ProDave

What is the annual predicted cost of heating this house? Planning conditions can stipulate what a house looks like but not how the walls are built and how much insulation is fitted. Having to have sash windows will impact air tightness, but that is about all.

Just watched this one. (I rarely watch commercial tv live) That "ravine" I'll bet that was not mentioned on the sales particulars, and I wonder if any of the locals have mentioned it to them? However was that solid rock that collapsed? I think not. Looking at the picture that bit of coast looks different. It looks very much like one I know in Wales, where it is a choked glacial valley. Basically a valley carved in the ice age, subsequently filled with (relatively) loose rocks and rubble. The one I know in Wales, from above you would barely know, apart from a depression in the grass, but viewed from the sea you can see the very different material. What did your survey say about it?

No problems with creaks or groans from a timber frame or the plumbing. UFH works best at a low temperature for a long time, rather than a high temperature for a short time.

I assume you are referring to a 2 position 3 port valve, not that "work of the devil" the mid position 3 port valve? If so I would tend to agree with you.

About 145 square metres, I forget exactly, depends if you count the integral garage or not and the roof space above it (plant room) Hoping to complete for £1000 per square metre.

All I would add, is my preference is separate 2 port valves rather than a 3 port.

No. The showers will still flow "too quick" even with all HW piped in 15mm and the Stiebel in line.

This is for 3 people. We have on about 3 occasions run out of hot water. Never under estimate how much water a woman with long hair can use in the shower. Our shower will run at about 11 litres per minute at full tilt (and of course it is only ever full on, or off) so that's as little as 30 minutes in the shower, a bit longer as it will be adding some cold water so say 45 minutes. With 3 back to back showers the third one went cold with hair full of shampoo. Remember an ASHP will re heat the tank a lot slower than a high power gas boiler, so don't bank on the HP making up lost heat in real time. Regard it as purely a stored heat device. I "solved" the run out of hot water issue by fitting as well a Stiebel Eltron modulating instant water heater, So if the tank does go cold, real time electric heating will make it up the shortfall. This also enables me to delay the hot water on period until late morning when there is a fair chance the solar PV will be generating something useful, safe in the knowledge that if there is some unexpected early hot water demand, it will be met.

Your architect is talking b*******s. If your timber frame moved enough to "break pipes" I would be VERY worried in his design ability. There are 2 ways to do it, either using aluminium spreader plates, or as we did in our previous house, using a biscuit mix as the heat spreader, but that option needs the joists sized for the extra dead load at design stage. Our present house has UFH on a suspended timber floor downstairs (biscuit mix) and just the bathrooms upstairs (spreader platess) UFH is usually Pex Al Pex semi flexible pipe or similar, so it can take a good deal of movement without worry. If your frame is going to move like your architect thinks, I would worry about all the normal plumbing which in our house is copper, mostly soldered.

I had the front of my house done with Cuplock, on loan from the builder that built the shell. It is much more rust resistant as it is galvanised. The disadvantage I found, is in order to make an adjustment, you have to unlock one of the "cups" and that releases the clamping force on anything else also joined at that node. The result is things can get a bit wobbly when making adjustments. Compare that to Kwikstage when you knocl out a peg, you are only loosening the item you are removing.

Well looking logically these are how the costs go: Additions: Extra cost of more complicated roof structure including more complicated roof tiling and valleys etc. Extra time to insulate board and finish sloping ceiling details. Extra cost of roof windows Vs ordinary windows. Savings: Less external wall to build and finish (render etc) Other benefits: Lower overall working height, good for self builders with a touch of vertigo. The lower sales value is irrelevant here. Planning rules mean that 99.9% of houses in the countryside here are 1 1/2 storey so it is what people expect and considered "normal" And if self building a lot of the extra costs are just a bit more of your time. So I think it boils down to extra cost of more complicated roof structure Vs cost saving of not building 2 storey high walls.

Tell me more. But please don't tell me this is something I should have done before ordering to get the price down.

More fundamental, than the above, I would say Electric Plane (which I owned before I had even heard of an oscillating multi tool)

A lot of us on here have bought our own. Kwikstage is easy to buy and easy to erect. There are other system scaffolds like Cuplock that are equally good but not so abundant. Mine was up for over a year, and nobody refused to use it and nobody poked their nose in about it in any respect. But we are a bit off the beaten track.

Well a decision has been made and the windows ordered. I ruled out Fakro because of the non closable vent and the silly extra money they want to charge to have no vent. I ruled out the cheap non vented "SITE" window simply because it was unknown and I did not want to be criticised if it turned out to be cheap and nasty. So I went with the standard Velux GGL MK04 in a painted white finish. SWMBO agreed to the top handle in the end as these windows are set lower than the ones in our previous house where it was hard to reach the top handle. We both know the quality to expect from a Velux window, and although the basic window does have a vent, you can close it, and in the previous house I never noticed a shut vent being leaky. Roofing Superstore gave the cheapest quote. They had to add £30 for "remote delivery" and then took £20 off again with a voucher code. Then when I transferred the quote to an order this evening, the price went down by £24, on checking, their list price for this window had dropped today and that was reflected in the price paid. So all in price for 2 windows, flashings and delivery £593 Sterling Build had a slightly higher list price and when asked about delivery did not reply. And I tried the new local builders merchant but they were £40 more, and I asked them if they would match Roofing Superstores price but they could not.

I doubt there is much difference in cost. If building 1 3/4 I would (I did) avoid conventional dormer windows. I dislike the complication of them and some aspects of their detail can be very awkward to get right. And they don't add that much space. Instead I did "gable ends" like this: With a vaulted roof hung from ridge beams, this gives a clean inside and outside, with standing headroom in all but the extreme corners of the bedrrooms.

I opted for 4) A lot cheaper and a lot simpler. The main thing is use an unvented cylinder, NOT a thermal store. And buy one with the high area "heat pump" input coil. Also fit a larger volume that you may think necessary, because you will be storing hot water at a lower temperature, so will need more hot water as it is diluted less with cold water than a normal boiler setup. Ours is a Telford Tempest 300 litre version and we heat water to 48 degrees with the heat pump. This was found by experiment to be just about as hot as you can possibly bear to hold your hands in when you have filled the washing up bowl with just hot water. I see no point in heating DHW any hotter than that with the heat pump. This results in the flow temperature from the ASHP reaching about 55 degrees as the cylinder nears it's target temperature. That also leaves plenty of capacity for excess solar PV to heat it further, at the moment my immersion heater thermostat will open at about 75 degrees. The 2 issues with this are it needs G3 unvented cylinder signoff and annual service, and the heat loss to the room will be higher than a SunAmp. But I find the Telford cylinders pretty well insulated, and of course take care to lag all the connecting pipework well. Also, I don't use a buffer tank. When space heating, the ASHP directly feeds the under floor heating, and I rely on the heat pump setting the UFH flow temperature (because that is lower than the blending valve on the UFH manifold can be set to)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nitrile-7mm-ID-x-1-5mm-C-S-O-Ring-Choose-Quantity-7x1-5-New-Metric/293135773763?hash=item444040f043:m:mZAHIXQV1FNd_PbsrtdbwwA

This thread is hanging on by the skin of it's teeth. PLEASE keep it on topic re self building or it WILL be gone.

By what mechanism were they subsidised?

I don't see how choosing a different construction method could solve a housing shortage? Any housing shortage is the result of planning policy, and / or the way large house builders land bank land and only develop it when they believe they will be able to sell the houses quickly. It has little to do with the time it takes to build a house.

Okay how about this "unknown" make? https://www.screwfix.com/p/site-manual-centre-pivot-white-roof-window-clear-780-x-980mm/688fv#product_additional_details_container £150, Handle at the bottom, UW 1.3 and I cannot see a ventilator. Description says "Ventilation via Handle" which sounds like if you want ventilation, you open it a bit. Apart from the unknown make and therefore unknown quality of construction and finish, what is there not to like?

I am considering looking again at the Velux offerings. The main reason for looking at Fakro was the operating handle is at the bottom, Vs at the top on Velux. I am looking at this one https://www.roofingsuperstore.co.uk/product/velux-ggl-mk04-2070-white-centre-pivot-window-laminated-78cm-x-98cm.html Can anyone that has fitted one recently confirm they still fit the same manual vent at the top of the window that they always used to fit? A vent that can be closed would be acceptable (It is Fakro's "automatic" vent that you cannot close that is causing me grief)

I have a quote today from Roofing superstore for £320 for the non ventilated Fakro. It is still bugging me that is it £119 more than the absolutely identical window with a ventilator. I don't like being fleeced extra to have one bit left out.

You don't want your house mvhr linked into the garage.