ProDave

Well the "environmentalists" that are proposing hydrogen as a green energy source, damned well need to start getting interested in the leakage rate and the harm the unburned hydrogen will do as a greenhouse gas.

Are you not building some form of wall to fill the gap between the stair and the edge of the opening? If so the wall you build would support the extra beam?

I believe the new EPC system being talked about will be based on kWh per square metre per year of energy use.

Google the latest developments in the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The EPC system is being overhauled (much like the energy rating of appliances) so the new system an A will be a poor rating and E or F will be good (nothing like confusing the consumer)? And they are setting a target that ALL buildings, new and existing will be carbon neutral by 2050 with a set of dates when all buildings must meet particular standards. I have not seen an explanation yet of what happens if they say your house has to meet a certain standard by a certain date and you can't afford to pay for the upgrades......... Something needs to happen, because we have a situation where consumers mostly buy houses with no regard to the EPC, and then are the first to complain at high heating bills. It has long been my opinion that houses with a poor EPC should be worth less than the same size house with a good EPC to reflect both the high ongoing running costs and the eventual cost of upgrading them.

This is the real issue. The poor state of much of the UK housing stock, and who is going to upgraded them all, and when, and more importantly who is going to pay for it? That is the can that is being kicked down the road hoping it will go away. How you heat them is almost the secondary issue compared to how do you reduce the amount of heat they need.

I despair of journalists when I read something like: But no surprises when a boiler manufacturer writes an article trying to sway the argument towards hydrogen boilers instead. WHEN someone comes up with a cost effective way to produce a lot of hydrogen and zero emissions, and a reasonable cost perhaps we can take it seriously. but we are not there yet, not by a long way.

Here's one I did earlier. Well I only did the wiring, not the plumbing. UVC and volumiser supplied as a package with the ASHP. I am not sure I agree with the plumbing, but there are two UFH manifolds a second one just to the right out of shot and the only circulating pump in the system is the one in the ASHP. And no thermal mixing valves on the manifods so water circulates at temperature set by the ASHP.

UFH manifolds with a circulating pump and a temperature blending valve should be used. I used 22mm pipe but the plumbers may have a better recommendation. the Grant install manual will specifify the minimum system volume, they sell their own "volumiser" that can be used as s a simple extra volume or piped as a low loss header, again I will leave that to the plumbers.

When I bought my flue pipe, I bought an "insulated sleeve" made for the purpose. It fits tight around the flue and because the manufacturer has declared it for for being in contact with the flue it must be non combustible so that is fine. And the outside edge is >50mm from the flue so anything can touch that. I have not been able to find this on sale lately but surely someone makes one still?

Visibility Splay is the term you need to search your councils planning website for their requirements.

We have discussed this before. In a really well insulated house, however you heat it, the "heat the person not the room" principle won't work long before you have accidentally heated the building.

Except for your bank balance.

Don't forget the genny needs to be water cooled with it's "waste" cooling water heating DHW or the building, aka CHP.

Ours is green, a little unusual which is why we chose it.

Take a bottle of oil with you to the stone merchant. My Italian Granite is definitely impervious to oil and red wine.

They are joints between plasterboard sheets opening up. Nothing to worry about. Sadly this is largely avoidable if only the builders had a bit of care or knowledge. When boarding around a window or door opening, don't run a sheet down the wall in line with the opening, cut a sheet around the opening so the next joint is not in line with it. Very unlikely to get a crack then. but that takes just a little more time and might waste just a little plasterboard and mass market builders don't want to do either of those.

I would move the oil boiler. As space is a premium, consider an outside oil boiler instead.

Your big issue will be electrics. A bathroom cannot have a socket within 3 metres of the bath. It sounds like your room is not big enough for that. This was an issue for me once where a customer put a shower in the corner of a bedroom. It was just, and only just, possible to put a double socket in the opposite corner of the room to the shower, which of course was not where he wanted sockets to be.

I will answer, but bear in mind the way I operate is VERY different to most sole traders for a variety of reasons. For a start I charge by the hour, not by the day. I might work full days from time to time but it is VERY rare for me to work a full week. If you work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week on site, you will in fact be "working" a LOT more than 40 hours in that week. Materials to order and possibly collect, jobs to look at and price up, even the time you spend on the jobs you don't get, so you spend time preparing quotes and estimates, for NO RETURN. and you have to travel to get there so it has cost you money for no return. Then you have to prepare and send your invoices, check payments, do at least some of your accounting yourself (I do all mine) You have to maintain your tools, your vehicle, get it serviced, MOT'd, repaired when it needs it etc. This is all time you spend on the business that you get no income for. I recon as a rough rule for every hour I spend on a customers site working and being paid to work, I spend 2 hours in total on the business. So for a start halve the hourly rate you are getting paid for being on site doing a job to get the hourly rate you get paid for "working" Then there are a whole tranche of costs to deduct, various insurances, vehicle, tools, professional qualifications, membership of professional bodies to name a few. And after all that has gone in the melting pot to work out your profit, the tax man takes his share. So your guy working 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year for his "mega money" will probably be actually working 60 or more hours a week (i.e. a lot longer than a 9-5 employee) and will probably only be "earning" half what you think. Someone prepared to work very long hours like that bloody well deserves to earn "mega money" This is where my business differs to most. I have been self employed for 20 years since leaving "proper employment" and at that point we were mortgage free for the first time and had money invested in buy to let, so self employment for me was something to do, but no need to earn mega money, indeed I don't want to. So I have for the last 20 years been very much a part time worker, earning just enough to pay the bills and have more time to do stuff for me. And as I get closer to retirement, I am working less and less.

If it really is a garage, nicely pointed blockwork and a coat of masonry paint will be cheap, clean and hard wearing. Only if it needs to be something other than a garage would I waste time boarding it with anything.

Nature did that for me.

As replies above, WC in theory should reduce bills a little as the lower temperature the heat pump can operate, the higher will be the COP. but it willmean the heat pump will be running for longer or even 24/7. It would be interesting from one of the people that has implemented it, if anyone has been able to quantify the sort of savings they have observed compared to constant temperature.

More information? like how is the heat delivered? Under floor heating or radiators for example?

In my well insulated house, the ASHP uses about 1/3 of the total electricity used in the house over the whole year, so being kicked onto a higher rate for all the other stuff (most of our use) would be a deal breaker for getting a little cheaper at off peak times.

This always raises a giggle.