jayc89

Nearest I've been able to find so far are these. Which aren't quite the right size, too buff and are handmade vs ours that look more like a wire cut The hunt continues.

Had our boiler moved yesterday, currently trying to rebalance the UFH as the flow meters were all shut during the move and every 10 minutes or so the flow on each loop keeps dropping to near zero. Is this likely to be air in the loops from the move?

We have one above our wood burner. Took a while to get used to its height as our last one was on a stand, but it's fine now. I believe you should have a mantle between the stove and the TV to deflect the heat, we haven't fitted ours yet and haven't had a problem (yet). If I was to do it again, the benefits of being able to hide the wires and claim back floor space outweighs the visuals of a fire so I don't think I'd have a fire and TV on the same wall, meaning we could mount the TV slightly lower.

Assuming I've used Jeremy's heat loss calc spreadsheet correctly. Walls - 0.35 (internal wall insulation so I don't want to go any lower) Roof - 0.10 Floor - 0.15 ACH - 5 (I was deliberately conservative here as I'm sure there will be problem areas yet to be discovered, but I'm hoping to get significantly below this)

That would suggest it's massively oversized, requiring a 600l buffer Unsurprising really, but a bit of a PITA.

Using the calculator I found on here suggests (assuming I reach my target heat demand of 8kw); - Without a buffer the boiler would cycle after 9.5 minutes - To achieve a 15 minute run, I'd need a 50 litre buffer tank > 9 minutes is not the end of the world, so it's probably not something to worry about right now.

What's the membrane? Is it breathable to complement then insulation?

We currently have 2x zones. Downstairs UFH (approx 520m of pipe, or 62.5 litres of water) and upstairs radiators (7x rads 1x towel rail, approx 40 litres of water, based on the Stelrad data sheet). Both work independently right now and my assumption is that the upstairs radiators will get little use once we're fully insulated and airtight.

Urgh. Thanks. I'd downloaded all the PDF docs I could find but didn't actually notice that drop down. Cheers. I assume a buffer tank will be in order once it begins cycling?

I have a Baxi Platinum+ 32kw. It's already on the large size for our house - approx 200m2 and want to double check that as I continue to insulate and make the house more airtight, it's not going to start cycling. My expectation is that our heat demand will drop to approx 8kw once we're fully insulated (and extended). I can't seem to find the modulation ratio for this boiler, can anyone point me in the right direction?

I'm going to need a new door casing as well, aren't I?

It's an odd part of the house Watching trades try get their head's around doing any work around this area is quite amusing. The 2 brick thick part used to be the cellar (which was only approx 500mm below ground level), which has since been beam + blocked over. The 1 brick thick part was a bathroom on the half landing. We now have a single room at ground level. It's an internal wall, the other side is the staircase, so doesn't need 100mm+ insulation adding.

I have a wall that goes from 2 bricks wide to 1 brick wide half way up a room. I want the finish flush. Can I stud from the lip, finishing the top half in plasterboard and the bottom half in wet plaster direct to the wall. Or is it better to stud the full wall and PB it all? If the former, I assume the PB would need to protrude a few mm from the bottom half wall, to allow for a base coat of hardwall on the brick, before a multi-finish coat across the lot?

I'd sand/cement screed over the foam glass. NHL5 is used for its strength, not its breathability in this situation.

Just received a quote through for some (plumbing) work. Job is + VAT, but there's no VAT number displayed anywhere. The company is relatively young, Limited company so I can see their micro-accounts, which don't suggest they have a turn over to justify being VAT registered. Adding the VAT is another couple of hundred quid - should I ask for their VAT number or just accept the quote if I'm happy with the net price?

We used limecrete for some of our floors - https://www.mikewye.co.uk/product-category/lime-products/limecrete-floor-systems/ - foam glass is a joy to work with, so much easier than MOT 1 hardcore and is key to the build up, as it acts as both the insulation and capillary break (i.e. DPM). However, if I was to do it again, I wouldn't use NHL 5. It dries as strong and as impermeable as concrete, and is approx 2x the cost!

Surely, given the current climate, this can't continue for long?

I started to re-felt our existing garage roof in early December. It will be getting knocked down in a couple of months, so it was just to keep it, and my tools, water-tight until then. It's rained ever since, not had 2 consecutive dry days, so it still needs tarring.

Is there no other option than to tear it all down? I think I'd prefer to leave the chimney breasts in place than do that. I assume any RSJs would need to be low enough down the wall to support the stack where it's tied into the external wall, so would result in some level of boxing-in in the upstairs rooms? I assume this would be safer to do in the first floor joist cavity, so we could at least remove the breast on the ground floor?

We have a detached house, with a double chimney breast on each side of a hip roof. All have been capped and are no longer used. To retain the original look of the property, we don't want to remove the stacks above the roof, but the breasts in the ground/first floor rooms are taking up space, are a damp risk, without suitable (uncontrolled) ventilation, and complicate our internal wall insulation plans. As such, I'm considering removing the breasts in the rooms, leaving the stack coming through the roof in place. Given the stack is not tied into the external walls beyond the wall plate, any support within the loft would effectively leave the stack balancing on it. The stack also dog-legs out half way up the first floor rooms, so there can't be many tied in bricks supporting the stack above the roof nor can the base of the ground floor breast be supporting the entire load. Is there a standard way of removing breasts below a stack that dog-legs out like this in a hipped roof? If it was a gable end, and being detached, a set of gallows brackets would work fine, but given there's no brickwork in the loft space to anchor them too, I can't think of an obvious way of achieving this. The roof joists run parallel to the stacks. I'd speak with a Structural Engineer prior to doing any work, I'm not that maverick, but before I do, I'm looking for a sanity check that 1) this is possible and 2) won't cost a fortune.

Unfortunately not. It's still on my list of things to do, just not high up. Someone I know locally also has a NeoHub so I'm hoping once I start poking they'll also be keen to figure out how it works

Thinking of a service void for the ceilings now. What's the minimum depth needed to support LED downlights, 75mm?

Thanks @ProDave @JohnMo no problems with PB not being secured around all edges? I was expecting to to crack where a noggin would normally be screwed into.

I have battens at 600 ctrs infilled with insulation which I plan to lay a VCL across followed by a service void and plasterboard, and have many service void related questions. the void will only be used for electrical wires, so I’m planning on 25mm. The majority of information I have found suggests service void battens should be laid in a single direction (horizontal or vertical), are there pros/cons to one over the other? Presumably in the opposite direction to the battens beneath the void? If so, should the service void also be at 600 ctrs or different? To allow for attaching the PB should there also be noggins to the service void battens so the PB screwed on all sides? Thanks!

Looks like they're being shipped in from Europe, perhaps Estonia. I've seen a few similar companies touting their products in some self-build Facebook groups too.