Andehh

Did you ever get to the bottom of this?

Their original quote was £8k but the original cold call which found her they used the "government grant" to hook her. When on site and quoting they then rang the government and" secured the £2k grant" which meant she only needed to pay £6k for the work!!!

She is semi elderly, health issues and on her own so easy pickings for the bastards. Sadly we're a few hours away and I never knew, had kept an open offer to have a look at her UFH system which also seems to have been done wrong (thermostats wired to the wrong zones by the sounds of it) but never knew about the insulation until the mother in law told us about how pleased she was with it..... I could only chew my own tongue over how no one else found it odd that £6k for a days work should fail anyones laugh out loud test. (along with gov grant over the phone...) She has two mid 30s children who she could have asked for a second opinion!

Apparently lots of it, they took pics and showed her. She had actually been suffering from lung conditions, so the mould would be align to that. Property was cold beforehand (6 year new build,i repeat!) and apparently is noticable warmer after!

Sat with her family, and listen to her Mum talking about her sister and how she has finally got her 6 year old bungalow warmer. Transpires she accepted a cold call from a 'government advisor' telling her she was eligible for an insulation grant. They come and inspected, actually find huge amounts of black mould, wet joists and the felt damp and falling apart. But fortunately they can start the work within a few days. They quote to spray the back mould, strip out all the insulation and make good. They come out a few days later, spray all the mould disappear off, and return removing all the old insulation/damp insulation and replacing it. All in a days work for a few of them. Only cost her £6, with them securing a £2k grant from the government whilst they were in site quoting. I repeat, It's a 6 year old bungalow. Cowboys built the (expletive deleted)ing think, cowboys fix the (expletive deleted)ing thing. I still can't work out how she would have so much black mould, and wet / rotting timber up there though?! FOR (expletive deleted)S SAKE!

Yikes... I think we're 15deg and 3degrees? Does that make sense as a weather comp mode?

I imagine you'd lay this, then 9mm board or something over the top and carpet? If upstairs it'd probably work, but if you can get an extra 10 or 20mm you'd benefit. You will also need to run warmer temps to feel the benefit.

Just checked our Cop and it's 3.1 over the whole year. We do two cylinder heats a day to 51 degrees and in summer can smash 4 full tanks on a warm weekend day with filling paddling pools. Still only averaged out to be £160 a month,inclusive of daily washing machine and dishwasher usage. Couple of tumble drys a week,mostly WFH.

Plastic is the right approach, and insulting them as they pass through the wood is a great idea! Drove my mad in my first house when they didn't do this, and every morning it's wake me up as the heating came on. Really bugged me.

That's fair enough and this whole industry and self building in general can be a snake pit at the best of times! Just ensure they talk you through the flow temps, commissioning and weather compensation, and then ensure the insulation is all upgraded as well before winter!! Also to add, as part of our "whole new build" package and contracted price, our builder ear marked/paid around £14k for our 12kw Samsung incl fitting, 300l cylinder etc from joules, excl the £7500 discount, which at the time was only £5k expected.

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!