Oz07

blockwork looks much better this time!

I think i'd be digging out the pea gravel, bedding and surrounding these in lean mix concrete. Possibly a 25mm bit of eps where the pipe joint is to allow some movement. You don't really want the ground at the edge of you slab settling.

Do you need a condensate drain in the wall for these air cons and fan coils presumably?

Im Midlands so hopefully a bit more reasonable. If we exclude the price of UFH and manifold from the equation. I imagine I will have this whatever method of heating I choose. Also I will partially DIY this with either a plumber to connect up the manifold or both of us for the day to do the lot. Likewise can probably exclude the cost of cylinder as again will be fitted no matter what. So if the rest is 15k and can get the 7.5k grant then I suppose it's not too bad. If it starts getting up to 20k upwards or 15k and no grant then i would seriously be looking at a gas boiler (if SAP allows). Boiler installation, exc UFH and cylinder would easily come in below 5k supply and fit. Ideal world i'd like something like the Samsung option but like others I suspect it's pricey. I had a look at fan coils tonight online and the Daikin wall mounted ones look just like the aircon units. Are they just not as effective if powered by A2W instead of A2A? So if we say I was happy to spend 5k (guesstimate) on a couple of aircon units and a traditional boiler system would be 5K (all excluding UFH and Cylinder) then 10k is my baseline. If I am getting 7.5k grant back then I can look at spending around 17.5k on a system and still be happy. That's my man maths anyway.

I'd of thought any stone cill supplier would knock you one up. Obviously it would cost as bespoke. I've used Serene Stone before, try them.

I think Samsung offer a charged unit or manifold or god knows what if you exceed the distance. Can't see it being needed on mine with clever placement of outside unit and pipework runs. It's only 1500 sq ft ish. Mine will be nowhere approaching Passive, but better than building regs. I've done the numbers on passive and it just doesn't work for me i'm happy to spend a few extra quid running the place and have the bandwidth free to think about other things.

He was deffo on about external pipework but realistically my unit would be adjacent to the house so i suppose it's a red herring. I have seen some naff pipework all up the side of houses today which have had aircons fitted. I've just got to do the numbers. If I was happy to spunk say 5k on 2 aircon units, but I can get a combined A2W and A2A system for the same price or cheaper than 2 seperate systems then I suppose it's a goer. What would a realistic figure be for an A2W system with UFH GF and 4 or 5 FCU upstairs, installed, no DIY. 10k? lower? I was pretty set on using UFH on GF but would running whole house on A2A be a good idea? You don't see this much. If I can get an A2W set up with the FCU which performs very well cheaper then i'm happy to forgo the frost blast of AC. As long as it performs and cools the house then happy days. Would this option work out cheaper?

The plumber was telling me he knows some guy who is accredited who wants to do business with him. I think the idea is this guy finds the leads, gives the plumber the install job and this guy does the heat loss and mcs side. From my brief research I think the samsung option would qualify for the 7.5k grant as its doing A2W UFH, or would the cooling option on A2A rule it out? I know you never bothered with grants as you can DIY, unfortunately that is beyond me. I don't want to go to a full bells and whistles firm and pay massive overheads which wipe out the saving from the grant but I might be able to find a happy medium one man band / small firm installer and claim the grant somehow.

The build will be relatively low energy, not approaching passive but certainly lower than most. I have to admit the air con type cooling does appeal to us. After I built our last house I said i'd never build another without aircon. It's a small luxury that I'd be happy to pay for. I suppose what I need to do is compare prices of a normal ashp for 1500 odd sq ft house versus this f gas system. I'm sure fan coils and UFH would have ok cooling capacity but would it be as good as a2a air con?! I think with the umbrella scheme the grant could be claimed either way. I asked AI and I think it was estimating the installation at 12-20k with the cost for the samsung gear estimated at 7-12k. I did ask AI about the distances of air con units from the pump and it was saying quite long, 7.5-10m. I imagine they are decent if Samsung market this as 1 unit can serve whole house. I'm a fair way off heat calcs yet as resubmitting a new planning app but will deffo be one to keep an eye on. The plumber was saying to me that with the f gas you don't get any heat loss from the pipework to the unit whereas with the A2W you do?

Talking to a plumber tonight. He is F gas certified. He was explaining the difference with these heat pumps to the standard ones to me. It's all a bit beyond my understanding. Anyway I was asking him if I could have wet UFH on GF then air to air units upstairs to do heating if needed and cooling in summer, also probably 1 or 2 air units downstairs to cool. All off 1 outdoor unit. I think he is more in with Daikin and said they are bringing out something soon, however Samsung appear to do the perfect solution with the TDM plus / climate hub. Outdoor pump, pre plumbed cylinder and air to air units. It looks good, no doubt very costly?! Does anyone have any experience with this set up. Seems simpler to a luddite like me. I suppose cost will be the trade off for simplicity i've no doubt others like @JohnMo can knock something up just as good performance wise for a lot less dough, maybe even have 2 seperate outdoor units. It's just beyond my pay grade though. I wonder what cost would be for this and 5 or 6 indoor air con units and the cylinder. https://samsung-climatesolutions.com/gb/b2c/our-solutions/home/heat-pump-solutions/heating-cooling/tdm-plus.html

The Hi Viz is for visibility, obviously. No need to be wearing one if no plant is knocking about

You're right about the bathroom. I think I need to pinch some space from bed 1 robes and widen it a bit. I have seen bathrooms 1.8 x 2.4 before and they do work but would probably feel a bit cramped here. I'm not too bothered about dull, boring is ok with me! SVP wont be an issue, likely be on an AAV behind boxing for concealed cistern. As for coming down it would drop in the utility against the side wall. The joists can be supported off a trimmer a few hundred mm away from the back wall to enable the pipe to run perpendicular to the joists.

Your better option is maybe to buy new then sell. If you can stand the outlay you will get good money back on little used tools. I bought a post hole auger the other week. 2nd hand ones in my area seem to be around 80-100 with some dreamers wanting more. I managed to buy a brand new one online for 120, delivered to my door. 20 quid of that was VAT. I've done the fence I bought it for now at our new plot. I am seriously considering selling it as have had bad experience with little used petrol tools clogging up. Maybe it doesn't happen with 2 stroke but my whacker plate needs a new carb due to sitting with this new rubbish petrol we have (another win for the eco loons). Anyway I could sell mine for a 20-40 quid loss when a hire firm wanted 60 quid for a day or weekend. I got to use mine at my leisure, no rush. Bit of admin selling it on but no charge on marketplace.

Plans have changed slightly. I misread the original approved floorplan, the previous depth was 9m overall not 8m. I have stretched the depth on my design not quite the full metre. Works much better for the extra depth. I am now considering binning off the gf ensuite. I end up with a much bigger front room/play room. My thinking is I could always run a drain into that corner of the bedroom and cap it off. Would be simple to retro fit a low level shower then if ever it was needed. TBF a stairlift would probably be the better option at that point! My main concern with the preferred GF layout without ensuite is the utility/ plant room is 3m long with 1 wall to place everything I need. MVHR, Cylinder, hot & cold manifold. I do also have the contingency of the airing cupboard on first floor for possible MVHR or cylinder location. Saying that these MVHR tend to get a bit noisy after a few years when the bearings wear. Is there any noticeable noise from a cylinder if on an ASHP / immersion set up?

I'd love to see the finished article when you're done as it's exactly the kind of staircase I want, down to sapele handrail too. Where are you getting it from? Nobody dowels their spindles into a base rail. However if you want the clean, no baserail look on the landing you could just have a nosing to finish off the edge of the floor boards, painted or stained and your spindles doweled into that. It wouldn't be hard to do for any decent chippy just a case of setting it out and drilling some holes.

Yes it was always planned to change. I replied to the consultation and commented on here previously. However now they have actually given us a likely date it will commence. Think it requires some new legislation so hopefully this comes in time.

🤣 Magic soil theory incoming 🤣 sorry I couldn't help myself

Biodiversity Net Gain. Another one of these eco loon schemes. Completely shafted the SME and self builders submitting planning for small schemes getting whacked with 14k off site contributions plus the cost of a BNG metric report. Luckily for us it was the vendor who went through all that aggro and the purchase price reflected the 14k

Unsure if this has been discussed here or not? I've not logged on for a while due to the off topic discussions taking over! Anyway there is a proposed date of 31 of July to exempt all sites under .2 hectares! I think it's not set in stone yet but looking pretty good. We have bought a site with a near on 14k off site bng contribution conditioned as part of the permission. I always intended to change the planning and tick the self build box to gain the exemption. This would still have required me to sign a unilateral undertaking with the LA with can cost a grand or 2. It will now be a lot simpler to submit after the changes now. I may even go down the route of a s73 ammendment if after 31 July this would be considered a 'new' permission and not require the BNG. There will be no restrictions on occupancy, UU costs or silly BNG metrics to submit. Happy days looks like sense has prevailed.

I'd keep it trapped if on a foul system

I don't wash in cold water and do like a warm house i was just wondering how far these rules go. Do we all have to fit stairlifts soon? We do have an ageing population.

Till you pull it all out you won't really know if you can make the bend to fit the gully to the ic. It looks tight. If it's only rainwater and softened water going in you could use a back inlet gully. Connect that one to the ic, maybe even where you want your softener, then connect some 110mm into the back of that gully and run it to the corner where you want this downpipe to finish. Might be even easier to keep gully where it is then used some dished channel drainage or similar and put a shoe on the bottom of downpipe

Once its mist coated it will show the imperfections and cracks easier. I'd do all the filling or caulking after that. I wouldn't be dremelling any cracks to make wider. A wet easi fill mix is pretty fine seems to get in cracks ok.

The units are very expensive for what they are aren't they? I'd be trying to keep it to 1.

With much difficulty, d4 glue getting everywhere and swearing. Does the stud come right up into the first floor too? 1m is quite a wide staircase. Maybe you should be looking to have it made at 850, 900mm?