volcane

The interior OSB of my house has been directly battened with 45mm battens at 400 centres, this is a problem for electricians who have priced the job who all want the house counter-battened to allow the required 50mm clearance for cables and to prevent a screw nicking a cable. Is 50mm clearance a definite? is there any way to avoid having to counter batten? thanks

We are also considering a Leicht kitchen but cost is an issue, definately shop around and know exactly what you are comparing. I have been informed that kitchens ordered now will not be delivered until week 52. Any info on lead times? @ryder72

This is an extremely interesting discussion, I have been trying to source a water softener for our build and found that all companies, even for softeners that have a sold scientific method of operation all seem to go with a fixed pitch, which includes a salesperson visit and who then will tell you what you wanted. Imagine trying to buy a washing machine with the same approach. I still haven't found a reliable source to supply a softener, I can submit a sample!

I'm planning to install a Sunamp UniQ unit, I thought this time last year that I would need to have the heating and hot water sorted within weeks. A year later it could still be many weeks away? I'm trying to grasp at positives and one is the advance of the Sunamp units available. I need to be able to supply 5 bathrooms (5 showers, 1 bath) with a request to never run out of hot water! and also underfloor heating. We should have a near passive house (at least that was the plan but we have no real idea of what we have or what we will end up with, just over 400 sqm, 5 beds). I think the ability to cool could be extremely useful. I would like to fit PV (but no 'grants') so may wait to fit later? and have all cabling in place to make later fitting simple. (large unshaded South facing roof) Sunamp have proposed a UniQ Dual (26 kWh) paired with a 11 kW Daikin split ASHP, with Economy 7. But; this system has no ability to cool which takes away some of the benefits of the ASHP (and then makes me think could I go Electric +PV only and save on the ASHP cost) @Nickfromwales do you know much about this proposed system? Is there a way to bypass the Sunamp and have a totally separate circuit to the ASHP specifically to allow cooling. This is for life, I've run out of board and there are no more moves left! so any system should be looked at with this in mind. I don't want to over complicate things as that is another requirement from my partner who will have to be able to manage when I can't. thanks for all opinions/advice

Hi All, I'm trying to get the items required to bring our house together. Our water is not massively hard but hard enough to believe that a softener would be useful, even if only being able to keep bathrooms cleaner. We also are planning to fit a Quooker boiling tap. The softeners available locally seem to be limited and its difficult to know which one would work for our house. We have good incoming mains pressure to a 32mm connection (1 bath 5 showers). Some of the companies seem to attach a large amount of mysticism to their offerings, and most want to do a 'home survey'. I can't see the need for for fancy electronic APP controls that are offered on the higher capacity devices. I just want to buy a good reliable cheap to run unit, that my plumber can fit. has anyone any experience of the ecowater system? this seems to be the best offered locally. https://www.ecowater-softeners.co.uk/water-softener-large-home many thanks

Look out for a spare set of rims with or without tyres, fit winter tyres to these and swap at the end of October. I have a 4wd estate and like it, tyres all wear evenly and no worries about getting stuck in snow or a field.

thanks for the tip, I'm about to place a significant order with Reuter, (6.5 K less than local prices). I'll check whats on ebay first,

Many thanks, I managed to get hold of a Grohe catalogue, which didn't help much! Then just by luck my wife was working in a different location and came across the particular tap in a plumbers merchant. It seems to be the correct size. We wanted to avoid ordering 6 taps that turned out to be too big or too small as above

Hi all, Our project has been delayed by many months, but now we might be at a stage to order bathroom fittings. We have selected a Grohe Lineare basin mixer in S size. We haven't been able to get hands on this tap so will be ordering blind. We want to avoid the pop-up waste set (ie the little level behind the tap), this limits the Grohe taps available (with a push open waste) What are Grohe taps in S size like? We have 6 sinks to fit out. thanks

Thanks for all the replies, I favour the solution offered by @JSHarris but unfortunately that was a non-runner so patching with the sticky tape will be used. We are in a low risk radon area and MVHR should further lower the risk.

Just resurrecting this thread, rather than start a new one, My Kore passive slab is nearing completion and I have a query regarding the ring beam and the radon barrier. The ring was tied and then lifted into the EPS, in doing so made multiple punctures in the DPM/radon barrier. Is this a problem? how successful is patching likely to be? Are all ring beams in slabs lifted in after tying or are some tied insitu? I'll never build another house!!!!!

Hi All, We are at the stage of laying underfloor heating prior to concrete pour. The quotes coming back are mad, I want to know how much I should expect to pay to design the layout, supply the pipe and manifold and fit. I know it should be possible to DIY it but I'm not really able to. I have planned to go with a Sunamp stack plus a split ASHP to provide the heat source. We have a large area but have a low heat requirement, I had hoped that the contractor would purchase the pipe and lay it without too much fuss thanks

Be very careful that the cold kitchen tap feed remains cold. We once had a tap with the supply running through the floor screed and it was repeatedly unpleasant to be caught out by a glass of warm water when expecting cold.

A 40% reduction in cost could bring PV panels into consideration for my project.

@JSHarrisThanks for that, I'm also not sure where the primary pump is but Sunamp have said to be that I couldn't use a secondary control just to use that to circulate the UFH, Perhaps could combine a Willis unit and a pump that I could use for non heating UFH circulation. I'll get back to Sunamp and see if we can work out a solution. I forgot my further query,! Being able to use the ASHP for cooling, the weather has been so good here for days on end I'm now concerned (more than before) about overheating. A system where any excess heat in the house could be harvested and stored in the Stack would potentially be useful.

Decision reached. Heat and hot water via a Daikin HT split ASHP feeding a Sunamp 26kWh 6x2 Stack. My issues with the above system are the lack of any back up hot water if the ASHP stops working and the lack of any future PV integration (if PV panels are grant aided or become cost effective) there also seems to be a problem with circulating the UFH water when we won't be using the Stack to provide space heating. All solutions suggestions welcome

Many thanks for this, I have spent a fair bit of time this weekend trying to work out what to go for, I'm drawn to a Sunamp stack but I can't convince myself that its worth the extra capital outlay.

Unfortunately no mains gas and no RHI see here RHI N Ireland, 5 bed 5 bath house (1 bath, 5 showers). Plan currently is a split HT ASHP to a Sunamp stack to provide heat and hot water.

Until recently I have not considered Solar thermal but now I am, (PV had been a much better option but with removal of all subsidies and price remaining the same PV is no longer cost effective). With Solar Thermal having a lower capital cost is it worthwhile vs E7 electricity to a split ASHP to generate hot water? My feeling is that it isn't worthwhile without some form of RHI (which here has gone up in smoke!)

'Insulted foundation' a typo but brought a smile to me! as insulted is actually a good description and its been called a lot lot worse!! Personally I would be much happier with the pipe in a duct, currently the pipes installed are the two providing the water to outside taps at the rear of the garage. I'll make sure the incoming mains will be within a duct. thanks, I may try and put up a few snaps later

just resurrecting this thread; We are in the process of preparing the insulted foundation. Should the water pipe (MDPE) be contained within a duct as it runs through the slab? I know that that type of pipe is generally not run within any ducting.

now that we have finally started building I really need to get our bathrooms sorted, I had a look before but got distracted. Where did you get or plan to get the toilets, sinks, bath, shower fittings etc from. I have two quotes from local suppliers and the prices aren't fully itemised and are very expensive. I had been thinking about a wall mounted bath filler and like you found that Hansgrohe while really nice looking are extremely expensive. Was the Megabad order painless?

My back of the envelope PV was very similar but a bit worse as I added in a replacement inverter and a diversion unit. I also spoke to 3 salesmen who never even attempted to sell, they are all looking South now. I had a 5.5k budget for PV and am considering directing that to a larger Sunamp stack.

@Alphonsox how many showers are you able to run con-currently from your set up? We have a lightly higher water requirement, with 2 adult showers 2 kid showers and a kiddie bath on average daily and then have guest capacity on top of that. Not running out of hot water is a SWMBO stipulation. Our house is large (we got carried away) and is promised to be constructed to passive levels. We are fitting Internorm 3G windows so my main concern is hot water provision. Until the contribution by @JSHarris and others and knowledge of our last house where the utility was warmer than required then I would've went with an ASHP to an UVC.# Is the Sunamp worth the considerable outlay to effectively store E7 electricty as heat energy and also deal with nuisance heat? I'm looking at putting my PV budget into a Sunamp in order to make better use of E7 as PV panels aren't stacking up vs E7 Is there a monoblock high temperature heat pump that could work with the Sunamp? (in order to avoid using a split system) And that then takes me to the control of my prospective set up!! 16-01 ASK-03 Elevations GFFF.pdf

Thanks for all the comments I'm not overly concerned about heating as if the house performs as promised then we will need very little. I'm concerned about running out of hot water and nuisance heat esp during the summer. If possible i would like an option of being able to cool the slab. Just on mobile