Kelvin

It does, it soaks away into the ground. Despite having a freely running burn nearby I can’t run a pipe out of the soakaway into it.

We’re on a slope too. What we did is take the pipework down the contour of the field to the treatment plant then back out to the soakaway as it allowed the right fall without the need for steps in the pipework. How much space do you have? Soakaways can be quite big. Despite us having a fair bit of space there was really only a few places we could realistically build the soakaway given the rules about distance from watercourse, roads, house etc Fortunately it also happened to be the best place to put it after we did the percolation test.

They are clearly in the wrong. What was the point of his second visit if he didn’t measure it. It’s clear it’s their mistake.

Ducting isn’t needed but I did put it in everywhere for water, data, and electrics. I got a load cheap so it allowed me to put the ducting in and run the pipework/cables later.

Add floor level sensors that bring a light on at its dimmest setting or a floor level light.

I had a 300mm glulam sole plate to span across several windows and I never thought for a minute it was going to work long term. Therefore I cut it out and replaced with jackoboard. We’re still fitting decoupling mat across the whole floor though which is deemed to be an unnecessary expense but I’d rather do belts and braces as it’s a relatively small cost relative to the whole floor.

We have a utility room by the front door as it also doubles as the dog room so we can put them straight in there after walks to dry off etc As for the sticky out bits. Building squares and rectangles is the easiest, most cost effective, and efficient way to build houses. But it’s less interesting atheistically plus you might be constrained by the plot space. Our house is two simple rectangles largely driven by our plot shape. You could push the wall out by the kitchen out the 750mm of return you have. Keep the corner glass bit the same size but move the wall out 750mm giving you more floor space and wall space for the TV. Obviously it would have an impact upstairs too.

It can be easily configured to not confuse guests plus the switches can be programmed for things other than lights. Ideally the presence sensors ought to manage all that so there’s no need for guest confusing. That said, I debated with myself about whether to install HA at all way back at the start as I know you did too as it’s not cheap. I did decide to install it in the end although mine won’t control the heating or MVHR other than the towel rails plus I didn’t automate any of the Velux windows. Arguably this whole home control is what it’s best at.

Yes the touch switches aren’t the most intuitive. Hence why you want it mostly being activated by presence sensors with an obvious lights off in the bedroom at night. I’m surprised they don’t do a similarly labelled switch design to Lutron other than the very expensive flex. You can use retractive switches of course instead for areas your guests are more likely to be using the most. I don’t really see the benefit for heating however. If you have windows and blinds connected as well then I can see the benefit as you have a lot more control of the whole performance of the house but heating alone just seems to add another layer of complication.

https://www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk/cumberworth-radical-retrofit-airtightness-test-wood-burning-stove/

I assume you’ve researched log burners in passive houses? They are a lot of log burners that say they are suitable but aren’t and leak a lot of air. It also needs to be a very small log burner and even then you still risk overheating the room it’s in. Our house isn’t passive (it’s close though) and we ditched the log burner for a few reasons. One of them was it didn’t feel right to me that we were fitting an MVHR unit and pumping smoke into the atmosphere.

Why no UFH? If you’re building a well insulated airtight house (what’s your target for both) then a log burner might not be the best choice to heat it.

If it was the pump you might be able to hear it. They generally almost silent when running by rapid pulsing would be audible just because it isn’t constant. Use a long screwdriver as a makeshift stethoscope with the blade placed on the pump and cup your hand round the top of the handle. Move the tip to different places on the pump. If it’s pulsing you’ll hear it.

Just to be clear. It was working fine until it wasn’t. Nothing has changed anywhere on your system both on the heating side and the Loxone side? You need to start ruling things out and I’d start with the Loxone system. Can you run the system manually and effectively disconnect the Loxone system? Presumably it’s possible to put the Loxone actuators into manual mode and fully open them. If you can do that you might be able to determine if the fault is on the heating side or the Loxone side. You can then bring one room back on at a time to potentially further isolate the problem. It could be electrical with something calling for heat rapidly on and off or indeed some kind of hydraulic problem as above.

It was. Because we are classed as rural.

Thanks for posting this. That is perfect for us and solves the problem of what to do about a greenhouse.

Configure it so it’s one big zone on the ground floor operating in weather compensation mode for a while and compare the consumption to now and the room comfort. We have a fairly even temperature throughout the downstairs rooms. That said, we don’t have any doors fitted yet nor is the MVHR system on or any other appliances bar a few lights. We have planned for a Loxone system but it won’t be controlling the heating, DHW, or MVHR as I don’t see the benefit.

Not sure how they got £28,000 in grants. We got £9500 in grants which covered about 90% of the cost. The process is very convoluted incidentally.

Yes it really is. Ours has been very hard at times too. What I’ve learnt is that 95% of the things that go wrong are fixable with some careful thought and the help of buildhub. More importantly something that’s all consuming in the moment once addressed is forgotten about.

You can infer it. Moreover it’s ambiguous at best which can mean that a court would rule in favour of the client given the builder drafted the contract.

Same happened to us. Two of the drawings didn’t have a scale bar on them, one of the architects drawings and the topographical survey drawing. Planning rejected the application until they were updated.

Sure but that doesn’t mean big surprises for the client or it shouldn’t given that his friend said: “On the project you would have our Project Manager and a part time Quantity surveyor. Both have it engrained in them to run the project to its highest efficiency. That means ensuring cost control and programme duration. That is their job… Again, from the beginning we will have clear costs and a timeline they are working towards so any changes will have an explanation. I will also have a pretty good steer on things.”

I’m afraid that’s shocking. The whole point of the QS is to stay on top of all of this including the quality. That said if they were working for the builder then they aren’t independent. Personally I wouldn’t be paying another penny until it is fully completed and remedial work done on the poor quality areas.

A bit hard to follow your figures. How much more will the final cost be over the original estimate? How much more cost to finish? Is the quality of the work good enough? Either they low balled the total cost to get your business and always planned to up it like this once you were committed or they have been very poor at managing the costs and lost control of it. Probably the latter. Very poor if they had both a QS (cost clarity) and a PM (cost control) You need a full and frank conversation with your friend and a full breakdown of all the costs since the start item by item. If you can come to some agreement your are both happy with then great.

I really do suggest you follow the advice so far and post some pictures of what is being expelled and from where. No part of the combustion process should be expelling into the room. Therefore it’s very unclear to all of us what your probably actually is and what’s causing it. The short answer is no it’s not normal.