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Update: We've suspected for a while that we may have more than 1 hedgehog in residence, but have never seen them both in the same image, until tonight. Maybe the patter of tiny feet will entertain us over the next 12 weeks. Note: second one can just be seen in the entrance to Hog House. Cabin_20200323_205035.mp4

Make sure that you don't end up with any impossible to clean gaps. Either butt stuff together and mastic the gap or leave enough room to get something in to clean.

Well that is the Amtico part of the floor down, it looks great, I am very happy with it and considering it is my first DIY Amtico adventure I am quite pleased with myself. I now need to do the cheaper stuff around the perimeter which will be under the cabinets. I do have some photos but don't have the time to email them over and what not, I will soon. So in summary, Amtico is very much a DIY job unless you are going for a complex floor with motifs etc, where maybe I'd not want to risk it, although, if I had plenty spare lengths I might risk it... I would be happy to lay a border with what I now know. So, if you are thinking about it - go for it! I used Ardex Universal adhesive spread with an A2 notched trowel, I used a Marshaltown 4 inch jointing knife to scoop it out the tub and generally spread about the place before hitting the whole area with the notched trowel until I had 100% coverage but notched sized lines so there was room for it to squeeze out into the troughs and not so much adhesive the flooring just starts to slide about. I'd do it again in another room tomorrow, as with most jobs, the time is in the prep, the flooring actually goes down very fast and cuts very easily - if I was doing it again I'd setup a workbench with a "cutting station" on it.

Not Findhorn though our architect is. We're near the Macallan distillery. We had a local joiner/builder build it. He did a fantastic job despite coming across MVHR for the first time.

Hello David, thanks for the reply and I am sorry I kind of ignored your response initially because I simply wanted the sum. I'm a little rusty on bldg regs these days and need to catch up, I still think in 1980s standards. The only constructive criticism I would add to your statement above is that "sick building syndrome" was a big topic in the past and the experts (CIBSE) state typical ventilation rates, for a dwelling, of one whole air change per hour to ensure the pollutants (including the ones less easy to sense and detect including perhaps: COVID 19) are diluted. So seeing fresh air rates, on this enthusiastic forum, of less than one I do find alarming. Yes you can live with it, but are they healthy? Building Regulations' minimum of around 0.43 air changes per hour, demonstrates the thinking has changed in recent decades but that is average. As we know you still need intermittent blast of fresh air for kitchens & utility rooms from a health requirement and WCs from the "wife" demands. These intermittent demand raise the average minimum. Your argument with the guys on here will go on I see, as you try to overturn the converts with what we in the industry call Life Cycle Costs of the different solutions to air control in buildings. One aspect I can add is that Green buildings are seldom a good investment in terms of investment appraisal, so the selling point of Green tends to be the benefits that are subjective or emotional. I have the opinion that unless fossil fuels incur carbon tariffs (methane is way too cheap and competitive) Green will always struggle in investment terms and will continue until we run out of gas/oil and for now it will be up to wonderful Greta & others to persuade us all to change. The main point is you cannot take one function of a building in isolation, you have add it all together and look at the whole answer in terms of costs over the life or the term you are going to need the building. The value (the later is what you are all arguing about) of these things will increase as more people get educated or informed but the infamous estate agent is a barrier to progress on that front. thanks for reading and forget the cost argument it never works.

Any chance you can use the quote function, please, so that we both get notifications properly and to make reading and replying a great deal easier? The simple reason is that much of the air permeability will be through fabric that you cannot easily draft proof. Masonry is inherently quite leaky, for example, as are other elements of the structure. A chat with any builder who is building new houses will quickly show that, even to meet the pretty low demands of building regs, they have to radically change their approach to making the house less permeable by design. Our house, like all new houses now, has an airtight/vapour tight barrier layer over the inside surface of the external structure of the whole house. This is taped and sealed everywhere, including taped seals that connect this internal layer to the door and window frames. It's really difficult, short of completely stripping an existing house back to a shell, to get close to this when trying to improve an existing house. I think you've made your point clearly that for your particular circumstances, with an expensive installation in an existing house, where ventilation heat loss may not be the most significant heat loss element, you do not feel that MVHR is worth installing. That's fine, but many others hold views, based on their experience, which are markedly different to yours, and those views are every bit as valid as your own. The title of this thread is bogus, too, as it is clearly intended to be highly provocative and to create a firestorm of outrage. You knew that when you chose it and that doesn't really endear people to respond calmly, IMHO. My personal view is that the air quality alone in our house is something I would gladly pay a premium for. Not having hay fever symptoms, because the pollen and spores are filtered out of the incoming fresh air alone makes it worth having. The complete absence of condensation anywhere in the house, the rapid drying rate of towels and any washing we hang indoors, and the fact that we no longer use the tumble dryer are all additional reasons for having good ventilation. I've never lived in a house with such good air quality in my entire life, and frankly I couldn't go back to living in a house without an effective form of continuous background ventilation.

So, full lockdown - there goes my concrete?‍♂️ Decision made.

I bet you won't get your concrete (Hope you do) Personally, if you do get the concrete, i would prob stop at that point. If you don't get your concrete then that's the stop point for now.

You will get the same with Ceramic tile Anthracite Code for dark grey

That looks ok to me. I didn't realise there was a shower to the right.

True RAL should be RAL - a lot of manufacturers list a RAL colour but state it is not actually a RAL colour - it's just a close equivalent. Commercially within buildings colours are matched on all sorts of items all the time and although we come across the odd mismatch its usually about bang on - I am confident the RAL system at a commercial level is very accurate. RAL powdercoat and wet finish systems need careful mixing to get a good match between the two systems.

We had similar issue in our WC which also needed to meet part m. Took ages to find a basin that was big enough to wash big hands but not too deep front to back to allow the required gap between basin and opposite wall. Ended up using wall mounted taps and spout which we now like a lot.

Our interior beams were done with Danish Oil 12 years ago. Only maintenance need since has been to remove dust and cobwebs. Floors were done with Osmo. Only had to recoat a WC so far.

I treated all our oak joinery (doors, skirtings, architraves, staircase etc) with Osmo about 5 years ago, and the only thing I've rubbed back a bit and re-coated has been the treads on the staircase, just because of a bit of scuffing from foot traffic. The doors etc all still look the same as when I did them, and probably won't need anything for years, I suspect.

Yep fella

Sub metallic lustre. Or Marketing bullshit bluster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracite

?

At @adam2 asked the question

A bit like the one I finished wiring last week. There is a normal boiler programmer on the wall and next to it the heat pumps own "user interface" When it came to the customer "how do I operate it" I just said you turn it on and off and program the times with the normal programmer, just like you do any other heating system. The other box is for information only and diagnosing if it goes wrong. Don't touch it.

Here you go, that must be about 12m overall in gabions, am standing on the soakaway which is below 2.5m! House will one day be on top of the sandpit! ?

Yes, good thinking. Not exactly sure at this stage as the barn has such a high vaulted roof which I think we'll keep exposed and the utility will be essentially a standalone pod within this space, so might all be open plan whatever we do with doors etc. Certainly a good point though John, thanks V interesting Mike, thanks. Will definitely discuss with our architect. Having a "family bathroom" is a bit old hat in a way I suppose.

Great trademark!