CotswoldDoItUpper

the glazing above is 9mm double glazing with 3 out of 12 panes blown. I don’t think the u-value of this 40cm high wall will have a huge impact on the temperature in this space!! We will eventually get around to changing the glazing, but just need a cheep quick fix to make the room decent to live in.

It looks like paint over plaster. Will be adding insulation to the cavity.

Here is a close up pic..

Hi all! Previous owners had this black paint stuff done to the inside of the conservatory dawaf wall. It was covered in 3mm wood of some sort. There was an enormous ants nest in the cavity which is no more. Guess this was some sort of anti-damp paint because the ants nest was allowing moisture between the two skins (?). So the question is: leave or remove. if leave, how to paint over? Lining paper? 3mm ply? if remove, how to remove? A pallet knife doesn’t work. Sander? thanks!

Ok great, that saves a mistake!! Ta!

Thanks @Nickfromwales for your help, much appreciated! this buffer also contains 20L expansion. Seems perfect to me! Any issues you can see with more experience? https://coolenergyshop.com/collections/buffer-tanks-cylinders/products/cool-energy-120l-stainless-buffer-tank-ce-b120

Resurrecting this a bit sorry… I’m looking at the Cool Energy inverTech Air Source Heat Pump CE-iVT18 8.5kW-18.5kW its £3500 and seems good and also MCS accredited. 5yr warranty. seen some people on here who are ambivalent to them but maybe recent spec had changed? https://coolenergyshop.com/collections/inverter-heat-pump/products/copy-of-cool-energy-invertech-air-source-heat-pump-ce-ivt18-8-5kw-18-6kw what downsides am I missing?

Thanks! sorry to ask annoying questions, but what size expansion tank do you think I will need?

I’m looking for the same answer, will eventually have about got about 800m pipe downstairs and rads upstairs. Should I go for 50,60,100 or 120L buffer? currently an LPG boiler but hoping to get a reasonable ASHP quote soon.

Slates screwed through the felt into the osb, As per manufacturer instructions (14deg pitch).

Meant to add that the roof felt is breathable apparently….

there is. It might accidentally fall off at some point though…. I was more asking about good practice. Do I need to allow air to circulate on the ‘cold’ side of the insulation? Trying to avoid internal damp/condensation. I will be filling the gaps with foam and foil taping over the lot. If I can stick the insulation to the boards I can get 100mm in otherwise I’m limited to 50 between and then 20mm over the internal joists to combat cold bridging….

So, new replacement roof on the conservatory. No ventilation gap between new roof osb boards and wall (there never was in the first place when it was a polycarbonate roof). Can I just stick my insulation to these boards or do I need a ventilation gap of about 50mm? thanks!

@NewToAllOfThis I’ve just done the same! Seconds and co (secondsandco.co.uk) seem good if you can wait the 5-15 working days and don’t mind adding the occasional bit of foil tape to make good. google might be your friend but I found the best price was with my Jewson trade account and a bit of a haggle! Good luck!

@nod Could I lay the matting myself? Is it complicated? What would I need? Seems a good place to save money!

We’re just about to pay £2750 inc. Ivory grout, flexible adhesive and sealer to lay 55sqm. (£50/sqm) plus £800 (£14.55/sqm) for the same area to have decoupling matting which we apparently need between the PIR UFH boards and limestone 600x900 tiles. think the tiling cost is ok but the decoupling matting is a bit pricy?

@Wil even if it’s just the basics of securing the unit down and running pipes to the right places. The really low skill stuff that there is no point paying an expensive contractor to do. I’ll see what I can find!

Ok so it’s looking like ASHP is going to be the way forward. The only thing now is timing. I guess that prices will keep falling over the winter and the cheapest time to install will be jan/feb next year. Just before the RHI runs out. Has anyone heard of an mcs installer that can ‘sign off’ a Diy installed system to get the RHI payments? It doesn’t seem to be overly complicated, just time consuming, to run and lag the required pipes? Am I missing something again?

Which is crazy! It means that some people have higher incentives to switch to green energy then others, based on profit rather then necessity or impact. Also feels like we’re being taken advantage of because of no Nat gas supply we’re limited to electricity or oil/lpg tanks. Our neighbours have a 15yr old 5kwh PV set up which they are ambivalent about. Think they get paid 45p/kWh too. @IanR this is one of the reasons for waiting. Will the RHI replacement be better/worse then current support? It’s a bit of a gamble. Also, I do feel prices are inflated a bit due to the fact that installers know their clients are getting a bit of cash for it.

@IanR the EPC was done when we bought the house about 2 months ago. Cost includes a pre plumed UVC, the unit itself and Installation, nothing else. Couple of quotes online to give me a rough idea. RHI cap from the gvt website, no mention of low temp emitters. We are instilling wet UFH downstairs and will do larger rads upstairs. we can get 100mm PIR between the joists and 20mm on top. Couple of places we can go to 150mm between, but only basically in the hall! thanks for those calculations. Good to give some objective data to it! We’re doing something between significant and minimum disruption. The floors are all coming up, and I’m getting the cavity filled and more mineral wool in the loft. Then it’s kitchens, bathrooms, paint etc. @MikeSharp01 this is the conundrum. We do want to make a good decision, but the cost may be prohibitive. @Dave Jones nearest gas main is about 3 miles away…. Probably not worth it! @JamesP we’ve just switched to a ‘cheep’ 14.8p/kWh package. Previous was 11.5p!! Agh!

@SteamyTea its a 1800s cottage of around 120sqm and a 1987 extension (cavity wall, tho think it’s only about 50mm) of around 100sqm Detached, all 2 stories. Loft not converted (yet!). Double glazed all round, no idea on age of windows, think mid-90s. no floor insulation, we’re installing that this week. 100mm between joists (not enough space to keep to have more and keep an air gap!) and 20mm above agree with specific units being important. Was an oversight on my part! @scottishjohn I didn’t realise energy trust did free surveys. I’ll definitely arrange that!

We’re not on mains gas and have a 10yr old LPG combi boiler. It’s an old house with an EPC of 19(!) and a estimated energy usage for space heating of 34500kw per year. we are adding insulation where practical and changing light fittings to LED etc but want to investigate ASHP further. I guess we’d be looking at a 16kw unit and an approximate cost of £15-20k installed with RHI payments capped at £1300/yr for 7 years (£9100 in total). it doesn’t seem worth it to me but I want to make the best decision possible. Am I missing something? Is it worth waiting 3-5years to see if the cost of the unit comes down? please convince me either way!

Thanks @BotusBuild for your advice, I’m still learning so don’t have the benefit of your extensive experience. @Russell griffiths ok so the 100m isn’t a solid cut off. Do you think my eventual zone 6&7 would be ok at 135m and 110m respectively? Or best split the 135m into 2 as well? Think I’ll split the 270 into 3 loops then. Will I need a more powerful pump if I have a 11+ zone manifold and nearly 850m of pipe runs?!?

Sorry, I meant change all loops to 200mm spacing. Would save money on pipe costs too!! the only issue with splitting into 2-3 loops is the extra cost of the manifold and the extra width around the edge of the room for multiple runs. Look after the pennies etc!

What if I increased the spacing to 200mm and ran it at a slightly higher temperature? This would reduce to 200m on the longest run. Or 2x100m sensible?