Bramco

Indeed. We looked first at German kit houses but given Brexit and the Euro/£ exchange rates were driven away from that. We actually visited HanseHaus and Schworer. Both were very impressive. Schwoerer for example sources all the wood from within 40Km of the factory which employs more people than live in the village it is located at. We discounted Hanse because theirs is primarily meant for a render finish - the insulation is on the outside of the frame. Anyway, having discounted the Germans and really anyone else in Europe, we looked at Potton. Obviously they can do any style you want, from the beams, beams, beams look to a more modern look but.... on touring the show houses we were really put off by the very poor finishes. Light switches on skew, really badly finished skirting boards etc. etc. Our thought was, if that's the level of finish in the show homes ours might turn out to be a Wimpey nightmare. So given the kit house route was going to be a non starter, we started getting quotes for the design from timber frame manufacturers. But given we wanted to chunk the project into a few large chunks we could put out to tender, we chose a company that would take on both the insulated slab and would erect the timber frame for a fixed price. Lots of timber frame companies are supply only, or have a complicated formula for how much erecting the frame would cost. I think if we stripped out the slab and erection costs, the quotes we had wouldn't be far from each other although there were differences in terms of the U values of walls and roofs. Some couldn't get to the levels we were aiming for. Not sure if that helps, but it's how we went about things. Simon

I've no idea what the surroundings are like, so not a clue if it really is or is not in keeping with the area and the throw away comment at the end of the letter that it is 'rather busy' and therefore they will recommend it for refusal is the usual hogwash. Ask them to give you the reference in the Local Plan where 'busy' is set out as a criteria for allowing permission and also where the definition of 'busy' is. Better still use their term 'rather busy'.... Unless they can state chapter and verse what specific policies in the Local Plan this would fail on, it will be passed on appeal. If they can't then they are toast. Although personally I hate those pointy windows..... But everyone to their own. Simon

Surely not - that would be the heating sorted ? Simon

Plug in solar seems expensive. We'll be installing a 4kW ground mounted system. Solar Energy Store is £3150 - https://www.solar-energy-store.co.uk/home/4-0kW-Solar-PV-Full-Kit-ground-flat-roof-mounted-p142551649 Plug in Solar £4680 - https://www.pluginsolar.co.uk/?product=plug-in-solar-4kw-diy-solar-power-kit-with-adjustable-ground-mounts Obviously plug in solar has micro inverters while the solar energy store has a single inverter. I should add of course that we will be installing the system, so I have no experience with buying from the solar energy store (yet!) Simon

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/11/tell-us-have-you-installed-an-electric-heat-pump-in-your-home I'm thinking there may be a lot of members who might want to contribute... Simon

Try Roofmaker in Leicester - imho much nicer than Velux as there's no weird bump along the top of the frame, they are effectively frameless. Simon

Thanks for the input and good to hear you've done lots like ours that have worked. It was an option to have the plant room where the utility is but then we wanted the ASHP on the side wall and wanted to keep the runs to that as short as possible. All these variables that affect the design. My thought earlier though on the manifold, was to have 2, one in the plant room for everything left of the hall/utility wall and one in the plant room for the utility and everything to the right. Will talk to the folks who are doing it about insulating the supply runs in the hall. Simon

Thx. Simon

You can say that again !!! But more on topic, what you are saying is that serpentine is fine with their slabs.. so 'Don't panic!' as the famous H2G2 quote has it. Simon Simon

ASHP - the heat loss analysis indicates we'll only need a small one of course. Did you simply tell the timber frame folks to do the loops the way you wanted them? Simon

Interesting - ours is MBC and they're coming to put in the slab from the middle of next week. Not sure I understand about maximising the water volume - won't this also increase the number of loops? Simon

@Nickfromwales Thanks Nick. One last question, should we get them to lay the pipes in a snail shape or as them have them, serpentine? (If those are the correct terms of course) Simon

Great help - thanks Simon

Talking to myself here but I think it's normal in a 2 storey house to have a manifold for each storey - this may not be true of course... But if it is, then having a 2nd manifold in our utility room for the living space zone would be analogous to what is done for a traditional 2 storey house. Simon

@Nickfromwales passive raft/slab Simon

Sorry if I didn't write that well. I meant that I could do fewer loops but keep them about 100m or a bit less. So 6 loops of 80 to 100m could become 5 loops of around 100m. We'd be losing the runs from the living space through to the plant room - so 6x2x say 6m is about 70 odd metres less. Hope I've explained that better this time. Simon

@joe90 and @Russell griffiths Just been looking at this again and wonder actually whether it wouldn't be better to have 2 manifolds, one in the utility to feed that area and the living space a total of 6 loops which could actually be reduced maybe to 5 as the long runs would be a lot shorter. That would leave a manifold in the plant room itself to handle the remaining 7 loops. Would require a feed and return from the buffer tank across to the utility which could run through the ceiling. And 2 separate pumps the living space would be one zone, so that would be good - I think... Simon

Thanks for the good ideas. I'm still wondering though whether I'm worried about nothing. Would be interesting to hear from anyone that followed a plan like the one we have as to whether it was OK or whether it caused problems. Simon

Hi, We're about to get the slab laid and have the UFH layout from the timber frame contractor. As you can see the plant room is to one edge of the layout and therefore almost all the UFH loops have to go through the hall and the doorway into the living space (off to the right of the diagram below). The proposed layout has the flow and returns for about 7 or 8 loops all bundled together as you can see from the diagram. I'm concerned that this will cause that area to warm up very quickly and therefore warm the returns before the slab at the ends of the loops are actually up to temperature. So measurements of the flow and return temperatures wouldn't give a true indication of the temperature of the slab. Would it be better to have the flow and returns more evenly spread across the hall area. They would of course heat this area as they are heating the rest of the zones.

Not in south Notts they don't. Haven't seen one in months - and then only flying over.... ? Simon PS Actually, thinking about it, that's a lie. I did see a seagull sat on a street light - a la seaside - but in the next village. It looked quite lost!

Thanks Tom, I'm hoping I've tracked down a couple by looking through magazines, web trawls etc. One is very local, the other by the welsh border I think although they say they have often worked across this way. Just waiting for the quotes to come in - fingers crossed.... I'll try to remember to report here if we can actually get things done. Simon

@Tom's Barn Did you ever find a contractor? @Visti Did you ever find a contractor Anyone else who has installed corrugated roofing and cladding - can you recommend any contractors? Simon

Exactly!!!

Trench and they've agreed to bring the supply to where we're planning to put the cabinet. Sounds like just what we need to do - thanks for the info. Thanks @Jilly very useful in case we go that route. Simon

That's the issue we have - I guess I could pay them to go further but then I don't want a naff plastic box on the side of the house anyway, so perhaps cheaper and more aesthetically pleasing to drop a box into the hedge... Simon