Thorfun

prepayment is normal unless you have an account. worse case scenario is he does a runner with the money but the cost of 10t of 6F2 isn't going to get him very far so I'd suggest it's a gamble worth taking. ?

openreach supplied all the ducting for running our new connection to the house. it's the grey stuff they use. have you tried contacting them?

+1 you don't need the 50mm ventilation gap if you have an air permeable membrane like Proctor Roofshield and can fully fill the rafters. but you do need to batten/counter batten above though. but make sure your BCO is ok with that. ours is.

this is our gable end. cost for the glazing (not including the front door and top light above) £4500. triple glazed alu-clad.

good luck. we've just finalised our schedule and will sign the contract this week ready for installation in October. they've been very good throughout the whole process and hopefully the delivery and installation will be just as good!

I've got the install guides for the Powerwall somewhere so will read up on the Gateway. all our PV panels are on Solaredge Optimisers due to shade. would that make the strings irrelevant? our PV is being designed by Enhabit who, iirc, who used as well? I'll also speak to them again about this whole subject.

all good points Dan. pretty sure we'll be taking 3-phases to main consumer unit, I see no reason not to. yeah, I've read about vector-sum metering before and it seems logical but as we're having a Powerwall I'd rather the generated power ALL went to the battery and then any excess is 'sold' back to the grid for a paltry amount. just seems more logical and more simple that way. I presume that if I wanted to change to a 3-phase Solar PV system in the future I could swap out the single-phase inverter for a 3-phase inverter? if so, think I'll just stick with the simple setup for now. obviously, if the DNO says no to the PV array size on the G99 then I'll go for a 3-phase inverter.

we've actually gone the other way (DNO approval pending) and have decided to run our 10.2kWp PV array via a single phase inverter even though we have a 3-phase electricity supply. we are running the house on a single phase and didn't want the other 2 phases from the PV inverter just being 'lost' to the grid when we can use it in the house. A 3-phase inverter would've meant only a 3rd of the generated electricity being usable most of the time. At the moment we don't drive enough in our EV to make a 3-phase charger necessary and so hardly any of the PV generated 3-phase electricity will be used. if we have a need for 3-phase in the future we can make changes then but for now just running a single phase throughout the house and with our PV systems seems logical. the 3-phase supply was a trivial amount more than a single phase connection so it was a no-brainer to future proof.

was also quoted £280 + VAT for a lorry load of recycled crushed from a company in Herstmonceux, but definitely shop around. there are deals out there although I found that recycled crushed depends on what they have at the time.

I paid less than £35 + VAT for type 3 virgin granite. not saying you need it as I agree than recycled crushed would probably suffice. but if you do want virgin type 3 then PM me and I'll give you the name of the company I used. but they are based in Kingston-Upon-Thames so shouldn't be hard to find if your Google skills are up to it. ?

we got quotes from a couple of different Internorm providers and they were very different. In the end we went for Norrsken and were very happy with their price and the quality of the windows/doors in their showroom. They also install with in-house installers so they're responsible for supply and install which means only one point of contact.

do you not need a second form of escape from a basement? I certainly did.

I hear and read that often on here and it's not that I don't believe the people who say it, it's more that it's hard to get my head around the concept of not needing heating! I guess it's a leap of faith (although I'm sure science could well be involved in doing the calculations try telling my brain that) but the voice in the back of my mind keeps saying 'what if it isn't?' and then maniacally laughs at me.

I have no cooling demand numbers sadly but I do have a very low overheating risk as we have external blinds. I'm looking for something as a just in case kind of thing. I was thinking of fan coils run off the ASHP but involves more ducting through the house whereas the pipework for a multi-split AC system is small. but, the flip side is the wall units for the split AC are large and the fan coil ducting opening is unobtrusive as far as I know. I will mention the fan coils to the M&E company. But I was also thinking that the split AC could be used as supplementary heating in the bedrooms if required and would negate the need to run UFH pipes. ps. hope you're in soon! was back in March that you were plastering iirc so you can't be too far away.

hey @Dan F. how are you finding the supplementary cooling via your MVHR system in this hot weather? is it doing the job? just about takes the edge off? or not very satisfying at all? I'm considering supplementary cooling and our M&E guys have suggested using Split AC rather than using the MVHR system. just wanted your opinion of it please.

if this was aimed at me I don't have a clue! but I'll be interested in the response and will try and store the answer for future reference.

we used a Civil engineer to design our drainage, driveway, culvert and new entrance to public highway. it wasn't cheap but we have detailed plans of pipe runs, falls, invert levels etc.

is this something worth speaking to a civil engineer about? it might be worth paying for that design to ensure it all works. just a thought. congratulations on your planning approval and good luck with your journey! ?

can you not get just as good AT at the window junction with a membrane and tape?

oh I agree. they did a spiral design for me too but their 'default' design is serpentine as it's easier (I presume) but will take the time to do the spiral if requested by those who want it. as the general public will not be doing this work themselves but getting their plumber to do it they will probably not care whether it's serpentine or spiral or some other shape as long as their floors are warm. us self-builders seem to go above and beyond what is normal. ?

FTTP for us too and all the ducting, draw rope, chamber etc delivered for free as well. Like @Faz just have to run the ducts from where the pole will go and they'll come and fit the pole and connect the fibre.

this is a very common technique when trying to buy some time if you're overworked. I've done it before in IT support where you ask the customer for information that may or may not be relevant and then wait for the response. while waiting it gives you time to work on something else and also makes the customer think that you're working on their problem as you've contacted them for information. so it's a bit of a cheeky win-win tactic.

this is exactly what we're using. recycled clean crushed concrete graded 30mm - 100mm. seems pretty free draining with the amount of rain we've had recently!

congratulations. looks like it'll be a stunning house. we look forward to reading about your progress.

thanks guys. I made the decision to follow the drawings and have told the groundworkers to do as much. I'm not clever enough to second guess the reasons the SE designed it the way it has been!