Gone West

Yeah it's the way it is towards the end of the build. We found these to be a very good price. https://www.internaldoors.co.uk/mexicano-modern-veneer-oak-door

I designed and built a PH that was heated by an electric towel rail in each of the three bathrooms, 4 m2 electric UFH in the kitchen. We also had a Genvex Combi 185 which had an EASHP that heated the DHW and provided warm air through the integrated MVHR ducting if required. We kept the whole house at 23C without a wet heating system.

Welcome to the forum. First of all good luck with your project. We lived in East Kent at the time and it took us eight years to complete the building work and two years planning, so it pays to have somewhere comfortable to live, while all that is going on. We also had an old bungalow which we replaced with a Passivhaus. We were able to live in the bungalow while building the house in the garden, which was a tight squeeze, but at least we were always on site. We built a timber frame on an insulated slab and did a considerable amount of the work ourselves, hence the eight years. We had never done any large building work before, but we designed and built our own Passivhaus, so just pace yourself and enjoy the rollercoaster.

We used a Fakro triple glazed roof window. Easy to fit, no trickle vents, no problems. Velux at that time only came with trickle vents.

Burnt sand mastic is the traditional material for sealing around window and door frames into stonework.

When I was a teenager cycling over to my mates at Barming, the gypsies used to string barbed wire across the lane at North Pole Woods. Fortunately I had been warned.

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.