Bramco

Hi, @James94, this is what we did -> You'll see from the photos, that we did our living space in 3 sections, so we could have sections on or off and dim them separately. There are no central lights in any of our vaulted spaces - you might find that a central light fights against the sort of lighting effect that you get from an upwards wash of light. Maybe, put the electrics in there but try things without first to see if you re OK with just the leds in the coving.

One thing to take into account if you intend to install a hybrid inverter, i.e. one that has both the panels and batteries on the DC side, then even if you have a mega PV array, all that can go through the inverter is it's maximum spec. 6kW continuous seems to be about what folks are installing but if you were thinking of a lot more PV, then you should have separate inverters for the PV and the batteries. Also, I guess if you are looking for a hands off install, then you'll be being quoted systems like Tesla and Givenergy etc. If you're planning on self installing, then there are a lot of other very competitive options out there.

But when you talk to people about their phenomenally complex cars, they all say that they turn off as much of the 'intelligence' as possible, e.g. lane assist and wish they had a STFU button (Shut the F up). All they want to do is get from A to B as simply as possible and all the 'smartness' simply irritates.

Mike, you don't need a PC for nodered. I have it running on a Pi Zero 2W. It does all the collection of data from the inverter, diverter, a weather site and Solcast for the solar forecast. The dashboards are also set up and accessible there. The data is sent (MQTT) to an openenergy server on another Pi Zero which also runs MQTT. This device collects power usage data from the ASHP, the main house etc. as well as some temperatures from the UFH. All of this is running without any data going to a 'cloud'. I haven't checked but from your description, your data is going to a 3rd party cloud. Having said that, I'm worried but not too worried about all these cloud based systems, like Tado thermostats etc. Who realistically would be interested in my data, they'd have to be pretty sad (as sad as I am!) to be watching real-time what the diverter has diverted today. Agreed John - I just searched around for dashboards that had been shared publicly and tweeked them. I guess I should have a 'credit to ....' link at the bottom of each of them.

Nodered dashboards are also pretty good..

We got planning permission for Solar PV in the green belt, so similar. Look for any applications in the area to get some examples and references where permission has been given. Although take care - I daftly thought, stick them in a corner of the field - will be more acceptable... No idea if this was even thought about but it would have been a disaster as the trees on that corner were huge. We ended up putting them more in the centre of the back of the field.

We did the latter - but then our architect was our son, so we had to do as we were told..... We used Mesh and their report was very useful to the MVHR contractor and when we came to do the ASHP install. We actually used them in 2 stages, firstly to do the heat loss analysis to confirm we would be OK with just UFH on the ground floor. We then did a full M+E report. The ASHP installers used the heat loss analysis as an input, so didn't have to do that again, which saved some on their MCS bit. But having said that, if you're reasonably tech savvy, then it shouldn't be difficult to go through your design drawings with each of the suppliers to get them to mark up on the drawings how they intend to implement things.

The best way to spec these things is to look at your mum and dad, or grandma and grandad - before you know it, you'll be them. So design things based on that. Simple switches and dimmers etc. No fancy automation. having said that, I'm writing a house manual......

I've no idea - rf comms is supposed to be better than wifi but if it has to go through lots of solid walls, it might be a bit flaky. Sadly, there's probably no other way than to try it to see if it works. They are designed for 'normal' houses though, so should work. Hard wired kit hasn't got this problem.

I'd be surprised if the TADO units fitted onto the Honeywell backplates but I guess someone out there will know. Be careful with updating the old Honeywell kit with newer 'smart' kit. The Tado thermostats for example use rf comms back to a hub that needs an ethernet connection to a router or a switch. One of our Tado thermostats is further away from the 'hub' - not a long way and the doors are normally open between them - but occasionally the connection is lost. Minly not a problem, except that the schedules are not kept locally, they are on the Tado server, so you can wake up to find the heating hasn't switched on, or hasn't switched off. We're seriously thinking of swapping out our Tado thermostats for something simpler with locally held schedules. Sadly that will be the second set of 'smart' thermostats we've ditched. The others had a 'smart' feature to turn the heating on at some random time before the start time to get the room up to heat. You couldn't turn this off, so for us we had to get rid, as we only run the ASHP on the 7p Octopus Go Intelligent rate to batch charge the insulated slab.

So parallel pipes one 22mm and one set 35mm? There's a big difference in the volume of water... and would be interesting to see what effect both (or more) bores have on the effectiveness of the ashp, especially when defrosting - there could be a large volume of warmth heading out of the house to the ashp when it's already done it's thing and defrosted...

But that leaves a LOT of hot/warm water in a pipe before it gets to the house. On a previous house, we installed microbore from the solar thermal to the tank to make sure that we didn't have a pipe full of hot/warm water but nothing in the tank on dullish days where things turned on and off. So maybe a smaller bore pipe for the 25m run and a secondary pump to help it on it's way. Wonder if anyone has done any real world tests on this?

Tell them you're being smart and have made space for 2 Smart for 2's.....

@mads Found it!!! https://www.heluz.com/en/product/load-bearing-slatted-and-roller-shutter-lintel-heluz-380-x-238-x-1250 These look brilliant - but in the end we went with standard steels as part of the timber frame package, then had to fettle the openings as the timber cladding went on...

@mads This isnt the one I was thinking of but might be an alternative - https://anwis.pl/en/solidbox-external-venetian-blind-flush-mounting-system. I'll see if I saved the one that is integrated in a file somewhere. Another thought as well. You'll probably want sliders rather than bi-folds so that you can open them with the blinds down. And another plus for external blinds is you can dispense with curtains - we haven't any curtains in the house! 🙂 Our triple glazed sliding doors came from Express bifold doors in Leeds. Excellent after sales service, think they've been back 4 or 5 times for minor fixes in the last 2.5 years.

@mads We have venetian blinds - there is an advantage to these - between the autumn solstice and the spring solstice, they let the sunshine through and you get the solar gain but from the spring to autumn, the height of the sun means the blinds stop the solar gain. Ours is a timber frame build with wood cladding - photos at https://lhc.net/projects/ashcroft-creating-a-low-energy-family-home/. As you can see, we also have overhangs on the ground floor. Ours were from Hallmark blinds but I think they are manufactured in Poland or somewhere like that. There's another thread on here about them. As for the build, I don't see why you can't make room for these in any type of build. It's best to fit a cassette during the build, so that it is easy to then install the blinds. I'd also go for a wireless controller, rather than wired. Ours are all wired but they give me quite a headache when it comes to cleaning them on the first floor balcony. I need my other half to be around to open them once I'm done, otherwise I can't get back in off the balcony!! Also, when we were still in the design phase, I came across a system for the lintels across the top of the window that incorporated the cassette, so a good all in one solution. Can't remember the name of the supplier but I'm sure your favourite search engine can find them. If not give me a shout and I'll try to find the spec again.

We had one that was about security lighting - needed a plan etc. We had the condition removed by simply stating that we didn't intend to install any security lighting. Simples....

But check out the Cool Energy site - they have a zero cost, self install setup. They cover the MCS side of things. Cool Energy zero cost offer -> https://coolenergyshop.com/pages/free-heat-pump-kit Here's a thread on Cool Energy

That's what our hedge condition said - and do it for 5 years. So we're about half way there...... We have planted 9 trees from the local tree list, so maybe we could ask for the hedge to be removed on the basis of the tree planting.... We also had one about having to agree on a security lighting plan again to mitigate issues with wildlife - that was an easy one, we simply got it removed by telling them we didn't intend to install any security lighting.... worked a treat - although as @Tosh said it did cost....

Damn - better get those bat and bird boxes up..... Here's a good overview - https://www.planningdirect.co.uk/planningappeals/affordable-planning-applications/planning-conditions

Not sure mate but we're leaving it to our kids..... I know solicitors have made up all sorts of checks to up their fees on conveyancing but do they check on planning permission conditions? Does anyone here know? In any case, you can take out insurance against any sort of issue - so that would be an option.

We applied to have some removed before we finished the build - box ticking exercise. We still haven't put up the bird and bat boxes or put the fence between us and the neighbour and we've been in here for nearly 3 years..... I don't think they'll ask for proof that you've complied, so they'll just stand as conditions. And as for asking permission/telling them you're removed the fence - I think they'd be shocked if you contacted them. All LPAs are massively overworked and checking on permissions is the last thing on their minds. As for the architect, glad we kept ours on - but then he's our son, so it might have been hard to sack him off!!

I'm not sure it's broken - it might tend to be inconsistent and might put some people off doing their due diligence and going to appeal. But imagine if the NPPF had to dot all the i's and cross all the t's on every possible situation on the ground - we'd never have a framework - and I know some would say that would be great but have you ever driven through small towns in Belgium? We rely on having a framework that sets out principles - like the Green Belt principles. We have a borough planning system that allows for local specifications - and then we use the appeal system and the courts to actually work out what the boundaries are in specific cases. It's pragmatic but it does kinda work, although some of us have to help set the boundaries by taking things to appeal and in extreme cases to the High Court. Having said that it's bl**dy stressful having to batter your way through the system.........................

We spoke to Julian Wood when we were working out whether to apply. We didn't follow his advice though, he suggested going for a swimming pool and then change of use after a few years. We actually followed the ruling. I think he was just after more business.... I mentioned to @Sully in a PM that there is a book of case law on the NPPF - a bit out of date but still useful. Quite expensive (not in the grand scheme of things of course) but for anyone more interested in how the NPPF is being interpreted in the courts, maybe worth a look. Its 'Interpreting the NPPF' written by one of the top planning law QCs.

And an appeal inspector can decide that a plot is within the village in terms of the NPPF even though it might not be within the settlement boundary. Their job is to interpret the plans according to what they find on the ground. And given the push to build, build, build, they may be even more inclined to grant permission these days. And the decision was based on the Plan from 2012 - a lot will have changed in that time