gravelld

No way. My house is C rated. PHPP calculates heating alone at 165kWh/m2a. I know which one I trust. Edit: @ProDave is suggesting my house has a similar EPC rating to Jeremy's! Case closed imo.

It's irrelevant whether they read them or not; EPCs are of no use for assessing the performance of a house because the surrounding processes do not derive trusted, rigorous or representative results. This was tried, albeit with retrofit, with the Green Deal. It failed miserably, mainly because energy is too cheap to really derive impactful financial results (but also because intervention is expensive in retrofit). Energy is not a big enough cost to worry people when they have "location location location", "character fireplaces", bi fold doors, and living as far away from certain people as possible to worry about.

The trouble with this is, without independent rigorous assessment, you don't know B will actually perform like that. @NSS your house is around AECB Silver levels, well done!

Ha! Of course.

Thanks, nice suggestions, I've added these. For snagging, are there specific things (other than installation detail being followed) other than what is obvious from looking at them, e.g. scratches?

I'm meeting a few window suppliers in the next week or two. They are the usual suspect alu-clad suppliers, plus a uPVC supplier. The order is for replacement windows for a large-ish house, about 50m2. I have preliminary quotes covering glazing, delivery, installation and removal, cills. Just wondered if there was anything I should definitely be asking? Other than obviously looking up close at example windows and "getting a feel" my main points to agree are about installation details. I have a feeling there are a lot more practical questions to discover e.g. transfer of windows from truck to install location. I read the pinned article, so thanks for that... just wondered if there was anything else.

Interested - how would it end up a mess (I don't really understand the interaction between BC and P - I thought they were independent and you needed both to say "yes").

Yeah, we had one of those, don't let any crud get in them, ruined one Christmas...

Great, that's a fantastic approximate price in my head, thanks.

Yeah, scaffolding will be provided as part of the wider project. What are you looking for in the pictures? Here are some drawings of where the render currently is. About 220m2 plus window reveals.

Don't know - 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s if that helps!

I realise you can't give an *accurate* one, but given that this is a service people charge money for, some people must be giving some sort of m2 price! BTW, it's a mixture of brick and block. Mostly block.

I realise this is a big of a "how long is a piece of string" style question but... Getting quotes in for re-rendering, I know expected m2 prices but I was wondering how much a m2 price would be for removing existing render? In this case it's pretty bad - popped on several elevations, but then stuck fast on some others. For anyone who prices this work, what sort of price per m2 do you offer? Trying to work out whether I should do it myself, it doesn't seem too skilled a job (shout me down if I'm wrong).

Roughly consistent with my quotes. Others are cheaper but not many provide sliders of such lengths (when 3G). I'm not sure why Internorm are able to provide such a longer door, I am a *little* suspicious about them so would appreciate any long term owners of these doors chipping in.

I'm tempted by the EGO range which seem to have very high voltage tools - less relevant to strimmers as to the chainsaw and hedge cutter I suppose. They are 56v as opposed to Makita's 36v (two 18v packs combined)

@PeterStarck how do alu cills look alongside your uPVC windows? I'm assuming "ok" because that's what you got! Just that some uPVC suppliers I asked about this looked at me like I was barmy.

Loft insulation for value. Keep an eye on Facebook groups, Gumtree etc for even better deals. If he's having the roof done though, possible to consider a warm roof? A lot more thought required but in certain scenarios will be a better result.

Thanks everyone, shall look into the corrugated option too.

Reccos for a "better grade of felt"?

I replaced the roof on our shed four years ago. This year I inspected it and I noticed mould on the inside - I checked the top and there are lots of holes along with a lot of bird poo. Now I realise bird poo can be pretty nasty but I was hoping for more than four years. I have other sheds that appear fine. I used B&Q's bog standard felt. What should I do this time? Get a better felt or go for one of the plastic based coverings? Or simply paint over the holes - and maybe the whole roof - with one of the sealants (Everbuild "Black Jack")?

@StonesNo - sorry I just added another bit to my post - just wondering how windy you are and how much your windows are open.

Good timing! Although you seem to be using natural ventilation, so it's a bit difficult to work out how this can work for others, because it's so variable (a bit like why it's a bad idea to use natural ventilation for air quality). Thoughts? Can you provide a quantity for wind speed, and how much your windows are open as a ratio of the volume?

Plenty of chat on Twitter over the past few weeks about using overnight mechanical ventilation to, if not cool the house, at least provide some contribution to cooling. For anyone that has tried this - how has it worked out? What sort of ACHs are you aiming at to make a difference? Are you running in some sort of boost mode?

@Ian which Rehau system was that - Geneo, Total70?

Maybe that's it then!