Alan Ambrose

I thought those gaps were more like 5-10mm no? And I think I remember that they’re also specified by the window supplier - I guess they have their build tolerance too. Also smaller for installing into timber frame as presumably that can be made more exact (and adjusted mored easily).

V good analogy.

>>> The system we have at present for electricity pricing is a scandal! It's a bit simplistic but I guess the gas peakers, which are important to the system, wouldn't bother to turn their stuff on unless they were making a reasonable profit. Maybe some longer term pricing arrangements than tomorrow's 1/2 hours would help?

A PoE doorbell, if you can run a cat5 cable to it, will give you power and direct network so you never have to think about it again.

>>> We could have easily added them to the PP A quick non-material amendment?

I guess it can be converted to gas or ASHP fairly easily - at least in theory. I think a lot of people here are assuming that electricity prices stay high - it could be that electricity becomes very cheap in the 3 seasons except winter.

I don’t think it’s much of a practical problem - except for running cost depending on the insulation. Plenty here have ‘willis heaters’ with wet UFH and good insulation - so same principle. Worth visiting while the weather’s cold and seeing whether there’s enough ooomf to get to comfortable temperature. Also maybe the size of their dec/jan elec bill. We have UFH with an elec boiler, one of the smaller things on this page: https://www.heatraesadia.com/products/heating-and-ventilation/electric-flow-boilers Works fine, but a bit expensive to run considering the insulation is not PH standard. Also a bit slow to heat the place from cold.

I’m interested too - planning to start with what the warranty companies will go with - if anything.

This is one possibility - ‘ev ultra cable’: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Manufacturers/DC/SyncEV/index.html I think probably ok for trenches but check. As far as I can see, armoured cat5 plus armoured power would work as well. Probably some separation regs for the various cables in one trench.

+1 for doing this carefully. We had a mouse last winter and on investigation I found there was no mesh at the bottom of the cladding on our barn conversion. So, a hard job down on my knees for a few days and digging part of the earth away from the brick plinth in parts (the house is on sloping ground). Used ss mesh as images above and also ss brillo pad stuff for smaller holes - as it’s an old barn everything is a bit uneven and all over the place.

>>> Lots of my adversities have died ( not guilty my lord ) , so they can never apologise . Hopefully there are not many police constables here on BH. It’s a bit extreme … but somehow understandable.

>>> your new neighbours are spiteful. You have not seen anything yet - want to swap neighbours with me?

I would expect your SE (and maybe your architect) should have sweated all the structural / thermal / barrier detail?

Errr, I think we might need a picture/drawing and an indication where you are in the design/build process. What have you decided / designed / built already and exactly which bits still need to be designed?

@saveasteading Wowee, that's good. So good that it's worth listing 😀.

Yeah why not insulate it. Check out recent edition of Harry’s Garage on PV panels. He fesses up that he has UFH in there! I’m enough of a wuss that I may not go out there in the middle of winter and will put off the job till spring. Wall mounted blow heaters are good for getting the air temp up quick.

>>> Additional air requirements are mandatory for stoves above 5kW in older houses, and for any stoves in newer houses (post-2008) or houses with an air permeability of 5 m3/hm2 or less. Can I ask where that came from? I installed a stove in ~2019, signed off by BC, and this wasn’t a factor as far as I remember. You’ve done a v thorough analysis. In my simplistic mind it just boils down to ‘if passivehouse levels of air tightness (and therefore MVHR) then piped in air, otherwise room air is fine’. Ours is in a not particularly air tight house, doesn’t have external air, and It’s been difficult for me to notice a draft when the thing’s pumping out serious heat (5kW). We also have a Nest CO and a PM detector and the internal air is good.

Respectfully disagree. The LPA is wasting 3x the resource than if the case officer just dealt with it. Oh and the applicant’s resources too, which they don’t count. I think the problem is this: all administrators are being told that they are to be machines without any judgement or common sense, just following the procedures which they know are inefficient or obtuse. Add in a bit of laziness or fear or someone who loves power play and then it becomes a wasteful administrative shit show. Steep it in a bit of LPA ‘we’re here to stop people doing stuff’ culture and there’s your recipe for meltdown.

Ah, makes sense.

>>> I have heatmiser actuators, would these be a straightforward swap over onto a new replacement manifold >>> Should i replace this manifold for one that is more user friendly Not sure you need to throw the baby out - all the manifolds look pretty much like that anyway. Start by flushing etc as @ProDave said and replace the flow meters if they can't be cleaned. >>> And Is there such a thing as a manifold that has auto balancing capability Salus has some 'auto-balancing' actuators. They get mixed reviews. Search hear on t' 'ub.

Billionaire homeowner sues over claims sheep wool insulation caused moth infestation in £32.5m home | Homebuilding Billionaire wins refund after buying moth-infested £32.5m Notting Hill mansion | The Independent That's turned me right of sheep's wool as insulation. Which begs the question - what other kinds of infestations in insulation should we be worried about? Rodents in cellulose? Rats chewing your eps? Bees nesting in your PIR?

Only One Big Economy Is Aiming for Paris Agreement's 1.5C Goal | Financial Post How about that.

On this same subject, I was looking at the TP1 and Transfer Plan for our plot vs. the Land Registry title & plan. Curiously, there are details on the Transfer Plan that don't show up on the title plan e.g. ownership of boundaries. Ha, I see this: T Marks on a Title Plan Title Plans and Deeds Plans are different creatures. Deed Plans are attached to Deeds, not to registered documents such as the Title Register or Title Plan. Most likely a copy of the Deed referred to in the Title Register will have been retained digitally by the Land Registry, together with the Deed Plan that is normally part of the Deed. This is confirmed by the presence of a Note at the foot of the paragraph to the effect that a copy has been made.

@Gus Potter I'm guessing that the advantage of rafts is that (a) they provide an even ground pressure, and (b) they should make the thermal detailing easier. I also imagine that if the ground is fairly soft at to say 0.5-1m down then that makes rafts difficult unless you also want supporting piles. Starting from the other direction - when should we consider a raft, and when is strip or something else better?

Yeah, we like the plumbed-in chilled filtered water and ice maker on our Samsung fridge. Would choose that feature above the exact brand actually.