Gone West

I found that the easiest bit, Wendy did it!!

Fortunately we finished our build four and a half years ago and now it's just a dim and distant memory. Moved on to the next project now. It took eight years to complete and it's not something I would want to do again. The hardest part was the relentless day in day out slog.

We didn't find any downsides but the house was very highly insulated and was designed not to need a conventional CH system. The air from the MVHR vents was only warm, so the EASHP had a high CoP. The EASHP also heated the DHW tank to 45C. Our electricity bills were very low, but that was pre 2021.

Ours was 320mg/l so we had to have one really.

I had to have one hot water and one cold softened water and one cold hard water. Much easier living with naturally soft water.

I glued down all the groundfloor stud wall sole plates using PU gel adhesive.

Rather than the specific details of a particular borehole it's whether there are several historical shallow wells in the area, less than ten feet deep, that could indicate a high water table. Where I used to live was, hundreds of years ago, the old coastline salt marshes and the geology changed significantly over short distances. Most of the pre 20thC properties in the area had shallow wells. PS It looks like the borehole details you linked to showed that they drilled 180 feet but never finished the well and that it is capped off.

I lived in the area for a long time and only saw the Elham Nailbourne flowing in a few winters. http://www.barham-kent.org.uk/modern_nailbourne.htm

The water table where I used to live could vary by 2.5m over a year from ground level downwards. I had a borehole drilled and it was water bearing all the way down to the chalk which was also water bearing at 47m down.

So you must be in the Barham area. I used to live near Westmarsh so know the area.

We used reedbeds with our treatment plant at our last house and found them quite high maintenance.

A starting point might be local borehole details. https://www.bgs.ac.uk/information-hub/borehole-records/

We built a PH a while back which was heated with electric towel rails in the bathrooms and a MVHR with built in EASHP. The whole house was kept at 23C comfortably. It was very well insulated and according to PHPP required 13kWh/m2a or 9W/m2 for space heating.

Very windy yesterday as well, -1C wind chill. Prefer the Cornish climate.

Calgary.

Haven't a clue. My youngest daughter lives in Canada, which is a huge country, and it was -6.0C and snowing hard yesterday, where she was.

I would have thought it was an ideal use for Icynene and if it's fully encapsulated who knows how it's insulated.

The blown mineral fibre system I looked at thirteen years ago used a semi transparent membrane which I thought was a good idea. As always there are many ways to skin a cat, and several work well, but none are perfect.

The reason I didn't use blown celulose was because I was worried about sagging and thermal bypass. Strangely enough I was talking to a friend a couple of days ago who used Warmcel in her build twelve years ago. She had recently uncovered some internal walls and found large cavities in the Warmcel which she said surprised her because it had been put in under such high pressure. She is going to hire a thermal camera to check the external walls. She had also used Icynene in the external walls of a detached studio in the grounds. One advantage of Icynene is that you can see the coverage before it's covered up. As for blown cellulose:- It certainly doesn't fill every gap in all cases. I doubt it's better for airtightness. I don't know about the cost comparison. Blown cellulose is better for decrement delay, but the importance of decrement delay is dependent on the situation of the property. As the insulation is encapsulated, fire resistance is a bit of a red herring. Off gassing of Icynene is complete in 48 hours. There can be a lot of work involved in trimming Icynene with the associated waste. We also looked at blown mineral fibre which would have been my second choice.

Icynene isn't usually injected, and I think it's PU foam that's usually sprayed on the underside of roof tiles.

Yes, if it fully encapsulated, as mine was, with OSB3 racking on one side and plasterboard on the other. When I applied for the warranty and house insurance I was only asked the type of construction, timber frame and timber clad, not what type of insulation I used.

I think it depends on how the house is constructed. I built a timber frame house and didn't use any airtightness tapes or membranes and achieved 0.47ACH. I used the fabric of the building, OSB3 and Icynene foam insulation, as the airtightness layer. I didn't have any penetrations through the walls or roof and fitted triple sealed windows and doors. It was built to PH standards and was heated with electric towel rails in the bathrooms and an EASHP warming the air from the MVHR.

I'm always being pestered by SSE to have a smart meter fitted. Got a card through the post today saying they're rolling out smart meters to all their customers. Doing our area from 7th November.

Respect!!

I used Icynene for the walls and roof in an I-beam timber portal frame house. I've not used Isothane so don't know anything about it. Icynene is very good for airtightness and remains rubbery and flexible after it has set. The OP PMd me and I sent details.