Gone West

@Onoff The council have recommended a band E and I have suggested a band D. The other two cottages in the area that have three bedrooms are band D. The original bungalow was a C.

Let's hope you get a refund without any problems. I'm sure if it was a private company doing this sort of thing it would be illegal but local government can get away with it. The local council tax department recommends a band to the VOA hoping it won't be challenged and mostly seems to get away with it. A new bungalow built next door to here has had a ridiculously high band assigned to it and the owner is selling it and doesn't appear to be worried. We'll tell the new owners that the banding is two above the original so they can challenge it.

Looking at the U factors you've since supplied I would say the level of insulation is poor and presumably only meets, rather than exceeds Building Regs. By increasing the levels of insulation in all the areas of the house you would significantly reduce CO2 emissions and the space heating requirement.

The BCO said I just had to fill in a Section 80 form, which is only one page, and it doesn't cost anything. Mind you taking it down will cost a lot more.

We looked at AM Profiles years ago when we were looking at windows, they looked good, they quoted for us but ceased trading before we placed an order.

Welcome to the forum Ralph. Has it been designed with a good level of insulation? Adding more insulation would reduce CO2 emissions and ASHP would be better than biomass IMHO.

Not for me, it'll give me more garden.

Our new house, built in the garden of the bungalow we are living in, is a replacement for the bungalow which will be demolished. The Council Tax Inspectors have been around several times over the last couple of years and finally told us it was to be deemed habitable from 2nd Jan 2018, which we agreed to. We received a council tax bill for the time from 2/1/18 to 28/2/18 for the new house with an estimated band higher than the one I suggested to VOA. From the way the bill was laid out it gave the impression that the bill was due to be paid by 28/2/18. I phoned the Council Tax Office at the local council offices and found out that I didn't have to pay the bill until the VOA had banded the property officially. They really are the most cunning people I have met at trying to extract money. Their excuse was that it was often better for people that bills don't build up. Why aren't they made to print that information on the bill?

To get the house signed off I set up our MVHR for Building Regs. PH ventilation rates are very different to Building Regs so I am thinking of resetting the MVHR to give PH ventilation rates. Is that what other low energy house builders have done?

The BCO came yesterday for his final visit and to let me know what remaining documentation he wanted. He couldn't believe the air tightness of 0.47m3/m2.h as it was the lowest he had seen and that he usually saw results around the 4m3/m2.h. I didn't think it was especially low, but it was a point in my favour. Today I received the completion certificate, so now I can insure it as a normal house and start the VAT reclaim. I can only praise the experience I had with Building Control.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Good luck with the renovation.

Yes I did much the same with a free copy of, I think, SAP2005 in around 2010. It didn't help a great deal and I found using PHPP much easier. Back then they really were like chalk and cheese. I still don't understand why they don't use ACH.

Maybe it's an urban myth. I've always heard that said, but never seen any evidence to support it. We have a compact unit, Genvex Combi 185LS, which provides the DHW, ventilation and warm air heating.

A friend converted an 18th C. barn in Kent which just sat on the earth. Building control just wanted it underpinned, which he did himself by hand. Lots of work mind.

So would I, think of all the other things I could have done with my time. Good idea.

I think that after nearly eight years of building the house I'll be happy with a shed that just doesn't leak.

We didn't have a SAP target because I used the PHPP to design the house and main requirement was to not need a heating system. It's supposed to need 1.14kW to maintain 20C inside when -10C outside. It hasn't dropped to -10C here yet, although it got close last night.

Yup, we're hoping to to take it down rather than knock it down. It's a 4"x2" frame and the timber looks good in the loft, unlike Mike's @MikeSharp01, although I expect de-nailing it might be slow work. Wendy will do that, she said it's in her skill set.

Yup, we move into the house and then we start to demolish the bungalow.

Thank you, that's very generous. We'll move in when the oil tank for the bungalow is empty which will probably be around the end of March. We're still hanging doors, fitting skirting and painting woodwork upstairs at the moment. The BCO is coming this morning for his final visit and to tell us what paperwork he wants.

We received our as built SAP documentation yesterday and the EPC is A95 without any renewables. Apparently if we install 3.2kWp PV system it goes up to A102. We were going to do that a bit later this year, so I suppose I have to have the EPC calculated again when the work is done.

We aren't living in the house yet, soon though I think. We have three electric towel rails running at around 200W each for eight hours a day and that keeps the house warm.

@Onoff doesn't look like I'm afraid. If you've got draughts from what they've said 11.6 will seem balmy in comparison.

I would pretty quick based on the weather forecast for next week, now saying blizzards with wind chill -15C in Kent.