Gone West

Welcome to the forum. I guess you mean MVHR, not ASHP. That's a lot of PV so do you mean ASHP for heating as well as MVHR for ventilation. Without knowing heat loss and airtightness it's difficult to say about heating upstairs but my guess is with wall U factor 0.2 you would need heating upstairs.

@Simplysimon No I didn't but friends did on their new build, but it wasn't cheap. They also used the solar thermal.

I used the Nu-Lok system and for easy areas, straight with no dormers, it was quick.

Just doing the VAT reclaim and I have a couple of questions. If an invoice contains items that cannot be claimed for, is it best to highlight them with a highlighter pen or put a pencil line through them? Are non electric wooden gates accepted for VAT reclaim purposes as fencing is?

You could try a shower cap or the type we have that allows both options.

I use the thicker gas PTFE and put six turns on. First time I ever put it on I wound it on the wrong way and proceeded to unwind the tape as I did it up! Numpty

We have Lindab guttering. It's been up about six years with no problems. It's different to standard guttering in that you cut a hole in the gutter where you want the downpipe, there isn't a standard downpipe section. If you follow the instructions about using hand tools for making all the cuts and not using power tools the galvanizing creeps back over the cut and there is no rusting.

We have the metal bar across the middle solution.

I can relate to that completely.

We used to go abroad (Madeira) for a couple of months in the winter every year. Unfortunately the result is that the build takes that much longer but it's great having a break.

Ahh, Wrotham School, I went there, crap old days. Poor old @pocster . Hope they do the right thing by you and supply ones the right size at no cost to you.

We have fitted Schneider Lisse white sockets etc. If you want to fit different looking ones and make a feature of them why not. Just because an architect doesn't like them doesn't mean much. Do what you want to do, it's your house.

Don't forget that except for glazing facing between SE and SW which sees the sun all year round the other potentially problem glazing in the summer won't see the sun in the winter. Therefore putting a film on those windows won't affect solar gain in the winter. We have a glazed gable which only sees the sun for four months of the year (mid April to mid August) and we have had a film put on it which has reduced overheating massively.

Well done. It's a good looking site too.

I'm not holding my breath .

Flashband is cold applied.

What about bitumen patch like Flashband.

I've found SBK kills brambles.

@Nickfromwales So was my data of any use in helping you decide whether UFH is worth the bother in a PH?

I think the solution is in the flooring material. In the bathroom and ensuite we have vinyl floor tiles and they are fine. It really shouldn't make any difference whether it's summer or winter because in a PH the temperature doesn't vary much.

Okay, I don't know how scientific this is, but my house has a space heating requirement of 13kWh/m2/a and a heating load of 9W/m2. There is currently no heating of any kind in the house. The outside temperature was 22.8C and it was sunny when I took the temperatures. The wetroom on the ground floor has porcelain tiles directly onto 200mm concrete which has 300mm EPS underneath. Air temp. 24.1C, floor temp 22.6C, room in shade, I've had showers in there and haven't found the floor cold. The hall on the ground floor has the same makeup as the wetroom. Air temp. 25.4C, floor temp 24.1C, some sun. Bathroom on first floor has Amtico Spacia vinyl tiles on 32mm timber flooring with insulation underneath. Air temp. 25.4C, floor temp. 25.3C, some sun. Bedroom on first floor has 14mm bamboo flooring on 2mm underlay on 22mm timber flooring. Air temp. 25.3C, floor temp 24.9C, room in shade. Wendy likes the house warm, which some people would find hot. I don't mind at all, probably old age. The thermostat in the old bungalow was set at 24C, which is why we got through so much oil. I don't bother monitoring temperatures, Wendy is the best judge of comfort levels.

@Nickfromwales I'll have a go later on. Mind you it depends on the insulating effect of the flooring material.

No the ducting is 125mm diameter and is not a manifold system. I designed the ducting system myself and checked with Genvex that it was suitable. The Genvex Combi increases the fan speed automatically if it needs to supply warm air.

I project managed our build and it is very time consuming. I wouldn't consider it unless you can be on site every day. You need to be confident your PM is going to do the job to the standard you want.

We had our Genvex and towel rails running through December, January and February for testing even though we weren't living in the house. The air temperature was set to 19C and the water temperature was set to 40C and the electricity bill was £43.20 for the three months.