jayc89

Upstairs windows done. Need to find a builder to change the openings for the downstairs ones to go into now. Seriously starting to consider doing that work myself too, finding a decent builder who has the understanding and appreciation to work on older properties seems a real struggle around my area.

Not any close ups but you can see them in the full-house shot in the thread I linked to.

AFAIK your sub-base has to be graded as there is a certain specification it has to adhere to, so I wouldn't have thought it would be as easy as relaying the rubble you've dug up, but it should be useful for non structural use cases (landscaping etc). FWIW, I used recycled MOT 1, which is essentially crushed concrete, but done in a way to ensure it complies with that specification. This is how I would lay a slab next time -

I cast my own cills in situ last week, which looked very similar in dimensions. You could; - knock off all the loose stuff - screw a few short lengths of steel bar into the broken section, using epoxy resin - build a mould around the cill (I just used a length of 4x2 for the base and 3x2 for the sides and stuck a length of draught excluder in the mould to act as a drip groove) - mix up concrete, pour and float. Cover with something overnight and you should be good to knock off the mould in the morning. No idea how much it would cost to get someone in to fix it. I struggled to find anyone, possibly because I was changing windows too, but I suspect many these days would be trying to persuade you to take the window out and replace the whole cill.

I used 600s when battening out my external walls. 400s for all internal stud work.

Doable. I've done it. We were lucky that we could get a micro-digger and dumper into the house to make our lives easier. I certainly wouldn't consider it in a house that was being lived in though, it made a right mess. If I was to do it again though, I wouldn't use screed, I'd use the conc as the finished floor, tying UFH to rebar in it, which should also save some depth.

I've used Bond It guns before. They did the trick. The ones I have now have larger nozzles so those attachments don't fit on it, which is a pain.

Does that prevent it from drying out, I assumed the stuff down the barrel would still cure and cause a blockage? I'm use a mix of MegaStik, Expanding Foam and FM330 at the minute so don't have enough guns for can types!

Our Architect said a 100mm cavity with 90mm Kooltherm is now the minimum, although we will be going for 150mm cavity will EPS beads blown in. Very similar in reported u-values, but I'd have more confidence that the beads have provided a better covering.

I have 2x cans of Soudal foam gun cleaner, both spray when I use the little attachment they come with, but neither discharge through either of my 2x foam guns. I have some dregs left in a Screwfix NoNonsense cleaner can, which discharges through my guns fine, so I don't think the guns are at fault. I did get the Soudal cans at the same time, so presumably from the same batch, but find it hard to believe both are duff... am I doing something dumb?

I plan on doing this for our extension, when I looked into pricing last year, there was very little difference between it and the cost of material + labour for the bricks to fit batts as they go. Plus with this method, you don't risk gaps etc (the companies I spoke with also do a few inspection holes to confirm a full fill).

We have 2 bathrooms, downstairs W/C, utility and kitchen and ran 32mm MDPE from our meter (I think it's a 1/2" connection at the water board's side of the meter, but could be wrong on that). We plan to add another en-suite soon but so far it's holding up well. I haven't tested our supply flow/pressure since running the 32mm, but previously on our old 15mm supply, it was pretty poor, around 11 LPM, 1.1 bar working pressure, 3 bar static. I suspect a lot will come down to your internal pipe design. The 32mm MDPE changes to 28mm copper at our internal stop lever and then reduces down to 22mm at the MultiBloc valve. From there we have a "spine" of 22mm that we tee off as and when we need it; 15mm to the bathrooms, kitchen and utility, 10mm to the downstairs W/C. Bathroom W/Cs and basins use a 10mm supply (as the basin's aren't massive), 15mm for the bath/shower. The only run we continue in 22mm is to the master en-suite where we enjoy a more powerful shower (15mm in the family bathroom is fine, but 22mm in the master en-suite provides arguably the best shower I've every been in). We have washing machines running, toilets flushing, up to 2x showers on at once, and the only time I've noticed a noticeable drop in water pressure/flow is when the master en-suite bath is being filled at the same time as the master shower being used.

How wide are you cavities? I'd get up to wall plate, fit cavity closers and blow it full of EPS beads (drill holes from the inside, then fill and plaster). 150mm cavity should get you well within building regs. 200mm cavity should see you reaching PH numbers.

Yeah, internal face of a solid brick wall. I suspect I could bond a length of 25mm PIR to the back of the wood and screw through that so the wood because internal to the thermal envelope?

I'm using fixing brackets when installing windows, I unexpectedly had to install steel lintels over a couple of openings. I now have a ~ 30mm gap between the brackets and the bottom of the lintels to fill and secure. What's the best thing to do here? Screw a batten to the lintel and attach the brackets to that?

All sorted. With the old, wood, lintel, I was able to screw the window blinds directly into it. Now there's a chunk of steel there instead, which I plan to wrap 25mm PIR around, what's the best way to refit the blinds?

I have vertical battens at 600 centres (screwed through insulation into brick) and have been fitting my PB horizontally so the boards cross as many battens as possible - lets me get plenty of screws in and less flex across the board. Only place so far I've fitted them vertically is a couple of walls in the downstairs w/c that I purposefully made 1200 wide.

Turns out there’s another lintel above the one I want to replace. I assume the one I’ve just discovered is the original as it’s much bigger, I plan to leave that one in place, fit my new box lintel and build up between the two.

So a couple of Acrows and a length of timber supporting the ceiling as close to the wall as possible?

Hit a bit of a snafu whilst replacing our windows. When removing the wood surround from one of the windows I noticed the internal cill was bowing downwards at one corner. Turns out; 1) The existing internal wooden lintel isn't long enough (only rests on the brick by approx 2" or 50mm) 2) 2 courses above the wooden lintel is the remains of the old timber sash frame 3) Between the two is a mix of nothing and rubble 4) And of course, there's no angled lintel on the external side of the wall either... From speaking with Catnic, I know that I need to replace the lot with a solid wall lintel on the external side and a box lintel behind it (internal face), but I'm worried that the remains of the old timber sash frame is reaching the top of the external wall, probably only 3x courses from the wall plate. The wall is load bearing, 2x king post trusses rest on it. Structural opening is 1200mm x 1500mm (WxH, so 1500mm box lintels needed), room width is 4.3m and height is approx 2.5m. Should I be trying to support the brickwork whilst replacing the lintel and building back up, or using acrows and some lengths of timber to support the ceiling whilst I do it?

Just a cheap Titan SDS drill, which snapped my latest 200mm bit and a Dewalt XR 18v combi which I've chewed through a handful of smaller bits using. I've almost certainly had it set too fast. What's a typical "number" for drilling through masonry using a combi?

This is what I did, more out of luck than judgement. What's the benefit, acoustic?

Looks like they have a 200mm CYL-5, ever used one of them?

Yeah, SDS. I used a Dewalt for one room and to be fair it was pretty good. Came to use it again and the end snapped clean off after a couple of holes! https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-extreme-2-dt9517-qz-sds-plus-shank-drill-bit-6-x-260mm/582TH?kpid=582TH&ds_rl=1244066&gclid=CjwKCAjwxr2iBhBJEiwAdXECw7keiBT42GK2b5LcTYbVzPPt5bY_S-wfrz1zmyikVSRA4pqwgacjjhoCrYYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I'm going through masonry drill bits like there's no tomorrow. Mix of fitting windows and battening out for internal wall insulation. Bricks are hit and miss, some incredibly soft, some, darker (near black), that are rock hard. 6mm bit, 200mm (max working length). Any recommendations?