Gone West

Hi and welcome to the forum. It's a nice position and the design looks interesting. I've always thought architects come from another galaxy as far as costs are concerned! Good luck.

I would second 12mm Hardiebacker boards which I used in my bathrooms. I also got through a few circular saw blades cutting it, but once fitted it doesn't move.

I can't see a problem with your diagram. The shower room is small and I'm not sure there would be a dead area. I have the same set up in my kitchen with the extract point about 1.5m away from the hob hood.

There are many different internal and external window films for different applications and it sound as if the specification was wrong in that case. I worked in an all glass building built in the late sixties that was single glazed. It overheated in the summer and they fitted a mirrored film which even back then made a huge difference. The film I have had fitted has made a big difference to the amount of solar gain and glare in my sitting room.

My windows are fitted within the insulation layer to reduce thermal bridging.

Almost certainly that would be the case which is why I stressed it's suitability in a PH only. The proportion of energy used for space heating compared to DHW changes from a conventional house to PH. Reducing the amount of energy used to heat DHW is more important so hot water saving measures become more critical. You would not expect DHW demand to be above average in a PH.

I was told it was best to automatically turn off the ventilation system when the fire alarm goes off. I haven't yet looked into how simple that might be.

I wouldn’t use a Genvex 185 Combi unless it was in a house built to Passivhaus standards. It is useful in that it is compact and in a small house that can be a consideration. In a PH not requiring underfloor heating, where all the heating requirement can be met by the Combi, there are savings to be made by using a single appliance. If there is not a large hot water requirement, ie one or two occupants or water saving measures are good then the Combi is fine. It is good way of helping to keep the build simple rather than having a lot of different systems.

My palm sander has a hole punch plate so I can punch my own in cut sheets.

Had our window film installed today. Had to wait a couple of days for the wind to die down a bit. It's not easy to see the difference between glazing with the film and without. I'll have to wait till this evening to see what the effect is on solar gain.

+1

My first floor is 22mm water resistant T&G chipboard which is glued and nailed with 50mm ring shank nails at 100mm spacing into the metal web joists. I'm laying a floating strand bamboo floor on top with a thin underlay.

Hi Roger and welcome to the forum. It looks an interesting project. So does the polystyrene upstand on the Isoquick slab align with the polystyrene on the ICF walls limiting thermal bridging? How does the trussed roof join the walls to create the same effect?

We used RAL 7037 for our windows and doors and it was a good match for the chart. There can look to be a difference if the level of shine is different. We used what they called satin and it tied in well with other areas of the house with the same RAL colour.

I used 18mm timber window boards in my last house. I used HDF this time. With timber you run the risk of cracking and or cupping, but with HDF you don't. I bought bullnose profile, 4.2m lengths of the width I wanted.

I've been using 'pavingexpert.com' for a few years now and can definitely recommend it.

I bought S/S vent cowls for my system because I thought they looked smart. I then read on a forum, can't remember where, that they reduce the flow of air significantly that is being taken into the MHRV unit. As I am using only 125mm ducting I decided to make my own vent that didn't reduce flow.

I sent the British Geological Survey my borehole data, such as it is, and they have entered it already, very efficient. It is at TR25NE221.

I bought all our bathroom stuff for three rooms from Bathstore. They had everything we wanted, we liked the designs and buying in bulk we got a good discount on top of the sale price.

I used rigid 125mm plastic ducting for my MHRV. Where it went through the outside wall I just left about 200mm sticking out and put a cover over it. I did buy a 125mm 90 degree cowl but found out it reduced air flow too much. So I made a wood frame and found a vent cover with a flow area greater than the area of the 125mm duct and fitted that. It's 300mm square.

I fitted a Fakro triple glazed roof window six years ago which had reflective glazing with a 'g' value of 32%. It does reduce the light level but that is compensated for partly because it's at 42 degrees.

That's interesting Jeremy, we are hoping to have ours installed this month so I'm hoping it will be as effective. Will report back when it's completed.

Would the tenant accept an increase in rent? If so I would go for 'C' with foundations suitable for adding another storey at a later date and do it under PD.

Thanks Terry, a very interesting site with a lot of detail.

Good looking property, The PVs look fully black, what make are they?