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I did the Ecological Building systems approach in my 30’s semi detached, and it’s made the world of difference. No draughts anywhere, and a warm floor in winter. Highly recommend.

Have made a model of a lattice with Costa Coffee stiring sticks.

Electric boilers have always struck me as the most stupid idea. Why heat water with direct electricity in a big box and then pipe it to rooms via pipes into radiators? If you are going to heat with direct electric, just fit panel heaters. WHY the complication of an electric boiler? And most installs of an electric boiler just use a direct heated HW tank with an immersion heater, the boiler play no part. It would be just as absurd to use the boiler to pipe heat via an indirect coil to a hot water tank. The only electric boilers that make any sense are electric storage boilers and only if combined with something like an E10 tariff so you can heat the water at cheap rate and draw it at any time to heat the house. I suppose the only good point is having the pipes and radiators there, then there is a chance of relatively easily converting to an air source Heat Pump?

Built a rough staircase today. I needed a better way of getting materials upstairs. Next step is to take the windows upstairs ready for fitting.

Something like this:

10mm PROCTOR Spacetherm® Silica Aerogel STRIPS - 2400mm x 280mm £35 Yeah i got my calculation of how much it needed and just kept going until the tin was empty, which was almost bang-on 3 coats. Each coat took around 6hrs to put on... Video incoming. Not a huge amount but it must have turned into something else when it burnt as it didnt even leave a mark on the inside of a very thin beer can box. No beer was harmed during the making of this video. Setting fire to things

Just for Info for anyone still considering switch. I just switched from Octopus Agile to Tomato Lifestyle (battery, although we don't have one). I modelled my usage data for Jan before switching. For 896.376 kwh consumption in Jan Octopus Agile actual cost was £213.69. Tomato cost based on agile usage data = £133.80. Saving of £79 for Jan alone so... I did the switch via the tomato website. Switch took 5 days, was very smooth, no issues for us so far. 1st day on Tomato and we used 29.432 kwh - cost £3.30. Previous day on Agile we used 28.22 kwh - cost £9.20 Hasn't been many cheap days on agile last couple of months. We have a heat pump, no solar, no batteries and we try to load shift and use the ASHP over night when cheaper. We have underfloor heating in screed so we 'charge' up the slab over night and also now in the cheaper slots on Tomato which is 9:30am to 11:30 am as well as from 10pm to midnight (14p). No battery for storage or anything either so, if we did have a batt it's be cheaper still. Our kwh has gone up from around 30 to 33-35 but our cost have come down from anywhere between £7 and £9 per day down to £3:30 - £4 per day. Hope that helps anyone in a similar boat. (So far so good for our switch from octopus agile to tomato.)

yeah, ground it clean, primed it, intumescent painted it and then eggshell over the top. Probably one of the most long-winded jobs ive ever done in my life as its over 8m long and exposed on 3 sides. Here is a pic of it after the intumescent.

i had something similar, i think. I used a strip of 10mm aerogel and then boarded over the lot, that section of wall isnt any colder than any other so i guess it worked. I did notice also that once i had painted the main beam with intumescent paint its no longer cold to the touch, no matter what the temperature outside so i guess that has some thermal properties also.

I go with the PIR encasement, simply boxed against it. Thinking long term. This will be hidden away for ever. Don't be tempted to use mineral wool as it will be lovely for any rodents to live in if they ever find a way in. PIR will shrink , but it isn't a big issue. Sticky tape will fail in time. Use wire bands as ties. Bitumen paint the steel first, just in case.

If you have the funds Go for it You will only have one chance to do it You can always use it for something else if you are not using it much To be fare I can’t think of a better place to put a Cinema roof Or a home gym

Hello all. I'm renovating, or more precisely completly rebuilding, a 300 square metre house in mid devon. 2 years in, about a third of the way through. Also currently building a garage /workshop in the garden.

I've called off the hit

We have Vent Axia Kinetic B Plus, all supplied by BPC. Fitted by myself. Overall happy with BPC, I probably would not spend any more on a MVHR system than necessary as simple bit of kit. It runs at 30% unless auto sensor from bathrooms kick in. Think you need a manual boost switch in a WC, our BC was very picky about it being signed off by an"expert". Do check volume as well as sqm as our unit was undersized

None - we still heated to the same temp - just got there quicker on scheduled heating slots and didn't drop off a cliff as soon as the heating went off. Looking at data from before insulation at similar OAT (around zero Deg C) All the main ground floor rooms we would lose about 0.7 to 0.5 deg C per hour After insulation around 0.25 to 0.20 deg C per hour So taking one room as an example heating went off at 10pm at 20 Deg C room temp you could pretty much expect it to be around 13 deg at 8am next morning After insulation you could expect it to be around 18 deg C Takes a lot less energy and time to get a room from 18 to 20 than it does from 13 to 20

We have now been in the house with MVHR for a couple of years. We had manual over rides for boost and sensors in the MVHR unit. During winter humidity levels are so low, even after a shower boost is never needed. Sensor for humidity is in the hall, humidity this afternoon was 39%, after boiling veg and potatoes for tea, humidity jumped up to 40% (1% difference), after an evening shower humidity up to 40.5%, 30 mins later back to 39%. Boost not used or didn't need to start. MVHR flow rates are set lower than building regs

I serviced mine recently (completely different type) It was the little tiny rubber pad that part of the mechanism closes on to form a seal that had worn. Of course it was impossible to replace the little rubber pad, so I turned it over and re fitted. That of course just kicks the problem down the road until the other side of the little rubber pad wears out then I need to try harder to find one.

Comes with age that...

The front plate usually pushes slightly to One side or the other in order to remove. Hope that helps.

I ended up removing the wall and putting up all new and plastering it but this time I got vents in the wall to stop condensation and so far all good 😁👍🏻

This is the letter content supplied by our heating/plumbing contractor: To whom it may concern. I hereby certify that all internal drainage on above project have been subjected to successful air tightness test using Bailey gauge and have been found free flowing. Pressure held above 38 after 5 minutes. In was in the pack of various certificates etc provided to BC and we had no comments back about any of it.

Envirograf are my favourite too. The original owner was a proper boffin who experimented and created lots of niche objects such as fireproof cat flaps. It's great when a small company can survive against the very big companies. How much did the stuff expand when you torched it? A story: I once handed about 12 pots of intumescent paint to a professional painter and told him how far each tin had to go in length of wall, and why, using as many coats as it took til it was gone. I think I even laid them around the room to denote each area. Only then could he apply the top coat. I thought that was easier to understand than using a depth comb. Did he understand? 'Yes, I know all about fireproof paint'. Next day, he proudly showed me that he had managed to use only half of the paint, and I could take it back 'it's expensive that stuff'. Never overestimate the intelligence of your workers. It can be inversely proportionate to confidence.

Perhaps they're trying to hurry you along. AFAIK that's not correct, with the Government increasing BUS funding to £295 million for 2025/26. https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/grants-and-loans/boiler-upgrade-scheme/

probably sod all difference, but im always willing to try new tech and it seems to do the job i want it to.

i used Envirograf in the end, after Rawlins said i couldnt apply the paint myself. Jason at Enviro was extremely helpful all round, did the calculation for me, said i could paint it DIY and when i asked about the topcoat he said, and i quote "If you are going to use your own top coat Paul we advise doing a small test area first to ensure the top coat and intumescent is compatible." I did the test and it was fine so cracked on. For what its worth the topcoat I used ended up the same cost as a tin of paint from Enviro. Once done i got the certificate, gave that to BC with photos of the job and it was signed off. This was about 3 weeks ago and the whole painting process is something im trying to forget, but may never do so... I tested the intumescent on a carboard box with a blowtorch, this stuff actually works.

Last time I checked anyway.... Check the spec for this. Intumescent paint is moisture absorbent, so needs a special, expensive, sealing coat, which can be coloured. Eggshell over that is just decorative, but shouldn't replace the official seal coat...not without checking the properties anyway. I've never known a bco check intumescent paint spec or thickness*, and so I'm sure a lot of instances receive far less thickness than is specified, and/or no sealing kit. *(Happy to get an official looking piece of paper from someone. I wonder if that is 'orders' not to get too involved.)

Thanks Nick - the 1650mm would be the height just for the sunken area for the pool! I would have to crawl into a room if it only had 1650mm ceilings. Option 2 would have ceiling heights of 2300mm for a cinema room.

A cinema room it depends . I wouldn’t want one because our basement lounge area has 120” screen with projector and surround sound . So without being a purist we get that ‘cinema’ feeling ( no back seat naughtiness ) . A basement could be a gym / games room also . Is it worth it ? . I always think a pool occupying internal space would make a resale more difficult. Whilst a ‘room’ which could be anything appeals to more people . Sex dungeons don’t have too look intimidating.

Just (expletive deleted)ing glue it.

Love the on the fly illustration!

3 years ago I would have agreed with you and said insulating under the floor was a lot of work for little gain I was very wrong - in my house it made a massive difference and along with a few other improvements halved my energy usage for space heating

Rust. The chances are low, the severity low, but you have one opportunity and it is cheap and easy.

I'm doing something similar in our hallway, because there's the stairs, an understairs toilet and stud walls built on top of the floorboards. Having spent way too long trying to figure out how to lift the floor, the pragmatic outcome is to lay an airtightness membrane over the top of the existing floor (and lap it up the walls), and then lay a new floor over the floor like you've done. In this house the membrane is needed, because the previous occupants did exactly what you did, but the cold air still whistled out at the edges and around the skirting boards

CH and UFH both worked no issues this morning. Only obaervation I have from the diverter valve is that some of the pins in the diverter kit where slightly longer than the older ones. The older ones may have worn slightly and the system become accustomed to this over time, then the subtle change with the newer ones cause whining with the water pushing through. Still looking to replace, but just in case anybody ever gets a similar issue

We didn't have any additional sensors or switches installed. For us, running on the low speed setting with automatic humidity sensing turned on, on the unit works very well. Standing next to the unit, you can hear it change up a gear when it senses a high level of humidity. If you are concerned you might need additional sensors and boost switches, you could always hide the wiring, so you could add them later. Are you planning on opening widows in your bathrooms? We have a couple with skylights, these clear very quickly. One en-suite has no opening windows, we should probably have had one in there. That one takes about 30 minutes for the steam to clear but we do have a massive Hansgrohe rain shower head in there.

Our gates weren't on the PP, and we had them half installed and full invoiced a month before our VAT reclaim timed out. We paid the installers VAT, and added it to our receipts to claim back with their invoice. It wasn't one they asked for invoice copies etc, and they approved the claim. That being said electric blinds and garage doors which they did ask for invoice copies etc they bounced and said we shouldn't have paid the VAT, recover it from the supplier.

Crumbs, that’s a toughy. Would you still want them if you had to pay the VAT? I think we moved in here before final sign off and continued to collect receipts till sign off then put them in en block. We were fortunate not to have anything queried. I guess you could demand your supplier zero rate them. If, when their overpaid accountant looks at that their reaction might be a useful guide. Cheaper than paying a tax accountant for an opinion.

Can only answer Q1, we use our cinema room all the time - it's the main screen, we hardly ever use the lounge.

..do what I've just done for a client with rising steel columns which are exposed externally and internally, which is to bond Marmox boards to them. Even if it just 10-15mm it'll kill the cold bridge pretty effectively. https://www.protilertools.co.uk/product/marmox-multiboard-tile---shower-backer-board--choice-of-size-?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAtsa9BhAKEiwAUZAszX4ebPdNBF3SV58FmCOrszr1VvIk-Kl56JF44R-c_219F_0ONBT6ExoCmPkQAvD_BwE Fill any gaps with foam NOT mastic but these can be cut with a track saw etc very accurately.

The best and easiest way is to use 50 mil MF stud Fix to the floor and ceiling Dont make contact with the steel

What you do has to comply with current regs, as you are making a change So outcome could be, a treatment plant to replace septic tank, located in a suitable location.

I've just joined this group hoping to learn lots of useful information from those who know so much more than me!!

at the very least, reducing/ chamfering that row of tile under the flashing is required.

Chances are you’ve got a plasterboard tent then especially with how much air flow you are getting through your sockets. it’s very hard to resolve this once it’s been fitted, you can try injecting flexible foam behind all around the perimeter at 100mm intervals, but it’s not easy to get a perfect seal. either wet plastering the walls or having a properly airtight service void is the only true way of resolving this, but it would mean removing all of the wall boards and starting again.

As I previously said, and also said by @ProDave. These windows have been fitted incorrectly. I stand by that. I have probably fitted in excess of 20 of these windows. The bottom flashing needs to be higher than the tiles below. These windows have been recessed too far into the roof.

Next time it is leaking, as soon as the rain stops, open and inspect the edges of the window If the bottom frame is wet then the corresponding tracks of water should be present on the bottom edge of the window which would support the hypothesis the wind is blowing the water in However, if the sides of the window are wet and the water is running down the edge and collecting at the bottom then it is most likely the window cover parts (well it was on my velux which had the same damp spot under bad weather)

It's just maths, and not an issue with your currently installed equipment. The amount of water you are consuming, between each event of 'recovery', exceeds the capacity of the system that you have installed. Yes, fit a bigger system and the problem will go away. Simple maths but remember the "gotcha" which is that it is illegal to create a negative pressure on the incoming cold main supply. A prosecutable offence, no less.

I was an estimator for years. As a contractor you have to get it dead right or you lose the job or lose money. Waste is not acceptable.OR accept iinevitable table and allow for it. A bill of quantities by another party is a start but can be too generic....or have errors. In it's simplest terms a builder looks at the work and either 'feels' how long a job will take, or calculates by other means, or a combination. Some aspects are well documented. How many bricks per m2? How much sand and cement, and so on. It is all highly skilled. Sometimes it is a gamble. Waste is discussed above. A bricklayer supplying the materials will have negligible waste. Free supply and they won't use a bent one, pick up a dropped one or save half bricks for the next use.....and then they fill the skip. It's a huge subject so needs to be more specific if there remain questions.