Building a Rental Holiday Home

[Mugwanya]

Ok, unless the council come back with a no on the updated design, pretty much all is decided. We are going off grid for the first house; 40ish solar panels and 24KWh of battery storage with a 10KW gas generator, total cost including the in roof mounting for the panels and a gas connection purely for the generator coming in at less than £20k. We'll use the data we collect to decide whether to get the grid connection before we build the second two homes.

 

HTTPS://jaleve.tribe.so

 

[Ferdinand]

..

[Mugwanya]

Just had news that the new plans have been approved; the architect is starting the technical drawings so they should be with the SIP supplier early January and I'm pencilling in the foundations for early March and the structure shortly after.

 

I'm starting to get excited.

[Mugwanya]

Foundations go in 11/12 March. SIPs@Clay have quoted a 10 week delivery time so should be erected last we in April or first week in May.

 

I'm going for 56 375W Long solar panels, 3 Voltacon Conversol Max inverters (7.2kW each), 6 Pylontech US3000C batteries but with scope to go to 16 after next winter once I've seen how the current setup performs. The idea is to use it ourselves over next winter in order to get some stats; we live 5 miles from the house so if we run out of electricity then we just go home. The online calculators estimate that there will be 11 days where there will not be enough power and I can reduce that by adding more batteries. I am in a debate with my suppliers at the moment about generator sizing. The perceived wisdom is that I would need to go for a 10-15kW model to supply the load when the batteries are depleted. I am arguing that I could go for a 3-5kW model, have it start when the batteries are, say, 30% full, and run it until they are 90% full. So the generator is never supplying the full load of the house but is in essence just keeping the batteries topped up. Essentially the battery would just be backing up the solar supply, and would just need to provide around 15kWh over a 24 hour period, with the batteries always providing the load for the house.

 

Windows and door supplier has not been chosen yet. 

 

Air tightness will be provided using VP400 Plus WRB on the outside, supplied and installed by SIPs@Clay, and Intello Plus on the inside, supplied and installed by myself.

 

There are three en-suites and one bathroom,  and I plan to use Schluter Ditra products to create wet rooms, because I've watched Matt Risinger on YouTube. Any comments on alternatives would be gratefully received. Plumbing will be either Tectite, Hep2O or Speed fit. I get the impression that the Tectite is more solid but more expensive, and there's not much to choose between the other two.  I plan to buy some samples and play, but I don't expect that to help me choose between them as I'm sure that they all work. I have an electrician,  joiner and plasterer lined up but not the plumber yet so his advice will be crucial. There will be two cylinders, an Ariston Nuos air source heat pump 250l cylinder (for two ensures and the kitchen)  and a Mixergy (for the third ensuite and the bathroom). This is because I like the look of both technologies and want to play.

 

The only other issue is whether to use timber I beams, as specified by the SIP company, or metal web joists (Posijoist) as recommended by all the MVHR companies I've spoken to.

 

So at the moment I'm hoping to be ready for some bookings in Autumn, Covid permitting, Winter usage by friends, family and myself, followed by a full opening next spring.

[Mugwanya]

Why so many solar panels?

 

The panels cost £83 each, with and additional £33 fir the in roof mounting trays. The panels are about 2m2, so about £58 per sq.  m. I was told that decent skates are £40-60 per sq. m. So I decided that a small increment in cost to put in solar panels was worth it to maximise my production in winter. Also adding additional panels at a later date would be very expensive; installing the maximum number supported by the roof stops this being an issue.

 

My payback period is also immediate as long as the total cost of the complete system is less than the £24k that would have been needed fir a grid supply.