All Activity

I made a very boring video detailing this. https://youtu.be/sI98d1R3ntQ?is=z8mp6B7uVoDurT7o

I would be slow to expose the external stone. These walls were often not designed to have exposed stone work. Hit these points and you'll be ok. 1. Stop bulk water. Good pointing/external render. Good gutters and chutes. Take care of external water table (French drain) . 2. Excellent internal airtightness via a parge coat, variable membrane, tapes and airtight paint where needed. This really is massively important. 3. Continuous mechanical ventilation in the house to remove damp something like dMEV, MVHR, PIV. 4. Internal insulation build up from only materials of higher vapour permability. Something like wood fiber, mineral wool, plasterboard, cheap trade contract paint are all fine. Nothing to trap the moisture in the wall. That rules out PIR, plastic membranes, vinyl paint. Foil back PIR plasterboard is certainly not a good idea. For maximum bang for your buck, excellent airtightness with 50mm of mineral wool everywhere will massively outperform 100mm PIR here and there with no attention to air sealing.

Ah - that was to address the issue raised by @Onoff at the top here and not have the groove running through switch as it is relatively small - I think the double sockets work with the groove running through. I could double the switch faceplate as all the switches in the house are on the mini grid system. So I could use blanks in the remaining slots as I only need three switches.

Patio looks to above the damp course level. Your next issue will be damp internal walls etc. it is more normal to have the ground level 150mm below this, so your patio is way too high.

Get a consaw and cut the patio back 400mm from the wall. Like redbeard says, Assuming you have a lower level to drain to, I would install a french drain. As deep as you can get the water to flow away from. Back fill with something like 20mm chip to a level no higher than 150mm below the bottom of the vent. Alternatively assuming that you can't drain to a lower plane I would look into something like an external periscope vent. The wall will remain damp unfortunately though in this instance.

Does the building suffer from damp? The render was probably added to reduce moisture getting through the wall and I would expect it to get damp when this is removed. For IWI, have a look at CharlieDIYTE. I like this method. https://charliediyte.co.uk/blog/blog/the-best-wall-insulation-for-old-properties

I used galvanised C section joist and timber firings for my almost flat garage roof. Maximum width of 7m reducing to 5m.

Which should also include persons that think they know better. I think it is like driving. We have rules and laws, and experience teaches us behaviour, then you get the twats that think they know better and cause mayhem all over the place. They often only do such minor damage that it is not, in their eyes a problem, occasionally though, it has long lasting effects.

It will 😀 and thanks

Yes

Not so. If well run they can be efficient and their decisions can be very positive. If badly run then you are right. If controlled by persons with personal interests then they can do harm.. which is why new councillors are needed.

Thanks for those replies. Have been musing on this for a little while and have concluded much the same as you state. I suppose the volume lost at each pump out is not that large, but it is a loss that grates!

But im in the uk.

I'd dispute pointless, but I would agree that they have limited powers & cash. The French equivalent (Municipal Council) has much more of both; if they did nothing, there would be a riot. They have responsibility for: planning permission & building permits (within National guidelines), land use (sometimes) preschools, elementary schools, after-school clubs (except for paying the teachers) community support (e.g. daycare for children, home care for the elderly, financial & other aid to those in need) local culture & heritage (e.g. libraries, museums, theatres, community centres, festivals, events) sport & recreation (sports grounds, swimming pools, gyms, supporting local clubs & associations) the environment (natural environment, public parks & gardens, maintaining local roads, regulating advertising) safety & public order (by-laws, public behaviour, municipal police, public health) water supply, sewerage, waste, recycling (though those may soon be moved up the chain) organising & running elections any and all other matters of local interest (unless the powers are allocated to another body)

They do indeed. However, ive worked flatout for 40 years, so, i will soon be trying enjoy the limited time i have left enjoying myself, not wasting ut in parish council meetings.

Id agree, plenty of competemt people at the bottom. Like the road crew that came to patch up the road by my house. Again. Talking to them, they know what they are doing there is pointless. The old guy who has bern there since the dawn of time is the first to admit its depressing. Im not so sure where these highley competent top administrators are though? Agree however, its clear its near impossoble to get rid of useless people. Which is of course self fulfilling. These aee people that simply wouldnt survive in the real world.

A frustrating tale - I hope you get a good outcome. If you can get it sorted correctly for £54, that's a bargain*. Do let us know how it goes. *A 2026 EPC survey here in France found prices of €100-130 for a 30m² studio, to €300-400 for a house >200m², with discounts if combined with other mandatory surveys (and, I guess, extra to trawl through a big file). Prices went up by 15 to 20 % after the certificates became legally enforceable in 2021.

No ones complained about what i do. Because im not a moron.

No thanks. Parish councils are mostly pointless talking shops with little power, see my previous post. They dont "do" anything much. My friend is the chair of the parish council, ive discussed. Conclusion was, dont do it. For some reason you believe we should just accept nothing much works anymore. Odd.

I do feel free to criticise, they are spending our money. And as such shuold be held accountable for their actions. Thats hows its supposed to wotk. Can you imagine how bad things would be if only those in the system were allowed to comment? Which is what you appear to be proposing.

I am approaching the start of the refurbishment of my old 1850 listed cottage and I would like to hear your experience regarding the insulation of solid stone walls. Mine are made of 500mm of solid Welsh stone covered with about 20mm lime plaster, entirely substituted or patched in some rooms with gypsum plaster(pink one). Everything is covered by glued paper that has been painted over the years (clearly the walls are not so breathable). On the external, 3 sides are exposed to external weather, one is sheltered by a neighbouring building. The only exposed gable wall is covered by 20mm of cement plaster (not perfectly adherent to the wall) which should offer a degree of protection from rain. This layer will be removed in the refurbishment to expose the rubble stones. Our architect suggests repointing all walls (wise) and using an insulated plasterboard with integrated VCL directly attached to the wall, with 30 mm insulation + 12.5mm plasterboard. I am not sure about this method since it could lead to potential future issues especially when we remove the external plaster on the gable end. Which insulation type would you suggest for those external walls to avoid or mitigate any potential condesation/infiltration risks? Would you suggest removing the plaster before applying any insulation?

15mm Hep2o, simple and effective, and way less of a ballache to terminate etc. Why go OTT?

The overall objective is to replace the damaged stuff and at the same time increase the weatherproofing, whilst having something that is low maintenance. There are sections where the oak is deformed to the point of the hornets find every gap and nest in the walls…

This is suddenly really interesting for me right now. We completed our EnerPHit plus retro fit in 2021. It included a heat pump installed with the (brief and spectacular failure) "Green Homes Grant" and topped up with RHI. The RHI was audited a few months ago, and they raised a complaint that the EPC used in the application (mid-renovation) didn't reflect the building quality at the moment I applied. i.e. I'd spent my own hard-earned money on improvements to the house (paying VAT on it all too, of course) and hence should be granted less RHI than my neighbour that hadn't improved my house. The EPC had been specifically done a few months before for the Green Home Grant (with the newly topped up loft insulated mandated by that scheme, even though we knew we were adding new external insulation to roof and making a warm loft in months soon to come, but the process is the process). But of course mid-renovation is a silly time to pay for an EPC (solar, battery, light bulbs, and even windows not yet complete). So now 5 years own I got one done, and it came out at 89 grade B, for an energy positive house! So yeah now going through all the hoops needed to get the EPC surveyor to include correct U-values, airtightness, MVHR, waste water heat recovery, solar battery, etc. Which involves them going through hundreds of pages of evidence, and then again when they themselves are inevitably audited. They're only charging £54 for the whole certificate process, which can barely cover the cost of the site visit let alone the hours of office work this will need. And you have to love the irony that an audit on the sub-£3k RHI grant (on a build where I spent over £150k + VAT reducing energy use) will itself trigger another audit for whoever I chose for the EPC. All on top of already paying £x000 for the passivhaus certification process. It's almost like someone somewhere would rather we didn't make well performing houses, isn't it??

Yes, they did.