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You can kill 2 birds with one stone and just use Marmox to line the reveals. It can be plastered directly, or you can PB and then plaster. Easier to do this without insulated PB as its a bit tricky to do this in straight thin strips imo.

In the hope it’s good money after good, as so far……

We are looking to get a new balustrade fitted on the staircase. I am not sure of the ramifications regarding the Newel posts at bottom and top of the stairs. As we are looking at oak handrail and black spindles it would be best to have new oak Newel Posts, otherwise we would presumably have to paint the whole post white or something. Are the Newel posts normally fixed to anything else other than the stringer and stairs themselves ? e.g. into Floor joists. (1930's Semi) I get the impression they gain their rigidity just by virtue of being fixed to the stringer and stair - is that right ? The top Newel Post upstairs runs all the way down to the ground floor. Therefore it seems necessary to cut it off regardless to fit a new top piece onto it from just above the stringer. Not quite sure how you achieve new oak newel posts in practice and whether it is likely to destablilise anything ?

thats what i did with mine, dont know about airtightness, but they are fixed in tight. are you putting insulated plasterboard in the revels?

Not as much trouble as when you find out it will only increase your energy usage.

That's exactly what I have planned for my build. I also have a couple of dense block internal walls which will sit on Thermoblocks. One of these will be built from blocks laid flat, so it will be 220mm thick & will have 220mm Thermoblocks beneath. The idea is, if there's any money left, I can hang a floating staircase from this wall. & I'll have super THERMAL MASS - there, I said it too. Now we'll both be in trouble when @SteamyTea reads this thread. Here's my detail. Yes, I know my Arch Tec has drawn the air brick at the same level as my patio, with virtually no insulation below DPC level & the periscope sitting in the middle of the cavity instead of up against the outer leaf. I have already told him off. He really is rubbish. & I engaged him in May, & I'm still waiting for my second draft drawings.

I was shown today how AI can generate ideas for lanscaping when given a photo as a base reference. Question, has anyone done the same successfully from plans and elevation drawings.

We're 2 years in, cem floor no matting ... No issues!

I'd be looking to seek forgiveness, not ask for permission here! Opening that can of worms of permissions and approvals l will take months and months and months and months.....

Yes, 50mm concrete screws are your friends here. For a 7.5mm screw drill a 7mm hole and clear it out a bit so the screw goes in tight with an impact driver but does not lock up before it is home.

Hi Folks, I have an issue with damp or more specifically condensation in a built in wardrobe in a north facing bedroom. This is a 1960s house. I have attached a picture merely for perspective. This wardrobe, in the winter months has caused issues with some clothes feeling damp / smelling musty. Upon my own investigation I discovered that particularly the corner where the two outer walls meet the ceiling is especially cold and feels damp. This is always worse when the weather outside is particularly cold. It's never an issue in the warmer months. My understanding of this is as follows. The room itself might be warm but the internals of the wardrobe with the doors closed remains cold. When the warm / moist air from the room gets into the wardrobe through the gaps around doors etc. it hits the cold walls / ceiling and condenses causing the moisture. As a workaround I have placed numerous dehumidifier pots in there which seem to help significantly but I am after a proper solution. The outside walls are solid brick with plaster (not dot and dab) and whilst there is cavity wall insulation, those walls in the wardrobe and ceiling are cold to touch. I have checked the loft and there is plenty of insulation above as in it isn't like the corners have less present etc. When we decorate this room, I am wondering what my options are. I wondered if I could add some kind of thermal boarding (if something like that exists) to the inside of the wardrobe. Appreciate any help you can offer.

Zoot, Others have answered on behalf. Thanks to them. Agreed that the HW glitch needs sorting first, before you start replacing things that MAY not need changing. Just a thought on the heating. If the VRC700 is inside a closed cupboard with the cylinder, is there enough length of cable (the blue one) to move it just outside the cupboard. That will then be in a slightly cooler place and so it won't switch off the heating as quickly, and before the rads have had more time to warm things up a bit more. This is without making any setting changes so should be a simple to do move.

I wonder if the grout is quite weak, it crushes before a tile cracks, as with mortar and bricks.

If I recall, mdf has a grain, so the ends will be more absorbant. The @ProDave block solves that for the architraves. The Georgian detail that suits mdf?

Better to use screws on the last hole to both pin it flat and add extra strength to the strap? Throughout the house there’s at least one strap that has come loose.

Thank you - I shall take some more photos and look to see if I have any during the construction phase.

Good luck with that. V will argue that the VRC700 is compatible and they did not agree to upgrade the control box. To understand whether this is a relevant factor we need more detail of the HW "glitch". Of course. Better for @zoothorn to get to know the underlying physics, how his system works, its capabilities and limitations. But in the real world he may have to shell out folding money instead.

I used Oak veneered arcs and skirtings from Howdens, finished with Osmo oil. Matches nicely to the real Oak door frames. Annoyingly because we had chosen 2040mm tall doors, one length of Howdens Oak veneered arc was just too short to do two door uprights, so to avoid huge wastage, I used corner blocks to join arc to skirting. Floors do get mopped from time to time, no sign of issues with the veneered MDF skirting. Just be sensible and take a little care.

One nail per strap looks a bit stingy. Often see screws and plugs or masonry screws. No issue with zipping off the surplus strap with a grinder and thin blade.

Have seen these fixing straps referenced as often being a source of air leakage and reduced airtightness. Is there any reason I shouldn’t cut the strap after the affixing nails (red line) so there is less chance of them pulling up the airtight tape?

Hi, I’d appreciate some recommendations on the best clear, satin UV protection for Thermowood cladding? My main aim is UV protection and to avoid / slow any fade. Appreciate that I’ll need to re-treat every 2-3 years - but I’m ok with that. Grateful any recommendations! Thx

Strangely satisfying though to see a pile of materials almost disappear as they are incorporated into the build. and yeah the odds and ends that need getting rid of when finished that particular task is a task in itself. PIR offcuts I bagged them, photo'd and listed on market place. £20 - take what you want sort of listing. Inundated by people wanting it for sheds and the like, they aren't fussy, foaming and taping it together...

Our concrete slab had been down for nearly six years when we tiled. We used BAL flexible tile adhesive and used door threshold expansion strips. No decoupling matting used. We didn't have any problems.

Thanks All. The main achievement of the last 3 years has been to transform a domestic house into a small building merchants ;0)

Yes, we achieved 0.47ACH with only the Icynene, combined with the 15mm OSB3 exterior racking, as the airtightness. We didn't use any tapes or membranes in the structure at all. The windows and doors were sealed using two strips of Compriband and the Soudal SWS system.