ProDave

The "no upstairs heating" thing does seem a bit variable. Like others I have no specific heating in the bedrooms. I have UFH in the bathrooms mainly so the tiles are comfortable to walk on. Most of the time the bedrooms are warm enough, but in a really cold spell they occasionally get a bit cool, so then I light the stove and heat the downstairs to "indulgance" level (about 25 degrees) and let the heat from that work it's way upstairs. I do have electric points for panel heaters but I don't expect to ever be using them.

^^ was that published on April 1st?

That won't be a problem. Mine is further. Just lag the pipework between well to minimise heat loss.

The Outside of the plywood boxes was just covered in a membrane. you would need something a bit stronger if blowing insulation in.

A house near me (that I wired) had the stove sat straight on the tiled floor (tiles laid on concrete screed) and BC signed that off okay.

I am not aware this forum is "promoted" by any TF manufacturer. Yes a lot of people on here build in various forms of TF (and there are a lot of different variants to TF) but there are also a lot building with various types of ICF or insulated brick and block cavity systems. Equally there are a lot of different foundation systems in use by members on the forum.

That confirms my view that the plot prices are now too high, you could not buy a plot and build one of those 2 for what they are on sale for now. It is a great shame as GD keep telling the mass viewers how cheap the plots were and how good value the finished house is. There will be a lot of disappointed people when they find out the current asking prices for the plots now.

In our last house we went for a different approach. We cast a concrete slab and tiled it, but with a bit of care, we set the concrete slab just a little lower than the wooden floor so when it was tiled, the finished tiles were dead level with the wooden flooring. I remember the BC inspector muttering something about there should be a step, but he passed it anyway.

An ASHP will do 50 degrees, I have mine set to 48 degrees. BUT 50 degree water in a thermal store, will give you very little decent hot water. With a thermal store, as soon as you start drawing heat from it, the temperature will start falling. So to maintain a sensible amount of hot water at say 48 degrees, the water in a TS will need to be a lot hotter than that. On the other hand, fill a UVC to 50 degrees, and it will deliver 50 degree water almost up to the point it runs out then it goes cold very quickly.

How are you going to heat it? Obviously not an ASHP? With a true normal unvented cylinder, it is full of potable water and the only glyvol is in the pretty small closed heating loops.

So tonight. The "plywood box" home. I see one major flaw, it takes about 6 weeks to get a roof on, And the plywood is the finished internal surface. So doesn't that mean you really need 6 weeks without rain? And the outside, finished with what looks like pallets painted black, vertical boards with huge gaps between them. What stops water and UV getting in between the gaps? Hope the membrane is UV resistant for a long time. And it will be spider and wasp heaven behind that lot? The other house was pretty normal and even appeared to have a BR compliant staircase.

Sounds to me like a thermal store that has the disadvantage of needing to store water at a hotter temperature, so not much good for example for a heat pump.

Our TF house is all plasterboarded and skimmed and after one Scottish winter with heating on, and now into spring with heating off, I have not seen a single crack yet. I don't think cracking is inevitable with TF. It probably helps that the frame sat for a year before being boarded so a bit of chance for the timber to settle first.

PD rights don't come into effect until completion. Technically even a shed I built that was not on the plans should not have been built until completion. Why not include your dormer on your plans? or at least build the structure so it is easy to add it soon after completion?

The thing that bugs me about this global warming thing. is there cannot be a person in the civilised world who is not aware of the problem and what we need to do. And from where I sit we ARE dealing with the problem. Just look at how the big coal power stations are just about gone in this country, how very much better cars are now than they used to be, and getting better. Yet we are still being talked to like "naughty school children" telling us we are polluting and evil and it has to stop. At the same time we see some other countries still burning huge amounts of very dirty coal in their power stations, whenever you see the likes of Beijing on the tv, you can't see very far because of the visible pollution. One feels exasperation that the UK and a lot of other countries are cleaning up our act, but unless everybody does, we might as well not bother. Up to now, electricity generation and transport have been the "targets" of improving things. But Housing has largely "escaped". That can't continue. Unless the dire state of much of the UK housing stock is not addressed and the fuel used to heat those poor houses is not reduced then we will reach a point where we can't improve any more. We are sort of smug at now living in a very energy efficient low energy house, but such houses are only a tiny, almost insignificant fraction of the total housing stock in the UK. And attempts to educate people by sticking an EPC rating on every house has proved almost a waste of time. Unless you are buying to let, it would appear most people totally ignore the EPC when buying a house. Surely a time will come when a house with a poor EPC will be worth less because of the money that needs to be spent on it to improve it?

Are the walls bare or rendered? I had bad "rising damp" in a previous 1930's house. That was caused entirely by the render bridging over the slate DPC and the ground level being too high. And not helped at all by the fact the previous owner had tried to hide it by covering the wall with polystyrene tiles and wallpapering over those. The problem was entirely solved by cutting the render back so it stopped just above the DPC and was terminated with a bell cast drip bead, and the DPC and brickwork below it was left exposed.

^^ I was just about to type what @JSHarris has just said. Don't waste money on 3 core.

see post above

I tried Quoterack a few weeks back and heard absolutely NOTHING back so have somewhat discounted that one. I also mentioned it to Adrian Flux who insure my old Landrover and they took all the details and again I heard nothing back. Perhaps I am not pro active enough but I feel if I have to keep pestering to get a quote, I am flogging a dead horse.

Just to add, we used a black Multipanel board behind the basin, to contrast with the white panel around the shower and white floor tiles.

I have 1 month until our present self build policy expires. I am looking for "normal" insurance to put in place to avoid having to renew the self build policy. The house is now lived in, all the big "building" risks like diggers, machinery and big holes in the ground are history. But the house is not complete. And has no sign off. There has been mention of several brokers that might be able to help so suggestions please? Works still needed: 2 velux windows to fit. En-Suite bathroom to fit. internal doors to hang Lots of internal finishing (skirtings etc) Outside steps and ramps to build. and the BIG one. The single storey "sun room" is just a boarded up shell, without any windows yet (but it does have a proper roof). I wonder if that might still be a step too far for moving off the self build policy? I want to delay getting a Temporary Habitation Certificate until later in the year as I want to use that for the VAT reclaim. The house has not yet been valued for council tax (we are still paying band A for the caravan) the lack of internal doors seemed to put the council tax valuer off doing it just yet.

Yes I would choose 3 phase for that modest extra. If ever you get into hobbies that involve machining, 3 phase machines are often available cheaper than single phase.

So what DO you want? You want us to take climate change seriously, but when we do and there are loads of wind farms you start complaining they are unreliable. What is your proposal? Back to the reduce the human population theory? Who do you propose we start with?

Another vote for Multipanel, that's what we have. Get it from a builders Merchant, Jewsons stock it, a lot of the "bathroom" showrooms charge very inflated prices for it. Available in loads of colours and patterns.

Solar PV is close to that at the moment IF you source the kit carefully AND DIY install it, AND take reasonable measures to self use as much as you can. I am expecting payback from mine in about 6 years. But it is not for everyone and those out at work all day every day can only sensibly self use by putting stuff on timers. The biggest obstacle is the FIT schemes required expensive MCS installers that pushed the price up. We have to get away from that model with non MCS companies offering cheap systems that are viable without a FIT. There is still no sign of the mooted export payment scheme that was supposed to replace FIT's. Batteries will have their day but are not yet imho cheap enough or long lasting enough. It is not wind power that needs storage, but solar PV power so most folk can us it in the evenings. NON FIT solar PV should be a no brainer for business premesis where they use power in the daytime, that is where the big push for cheap, easy to install, no subsidy solar PV should be going. No need for storage. If every industrial unit had most of it's roof covered in solar PV that would make a big impact. And if the infrastructure to supply and install cheap kit evolved, then the domestic market could tap into that as well.