ProDave

I had recorded the ventilation rates as measured by the (uncalibrated) forum anemometer. All the BCO noted was the lack of trickle vents and referred to the plans and said "oh mechanical ventilation" and that was it. I never had to show them anything.

You just need the will power not to click on the thread.

6 X 2 joists along the front (where the stairs land) and back (against a wall) with 4X2 joists spanning between then at 400mm centres. The front one had intermediate support from the half landing newel posts that go all the way to the ground. No calculations just using up left overs and "it looked right" so don't use that as evidence if your BCO needs any.

So we know you have a rubbish house with small radiators. BUT you won't even TRY running your heat pump always on for a trial period to see what is actually achievable? You don't understand the term "ON" and are worried that it will cost you £700 per month to run it. Unless you actually TRY something, you will never know, and anyone entering this Rabbit hole is wasting their time just to be told by you that you are not willing to try anything and happy to live in your ice box.

The half landing is basically another floor to the house. You use joists sized and spaced to support that floor in exactly the same way as any other floor. Usually because a half landing is small, and the span is small you don't need very big joists. Think of it as an extra small piece of floor part way between ground floor and first floor, with two small staircases one from the ground floor to the half landing and one from the half landing to the first floor. It all becomes simple then. In my case because we were not having fancy treads, the stairs were being carpeted, the half landing did not need to be built by the stair company. They just built the 2 flights of stairs, and I built the half landing to join them.

..... And ASHP's blow out cold air, they are after all locally cooling the air, that is where they get the heat from. And a GSHP will cool the ground it is extracting heat from. Conservation of energy apples.

I think mine is set to 2 degrees hysteresis. It is more about where the cylinder thermostat probe is placed. Initially mine was in the upper pocket (I only have one probe) and that meant the ASHP did not come on for a long time, as with normal HW usage the water does not mix and remains in layers and with the probe near the top it was a long time and a lot of water usage until the hot cold transition reached the probe and the ASHP started heating. For certain members of the family that like long showers that could mean the shower ran out before time. Moving the probe to the lower pocket meant the probe sensed the cold water much earlier on in the usage and started re heating sooner.

I might be looking as some battery storage in the future but if I do it must be cheap and will ONLY be to store surplus solar PV for later, I am not interested in importing / exporting at different rates hoping to turn a profit.

The regs are quite relaxed, >150m2 only requires 2 zones, so how about one thermostat upstairs and one downstairs? BC are not going to spend the time to actually make sure they do what they think they do.

I used Oak veneered arcs and skirtings from Howdens, finished with Osmo oil. Matches nicely to the real Oak door frames. Annoyingly because we had chosen 2040mm tall doors, one length of Howdens Oak veneered arc was just too short to do two door uprights, so to avoid huge wastage, I used corner blocks to join arc to skirting. Floors do get mopped from time to time, no sign of issues with the veneered MDF skirting. Just be sensible and take a little care.

Mine is all fixed with sticks like sh*t (other glues are available) Why make nail holes that need to be filled before painting / staining? But if nails are your preferred fixing method they are not an issue as long as the nails remain in place, they are filling the hole they have made.

So Zoot is having trouble understanding anything that is written on this forum. And todays installer has proved completely useless at adjusting anything or explaining how to adjust things. He just wanted to show face to check nothing was actually broken and make a smart exit. I honestly think the only way Zoot will get any improvement is if he were to pay for the services of someone who actually knows and understands this stuff to visit him and adjust what is necessary and show him what he has done and why. That will cost him some money and you NEED to make sure it is someone recommended and truly knowledgable and competent. (for instance I would recommend @Nickfromwales )

Not enough information. Need a link, not a picture. But probably useless at that price. Do you have decent broadband? If so you only need a phone and service provider that supports wifi calling when at home. If looking for 4G or 5G broadband, you need a router that has an external aerial that plugs into the router. THAT is not that aerial.

Another issue with heat pumps, is the supplied controller often comes with a pre made cable to connect it and that is not always very long. Mine would not reach to where I ultimately would have liked it, so is in my plant room / workshop. That is another reason why I don't use the timer or thermostat built into the ASHP controller and instead configured it to use external controls. So just "move your thermostat" might not be a trivial exercise.

Oh no it won't......... If you really don't believe a 30kW oil boiler would succeed in heating your house then there is no hope whatsoever for getting your house warm because you won't try anything.

It took nearly 20 years of complaining to the council that our road floods every winter with water running off a field, across the road then down between 2 houses and into the burn. Eventually last year they came and installed a shallow culvert under the road. It still runs off the field and still discharge between the 2 houses and runs down to the burn, but now it travels under the road to do so. We all believe there was already a culvert there that had become blocked, but nobody would investigate that or even dig a hole to see if there was any form of existing culvert. If you are wanting to install a new pipe under the road by molling under the road, you still need a road opening permit from the council and it still needs to be done by a contractor holding a minor streetwork permit.

Why not post a screen grab of your on line designs from both companies and your questions? I used stairbox and have stairs with a half landing.

My last attempt. Just TRY running it 24/7 for a week to see if it CAN heat your house properly, and if so see how much it actually costs for that week. Then and only then can you decide if you can afford it and if it is worth it or you would rather be cold but rich. Without actually trying SOMETHING different to what you are doing (spending almost nothing and freezing) then anything we suggest is wasted because you are ruling it out without even trying. If you won't try anything then why are you bothering to ask us?

It is normal to have a top and bottom bar to a service void. Drill or leave a notch where you know services will pass thtough

I really think you do not want to be helped and do not think it is possible to be helped. You are set into the mindset of your house is too cold and to rubbish to be heated in any way and won't listen to or try any suggestions. If that really is your mindset then I hope you are happy in your cheap to run but freezing cold house and I don't see how any of us can help you any more? If you have not given up reading this, I can definitely say I know plenty of people in these old stone houses living in warmth and comfort (but obviously not ultra low bills) We are suggesting ways to help and things to try and to try but rather than try them, you just tell us why they won't work and they are ridiculous suggestions. Some people can't be helped. My sister in law lives in a 1960's house with her heating on twice a day for 1 hour at a time with the radiators scalding hot, the rest of the time the house cools down and she often snuggles up in bed in the day to keep warm. She just won't listen when you suggest not having the radiators anything like as hot, but on for much more of the day. She just says it will cost too much without even trying it. Some people you just can't help. Sorry.

Most people use more energy in winter because they are heating their house, and less in summer when they are not. Your electricity meter gives reading all the time of how much it has used. Most suppliers, like Octopus prefer you to pay the same amount each month. So in the summer months you are paying for more than actual use so your balance with the company builds up. In the winter you are probably using more than the £70 per month you are paying and your balance comes down. If you still have an account balance of £300 at near the end of winter then you are paying more than you need to. That makes your £70 per month even more astonishing. I can't get my summer monthly usage that low, I would have to stop using the washing machine and dishwasher and watch a lot less television to achieve that. So all it shows is just how little you are using on heating which is why your house is always cold. Octopus will change your monthly payments to actual usage each month if you prefer rather than the same average all year round. Or you can ask for surplus balance to be returned to you if you want to. In that respect they are a lot better and easier to deal with than most other suppliers.

Yes, I mean ON as in running and radiators hot ALL DAY AND NIGHT until the house reaches the temperature set by the thermostat. You need to get the installer to show you how to change the settings between off, on, controlled by a timer and on all the time. Only when you actually try it on all the time, will you really know if the house is capable of being heated by the heat pump. Try it for a week. It might annoy you with some noise at night, it might cost you more, but that is the only way to know if it is actually capable of heating your house and if so how much it might cost to do so (remember costs will go down after the initial heat up and dry out period) Get the installer to show you how to change the settings, take notes so you remember, and if you don't understand ask him to explain it again. As an aside, one thing I dislike about heat pumps is to the average user, they are so different to a gas boiler. Almost everyone is familiar with a normal central heating programmer on the wall from where you can set on off times or easily turn it on all the time. But every heat pump I have seen the timer functions are way more complicated but more important are nothing like operating the sort of programmer that everyone is used to. When I installed mine, I made it a non standard install by ignoring all the timer functions built into the controller that came with the heat pump, and instead connected a standard central heating programmer so anyone could understand how to change it from on all the time to on a timer etc.

What if planning conditions removed permitted development? Your simple definition would appear to ignore that?

If you are only paying £70 per month for electricity then there is no way you can be putting enough energy into that house. At this time of year I am paying that much for heating a very well insulated and air tight house. If I put that level of heating into an old cold stone building it would be cold. The only way you are going to solve this impass, is to turn your heating on 24/7 for at least a week to try it. Once you have been shown how to do this, please give it a try. For the first week or 2 the bills WILL be high as it will be heating the mass of the building and drying it. Bills will go down once the building has warmed up and dried out as you will then only be replacing lost heat. Until you get over your conviction that it is not going to work and actually try it, you will never know.

But a motorhome could well be, and car towing any form of trailer. You don't want to be stuck with the a**e end of your vehicle stuck out on the road while waiting for your gates to open.