Thedreamer

Without sounding well.... the video seems to suggest this being put together in UK or Ireland. https://www.jouleuk.co.uk/complete-renewable-heating-solutions/ My understanding is that the cylinder, anode and immersion heater are more robust and require a lot less maintenance. I have considered setup like @dpmiller suggests utilising a megaflow with a solar coil, but I think it might just over complicate the system. Our one will just do our hot water. The system to me seems to combine a number of different jobs. Hot water cylinder, immersion heater, small heat pump and also to assist with ventilation with ducts in the bathrooms to suck vapour away. The cost of the tank of a 260l tank is £2750, but I wonder how that compares with other set-ups? My hope is that the small heat pump will tick away at heating the tank during the day whilst everybody is at work/school.

I made up my mind on the ecocent over the last few weeks. The mini air source heat pump is fine, but the cylinder, immersion heater and anode just ain't good enough, well that's the impression from my research. Going for a more expensive Joules Aero instead.

I've used roof shield on ours. https://www.proctorgroup.com/products/roofshield#key-features I think the 50mm gap was standard practise for your old fashion non breathable felt and some manufacturer claim that no gap is required, but most people still incorporate a gap for good measure. Not an issue this time of year, but you have to be careful if it's frosty, as this can ruin the membrane. Lots of stuff on the forum about membranes, but invest in a good one. No point spending thousands on your final roof covering if your membrane ain't going to last. If I was starting again I would consider going for warm roof with insulation on top of the rafters. Some on here have used a wood fibre board to provide this insulation and provide strength to the roof.

All the stuff above. Remember if you project managing or doing the work yourself you can add 20% VAT for materials. Your get this back at the end but cash can be king in getting to wind and watertight. if borrowing your lender will expect you to finance VAT as well as a contingency. A builder will be zero rating invoices, but will add a margin. Do get a more reliable estimate I would break it up to: land & services/access ,foundations and then wind and watertight. Assuming nothing fancy or unusual you could get a reasonable idea from that.

It's just a small point, but having photos of the build at the different stages has been very useful for me. Must be horrible not knowing what is behind the plasterboard in a new build home.

Hi @Werrington1 welcome to the forum. Have you considered creating a blog? I'm just coming up to first fix on my self build on the Isle of Skye. Also nice building plans have you consider overheating/solar gains from the south facing glazing. There are lots of discussions on the forum regarding this. My build has more south facing glazing than most on here but temperatures are generally lower in the highlands than further in the south of the UK?

Ok thanks very much.

Starting to understand what I need for the ducting order. Our plans show a silencer. I have the option of ordering a longer silencer and those that have more insulation in the silencer (50mm to 100mm). What size and thickness of silencer have others used? Thanks

Ohh I see. If the rest of the neighbours are normal and not bothered then I would just crack on.

If I lived near you and heard it I wouldn't be bothered. Must be a different issue that is annoying them. Did they comment on your planning application, prehaps it's the building noise during the day or they have young children etc Is there anyway you could surprise them with a token gift like a bottle wine, hold off the work for the next few days and have the opportunity for a proper introduction? We can all overreact sometimes, prehaps on reflection they might be apologetic.

Quite a few on the island of these as well. Monitored both when we first considered building, but prices have increased as they have become more popular.

I used 32 in my floor and 35 in my wall. The difference in the two was really evident. The 35 can be easily peeled but the 32 is much more dense. On reflection I would probably have used 32 in the walls as well.

The most popular new builds on Skye are r-houses. These are mostly timber frame with timber cladding. https://www.ruralhouse.co.uk/ These are popular with self builders, families getting on the property ladder and social housing.

We have a few velux windows where we currently are and have lots in our self build. It's really just heavy hail you hear. Usually we hear the heavy hail, and then I would say some think along the lines of: Looks like it's hailing, then it stops after thirty seconds or so and we carry on as normal.

I would be surprised if people were put off timber frame properties, prehaps it depends on where your based. In Scotland where the original poster is based it has always been a popular option, in our area it would be odd if a house is now build out of double block. I don't understated the logic in buying a uninsulated frame, either you buy one with insulation fitted or you have a team of joiners stick build the frame on site and fit insulation later.

Hope you are all having a good weekend. The chap who designed our house just dropped off five lengths of metal ducting and a couple of sheep food bags full of connectors, couplers etc. Somebody over ordered a while ago and they have been in storage since so I'm free to use what I can. I was planning on using 125mm as the branches and then 150mm as the trunks. I mentioned in previous discussions on the forum that I'm using a system that extracts hot/moist air from area of the house into a mini air source heat pump. The plan was to use a unit that has the pump and tank in a single unit. I'm now thinking of using a separate mini air source heat pump which will then connect up to a mega flow tank utilising a solar coil. This should provide more robustness as the some of the integrated units require an anode within the tank to be replaced. This arrangement should also provide more redundancy in the event of a problem with either system failing. One question that comes to mind is that some of parts have 160mm on them, why would an installer go for a slightly bigger version? Could I go bigger as I get closer to the heat pump? If anybody has come across any good blog entries or videos for fitting ducting for beginners please point them in my direction.

But the flexibility of having a main connection is not comparable to a off grid connection. Don't think you can just compare cost as the variable

I would definitely go with a £7K grid connection. Worth searching the forum for posts relating to connection costs. We are in a rural location on the Isle of Skye and were able to reduce our connection cost by: Utilising ducting instead of blinding the trenches Using our own contractor Applying to SSE for a grant Considered routes and argued with the quoter to get the cost as lower as possible. I have never lived off grid so can't really comment on how you adapt your energy usage around limited electricity. We might in the future if the incentives exist utilise renewable but it's not a priority at the moment. A general principle that most self builder incorporate is that the big stuff relating to your build you really want to invest in once (insulation, roof etc). To me having the option to get a £7k connection, fit and forget or have ongoing off grid electricity cost would be an easy decision for me.

Your be nice and close to Russwood. Going to be incorporating timber cladding?

The traditional practise in Scotland if building with a timber frame is once the structure is erected a single layer of blockwork goes up and this then has render applied. This is because of the wild weather we have in Scotland. Our build on Skye has a mixture of blockwork and timber cladding. Seems a bit of a outdated approach by the bank as a lot of self builds are 100% timber clad or use alternative methods as the exterior skin. Unfortunately the number of lenders are limited in Scotland and less for the Highlands and Islands.

Hi @eekoh can you just put in outline planning?

Yes, looks great We have the same book, once done looking forward to chopping and stacking logs. From an energy point of view, how has the house performed over the winter?

Thanks for your kind words @Buster It was actually going to ask if you could post some photo of your build, so thanks for that. I really like your balustrade and the space you have behind it. We have a six and four year old, so quite like the idea of having a space where our children can play and we can be below.

Yes partly vaulted. I've got a few photos on my blog

Thanks you all for your comments.