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Couldn’t find one to quote as we have overhead wires which prevent crane use. Besides, I’ve an impact driver. What could possibly go wrong?

In that case I would have expected them to build the inner leaf first and then set the insulation boards clipping them tight to the inner leaf. How exactly are they fitting them at the moment? In my view they should be foamed to the inner blockwork, to eachother, around the wall ties, the foam trimmed and then all joints and exposed edges taped with foil tape. I've never seen it done though.

Have you read up on the bloke on here with the extension that just will not get warm, and looked at all the issues he has. read it and get a good grasp of what is right and wrong. pretty painted walls and nicely fitted architrave doesn’t make a good building.

Yeah I know I was agreeing with you, and sharing my experience to back it up

Insisted deposit being paid on cc. Relatively short timescales between final payment and delivery so 🤞. So far co. Have been great to deal with, did a lot of pre- work with us even before order.

I've got half a dozen books from when I designed and built my own house. I don't use them any longer, so if some or all are of any use to you I can send them to you. If you donate a tenner to BuildHub that would cover P&P. The titles are:- Building Your Own Home by David Snell The Green Building Bible 4th Edition Volumes 1 & 2 by Keith Hall The Green Self Build Book by Jon Broome The Energy Efficient Home by Patrick Waterfield The New Autonomous House by Brenda & Robert Vale

Think what is going on and I said this on another post today is Installer knows you really don't need radiators in bedrooms when they are above a heated area in a new build, well insulated house. But to tick a box they are specifically specifying a high flow temperature, to allow smaller radiators. The installer and architect have basically said that. Reality is you run UFH as you would (no mixer hopefully) the radiators just tick away at UFH temp. Not really doing much, but everyone is happy(ish). Room upstairs take secondary heat from below anyway. Many state on here you just don't need them in bedrooms.

I'm assuming that the brickwork in this pic is the external skin and the blocks are the inside? If so then you've a 10mm+ gap between the insulation and internal skin... Cold air will circulate through this, negating a large portion of the insulation. I.e. it'll be cold. It's needs to be rectified.

As you should! 🙂

I'd have thought the opposite, certainly financially. No massive deposit to be paid up front with stick build and you could avoid a crane too if you were able to lift a few timbers

Kingspan will direct you towards their own products and have a habit of playing fast and loose with some of the specs. Tragically this has included some of the fire tests too. Ubakus is free when you make an account and you can choose genetic materials. https://www.ubakus.de/en/r-value-calculator//? What are your aims for the wall. What kind of U value do you need? Are you stuck for internal space. Pics/sketches would help.

link to the blocks with 0.09 U ? aerated conc are crap for air tightness and the normal ones are 0.15U still a fail for regs.

If it’s a large build then definitely look at those vids on YouTube, he’s doing an excellent job on a massive farm barn.

I know that feeling. I eventually went down the path of what I can do well. Plasterboard - no, too heavy, walls ok but not ceiling. So got someone else to do it all. Joint Taping, the same. Electrics - no Second fix joinery - no. Roofing - no, likely to kill myself. Windows - no one company does it all Everything else was fair game.

This is why my advice at design stage is build a house with a warm roof and all insulation and air tightness following the roof line. Lovely warm loft and no bother with lots and lots of detailed air tightness at the junction between a warm room ceiling and a cold loft above it.

Yes as Nick says, recessed lighting. also for the MVHR ducts. The intello airtight membrane is fitted to the underside of the first floor ceiling. Once the plasterboard goes up, each penetration of it for the lights and ducts breaches the airtight boundary. So the boundary has to be extended to include these fittings. 6 MVHR outlets and 7 recessed light fittings in the wetrooms. Now i know why the TF company left a pallet of Noggins for me. Thanks Nick. some are better than others. The long runs of the Intello sometimes run more true that others. That is difficult to do on your own. Love my Dewalt stapler though

We’re buying a kit and putting it together ourselves (meaning joiners who, unlike me, have done it before). In my mind I’m now thinking that I’ll be present (maybe even trying to help but actually hindering?) when the internal walls go up, partly to ensure the tony trays are put in but also to pop a strip of VCL in place vertically against the inside of the external panels to give a continuous airtight layer. Need to think that one through.

Brinkley’s self build bible was my go-to book

Ah, this was my "before" photo of the thing before I adjusted it, in case I needed to put it back. Now fully anticlockwise

The good news first. Roca have been very helpful in identifying the replacement part needed. Their film of how to dissembleis slick and quite accurate. Not so good : it needs a new inlet as I have identified that it doesn't close off and apparently it isn't cleanable. And I dropped a bit into the tank.It's a plastic spigot that the front plate screws into. Value about 10p. But the tank is so narrow that I can't get my hand in. If only they made the tank an inch wider or the part floated. And roca have gone quiet on the part number. I might end up bodging a way of fixing the plate on. I've been several hours doing this and now starting again. I wonder if a typical plumber would have known what to do. Moral....beautifully made but impractical. The next house is having exposed cisterns and that is my advice to anyone.

You're specifying a warm roof, so no ventilated void, therefore the quoted post doesn't apply (unless I've missed something).

Yes, that's the way it works. The same for window locks too. I had an alarm and windows lock on my last place but chose to say I had neither on my insurance application. I missed out on a small discount, but had the reassurance that I'd still be covered if I forgot to set the alarm / lock every window.

Here is the problem. I have heard 'stories' from people who got broken into but the alarm was not activated (daytime, or just you were in a rush etc). Insurance null and void. Zero pay-out whatsoever. Basically, after declaring to your insurers you have a kick-ass alarm with all the bells & whistles, (so give me a discount please, which ain't enough to take the family out for a Nandos), you are then FECKED as without EVIDENCE via the alarm log that the alarm was activated when the break-in occurred, your NOT COVERED! Insurance companies are tossers on a good day, so to hand them the keys to the city and help them get off the hook seems madness. I would much rather have an alarm, undeclared on my insurance so no special terms applied, and then have that monitored or just alert my phone etc. Good news is, that if you are "done over" when you simply overlooked this minor thing, eg to turn the alarm on, if you don't declare the alarm then you're always completely covered.

Oh, and the suggestion by whomever that quick set mortar and the most porous block known in the universe should ever meet, needs the aforementioned padded cell. Just plain fecking ridiculous tbf!!!

Why do you need to pay the architect anything? Also, your structural engineer should have no interest in such a minor and inconsequential detail? I assume you have no desire to DIY this and have been 'hands-off'? This would be a multi-visit, in-situ repair tbh, but the work is very simple to do. It's down to how much sanity you have left of course, and easy for me to preach. 2.5 years for a 6 month program is just about the amount of WTF that would break some people, so good to see you still seem in control and not have not yet confined yourself to a padded cell . Just for safety sake, prob best to remove at least the most easily accessible sharp objects though, eh? lol . If you don't laugh, what other options are left? Nobody's going to be deprived of life if you go with the architects solution, but there is a better way and I thought I'd mention it. If you can find someone to facilitate the works, I, (and the other helpful folks on here), will be more than happy to help as much as is possible.

This is not "advice" but mine (different make design) came to a dead stop against a flimsy plastic pip and maxed out at barely 60 degrees. Turning it a "little" harder the pip broke off. I then turned it further a little each day noting now hot the cylinder got before it cut off. I stopped at 75 degrees. If you try anything similar, entirely at your own decision and risk.

There's more to consider with MVHR too. 1. Noise from outside. 2. Filtered incoming air 3. Heat load ( how big a boiler you need) 4. The stability of the internal temperature. 5. Drafts. 6. Insects in the house. Hard to put a more accurate price on these. However as I posted elsewhere recently Airtightness and MVHR are far more important than extra insulation so perhaps they might be a better place to trim if you're really stuck for cash.

You may find that diverting more slowly will let the tank absorb more heat before the thermostat cuts out by letting heat dissipate better in the tank. I have a grid limit of 8A/2kW set for my Eddi (immersion and heat battery downstream).

I'd go anywhere from 2250mm to 2400mm (the latter being the average standard ceiling height), 2100mm is the standard door height.

MVHR is one of the best things I did, wouldn’t like to live in a house without one. Self installed for less than £2k.

I have these oak veneer doors throughout, mixed with tiles, laminate and carpet floors. https://deantawood.co.uk/products/internal-doors/oak-doors/galway-interior-oak-door/ Personally I would avoid painted doors whether factory or DIY as they show marks.

A few years ago there was a spate of cars being stolen around our old house. People broke a door lock and came into our kitchen, but the alarm went off and scared them away, so a small piece of anecdotal evidence there. On the other hand, neighbours across the street were on holiday and people broke in. It took them less than two minutes to silence the alarm, search the house for their car keys and drive off. I caught it all on our Ring camera, but could only see what was happening and not identify anything specific. Discussion with neighbours then ensued. Everyone wanted a high tech and expensive wa to protect their cars. This was ridiculous in my view. The best way to stop burglaries is physical protection. If they cannot get in or see anything worth stealing they will move on. Certainly here, mos burglaries are to get car keys and the simple solution is to put you car in the garage. We have been doing this every day for years now and had no further issues. I just could not persuade people to do this instead of spending money on more exciting, but less useful high tech solutions. Maybe it is best to think about how to increase security and what gives the best cost benefit. 1. Physical security - Locks - After our french door lock was broken, I was surprised to find that an enormous percentage of burglaries involve lock snapping as had ours. We replaced all our locks with higher quality locks where this could not happen easily. This cost just a few pounds per lock and the mind boggles that window companies and builders do not fit these as standard as the extra cost on new doors and windows would only be a few pounds. A total no brainer. Laminated glass - Again, a very high percentage of burglaries involve broken windows. My parents were broken into by simply chucking a brick through their patio doors. All of our windows are laminated. I consider this one of the best ways to prevent burglary. It would be quite hard to get into my house or already replacing windows. Great if building a new house, too expensive otherwise. You can add film to existing windows to the same effect, but this is not that easy. Lights - The data you attached suggests that security lights are a cheap no brainer. LED lights now mean that you can light up your house quite cheaply and easily at night. We have dawn to dusk lights on permanently. They can also make it look like you are at home, up early etc. Again, a cheap no brainer. Secure your car - Garage, bollards, gates etc. A decent percentage brurglaries are to get your car keys. If you car is in the garage or behind bollards or a gate then they will move on to an easier target. It could well be free to put your car away, it also stops it frosting over, keeps it cleaner etc. Total no brainer. 2. Alarms These probably are of minor deterrent use, but the key thing is do people actually use them. We had our alarm on when broken into and it scared them off. Today our alarm is app connected and very easy to set from in bed our when out/ on holiday etc. I can turn it off when on holiday if someone wants to check the house then back on. I feel that using the alarm is key and that the right kind of system today makes using the alarm much easier. Monitoring etc need not be expensive. We have a wireless system, professionally installed. The lack of cabling makes the install match cheaper. Monitoring and servicing costs £250 a year. You get part of this back in reduced insurance. However, I would say that monitoring is only useful when not at home and the main deterrent factor is that the alarm wakes you up and scares off burglars. The reason I think insurance companies like to see you pay for this is that it tells them the alarm works and you use it. People are more often than not at home when burgled. 3. Cameras. I have CCTV cameras, but I am very skeptical of their worth. The reason for this is that most burglaries occur when it is dark and that you cannot identify people in the dark on a camera. Similarly all it requires is putting on a big hood to cover your face. I have them so that I can monitor what is going on around the house and for a bit of a deterrent, but I consider other things much better security. I think a Ring type doorbell camera is probably better than CCTV as a lot of people will try your front door to see if anyone is home and to see if it is left open. 4. Don't be overly flash with easy to steal stuff. Much as this smacks of victim blaming. Putting loads of expensive stuff on display is very tempting. Again the evidence you posted shows that burglars look at risk/reward. What do most people have of value in their house that could be easily stolen nowadays. TVs have collapsed in value. Maybe laptops. Jewellery, watches, cash etc are much higher value small items. If you show off these things it increases the chance of being targeted. Similarly if you have an expensive car, put it in the garage. Why would you break in to a house to steal a car when you don't know if it is even there. You car is likely worth multiple times anythignthat could be stolen from in the house. In smart many kinds of physical security cost next to nothing to massively reduce your chances of being broken into. Not flashing your wad of cash and wearing your Rolex everywhere would also help, but is probably not relevant to most people. After this cameras and alarms are more expensive with less incremental improvement, but the combination of multiple approaches will likely make you safer. To me an alarm is relatively cheap compared to the hassle and distress of being burgled.

There is a gap here due to the insulation from a cross section pushing against this piece.

Steady on. There are squirrels on site and they aren’t my favourite (and at my advancing years and my tinnitus i have of course pin sharp hearing. Honest. )