Gone West

As I've said before upstairs is probably due to loft insulation. You can always find the screw heads holding the plasterboard to the joists with a detector or small magnets. If you can stretch to increasing the loft insulation to 300mm it will reduce heat loss a lot. Fit the insulation snuggly between the joists and then another layer over the whole lot in the other direction.

In the past when we've had mortgage surveyors round they've never stayed for long or seemed to take that much notice. If you can get the loan you want without changing anything it would save a lot of trouble. You can always make changes later and get it signed off if necessary.

If it was me I wouldn't do anything initially just do what I had planned. If it all goes tits up then look into having it checked, but doing that will involve invasive work.

The valves on each end of the radiator do different things. The end where the water flows into the radiator is the end that can be adjusted/turned off. The other end, where the water flows out, is the end which is adjusted to balance the system and once it is balanced that valve should not be touched again. If your system has not been balanced it's not surprising that some radiators could be cold and others hot. The inflow pipe end of the radiator should be hotter than the outflow as the heat in the water is lost to the air as it passes through the radiator.

This might explain it a bit better. https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/advice/how-to-balance-radiators

Saw the one last night, which was a repeat, and once again the architects upset the client with a scheme that came in at more than twice the budget. Even the final plans ended up 20k to 30k more than the budget. Mind you the quality of the original 80s build was so poor there were lots of repairs to be done. Judging by the '40mm Gap' thread on here things haven't improved much since then. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/15911-40mm-gap-between-blockwork/?tab=comments#comment-260018

@zoothorn I would take Steamy up on his offer and get an idea of how much heat you need to keep it warm.

That's how we built our house. One step at a time, never having trades lined up, who'll let you down. Mind you it took us eight years .

That isn't correct. If you put enough heat into your house it will get warm. The radiators have to be big enough, have a large enough surface area to transfer heat to the air, to more than match what is being lost through the walls etc. The boiler/ASHP also has to be large enough to provide that heat.

It's unlikely they would be able to find out, but if there were an injury/death due to the works then I should imagine they would do a lot of searching.

Action by Building Control can only be taking up to two years after completion. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200128/building_control/38/building_regulations/3

My BCO wasn't interested/didn't notice.

Around here, with Part Q timber build conversions, they get round the regulations by jacking up the roof structure with Acros, removing the walls and rebuilding them, then remove the roof and rebuild.

If you're confident you have plenty of loft insulation then it is a 'brand new well insulated room', although AIUI it still has a big chunk of original house wall in there. If not most of the heat will be disappearing through the ceiling.

I can appreciate you grabbing the offer when made but I don't think it will work out for you. If I understand the new downstairs room is warm but it is the best insulated. Put the woodstove on for a bit to build the temperature up.

If radiators aren't on in some rooms and loft poorly insulated I'm not surprised at the temperatures. An old stone thick walled cottage like yours is going to take a long time to warm up.

To be fair your house is well insulated. If I lived in Zoots house I wouldn't consider using an ASHP it would be an external oil boiler for me.

I would check loft insulation above both rooms but with no heating I wouldn't expect the temperature to be any higher. You really need to have the heating on continuously for some time to get the fabric of the building up to temperature, which you are not able to do.

I filter hard water but don't remove the hardness, so only Chlorine, Nitrates etc are removed.

We have had water softeners for nearly thirty years and Wendy drinks tea and coffee made with softened water. I rarely drink hot drinks but drink cold water and use a water filter.

I certainly wouldn't remove the CWI and would fit as much Graphite EPS as the soffitt will allow with the rainscreen.

That's great, well done. You must both be very pleased with yourselves.

Too much contact with Zoot.

The Lockshield Valve used for balancing is on the outflow of the radiator and shouldn't be adjusted. The other valve can be adjusted and turned off if required.

You're thinking old type houses, which is understandable because your house is old. My house is a modern low energy house and is the same temperature all over 24/7. We use a 4 tog duvet and I'm quite happy sleeping on top of the duvet. We had the radiators on all the time in the previous bungalow and I am slim but no one has called me a stick insect although Wendy often says I'm crazy.