Bonner

Welcome, can’t help you with ICF but I am sure someone will be along in due course. If you search the forum, there are many who have done it.

Nothing to do with building control, call your planning department and follow up by email for written confirmation

They will serve you a liability notice at some point but you can check on their website.

Doesn’t matter where you buy them from, more important is who fits them. It’s just a case of trawling the net to find the best price, delivered, which maybe a significant factor where you are! Might be worth ringing your builder merchants as well as their best prices won’t be on the web.

I think it’s a bit more predictable than gambling. TOU tariffs are based around market prices which are linked to supply and demand. We know there will be oversupply on windy nights and sunny days and, more predictably, large steam turbines which have to keep spinning all night.

In theory there was no need so I wasn’t going to put any heat emitters in the bedrooms but decided to err on the side of caution and had (not oversized) radiators installed. Wet towel rails in bathrooms as well. Partly it was to satisfy the installer’s MCS calculators, partly to avoid domestic complaints! Glad I did because we do feel the need during cold snaps.

Very difficult to say without making your own samples, not just the mortar but panels with the chosen bricks. I was going for lime but switched to white cement which achieved a very similar result, albeit a completely different colour scheme to what you are trying to achieve. I used the brick manufacturers tool as a starting point, was surprised how different the bricks look even with slight changes in joint colour https://nsxpwebapp.nelissen.be/publicconfigurator/?_gl=1*1fxpchc*_gcl_au*MzcxNDA4OTIwLjE3Njc2ODI0NDE.#

Follow your gut feel, I think you will find tiled floors cool without UFH. We have UFH heating set at 21degC, when it doesn’t come on in the shoulder months, the floors suck the heat from my feet.

Please see another post here, note the unit was 20% cheaper when I bought it. I agree the heat saving is not huge, however you would still need the fan(s), distribution system and method of preheating the incoming air to avoid cold drafts.

Don’t disagree but maybe depends on the roller, as well as the spray pressure and paint dilution etc, etc. I have recoated bottom half of some walls (because I can’t reach the top without scaffold and it doesn’t need doing!), anyway it has blended really well with a medium pile roller.

Impossible to calculate payback on MVHR, it’s about health and comfort which are priceless IMO! I I self installed a simple system for less than £2k, one of the best things about the house. Fresh clean air, without drafts and low heat loss. Trickle vents are uncontrolled ventilation, too much in high winds and also admit a surprising level of noise.

Welcome. Presume you have seen the episode of Grand Designs on the Wirral? One of my favourite episodes

I got mine done by professional painters, two men three days (at least one day masking). Would have taken me weeks, and weeks … Not worth buying the kit to do a one off job IMO.

I tiled first, then installed the staircase. Made the tiling easier and neater (did not consider location of the UFH pipes, it’s not screwed to the floor)

We used Protek (3-4 years ago) which was reasonable cost compared to others. Not claimed so can’t vouch for them.

I have a warranty from CMLC, was lower cost than most alternatives (think @nod has the same). Can’t vouch for it because I haven’t claimed and until then, who knows if it’s any use!

No, you don’t need to build a structure, just a weather proof kiosk/cabinet to your DNO requirements https://exelgrp.ltd/product/model-d2/

Good approach. You will learn as you go along, by making mistakes! Best to understand as much as possible before you start. See if you can meet someone locally who has already been through it all, always good to have a buddy.

…or knock it down and start again. It will be even more daunting but probably the best for the long term. See if you can find a trusted local builder and talk options, ask what would you do?

Have to disagree, I have an Einhell double bevel slider, it is horrible! No soft start, noisy, slide not smooth and more importantly inaccurate. Still use it for rough work, mainly chopping kindling. Got a single bevel Dewalt and it’s so much better.

When I said they agreed to collaborate, they did but Northern Powergrid cried off on the day due to an emergency. They had already dropped off their duct so I asked Anglian Water’s contractor if they could install it. Initially they said no, so I asked if I could do it, but no, I was not authorised to work in their excavation. Anyway I went back a couple of hours later and they had done it! It was all done in a morning but the road was closed for another 4 days until the surfacing team came to reinstate the road.

I have idea if you will find someone to do it cheaper but worth a few phone calls. The cost are exorbitant really there must be huge overheads involved. The utility companies usually sub contract the work anyway.

The biggest part is pipe laying which is contestable so you can get alternative quotes from LRQA accredited contractors as noted in the quote.

Mine was a lot less, 2.5k for water and 2k for electric with road crossing. Managed to get them to collaborate and only dig one trench (a lot more difficult than you might think!). Go back and challenge the costs, ask for a breakdown.

Agree, 50mm screed is absolute minimum and leaves no margin for variations