willbish

Putting the shell up is a surprisingly small part of the whole project. You still need groundworks, foundations, roof etc etc. Im an amateur thats built a 4 bed cottage with ICF on my own. If I can do it any half decent builder can too. What exterior finish do you have planning permission for? As you mention brick...

The manifolds are Emmetti and the fittings I used were Rifeng. The fittings are more expensive than Hep and you'll need a spanner! But as its only one fitting per outlet pipe and a couple for shower heads, the savings weren't lost.

Well I've done my domestic hot and cold in 16mm, all used from left over Pex-al-Pex from the UFH. The price of Hep2o pipe I found to be significant. Emmetti manifolds take the 16mm pipe and the MLCP fittings are easy to use & so far 100% reliable.

Yes that does seem a lot. Ive just insured through Adrian Flux a broker who had no problems finding a policy that didn't require a completion certificate. Im at a similar stage, structure and first fix complete, EPC issued. No major works to require site insurance.

I would guess that the offcuts you have are all quite small in size and so probably wouldn't work well internally. I buried all my ICF offcuts against an area of the house below ground. As it's not the main insulation it didn't matter if it wasn't complete or perfect but the extra 200mm should help improve the performance a little in that area.

That's looks good. Do you know how the locate switch works? How does it feed back which alarm is activated? The locate switch silences all the alarms apart from the activated alarm.

It might be dinky but if it only sounds in the room where the fire is, thats near enough pointless. That's looks good. Do you know how the locate switch works? How does it feed back which alarm is activated?

Apprentice called James?!

I did mine this week using the power of gravity. Took a while mind! Longer than any jobbing plumbing would have tolerated. I just rigged a funnel about 1.5m above the manifold and every time I walked past just topped it up. Assuming you have a monoblock ASHP without a buffer as no other reason for glycol in the mix?

@PeterW I see what you mean. The unit needs to be sat within the air it's sampling. I'm pretty tight for space to be adding boxes. Perhaps I can find somewhere discreet in a room, probably a bedroom, not far from the input terminal. Could that be falsely triggered by aerosols or any other bedroom activity?!

They appear to only do Gas sensots but I've shot them an enquiry email. CVC were interested in the idea but ideas from them have since dried up.

It's a what if, thought I'd first fix the cabling initially, have decided I might as well do the whole install whilst I'm at it. They measure the proportion so can set a threshold in the Loxone. Would love the time to learn and tinker with a Raspberry Pi, unfortunately deadlines are looming. With the Honeywell I'd need to modify to get a sample inside the duct. I'm thinking very small funnel glued to the unit, then small hose which would pierce the ducting...

Im in the market and looking for recommendations for a particulate sensor that will connect with Loxone and shut down the MVHR should the neighbours smoke cause us too much bother. Farnell have a sizeable range and Im drawn towards the Honeywell model. I think I have two options 1. Sample the outside air, broadly in the area of the intake. Issues are finding somewhere to keep the sensor which is dry and with power. 2. Sample the air from inside the MVHR ducting. Issue is none of the sensors Ive seen, so far, have a narrow intake pipe which can be put into the MVHR ducting. So I would need to alter/fashion something. Other disadvantage with this method is the MVHR would need to be running for the sensor to have a fresh (or not) sample of air. This may involve running the MVHR for a short period every 15mins or so after the sensor has been activated. Not difficult to do in Loxone but may undermine my attempts to keep wood smoke out of the house. Has anybody attempted something similar?

Pretty sure I followed this document when creating my openings. Will ping the laser around in a bit for you. Opening-Dims.pdf

How do they use the front door when there's no garden gate?!

Thanks @IanR Yes. When I said no volume element I suppose I meant the volume of the house has no bearing on the m3/m2.h score. Preparations for the test are going well, Ive rigged up a 220W 14inch car radiator fan, no idea if this is powerful enough to simulate 50Pa. Found and treated quite a few minor leaks but no idea if Im likely to score 4ACH or 0.4ACH

Please could someone check my thinking on ACH and m3/m2/h? ACH is easy right, 1.0ACH is just the volume of the airtight envelope house per hour. In my case 407.5m3, and 0.6 or possibly even 0.4 is just a fraction of the 400 figure. m3/m2/h has no volume element so is the internal surface area of the airtight envelope; floor, walls, roof. 1m3/m2/h is equal to the surface area, in my case 377m2 If the above is correct then the following should be true

Timber inside is, I think, essential as it gives something for the lining screws to bite into. I also doubled the C studs, probably unnecessary, but it adds rigidity.

Agreed Jinko Panels on GSE trays, no earth bonding. Sparky happy

Take a look at this schematic from the Sunamp installation manual (this is from a UniQ eHW12, so may be subtly different). No pump required PRV set to 3 bar Without a PV diverter, your Sunamp will start charging as soon as the timer switches on, regardless of whether the sun is shining or not. By the time the sun comes out you could be fully charged from the grid and your opportunity to self consume your PV generation is lost for that day. Most people say a PV diverter pays for itself relatively quickly. It's a must have really.

Whilst re-reading the excellent VAT reclaim guide (what else is there to do at 5:30am?!) I stumbled on a detail previously overlooked. @newhome states: "for example if there is a condition in the planning permission that states that the dwelling can only be used by a person employed by a specific business, or where an annex has been built that cannot be sold separately from the main house. In order for a VAT claim to succeed these restrictions must be lifted before the claim is sent in and potentially before completion certificate is provided. Retrospective amendments are not allowable as can be seen in the tribunal cases below" I have a condition on my PP regarding an internal annexe that was on the floor plan when we submitted. "The separate residential accomodation assocaited with bedroom 4, including the kitchen, ensuite and siting rooms hereby permitted shall not be used as a separate dwelling and shall be used solely by the occupants of the main replacement dwelling hereby approved, in connection with their enjoyment of that residence." After planning approval the floor plan was changed and Bed 4 is now part of the main house. Do I need to get this planning condition removed prior to VAT reclaim? Or would an updated, building control approved, floor plan be sufficient?

Why horrible to use? I can tell its gna be a pain to fit

Got a trade account so would assume trade discount...

September I believe

Does anyone have any real world experience/photos of Howdens In Frame range? I understand its fairly new and they aren't selling a lot. We like the look but the added installation faff is massive and it'll be me doing the work and cursing the decision if its not plain sailing. Also not sure about of the faux butt hinges Attached the installation guide howsdens in Frame.pdf