jayc89

Can you walk on that?

Hindsight's a wonderful thing. Ours is/was a renovation which I started before joining this Forum. If a knew what I know now, I would have taken more time when the house was near enough back to brick in the early days to tackle the IWI and airtightness detail. Instead I'm now tackling each room one by one, which is a pain (detailing around floor joists etc). We also made assumptions as to how we would use certain rooms that turned out not to be true. So we ended up with the new boiler in the middle of what's now the office wall, the new water mains coming into the same room, as it was originally going to be a utility room. Switches and sockets not in the correct position etc. Whilst it probably wasn't possible given the other challenges we had (like ripping up the ground floor and replacing it with a new slab), we likely wouldn't have made the same assumptions if we had lived in the house first for a period of time. By far my biggest regret is not addressing "AIM" from the get go. We had such a good opportunity to get it spot on.

If the cylinder is heated to anything above that, how would you reduce the temp coming out of a non-mixing bath tap? I've only measured the temp at our kitchen tap (as it's the furthest away from the cylinder) and that was ~ 55c. One bath's in the same room as the cylinder so I'd expect it to nearly match the stat temp.

I'm doing a retrofit. We have a 150 year old roof which I don't plan on ripping up any time soon. I plan on laying Intello membrane across the underside of the roof joists, taping to the insulation/wall airtightness detail, then studding off a service void for lighting cables etc as to not penetrate into the cold loft, the only penetration we will have is for the MVHR valve coming into each room, which can be appropriately detailed. Standard insulation rolls will be applied between and over the joists in the loft, which will overlap with the wall insulation around the perimeter (whilst ensuring the eaves aren't blocked to allow for sufficient ventilation) Not perfect, but a damn sight better than what we currently have and short of replacing the roof, probably the best we can do.

Managed to sort it. Replaced with a new double switch and all seems well again!

Any idea what make these are? Looks like they could be BG - https://www.toolstation.com/bg-polished-chrome-10a-switch/p10148?utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&mkwid=_dc&pcrid=&pkw=&pmt=&gclid=Cj0KCQiAorKfBhC0ARIsAHDzsltijLHa5U6HK3OkOpz9a8rtPdRr7iHItDcX4MVN5wZQCAnL7xPRsfAaAqZVEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds Which would make sense as our sockets match the BGs too (polished chrome with grey pin surrounds)

Tried again this morning, flicked the upstairs switch on, downstairs lights tripped and now that rocker is jammed on, meaning we have no downstairs lights at all. I'm guessing that's the problematic switch!

The one at the bottom of the stairs is certainly a different form to the others, the rockers are more bulky. I think the Sparky told me that was because it was the intermediate and the standard ones wouldn't fit (but it was a while ago now!) I'll take a look in the morning.

We had a new consumer unit fitted last year, as part of a full re-wire, I can't remember the technical term for it, but our downstairs sockets tripped instantly when I nicked a cable previously. So I assumed the same would have happened if it was a dodgy cable. Would a dodgy switch cause 2x switches to act oddly?

Hallway lights are on a 3 way switch - they can be turned on/off from the front door, from the bottom of the stairs and from the upstairs landing. Today we noticed that the 2x downstairs switches (front door and bottom of the stairs) weren't working, however the upstairs switch was working. Once switched on by the upstairs switched they could be turned on/off by the 2x downstairs switches. This seems to be a new occurrence. I've been drilling holes today (weather comp for boiler and to fit a new MVHR plenum) and I don't believe in coincidences, but this was at the opposite end of the house so I'd be pretty pissed if that was the case. The last time I went through a cable the entire circuit tripped, which hasn't happened with the lights, so it might not be something I've done (for a change!) Any ideas what could be going on?

A hacksaw was going to be my default. I was making sure I wasn't missing a trick, which has been known...

My ducting should arrive tomorrow/Wednesday and I plan to lay the first couple of runs this week. I'm using 90mm semi-rigid ducting, what's the best way to cut it?

When I priced it up last year. ICF + concrete (minus finish) was coming out at a similar cost to having a builder put up brick and block (minus insulation). I don't think there's much in it at all, which is why I'm leaning towards brick and block and letting someone else do the work instead!

I love to concept of spray foam for an all in one insulation and airtightness solution. Like many thinks when it comes to the fabric of buildings, or more specifically older ones, there's a distinct lack of information. Far too much hearsay and "that's how it's been done for years" and not enough data driven conversation. I'll add to the above problem by saying, I hear open-cell spray foam isn't much better for use around wood than the closed cell stuff. I did consider spray foam for my IWI solution, but it was incredibly difficult to find the quantity I needed in DIY form and didn't fancy getting anyone in to do it (for various reasons). I do still plan to use it around a problematic fireplace later this year.

Sorry to resurrect this thread, would you still recommend these @TonyT? If you don't mind me asking, how much did they cost you when you last ordered some?

There are a lot of variables, number of loops, length of the loops, number of zones etc. I paid £1300 for the materials to install UFH in our house (approx 60m2 at 150mm centres). I did everything up to the manifold and our plumber connected the manifold to the boiler when he was fitting it, I don't think he charged any extra for that. We then got our Spark to install the stats, which probably worked out at around £50 each stat. Biggest lesson I learned was that I shouldn't have installed so many zones. I quickly reduced it all back down to a single zone again so the actuators and all but 1x stat was wasted money.

Along the lines of this; Darker bricks being the outer face, lighter bricks the inner face. Inner face having been chopped out by approx half a brick's width. Then insulate, and cover with OSB, to bring the inner face back flush with the outer, concrete screws through to secure the insulation and OSB, before installing the window, overlapping the outer facing bricks and the OSB and fixing the window to the OSB using fixing lugs? Then insulate over the lintel once the window is fitted?

Thanks, these are going into a solid wall, 220-330mm in places, so 150mm lugs should fit fine.

So after the insulation and appropriate airtight detail?

If fixing using lugs, should they be installed before or after, and therefore through, the reveal insulation (25mm PIR)? Before would be easier but presumably that would then act as a cold bridge?

Just retorch? If it’s that old I suspect it will have been done in lime. A bugger for a job, but it’s DIYable

Who knew windows would be one of the most frustrating aspects of our reno.... We really like Rationel but the quotes are coming out at 3x that of uPVC windows I can find online with the same total u-value and I'm really struggling to justify such a significant cost difference for what mainly comes down to aesthetics - at the end of the day we don't stare at the outside and most of the windows will be covered with blinds etc internally... So before I pull the trigger on any order, I wanted to review some quality uPVC units too, not just the bargain basement stuff you can order online. Any recommendations?

So, if I've understand correctly, in a 9" solid brick wall, you would remove the inner brick all the way around the reveal, fit your insulation/boxing back level with out outer brick, and site the frame half on the brick, half on the box (or whatever ratio you like)? Presumably the lintel would need extending 150mm beyond the boxing for structural support.

How would that work on the outside? Wouldn't you see the ply box, so would only work if it was being rendered etc?

Tape your breather membrane to the window frame, stick your insulation to that, run your VCL and tape that to the frame too, like you did the breather membrane, then PB. The thickness of the PB should hide the tape on the frame.