Gone West

We have horsetail here which is a sod to get rid of. I have tried all the usual glyphosate based weedkillers without much success, but by accident found Bayer Lawn Weedkiller wipes it out quickly. We had weeds in our lawn, including horsetail, and it killed the horsetail very effectively. http://www.bayergarden.co.uk/Products/l/Lawn-Weedkiller---ready-to-use-3

That is why modelling the climate data correctly for where you live is so important, as I have mentioned in the other thread. Over the last month or so our maximum night time temperature has been 17C, which was on one night only, it's usually around 14C. The maximum daytime temperature has been 27C which again was on one day only with most days being around 23C. There is usually a strong easterly sea breeze every afternoon here, which has the effect of keeping the air cool in the shade.

That is exactly what I found. I started playing around with PHPP in 2009 and found climate data had a significant effect on the results. I used climate data from Meteonorm, Manston, SE England and also Vlissingen to compare results. I also found the limited wind screening aspects and therefore micro climate effects modelled crudely. I think this is why modelling decrement delay is so difficult and why it is so important in your situation and not in mine. I don't have the latest version of PHPP, mine being updated in 2010, so maybe things have changed since then.

Well for my house that is a Genvex Combi 185LS. Compact and everything in one box. It works for us but wouldn't work in every house and I don't think there is a 'one size fits all'.

That's what we thought, which is why it took eight years to finish .

900mm deep is fine depending on what you want to use it for. You won't be able to have a dining table out there but we just stand on ours leaning on the rail and watch the world go by. You get a completely different view standing outside the walls than you do through a Juliet balcony or windows. Finish them and enjoy the summer evenings while they're warm.

It depends on what you want to use the timber for. There are lots of different treatments. For my fence I used Creoseal and my local timber yard use Protim for above ground timber, which is what the BCO wanted. http://www.kopperspc.eu/products/protim.html

Welcome to the forum John, Devon is a nice part of the world.

That is around the size of our house and it has worked fine for us but it hasn't been tested for a long cold spell. Our house has a very low space heating requirement but a PH could have a higher requirement and still be a PH so taking that into account I wouldn't like to recommend it for a PH larger than ours.

We don't have PV yet but hopefully will later this year. The larger of the Combi 185s the LS, in my view, would struggle to provide space heating in a PH larger than around 130m2. My view has always been to keep all aspects of the build as simple as possible. So in a PH larger than 130m2, without wet UFH, I would use electric UFH run on E7 or E10. In the Genvex the DHW can be set to anything between 0C and 55C with an optional weekly immersion boost of up to 65C if wanted. We keep the DHW at 45C because to heat it higher than is needed is a waste of energy and 45C works well for us. I'm not sure a Sunamp and Genvex are the best combination and wouldn't be my choice, but then as I said I like things simple and try not to make my head hurt if I can help it .

We had a deep bore soak away drilled eight years ago and the BCO wanted it at least 5m from the house. It went down 47m and turned into a well, but that's another story.

It's not something we have noticed nor has it affected us. There are two of us in the house, the tank is 185l and it's a low water usage house. We heat the water to 45C and there has always been plenty of hot water, with the tank reheating quickly after a shower. It will be interesting to see the first years electricity bill.

Building Control have asked us to apply for a Demolition Notice before we demolish our bungalow. Apparently there is no charge involved. Maybe that is what they are going on about.

As I think has been said, it prioritises hot water over space heating. For the Combi LS it takes nine hours to heat the water tank fully from 15C to 55C when the outdoor temperature is 15C. So the time taken increases as the outdoor temperature decreases.

The Genvex Combi hot water temperature can be set to between 0C and 55C using the EASHP and increased to 65C by use of the immersion if required.

They are galvanised and when I did mine it was possible to get a 50 year guarantee on the whole roof.

The Nu-Lok fitters used Spitfire fixings. Could be more lethal than a mouthful of nails.

You'll live in the inside of the house and be looking at the internal walls all the time. Do you want to look at straight or crooked walls? If it was mine they would have to be straight and flat, but that's just me.

You don't have to, but I would. It's just the way I am! The gap under the tiles is naturally ventilated by virtue of the steel battening and drainage channels.

We have a Wren kitchen. It's fine, but don't rely on the Wren design and measuring aspect, check it yourself.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Nice looking site, if it was mine I would renovate to as near PH as possible.

I filled up the pockets on my tool belt when I was battening.

I tried Jasum Envirocare but the salesman was hopeless. He quoted a price for five sets of filters including VAT and then went back on it saying it was excluding VAT. The new price ended up virtually the same as Total Home Environment, so I bought them there. I've contacted a lot of places but couldn't find anywhere significantly cheaper. I am also thinking about getting a metal frame and fitting my own filter medium.

That is a lot dirtier than mine was, mine was just a slightly darker colour.

We just went to Bathstore when they had a sale on. It was straightforward. We liked the designs, we bought everything for the three bathrooms in one go and got extra discount. Prices were very reasonable and the products are well made.