ProDave

Agreed this whole wall make up seems very strange. You do not want to be trying to partly insulate a service void. a service void should be there for services and does not need to be anything like 75mm. 25mm is plenty for cables and 45mm plenty for pipes. All services in an ideal world would be inside the sealed envelope so no penetrations through VCL except where services run outside e.g. to outside lights, sockets or an outside tap and these would be sealed. To even be thinking of sealing around switches etc is madness, you should not need to do that. It seems like your basic frame structure is too thin. use something thicker to get all the insulation you need within the frame, then a thin service void. the 12mm "ply" on the inside of the frame might be the racking layer in a case of externally clad timber frame. Mine is like that, except because we are considered "exposed" the SE specified 2 layers of 12mm OSB3 as the racking layer with staggered joints. Our VCL goes immediately over the racking layer, then the 25mm battens for the service void then the plasterboard.

I don't see that present 70mm as a service void, just an extra insulation later. I would put VCL where architect says, all nicely taped, then 25mm battens for a true service void then plasterboard.

The forms changed about a year ago, it's now either a G98 or G99 application.

Yes wire it as shown, all detailed for you.

I take it the wooden ramp was accepted. Duly noted in case we have issues.

Connect the iboost to the bottom immersion heater Connect the ASHP immersion control output to the top immersion heater. The cylinder thermostat plays no part in the immersion heaters, It probably pays no part in the normal control of DHW from the ASHP. That usually has a temperature probe for that. But the cylinder thermostat must be wired as a safety device to shut the motorised valve to the cylinder if it is triggered. It will normally never do that, but is there to stop the cylinder overheating if other systems have failed,

You would do very well indeed to build that for a total of £200K (£1K per square metre) Probably £300K is a more realistic total build cost. You don't hint how much you are expecting to do yourself? All in turn key and a total bill of £400K would not surprise me. I would say 60-70% of the cost is in getting a complete shell.

We bought one,. First year it worked well, the leaves fell down quickly in a sharp frost and they blew into nice piles easily. Next year, the leaves fell down gradually in a prolonged wet and windy spell. The leaves were stuck to the ground with water and the blower would not shift them and they never dried all winter enough for the blower to shift them. We used the rake.

We used a digger with a lifting boom attachment

I still do not see anything in the picture of the CU posted to suggest this originated via the mains supply. So in the absence of any explosive issues within the CU I dount a plastic one would have faired any worse.

What I am trying to understand is how the high voltage got onto the phone line. i.e. does the phone line originate as an overhead on the same pole? If it is underground and totally away from the electric I can't understand how it happened.

First there is nothing fundamentally wrong with GRP as a technology (I say speaking as someone who sails in a 50 year old GRP sail boat) The problem you have is poor workmanship. You need the contractor (the person you appointed to do the job) to sort it out. I hope you have not paid in full for the work yet, as if not you have a lever to make them put it right, and make sure you watch what they do to "put it right"

I did some back of envelope calculations. My roof windows are small. the difference in heat loss between 2G and 3G, and the difference in cost between 2G and 3G meant the saving in heat loss would never repay the extra cost of 3G.

The description of this puzzles me. How could a buzzard flying into the transformer cause this? The only concevable way is if it bridged between the 10kV incomet and 240V outgoing. But I would expect the buzzard to be severely charred and all the house electrics to have flashovers at multiple points and just about anything electronic blown. Does the BT come in above or below ground? I take it the BT line is toast and OR need to repair it? It sounds to me more like there was somehow high voltage on the BT line and the fact you happened to find a dead buzzard outside just after was coincidence?

The UFH circulating pump only turns on when one or more zones is calling for heat. There will be a short period when it turns on before the actuators have opened (hot wax actuators take a minute or 2 to open) when it will be pumping into a dead end but it does not seem to bother the pump.

Check with an ohm meter the the switch contact closes when you activate the switch. It could be as simple as a dud switch.

So, technically, YOUR car was NOT insured. You had in fact insured a different car that you did not own. The fact you are not on a charge shows the police have accepted it as a gernuine mistake and providing you now correct the insurance it should be the end of the matter. Why do I get the feeling that had the car been stolen, if the insurance had spotted the mistake, they would refuse to pay out because your car was uninsured?

Yes it was agreed for an unvented cylinder fed with treated mains water there was no legionairs risk, but you cannot say that for a vented tank fed cylinder so it would be wise to regularly heat it to 60 degees or more.

As someone else above, we went for a lighter grey, "Pebble Grey" I forget the RAL number. Very pleased with it. SWMBO swears it is light green.

Actually the decision is split between planning and building control. It's possible to get planning for one scheme and then building control refuse it and you end up with something else. ask me how I know. Your issue is going to be your clay soil and the percolation rate for the drainage field. you need to do some percolation tests very soon before you can plan anything like where and how big the drainage field needs to be. Add in the building control limits that say how far is must be from a building, boundary etc and it can end up needing a lot of space. Id there a watercourse available to use? That saves a LOT of problems and is what we ended up using (though harder to get permission for in Scotland)

The garage is too narrow. Can you increase the width of the house by say half a metre with most of that adding to the garage width? Other rooms will benefit. that should still fit on a 10.5 metre wide plot and allow a path both sides of the house.

MVHR does not really move much heat around the house. There is no direct air path from one room to another. All living rooms get fresh air that is heated by the heat exchanger so the air temperature is never going to be more than the exhaust air temperature. And given some of that exhaust air will will be coming from unheated rooms, it's average temperature will be lower than your cosy over heated kitchen. However have a good long think about the layout of your house. I find the wood burning stove will get heat to all rooms in the house due to our very open plan layout, helped by the stairwell in the middle of the house, So as long as your cosy kitchen is not stuck out on a limb it might help to heat other parts of the house. But I would still fit heating to the rest of the house, because you won't know for sure until you try it.

Wherever you buy them from, you can sign up to Velux Rewards and get some cash back after purchase.

Like many on here I chose to build to just about Passive house levels of insulation and air tightness but I chose not to have the house certified as such. The result is a house with low energy bills that is comfortable inside all the time with no extremes of temperature etc.

At least if the German or French cars are too expensive with the extra tariffs we can buy Japanese then?