Weebles

Too late for a cellar.....ruled out basement / cellar a while ago on cost. But maybe I should insulate this larder outside the thermal envelope, to keep out some of the hot air? With no heat source inside the room, no windows and only vents at top and bottom I had hoped it would work. But I am a bit concerned now about keeping cool in hot weather (and it was hot this weekend - even our cold damp bungalow got roasting hot). I don't really want to use power to cool it.

So I suppose I am trying to use the natural cold bit of our plot (north side and under trees and never sees the sun) to keep some food cold and live like my granny used to. Don't think we'll get away without a fridge at all. But hopefully food will store better, taste nicer from not having been refrigerated and we can also store wine in there at a constant temperature. Without using any power. That's the dream anyway. Going to be an experiment to build it and I have no idea whether we'll get enough airflow or keep the temperature low enough. Will see how this one goes.

We are planning to use MBC for timber frame (like lots of people on here) so thinking could use their cheaper open panel uninsulated external wall for the larder external walls. Would ensure it wasn't over insulated. Then I think we would need to have two air vents. And on the north side of the house, with no heat source, it should stay at a stable low temp for most of the year. Will then have stone shelves and stone / concrete floor. Can cool using ice (frozen drinks bottles put on the top shelf of the larder works a treat apparently) in the summer. Just need to avoid it being damp. Don't know about reverse engineering from an ASHP because wasn't planning on having an ASHP, though sounds plausible.

Thanks PeterW. No change to plans needed for that then. We will make sure we insulate the plant room.

Our plant room will be adjacent to the house i.e. they will share a wall (possibly a very well insulated one) so I don't have the issues of considering running ducting underground. But if we put the plant room outside the thermal envelope it will be colder than the rest of the house. Will this temperature differential be a problem as the MVHR unit will be in the colder plant room (inlet and outlet pipes going outside from that room) and then the ducts will run across the colder plant room into the warmer house, presumably losing heat as they go back..... Ah, does that make my situation just like @recoveringacademic .....?

No idea where to post this so please move if needed. I would like to have a proper cold larder. Only problem is how to build it in a heavily insulated house. So far it is on the north wall of our designed house (got planning permission last week, now about to do one lot of variations). We were planning a proper external door to access this larder. Looking at MBC timber frame but unnecessary to heavily insulate the larder. Any thoughts on how we might do this? Was thinking we might need to have a separation of the concrete slabs too (so any heat from ufh doesn't "seep" under the door and heat the larder). Or should we just build it afterwards / separately from the timber frame?

Anyone built a plant room outside the thermal envelope of a semi-passive house? Our design currently has a bolt on plant room and we are wondering whether the MVHR will work OK in there and whether the plant room needs to be as insulated as the rest of the house. Other stuff going in there include gas boiler / hot water cylinder / ufh manifold. Planning on MBC timber frame...... Got planning permission last week but already looking at a couple of variations so might as well do them all in one go.

Thanks everyone. That is alot of information. Am hoping not to try the mini digger way of finding pipes but we'll see! Bungalow was a flat pack apparently bought at a show at the NEC in 1966-68. Built on a thin slab which explains why it is so darn cold in here. We are in Henley. Gas pipe is yellow and plastic. We have found where it goes into the meter on the box on the side of the house and will now probably just dig to see where it goes back to the boundary. We want to reconnect to the new house when it is built so we are looking to disconnect temporarily (not cap off permanently, my mistake). Water - anyone know a water diviner / dowser round the Reading area? - happy to try it. The meter is 5m off the property boundary and pipes run under a road and it isn't easy to see the direction of them. Can't see pipes into the house (not obvious at all). Haven't found the boundary stop cock yet though a neighbour reckons it is under a hedge somewhere so will take another good look. Elec - not sure we can do a permanent meter box as we are potentially going to relocate the property entrance so temporary might be better. But will think on that. Asbestos - thanks for the advice (Mr Punter and Ferdinand, and sorry about your Dad, Ferdinand). This is a big problem that we didn't envisage. And a costly one too. First quote £18K (no demolishing in that, just asbestos removal) and need to move out before a proper survey can be done as it is so invasive (and staying safe is a top priority). Currently clearing some trees and looking at static caravans. At this rate we will end up spending close to £50K to have no house at all!

Thanks PeterW - this sounds like a plan for the weekend then.

Hi - hoping for some help here. I have a bungalow (South Oxon) that needs demolishing. (Plans in planning and got approved by local council meeting this week, planning office here tomorrow). Got lots of asbestos. That is another problem. Need an asbestos survey but advised to move out first. So trying to sort out a caravan for our temporary accommodation. But need to locate the services. Have dug and found the electricity supply. Haven't located the gas pipe and there are no plans available. National Grid EAGLES not very helpful at all (said there is no record of anything in our vicinity!) Can't locate the clean water supply and Thames Water haven't mapped our area (what the map shows is incorrect but we do know where the water meter is, out in the pavement across the access road). Any suggestions for locating the gas and water? And what do we need to do once we have found them? Does anyone have any experience of not going via the gas supplier to cap off the gas supply i.e. using a contractor? We will need water into our caravan and water for site - what is the usual thing to do? And with the elec, we will need that for the caravan and for site - any advice? Anything else I need to think of re services? This whole project is so daunting my head feels like it will explode. Apologies in advance for so many questions (and more to come).

We are going to knock down our 1960s timber frame bungalow and build passive in its place so we now need to think about what to build and how. What is a rough idea of the order in which we should do things? Engage an architect first? Seen posts here about an independent assessor (what is one of those, and why do we need one)? Happy to throw time at the problem (whilst we save some money for the eventual build) but seriously don't know where to start. Any pointers? Any other considerations? What would you do first?

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

First post on this site, in fact a first post on any site ever - no clue about that nor about how to build a house. But 7 months ago we bought a bungalow that probably should be demolished (thermally awful and everything dates from the 1960s) and we are keen to go down the passive route for a new build. So pleased to have found you all and hope to learn alot, share the journey and build a home before our kids want to leave it....