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I'd always assumed it was down to Kevin McCloud

Ooooooooooo ! I like too much !! https://www.pocketdoorshop.co.uk/downloads/10mm-Glass-Doors-Pocket-Door-Shop.pdf

So they win/ I lose?? that's a feeble copout ProDave. never. this is -exactly- what this wretched bullying me is aimed at doing too no less (& anti-english 50% of it). Its my 1st house. You recall how attatched you were to your 1st house? Ive waited 25 yrs to get a 1st set of keys thanks to damn property prices in england -& Im nearly 50- I love it more than you'll ever know as a result. theyre 70 so, no instead I wait until they die 1st.

Sorry to hear that mate, I think you are privileged the old bill turned up,I have heard of areas where they just give you a crime number over the phone. They all need their fingers cutting of with a pair of secateurs, then give them no benefits and let them starve to death on the streets. Utter scum.

I start our roofing tommorow. We have mesh to install as per @Visti describes, although I have no eaves foam fillers, just a closure piece to allow a ventilation gap.

Where is the meter ..?? If it’s accessible, turn every tap off watch it carefully - most are now designed to count at a litre at a time and will soon show flow. Next stop, a 5 litre bucket under a tap and check it does exactly 5 litres into a bucket. Process of elimination will show if it’s a leak or faulty meter

I’d be looking to upgrade them to the self balancing ones. They are are an extra £5 and basically will sort the flow and temperature in one go. Well worth the extra.

Yes, it is closed, and it opens when it is energised. that is normal.

Mr @zoothorn what are you going to do when it rains when you are getting the timber frame put up, there is nothing you can do to stop it raining in this country, if everybody stopped and waited for it to be sunny nothing would ever get built. Your concrete will set perfectly well even with 50mm of water sitting on top, it is a chemical reaction not dependent on having sunshine on it to make it go off. If these builders are local they will be very used to your crap weather and will deal with it accordingly.

Anybody else think mention of the Venturi effect is a complete red herring here? Just in case this isn't obvious to anybody, 22mm won't provide a slower supply of hot water (in litres/minute or whatever) once it's run through to hot but it'll take longer for the water to get hot at the tap when you first turn it on, compared with 15 or 10mm pipe, simply because there's a greater volume of cold water waiting in the pipe which has to be run through and replaced.

We've battented and counter battented with standard treated battens, 38 by 25mm. I guess you could place instect or rodent mesh along with the first line of counter battens to your structure, with your foam filler stapled against the counter batten and topped with mastic tape, ready for when you install the corrugated on top... It'd probably be only a little bit of extra effort, but I can imagine installing the sheets on top of that will get quite faffy. Win and rain has been the main concern for us, the insect and rodent issue hasn't been. Our roofers, architect and building control haven't said a thing about it either

I had a very good relationship with our builder, and I am sure if I had discussed with them my concerns about the weather, they would either say don't worry it will be fine, or they would re schedule. I would not expect them re scheduling to increase the cost in any way. It is in their interests that the foundations are correct.

@Carrerahill I can't possibly even ask re. resheduling let alone get onto the yard re. the ratios.. its just not my jurastiction. I am the client. Only once they've built will I jump in & do inside work, but this build is 100% not +me involved from their build/ work pov. If I were to get onto the yard.. how do you think my builder will react?! he would go absolutely fkn mad & I'd ruin the good relationship I have with him. Ok I wasn't concerned before but now I am again. I am now absolutely fkn furious with whoever called the police & stopped tuesdays cement.. maybe they even saw forcast & this prompted the call/ the sod husband was an architect + their cunning xyz together at me over 2 yrs now has been SO damn clever/ calculated, as much as its been atrocious. I havent the money, or the resources, the know-how, the dare, or time to go & buy & then put up covering tarps over what 20 sqM? its impossible.

My window company/installer was adamant that they only ever use expanding foam and not the tape but after a discussion they came round to my way of thinking so the installation included the cost of the expanding foam tape. They put expanding foam on the interior side above the sliding doors (expanding foam tape on the exterior side of the doors) and when the technical guy turned up from Internorm the first thing he said who has used expanding foam there even though this was not the reason he was there. The problem with Internorm and some of the higher end companies is that they specify the way the windows/doors should be fitted (but not so the customer will know if it is right or not) and if in the future you have a problem with the product and it is not fitted exactly to standard then you will have a whole load of trouble. Not only did we have trouble with the standard of the installation but we had the wrong type of door fitted for the location it was fitted in. When you query the whole procedure from a customers point of view you just get that the installers/fitters/desiners are supposed to know what they are doing and have been trained to do so but how are we meant to know what is an acceptable standard. Windows for us has been a nightmare. Do not under estimate how much the airtightness tape costs either.

Is the hot supply from a hot water cylinder or combi/mains pressure, and cold from water tank or mains pressure. The only reason I can think of why he's done that is cold is on mains pressure?

People think you are supposed to use 22mm for hot as standard because they didn't understand the logic behind it on old non-pressurised tanked hot supplies. I still see people immediately reach for 22mm pipe when they are doing hot water piping even though they are on mains pressure via combi/sealed tank. So my guess is ignorance?

Perhaps !!!! (The proof is the missing "-ly" on that "wrongly".) /pendant

The thing to consider with windows is that, if you agree supply only then as soon as they're dropped on site, they're your responsibility. With a supply & fit, any damage, poor fitting etc is back on them for resolution. We had some very large units (2.2x4.5m sliders) that were being moved round site on straps via a tele-handler and slid in-between scaff poles with a few mm to spare on either side. All went well and they used proper compriband & airtightness tapes (which we obv. paid for) vs a squirt of LE foam here and there. We also did a lot of joint planning upfront to ensure that we'd have a flush transition between the sliders and the finished floor levels inside (and outside) plus making sure the frame could accommodate the hidden boxes for the blinds etc.

Why the need to produce water at 70’ (apart from charging sunamp,s). @ProDave and I are happy producing water at 48’ and find the losses from our (slightly larger) DHW tank acceptable (losses are only true losses when the heating season ends).?

I'm currently in talks with a few people to try and reinvigorate awareness of the possibilities for such devices in the domestic sector, and to get the CO2 ASHP's into the stock piles of the various manufactures / suppliers. Slow take-up at the moment as it's considered uber-niche. Good to hear Vaillant are on board. I am trying to find some stray units in the UK to go into current, ongoing projects, where they would "do just nicely".

Internorm, the product is fantastic but the whole experience for us has been a nightmare from the initial order right through to the fitting and problems thereafter. All I can say is do your homework and get the right company. One point we wish we had listened to was people (Window sellers) telling us they had dealt with Internorm but never again as the process and dealing with Internorm was an absolute nightmare and I can confirm this.

Lighting. 2 way or more switching of HALL light as well as landing. My preferred make of switches and sockets is Scholmore Click Mode Run socket cables horizontally around the room from socket to socket, with a bit of slack, then if you decide you need an extra socket later it is easy to add.

I only have experience of Iso Chemie Bloco One which is a similar product. I've never submerged it, but when installed and in the rain try touching it - it feels tacky and seems to repel water. It does not set hard, that's part of the point - it moulds to the gap over time.

Sorry, haven't read the whole thread in detail but we have tilt and turn inward opening windows, and sliders. Not lived there yet as it's a work in progress. We went with Internorm because they undercut the next best by a large figure (which we thought at the time were Norsken for what we we wanted) which made it a no brainer. The windows/sliders seem to be spot on, but it's too early to say definitely. Thats the windows. The installation was a shambles, and it looks so simple. With enough muscle around to lift the things, we're I to do it again I'm pretty sure I'd opt to fit them myself (is that permitted??) We had the installations manger on site. I'm not sure he'd read any installation instructions. Aftersales is reasonable. They will come back and and refit a window vertically instead of at a jaunty angle. They will come back and move a window to the correct position in the timber frame. They will come back and re-do the mastic on all the windows that look like it's been applied by a three year old (that's the ones where they arrive unglazed and the glazing is fitted on site, sliders, picture windows, etc.)

We are having Gaulhofer (on order, not yet installed). Pro’s: ability to supply large pane sizes (larger than Internorm), availability of external blinds, good contact with myself & the architect, cheaper than Internorm, will take dimensions from plan. Cons: still a lot of money (!), occasionally need prodding to get responses. I have heard no complaints about the fitting on here, assuming that goes well I will be pleased. They are due to go in in late November, I will update you after that.

When I lived in shropshire doing up a derelict cottage, I was away for the weekend and went straight to work on the Monday morning only to get a phone call from the police saying my site had been broken into and they think they had recovered my tools. It transpired the police were already on the drug gangs radar, and it was because some of my small tools were ex BT who I worked for previously, they traced me through BT and I got all my tools back. Years later in Bristol I was approached by a “tinker” in a car park of a DIY store who offered me power tools cheap, I refused, went into the store and spoke to the manager who called the police. The chap was arrested as all the tools were nicked and so was his van!!! It felt good to know the scrote was nicked.

Yes, Telford Tempest, PM @Nickfromwales for contact details and a possible discount fir buildhub members. Any losses from the tank only heats the house so for most of the year it’s not really a loss.

Nothing in there for mice to be interested in, if anything the foam closures would be there “go to” on the menu. Spiders and a few other bugs might make a home In there but that’s not a concern to me as they won’t do any damage. My reasoning is that I wanted as much ventilation as possible to prevent possible condensation build up and if and when there was any condensation it would dry out as quickly as possible.

Ventilation is good but wouldn't critters getting under the tin and nesting in the membrane, etc, be less good?

I've steel as with @Cpd and have the foam closures at the top between the corrugated and the ridge cap. The bottom is left open to allow for ventilation, and I should note that they descend into a hidden gutter, so wind can't get driven up.

Looked at Internorm (2 different resellers), Nordan, Velfac and Gaulhoffer (via Ecowin, UK reseller). Spec was alu-clad timber frame, passive standard, 3G with as thin & flat a profile as possible. Spec was 5 largeish (1200mm) opening windows, a bunch of fixed glazing of various sizes, two 4.5m sliders and three external doors. We also wanted decent external motorised blinds on 4 of the opening windows & supplier to arrange install. All the windows were decent enough - Internorm fell on pricing (the latter kept pushing us to uPVC to get the price down), Velfac on the cost & sliders design (couldn't do a 'one door' unit at that width) and Nordan couldn't install even with 6-7 months notice. Only Gaulhoffer reseller could do the blinds and were not far out on cost compared to the rest. Very pleased with the decision 4 years on from install. Didn't like front doors from any of the above so went for a RK passive door from a reseller.

Go to the fishing tackle shop and buy lots of treble hooks, hang them at face height inside container.

I would echo just about all of what Alex has written.

No it is not your fault. It is the fault of the scroats that do this sort of thing. We should not have to live in a society where we have to baracade ourselves in like we are in Fort Nox. Lets hope the insurance do the decent thing and stump up for your losses.

I have a building that faces south west and into most of the incoming storms, I left my tin open at the bottom and open at the top, I then put a vented ridge on and used the foam closures between the tin and where the ridge flashing met the tin to stop rain driving up under the flashing and onto the roof membrane. Air is free to travel up the roof below the tin and out the ride at either end, also I did not seal the joints of the ridge flashings as they have a good overlap and this will allow some further ventilation. Then just for good measure I left a vented gap below the timber sarking / sheeting and vented this out the gables. It’s a glorified shed so probably well over the top but living in an extremely wet environment I wanted to go overboard on ventilation. I have a tin roof on another house but this faces East with the gables facing north to south and never gets driving rain from anywhere but the gable ends so I did not use any closure strips and it works great.

I am using eternit profile 6 sheeting. Rather than foam strips, I have eternit eaves closure pieces which will prevent wind driven rain, but allow ventilation as they overhang the sarking slightly (not that easy to explain).

The answer will in part depend on the make/model of your MVHR unit. As an example I have an Airflow Androit unit. The "boost" is controlled by a volt free normally open circuit. Thus a "bell press" type switch will activate the boost. As I mentioned above I linked mine to my lighting system. A second button in my bathrooms is programmed as a bell press and activates a relay which closes the circuit.

My fault, I should have reversed the digger up to the container doors. The CSI came round pronto - said it could have been much much worse. Police came round, said it could have been much worse. PCSO came round and said it could have been much worse. Son (a local detective) said it could have been much worse. Thats Ok then, I feel much better now. Properly insured - but my last run in with a Loss Adjuster makes me absoultely determined to get the details bang on right. So thats me office-bound for the next few days, compiling a list of what I have and have not got left. I know, I know, I should get a proper problem and stop fussing about details. Its only tools. Advice given: Get a Screamer inside the house Get some PIR lights Dont challenge them, ring 999 and say "Burglary in progress." Hey Ho! Cant take a joke? Don't use power tools.