Thorfun

I'm having one of those enthalpy exchangers jobbies on my Zehnder unit. apparently that doesn't need a condensate drain thingy-ma-jig.

it's been a bit quiet on our blog so I thought I should update it. While we've been waiting for the groundworks to start we've been busy getting the site ready. This has included getting the new entrance to the plot created, getting the sub-base for the driveway in place and then topping it off with a layer of 6F5 as a hardstanding for the construction vehicles (after the build I can then remove the top layer to reveal the, hopefully, still in good condition sub-base to put the final layer on top of. well that's the plan at least!) and putting up the site toilet. Obviously the last job was the most important. Our new entrance to the plot is over a culvert and as it's connecting to an adopted road it had to be done by an insured contractor and so I had to fork out the cash to get it done. but they did a very good job and we're very happy with it. the culvert in situ with enough concrete on top to take the lorries and cranes for the build a nice base layer of tarmac finished, which will see us through the build when they will come back and put a nicely finished top layer on. nice sand-bagging. ? once, they'd finished the entrance we moved on to the driveway and hardstanding but, first, an observation....it's funny how things don't look as big on paper as they do in real life. that's exactly the conclusion I came to after I looked at the plans and thought "that driveway isn't that big I'll just dig it out myself and save myself a fair chunk of cash" and then went on to dig it out. it was only after I'd finished the 120m2 area did I realise how big the driveway is going to be (I swear it doesn't look that big on paper!). oh well, it's done now, at least we'll have plenty of parking. maybe I can rent it out and do a 'Park and Ride' in to the local town to recoup some of the costs. ? a big hole dug and covered in Terram (or an equivalent to be exact) 100 tonnes of beautiful primary Type-3 granite aggregate all compacted by that beast of a roller. Don't really care what everyone else thinks but I think I did a darn good job for my first driveway sub-base. Sadly it all got covered by another layer of Terram and then a load of 6F5 got dumped on top and it now looks like a building site hardstanding area (which is what it is!). here's a photo of the lovely lady of the house helping out on the roller. it was a bit cold out that day. And finally we get to the most important job, the building of the site toilet. Friends of ours got it from a local freebie site and used it for their self-build, we then dismantled it, transported it to our site, erected it, put a new roof on it and plumbed in the toilet and sink to our existing STP. we think it's a very luxurious WC for site use. it's even got a couple of windows so you can watch the work progress while you're doing your business. and that's it for this blog post. we are extremely excited as tomorrow is the day we've been waiting for and the groundworks starts in earnest. They'll be on site to set up and start digging out the big hole for the basement as the basement contractors are due to start on the 3rd May so we should start to see some real progress now! finally!! thanks for reading. ?

I think we need to take a leaf out of your book. we're getting about 3 or 4 mice a day at the moment being brought in.

is that a good thing? ?

just realised my post sounded like I was planning on two of the passive house flaps! but when I mentioned 2 x flaps I was talking normal flaps that cost £30 from the local pet shop. unless you were just making an obscure reference to this of course. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filthy_Rich_%26_Catflap

whoops! sorry. I hadn't got to that part of the forum yet in my research. my apologies! but how to the cat(s) get from the main house to the sun room? I guess they just stand at the doors and shout loudly at you to open them? that's what our cats do whenever they want something

I'm waiting for them to integrate a video camera to check for mice/birds in our cat's mouths and deny/allow entrance accordingly. then I'll be all-in for one!

how are you planning on maintaining air tightness with the cat flap? I see airtight flaps are crazy money (https://www.petwalk.at/shop/doors) available also from @craig @ Ecowin (https://www.ecowin.co.uk/products/petwalk/) (although I have to say they do look pretty darn cool!). I was planning on having one flap on a door into the garage and then another flap on an external door from the garage outside. the other option is to build a deep tunnel through the wall so that there are 2 x flaps through the tunnel, one at the start and one at the end so that only one flap is open at a time.

not exactly foundation related but I've been looking in to this as my water mains will go over a culvert and I cannot get the 750mm min depth. I found this stuff (https://groundbreaker.co.uk/products/shalloduct/) which seems to fit the bill. I have someone from Southern Water Regulations team coming to site today to discuss it all. it might be wise to speak to your local water company regulations team to find out what solution they're happy with.

yeah. this mostly. who knows what the future holds but it might be that people are more likely to buy with triple glazing than double. maybe not though!

that's pretty much exactly what happened with us. like I said, it was our naivety of how these things work that caused the issues and not a fault with the architect. I did apologise to him for my initial comments on his initial sketches. the fault was all with us.

I know it's not the same as we went to our architect with no pre-drawn plans just a portfolio of styles we liked and an outline of our requirements. after the initial sketches of 3 ideas from our brief we were extremely disappointed and wondered if he'd even listened to what we wanted. but after a visit to the office (this was before Covid) he said he'd never get it right the first time and we discussed the bits we liked and the bits we didn't etc and the next iteration was a lot closer to the mark and now we're very happen with everything. for us, having not used an architect before, I think the issue was with us expecting perfection at the first attempt which, thinking about it with hind sight, was never going to happen!

that may be but I'd still like a real world test rather than paper or lab testing! the rooms we're thinking of are pretty big so losing a bit of space with extra battening isn't an issue and I'm sure I'll have plenty of leftover Rockwool so that would be the route we would probably go. from the looks of the finish on the websites I'd have to agree with that. hopefully @joth will know for sure once he's found his samples. ?

thanks all for this thread which I am following with interest. I didn't even know you could get this sort of thing. as we're worried about reverb in our openplan living/diner these look like a potential avenue to reduce that. if/when you all install I would be very interested to hear your thoughts and how it has changed the acoustics of the rooms they're installed in. thanks again.

yeah, it's a valid musing especially when you consider how clued up the general house buyer is on building regs/EPC/SAP etc. but as it will be a highly insulated, airtight house the thought of having to rip it apart years later to then install triple glazing to save some money now fills me with dread! we're following the 'get the fabric right at the start' mantra as it's a lot easier to rip out a kitchen or bathroom down the line. ?

for us the choice to go triple glazing included future proofing as well as all the other reasons given above. as the cost wasn't a huge uplift between double and triple glazing (10% - 15% approx) and as cost differences come down in price it probably won't be long before building regulations specify U-values for windows that can only be achieved with triple glazing. Therefore in order to ensure we comply in later years if we ever came to sell the house it was an easy choice to pay the uplift now rather than having to replace all the windows with triple glazed windows in 15 years or so.

I’m getting the manufacturer to fit for this exact reason. I’ve no doubt I could find someone to do it cheaper but our windows are a high % of our total build costs (approx 120m2 of 3G glass iirc) and I only want a single point of contact for the purchase, delivery, installation and support. I’m happy to pay that premium to reduce the risk on this big ticket item.

one of the main things I've learnt since we embarked on this self-build journey is that things take a lot longer than you think they will

don't worry. I was going for a Powerwall before I even knew who you were. The ability to use the solar generated during the day at night just makes sense to me to reduce my reliance on the grid.

in about 1 yr when my build is well under way and I'm looking at new electricity suppliers I will be tapping you up for your knowledge on the good Tesla tariffs.

this is true but I am offsetting the cost of the extra PV by not having to put slates on that part of the roof!

but your PV is sized for what you use right? so a larger array would generate a larger sum if it wasn't all used

what size is your PV array again?

sorry @PeterStarck. what I meant to say was.... ...I've got one of these (https://www.kelseyplanthire.co.uk/diesel/rollers/120-rollers/) on hire to compact my driveway type 3 sub-base. it is a beast! I forgot to paste the url in the original post. ?‍♂️

I've got one of these on hire to compact my driveway type 3 sub-base. it is a beast!