tanneja

@the_r_sole I was just corrected that the studs are 150, so 50mm internally on top of that seems to take U = 0.28ish consistent with regs, obviously would be far more for the areas between the joists where it doubles on the insulation. I have suggested they try and find 50mm on the walls and 100mm on the ceiling (ceiling is also 150mm timber and they planned to put 50mm internally)

@Russell griffiths I was afraid someone would say that, I will recommend they look at non-trivial internal PIR at the sacrifice of the room area.

@mvincentd I offer my thanks for you sharing your experience. Your finished result is excellent (I feel I can see the attention to detail throughout), but do see what you mean, and so to save myself the OCD, has convinced me not to chase after matching garage and door, which makes life simpler, adjusting my idea of my ideal aesthetic. I assume you can't retrofit your own handle to the Thermo65 to something else?

Not for me, for a friend. Have a first floor extension in timber, 100mm timber frame with 90mm celotex cut and offered into the frame space between noggins. Internal detail planned was just plasterboard, externally cement board, membrane and render. Surely the areas of the wood frame (maybe 10-20% of the wall) will just be 100mm of timber U value equivalent? I've heard them say they will put 20mm of PIR internally, but by my math that gets to around U=0.53 over any wood element. To reach 0.28 for extensions the online calculator tells me 65mm of PIR needed. Whats the sensible approach? Is a room calculation % based given some areas are frame but others the 90mm PIR? Is the tennant better to insist on thicker insulation to have no spots breaching U0.28? I should add I am aware that space in the room is a premium. Thanks in advance for any wisdom.

Thank you @ToughButterCup I will call them tomorrow. I am set one their garage door so maybe that will help them spec something harmonious. Their insulation level is great, but the lack of black as an option, and the extra cost to get a recessed handle is extreme (seems to need thermosafe or thermocarbon ranges but will call them to clarify). @mvincentd I'm glad ans surprised to hear my hair brained idea isnt just my own. The alternative to get the aesthetic is my brother is a locksmith, so knows wood doors inside out. He is happy for him and the builder to make an exquisite tailored looking door 50mm thick timber for half the cost of a £3.8k U=0.9 flush slab Supertgerm door from AllyDoors.co.uk (more details.below). They say they will make every effort for draft exclusion, but would it invalidate the work I have put into the termal envelope (3g, insulation everwhere, approach to low air leakage coupled with MVHR)? Unavoidably the answer is surely yes. I see 50mm of timber achieves U=2.0. Could i take them up on their offer and perhaps sandwich a sheet of aerogel somehow? Then there is the edging to consider. For what it is worth atm. have £3.8k for this (minus the glazing) which includes fingerprint reader (is this over the top or inviting hacking in any way) and the fact it is oversize. Its going for a black slab door rather than strip wood as the backup look we would be happy with and achievable from most firms it seems https://images.app.goo.gl/xvG2mAsLDR8FnvAGA

I am starting to look for a front door for our house refurb, for which I plan a high level of insulation in combination with MVHR. As such a decent insulating and draft proof front door is important for the whole thing to be worthwhile. We did want an oversize front door, and so the opening at the moment could accommodate anything up to 1250mm wide x 2200mm tall. We like the idea of a strip wood clad door such as the below where the porch is similarly clad, but shudder at the thought of going to someone like Urban Front to get this made for many £ks. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.alamy.com%2Fstock-photo%2Ftimber-cladding.html&psig=AOvVaw3itXapvJC2N-6phk3TRSE-&ust=1603232191171000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCIjcyLzXwewCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAg Would it be nonsense to consider getting a plain door like a blank face HormanThermo65 and then attach wood cladding to it? Would I threaten the hinges via the extra weight? And presumably could only glue onto the alu face as to drill through is PIR insulation inside. Or do I work with my builder to get an insulated door blank ourselves somewhere and try fit seals and multi-point locking ourselves? Or most likely, pay up for something less extravagant but can be bought off the self. Any ideas and reality checks welcome.

@canalsiderenovation where did you get your door? The same provider of your windows?

Thanks @Dan F @Bitpipe. We have already got a relatively new combi boiler so are committed to that. We were provisioning for AC powered by an ASHP. It just occurred to me that it could be there for heating in case of failure of the combi boiler for any reason, waiting for an engineer to come (not that the combi cant give us sufficient heating and water when operating normally). Any ASHP would be installed primarily for it's cooling effect (not very relevant with the weather as it is now, but for stretches of this year it was unpleasantly hot to be inside). Trying to get my provisioning right, I'm unsure what our cooling requirement will be when the house is finished, but I expect it to be greater than zero, despite having SKN 176II glass on the main solar gain prone elevations, and white render (the grey roof tiles won't help probably). Wanted to leave a way for an ASHP to be installed and enter into the house, before nicely externally insulating (EPS) and rendering, and also have a pathway for pipework internally for either room mounted AC units, or alternatively link it to the MVHR and UFH. Each strategy would require different provisioning for routes for the coolant pipes. I take what you have each said, and will see if I can think about positionally provisioning both approaches.

If I wanted to make use of a duct cooler or fan coil, it seems I would need an ASHP. We were already considering one for it's cooling capabilities and backup heating should the boiler struggle at any time. I had assumed this unit would be a 4way minisplit servicing 4 main areas of the house. Is the current most practical thinking that rather than a minisplit connected to room internal units (wouldn't manage to cool each room, just essential areas), the less invasive and more economic way to cool all rooms in the house with one ASHP is to have a dual feed from the ASHP, one to a duct cooler / fan coil, and the other to the UFH? I have read all the advice on cooling impact given the low air flow, and yet given people in this thread think it is viable, I am torn as to the best provision to make for a comfortable home. I offer my thanks in advance for any wisdom.

Does anyone have an opinion as to the right size of loft hatch that one should consider? These Jumpiter Blue ones only seem to go up to 760mm by 560mm, I had provisioned for larger (up to 12000mm x 700mm) but maybe this JP side is good enough for getting things up and down. Also should i be paying attention to any kind of spring hinges to make the opening and closing smoother? I was thinking adding a telescopic laddar to the joist inside the opening to minimise footprint inside and make a PIR plug for extra insulation.

Has anyone gone ahead and had polished concrete done by a firm in South East England? Personally I would want a pour over the UFH too, not just the grind and polish. I expected the quotes to be large, they are eye watering from some firms. Any first hand experience would be gratefully received.

I'm not sure what I am missing. Intra wall structure DPC (literally plastic sheeting protruding out of the wall) seems to be close to finished floor height (is 200mm above concrete sub base atm). I was always planning porcelain floor so the plan from builder was to insulate, UFH, 50mm screed and tiles. Now I am considering a polished concrete floor, where the firms are saying they would want to lay 100mm concrete which brings my FFL up from where builder thought it would be. He is talking about having to lip up the DPC internally to the house to prevent the 100mm thick polished concrete floor being a bridge above and below the wall DPC. It doesn't sync at all with what this forum is saying. Is my set up normal and I am just misunderstanding? FYI this is an extension and refurb.

Or relocate the unit somewhere on the ground floor, such as the planned airing cupboard position

Can I split the main new air feed from the MVHR unit, with the 150/160 rigid pipework, to feed 2 distribution boxes? Not seen it before. If not, perhaps 2 smaller MVHR units would be sensible? Or go the decentralised route with through wall units, with the cost and aesthetic comcessions it brings. Nuclear option is to have voids in each bedroom to get to the rooms below. I had hoped to avoid that ti give the rooms layout flexibility, th3y are already boarderline doubles.

@Declan52 I stopped short of that previously as its a bit of a mess to look at, but hopefully it is clear enough. This was my recent attempt as runs, until I showed my builder. Note that the partially transparent red features are large structural steels, the solid joists run from left to right between the first and ground floor, purple spaces are vaulted. We have lots of full height cabinetry planned in the kitchen living area, and conceded to have boxed sections under the ground floor ceiling on the east wall to conceal ducts that need to run up and down the house, under the ground floor ceiling. There are compromises everywhere and yet its still very challenging. Builder has no idea how we would get 10 feeds down through the void in the master bedroom, while the void would be big enough, the wall separating the master and the ensuite is supporting, so its a not viable void candidate unless some major revisions are done. Please note that the loft space is very small, at the apex it is around 1.5m tall after insulation, so the flat roof section will be approx 0.7m max, it is truly a crawl space. Even placing the unit will be a challenge. Makes for sub-optimal distribution box placement too, lengthening all the runs. Had hoped they could be situated above the ensuite but builder thinks unrealistic, especially if i would ever need access. Windows are already ordered without trickle vents. I would like to avoid a decentralised unit for reasons or cost and in room / outside of house aesthetics, and likely noise. I could concede to the garage having its own through wall unit as the unit would be hidden around the side of the house exterior.

Yes from BPC, so far just the general location and number of runs for each extract and supply, not the runs themselves. The only room with combined extract and supply is the open plan living / kitchen. I'm certain I have the minimum number of valves and runs. BPC doesn't know the incompatibility of our build with ducting runs, so with it being left to us to find the runs, I brain-stormed things could be more achievable (and less sacrifice to the 1st floor rooms) if we could reduce the ducting runs coming down to the ground floor, and then split from there.

@MJNewton I thought that might be the case, I am struggling to think of other kinds of distribution boxes to get around this. I am probably not thinking outside of the 'box' enough yet!

Trying to retrofit MVHR at this stage of our renovation is causing major headaches. The necessary void spaces to bring down ducting from the loft to the ground floor threaten to really impact our first floor spaces. Its more complex as well due to solid wood joists, size of steels, and their directions. A way to perhaps make the void requirement less would be to have additional distribution boxes, but I don't know if I can get a balanced system through doing so, I would hope so if it is a valve balanced approach. An example of the ducting would be: - main feed from MVHR unit to a 6x 75mm exit distribution box (4 exits used to supply the upstairs bedrooms, the other two make their way via voids to the ground floor) - each 75mm feed that gets to the ground floor has its own 4x75mm exit distribution box...so 12 feeds in total servicing the house, the downstairs feeds going via 2 distribution boxes. - It would be a similar story for the extract ducting circuit Is this reasonable, or will the downstairs rooms suffer from insufficient flow? Assuming the balancing is possible, will the "void" runs experience more noise due to faster flow? Or would noise only materialise at the plenums, by which time the flow speed is reduced (after its volume being divided in the secondary box), so I might be ok? Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can afford to me.

@joth have you got the direct link to the product to hand?

They are 400s apart. They don't have many noggins at the moment, just one set at mid span (span of this set is 3000mm). So more noggins is doable. Good advice to have someone else upstairs while I listen from underneath, that a fun weekend activity to plan. They are close but not quite butted up against the studs I have shown these to the builder and he is interested in them. He says he knew what they were but they were more expensive and he want with some floor purposed ones (in a cool teal colour). We can try a box of these, thanks very much for the suggestion We will be counter battening in areas bt didn't plan in this area to preserve the ceiling height, but if the issue is the joists, I woudl be willing to lose some height for a silent experience. Would more noggins be as effective as this, ,just more time consuming? Thankyou, I was only ever thinking about the local noise on the 1st floor rather than hearing the 1st floor from the ground floor. Maybe these are a good idea in the areas downstairs where we won't want to hear the footfall or TVs upstairs. A quick google search they don't look horribly expensive... There is a LOT of screws up there. And when I look, I can definitely see they have glued to the joists in places, but maybe they weren't that generous with it for some joists as there isn't any overspill (potentially no glue i suppose, I cant tell in places). If that were part of the issue, what could be done now? Try to pipe glue from the side to the joist/floor interaction?

Hi all, relates a bit to a topic posted recently on here but a bit of a different ask. New joists been out in between ground and first floor. The ceiling / floor joists are timber joists with chipboard above and will be plasterboard below. At the moment ceiling below not done. Chipboard has been screwed to the joists and the chipboard joins are glued. It is creaky in areas. I had hoped to have silent experience when walking around the 1st floor with the renovations (was previously old floorboards, it was like hopscotch at night to not wake the kids). I would think it it the chipboard, not the joists, but its difficult to say what interaction / material bending is responsible for the noise. Will it be fine when underlay and carpet go down, or am I best to remedy now? I have been warned by my builder that now getting an insulation backed board like ScreedBoard 28 will be expensive and for an unknown performance benefit. Is there a more cost effective solution? Upstairs is only around 50m2 but budget is very constrained.

Did anyone open a trade account with BPC? My interpretation of their website is that if I get my builder to make a trade account, there may be a discount to be had.

I take it you need a receiver linked to the light circuit which listens for the switch radio signal? It is radio and not wifi I am reading? Is the wiring of the receiver a DIY job for the very inexperienced? Does it need to go in the ceiling behind the light?

@nod can i ask who you bought your Nolte kitchen through?

Thank you @joth, we fell for the Calcatta Macchia Venta. So far we had considered it being combined with a handleless Luca DIY kitchen, but that might not be the best combo now seeing the pictured link, and hearing how you plan to detail your sapienstone. Will your cabinets be custom made, or an available range from somewhere?