Starting to frame out the downstairs WC

We are working on framing the vanity counter in the downstairs loo - granted it doesn't look like much now but when it has the timber boarding on it, it should look good!

First meter reading since heat pump has been running

Since the heat pump was commissioned on Wednesday last week we have used 50kWh of electricity running it.  This works out about £7.50.  We were quite pleased with this because the heat pump had had a forced start and had been made to heat the whole cylinder of hot water as part of the commissioning.

Filling and flushing & commissioning the heat pump

Today is the day that the heat pump will be commissioned and the underfloor heating will start running.  The gylcol opened and ready to fill the ground loops (currently there is only water in the loops).

This wheelie bin is the  filling and flushing pump for the ground loops.  The glycol is poured into the bin...

The glycol in the bin...

The glycol is then pumped round the ground loops until all the air is removed.

The heat pump is now up and running. This is the heat pump display. It is very intuitive and easy to use.  You can have a go online at http://www.nibe.co.uk/en-GB/news/

The solar thermal panels were also commissioned today and so we will hopefully have a plentiful supply of free hot water.  The water cylinder is quite large (about 400 litres) to take advantage of sunny days and store as much hot water as possible.

Trial of clay top coat arrives

Tubs of clay top coat arrive to try out.  The clay is self coloured white and comes in a powder that you mix with water.  We are bringing forward two rooms (downstairs WC and Bedroom 4) to try out different finishes and see how well the clay and lime plasters go onto the magnesium board.

Natural cottom mesh / scrim for reinforcing the plaster at joints in the boards / change of substrate.

Underfloor heating mat in en-suite

The underfloor heating mat rolled out in the ensuite.

Underfloor heating mat in upstairs bathrooms

Upstairs we have got no heating system.  The mechanical ventilation heat recovery system will preheat the fresh air so this will provide some sort of heat, and, well, heat rises!  As we have a tiled floor in the bathrooms we were concerned about the floor feeling cold underfoot and so we have opted to install an electric mat with a rather sophisticated control and monitoring thermostat, so we can see how much energy it is using and try and reduce this as much as possible by getting optimum performance out of the mat.

The heating wires come contained within a fiberglass mesh which makes it incredibly easy to lay.  You can cut the mat (but obviously not the wires) to flip and rotate it to get the right shape.

The mat rolled out in the family bathroom.  This will need to be secured down before tiling but we jut want to lay it out for now to see where to put the thermostat back box, we will then roll it up again until we are ready to tile.

Digging out the glycol for the ground loops

The glycol to fill the ground loops was delivered when we installed the ground loops - coming up for 2 years in April!  We have dug out the 25litre drums ready to fill and flush the ground loops, in preparation for the commissioning of the system.

Resilient bar noggins

Cutting in short sections of resilient bar between the main runs.  All edges of the magnesium board we are putting on the GF ceiling need to be supported so these noggins are located at the ends of the magnesium sheets.

Cutting a hole in the ceiling boards in the GF WC for the ventilation duct / grille.

Filling and flushing the solar thermal panels

The solar flushing pump!  Until now the solar thermal panels have only had air in them, but today they were filled with glycol and put under pressure. The system will be left under pressure and  checked tomorrow.   If the pressure hasn't dropped, all is well and the panels will be ready to be commissioned.

...resilient bars in the main living space

All the resilient bar is now up, except in the utility room.  Just the resilient bar noggins to fit now.

More resilient bars

Pressing on with getting the resilient bars up - the main runs are now up in the study.

The heating system wired up

The underfloor heating manifold with all the electrical switches and thermostats.

We are getting ready to commission the heat pump and solar hot water.  This needs to be done before the end of March to qualify for the grant.  It is a little sooner that we would have commissioned it otherwise.

The rest of the resilient bars

We though the hall was a good a place as any to start, the main runs were quick to put up.  We need to put resilient bar noggins where the ceiling boards will end.  We will come back and do this at the end.

Followed by the ceiling board

Followed by the ceiling board.

The first room to be done is the downstairs WC (it was the smallest room to try it out!).  It went well!  We now start putting up the resilient bars on the rest of the GF ceiling.

We also put up the concealed cistern while we were working in the WC and the plywood above, which we will fix the mirror to.

Starting to put up the resilient bars

We are installing resilient bars on the ground floor ceiling.  These will provide an acoustic break between the ground and first floor.  Essentially they will act as a spring and stop sound being transmitted through the floor.  We will combine this with some fibrous insulation within the floor joists.

The first bar being installed!

Starting work in the plant room

Starting the pipework from the 400m ground loop...

...into the heat pump.

And linking everything together.  It all looks very complicated!

The solar thermal installation.  This should give us lots of free hot water!

Electrical first fix

The back boxes and cables are fitted, which means we will soon be able to cover in the walls and get some plaster up!

Insulating the internal walls

We want to insulate the internal studwork walls to stop sound from travelling between the rooms and we had bought some Isonat insulation to try out.  It is made of a mix of wood fibre and hemp and is very dense about 50kg/m3.  It comes in batts which are 1200 x 370mm so it is easy to install within studwork at 400centres.

We installed the small quantity we had ordered and then tried to order enough to finish, but were advised that the product is made in France and that they were pulling out of the UK market.  We have two alternative products that we are looking at.

One is a this new product from Black Mountain Insulation, called Black Mountain Flex.  It is also a mix of hemp and wood fibre and I believe has a density of about 40kg/m3.

The other is warmcel, recycled newspaper which is blown in once the plaster board or what ever plaster substrate is being used, is fitted to one side of the wall.  Open blown has a density of about 30-35kg/m3.  The advantage of blowing the warmcel is that where we have cables and pipes concealed within the wall the warmcel will surround them.  If we were to use an insulation batt like the hemp and wood fibre then we would need to cut the insulation around the cables which would be tricky in places.

Sockets in the straw walls

Where possible we have tried to keep the sockets and switches off the straw walls as these are easier to install in the internal studwork walls.  Some are unavoidable however, and we have run the cable down the straw wall in a conduit which will be covered with hessian / jute and plastered into the wall.  The ply patch to fix the back box onto has been secured in the wall using hazel stakes (as we did with the concealed cistern in the ensuite).

Snow arrives!

Straw house with the bungalow behind - this will be demolished once the new house is complete.