Gone West

There are two types of PTFE tape, the standard plumbing type and the gas grade type which is much thicker.

It is certainly an interesting subject. The 'monstrous carbuncle' springs to mind. So was that good design, poor design or just mediocre. Interesting that there were so many different opinions for something that should be judged objectively.

I don't think those two comments mean the same. The problem with design is that it is subjective not objective.

I don't usually comment on these sorts of threads, and I'm not sure whether you have just worded that comment poorly. If I was paying to have a house designed I would want it to look like I wanted, not what somebody thinks I would like. If @Indy likes this design then what's the problem, he's going to be paying for it and living in it.

It was a while ago now but IIRC the metal silencer had a rubber 'O' ring on the outside which sealed against the inside of the ducting and I don't remember any problems. I bought all the ducting etc from i-sells. I used Titebond PU gel adhesive to to glue the ducting together. https://www.axminstertools.com/titebond-greenchoicetm-polyurethane-construction-adhesive-311ml-952217

I designed a branch system using rigid plastic ducting.

We used an Isoquick raft foundation. We had an I-beam frame with an I-beam sole plate. The installers fitted the sole plate around the whole perimeter and then when the frame was up they cut out all the openings in the sole plate at ground level. Even though the slab was power floated it had lots of dips and we used a latex self levelling compound. A picture paints a thousand words as they say.

ADM Systems were really helpful when I first looked into MVHR many years ago. https://admsystems.co.uk/

You may well have the council tax officer coming round at intervals to check whether it is habitable so they can start charging you council tax. If you are living in it they will charge you, strictly speaking habitable, or not. I did my VAT reclaim a few years ago once it was signed off by building control but I think you can use when you start paying council tax in order to claim VAT. I should check on that as they seem to change the rules at times.

Our last house was a portal timber I-beam framed house. Being a portal frame there were no internal structural walls and it was open to the apex wherever we wanted it. It was a PH and the MVHR vents upstairs were low level with the ducting running in the ground floor ceiling. I'm sorry I don't have any decent pictures of the ceilings.

We are hopefully replacing our oil fired Rayburn this year with an external oil fired boiler. Oil fired boilers are not quiet but I don't hear it when I'm in bed and it does produce very hot water very quickly. You are welcome to it if your new system doesn't work as you would like, although you would have to collect it. PS. I don't suppose your buffer tank would fit in your workshop room downstairs.

My solar thermal system has a thermostat, which at the moment is set at 60C, but I will increase it to 75C. The solar thermal has apparently been installed for many years and is a low maintenance system. The boiler stat is near the centre of the tank but it could be set to a higher temperature if required. I will be using radiators so I would want the temperature in that part of the TS to be around 55C to 60C.

This year I am hoping to replace our oil fired Rayburn with an external Grant oil fired standard boiler. I was going to use a McDonalds thermal store with the TS directly linked to the radiators and a coil for DHW. There will also be a solar thermal coil and a PV powered immersion heating the TS. Something like this:

I used Durbocem last summer to paint a damp retaining wall. Seems to have worked well and I only brushed the surface off before painting. https://www.andrewscoatings.co.uk/shop/interior-exterior-walls/damp-mould/durbocem/

I can only again say that I used water softeners for seventeen years with a septic tank and for eleven years with a treatment plant and had no problems at all. I can only imagine it's the salt content from the regeneration cycle which is thought of as possibly causing a problem and that the bacteria are adversely affected but I've seen no evidence of that.

We had a Southern Water chap come round every year checking for leaks from the mains. All he had was a long metal tube with a metal cup attached to the top. He used to touch the water main with the tube and listen at the cup end. He told me it was the easiest way to find leaks.

Until recently we lived in East Kent and the water hardness was very high. We used twin cylinder water softeners for many years and had septic tanks and treatment plants and had no problems at all.

I would check the tiles for Chrysotile Asbestos as it is a possibility. This system outputs more heat per m2 but without a well insulated slab you might be losing half of the heat downwards into the ground. If you used IWI the pipework could be hidden behind the plasterboard because you will need some form of wall insulation.

I used something similar to the McAlpine soil pipe adapter and in the house I just tiled over top. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154788578070

I'm glad I don't like coffee as it's obviously saved me a lot of money.

I bought a roll of stainless steel wire wool, as used in racing exhaust systems, and I didn't have problems with mice or sparrows. I might just have been lucky though.

While we were building our last house we lived in an old bungalow with a 90l vented hot water tank which was tall and slim. We heated the water to 70C with an oil fired boiler and had baths. By the time the bath was finished the tank had heated up again.

I wouldn't and I've done renovations and a new build.

We didn't demolish our bungalow until the new build was complete, as we were living in it. The planners were fully aware of the demolition and required it to take place within three months of vacating the bungalow. We had to pay two lots of Council Tax until demolition was complete. Your demolition will be part of your planning and in our LA the Council Tax Office and Planning Office worked closely together. You might be lucky .

Nice looking house. I wanted to call our last house Shaidzagray but was overruled.