Cleighton

I looked into this myself 4 years ago trying to future proof my self build. Having spoken to countless people at self build shows I ended up with gas. I have installed a baxi eco blu 30kw heat only boiler, 300l unvented cylinder, 4.8kw solar edge PV with optimizers, Beam MVHR and a solic 200. I over sized the radiators in case i changed to ASHP in the future, however, the heating upstairs is not used its just to warm. Wet underfloor downstairs is rarely used, I also bought a Scan 58-6 log burner which is an expensive ornament at the moment, it has not been fitted with a flue and I will probably sell it as it is not needed. As some have mentioned solar gain is often missed and underestimated, I will probably fit a canopy blind or air con. My kitchen diner has 2- 3m sets of bifolds and a further 2- 1m floor to ceiling glass panels! This is my first self build and was a huge learning curve, would I change anything? Probably more PV and batteries which I am considering. Solic 200 is worth its weight in genuine gold, it supplies nearly all my hot water for 2/3 of the year, Boiler comes on for 45 minutes in the morning, only because my wife likes a scolding shower before work !!!! and that's only when she is working early. MVHR is probably the best investment with the insulation in my circumstances. 4 years on, I am doing the same for my daughter, who is building next to me. In the current fuel climate, I still cannot justify the cost of an ASHP if the investment is put into the fibre first. At the time of writing, these are the temperatures in the house. I am still new to self building, but have been in the trade for years and these are just my personal experiences and opinions.

??I have looked at other posts on here and it will be interesting, as it is not a watercourse of any kind only surface water drainage. will be difficult to keep a small pond full during the summer months?. I may make a few calls on Monday to NRW and the local Authority.

Coopers Civils was the last place we purchased the plastic 600mm surface water twinwall pipe from. It certainly does the job as when we moved here the 600mm concrete pipe was connected to a chamber with a 4" soil pipe on the exit. As you can imagine, it did not work, so to protect our site, we installed the 600mm.

Interesting read, definitely worth contacting the LA. Thanks Temp

I thought of that, but at £300 for 5m lengths its out of my range at the moment, we have already bought two to get it out of the way.

Never though of that? it's an option.

It's 60 metres plus and runs like a torrent in bad weather washing away anything in front of it, we have layed concrete at its exit from the pipe as it has washed the ground away.

Having recently completed a self build, the land next to us has been offered for sale. It comes within the LDP but its purchase is more for extending our plot for garden/recreational use. There is a 600mm pipe which discharges onto the land, which services all the road drains from a nearby mountain road. As you can imagine, when it rains ( which it does quite frequently in Wales!) there is a stream running across the land for approximately 60 metres making it boggy before reaching a river. My question is, does Welsh Water or Natural resources Wales (Environment Agency) have responsibility for this? If so can I request that they change its course or pipe it across the land. What are my, if any rights as I would like to keep the land as drained as possible for use. Many Thanks

I fitted the Solic 200 last week, switched off the boiler this week and it has supplied pretty much all of my hot water needs. So far so good.

Having read this, it sounds like me in the overthinking part!! I probably dont need half of what I've bought, just to add the PV inverter is Solar Edge is this any good??

Thanks, I have purchased everything other than the boiler. The aluminium rads and uv cylinder I had from John Pye auctions in Kenfig when things were good, 7 Vertical Rads and cylinder for £550 including Vat etc. even though I may look at a thermal store now . A selection of shower trays, enclosures and hudson reed shower valves added another £200. My solar array almost fills the roof due to Velux windows that have been fitted in anticipation of doing the 3rd floor at a later stage (budget pending) All services, MVHR and Puck mist system have been fitted first fix throughout. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to use the gas that often with the Scan 58 anMVHR working. Also the PV and immersun sorting the hot water out to an extent. On the wiring side of things, I have installed all the cables for my sonos connect amps, speakers, subwoofers, 5.1 surround sound (enough for me) b ut was considering installing some lightwave rf relays for some sort of automation on the lighting. Cat 6 run for PoE external cctv and a few extra for wifi access points Tonight I ran all the cables for the alarm system but run short of cable at the end. I therefore ran cat 6 for the external bell box, is this acceptable?? Apologies for trying to cram everything in, but I'm hoping to finish the osb in the next 7 days ready to plasterboard and dont want to forget any cables or should I put the relevant posts into categories

I'm probably a bit late, I am in the middle of a self build and am looking for advice. I have 240 m2 of floor space and have opted for UFH for the ground floor which I have purchased from NuHeat with Neostats. Upstairs I have aluminium Rads with a neostat on the landing and a 300 UV cylinder again with a Neostat all of which are hard wired. I have natural gas and am looking at a modulating Worcester 34kw system boiler. I have a 4kw pv system (SW facing and hopefully will fit an immersun) with single panel optimisers and a Beam c130 MVHR system. I have installed the first fix myself and am looking for any suggestions/advice on things I may have missed. I think I am down to about 0.17 on the external walls with 140mm batts and superfoil, osb before plaster board and also used the foil breather membrane on the external timber frame. A Scan 58 log burner has also been purchased as I am looking at cutting down on bills the closer to retirement I get ? . Dare I venture into the AV/networking!! I am dreaming cables at the moment!!! Thanks in advance C