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You see quite a lot of freeze/thaw in the UK in winter - we even get it inland in England, especially with a well insulated house. There are a lot of places along the whole of the west coast of the UK that can suffer from wind driven rain without the opportunity to dry out. With the Finnish issue it was not the internal/external conditions but specifically to do the damp air/rain wets the thin coat render, freezes overnight and then thaws again in the morning. This required a revision of thin coat render standards and testing for the Finnish market in addition to the standard European tests. The thermal shock requires different polymers to be added to the render.

I have kept quiet all morning, safest way today.

True enough, and I should have made it clear that I was talking UK generally. The Norway / Finland issues a combination of extreme differences between internal/external conditions for prolonged periods which added internal moisture to external external wet conditions with the added fun of sustained periods below freezing. I'll see if I can find the report but I think they also blamed higher average internal moisture due to saunas and gas cooking, but I might be getting it confused with a similar case on some islands off the coast of Germany. Surprisingly, the reports I've read include poor instalation which I had thought was a UK specific issue. In the UK, except on the coast at the far North of Scotland these specific issues are unlikely to occur. It should be noted that, (unless it is open slatted) where an external ventilated rainscreen is used, an external membrane is still not required for hydrophobic coated woodfibre external insulation. Although membranes are normally specified anyway as BCO 'expect' to see membranes...

IIRC @ProDave had a problem with render on wood fibre EWI, but I think it was a while ago, so I may have got it wrong.

@saveasteading you rattle me a lot actually you have a habit of quoting people, but only including part of whatever they have written. which leads to leaving out vital bits of the quote. please if you copy something that someone has written include all of it for context.

Almost certainly. Remember to call them before concreting any foundations or covering any drains. The BC company will probably issue you a list of what and when they want to see things on site.

That's a pretty good start. The BC company will come back to you with any queries they have. Bit like an MOT - you hope you've got a well prepared car and then they find something you hadn't thought of! (Like the non-working hazard light switch - just saying..) Wait to see if they need any more info.

First of all a Class Q conversion refers to planning legislation so put that to one side for now. The Building Regulations are simpler - if a building now contains a dwelling where previously it did not, then a material change of use has occurred. In that case a suite of technical requirements are switched on (Regulation 6 lists them). Part L is included. However, SAP assessments apply to new dwellings that are erected. A conversion concerns a building that is already there and is not being erected as new. Instead this is reflected in applying specific limits on thermal elements such as walls and windows. If you look at the Approved Document Volume 1 for Part L on page 69 it gives guidance on what is expected. You can use a SAP calculation should you want more flexibility for a conversion, but that choice is down to the designer and is not a specific requirement.

Yes, I could try lime putty. I used a lime putty finishing plaster for inside walls on my last project (cob barn conversion), lovely and creamy it was. Putty or nhl, if it sticks well, then the embedded mesh should prevent cracks? We were told by the company that ran the WUFI analysis for us that the gypsum plaster would be ok staying, though I'm aware that others said it 'should' be removed. Hmm, I wonder what risk there is that it could cause trouble? Is mould growth more likely with gypsum or is the issue with it breaking down/dissolving in the presence of too much moisture?

One of us seems rattled. You may have noticed that I expressed concern and asked the correspondent for more details and advised getting a full design. Then silence. I know it's only been 3 days but the party seemed to be having issue after issue. So I've got better thigs to do. I will duck out of this and be perhaps more useful somewhere else.

So Ealing couldn't have used a section 36 notice (t remove or alter) as that is time limited as per paragraph (4) here: (4)A notice under subsection (1) or (2) above (called a “section 36 notice ”) shall not be given after the expiration of 12 months from the date of the completion of the work in question. So they must have gone for an injunction under section (6) not a "contravention notice" which proves we on build hub can "never say never" but someone complained and probably put them on the spot for them to spend money on that. If I remember correctly Ealing Borough were suffering a load of illegally converted garages etc which had people living in them to the point where it made the national news. Maybe they decided enough was enough and were on a mission....

Hi @Julestools. I don't know what mix was used. That was before my involvement. I am not a lime expert but I think I share your idea that something as rich as 1:2 or even approaching 1:1 might be required. I don't know if having it that rich has any downsides. (Come to think of it I have used lime putty when I want a really creamy mix. Could you do that?). Out of nosiness I note that you are proposing mechanical fix only. I take it this is probably onto existing gypsum plaster. Others (including specialist merchants) disagree, but having gypsum in a 'sandwich' always makes me a bit uncomfortable. I usually strip that off and do a lime parge coat, but then maybe I like making work for myself!!

Oh deer…..

Hi... if this is still going then I'd love to say "yes, please!" We're starting our build in a few months, so perfect timing as I'd been looking at remote monitoring options. Happy to pay for postage or arrange for a courier to collect. Thanks, Simon.

Best of luck finding a tree man. I had 4 look at mine, all gave a price and then did not answer their phone again or one kept giving a date to come and do the work and cancelled. I am doing mine myself now. With an 8" single handed electric chainsaw with extending pole to strip the upper branches off, then felling the now mostly bare trunk. It's easy if you have somewhere for them to drop, you can fell them whole. The tricky ones were the ones without room and had to be dropped in sections. Only do this yourself if you are comfortable, or as I was, desperate. Best of luck finding a tree man. As I gave a WBS none of it goes to the chipper. Everything larger than a finger diameter gets used for burning or the thin stuff for kindling, only the really small stuff got burned on a bonfire.

Fu#k me!! who rattled your cage this morning. should you not be offering help and support instead of some of the wanky replies you have handed out on this post.

I would recommend a professional and agree 2 person half a day. One will climb and cut, the other clearing and chipping.

I'm having a couple of trees out - they are the last two from a beach hedge I put in in the late 1990s. They were left for good reasons which are now over, and the larger is slightly taller than a normal house roof (so about 10-11m). The two trees are arrowed in one of the photos. There is a route for them to fall when cut onto paving, but it would need someone maintaining tension on a rope. I'd welcome comments, is this tree man (for which I reckon two for half a day) or "competent with trees handyman" (probably with me pulling the end of the rope to guide the fall)? In all honesty, I think this is one for a tree man and his mate, and beyond even a competent handyman due to the items around such as sheds, other trees and substation. And I think I am probably looking at £600-800 for a decent price. Access is OK. Thanks for comments, and I would welcome any recommendations for a tree man in this area - which is Notts / Derbyshire border around Mansfield / Chesterfield. If needed I can get better photos (eg from inside the garden) later today.

Hi, thanks Redbeard. Yes, I've heard rk70 is nice to work with. I wonder what nhl mix was used that didn't stick as the adhesive coat? I imagine 1/3 with sharp sand , for example, probably wouldn't work. nhl2/soft sand 1/2 or even 1/1 may provide a creamy sticky enough mix for the wood fibre boards? I'm fine with plastering so If I don't get a categorical 'no' then the only way to find out is to get a bag of each and experiment😊

I think you need to take a more nuanced perspective on this as the picture is not as wonderful as this makes out. There are plenty of reports of problems with moisture ingress and failure of these rendered board in certain climates across Europe. For example: - All along the west coast of Norway, thin coat renders (directly in insulation) were suffering from premature failure as a direct result of wind-driven rain. As a consequence Norwegian building standards now have a map of areas where it is deemed unsuitable. - In Finland it was found that thin coat renders directly on insulation suffered from freeze/thaw failures as in that climate it is common to have lots of rain followed by freezing temperatures at night. This failure is in part due to how the render experiences a thermal shock due to local thermal conditions with the insulation directly behind it. This is one of the reasons also why many lime renders will simply not be suitable for woodfibre in particular and you must choose a render with specific ingredients to deal with the behaviour of the background material. I have woodfibre directly rendered, which sits on both masonry and timber frame, but being where we are, it's not exposed at all. If I were somewhere that freeze/thaw cycles were prevalent, like Scotland, and there was particular risk of wind driven rain, I'd be using a cavity and render board, no question. And also, although the woodfibre is often treated with a parafin like substance to provide better moisture resilience, it is not only vapour open, but it is hygroscopic and therefore any designs must take that into careful account.

If I was doing this I'd fit a plate to the wall and then new bigger joists onto joist hangers screwed to the wall plate, like this: You won't be able to get the new joist right next to the existing one but I'm not sure that matters - you could fit them at the mid point between the existing joists. I would probably use an acrow to apply a little bit of upward pressure to the new joist while fitting the hanger - this is to make sure the new joist is doing some of the work. It seems that 8x2 (47mm x 195mm) C24 graded timber would be a starting point - but this is also assuming the walls are up to taking the extra weight.

I'd bed some drainage into the steps coming out beneath the bottom one. You could treat it like a mini French drain (ie gravel wrapped in weed membrane), with a pipe laid through one or more of the mortar joints. If that is your only way up, I'd also be thinking about a wheelbarrow ramp up the middle (one or two rows of angled bricked would do it). There are lots of examples out there. Buit it may be a bit late for the latter !

I have a further question if anyone can help! Regarding whether they would put the ducting (rectangular 90mmx220mm) pipe under the floor, whether this goes beneath or above DPM. Our floor build up is deep layer of pebbles (existing property) which we're taking everything back to to rebuild the floor, type 1, sand binding, DPM, concrete floor, insulation, UFH, then screed. We're thinking to go beneath the DPM, across through the pebbles to the outside wall from the island (2 metre distance), back up and out the wall. (DPM would be sealed around the parts)

Morning Ben, This thread last week. Congratulations on your build. It was @Oz07 asking.

Do you have the other half of the Moose report?