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https://www.screwfix.com/p/mcalpine-t12a-f-1-bsp-eu-uk-coupler-white-40mm-x-40mm/1358v This might do the trick

Hi all, I’ve been lurking here for a few weeks picking up loads of useful info so thought it was about time I did the intro. I’m RB and we’re just about to start work on our new build project just outside Bath but over the border in Wiltshire. We acquired the plot with existing bungalow 2 years ago and now after two architects, a lot of planning strife and a pretty much bare hands Covid times demolition we’re actually about to start in earnest! The construction of the property is concrete basement and slab topped with a CLT structure. We have suppliers lined up to get us to watertight and then we’re pretty much in our own. Luckily my father (retired precision engineer and wizard woodworker) is project managing and has done a lot of this before so I feel we’re in good hands. My main interest here is the stuff that I’m best suited to tackling - mainly the home automation and interior fit out. But I’ll have other questions too I’m sure around solar thermal and wiring etc. I hope as we get further down the road I’ll be able to help others through our own experiences. cheers, RB

Hats off to you doing a backing coat and top coat - that looks good !

Not heard of those, just had to look it up?. No the jcb does not but the furgy does. A local friendly farmer says the stones are not a real problem (now I have spent weeks picking them up!!) and when it’s drier he is going to come over with a power Harrow to get the ground ready for grass seed. Latest update........ just dug a wildlife pond, for once the clay we have has helped, visiting granddaughter loved helping puddle the clay (and falling over in it!). Been 48hrs and it appears to be holding water, just need to grade the banks .

So now the new kitchen is in, it was time to renovate the room which was the old kitchen in to the first part of the dining room (I say first part, as the second part is going to be in an extension which i'm hoping to build next year). And then the real messy work begins This is the house that keeps on giving! Found two redundant (but live) gas pipes buried in the plaster on the wall I knew nothing about, to go with the other two which have been made redundant over the years (1 for back boiler and 1 for hob). Plumber is coming this afternoon to service the boiler and put a brand new gas pipe in direct to the boiler which will get rid of all of these. There was also a really ancient plug socket which was mounted in the skirting board, I always thought it was dead, but no, its live, and part of the ring main. Well, I say ring main, it would be a ring if another cable I found was actually connected... Picked it up, could see it had some fabric tape wrapped round it, and it just fell apart in my hands. Stuck some Wago's on just to protect it, and when i turned electric back on, both sides were showing as live, so they need reconnecting at some point, but will go into a new plug socket on the back wall. Once the remaining 3 joists are out, i've got a new wall to build to support the new joists, and I also need to relocate the water meter, next to the old cupboard, which is going to be made bigger to house that, and the MVHR unit. The old joists were very bad as predicted, and full of flight holes from the dreaded woodworm, so another room ridded, and I've fully vacuumed under the floor as thoroughly as I could. New joists have come without treatment (despite me paying for treated wood!! Builders merchant won't reply to me since querying it!) so I've bought some treatment which I will paint on before putting the insulation in. Hoping to have the floor down by end of next weekend, just praying that the main stop tap at the end of the driveway will move, it has been moved by Yorkshire water in the last 10 years so I have hope. Won't be able to completely finish the floor til Yorkshire Water have been to inspect the meter, which hopefully won't take too long.

Hi Tony thanks for your input ?

Ask this lad who's the nearest stockist to you for C-tec products: Iain Clark – Regional Manager Mobile: 07736 220165 Email: iain.clark@ct1.com Territory: Dorset, Bristol, Avon, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Wiltshire.

BT1 smooths fine with the Fugi tools as I've said.

Ok so I would bypass the issues and bin it now. It’s average, and I only used it once (like the Everbuild version of CT1 that Howdens stock) and 2/3rd of a tube went in the bin. It’s far too sticky to be a sealant, and it doesn’t smooth well. You will need lots of wipes and Multisolve to get it to look anything like half decent. Oh... and I paid £8... If you need sealants then use Sealants Online as they are pretty much best price if you’re ordering a lot. https://www.sealantsonline.co.uk/product.php?product=GEO4321&category=000200210019

This has been a topic of debate with us for quite a while... cost for visual grade CLT can be pretty pricey and as you say it makes dealing with services tricky. Too much exposed and you can also end up with a look that, in my opinion, maybe suits a ski lodge, or public building but is limiting for a family home. Some people love it though and if you do then it’s a great option - but you also need to be more picky over your ultimate CLT supplier as I hear some do a better visual grade than others. Current plan is to mix wood panelling with plasterboard sections and potentially leave some key CLT areas exposed. Ceilings are going to be plaster boarded and hung so we can run services there as well as in the hefty insulation zone on top of the first floor slab along with a few internal walls that are going to be stud for this purpose. Our architects have done a seemingly good job accounting for all this in the plan and have worked really hard on getting what looks like a good routing scheme for the MVHR and waste etc. Electrics is up to us though - wiring to sockets and light switches will be tricky so that’s why we’re looking at covering certain areas. Will definitely take pics and share along the way...

We have a 140mm timber frame, I filled it with 140mm celotex - dont. Use 130mm because it isn't accuate enough so I had to trim some of them which is a real pain. I tried my best to get them tight - most you couldn't get a credit card down but if I did it again I would get them roughly there, pin them in place and then spary foam them in tight. Air tight barrier then with some 25mm battons as service runs. Most of these battons were infilled with 25mm celotex - so we have got 165mm in total. This summer the house has been cooler than the outside with the windows left adjar over night. Now temps have dropped - it is warmer inside. Far more noise comes in through the windows than the walls. We have got a 50mm cavity with a brick outer skin. Celotex takes a long time to install - not sure I'd bother again - I'd rather pay a few hundred more in heating bills tbh. If I was building panels myself then I would prob use it but still use foam and then some ply to seal it all.

Yeah it was expensive! I did frown . On the shelf price was some like £14.50 I’ll get it for less on account by maybe 10% To make up for the extortion I’ll nick a tube next time . Put it down the front of my trousers . No one would notice the difference ?

PH plus standard requires a min of 6000kwh annual generation and a max energy demand of 45kwh/m².... So essentially energy positive buildings. https://passivehouseplus.ie/passive-house-plus-standard

Just done this during my lunch hour, squared off the plaster ready for joinery to go on, and put a piece of plasterboard up on the ceiling to fill the gap, lines up bang on to the other second layer which is on rest of ceiling, so even though I thought it was 9.5mm board, it must have been 12.5mm.

Hello Mr Punter... Good question - there are of course the usually touted benefits from any pre-fabricated system of speed, reduced trades on site etc, and with CLT the improved environmental credentials in terms of carbon sequestration and air tightness should help to offset our use of concrete in the design... but to be perfectly honest our real motivations are more driven by the feel of the finished building and what seemed to best match our design intent. During our research we found the CLT buildings we visited just had such a great feel to them - solid, warm, quiet and homely.

Looking good.

Looks good to me. ?

I'll send you a couple of recommendations later - you'd be surprised at how much checking the SER engineer will do on the kit manufacturers info (11 pages on the last one I did!) drop me a message with who you're using and I'll remember to get back to you!

That wall done . As tight to the ceiling as I can get . It’s going to be a dog to Mastik . Might find a simple white plastic bead to stick on instead .

People who live in the tropics ... ?. My bicycling friend in Deal (who is in her 60s) spent most of August on the beach or in the sea.

I've loads of self sown blackthorn grown up around our cess pit / septic tank. I've never used the sloes, I know what they're feeding off! They certainly push out suckers and you'll have vicious little ones springing up if not managed. Had to cut loads down just to find the cess pool.

Around here the leaves can stay on until the end of the year, almost as long as the alders. Just depends on the weather.

Yes there are sloes on there every year but not in huge quantities. There are enough for the blackbirds though. For a large crop it needs to grow 2m to 3m tall and untrimmed.

No issues with pipes under the hearth as unusual for anyone to drill into the floor under a stove.

I don;t see any problems with the stone hearth overlapping the UFH pipes.

https://www.stovesonline.co.uk/stove-hearth-size.html Any good? I bought my stove from them and they were very helpful.

Approved Document Part J has the dimensions/rules but they are confusing until you realise that they are different for appliances that can and can't heat the hearth to over 100C, and decide which you are building for. If it can (eg open fire basket) you need diagrams 24-26 on pages 37 and 38. If it can't (eg stove on legs) you can use diagram 26 and 27 on pages 38 and 39. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200135/approved_documents/72/part_j_-_combustion_appliances_and_fuel_storage_systems

That was the plan of the builder who was against gallows brackets. And is perfectly possible as we are ripping the whole place apart at the moment. I think that’s what we’ll go for based on the feedback

BC up here would not pass something that is so obviously only temporary.

Plenty of blackthorn bushes in the jungle. The hedgerow at the front is mixed hawthorn, blackthorn and others. I have no plans to do anything other than maintain it at 6 feet in height and keep it looking full. Looks like I will get a good crop of sloes this year. Plenty of gin needed!

I have exposed areas that I foamed 7 years ago and it’s still perfect, I use foam all the time and love it. Staggered joints foamed and taped is belt and braces.

Blackthorn is very common as hedging in Ireland. It generally won't fruit unless mature and untrimmed and in the right conditions. I'm doing a mix of blackthorn, whitethorn and hawthorn to cover an existing panel fence. There is one along a field near us and for about two weeks in spring it's basically a wall of white flowers.

the grey bits are European sized IIRC.

I planted some bare root blackthorn as part of a mix for gapping up an existing hedge in spring this year. The hot dry spell has taken its toll on the blackthorn, but everything else is mostly OK (hawthorn, wild cherry, Hazel, field maple). Not sure if the blackthorn is more susceptible to drought, or I just got dodgy batch of plants. On the opposite side of the plot I cut back some overgrown straggly blackthorn pretty hard, but it seems to be responding well. It should provide a secure hedge with plenty of interest, but it's evil stuff to work with.

I planted a few as part of an edible hedge a couple of years ago. Its position on the plot means it didn't get the water it probably needed during the worst of the hot periods we've had over the last two summers, so I daren't show you how unhappy they currently look!

+1 to this. Bought a Fischer gun (old model so 1/2 price) and used either Illbruck or Soudal Low Expansion foam and Toolstations one cleaner. Only cleaned the gun every 2 or 3 cans or switching between the foams and it must have had about 3 years abuse until it finally died ..!

Ha ha, yeah. I do that too. Definitely buy a foam gun (and cleaner) - I promise you you'll love it. One thing that might not be obvious is how controllable the gun is as the flow is proportional to the trigger throw.

All sheets foamed together, but I buy better foam than is available in the shops. ILLBRUCK air sealing foam. I wont ever buy a tin of the normal cheap shite again, like chalk and cheese.

Like a sliding gate with no stops, it went off track. Stops are important.

We have a vaulted ceiling in the rooms in roof - we put a small bulkhead (50mm) down the centre of the roof and put LED strips in angled conduit either side - works well.

In that case, could you look at led strips in a wee channel along the spring of the ceiling? The oxter (unofficial term ?) can be quite difficult to get a sweet, straight line on so you could maybe run something along there to hide that join and wash the walls/ceiling with light?

Also watching with interest. I have a large vaulted open plan area with our kitchen and living room there which has a large glazed gable, its SIPS so was easy to be vaulted. I was planning spotlights which are the white type and blend in well, with pendants over the kitchen island to provide task lighting. I was thinking of running LED strip at the the wall/roof interface then you can uplight the vault to create a nice soft effect. I have also seen lots of good things done with the plaster in LED profiles for a quite modern twist. (Neither are what I woudl do , but you could create some really nice lighting with them.

Ours are doing surprisingly well and we’ve already had some of the snowball turnips and lettuce, had to lift all the turnip as their shaws were overshadowing the beetroot so we have another crop of them in and the beetroot should be harvested before the shaws get too big.All the turnips have been wrapped in wet kitchen roll and put in a bag in the veg drawer of the fridge which is what was advised for storing them.

Or have them "Removed "

Why not stick half on with this and the rest with CT1. Like the Head n Shoulders advert!

Have you actually seen your avatar???

You should try the seafood around Dungeness...

To be fair, when I lived in South Hampstead my landlord used to jog across the Heath for a swim every morning, then come back and take a cold shower in the nud in the back garden afterwards for most of the year. If a 60 year old willow-thin Londoner can do it, you lot must really be pampering your doggos. Have anyone got a hot air dryer to make them extra comfy? (But I'm the one who installed the catflap into the shed to keep the cat in its correct place.)

If you use a sarking board and then a modern membrane on top the ecologist can't see the membrane from inside the attic space.... Not that I have applied this approach ?