Passive House plans advice

[Bitpipe]

On 22/02/2019 at 15:23, JSHarris said:

I'd second the observation above about the ludicrous price of fitted wardrobes etc.  I planned one for our bedroom, but binned the idea when we got the first quotes in.  I built a walk-in wardrobe/small dressing room for around 10% of the price I was quoted for a smaller fitted wardrobe, and my cost included an oak door and frame, plus hanging rails, shelves, drawers, shoe racks etc.

 

We put a run of 6x600mm Ikea wardrobes in each bedroom (two singles, two doubles) and got the joiner to frame around them in MDF to give the 'built in' look. They do a nice variety of doors and interior accessories (drawers, shoe racks, baskets etc..)  - way cheaper than something bespoke - joiner agreed that it was way less than he could do it for in MDF or conti-board. 

[Bitpipe]

8 minutes ago, vk108 said:

 

Is it better to engage Structural Engineer and Building Regs Inspector now or is it ok to wait till we get planning for approved layout plans.

 

I am definitely going for TF supplier, I think they provide SE calculations for Foundations and Shell house, any advice appreciated

 

 

Ditto on solar gain - our 4.5m west sliders still let in a lot of heat in summer. Our east windows and roof windows all have external electrical louvre blinds which work great at keeping the gain out.

 

Also not sure there's such a thing as a 'standard window', especially in passive standard 3g units - all of ours were made to the size we had on plan.

 

A decent TF firm should commission a SE to do all the necessary calcs and give them to you to pass to BC. Unless you have significant elements outside of their supply (i.e. we had a basement) you should not need a separate SE.

[newhome]

If you can build the wardrobes in line with the regs for reclaiming the VAT you can get them VAT free. Look for the criteria towards the bottom of this post: 

 

https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/6851-a-guide-to-the-vat-reclaim-process/?do=findComment&comment=116306

 

 

[Gone West]

30 minutes ago, vk108 said:

Basically I am going for passive solar gain having large windows on South and minimal glazing on North.

We have built a PH and have very little south facing glazing which consists solely of 2.4m x 2.4m lift slide doors. These are in shade until midday but the gain from the east and west facing windows is enough to keep the house warm at this time of year. We don't have an overheating problem in early spring and autumn but did find that the large glazed gable facing WNW caused overheating problems from mid April to mid August until we had solar control film applied to the glazing.

[TerryE]

5 hours ago, vk108 said:

Could you please provide any tips on how to avoid summer over heating either using overhangs on South glazing and shutters on east side windows in Ground floor

 

Use the PVGIS site to calculate the incident average kWh energy on your windows.  You will see that (depending on shading) that thermal cooling to mitigate  excess solar gain in spring and autumn is going to be as much of a challenge as heating in the 2-3 peak winter months.  External shutters are effective but can be unsightly and are expensive. A combination of reflective film, internal blinds, always circulating UFH (which redistributes heat from the in -sun hot spots around the entire slab), and boost MVHR can mitigate the overheating to an acceptable level.

 

I have yet to come across an example of a member's architect who really understands these issues.

[Jeremy Harris]

We certainly find that summer isn't a problem at all, as the higher angle of the sun, combined with the roof overhang, shades the main glazing OK.  The problem is Spring and Autumn, when the sun is lower and can shine under the roof overhang and more deeply into the house.  This weekend and today have been pushing our indoor temperature up to an uncomfortable level, and have meant using active cooling.  Today our air cooling came on about mid-morning and stayed on all day, finally shutting down at around 5pm.  Even now, when the house has had no heating since last Friday evening, I'm sitting here typing this with a room temperature of nearly 24 deg C. 

 

The last couple of days have been a bit unusual, so much so that the garden was awash with mayflies floating up and down this afternoon, as they've hatched en mass from the stream alongside us.  Someone needs to tell them that they aren't supposed to hatch until May...

[Bitpipe]

On 25/02/2019 at 16:29, newhome said:

If you can build the wardrobes in line with the regs for reclaiming the VAT you can get them VAT free. Look for the criteria towards the bottom of this post: 

 

https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/6851-a-guide-to-the-vat-reclaim-process/?do=findComment&comment=116306

 

 

 

Yes, however they'd need to be very basic to comply  - effectively just a wall of doors in front of bare plastered walls with a single rail and no internals.

[TerryE]

On 26/02/2019 at 17:48, Bitpipe said:

Yes, however they'd need to be very basic to comply  - effectively just a wall of doors in front of bare plastered walls with a single rail and no internals.

 

Note quite surely: aren't the rules that the wardrobe has to be supported structurally on 3 sides and that the doors, one shelf and one hanging rail are VAT deductible?  There's nothing to stop you having more rails and shelves; it's just that you can't claim the VAT back on them.  The idea underlying the criterion is that the feature can only be VAT reclaimable if it is a permanent part of the house and in practice not something that would be stripped out take taken with the occupants when moving home, so there is some logic here even though the detail is a bit silly.  Things like any permanently fitted unit or cupboard has the same selection rules.  So for example in our lofted 3rd floor we will be claiming against the doors and furniture of the under-eaves fitted cupboards.      

[Bitpipe]

1 hour ago, TerryE said:

 

Note quite surely: aren't the rules that the wardrobe has to be supported structurally on 3 sides and that the doors, one shelf and one hanging rail are VAT deductible?  There's nothing to stop you having more rails and shelves; it's just that you can't claim the VAT back on them.  The idea underlying the criterion is that the feature can only be VAT reclaimable if it is a permanent part of the house and in practice not something that would be stripped out take taken with the occupants when moving home, so there is some logic here even though the detail is a bit silly.  Things like any permanently fitted unit or cupboard has the same selection rules.  So for example in our lofted 3rd floor we will be claiming against the doors and furniture of the under-eaves fitted cupboards.      

 

I suppose depends on how you interpret the wording - it does say 'wardrobes that meet all the following criteria' implying the whole unit and not bits of it. I also claimed for sheets of MDF, poles and hinges for our simple hall cupboards, even if they don't strictly meet the 3 visible wall criteria.

 

However the main reason I didn't do this for the bedrooms was that the Ikea approach was still cheaper and more versatile than anything the joiner could create.