Leaderboard

Good morning all and thank you so much for all your help. Couldnt have resolved it without your input. I stood my ground, asked for it to be reboarded in the problem areas, screaming match with plasterer ensued, to my total shock he was yelling at me , very unpleasant and point blank refused to rectify so I told him do it or leave there and then. He decided in the end to do it. I was very glad I had someone there with me because I felt really uncomfortable being yelled at by this man. He is now scimming and his comment about being a better plasterer than a boarder rings true. He has some others coming to do the boarding now and he is concentrating on the plastering. I have said I am inspecting every stage before it is passed for scim now. I did manage to get hold of an experienced contracts manager from a large finishings company and he came out the evening before the confrontation and gave me his opinion (rubbish job) so I felt there really was weight to my argument, gave me a bit of confidence. The local area manager from British Gypsum has also been very helpful and I have his direct phone number and he has said any issues with them and the habito he will be happy to speak to them on the phone there and then. He was as horrified as everyone else at those pictures. I am so grateful for all the help. Thank you once again. Fingers crossed we will get a decent job now. Liz

That question is one that will be answered in the not too distant!

Thanks all for the advice, first coat done tonight. A bit honey-like and very wet looking currently... but then it is still wet! I love how it’s brought out the grain though, will give a light sand and another coat tomorrow night.

Well, here's the first go at rendering Durisol for airtightness. I used a 4 :1: 1 (or more) mix and applied it with the only brush that was lying around on the site stillage - an old house broom; There's a degree of sloppiness in the mix that's just right It's a very therapeutic process. Until I noticed I was rendering our car at the same time as the wall. She's going to kill me. (If you are reading this Deb, sorry love. I've got some flowers from the petrol station for ya!)

Yep you want to avoid the cowboys:

I ran the site insurance for another few months and then got a standard B&C policy.

Yep I agree on all counts! Thank you

The daft thing is that the Danish distributor is working in a country with higher overheads than the UK, and yet can still sell the same product for a very much lower price than any UK supplier. My personal view is that the UK supplier is just adding a massive markup because they view their market as people with more money than sense. They aren't selling to the mass developers here, either, whereas in Denmark I think it's probable that more new houses have MVHR and integrated MVHR and heat pump units like this, so there may well be some competition between suppliers there. Here in the UK there is only one supplier of Genvex stuff, AFAIK.

I can confirm both the saving and that HMRC will refund the Danish VAT. I needed to provide HMRC with the exchange rate between the Danish Kronor and GBP for the date that the payment was made, and they accepted a printout from one of the well-recognised exchange rate websites. I also pencilled a note translating the Danish on the receipt to show clearly which element was the VAT. Nice to see the saving is still substantial. Makes me wonder quite what's going on with the only UK supplier. When it comes to replacement filters, I can recommend Jasun Envirocare: http://www.jasun-envirocare.com/ who will make custom filters that look absolutely identical to the Genvex branded ones, for around 1/3rd the cost, with the biggest cost saving being if you buy in bulk. I bought ten filters (five intake, five exhaust), or five sets of filters, from them for less than £100 including postage. The delivered price from the Genvex UK supplier was over £70 for just one set (one intake and one exhaust).........................

VAT reclaim should be straightforward, just enter the GBP equivalent of the 25% in your reclaim form. I attached a currency conversion screenprint to the invoice to show how I had arrived at the GBP figure. The converter allows you to set the date you want the conversion for. https://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/ I did a fair bit of purchasing direct from Europe, reckon i saved many thousands - primarily lighting, sanitary, some glazing and a few other bits and bobs.

I ran into a bit of a problem in the gap between having self-build insurance (massive over-kill when the house is virtually complete and there are few, if any, building site risks) and getting a completion certificate, which was needed for normal house and contents insurance. I found a broker who was able to put together a policy with Sennocke that was essentially a part-completed house insurance policy, originally intended for people doing renovation work. It was about midway in cost between the self-build policy and normal buildings and contents insurance. IIRC, I think I used GSI as the brokers, who were pretty helpful in working through all the cover details that were needed.

I recall this particular one - I think it became difficult to sell and also had an impact on the main house whose garden it sat in. -Sorry for going off topic!!

I've just fitted a 850 high 150mm deep Kappa concealed cistern (no frame) for a btw loo. It has the option of a top mounted flush, so the flush plate would be on the shelf

Fog Cutter Construction Cocktail recommended. If you use the full Fog Cutter, you may not surface until after the PP verdict. Ferdinand

Get a 12" long piece of 32mm waste pipe, a camera, stopwatch and piece of purple fabric. Ask Debbie to hold the camera and the stopwatch. Cut a hole in the fabric and place it over your head with the hole over your cheek. Place your mouth firmly over the pipe and then put the pipe on the wall test patch. On Debbie's count, deep breath and blow hard into the tube. At 10 seconds, Debbie should take a photo of the colour of your cheek against the cloth.... Post the photos on here and we can provide the expert view of which is best based upon the colour differences.......