epsilonGreedy

In another thread @PeterWbrought the TER design assessment to my attention when I mentioned SAP and general 2013 thermal building regs. I gather that TER relates to a CO2 emission target, the EPC assessment indicates how much space and water heating will cost and the 2013 thermal building regs are a fairly low-bar standard for building's thermal performance. Having looked at the model home u-value targets for TER they seem very demanding compared to other building regs. A minimum conformance with 2013 thermal regs would probably lead to a mid EPC band C score whereas a scraping passing TER score would equate to an upper EPC band B. How have we arrived at a situation where the more stringent TER design assessment effectively makes other less demanding regs pointless? Must be missing something.

Mine is a middle sized electric Belle, a 150 litres I think. My visible que for a good mix is when the mortar develops a reptilian looking surface as the drum turns which I take to mean a decent amount of air churned into the mix.

How did you hack into my site security camera?

Just found his card on my desk where he wrote "SAP £80 + vat". As you say money well spent.

During an informal chat with my future SAP assessor he said I will get a bonus point for my wood burning stove. The house design would accommodate two wood burners though not sure that equates to double points. I expressed surprise at this given the prevailing sentiment about how bad wood burning is. Anyhow thanks for the advice, I will bump SAP calcs up my priority list though my hunch is that 350mm in the attic, 150mm PIR in the floor, 100mm drytherm-32 toppped off with 30mm of PIR lining the inner walls will get me up to a scrapping EPC band B pass.

I left all that paperwork stuff to my private building control chap. I must be on an "as-built" pathway I assume. If a 100mm cavity is not conformant with thermal building regs the whole industry is in trouble.

After reading up on garage door heights I get the impression it is down to user preference. Now that one side of my door aperture garage is 8 blocks high I need to start considering my first lintel and whether it sits on a round number of blocks or whether some intermediate coursing bricks will be needed. How high is your garage door lintel? I am guessing 9 or 9.5 blocks is about right in the case where a sectional door will roll right above the top of the door aperture.

For the same reason I have an intuitive suspicion that rigid PIR boards used for partial cavity fill are in practice an under performing drafty option.

This is on my winter to-do list.

I have been looking at Drytherm-32 though not yet priced it up for the whole build. I am sure you can guess the U-Value at 100mm, if not here is the product page https://www.knaufinsulation.co.uk/products/glass-mineral-wool/earthwool-dritherm-32-ultimate Medium blocks plus Drytherm-32 would get me to an overall wall U value of 0.26. I am still considering 30mm to 40mm of insulated plasterboard on the inner wall which should get me under 0.2 I hope..

This suggests that a new build can get a middling EPC band C assessment but still fail the CO2 emissions part of the assessment.

Well yes a 100mm cavity is low-end these days but I think a top spec cavity batt out performs platinum beads? Hence this change should not adversely affect wall insulation. I know you have strong views on a decent minimum spec for new build insulation however looking at the EPC of another new build with a similar design it got a mid Cat-C EPC certificate with Walls 0.28, Roof 0.12 and Floor 0.12. There were no other fancy features in the house to improve the EPC score.

Lot of wisdom in that advice, I must be more patient. Anyone care to offer a minimum mixing duration?

Does it also promote air entrapment in a mixed mortar or just change its consistency without air bubbles?

Odd camouflage on that plane, what's the background @JSHarris

This what we did then after the floor was in and locked with a sharp sand & cement slurry I decided to read the instructions ? The instructions say ""beams should be placed on a mortar bedded damp proof course" which seems at odds with standard industry practice. If following that advice I would wait 2 weeks for such a mortar bed to fully harden otherwise there would be a risk of the beams turning the mortar bed to crumble.

I have finally given up on blown beads cavity insulation because it is not the done thing in mid Lincolnshire. When 9 out of 10 pro builders look perplexed at the mention of beads and say "isn't that what they retro fit into older properties", when the face of one's chosen SAP assessor turns grey at the mention of beads and when the building control inspector pops over for a social chat and assumes I will be using cavity batts, then the message is clear. I will soon be bringing my external wall up to dpc but do not like the notion of cavity batts drooping down into the nether regions of my cavity. So I now need to consider how to fit some form of rigid insulation sheet in the cavity around the block and beam slab to prevent a cold bridge at the floor and also provide a base for the cavity batts above dpc. A few questions spring to mind following this change of plan from beads to batts: Should I fill the 100mm x 240mm high cavity below the beam and block floor? Is the rigid sheet malleable enough to squash around the floor beams which intrude and inch or so into the cavity? What type of sheet should I buy?

There seem to be a conflict of interest and basic science with the trade now pushing thin flow screed for their own convenience. Surely common sense favours opting for the higher heat capacity of 75mm screed and resulting better thermal stability?

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/data/new-construction-orders-lowest-since-2009-03-09-2019/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49552163?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cg3ndx3dxwvt/construction-industry&link_location=live-reporting-story

My chips were at the bottom load bearing point where the beam sits on the footing wall. Anyhow now the beams are installed I have been able to inspect the chips in the relation final installed position the the actual percentage reduction in load bearing seat due to the chips is tiny. Do your beams rest on a mortar + dpc bed?

Let's return to consider motivation. Engineering bricks typically called "blues" in the trade are easy to deface with mortar because: Their uniform dark colour highlights any mortar spill onto the brick face. The smooth face creates a tenacious adhesive bond with any mortar splashes. With regular bricks the opposite is the case on both points so the issue is how to solve an established problem rather that whether more linseed oil would be retained on a regular brick face.

Breaking ground in November can result in a muddy mess, however your greatest challenge as a self builder is availability of competent labour. The traditional winter building downturn coupled with economic hesitation due to Brexit might be your window of opportunity.

I reckon the complete opposite on all points. Any economic disruption arising from a no deal Brexit will result in less demand for labour thus self builders should find more building trades looking for work. Couple this with yesterday's report of the sharpest contraction in building activity for 10 years and the outlook for self builders looking for building trade expertise is likely to improve. Looking at the imported building materials situation should a no deal Brexit happen, then the most likely outcome is severe short term disruption due to administrative confusion, followed by a slow 1 year recovery to a new norm that will be 20% more expensive due to border trade tariffs and a weakening sterling.

The other week I complimented a building pro on the consistency of his mortar mix. It was not sloppy but still had nice pliable bounce. As the conversation developed I realized he was using about 80% more plasticiser than recommended on the bottle which got me thinking about why there is a limit. Is it: The chemicals in plasticiser are detrimental to the strength of mortar? Excess plasticiser results in too many bubbles trapped in the mortar and above a certain threshold the percentage of permanently trapped air in the mortar will compromise its strength? Mortar with an excess of trapped air is susceptible to accelerated weathering?

Strictly speaking the difference is strength though within any particular manufacturing process/block ingredients recipe, then density increases with strength. A 7.3N hemelite weights about 15kg, whereas a 7.3N thermolite type block with an internal structure that looks like the inside of a Cadburys whisper bar will be much lighter. I have come to realize there are regional/team conventions, in any area tradesmen like to stick with what they know. In my part of the world Plasmor 3.6n Fibolites are the block of choice for inner two story walls, these straddle the light/medium block categories at 9kg per block. What weather proof cladding will you use? I ask because aerated blocks suffer from freeze/thaw cycles when wet. I assume your questions relates to above dpc?