Gone West

The Isoquick technician who came to site was from Germany, so I guess it's German. The first time I heard of it, it was being used in Canada.

Yes, it was a package contract from laying the type1 to power floating the concrete. We knew we were the first Isoquick installation in the country and so were guinea pigs to a degree, although we did have company technicians on site. We paid a fixed price, and all the extra costs due to the cock ups were covered by the company, who didn't quibble. There was a couple of weeks delay. Yes, and the fact the concrete was coming from too far away in warm weather. It came down to a good system, being let down by poor UK concrete laying.

+1 for Elfa. We've used that system for some time now, and it's really 'flexible', in a good way.

It took us a couple of years to finally get Planning Approval. We beat the LPA but still compromised on what we originally wanted. You have to really want to build your own place, to be bothered to persevere.

The 50mm layer of 3mm granite gravel just under the EPS should allow drainage if required. I was told the Peripor, which is made of very small granules, was more resistant to water absorption than standard EPS.

IIRC all the insulation was replaced. Ours was laid in July 2010 so we had the opposite problem of higher temperatures, we were in Kent. We found the Isoquick system to be fine and it matched our wall construction well.

We had the first Isoquick system installed in the UK in 2010. It didn't initially go to plan. We fortunately videoed the whole thing. We had the type1 and fines extending out 750mm beyond the edge of the insulation all the way around the slab. These are entries from my blog at the time. Sorry about the quality of the pictures.

I fitted an attenuator to reduce noise from the MVHR unit into the ducting system. I don't recall crosstalk being a problem although I guess it is more of a potential problem with a branched system than a manifold system.

@Novice Becky I installed a 125mm branched MVHR system in my last house and didn't have any problems. It was a PH so the flow rates were low. I fitted only one attenuator which was on the supply side and doing it again I would fit one on the extract as well.

I used PU gel glue to stick the ground floor stud wall sole plates to the concrete slab with no problems.

Yeah, Wendy watched it on iPlayer and said it was good.

Yes, normal speed for the unit you have.

IIRC it printed out both, but if not, to convert, it 1m3/h = 0.277778l/s. I did this five years ago so I'm a bit rusty.

I made a cone to put over the vent and the Testo sends the readings to my phone and I print them out.

It's pretty straightforward, seems like you've got it mostly sorted. I used 125mm branched ducting in my house changing to 204mm x 60mm for the rooms with vaulted ceilings. After it was all installed I set it up roughly to test it and then bought a Testo 405i anemometer to set it up more accurately.

I had a timber frame, cedar clad house in East Kent a few years ago and I insured it with Aviva with no problems then. I have used Sennocke Insurance brokers in Sevenoaks before and they were very helpful. https://www.sennocke.co.uk/

That's true normally, but this says they won't accept returns if the packaging has been opened.

In their latest catalogue through the door, it looks like they're hoping ASHPs become more popular. Don't know how their prices compare with other suppliers. https://www.screwfix.com/p/lg-therma-v-r32-s-series-5kw-air-source-heat-pump-kit-150ltr/626kh

Yes, we did it. We built a small, 130m2, to much better than minimum PH standards, house. We heated the whole house to 23C using three electric towel rails, one in each of the bathrooms and 250W electric UFH in the kitchen. We fitted the UFH because there was nowhere to fit a heated towel rail in the kitchen. We installed a Genvex Combi 185LS which provided MVHR, DHW and warm air heating through the MVHR ducting. The warm air heating only came on in the coldest periods. The Genvex unit had a 685W EASHP which heated the integral 185 litre DHW tank to 45C and warmed the air. It worked well but only because the house design was modelled very carefully using the PHPP. Energy usage was very low.

A decent builder should be able to do that with no problems.

The slate acts as a DPC and was common in homes of that age. That will be a large part of the problem and until the ground level is lowered to around 150mm below the DPC it will be difficult to know what other problems exist, if any. As has been suggested an ACO drain or gravel along that wall, after it has been dug out, could solve all the problems.

Has it always been paved like that. Can you mark where the level of the DPC is on the latest photo.

The air brick being half covered isn't good, so as @MikeGrahamT21 said

I should imagine it's a generational thing. We watch Talking Pictures probably more than 50% of the time and wouldn't dream of watching Netflix etc.

A new register board in the chimney breast.