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Depends if you want to watch adverts, we record a lot and click forward through the ads. Online , ITV, C4 and C5 are full of ads, Netflix and Prime aren't much better now

Free stuff , live stuff @Square Feet

So these were not Trus Joist, Steico, or James Jones then? These manufacturers don't need to grade for curve as they only produce straight joists. Crown marking is a workaround for grading bent softwood timber (C16/24) and it would be surprising to find it on a proper engineered timber product. As far as I know, only certain glue-lam companies deliberately 'pre-crown' their products; they make custom glulam headers and long-span beams with a built-in upward camber. These are engineered to flatten out perfectly only after the full weight of the roof or upper floors is added.

Well Scotland is certainly a foreign country. The English regs state that water use must not exceed 125 litres/person/day with a lower limit (as we have) of 115 litres if required by the planning permission. Never seen a minimum requirement but then few locations around here are without mains water.

Steico is one of only 5 major international companies that use LVL flanges that I'm aware of. They are also the only I-Joist company to make their own web material (incredibly dense fibreboard) - the rest rely on OSB from 3rd party manufacturers. Most other joist manufacturers, including the majority that import into the UK, use finger jointed softwood - and there is nothing wrong with either method! I’ve used JJI finger jointed I-Joists for my extension and never had any issues with the build quality or dimensional accuracy. The only issues I’ve had have come from bad storage, with joists that have been allowed to soak up water and then not been stacked flat to dry. An OSB web is more prone to issues with dampness and swelling and structural weakening than hardboard, but LVL flanges also more prone to mould than softwood. It’s all horses for courses, - whatever type you use, they should be properly stored -flat - and protected from the damp. However, it is also true to say that it is much harder to obtain softwood of the right quality and strength to make flanges; LVL manufacturing always makes for consistent and controllable structural properties whereas softwood is limited by what nature produces. Hence a lot of softwood is steam treated and pressed for straightness, and there is considerably more wastage of raw timber to produce something suitable. Unfortunately, there is also now a lot of engineered timber products available from 'dubious' sources. I was at a TDUK meeting recently where the OPSS basically admitted that 100% of timber imported into the UK from Turkey was 'not compliant' with UK Timber regulations. If you don't know where the timber comes from, you also cannot guarantee the quality. That’s not to say that all engineered timber using sanctioned Russian Timber produced by Chinese mills and imported into the UK via a Turkish trading company will be poor quality. But there is usually a reason why it is much cheaper…

Mine all came very wobbly. they won’t be straight down the length until you install them as they bend way more than you would expect. most of mine had a crown in them that you mark and put the crown facing up. but I would not expect them to be up and down, just a slight crown up is fine. once the ends are secured you need some fairly substantial blocking to take the wobble out. I hope you don’t have much mvhr to run through them.

Both work well, it mostly comes down to what's behind them and how much faff you want. In a timber frame I'd lean towards a proper backer board in the shower area rather than relying on a membrane over standard plasterboard, because the frame will move a bit and a stiff board screwed at close centres gives tiles a better base. The XPS boards (Jackoboard type) are quick to fit: screw with the washers into studs at about 300mm centres, then tape and seal every joint and screw head with the matching system tape. On an outside wall they also add a little insulation. Kerdi is an excellent waterproofing layer and can go over plasterboard or cement board, but it needs a flat, rigid surface and it's fiddlier than people expect, especially inside corners and pipe collars. Whichever you choose, the bits that fail are the junctions: board to tray, wall to floor, and around the valve and waste. Use the proper corner pieces and collars rather than trusting silicone. If you're going for a former tray, stiffen the floor with extra noggins and a decent deck, as any deflection will crack the grout. Green plasterboard is fine outside the splash zone but I wouldn't use it in the wet area itself.

That's always my concern, nobody cares as much as I do, it's why I have trouble handing anything over! I know many of these things don't actually matter, but I feel better if they're done right. Plus, despite being a competent DIY'er, I've never done this stuff, it's all new to me and I'm not a "tradie". Thanks for your words, it's helpful.

That was I thought the common construction method. Not normal timber on the flanges. If @flanagaj has found a cheaper make than doesn't use LVL then that might explain things.

Are aerials still a thing? Doesn't everyone just cast their telly these days?

I got a local aerial installer, he did his thing it all worked. Didn't think any deeper than that.

Same fault here on a Q350 (firmware 1.7.0, SHT30): front display completely dead, green LED on the main PCB lit, and exactly these ten error codes. After a restart both fans ran for about a minute, then the unit switched off the fan for the supply air. It was the outdoor air sensor (ODA, the "top" sensor), more precisely the corroded capacitor next to the SHT30 on its small board. With that sensor plugged in, the communication with the other sensors and the display was disturbed. Quick check, with the unit unplugged from the mains first: unplug the outdoor air sensor at the main PCB. It is one of the two green connectors, on the side where your outdoor air duct is connected. If the display comes back and only SENSOR_ODA ERROR remains, it is that sensor. I only replaced the capacitor (100 nF, ceramic) and coated the spot with conformal lacquer afterwards. All errors have been gone since, and I did not have to replace or rebuild the sensor itself. A more detailed write-up with photos, fault-finding and the repair: https://kreasteve.de/en/comfoair-q350-display-schwarz/ Steven

I wouldn't have thought so, based on my experience. At my last house, the whole frame was built from timber I-beams and I never saw any beams out of 'true'. They were Steico beams and IIRC the flanges were made from LVL.

But what would the derived unit initial be, can't use W.

That needs to be named after a scientist. True though. The point of I beams is a reduction in timber used, so the stiffness is lost as a result. Noggins sort it. It's from a factory so the timber will not have been exposed to the weather. Should be fine.

It was messy. Laid the first layer which was eps. pipes laid in exact positions,incl up to their end locations, which is important as they don't bend easily. Mark with black pen Cut with jigsaw or multitool. Insert pipes. Adjust as necessary Bag up lots of messy eps. Lay pir over the top. Around and over sounds OK to me. Cut boards close the the pipes and fill the gap with cutings or loose stuff. Cutting PIR is horrible. I borrowed a very good multitool with a blade that just stopped short of going through. Handsaw and jigsaw weren't good. I was doing this myself as I didn't expect the professionals to care about precision at cut outs. I was right... it was a huge rush and very approximate. It all gets covered in dpm so they get away with it.... usually.

Composites, which I-Joists are, can suffer from differences stresses which only becomes apparent after they have 'settled'. There may also have been a manufacturing problem. Hard to tell. They tend be quite wobbly along their length, but should be dimensionally accurate across the width, and especially the depth, which is where they get their strength from. Ask the manufacturer for the design tolerances, then get measuring.

Was £25/m2 with adhesive included. Very high quality ply construction with about 2mm oak veneer. Occasionally there can be fortunate opportunities.

Scottishjohn has the right of it, find the cause before spending on linings. In the new house I would rule out a hidden leak before calling it condensation, damp behind wardrobes low on an external wall can be a slow plumbing leak or rainwater getting in and tracking along, not just poor air movement. A cheap pin moisture meter on the wall behind the wardrobe tells you a lot, if it reads wet in one patch while the rest is dry, that is not condensation. Worth checking while the damp issues are still being diagnosed anyway.

Oh, and as for orientation I searched the web for our nearest transmitter, used Google Earth to get the direction from house to transmitter and then used the compass on my smart phone to align it.

If you want unobtrusive, we’ve got one of these. but check it’ll work where you are. We generally get good DTV reception including the HD channels but sometimes the weather does seem to affect it for a few hours.

One stop shop. Read their excellent guides and unless your sat on a TV transmitter get a band specific aerial rather than wideband. Identify your TV transmitter and go from there. Usually easily enough to figure out, look where the neighbours aerials are pointing towards. Log periodic aerials are nice and compact IF suitable. https://www.aerialsandtv.com/knowledge/planning-your-install I'm in an extreme fringe area so have the biggest Band A Yagi they do.

Be cautious of biting off more than you can chew. I'm 3/4 through a stud dividing wall through the living room. It's only 3.5m long but I'm into my 3rd week. I'm a shift worker too so I imagine I have much more spare time than most although I do have small kids. I'm enjoying it but it's slow as hell. I got pretty much a full day done yesterday and more or less finished skimming both sides to a standard i'm happy with. I had to give 2hrs today to go to screwfix to get bits. Everything takes forever when you're not a pro with a van full of tools and spares, decades of experience and a full 8hr shift to throw at a task. Looking above at your list of things to achieve I'll take the 15 doors. What takes 20mins on you tube is actually about 3hrs in real life for a DIYer. Realistically you'd be doing well to do 3 a week. That's 5 weeks for doors alone. I would pretty much forget the cosmetic things to begin with. 1. Find the cash to throw at a few big things. A. Fabric of the building. Roof, gutters, pointing. B. Insulation, pumped cavity walls, 400mm in the attic. Get it done straight away. C. Wiring/plumbing if that's in the plan. D. Windows and doors. E. Some mechanical ventilation of some sort. 2. Let the dust settle a little with the kids (congrats on the imminent by the way). I sat and watched the LEGO movie 2 nights ago with my 3. Far more fun than messing with plasterboard and the little cliches grow up so fast. 3. Go room by room. Pick what room is to be done first. Probably a bathroom. A. Get a lock for the door and use it when you're not in there. B. Don't tackle anything else in the house until that is finished 4. Repeat until finished in 2040!

Any recommendations for an aerial - looking to fit it at the top of the gable at the rear of the house.

I had a load of i-joists delivered 10 days ago and the chippie and I put the joists up today and the quality of them is far from ideal. As I've never had any experience of i-joists before, I was sorting of expecting sections that didn't resemble traditional timber in terms of straightness or curvature. Was I naive in thinking that i-joists should be spot on straight and level along their length. The delta across one 5.5m is around 15mm and the timber used doesn't look like it's been sorted. When I ask the manufacturer about it today, he told me that the timber is pressed straight as part of the joist manufacturing process.