/hopper attached to a crane to fill the walls, looked quite efficient and controlled. I won’t say most cases would benefit from these methods though. Just think I have the space and time to do it this way and it might be less stressful and more enjoyable. Just trying to figure out if the end result/ product would be flawed In some way.

Plenty, one of the reasons I prefer icf. Did you use rebar in you walls?

I thought I’d start another thread to discuss cold joints in icf walls. Cold joints being the join between one layer of concrete and another layer added after the first layer has set up hard. If like me you are considering pouring your own icf but want to only pour 2 or 3 courses at a time you might end up with more cold joints than normal. my thoughts and research are that then are generally ok of if you plan carefully where they occur. Ie. don’t pour to Just over a window height and then stop shy of completing the full lintel depth above the window. it seems a lot of icf suppliers and contractors don’t use steel reinforcement above grade. Unless it is for above a window for a lintel. So I was thinking if you add in plenty of horizontal and vertical rebar into the wall this should add plenty of strength to compensate for the fact that you have a cold joint. Taking it a step further you could use galvanized rebar to prevent moisture working its way in through the cold joint and rotting the steel. Another Benifit of pouring in smaller lifts is the ability to easily work the concrete and vibrate it well so it’s compacted and well coated around the steel. The downsides are extra cold joints, more pours days and concrete pump hire costs. Unless you can use an alternative method of moving the concrete to the wall. For example a digger with a concrete bucket.

If you make sure that there is plenty of vertical rebar in the joints would it matter how many lifts you do to complete the house? I am thinking of ways of building an ICF house without the stress of pouring in large lifts with potentially inexperienced pump truck drivers. I also have no experience and there does not appear to be any experienced builders in Scotland. I am building on a farm and we have access to a tractor, telehandler and 13 ton digger. Just trying to think of ways I can do this with just myself and one other person. Tractor could have a pan mixer on the back which would give roughly 0.7 cube of concrete per mix. That would fill 4 to 5 lengths or so of NUDURA at 2.4m long but just one block high. I reckon in a day you could easily fill two layers of NUDURA block all round my proposed house. I would need the digger or telehandler to lift the concrete up to the wall. Could modify a bucket to hold the concrete with a flexible 2” tube to pour like a concrete pump but just using gravity to feed through, with a sliding gate to control the flow. if I was feeling confident I could order a lorry load of premix and use the digger to lift into place with the special bucket. Is this a bad idea?

Thanks for the advice I had did quite a lot of research about 2 or 3 years ago on ICF but kept changing my mind on the system to use for the structure. The architect recommends the twin stub timber frame with blown insulation. I have always liked ICF, with our damp Scottish weather and exposed site concrete seems more long term than OSB and cellulose. The downside is the concrete enviromental cost that makes me feel guilty considering it. The current plan for the structure is Insulated slab ICF Walls Twin stud engineered timber roof with wood or glass wool insulation between the studs and outer sheets of wood fibre insulation. Glulam ridge beam supported on ICF walls on outside and timber internal wall supports inside the house. Have looked at Polarwall in the past. @Conor what ICF system are you planning on using @Vijay. Are you building an ICF house? Are you using Polarwall?

Hi there I am currently trying to decide on a building method for the house shown below. I have always wanted to build a house from ICF but this type of house with multiple windows at different widths and heights may make it too tricky for ICF. I have decide to remove the two outer dormer windows to help simplify the design regardless of construction method. In terms of ICf do you think this house is impossible to build this way. One idea I did have to get the window positions accurate without changing the design is to construct the window openings close to were they need to be using the standard ICF Block height and the fill the remaining void with timber or similar?

@kxi Thinking about using a steel portal frame for my build. I see you mentioned thermal brakes to prevent heat transfer into the steel within the building. Have you got as far as getting a price quote for the thermal brakes. Trying to get a cost per column for my costings sheet. Cheers

Hi Dave I like you building method of 8 by 2 studs with external insulation. I am gravitating to that solution as well. The other option being engineered I beams and blown insulation but with less insulation on the outside. If you had to build the frame again would you still chose the 8x2 method or would you change something. The only downside I can think of is the movement of the 8x2. Does a wider board move as it drys more than say a 6x2 or 4x2. I guess that’s the benefit of engineered timber. I just don’t like relying on glued wood as part of a system that’s hopefully got a life time of 70 years plus.

From the little I have heard so far from builders and architects they seem to prefer I-Joists as they are a lot stiffer than posi-joists

Bissoejosh, yeah it was on Matt Risinger's youtube channel I seen this concept of insulation on the outside of the building. Someone took it a stage further and didn't drywall the inside leaving the studs exposed a very specific look which I quite liked once it was all painted the same colour inside. The benefit was the wall could be maintained and any water ingress would be obvious. https://risingerbuild.com/mesmerize/perfectwall/

Opinion thought on the idea of a 2x6 wall with say 150mm of external insulation. Benefits of no osb I beams, you should see internal water leaks coming through onto the plaster board as there would be no insulation between the studs to trap water and your service cavity would be well away from the air barrier on the outside of the frame. If not going for passive house does this sound more robust than a blown cellulose iBeam construction?

I am considering an eden insulation or similar build. Specs are as follows 300mm Ibeam, blown insulation, plastic coated OSB3 vapour barrier and airtightness layer, wood fibre insulation board on outside. Clad externally with wood. My worry is water ingress causing damage to the wall through detailing mistakes, building error or just bad maintenance. My thinking is a wall construction like this would be more susceptible to water damage with the engineered timber and high airtightness levels than say a traditional less insulated stick built home. If the wall was damaged I'm struggling to see an easy way to repair it because of the way it is constructed. How long do you think a house like this would survive, could the design of the wall and roof be modified to be an easier repair in the future?

Thanks john, they are only 40 mins away might be worth a visit.

Getting back to this project after devoting a lot of time to my business it looks like I may finally have time to get started back at the house. The planning was provisionally excepted on the condition that I obtained a letter from my neighbour to state that he agreed for us to widen the entrance to the road making a bellmouth. I had secound thoughts on the postioning of the house and have since withdrawn the planning application to think again about the design and postion. I am keener that ever to make this close to passive house standard, either with a self design or possibly an adapted kit house.

Nice house. I am also interested in ICF so looking forward to following along.

I have done this once for my father house, we sorted them into three piles and bored the nail hole while doing so. You quickly get fairly good at sorting them. The thin and thick ones are obvious but the middle ground is harder to detect.

Thanks sounds promising, I feel like I have a genuinely strong case and would be willing to be scrutinized by the council. There have been quite a few scam farms setup in our area just to exploit the system to gain planning permission. Having said that all cases I could find in the archives, scams or not have gone through without to much hassle it appears.

I spoke to one person at the department, they were not willing to come and view the site but referred me to some design guidelines for the countryside. I got the feeling they were busy and did not want anymore work on their plate.

Planning went in on 12/01/2017. Should I hear anything from the council before the decision? I think the max amount of time they can take is 2 months?

The euro exchange might swing back in favor of the pound. Brexit hasn't apparently been the killer blow to the economy it was touted as and the US voting in trump in a weird sort of way has backed up Britain's decision to leave the euro. Then you have the up and coming referendum in Italy and election in France which might hurt the euro. I bought a lot of equipment from Austria when the euro was at 1.35 to the pound. I though I was hard done to because it was at 1.45 almost a month prior. Then the shit really hit the fan when Brexit started gaining traction. It was crazy how much the rate changed when small snippets of news broke out. Mark Carney became my biggest enemy, every time that guy opened his mouth the pound tanked.

Thanks, I'm in Stirlingshire. I will be using the product myself hopefully and will be doing the course with Nudura I think. Do your parents find it insulates well/easy to heat?

I spoke to the architect last night via email and he is open to supplying basic design drawings with a license to for me to build a slimier house. I am happy to make the drawings for planning, warrant, etc. I guess it will all come down to price in the end. If it is too expensive I may have to think again. @Alexphd1 What are the big cons of ICF you have seen so far? Which system are you using?