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It's definitely the building being somewhat less than square. The wall plate hasn't budged at all. At the worst point the span is > 75mm less than the opposing side. You would keep the 60mm birds-mouth seat and shim the wall plate height for each affected rafter?

As @Roundtuit Minimum would be to move wardrobes to access both sides and remove all the plasterboard, check and clean the timber.

The timber might be sound and just needs a clean up, but I'd want the wardrobe out and plasterboard gone so you can see the full extent of the situation. Sometimes trades offer advice based on the time and resource they have available for the job, not necessarily what they'd do if it was theirs..

You're not alone in getting poor advice. For someone to recommend what I assume is through wall MVHR in any house that's not designed to compliment or benefit from it, is just bonkers. This isn't a dig btw, just another example of the nuts advice handed out by 'professionals' who just don't have a single bloody clue. Borderline embarrassing for them tbh. Take the replies given here with a spoonful of sugar, we're a good crowd and are only well-intentioned We just get frustrated seeing good people being given shit advice and having to pay the muppets for it. Keep posting here, and you can get a good end result. Whoever said that a through wall MVHR unit should replace the adventitious airflow to the WBS whilst your cooking is extracted needs a poke in the left eye, followed by one to the right. Such unqualified tripe is hard to hear without a coarse comeback, sorry.

Okay, useful feedback thanks, but I'm not quite ready to give up on it yet it seems refinable. To address your points: Firstly sorry, I wasn't clear - the roof buildup currently has a mortar fillet, I was trying to say that was different to the example image. My intention when replacing would be to ask for something much more like the example with leading and a formed gutter edge under the edge of the slates. Regarding the internal battens - wood fibre batts are flexible, you need to set them between something, so I can't just fix the plasterboard directly atop them. I could use rigid boards instead, but those are a big enough faff using lime adhesive and hammer fixings on a wall, getting them in place and fixing them with thermally broken screws against a pitched roof would be a proper pain. The bridging issue also isn't a problem if the external insulating sarking is used since it will place all of the roof timbers within the insulation envelope. On the membrane: the Intello is functionally impermeable unless it's beneficial for it not to be. It's air-tight if properly taped and under most conditions it's as impermeable to vapour as regular plastic barrier sheets, but if temperature and relative humidity levels between interior and exterior are right and there is sufficient vapour pressure from the building assembly on its exterior face(ie, if there were ever any water penetration which soaked into the structure and did not dry to the outside), its pores open and allow the assembly to dry to the interior as well. The air gap isn't necessary in this proposal since the assembly is not air-open(I specced an air-open membrane on the exterior only so the surface of the woodfibre sarking would dry even faster if there were ever any minor rain penetration), instead it relies on the three layered waterproofing(slate, membrane, woodfibre sarking which is rated as waterproof at my roof's pitch) and vapour diffusion to manage moisture levels. Historic Environment Scotland have done multi-year test installations where they compared vapour open materials when installed with and without an air gap in traditional roofs and the data from the probes they buried inside showed both approaches resulted in humidity levels within the roof materials that were almost identical, well within the margin of error for the test. And IIRC that was done with no VCL at all, fully vapour-open to both interior and exterior, so with an Intello type membrane it should be improved significantly since no humid interior air(not that it'll be *that* humid, I'll be using a whole house MVHR) will be absorbed. My understanding is air gaps are recommended practice on the assumption that any insulation being used will be completely vapour-impermeable like PIR, or will have less ability to diffuse vapour through its entire mass like rockwool, in either case meaning the timbers would struggle to stay dry without constant airflow, while woodfibre is both permeable and very effective at evenly distributing vapour through its mass until conditions allow it to leave the structure. Regarding the edges, in terms of the gable the plan would have a continuous layer of wood fibre insulation rising up the outside of the exterior wall(a lime harl protective coat would be applied), over the top by replacing the existing skew(which wouldn't be wide enough for the insulation anyway) with faux-stone coping(basically blocks of insulation wrapped in fibreglass then covered with resin-based material that superficially resembles cut stone, they can colour match it to your existing stonework) and then a thin layer of something like a PIR down the inside cheek to meet the woodfibre sarking(all of which would be covered over by the membrane and then the lead). At the rear of the property there won't be any weak spots as that will also be insulated externally and the rear eaves will be ammended accordingly, resulting in continuous insulation. The only remaining weak point will be at the front wall which must be insulated internally because of the conservation area(and because I like it), however only the very ends of the bottom of the rafters where they meet the wall plate won't be completely enveloped in insulation so thermal bridging will be extremely minimal and that part of the roof will be just as capable of dispersing and then releasing moisture vapour as the rest. On the marine ply you're right I didn't account for its impermeability, it would impair the vapour openness of the assembly. For the purposes of the nails biting properly regular ply or lengths of regular wood board should be fine though. I'm not sure why I would have issue with fixing span? The rafters are 600 on centres and 50mm wide so a 25mm surface is all you'd get on a normal butt joint between two pieces, and since they're inset the fixings would be more like 530mm apart with a 550m span, plus each would be getting nailed both right down into the runner and diagonal into the rafter - it seems like it would be solid enough? If not, I wonder if you have any suggestions on how I might refine it, would pushing up to 40x40mm for the runners do the job? On the slates, you'd know best how it's done, I recalled reading about the two nail offset method but now I think back it might have been on an American's blog and I just muddled that with the youtube videos I watched from Scottish roofers. I know it must seem mad to be so intent on making this nonsense work, but for me this is probably my "forever home" and my one opportunity cost-wise to have it seriously renovated, so I'm really keen on a "buy once cry once" approach and it really is amazing the difference in comfort and ongoing cost between insulating inside vs outside(as much as possible) - for the walls you can't put anywhere near as much insulation on or you can cause problems with moisture condensing inside and degrading your stone walls, my rough calcs would put it almost a full point down with a u-value of barely 0.3 vs 0.2 or even 0.18 if done outside. And the difference in a mass-y roof of wood fibre compared to PIR is huge; it's a bit worse for thermal performance(though not as much as you'd think given you can't fully fill the rafter voids with the PIR approach), but the wood fibre roof has *amazing* decrement delay so should never overheat in summer, and it's like stepping into a soundproof box. I'm really keen to figure something out if I can.

CAT6 will do 10Gbps so long as the cable isn't very long (37-55m max generally). You can't go wrong with TruHD Cat 6 HDBaseT Cable - tested to 500MHz, so good for 10Gbps if needed. Details and pricing - https://www.fscables.com/products/cat-6-hdbaset.html Datasheet - https://www.fscables.com/sites/admin/plugins/elfinder/files/fscables/Datasheets/C6T00-E00.pdf

If that side of the house is "out of whack" then you can only build up the internal side and mask it, leaving the wonky stuff only visible outside; assuming the building is out of whack vs the plate having splayed outwards?

Decent crowd on the current project I'm consulting on, have asked if they will service your area, but they defo travel. I'll PM you if/when they respond.

Agree with this. Jim mentioned his interest in 10gb ethernet and I took that as tech interested. That in itself will probably be ok with cat 6 in most cases but for the little uplift 6a buys you more room for suboptimal install/placement. There is already a 25GBase-T standard. Not very available yet but will be in the life of the building. 10 gigabit is already quite slow compared to modern storage* so if you do tech stuff in general or specifically do stuff related to video (wannabe youtuber, etc) then I can see you wanting to upgrade to 25g when it's available to consumers. *1GB/sec. SSDs can usually do 5GB/s now, latest Macbook they are claiming upto 14GB/s Cat 6 is fine for in a home for what is available now. But again, what you put in your walls you hope will last for decades so spending a little more now makes sense to me. TBC Cat7 is a complete waste of money and bigger number is not better here.

Yup. Simple, effective, and boatloads of DHW on tap with a...... Don't go p;ated, just have the instant DHW coil in there and it's deliciously simple. Gives the boiler somewhere to release its anger for the requisite full long burns that oil needs. Low cost? Buy everything second hand and strap it together with pushit pipework. Use copper for the primary stuff immediately off the boiler / to the TS.

Thanks. I had forgotten about the cca aspect. That's why I asked, I thought it was too cheap on ebay.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a decision to spend extra for Cat 6a, but it's simply overkill for nearly all foreseeable uses in a domestic setting, with a few exceptions, generally for people who are really into 'tech'. I've installed 10's of 000's of m of the stuff for clients, and although I don't get too involved in anything past that normally, I've never once heard an AV/security/smart etc installer say that cat 6 wasn't up to the task of what they needed it to do. In fact they often get Cat 5e to do what they need where existing cabling is in place. I personally can just think of better ways to spend my finite amount of money! If jim is on a tight budget it's highly likely Cat 6 will be more than good enough. I pay roughly 50% more for Cat 6a over Cat 6 at trade prices, for good quality cable. Cat 6 can easily be found at around £105+vat from a quick google, which is only slightly more than I am getting it for.

And here's where the fabric won't be saved. The things will just refuse to be extinguished for a very long time, so the fire brigade will be pumping foam or powder, or CO2 in, and then have to do so with copious amounts, retreat, repeat, and so on. Too many manufacturer sponsored YT videos showing how 'easily' these 'silly little fires' can be extinguished with a cup of tea in the other hand. Utter bollocks. I've punctured lipo's that we use for racing RC cars, and the amount of anger stored in a box the size of a cooks matchbox is mind-blowing (eg run away and come back in 30 mins to see if it's calmed down yet). When we raced in community centres or leisure centres etc they were adamant that no lipos should be charged indoors at any time whatsoever. Some charged in their cars, outdoors in the carpark, and some cars went up in flames. The facts dictate that these are minimal risk, so attempting to contain this type of fire inside a residence is a bit pointless; if it goes nuclear, feck all will save the building, you'll just have more time to wait for the fire brigade to smash the cupboard to bits and pump your house full of whatever they choose to use to attack the damn thing. Attics are obviously now deemed the worst place to put one, as that's the highest point for the devastation to then drop through the house / into, toxic crap and all; and fire fighters won't be taking their shoes off to come into your house and ascend into the attic space to then unleash hell (of a lot of water or whatever else).

Stick with lead for the skews. If you put forward an evidence based design then most accept. Like in all walks of life there is a bit of "personality" involved at times, younger BCO's and designers are, by default, less experienced in communicating which can lead to crossed swords. Client's sometimes are the same, maybe they don't allocate enough funds to the design fee element. In summary if your design is sound then BC will accept.. you often need patience. Ok I can see what you are trying to do, a few comments in line with your text which I've turned into italic. Plasterboard 50x50mm horizontal battens with 50mm wood fibre insulation batts between You horizontal timber battens on the inside introduce a repeating bridge. You can test this repeating bridge effect by using say Kingspan online calculator. I often use a continuous layer. But you need to check that the plasterboard can be fixed through the wood fibre on the inside.. it works for PIR. Intello VCL membrane Not sure about this. I would be inclined to use something impermeable like plastic. existing 150x50mm rafters, fully filled with more wood fibre batts This sounds ok in the main body of the roof and on paper. But around the roof edges, these are weak spots. leave the full fill insulation 10 -20mm shy of the underside of your ply just to let the water gas / moisture disperse. . I'm not going to to explain in great detail here but the principle of the sarking is to have gaps between the boards. You full fill is not compatible with your marine ply.. which is pretty impermeable. wood runners fixed to the inside of each rafter along its whole length Ok see that you are doing. But you have structural problems in terms of the edge distances of you fixings. 25mm marine ply fixed to runners and joists sitting flush with outer surface of existing rafters Now marine ply sounds great.. but trying to drive a long copper nail into this is not that easy.. ask an experience slater. Again it may be ok in the main body of the roof.. but you are going to have massive problems at the edges and any roof lights / service penetration. 35mm Steico tongue & groove woodfibre sarking Ok.. if you follow the manufacture's fixing detail. vapour and air open waterproof membrane Ok.. for now. ~8mm "heavy" slates with 75mm+ stainless or copper annular ring nails, two per slate centre & off-centre to prevent rotation I would not slate this way on you job, rather I would adopt the traditional route. In Scotland as we do a lot of traditional sarking we do one nail in the head, every third course cheek nailed in the main body of the roof. This lets us maintain the roof easily. Commonly in England the slates are fixed to battens. I think I can see your design intent.. but I very much doubt you can get anyone to build it dilligently. TYou design has technical flaws. In summary.. my advice is to say "I had a good go" but let pragmatism and budget cost prevail.

When this is only a bit more expensive than Cat6 and comes with LSZH and outdoor rating I'd go for this. It's about 15p per metre more than standard Cat6 (from the same shop).

IMHO it very much depends on your ground type. We managed to get our footings dug and filled last October, any later and it wouldn't have happened. The ground where we are building is clay and once wet is like porridge, it soon dries but once dry is like stone, you certainly wouldn't shift anything with a shovel. It has started to dry out now and already has formed a pretty hard crust, but, as I found out today when i walked where I shouldn't have, I got completely stuck with wellies nearly overflowing, the only way out was to release my foot from welly and with the help of my wife get out of the mire! I'm hoping that by the end of April we will be able to get on with the build but that is very much dependant on how much rain there is going forward. So, as I said, depends on your ground.

You'll be saying the same thing in 2030.....

Thats extremely likely to be Copper Clad Aluminium (CCA). Keep away from that junk. You want solid copper or don't bother! Decent quality Cat 6 is fine for 99.9% of domestic usage now and foreseeable future. Anything above that is like spending 500% the going rate when buying a SCART lead back in the day, because it had some fancy marketing.

😂we've got quite comfortable in our static caravan

£43 seems extremely cheap. Here's some options for comparison: https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/store/cat6a-network-cable/cat6a-cable-reel-box/ I'd recommend using Cat6a rather than Cat6. Difference won't matter in most cases but if you want to run 10g or HDBase-T (HDMI over ethernet) then it might make the difference on longer/noisier runs and the price isn't hugely different. I think cat6 will work fine for rs485 over the distances involved in a house.

You need new plumbers!!!!!!! Have you asked your insurance company if you're covered for this? You need someone who will be proactive here, and cut the studwork out in 6" sections so the screws for the rear wall plasterboard will pull out without hurting the rear wall, IF you want to retain just the plasterboard to avoid decoration? Again, insurance should cover this and the entire wall coming out, decoration, everything. It's dogshit lazy plumbing. Is the shower valve being replaced?

This has to be a simple one but cat6 UTP for 1/10gb ethernet and RS485. On ebay a box of 305m white is £43.85. Is this poor quality? I'm just running Ethernet around my house build, nothing specific. I know cat6 isn't really RS485 impedance but at low data rates I think I'll get away with it. trying to save money on everything but I don't want to buy cheap from ebay if it is fake/rubbish. Any thoughts?

TL:DR Get them to do a basic heat loss calculation. And have a look at the current bills. Without even basic data, it is hard to recommend anything really. Though A2AHPs are cheap to buy, install and run.

How are your lungs? I would not like the idea of 'boxing up' that much mould. As I said before I don't like the other alternative (treating with effectively chlorine bleach) much more. Get shot of anything with a hint of mould on it and splice in new.

Be personal transport as a service, which is where much of the software world is going. Someone will come along and design an open source system that complies and is repairable.