Andeh

Just to double check as we are soon to start this, is it 6 months from building control sign off as a general rule to stick to? Great info though, thank you.

Just building on the above, we had a warm flat roof, and large over hangs in a few areas, inclusive of a 30cm overhang all round. Builder used PIR for the 150mm up to wall insulation meeting it, then used Jablite (??) which was a white polystyrene type with lots of black dots throughout for the external elements. This sort of thing.... https://insulationgo.co.uk/75mm-eps70-expanded-polystyrene-insulation-board-jablite-of-4/

EPS type insulation? Cheapest rigid board type insulation?

As has been said, but worth repeating, insulating insulation insulation! How much depth have you got? If you can fit a 'good' amount of insulation, ie something at 100mm of PIR (or more to make it 'great, but I'm being realistic here based in it being a 35 year old house....) then have a 50 or 60mm screed with pipes in then that's the most efficient way of doing it. If you can't afford 150mm depth for the above, then I'd go with 80mm pir and then an overlay system on top with a self leveller as a compromised solution, but which would work. Quicker warm up and cool down times, and less efficient... But still workable.

Following with interest as I have the same in one spot!

That is very, that level of electrical capability is a skill I wish I knew more about. Alas life gets in the way.

Have to admit, I love my WiFi devices but the water softener is the last one I'd see the benefit of being wifi enabled. Once a month empty a bag of salt into it... Very easy to visually check it once a month... Regular usage etc... Not sure wifi offers anything my self!

Not mistakes we made, but easily missed.... 1) circulating DHW loops, fully insulated, I insisted on putting one in and we'd have been utterly fubar'd without it due to a 30 -40m distance from cylinder and taps. However terminate it close to the taps, our Kitchen tap is 4m off the loop and should have ran it to the cupboard to avoid that 5 second wait (!). 2) outside hot taps, esp if you have kids 3) consider 'wiring for, but not with' esp for car chargers (2nd one?), external cctv, external lighting, sheds, gates etc 4) boiler tap is brilliant if you like hot drinks 5) Put the utility room / laundry room near the bedrooms!

Should have paid attention to the windows more, we were set on an aluminium single large pane of glass..... But someone somewhere (expletive deleted)ed up the order and split the windows with one fixed pane and one opening pane, and a massive mullions down the middle of it. Was devastated when they turned up and we realised, builder replaced the kitchen ones back to large single pane but gentlemens agreement that asking him to replace all windows and take the £20k hit would come back to haunt all of us. Electric UFH mat in the bathrooms, for when the tiles are cold but the house is too warm for the proper UFH to come on. Electric towel rails, we have the ASHP powering the towel rails on a circuit and it never gets hot enough to do anything. We have a lot of of glass which makes the house feel chilly through science I don't understand... Not sure id change them to cancel this out though.

I'd delete the wunder, just have the UFH pipes clipped to the top of the insulation, then screed over it. Wunder is generally for retrofit type UFH solutions. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-m&sca_esv=ac906d086053e2fc&sxsrf=ADLYWILx105RMbvDOxf-zlkWoOuniAaNAQ:1730356982083&q=Ufh+clipped+to+insulation&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0AAii1lAhsPaaai4wByEaaipRAHWexzqXOes0FJK1_cCNcUFPPaxlyqBmr552nx3oIdFmFVO-OYSmQ6Gk3927r7w-t_mEMV1VSh-D5CmUgrota0Y23Tc96ea72Hhr6ZrhTNSaUCtq6qMlLLaMfYA9ZnAE2wrP63LGwcadZMK3PIxxf-vkjdLvClApQAENmVQoy6Npx7KR9TQIsTi-SwMqWmvvx7SQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiypIGKgriJAxUOUUEAHWu1BIMQtKgLegQIFBAB&biw=248&bih=487&dpr=2.07

Screed replaces concrete! We went with cemfloor pumped screed over our 150mm PIR, 60mm deep. We went over flat block and beam, so I can't comment on potentially more uneven dug out.

Do rising butt hinges work with electric vehicle gates? Or does the equivalent exist? The utopia would be normal twin gates equal sizes, with one opening and lifting as it swings to compensate for the gradiant... but a rising hinge when linked to an electric actuator feels complex! The pedestrian gate is purely there to cancel out the slopes impact on the gates. Love being half way up a hill for various reasons, but it makes things bloody hard work with various bits of the build!!

Just the nature of a refurbishment vs a new build. Digging out per your suggestion will be challenging working around the existing building, and that's a lot of spoils that need carting off site, around existing building and site. Foundations and make up of that ground will also need considerations. Fabric of the house will inevitable need contingencies as well, bringing it up to a good structural standard before you start on the luxurys like uber amounts of floor insulation. Massive insulation is also quickly undermined by a drafty build, and maintaining good air tightness is more challenging on a refurb then a new build... By the nature of more penetrations and settlement on a 70 year old building. So again insulation becomes a diminishing returns on top or drafts undermining it. Routing of services, pipework and wiring as well is more challenging then a new build, and will drive costs and impact air tightness again what you're adding vs what's already there. None of this is insurmountable or new to a builder, but you will need a broader appreciation of the build vs significantly above average insulation as the first hill to die on! Ie the cost of digging out the 150mm for EPS is probably more expensive then an extra 300mm loft insulation , on top of 300mm possibly planned for.... Or an extra 25mm insulated plasterboard. The extra 20mm screed buys you a lot of expanding foam and air tightness tape for sealing gaps everywhere vs embedding UFH in your concrete slab. Building and refurbishment is ultimately a measure of compromises and taking a holistic view of what you can 'win' on vs what you can accept a 'loss' on cis compromise. My view is accept a loss in your floor ambitions and stick to 'only' 150mm PIR (which is still highly highly insulating!) and go for a 100mm concrete slab with UFH embedded, and cut down in your excavations there, then use the money saved to 'win' more of the future compromises you will need to consider.

We've got two pillars ready for gates, but due to our driveway curving round one of the gates, one gate will intrude in the driveway if it only opens 90 degrees. Likely to only be a pedestrian gate to keep it narrow enough to account for the steep driveway in that area. Then have the main vehicle gate where the driveway is shallower. Driveway etc (block paved) all laid, so would prefer to stick to above ground mechanisms where possible. How complicated are we going to be asking for when we ask companies to quote? Any pragmatic routes we should be considering? Pic attached, with the two pillars shown. Thanks!

Thanks Connor! The size of the foundations implied the pillars are bloody heavy, just not something I know anything about!

Driveway sloping down and round the corner creating the miss matched slope!

We built two block gate pillars as part of our project. They are made up of high density blocks laid flat, 2 blocks wide. They sit on foundations around 0.5 x 1m sq. Render then applied. 1.8m high for a sort of 1.2m ish gate? The gap is 14ft wide, a miss communication when I wanted them closer together (builder replaced the old wood posts that were there 'as is', I verbally asked for them to be 10ft during quote stage... I didn't spot until too late) A year later we're now looking at installing electric gates. Due to the driveway gradiant rising more steeply on one side, we're looking at doing a 10ft gate and a 4ft pedestrian gate. Now the builder and his team (who were excellent to be fair) have said they're strong enough to hang a reasonable gate off... But my OCD and naturally cynical nature has me double guessing based off zero knowledge. We'd look to have a simple modern aluminium gate with slats. Short of hiring a structural engineer, anyone have any thoughts?

Your insulation there is more then sufficient, and you could loose/cut back the 150mm EPS. 150mm PIR is plenty sufficient in reality (0.14 ish?), law of diminishing returns really kicks in at these levels of insulation. The extra digging and cost of insulation will have a payback of many decades, so you should save that money and invest it in another area of the house to bring that up to better spec. A 1950s refurb will come with additional costs and limitations, so save your 'tippy top' expectations for other areas for investment. We ended up with block and beam 150mm PIR in floor, 150mm PIR roof and 150mm full fill rockwool in the walls (which isn't great, and wish we'd gone for more) but our running costs are around £160 a month for all energy, incl the fact we're a big family so hammer the hot water, dishwasher, washing machine hard.... So can't really complain esp as it's a 6 bed sprawling bungalow.

It will be fine! We had several weeks with plywood sheets getting soaked during our full build, but it all dried out quickly once the roof was built up. Looked a horror story for some of them where they blackened etc. Most houses end up utterly soaked through at some point during the build... But it all dries out. Any mould will die off with the removal of water once the roof is on. Running a dehumidifier once the roof is on will accelerate it.

Remove all the grout, and leave without any? Sort of shadow gaps? Or put in some flexible silicone sealant?

The wall lights area good idea! Did lightly consider it but with 7m x 6.5m dimensions (I think it is) wasn't sure about light levels in the middle. I was also very against making the dimensions any smaller, as we both have big cars and our holidays heavily involve driving, and use of a roof box, so wanted to park the car in with roof box on (ultimate first world problem and a stupid idea to have got my teeth into... But it does work well in winter!!) Hormann out in 2 weeks time, indeed fingers crossed third times a charm! Its difficult to work out what's failing on it, it works fine for several months then starts sticking/exceeding force limits 75% of use. Always at the same spot. I can adjust the screws to lift the door to resolve it, but that's fixing a symptom vs problem. Somehow over several months of regular use it must be dropping by 3-5mm and hitting force limit. Hormann assured me the door is an 'average size' for a side opener, so well within design limits in theory... I'm not sure!

We went with a hormann side opening door due to us wanting maximum opening size... 5.8m wide by 2.5m height. That is over the maximum size for standard sectional doors. I also don't like the over head lights being blocked by the door, when you need them most. Roller shuts look too industrial for me. Was about a £2500 premium over the largest size sectional they did. It looks damn cool opening, but is slow to open as you need to wait for it to be fully open on one side obvs. We use alexa to control it from further down the road to get around this. £20 easy fit solution... I love when a headache can be solved so quickly!! That being said...hormann are back out for the 3rd time to adjust it in a year due to it sticking, they've been brilliant over it, but does show 'outside the norm' brings with it the need for more finesse!!

Good questions MR10, would be useful to post pictures of issues as well, for others to consider!

Standard hormann insulated sectional! It dropped to 4 degrees last night, and is 8.9 degrees outside now, and we've been away since Friday but garage is still sat at 15.7 degrees according to the thermostat in there.

We have a well Insulated large double garage, though no insulation in the floor... Even in coldest of days it still doesn't drop below mid/low teens, and this time of year is around 18 degrees. Door gets opened twice a day, and it's a big opening... 5.5 x 2.7m. I do plan on hard plumbing a small dehumidifier just to help speed up wet cars drying in there.