Andeh

Yes the low profile UFH do heat up faster, yours times are about right vs our low profile retrofit system, but for such a well Insulated house I don't really see the value on that vs just Ufh in screed and setting the temp to 18 degrees and leaving as is.

Yeah, up until now everything has been on a fixed price more or less, this MVHR has been the first real scare tbh. The price up front was keen & the quality of him/his team has been very good so happy over all. For this MVHR though -I do agree!

I presume where kits are ''left hand'' it means some of the ports are on the left hand unit and some on top -vs- them ALL being on top?

Thank you so much guys!! Just builder dropped the ball I think, he originally estimated £3k to supply (nearly 18 months ago admittedly) and CEF have come in at £9100. I'm meeting him next week to discuss, but it generally works as he does all the bricks, mortar & construction stuff then he gets a couple of quotes from 'big' firms to do supply & install on the specialist stuff...ASHP, UFH, Roof, MVHR, etc etc and goes with the cheapest.... I dont disagree with this approach as specialist doing specialist work, but in this instance the MVHR quotes are too much for me to just accept. Turns out I ran a quote from BPC which came back at £4500 odd a few months ago which I am pleased with (completely forgot). That was for one large unit, when I will need two smaller units, but it has at least given me some that I can salvage something here. Do BPC do the full design & supply....and you simply follow the instructions & adapt it on the day for the specific properties needs? Im hoping as it's ''just'' a tall bungalow, warm roof (though block internal walls) and webbed joists the installation shouldnt be that complicated!

Just add whats daunting, is I dont see it as a complicated system...but when I look at the CEF quote thats killing us, it makes it feel very complicated!? MVHR 9100 quote.pdf

Hi all, Slight emergency for us in the sense our builder has just dropped a clanger that the MVHR he originally costed for £5700 supply & fit is now coming back to us at double this!! With plasterboarding on the horizon, I have very limited time to try and find alternatives, even though I have a couple of historical quotes from local suppliers for nearly 50% saving, though I am quite sure their timing would push the plasterboarding & project back a good few weeks - a very hard conversation I am losing with my wife. As a result i'm stuck between a £4k bill to meet the timings, or save £4k and incur rent & hassle for probably a good few weeks - as a result I am looking at DIY. I am pretty good with DIY and am very hands on, running the pipework seems fair enough. In terms of how I design the system I am concerned though. Some quotes have shown ''Y junctions' within the fabric of the ceiling, when I just thought all pipes would naturally run back to the central unit & a manifold there? Looking at Vent Axia Sentinel & a second compact one for the two halves of the house, as per floor plan attached. Low height central entrance prevents one unit being used. Just welcome how others approached this & how DIY start was researched on design, supply, and any 'gotchas' found when DIYing a MVHR system? Ironically enough, money is no real object when I look at a £4-5k discrepancy between Builder's CEF quote & my historical quotes from a couple of months ago.... 3180_s4_100J_Floor Plan.pdf

Probably exactly the same place as you OP. Been at it for 12 months now, should have finished in July... Now hoping to make January. Just feeling like it's a never ending slog. We took a £6k hit yesterday on material pricing which is still hurting, but builder and his team are good. Each phase had its own ups and downs was delighted to get the roof finished after much delays... Only to run into delays on windows. One hand giveth, other hand taketh away. It's a marathon for sure, one day, one week at a time.. Head down and persevering.

Love it, good progress! You look to be a couple weeks ahead of us....we are waiting on windows !

Thanks, due to bungalow it needs to be a flat/low profile one!

Thank you very much, this is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for....!! Have you got any pics of the installation? Is the drain on it replacable with one we have chosen? Thank you!

Doesn't bode well, I had hoped they were more common?

Hi all, I am looking at Waste Water heat recovery systems for our showers. One has a standard 25mm shower tray, which will have the subfloor built up by approx 200mm to accommodate it. The second will be a wet room area, ideally with a preformed tray, which again will be built up by approx 200mm to accommodate it. Can anyone recommend any low profile waste water heat recovery systems which could be compatible with this space? Due to the nature of it being a bungalow built on block & beam flooring, we are limited with space! Many thanks,

Thanks very much all, yeah windows poor but in stuck with them now. They are very slim aluminium and always knew they'd be a compromise, was just hoping for closer to 1.3 which I was told they were... Just omitting the (expletive deleted)ing frames when confirmed it with me. I'll ask SAP if waste water would help, if not ill leave it. Can't add more PV as existing is tied into a good tariff and can't be changed. Hoping for much better then 5 air tightness wise... Anyone estimate what SAP improvement going from 5 to say 3? Thanks again all

Thanks Peter - some of our walls are 4.5m tall to ceiling so that would be tricky. I have gone over every inch of wall & roof interface (and will do for the windows) filling to ensure all sealed up tightly, same with every hole passing through the block work sealing the inside & outside. Its something I continue to monitor & adjust. Thanks for all the feedback though

Thanks Seren & in answer to the question...that's basically what we did. The difference in build before & after was going to be substantial enough that anyone would have spotted it with a cursory check, and the nature of the length of build meant it was going to be a long standing payment we'd need to make on very tight budgets (ie 2 x council taxes for 18 months...). As new Build, the council has plenty of paperwork to spot a revaluation need. We bit the bullet, declared it empty immediately & got a slight refund back dating it to when a fuse box was removed as we moved out. As the build is taking longer, it continues to have been the sensible decision to have made.

Thanks very much all....that's good to know. I have been very hot sealing up every gap I can think of, and will do so again after windows go in. Having a bungalow with warm roof & a builder who is used to seeing me up the scaffolding with expanding foam in one hand & silicone in another has made it a bit easier (I know neither are fool proof, but I am thorough to a fault with them both - inside & out). We could ask about secondary glazing, the reality is we will have blinds & curtains in every window tightly fitted, so the actual impact cost wise will be minor...its more the SAP & ''points mean prizes!!'' focusI have Ill speak to build about Waste Water heat recovery.... the drainage is all in, but shower trays not installed/poured, so ill have to check with them on how we make it work. If anyone is able to share their experiences of what ait tightness did to their SAP / EPC (before & after) report I'd be grateful??!! - thanks in advance

Due to a cock up on my part, our windows are 1.6u NOT the 1.3u the window company has been telling me for several weeks. They were quoting glazing-only figure, and I took it as whole window figure. I've only found this out 2 days prior to delivery so nothing I can do now sadly - to say I am gutted is an understatement. To make matters worse, this drops us from an A SAP down to 'only' 91 SAP - a B. We have 3.99kW of Solar going in (already on site), roof, walls, floor are already built. We already have Solar diverter going in for hot water, have got good MVHR & ASHP (actuals used in SAP).... and i'm out of ideas on anything else we could get in to find that extra 1 SAP point - reasonably priced or so. We are 'as design of 5' air tightness, which I have been fastidious at trying to reduce, so i'm hoping that might help....but hoping for any other ideas people might have?

Good question.... No, we declared it as demolished for reasons I can't remember if I'm honest! I'll have a think without my gin & tonic and come back to you!!

Yep!

Just to correct my above point; the U value I quoted above was for the glass alone...due to the Ali frame it is more likely to be 1.5; Frame AND glass. Im pretty pissed off over this, as I didn't bother upgrading/seeking alternatives as asking the U Value of the windows & being told 1.3 meant I chalked it up as an easy win and never gave it a second though, had I known 1.5 I'd have sought better performance in one form or another, I do feel the Window supplier was misleading in quoting a half-truth!!!

Just to come back to this, the U value I quoted above was for the glass alone...due to the Ali frame it is more likely to be 1.5; Frame AND glass. Im pretty pissed off over this, as I didn't bother upgrading/seeking alternatives as asking the U Value of the windows & being told 1.3 meant I chalked it up as an easy win and never gave it a second though, had I known 1.5 I'd have sought better performance in one form or another, I do feel the Window supplier was misleading in quoting a half-truth!!!

Not really....just compared thermal transmittance of Kingspan at something like 0.024w v Recticels 0.022w, and the fact that one got U of 16 and one a U of 14 via SAP.

Also worth saying, mature trees are pretty rare in domestic gardens, they are a real feature / add value! I'd avoid removal.

We had foundations about 2m deep 13m ish from a mature willow. Had to install heave protection as well. Found no real rootage to speak of in the trench.

160mm recticel achieves 0.11...might be a fair compromise? It's 10% higher performing then Kingspan equivalent.