gravelld

A gas boiler is also probably overkill for space heating, although it could be an expedient choice wrt DHW. There's also the "whaaaaa?" factor us Brits have confronted with a properly built house which might not need a boiler; this can affect resale value as commonly discussed here. You say lower capital outlay but it's still a lot more than plug in heaters and an immersion coil (and if PV panels are going in anyway...). A lot might depend on the DHW demand.

I think a GSHP is overkill if you're building to Ph levels (not necessarily certified). Part of the point of Ph is it can make a building and its services simpler. You might be able to get away with a couple of Argos plug in oil filled rads. For DHW, solar, immersion, maybe inline modulating heaters. For cooling, design the shading correctly.

If it's well insulated why do you need a dinosaur bone burner? Do you take a lot of baths, i.e. do you need a lot of DHW?

Trello for the project. Google Keep for odd bits of notes and things to follow up on.

Regards the housing crisis, I think houses should be getting bigger if anything, in the UK, and so I don't think this is a valid solution and we may just end up with a load of inadequate housing. I suppose if these "tiny houses" can be sustainably dismantled and re-used after the housing crisis is over (i.e. Government grow a backbone and start pushing back a little on the volume house builders) there's no harm. But that's a big IF.

Did you consider air tightness tape? I worry about foam and sealants not lasting very long, especially with the odd mouse about. I think I would air seal the cavity as well but maybe there's a reason you can't do that. Are you in an exposed place?

But I would say - you're at an ideal time to do it when working from the outside on the eaves. Much more pleasant to do the job (in fact it's impossible really from inside because you don't have the crawl space to ensure good air tightness).

Sounds unfortunately typical.

Yes, alternating is probably the best way, but it's always going to be a bit... kludgey. You could also premix the bead with the solution before pouring - not tried that before, might make it slower. Where is this wall sorry - what is underneath the uninsulated part, i.e. where will the beads go.

I have self poured before, works fine. Send it in with a 5:1 water:PVA mix. But what about under windows? You could calculate the volume with the depth of the cavity and then you'll know how well it's filling. JJ Crump (Sheffield based) did an install for me here in Leicestershire, but maybe for a wall of this size they wouldn't be interested...

Monster!

I realise I could ask them, but if you happen to know, do you know their maximum width?

Looks like the same AAV that ruined my Christmas 2015.

It looks enormous. Good to see a bit more detail described though.

They are fairly well known, they work the UK exhibitions if you want to pop and see them.

I think anyone who knew anything about the subject already thought that didn't they? Same goes for the retrofit of all dwellings, not just solid walled ones. It's only the government who see retrofit as a bunch of tick boxes. Cavity filled? Check! (Regardless of the thickness of the cavity) Solid wall insulated? Check! (Regardless of the OP) Replaced 1G with 2G? Check! (Regardless of whether the 2G is any good, the existence of 3G, and the fact that old 2G is not much better than 1G) Fitted a waste water heat recycler? Check! (Give me strength) Congratulations, you're energy efficient!

Yes, another way of putting it is that A players like to work with A players. See this phenomenon in various walks of life.

I took a look at Hot2000 after Tony Cowling suggested using it (he used it and other tools for his build). It didn't look to cover all areas quite as well, and there's some stuff I've read about its accuracy... I believe there's a Hot3000 also? Or there was at some point... I also used the SAP tool that used to be available at emoncms, that's disappeared now though. My understanding is that SAP ain't much cop at low(er) energy houses. There's also your homebrew spreadsheet Jeremy! I suppose modelling incremental stages can always be done with multiple copies of the spreadsheet.

Don't think there's a trial period is there - just a demo version which is pretty crippled (I've tried it). Also... doubt it can be re-sold (might be wrong).

First, sorry for cross posting on GBF, but I wanted a wider opinion... Anyone know of any ways to make PHPP more affordable for a self-renovator like myself? Either some sort of discount, or maybe a way of making it better value (e.g. combination with a course or something)...? I guess PHPP isn't required, as I'm not renovating to Ph standards. However I am aiming for something decent, maybe AECB Silver type level (but still not certified), so I want something accurate for that type of house. I think I need PHPP because: - It's accurate for low energy houses - It does overheating analysis - You can model incremental retrofit - It copes with complicated house shapes (downstairs different shape to upstairs with lean-tos) So I'm willing to be persuaded some other way. I am intending to iterate between PHPP, Sketchup and my bank manager (!) as we decide what nice-to-haves should stay and what should go from our "ideal" house design.

The thing to consider is whether you are piercing the insulation under your floor, and how to rectify. A far cheaper option, if you have the space, are the Liebherr storage fridges. You get at best about 250 bottles in one (at best meaning Bordeaux style bottles). What wine needs is consistent temperature, ideally about 12C, no vibration, darkness, and the right amount of humidity to not allow corks to dry out. So if you can do that some other way, do that, because I bet those spiral cellars are priced for "lifestyle" if you get my meaning.

Yep, sounds like your scenario it would be a pain. But... *shrugs*. Maybe free rental is a way around it. But there are countless other possibilities which may be technical fixes, workarounds or re-inventions, waiting to be discovered. That is why people who think finite growth is a reality are wrong, at least on the level us puny humans can countenance.

That's not what I meant. I was saying stopping for only 3/4 minutes to refuel after each 200 miles was undesirable. You need longer breaks - it's not a case of "I'm alright" - it's a limit you and we all have being human. This is the reality of human existence and progress. Which isn't to say we can't counterbalance through various means such as democratic legislation and regulation. An example of this is realising transport has to change, and therefore might be forced to change, even if you don't think the new systems "meet your needs". Similar thing needs to happen with housing performance, back on topic!

Interesting. I haven't started yet but it sounds like my opening thoughts are similar to what yours were - in services industries, reducing the amount of time is paramount, so invert that by paying for their time, not fixed price. Maybe that won't work after all...

Don't count me in your "we". You do imply something of import; that even if behaviour is undesirable, it is still done. However, you have to remember that no advances in the history of civilization have been perfect. Thinking up scenarios that might not work in the status quo when using electric vehicles is easy to do; but it's whether they actually matter that is important. Some things you think are important may not be once people get used to them, workarounds are found, or some other (metaphorical) seismic shift means they are irrelevant. For example, by 2040 truck drivers may not even exist.