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@jack I have a Brink Flair 400 which I believe is the same (?) It works well but I’m still trying to get the Brink-Home app set up. I create an account on the Brink-Home website, then go through the steps required to add a device, which basically means putting in the serial number and the installation password, but it always fails. One possibility is my Brink machine might be out of range of the wifi, but it’s not clear as my phone gets on the wifi in the MVHR room (with two bars), I just mention it because it’s not immediately clear to me that connecting the Brink to the wifi was successful. Do you know how to tell if the machine has successfully connected to the internet?

I think their solicitor might be conflating two completely separate things: (i) a right of way over his property to be able to wheel machinery and building materials to your property; and (ii) nuissance from your building works. Issue (i) comes to establishing that you have a right of way over his land. That will depend partly on deeds/paperwork but also on whether you can evidence that others, particularly you and the previous owners of your property, have exercised a right of way over the land in question for a sufficiently long time such that the right of way arises by prescription. I believe that period of time is 20 years, and owners can change during that period as long as there is more or less continued use of the right of way. Here is an explanation from my favourite law firm name: https://www.wrighthassall.co.uk/knowledge-base/claiming-a-right-of-way-by-prescription#:~:text=What do you need to,in use are relatively short. If the right of way is meant to be enjoyed by the whole street, then other's evidence will be relevant. Obviously if there are access gates between gardens or even just gaps in the fences, that in and of itself is useful evidence. Issue (ii) doesn't currently stand up. Nuissance in the building context can only really mean two things: noise and dust. As for noise, this is policed by the local council. Check what their rules are, usually noise is permitted from around 8am to 530pm Monday to Friday and some councils also allow noise on Saturdays for a limited number of hours. So just set out in writing what the local council's rules are and confirm that you will abide by them and no noisy work will be done outside of those hours. As long as you do that and as long as you stick to those times there is F all he can do about it and no court will grant an injunction on that basis. As for dust, as long as you take reasonable precautions (e.g. wetting very messy stuff before cutting it (like tiles) there isn't much he can do. You are not currently causing a nuissance or threatening to do so, so again no injunction would be granted. Issue (i) is the more difficult one to prove.

The plot thickens. In addition to the super expensive external shutters, velux also do an external awning which is slightly less affront-on-your-wallet, though still daylight robbery (pun intended): https://www.velux.co.uk/products/blinds-and-shutters/awning-blinds

He’s in the wrong, you are in the right. But it is important you create a documentary paper trail to demonstrate his ridiculousness. i would write a letter setting out all the trains why you are entitled to access the land, and assure him that your builder will be careful not to damage his property but should aly damage occur you will of course put it right. Then point out that if nonetheless he wrongly believes he needs to get an injunction, ask him whether he will be providing an undertaking for your damages and if so in what amount and how he will fortify this undertaking. Basically, injunctions are extremely hard to get, and if ordered they will usually only be granted on an interim basis and on the condition that the applicant gives an undertaking to pay the respondent’s costs and damages if the injunction turns out to have been wrongly granted. The fortification is effectively some form of security that makes the undertaking worth something more than just a paper promise. That should scare him off.

Wow, that's a lot of money, but I assume it was worth it? I'm looking at these now to help prevent over heating from solar gain. Do you know if there is any difference in the insulation properties between the 25mm, 32mm and 64mm varieties available on the site you linked to (here: https://valeblinds.com/dept/luxaflex®-duette®_d011040.htm)?

Thanks @joth I'm pretty sure that my Brink Flair 400's "Open" is equivalent to your Zehnder's "100".

It is currently 23.5C in my home office. Outside it is 20.7C. Even when working from home I’m expected to wear formal business wear for video calls etc. and although that doesn’t mean a suit jacket, I do need to be in a shirt and sometimes in a tie (trousers and pants optional). I think hotter than 22C it starts to get a little uncomfortable in those clothes. I agree that I would prefer to not have to install and run AC. Bad for the environment and bad for the human airways and bad for the electricity bills. But if I’m not able to solve this with a purge routine and some blinds or even shutters, I will need to consider air con.

My summer bypass is also set to automatic. I had a quick look at the status and it says: Bypass State: OPEN Inlet temperature: 19.7C Outlet temperature: 22C Does the fact that the bypass is "open" mean it is bypassing the heat exchanger and working as expected?

Doh! We went for clay tiles in a dark grey colour, almost black. Actually I’m in denial, they are black!

Interesting idea, but there is another thread on here which confidently concludes that adding cooling to MVHR only reduces the temp by a degree or two because airflow is so low with MVHR. I have radial ducting, so presumably if i did add active cooling to just those ducts, I could just increase the airflow to the two hot rooms, and increase the exhaust from the bathroom on that floor to balance it?

This is an incredibly good idea! Here is the build up of the loft, although I don’t think the “dormer cheek” build up is relevant, because it is the other room in the loft which is bounded by the cheek. So peripherally relevant (as that room is also too warm), but not directly.

I don’t have an external thermometer to log that data, but I recall that on Friday the bbc was reporting that it was 31C in London, which is about the same as the max temp that was reached in my study. Looking at this in more detail, it seems I’m achieving a decrement delay of about 6hr, whereas I had designed for 10hr (more not being possible), but it’s not clear. I probably need to get an external thermometer and track my local weather the way Tado is tracking my internal “weather”. I activated it on Tuesday. Maybe I should fiddle with the settings, but I didn’t think it could do much more than lower internal temp by a degree or so?

Have a look at the graphs I just posted, tell me if that is the picture of success? Am I expecting too much?

thanks, I think it’s clear that if I do go down the AC route, it will need to be a split system. Just had a quote from a company that recon they can supply and install everything and even match the indoor unit to any F and B colour, so that’s my neurosis covered. Bloody expensive though at c. £2k - £2.4k subject to “free” survey which is happening on Tuesday. well this is what I had planned, but I’m not sure why the house is not staying cool during the day. I’m sure the £5k of money I spent on wood fibre insulation is doing something, but I’m not sure what; is really bizarre. Here are a few graphs that tell you what my office has been like over the last week (blue dotted line shows my office’s humidity level; yellow at the top indicates when the sun is shining; and the grey shaded area is my office room temp): The evening purge definitely helps lower the temp, but the problem is during the day the temperature is often reaching too hot to comfortably work in. But maybe I need to purge more so that the starting temp is lower, but it’s not always possible as veluxes shut automatically when it rains.

I think I have space for an external unit, so long as they are not too deep. I have a bit of flat roof just outside and adjacent to the two loft floor rooms which has a footprint of about 100cm wide by 20cm deep, possibly 25cm. I need to measure though that involves climbing out the window and crouching there, which I’m not going to do on a day as windy as today. Presumably thee external unit needs to discharge water to a drain? Can I just let it trickle down some flashing and into our gutters? Would be very difficult to drain away waste water otherwise.

I’m confused, where does the heat go with such a unit. It sounds like a fridge that has been turned inside out. But in the same way the back of a fridge is warm, isn’t the back of this going to get very warm, which will then heat up the room thereby defeating the purpose?

yes good point. I try and ventilate upstairs by opening both veluxes on E and windows on W for a few hours each evening, though can’t be done when it’s raining. Also try and open a window lower down in the house to get stack ventilation going, but that’s tricky as the ground floor often doesn’t need cooling. All glazing on W elevation is Sunguard SN70/30. Does this film you speak of differ to that?

We have UFH on all three floors. I’ve not lived in the house during winter yet, but I doubt we will ever use the ufh on the top floor. I know a lot of people here said not to bother with central heating for the top floor… I should have listened. Could have saved £300 on tados for that floor and a lot more on the UFH itself. No WC, not really necessary or helpful with all the Tado smarts.

Just had a look at temperatures: the second floor rooms are currently 23.6 and 23.5 whereas the rooms directly underneath them are both 23C. So maybe it is more solar gain than internal heat, no idea really. Outside it’s currently 18C, although that’s based on the bbc as I don’t have an external thermometer.

i don’t have a cross section to hand, but ceiling is quite high, about 3.1m and flat from the double doors to the left, whereas it drops diagonally at a 45 degree angle from the double doors to the right. So the Velux is on the diagonal roof. I have one pc and one flat screen monitor in the “home office” as it’s referred to on the plan. The pc does get a little bit warm to the touch, but not excessively and certainly not enough to warm up such a large room. plus one mobile phone and a MFC printer. Room was hot before I bought the printer. I really doubt the appliances are doing much to the room temp.

Well that is my question. How do I work it out if it’s from the room below or the glazing within the room? The whole loft floor is warmer than comfortable, but probably only a degree or two warmer than the rooms below. I have tados in every room monitoring temp 24/7 (and recording the data to the Tado app), so I have plenty of data points, i also have an optical thermometer. But what am I looking for to diagnose the source of the heat?

My friends have this in a large house and are very happy with it. I almost went with it but we have a giant bath so to be safe I went with a system boiler and UVC. Happy with my choice of Veissman Vitodens 200-W 35kw system boiler. I went with one wiring centre and manifold per floor and then put a Tado thermostat in each zone. I have 12 zones, one in each room. Expensive, but I’m happy with it.

Plaster pops can happen with screws as well. Quite normal for that to be fixed at the end of the defects period and redecorated. should only need one coat of paint.

Why do you need to use heat shrink? Can you not just wrap it with black electrical tape?

Have a look at Veissman. Highest modulation range on the market (mine is 1:17 so 35kw modulates down to almost 2kw). I have UFH throughout the house and never had an issue with short cycling, even though I don’t have buffer tanks, which is the general recommendation in this forum for UFH with a gas boiler. It’s not necessary with a high modulation boiler.