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Looks hopeful. Can't wait for your later update.

I've not used them myself, but AFAIK they have good vapour permeability; I'm not sure about moisture buffering. However, for a standard ceiling you normally wouldn't worry much about moisture so, if I had spare cash I'd choose to upgrade the insulation instead, by using either flexible wood fibre (e.g. Steico Flex) or hemp (e.g. IndiBreathe Flex). Both of these handle moisture better than synthetic insulation and also provide a much improved decrement delay (non-technically = resistance against summer heat). Hemp edges ahead of wood fibre for moisture handling, while wood fibre edges ahead for decrement delay, but not a big difference. Don't hang the light fitting from the plasterboard; you need to fix it through the plasterboard / wood wool board into a joist, or into a nogging fixed between two joists. 9.5mm is OK if your joists are no more than 450mm apart, but it will be a little less robust & have a little less fire and sound resistance. I'd choose 12.5mm unless cost is a factor.

Pre and post pandemic is a different universe for large construction projects, cost inflation has been brutal. There is, unfortunately, a lot of fake news around, like the recent loud protests in certain newspapers that the cost of net zero is £7tn. A figure that is deceitfully incorrect - the cost of net zero in the paper from which the £7tn is dishonestly derived is £380bn. Not trivial, but very different. The question is which generation source is the cheapest going forwards, given we need new generation, and it is probably pretty similar for renewables and gas taken as a system. What is not included in that cost and is arguably the most important factor is the uncosted effects - polution, climate change, funding of dictators and wars, volatility. Pick your poison. Oh, and an interesting point that is usually ignored is that given the highest cost generator sets the price for that slot, when considering the system costs of renewables you should account for the fact that if we didn't have renewables the electricity price every day would be much higher as it is the most expensive generators that it is kicking out of the mix. When you look at "gas prices" https://eciu.net/analysis/reports/2025/marginal-gains-how-wind-is-pushing-gas-out-of-the-power-market-and-cutting-costs I don't believe this is correct. Wholesale prices yesterday were around £100, that price will have been set by gas generation. I think you might be quoting the price of gas as being around £55/MWh. CCGT efficiency in converting energy in the form of gas to electricity is around 60% so that gives a price of £92, then there is the cost of the plant doing the conversion so that probably takes you up to the £100. This is an easy mistake to make because it is a favourite technique employed by media commentators who know better but for some unknown reason choose to mislead.

I just didn't want to poke the bear if that makes sense. I asked building control and he said it wasn't applicable but I'd like something in writing from them just in case?

Just had a chat with building control and double boarding could be the best option I agree, thank you

Will fully update later but have a guy here now from same company whose first question was "who did the service?" Embarassing when I said same company you work for but different guy! This guy seems to know what he is doing been doing it 27 years. Expansion tanks just needed pumping up which he has done and DO NOT need replacing.... paid 50% deposit on the basis they said they needed replacing and guy is going to sort with office. Is sorting that leak (pic I uploaded with the leak from the bottom of Gledhill tank) which he noticed right away. Will explain other stuff later on....

We have 3 of these at 1800k each, plus 6 spots behind at 4000k (3 in background of picture) The 3 bulbs are adequate for us. I think 3000k strip LED would be fine

Who is providing the guarantee? Internorm (the 'kit' supplier) or the fitters? If, as I hope, the former, then they should inspect and sort.

Instead of the standard pendants over the kitchen Island with easily changeable GU10 bulbs, we are instead installing a single rectangular LED bar. This has to be ordered yesterday but first we need to decide bulb colour because it will probably be difficult to change in future. The plan is to have 3000k lights almost everywhere else, so some warmth to the colour, but is 300k too warm for task lighting over the hob on the island, where 4000k may be better to see if my baked beans are boiling? Never had an island before and we have a combination of bulbs over the broken hob in our current rental pad. What do people on here like to have over the hob? 3000k or whiter?

The access you have is not really a constraint, for a large crane yes, but 6m beams or UC’s are unlikely to be more than 300 kgs which isn’t a problem to deal with. Mini cranes or even spider cherry pickers with lifting attachments will access very tight spaces. I think your real question is what would you prefer ? . Aesthetically and disruption while work is ongoing.

Heat output is governed by mean floor temperature or mean radiator temperature. A heat pump that can modulate down to match heat energy required and not cycle, the target flow temp will always be lower as it can run steady state. So to deliver a mean flow of say 30 degs with a delivery temp of say 32 and return of 28. A cycling ASHP no matter how minor, to deliver the same mean flow temp will have to operate a higher target flow temp to compensate for the periods when the compressor is off, so CoP takes a hit. Also data table assume steady state running not any cycling. So do not take account of any energy wasted reheated cooled down components. But as previously mentioned, if a oversized heat pump has a suitable depth of modulation your only hit is capital costs. Which could be in the thousands as everything becomes bigger to accommodate the increased flow rates and electrical loads. Which aren't the dominant use case. The coldest days are the few and more average 7 degs days are the many.

Hi all, I’m planning a loft conversion and would really appreciate some practical input from those who’ve dealt with steel replacement and logistics. My structural engineer has confirmed that both of the options below are structurally acceptable, but I’m keen to understand which is likely to be more straightforward and lower-risk to execute on my site with restrictive access and a nearby tree. Option A Replace the existing steel beam above the ground-floor kitchen/utility with a larger beam that can support the additional load from the new cut-timber loft structure (see below). Option B Install two new ~6.3m 203 UC steel beams at second-floor level on either side of the stairwell, to keep the load central and avoid the need to replace the beam in the kitchen/utility. Site constraints Access to the site is restricted. The only access is via a circa 2.7 m wide driveway running alongside a retaining wall. There is also a large pine tree at the front of the house, which limits lifting options. Steel is required in any event for the planned rear single-storey extension, so I’m therefore weighing up whether it’s generally more straightforward in practice to: expose and replace an existing internal beam at ground floor ceiling over 2 rooms, or manoeuvre and lift two 6.3m 203 UC beams up to loft level given the access and tree constraints. I’d be very grateful for any insights based on real-world experience.

I met with the fitter yesterday and he dismissed my concerns about the gasket on the fixed pane. The slider gaskets are all concave and very neat and uniform, while the fixed pane is convex and horrible looking. Fitter told me its a different gasket on the fixed pane so I think I'll ask internorm directly.

Just to make you feel better the person fitting our solar battery anf just drilled right through the garage wall and popped off a chunk of our new (and difficult to repair) moncouche render......he dud confess straight away.....

The seals on ours are the same any thankfully no waviness either.

Spraying krend is fast, one day of spraying covers two walls, then the naxt day scraping and spraying. With this weather, my nerves are left in tatters 😬

I don't know EPS200, so I don't know for certain whether it wouldn't 'suck' at all in adverse conditions. XPS definitely doesn't, though, AFAIK.

Call them it’s that easy. then get an exemption form.

Ah! That's different to mine. We trowelled on and textured (plastic trowel, flat, 'rolling on the aggregate beads') almost immediately, so the 'visual test for 'patchiness' ' was done as we went along. Edit: So as not to mislead, ours was not K Rend, but another, not dissimilar, product.

Get some EPS200 and wedge/hammer it down until it hits something solid. Make sure you don't block any ventilation for the floor. Foam it in place with illbruck FM330. Trim the top of the EPS flush with the top of the joists. Stick the plywood to the top of the EPS with stixall or CT1. Apply masking tape to the door and floor before you do this as the foam and sealant will be hard to clean off.

No, no cover. Rain and frost at night. Renderer seems unphased while I would have put it off until wamer drier weather. But that would have been April 🤔 and renderer wants to work. Checked on site this norning and everything looks good, but I wouldn't know bad render from good if it looks the same. Thick frost on the roof, renderers scraping below 🤞

We live in our 200m2 self build that we built in 2011, it’s ICF with triple glazing and all the usual bells and whistles. For the first 14 yrs we heated the downstairs UFH using E7 electricity, last September we had a Vaillant 5kw ASHP fitted. We have no heating upstairs. It runs for 7 hrs per night on E7 electricity, the house is maintained in around 20.5-21 c downstairs and it’s around 19c in the bedrooms. On the really cold days a week or so ago when the temperature was less than zero all day and as low as -8c at night we ran the heat pump during the day using power generated by the PV system as it was very sunny. The annual operating cost is next to nothing, the annual maintenance will cost more than the electricity. The installation cost the BUS grant and we had to pay about £900 on top, we used a local(ish) firm recommend by Vaillant who are also Heat Geek Elite installers. We couldn’t be happier with our install, and I can’t really see how it could work any better - it does exactly what it says on the tin.

Can you share the data tables you're using please? But I think it's also useful to have a clear understanding of what exactly you mean by oversizing. By how much, proportionally are you proposing oversizing is more efficient? At the beginning you gave an example of almost 100% (6kW - 11kW) now it's more in the order of 40%. This distinction is important I think.

Also the toilet cistern becomes a heat source. But Legionnaires' might be an issue

Yes, Vaillant seems to currently be the go to standard bearer of heat pumps at the moment, whether rightly or wrongly. You won't get a 7kW Vaillant for half the price. Being in the trade, I may be able to get £1k off that price for me through a wholesaler only dealing with trade, but as with any business I have to have a margin on this and I have to negotiate for every job. So the price I'm putting here is more likely what you would pay, even if you buy direct off a website as in these case in retrofit, you'd have to pay VAT and all those prices above are ex VAT. You can get cheaper units but often they come with short warranties unless you're one of the manufacturer's 'pro' installers where you can then give up to 10 years in some cases - that process comes with its price too. Given the shopping list above, you can probably imagine the time it takes me to order and co-ordinate delivery of all these things as a one man band - I have to cover my time somehow to maintain a viable business. Yes, go through your costs very carefully before committing - it's amazing what is commonly overlooked by those who are not in the trade and then comes as a nasty surprise.