Intro from a novice and the start of, I am sure, many questions!

[Coops85]

Hi all, 

 

I have learnt so much since i started reading this forum, such a great source of info!  I thought it rude not to introduce myself and also would like to ask some questions specific to our situation and plans. 

 

So...

We have a plot of land with planning permission for a house which has conditions on it to be made somewhere close to code 6 on the old sustainable houses code.  

Our plans are for a house with a ground floor footprint of 124m2 and an approx total of 270m2 over 3 floors.  It is a five bedroom house which will house 2 adults and 4 children.

In the plans we have an ASHP,  PV panels, MVHR, Rainwater harvesting, Sewerage treatment plant.  We are currently waiting for our amended plans to get approved by the council before hopefully starting work early next year.  Whilst we wait we had hoped to set out a fairly accurate budget.

 

1. Does anyone have a good budget spreadsheet template for this that we can download and use? 

2. Any recommendations for the renewable sources in the house?  I have been reading good things about SUNAMP on this forum.  

3. With 6 people using the house all the time which is the most effective way of getting enough hot water on demand?

4. I think we are going to need to look at effective ways to cool the house too. Any suggestions?

 

[lizzie]

Hi and welcome, if you have been reading around the forum you will know I can’t be much help on the tech things but there are some very helpful and clever people who can and I am sure they will be along soon to start answering your questions.

[ToughButterCup]

Morning, welcome!

All of us, every Man-Jack (Woman Jackie ?) one of us here is working towards conscious competence : well, almost all.

 

The unconsciously competent will be along in a minnit. Welsh plumbers,  weapons  experts, computer whizkids, people who know how to keep smoke inside wires, the odd planner, some poachers turned gamekeeper, ex engineering lecturers, and modest lawyers.  Theres even one special guy who really can make mud stick on a wall, I kid you not.

 

My strength is ferreting. So, here's yer spreadsheet.  The search engine on this site is good: not the best, but good.

[jack]

Welcome to Buildhub! 

 

One minor suggestion would be to drop those questions into the relevant sub-forums. Some people only browse the sub-forums they're interested in, and mightn't pick up your questions in an intro thread. Also, it helps others find answers in the future.

 

I will say that rainwater harvesting (beyond basic harvesting for the garden) rarely makes economic sense. I was all for it, but even the most ardent greenies we spoke to in the sustainable building world thought it was a waste of money.

[Bitpipe]

Welcome, agree with Jack on RWH - good for garden but not for house. I built one with recycled IBCs (search BH for the thread) others have buried appropriate tanks but the ROI is not there and there are potential health issues using RW internally.

 

 

[Coops85]

 Noted on the RWH. Thanks. We, well the hubby, is a fairly keen gardener and prefers a green lawn to a brown one... so perhaps it will be a good idea having it...but just for the garden.  I think it was only planned for flushing downstairs loo and the washing machine.  Although I am not too sure about using that water for cleaning our clothes. 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

Properly filtered rainwater is OK for toilet flushing, but I'd not want to use UK rainwater for clothes washing, mainly because lots of wash cycles are too low a temperature to kill off the faecal coliforms that will be in the water from the inevitable bird poo that gets into it.