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yep, a big air-lift.

Is it the same way that cheap fish tank filters work? The air lowers the density of the surrounding fluid and it then rises.

Every day is a school day ?

Good to know, esp at half the price of a Bora

Difficult one. Politely enquire with builder if one was put in. Check with architects details if one was specified. Check how the works were described. Be sure of your position first. Did the architect overlook specifying it? Did the builder miss it in the specification? However, both should know that a cavity wall tray is always required in this situation. Its usually part of my submission to building control (along with pad stones etc when required). Good luck. Marvin

You can buy retro fit cavity trays: https://www.google.com/search?q=retrofit+cavity+trays+installation&oq=retro+fit+cavity+trays&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0i10l2j0i10i22i30.9944j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_WuyKYP23FYCFhbIPpYaw0AU15 Beginning to think its a multitude of possible answers but water entering the render running down inside the wall and no cavity tray, will, for my money do it.

What is the internal finish? Plaster straight onto the old render or a battened cavity and plasterboard? How quick does the damp appear after it rains? minutes? hours? or days?

Intersting. Mine was blocked on the pipe intake. Indeed, several times before i got it right, though i suspect there was a build up of sludge around the entry as a result of lack of flow. Sadly, when i did get it emptied i wasnt there. One of my bubblers has never worked, (3 in mine)and i missed the opportunity to find out why. BCO was also of the view that the integral sampling chamber didnt qualify as such. He still signed it off though. Edited to add, does your return pipe not have an opening along the run where it got blocked?

Elica Tesla switch induction hob / extractor in . Only tested it - but works like a dream ! The extraction works very well

Doesn't @NSS have solar control glass? Can't think of the name but seem to remember it's mega bucks!

External gable wall becomes internal wall in extension. Was a cavity tray installed above the flashing?

What has been used to seal between the render and the top of the flashing on the wall? Can you grab a close-up?

We have external motorised venetian style blinds on east aspect so morning sun is reduced. Velux external blinds on east & south roof lights. They both work great. Big sliders on west aspect so external blinds would not work so well and it's less of an issue so I have linen panels clipped to a tensioned wire which act as a translucent shade. Have considered pergola etc but surprisingly expensive. Did notice this in CostCo which may help... https://www.costco.co.uk/Garden-Sheds-Patio/Garden-Structures/Gazebos-Pergolas-Conservatories/Yardistry-11ft-x-13ft-34-x-4m-Cedar-Louvered-Room-with-Aluminium-Roof/p/1333257

In my experience tradesmen want to do what THEY want to do or believe should be done. Not what you want. Step away from anything mainstream and it gets hard. Im STILL, after 4 months, trying to get someone to tile the floor using specific waterproof products. (it floods). Nobody is interested. They just want to use the products they like (which are not suitable). At this rate, i'll be doing it myself!

I sit and have a coffee with a recently retired brickie. Talk about living in the past and refusing to accept new (as in the last 50 years) building practices. Quite worrying that.

We costed up solar control glass. Brise soleil worked out much cheaper. Being in Northern Ireland, outside air temps *rarely* go above the low 20s, so cooling by air purging will do the job. We've gone for triple glazed units throughout, Inc the 4.6m bifolds.

Doesn't building to a high standard really change your perspectives? Instead of 250mm thick insulation along a 1200mm strip, I'd have a mere 150mm. Unnaceptable!!!

I totally agree with you, Brickies seem a law unto themselves and its too easy to get a bad one, or more.

Had often thought of using a Brise Soleil type system for cutting out the peak summer heat on normal glass, letting in the sun when the sun is lower at other times of the year to warm the house, rather than cutting it all out by coating the glazing.

...and this is the reason we're planning to use ICF. Bricklayers have been a major concern of mine and the very reason why I refuse to be bound to them. The exterior walls are the most substantial part of and planned build and that I would feel so out of control of if we didn't build using Timber or ICF.

I have a south facing conservatory and opted for “solar glass” in the roof, you can hardly see the tint but it reflects glare/solar and the figure of 70% rings a bell.

what are you using as a floor finish? It would look so much neater if the floor finish continued over the EPS to door

My car has blacked out rear windows. Hardly notice the difference when looking out. Left is the dark side.

The void under a timber floor should be ventilated so yes to insulation. Both floor and pipe.

The lintel will still require at least 3 inches of brickwork to rest on and you can only remove those two rows of bricks below it, that lintel looks like wood from the picture, is it? If so you should replace it with concrete or steel. If that is the case make the opening as large as you want by moving the lintel upwards.

Probably for the unnecessary legionella cycle.

Why does this ceiling need to be airtight? For sound attenuation, the walls will make no difference. It is the sound vibrations from the floor above that you are trying to minimise. You also need to avoid flanking sound through gaps between the ceiling and the wall, which is what the mastic and plaster will do.

No cement deliveries in the NW - Lancashire . But 2 BMs tell me they are flat out and wont deliver now til Friday of next week.... Why oh why oh why did I sell my Landrover and trailer? -

I think I'd just put some 1.2m stock netting tight up against the hedge. I don't think anyone could reasonably argue that it needed permission, and it would stop animals escaping.

That would be my interpretation. Covenants are tricky things though. They have to be written just right or they cannot be enforced. There is even a difference between positive and negative covenants.

An internal ASHP or waste heat recovery ASHP can only really heat a hot water tank. ASHP technology takes a lot of air and the small amount of heat from it. To do that, you need big fans and big condensers and a lot of airflow. The smaller ones will give you 2-3kW heat at most, some even less.

And one of the ones to sell - looking pretty good to me.

Time flies - even through the winter. Anyway - nice to get the scaffold down. And what a terrible winter it has been to be standing in a field on the Fen!

Yep The boot is on the other foot now Trades are in demand The last five years have been manic I’ve enough work in till August 2023 The large sites take preference over one off jobs Find a Brickie and show him some love ❤️

@jack can you get a local metal fabricator to make them for you? I’m sure it would be way cheaper.

After some digging the answer for those interested is that they are the same product.

Great idea and all very doable. They make fantastic spaces / volume at a realistic cost. Couple of points or so. A steel portal frame is a different animal from standard domestic construction. They tend to sway about more. When the wind blows on the side of the building it sways sideways. When you get heavy snow the roof flexes downwards. This is called horizontal and vertical deflection respectively. Very generally on an agricultural type portal frame the limits Engineers set on deflection are slacker than those used when you have finishes on the inside that are attached to the frame or brickwork say on the outside. Some cladding manufactures also specify deflection limits for cladding as if the structural frame bends too much it over stresses the cladding fixings, your roof leaks and voids the warranty on the cladding. For example on an agricultural building with a column height of 5.0m you could set a limit of column height / 100 = 50mm allowable sway under the design loads. If you have a house you probably want to reduce this to below column height /300 or column height/ 500 which is ~ 10 – 16mm. Much better for your internal finishes. If you are having one end as a barn (agricultural use and the other end as a house then you either need to decouple the two or maybe consider designing it all for the more onerous deflection limits. If you are comparing prices for portal frames always ask what deflection limits the frame is designed to. Legally all frames need to be safe (not fall down and kill people / animals) but the deflection limits are more flexible. If you ask for this information you can compare apples with apples in terms of cost.

and what? if the house has spiders, that's a good thing.

I was discussing this recently with my American cousin, he tells me over there they use close cell foam on a roll as the air tight layer at the sole plate. https://goo.gl/images/AKgyYH

"I'm just going for an outfall"...it's got a ring about it.

Sorry misunderstood the title ...

Ahhhhh no, don't do it, the Cold Bridge Police will nab you.

Pretty much yes ... also cures colds, flu`s does the dishes and picks the kids up from school

In other words, formaldehyde concentrations are already lower in the world outside China. And the author is also lazy enough not to specify which national standard has been exceeded and where it was exceeded. Lazy, possibly self-interested, sloppy thinking condensed into a couple of sentences. Fake Noos! (How I miss you Donny)