Ferdinand

Um. Remembering my de Bono, can you dig it back to 595? (this may be a silly or impossible idea)

I forgot about "subject to Planning". Yep on that Boston one. Worth 15-20k once it has PP and the tenant has gone? Maybe?

Thinking about this particular point by @Sensus. Slight apples and oranges here. Of course any plot that does reach the open market will have at least Outlne PP, and at least part of that extra price is due to the reduced risk. While any Plot that is found for me will not have that priced in, subject to a "get me PP" condition, and I will have to pay Mr Sensus some significant amount of £££ plus potentially lunch for his services plus someone more £££ t o get me planning, and a barber to dye my new grey hairs the correct colour . The plot which I posted on the thread went for 22% or so below asking, which strikes me as relatively usual. Ferdinand

It won't be a void any more so you take the ventilation away / block it up and make sure it stays dry to prevent rot. There have been rather extensive discussions on this idea at the other place going back to about 2011, so I would suggest some reading over there, and quie a few houses done. @SteamyTea has a longer history than me there, and may have a better State of the Debate perspective. This is the most recent thread I can find but debates on GBF are a little like a querulous MENSA dinner in a pub sometimes, but very illuminating. You may want to read others too. http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=13524&page=1 If it was me I would fill the insulation to the top or nearly the top probably with a liner if possible, blocked up the ventilation, put in a perimeter French drain at the bottom of a trench outside, filled the trench with LECA for coldspots (or gravel) and the top 6" with pea gravel, then loose lay 3'x2' Council Slabs on top as a path so I can get to it all if I needed to maintain it. Even better, combine it with EWI. The outside works could probably be done in bits. There would be a case for leaving a small void at the top for electric cables etc as they may degrade over decades in contact with polystyrene balls (I am told). I would first have checked that this was all above the water table all of the time. You also learn to be good with a minidigger by digging a trench 1" from your house all the way round without destroying it. Surprisingly easy to do. Ferdinand

I thought the other approach here was to line the void with a damp proof something to keep it dry and fill it entirely with polystyrene beads like a beanbag, then no need for PIR pfaffing. Possibly with a french drain added at foundation level outside to make sure it stayed dry. There are probably other details. I think that the approach proposed by Jayrock is quite normal but rather a lot of work, and you need to worry about doors, proportions, ceiling height etc. Ferdinand

It is interesting that a few years on the 2009 the GD IoW "TreeHouse" had mellowed quite a bit. These pics are late 2012. http://www.planetpropertyblog.co.uk/2012/11/13/grand-designs-treehouse-for-sale/ I like the face/edge plank mixture, but would prefer it to be vertical orientation. The Tower cladding is gorgeous. What does it look like after a light sandblasting? Ferdinand

Postage cost is £4. Those will either come folded or the service will vanish as that us below cost imo.

@oldkettle I would define it as the ability of the occupants to create their desired environment, but tempered by reasonableness / practicality.

Surely it is a BALANCE not a choice since get varying amounts of both. And the balance point needs to be adjustable e.g. Someone with asthma may prefer a different level of r.h. whilst someone with bad hay fever may want more heavily filtered air a la Saab. Superinsulation means we start from heating bills of say 100 £££ a year rather than 600 £££. Ferdinand

"If it works for your setup" covers many multitudes of sins. Ferdinand (who happens to have a 27" monitor, an A1 archive quality printer and an A1 trimmer in his study :-) )

There is currently an active thread over at the other place (Green Building Forum) on this subject, which references this paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268098972_Passive_Houses_What_May_Happen_When_Energy_Efficiency_Becomes_the_Only_Paradigm_CH-12-032 Thread:http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=14342&page=1

I thought this process was relatively easy to DIY. IIRC the chap with the bungalow-in-the-woods on the IoW in GD did so. F

How about doing a ring of planks with each type up the house, then you can give us a definitive conclusion in 10 years time for when I'm ready to start my self-build? (Gets coat)

What a lot of possibilities. My thoughts were around marine products, or scorching it (itching to see someone on here do that), or even something like Tar Varnish as used for the bottom of boats. https://www.promain.co.uk/black-tar-varnish-for-narrow-boats-6886.html But then you said "no blacks" :-( . Perhaps as it is a rough surface you might actually spray it on? Ferdinand

If it works for your setup, any decent printer driver will have a scale or fit option that will reduce A1 to A3. Ferdinand

@Sensus Yes there are perhaps some obvious alternatives to improve the distribution without adding much cost, perhaps applying the principle of the Leaky Hose to air, even controlled by WiFi if necessary, perhaps with holes getting larger away from the source. People on here could self-experiment with that using normal ducting and holes every 0.5 to 1m and some 'corks' i.e. Adjustable hit and miss vents. Circs permitting it might be interesting to put all the services under grills round the room periphery as in a Victorian church. Best of luck. I think the key thing is what we in software development call Maintainabilty, in this context the ability to change all the services without destroying the fabric. I try to do that in my small way when renovating. On the books, I just spent £50 of my book budget on a study of houses built by Peter Aldington from the RIBA, which is superb. So SPONS will go begging for now. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Houses-Created-Peter-Aldington/dp/1859467008 Ferdinand

Is there a season for buying plots? Rather like one season for buying houses being the next 3 months if you can find what you want :-). Ferdinand

You get a big wall and screw them in. Innit.

Luxury is relative and some economies are false ! For the record, A3 laminators start at about £20 and A3 pouches at about 20p, or less than half that if you catch an offer. Get some wipeable markers for doodling on your plans, while you are at it. Or permanent ones if you are willing to sacrifice a 50p print/lamination in your discussion with your £10k architect. So really it is cheap enough for you to do whatever you want. Your £100k+ build budget will not be decimated. You might even be able to afford an A3 ring binder, 4 hole punch and cellophane presentation bags without losing a bedroom. Don't skimp on the punch as a decent one will last 20 years. A decent 4 hole or 2 hole punch will have a capacity of 25+ sheets which should be double what you will need to do at once, and will cost £25+ (2 hole) to £40+ (4 hole). But if you punch a laminated copy through teh drawing it will get wet. Ferdinand

This may be helpful. http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/screws.htm

I would quite like to explore the relationship between increased ventilation and increased heating cost. Relevant to passive but also relevant to the new environment created when old houses are double glazed and treated for draughts - even as crudely as door sealing etc. My experence of older (pre-1950) houses is that insulating well plus double glazing and upvc doors with seals is still a very significant improvement even if there is still a lot of ventilation. I can point to one where we only got as far as half double glazing, which had condensation issue with the remaining single glazed bays. That was fixed with trickle vents to those rooms with the "close the vent" shutters removed on fitting. But it was still a warm, relatively inexpensive house compared to others those Ts had lived in. It is due to become a road now. Another we have reduced the energy bills by about 60-65% by insulate / double glaze / board out as convenient doing other work. The T has an indoors/outdoors lifestyle due to a statistically significant qty of dogs (8-10 depending). It also has a loft-fan fitted which was in before we double glazed etc; that may now be unnecessary. Typically the statement seems to be that leakage account for perhaps 30% of lost heat. How much of that leakage do we actually need to keep, and is there a method to find out for a particular property other than by suck-it-and-see? Can we fix a stuffy passive house by fitting a couple of HR trickle extractor fans, a leaky cat flap and a non-sealed loft hatch :-) ? Ferdinand

It is also where the plots are, and I think that the current self-build community is very fussy and perhaps still looking to make a profit as well as a home in some cases. I can point you to plots starting at about 35k, all within an hour of Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham, or half an hour followed by 1:45 hours to London on the train. Mansfield District Council is struggling to sell land in good areas with Outline PP for £200k an acre. The train journey to the regional centre - Nottingham - is under half an hour with trains from about 6am to late evening. As if by magic, here is a small 258sqm plot in a cul de sac near here which has just sold for £35k (advertised at £45k) after several months. Probably suitable for a compact 3 bed detached or 2 bed bungalow. I think I could have a 1000sqft 2 bed nearly passive bungalow built on that for around £100k plus the plot - but little or no profit in it as a sale. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37649083.html Original ad: http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/41781573?search_identifier=c7db1d80e8e63c0757967fedfbf15181#4kv4Apdvw6t72aTw.97 For a comparator this 3 bed 2 recep garage house on a larger plot 3 or 4 doors down is on at £160k http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/41175270?search_identifier=c7db1d80e8e63c0757967fedfbf15181#BbmgvCMUcH5kcYj3.97 Ferdinand

And you can get your own A3 laminator for peanuts.

Is that first half actually the case when the needs of the homeowner are now so much more flexible? Is there actually much downside? Any house I lived in even on my own would need a spare bedroom and an office as a minimum, and intergenerational households (or shared or HMO or friends) are becoming more common - which is like a return to pre-1970? We need teh flexibility. If I don't need a room, in a properly built house the extra heating is negligible, and I (or the developer) can recover the expense because we buy houses by the number of bedrooms. People in the country in France seem to just just close the door to the top floor if the children have left, and stay in the same place. Is the problems you discussed previously on stagnant spots with MVHR an argument for relooking at ducted warm air heating as used to be around in the 1960s/1970s? Say using the heating element in traditional PH MVHR systems but giving it more oomph and perhaps more distribution? Ferdinand