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Thought I’d write a quick review of my experience with Baskil windows (NI) As I already had my windows for the house all I was ordering was an external fire door (with an FD30 fire rating) for between our joined garage and the house After I confirmed I wanted someone to call out and measure up the opening, someone was out in 2 days time. Then as soon as I paid a 50% deposit, the door would start to be made. After my initial payment I was told that the door would be ready to be installed in 2-3 weeks later. After about a week and a half to about 2 weeks (can’t remember exactly), I got a call to see when it would suit me for the installation guys to come out and install the door. I agreed on a day and on that day I rang up the salesman to get a more exact time which was given to me. He rang me back an hour later to let me know they were running half an hour behind which is fine (I get annoyed when companies tell you a time and you are waiting and they don’t let you know they are running an hour or 2 late). Although I wasn’t there, I was told the door was installed in less than half an hour and the installation team were friendly. About 3 or 4 days after the installation, someone from their quality control team came round to check the door and make sure the install went ok Overall, I am happy with the door and the service. Just thought I’d write a quick review as in the past I’d heard about them having a bad customer service which is the opposite of what I found (although obviously mine was a small order) Going to write a few other reviews for other companies I have dealt with during my build process though waiting until I have received everything from them and made my final payments to them. If anyone has any questions, feel free to post up or pm me.

At long last we are starting. 3 months late but at least the weather has improved. Spent all week excavating the slab base. 4 days of digger hire, 260 tonnes of muck removed, 80 tonnes of type 1 brought in. Mbc are laying the type1 as the slab has a ring beam around the outside so it needs to be built up first before the main base is laid

not acceptable, and one of the reasons i'm going for blown cellulose even though i would have been fitting the insulation myself had i gone for rigid simon

Weve got 140mm frame and since the pir (supposed to be 140mm) is rather variable in actual depth we have some places, well quite few actually, where it sticks out beyond the frame. Never again will I use 140mm pir in a 140mm frame. Lot of pain to come. That install looks like a bodge.

Any reason for 2x70mm vs 1x140mm? It is more expensive and more labour surely. Also more cuts and joins.

Seen it from a decent sized tf manufacturer here before. Probably not ideal.

Do you think that these are the offcuts from the layer behind?

Looks pretty crazy, but if one of the layers is in a single piece I doubt it will make a great difference. The gaps seem fairly small. Liking the mixture of brands (Kingspan & Recticel?) If it is like this for more than 15% I would say no good. On the upside they have reduced the amount going to landfill.

Check your components before assembly.I didn't So I have done some basic plumbing to get some water on in the house. Except when I turned it on, no water came out, not a gurgle, not a drip. I start worrying my incoming pipe has a major problem. What I have connected is so simple it can't possibly not work. Can it? So I crack the nut on the input to the stopcock, yes there's water there. I crack the nut on the output of the stopcock, not a drop. Take the stopcock out for inspection. Spot the problem...

nice work! The updates are brilliant as a resource for anyone else doing this in future.

Nice casting from what looks like good brass, sharp machining... must be your plumbing skills!

Sorry, is it like this everywhere or just in a couple of sections?

The short answer is, no, it's not acceptable, but it is probably as good a standard as the builders know how to build, and almost certainly better than a lot of mass-produced new houses. Right now, there will be convection through all those joints which will reduce the effectiveness of the insulation, and may well introduce a condensation risk as well. You can fix things by going around and sealing all those joints with low expansion foam, and that's good practice with even a reasonably good fit with rigid insulation fitted between studs, as it's hard to get a good seal otherwise, anyway.

Not acceptable. Ian

The abbreviations are right, sorry for not spelling them out - I should have remembered to spell them out the first time I used them in a post (not a bad bit of guidance for the forum, really, to do this). The waterproof gland for armoured steel wire (SWA) are like these; second lot down are the waterproof (IP66) ones: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Cable_Accessories_Index/Glands_SWA/index.html The KMF is right, too.

Cover for an outside tap to stop it freezing.

Ah Toolstation. Poundland for the building trade

Could you.....loosely pack the off cuts in a 2.4 x 1.2m frame and fill the gaps with gun foam?

We have plant pots stood on it in the greenhouse and the floor of my cold frame too. Keeps the soil that bit warmer.

There's some details at the bottom of this blog entry that may help: http://www.mayfly.eu/2014/07/part-thirty-one-its-slow-going-on-your-own/

The ones I made are lined with acoustic foam, the fire resistant stuff that is used to line studio walls. It's not that thick, around 20mm in the dips and maybe 60mm at the peaks. It did make a very noticeable reduction in the sound level, though. An additional thing that helps is to make the silencer so the internal volume is as large as you can get, as this not only helps to reduce the sound by itself, but help by giving a larger surface area of foam that's exposed to the sound.

Curiously, that is what this whole topic is a about every-bodies FLOORS and, wasn't Wayne Kerr also known as the galloping gourmet or am I mixing my metaflaws.

What a fab picture. In years to come when she inherits the house I'm sure that picture will become a prize possession.

If it wrinkled I can look in the mirrored surface and pretend I am 21.

I see they quote a tolerance of 123 to 128mm. Just wondering how accurate their given measurements are? Not that it'd be an issue if it were me, I've had worse from Wickes bought new!

Jewsons have seen me twice in 10 years prob. Once it was for egg mould skirting which I needed regardless of price there and then, and another time where I laughed in the guys face and put everything back on the shelves before leaving in disbelief. I explained I was in the trade and they asked for me to open an account. No ta. I don't use credit accounts anywhere and much prefer to pay for my stuff as I order it so I can agree rates AS I purchase, not argue after an incorrect bill arrives 30-60 days later . A word with the area Rep sometimes helps but the lines of communication are often crossed at best with anyone you don't use routinely.

Never had anything like that. What does annoys me consistently is their pricing - I was told having a credit account would let them 'set' prices on my account, but if I don't order through the regional sales guy, I never get the 'best' prices, despite me telling the branch what that is. It's such a basic fail - their lack of transparency around pricing is their biggest fail in my eyes. My price for 45*65 is £1p/m but when i needed an emergency order frmo the branch over Christmas they charge £1.20, despite me telling them what the rate should be. It'll get fixed but it's a waste of my time.

Yep, I see your point. And unfortunately as I said they do not take on main contractor role for extensions anyway. The cheapest quote I have looks better and better. Although when I add insulation, roof, windows, rendering etc. it is still scary.