SimonD

Okay, I think a little further explanation is needed here. When you install the hot water priority kit for a WB boiler you also install a DHW cylinder sensor which signals to the boiler when it should ramp up to high output. The EasyControl is wired into the EMS low voltage connector on the boiler, which controls modulation. To make this work, you then bridge the 230v high voltage switched live connectors so on that side the boiler is seeing constant demand. If you install motorised valves and a UFH manifold with a pump, these are wired up to the boiler using 230v so that when the motorised valve is open, it switches 230v to the boiler's 230v switched live to make it work. Now, this setup doesn't work when you have the switched live bridged as per above. On Opentherm systems, the Opentherm controllers handle the 230v switch and then send the relevant signals to the boiler low voltage Opentherm connectors and on some controllers like the EPH ones, you can connect the DHW and CH receivers together directly using 230v switching to provide priority hot water. Now, the WB EasyControl and the WB 4000 does not have the capability to natively handle the 230v switching while also providing modulating control, which is why WB uses smart TRVs to handle zoning and modulation. So unless WB has devised a new add-on or changed the product in the last couple of months since my last detailed conversation with WB technical department about EasyControl and zoning with zone valves, you're still not going to get what you think you'll get. By far the best way to use EasyControl is to have one zone and the PDHW optional diverter kit and you can then run weather compensation and then, if necessary add zones using the smart trvs. With your plan, you will have a 'smart system' but that just means you can control it on your smart device, it doesn't mean intelligent modulation. If you still don't believe me, call WB technical and ask them about 230v switching with EasyControl and modulation. The other option, as explained above, is choose a better boiler.

Just so you know, you will not get what you're after using the EasyControl. Re how EasyControl does zoning and modulation, read this: https://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/professional/news/smart-heating-gets-smarter-with-zoned-heating-control It only does zoning with the smart trvs. How is your plumber going to implement Worcester PDHW with the optional diverter valve kit and zones using motorized valves? Ask him or her to explain it to you in detail before parting with your money. Get them to show you the wiring detail in the boiler installation instructions and the EasyControl instructions and the diverter kit instructions. It's not about the wrong decision as such, it's about whether you're actually going to get what you think you're going to get.

That's a good point. I did the same with all my CLS and plywood. All my 38 x 140 CLS was ordered as a pallet, delivered to a pressure treatment plant, then picked up from there by my merchant and delivered to my door. It was still 'wet' from treatment but wrapped in the manufacturer's plastic. With all the plywood, I got still banded pallets on the delivery truck which I lifted off with the telehandler straight into the house.

I have always found timber merchants better value than builders merchants for sheet materials and of course timber. Best thing to do is write a full materials list and then get on the phone to local timber merchants to see what you can get. IIRC I saved about 5k doing this on my first materials list and then got continued great prices.

The only woodfibre ewi system with 'Lime' that has BBA and European (ETA) approvals is made by Lime Green. If you look at the product, theirs is given as a lime render but you'll find in the technical documentation it is lime based or quoted: "Lime based mineral render - Warmshell consists of insulation panels made of compressed wood fibre, covered with an engineered “Weather Protect” render made from Natural Hydraulic Lime and selected kiln-dried sands, plus a range of additional specified components that together ensure that the system is fit for purpose.." Lime render has to be modified for these kinds of substrates. Your normal 'lime' render is a total of about 20-25mm and would simply be too heavy and provide questionable adherance to the substrate. AFAIK rockwool is not suitable as a substrate for lime render and the only company selling a tested cork system is Cecil, which uses Ecocork insulating render which is then covered with Reabilita Cal AC or the version that just has a cork facade. I think that the only ETA approved systems by Cecil use mineral wool or eps and Cecil Fibraflex as the render. The exception to this is using Ceciltek Isovit Lime as the base coat which is mesh reinforced and then using Reabilita Cal AC as the render top coat - this is what a few suppliers specify as a buildup but I'm not aware there are any system approvals. But this is all Natural Hydraulic Lime rather than the traditional Non-Hydraulic Lime. Be careful in this game as there are suppliers selling untested and unproven systems so make sure you check before parting with your money.

You really need to look at the wall buildup as a whole system, rather than the specific components you are listing here. This is because you will not find a lime render that is suitable for EPS insulation. You will find heavily modified versions that contain some lime but will have lots of other ingredients such as polymers so that is can be applied as a light weight thin coat render, has flexibility and can deal with the thermal shocks of such a system. Traditional lime renders are typically too thick and heavy for eps and also wood fibre ewi. As you're on the continent, you need to look at ETICs systems. These systems are often developed by manufacturers to provide vapour permeability. Europe has an ETICs test standard although countries like Finland and Norway have introduced country and region specific guidance due to premature ETICs failures due to freeze/thaw cycles and wind-driven rain respectively - so essential to check locally. Likewise internally according to what you mention, you don't necessarily need permeability, you just need an internal makeup that has moisture buffering capability that is then balanced with sufficient ventilation - or you go the simple route and don't worry about it but make up the difference with MVHR that can effectively deal with the moisture oscillations and additional moisture load that comes from a non buffering fabric. It's not about liking the term breathability - it is simply that as a term for the things you're describing it ends up confusing everyone. For example, a vapour control layer may be vapour permeable or not, but if using a textile based one like Intello plus, it will not be able to buffer moisture. However, if you use osb as a vcl then is will buffer moisture too as it is both hygroscopic and capillary while providing airtightness too. Probably the cheapest way to achieve good levels of moisture buffering is with something like clay paint on top of gypsum plaster, behind which you can install your airtightness layer, clay bricks and then eps ewi with render. Now, I've obviously just picked this out and haven't run it through anything like Ubakus, but hopefully you get the drift and subject to the usual things like checking for risk of freeze thaw/driving rain where you might just need and alternative such as a void, render carrier board and render outside an ewi layer for example.

The mortar is cracked and there is some missing right at the corner. Plus it looks like mortar is missing around the corner too? Do you have a pic of that angle?

Oh yes, and Kw

There's a few of us hiding out but need more voices! 😊

Of course!

The problem is that this is really a meaningless term. There is vapour permeability - e.g. EPS - and there is hygroscopicity and capillarity - e.g wood fibre and hemp, as is clay. Like @SteamyTea suggests it's best to look to local traditional approachesto see how it has been implemented according to the local climate and materials. For example, gypsum has been used for millenia in Italy for its moisture buffering properties. I went for fully vapour, hygroscopic and capillary in my build and feedback about the internal comfort of the house has been extremely positive. After alot of study, the next most challenging part of this is selecting internal finishes. As a sidenote, from an environmental perspective, EPS is extremely good because it's mostly air - I saw a study a few years back where it was better than the natural materials on a life cycle basis. Quite surprising.

Wow, yes! Why has your transformation not been recognised with moderating power?

Not that I think I'm a short-arse but I already find myself on one of these a lot of the time. One of the best tools I have. It hangs permanently on my service bag:

I'm so glad to hear what must have felt like eternal solitude resulted in such deep enlightenment. I obviously can't speak from any experience of how this must have been for you, as I have yet merely experienced the deep shame that comes from a public shaming by @Russell griffiths that a question is just 'silly' which I'm sure pales into insignificance compaired to your brutal treatment!

In my mind, it isn't about how often you expect to go in there but whether you have access when something goes wrong. I recently did a repair in a newbuild with full UFH throughout. I was searching and searching for both the ground floor manifold and wiring centre only to eventually find they were sitting right behind a 500l cylinder. The clever builder had clearly put the cylinder in place before finishing the framing for the door so the cylinder wouldn't fit through the doorway. So I explained to the customer that any repair would require fully removing the cylinder, but first the whole doorway would have to be demolished. A plumber really shouldn't be ignoring the plans without first talking to the customer and it shouldn't be for the customer to ask the plumber what the alternative plan is going to be. It should all be done in advance before any work commences.

Blimey, that's like a C1 my kids get at school, then it goes to C2 & detention, and then they get banned. How long have you been shut out for then?

Surely I can't have trumped @Pocster? I wish I knew... imagine one of them hanging from a Crucifix and the filth gets even worse!

I'll tell you when it arrives and is plugged in - I'm not allowed to get it yet....must do more hard labour to deserve it 😉

You should have seen our electricity bill for heating our garden office that is insulated and used by my wife for work - it cost £1600 the winter before last and before I could move here into the house!

If using a panel shed as your base. But I did say: "If you had say 38mm slotted timbers to make the building, it might be a different matter entirely." With the Polhus designs once stacked, the timbers are bolted at each corner to press them together to prevent drafts. And 44mm will be fine.

Well, it's a bit like having that 3 tonne V8 of yours and upgrading it to a 4 tonnes EV SUV just to drive around Chelsea and drag race the Ferraris in front of Harrods? Saves the planet just a tad 😁 I still wouldn't convert an uninsulated shed into an outdoor sauna without insulating and pannelling the inside.

Only if you use it as a dry sauna, which is not the usual way to use them as you'll usually be tipping spoons full of water onto the hot coals. Dry saunas aren't very nice in my view and the wave of heat when you pour the water on is one of the best bits!

Must be getting a bit hot under the collar..... You're the wrong side of the Baltic Sea! Maybe these instead? Or even ?

Usually 6mm is recommended, it just makes for a better substructure.

It's more down to whether the kit comes with pre-fabricated panels like cheap sheds. Here are some good examples available off the shelf from a company that started just up the road from where we had a summer house in Sweden when I was a kid. https://www.polhus.co.uk/sauna