dream come true -but hard work ahead

[BTS]

cheers tony and its more traditional builders house

[openspaceman]

 

Go for Solar Domestic hot water panels

 

Not too sure about this one unless you DIY

 

Consider leaving a spare coil in the cylinder for altrn heat source input.

insulate insulate Insulate, though i think current Bld standards demand this anyway.

 

The thing about a site this size is the extra insulation will not impinge on living space but as you say current building standards are hard to beat though they can make a lot of glass difficult. A wood burner may offset this.

No radiators or underfloor at all should then be possible? Other than towel rails.

If plumbing towel rails with radiators ensure the towel rail is plumed on the same circuit as the hot water coil. then they still work even if the radiator circuit not on.

 

For the small extra cost, assuming a 2" screed over 75mm+ celotex floor insulation I would lay the underfloor coils and still avoid radiators. I also don't see the need for a towel rail as a heat bleed and would not run it to parsitise the DHW but agree your other points.

 

I have found even the better building workers would cut corners that they may not have got away with if overseen by a good clerk of works, especially on details like slight gaps in insulation and sealing .

 

I would make provision for a heat recovery ventilation system even if there is no budget for the mechanis at build time.

[difflock]

Sorry, Towel rail not intended as a heat bleed.

Rather to b e able to warm/dry towels without recourse to turning on the whole (or zone of) radiator circuit.

Easy peasy to spin the TRV shut if one does not want the towel rail heated.

Especially if position of TRV thought about when installing.

Yes, we got underfloor, cannot recommend it highly enough (fitted it myself with the rest of the plumbing) BUT was unsure if it was needed in a dwelling constructed to current insulation standards.

However possibly consider installing underfloor heating in the bathrooms / wet rooms, if nowhere else..

Kinda wish i hadny bothered to fit radiators in the upstairs bedrooms at all.

Sufficient heat rises from the downstairs.

Especially if the flue from the wood stove is routed through the en-suite of the

master bedroom.

[tuttle]

i always think underfloor heating?? is because you want warm feet or no radiators?

 

I ran some pipes close to surface on walkways in mine, ie bathroom, so i got underfloor heating by accident:lol:

[openspaceman]

i always think underfloor heating?? is because you want warm feet or no radiators?

 

There are a number of reasons, the prime one is that it runs much cooler than a radiator and so the water returning to the boiler is cool enough to keep the boiler in condensing mode, this increases the heat available from the same amount of gas burnt. Not much use for a wet wood burning system as the last thing one wants is a condensing wood burner ( see the various threads with"laddomat" in them. It is also good for things like solar hot water heating ( though less so in GB maritime climate more for places with high diurnal swings and clear skies) and for low temperature things like ground and air source heat pumps.

 

The next is that you can actually run the house a bit cooler as people feel more comfortable when their heads are cooler than their feet, a radiator system has a cool floor layer.

 

The next is not needing radiators.

 

Then there is the mixed blessing of a long time constant if the underfloor heating is embedded in a concrete/screed slab. If there is constant occupancy then it's good because the heat remains fairly even but with a time lag as the concrete heats up. This can be a disadvantage if you are only home in the early morning and evenings when you may prefer just to quickly heat the airspace and not waste heat during the day.

[difflock]

I choose to install ours in an over-thick conc slab simply to act as a huge storage heater, with the massing of the house it does to work.

I run the underfloor for a 1/2 hour or an hour in the morning then switch it off.

This was ideal with the oil boiler as it could run absolutly continious for up to an hour or more.

hence more efficient burning.

Internal temperature barely varies between night and day. A couple of degrees perhaps.

But that is for background heat really as the big wood burning stove provides almost instant space heating on demand.

It is also good now that I`am using a gasifying wood boiler with a thermal store/buffer.

Cos I can draw the last 20 deg out of the store, i.e from 45/50 down to25/30 before relighting.

[teepeeat]

Plan, plan plan, then stick to the plan - chopping and changing once building starts is expensive. Everybody ends up making some late changes, but try to keep these to a minimum. Lay out rooms in the garden using sheets on ropes as walls to get a feel for the size of a room for example. Think carefully about how you will live in the house - think about places you have lived in before and currently - what works and what would you like to change. Think carefully about what you want vs what you actually need - particularly on a tight budget.

 

Think carefully about energy issues. It is quite feasable to build a house in the UK in this day and age with no heating requirement for the majority of the year and just have a small wood burner for those few really cold days.

Dont know what current building regs require wrt insulation, but it is probably still inadequate as it is designed to please the big builders rather than give proper insulation performance.

A bit extra spent on insulation and even more importantly, installation of the insulation will be key. Builders just bung it in with snots of muck in the joints and penetrations all over the place which largely negates the insulating effect.

 

There have been a number of good suggestions here already from people who have obviously been through the process, but this is an arb forum, so get yourself over to building related forums.

Good starting points are The Green Building forum - lots of eco types, but also a lot of very good practical advice and experience as well as professional contributions. Also the Navitron forum re energy issues.

 

Have fun with it

[Scott Walker]

Good luck with it mate.