Nickfromwales

Now go lube your locks and we’ll hear no more of this nonsense. 👍

May the 4th

You can inject a dense gel (like a silicone lubricant) into the key insert to stave off cold air blowing in, as this causes quite a lot of condensation on even all of the best (more expensive) lock sets I’ve seen on the numerous Passivhaus projects I’ve undertaken. They’re always taped over for our air tests.

👆🫡

You can simply have the duct already laid and say “shove your cable through that” and if it comes out in the plant room then that’s where your cutout will be One of those where you ask less and point more. No need for a box if internal, and you can mount the meter there fully exposed also. You can have the fuse board elsewhere, opposite wall if space is tight, but if more than 3m of cables (tails) are required you need to fit a switch fuse to derate the normal 100a supply down to 80a (as that cable is then deemed to be more of a liability). If you need the full 100a then allow space in your M&E design for all of these things to be in proximity.

🥳

18 weeks lead time for manufacturing…..

Nope. DPM will already be dealt with so just follow the installation instructions and crack on 🫡

Yup. Thin down some bleach, load up a pump/spray bottle and soak the affected areas. 👍

Most would consider that to be expensive, that’s all, when a cheaper option is available. I am unsure of their ability to accept point loads, and whether they’d be easily damaged during installation / service. They’re a bit fragile, and if they are ordered encapsulated then you can’t cut / shape them. The greatest challenge to using VIP is that if the vacuum is broken, then the additional lambda value provided by the vacuum is lost. If the vacuum is lost in a VIP panel the resultant Lambda value can increase to around 0.02W/mK, similar to PIR. It is therefore imperative to avoid VIP damage. Conventional VIPs which are provided without protection can be vulnerable to puncture during handling and installation, needing extra protection layers, with material and cost implications. Installers need to be trained to know not to cut, drill or nail into VIPs and how to handle them correctly. However, there is a solution to this problem. The best way to ensure the high insulation value VIPs offer is retained, is to ensure they have been fully encapsulated and protected at manufacturing stage, thus reducing the risk of puncture during installation and use. With the right choice of VIP manufacturer this protection can be provided without losing thermal performance.

The only caveat with XPS / other Marmox type board is point load, so these are usually no good with LVT or carpet, but possibly LVT composite will work. Intumescent caulk was required by every BCO on each GC I ever did, where the boards were NOT plastered / skimmed. If double layer or skimming, then not required. (AFAIK ).

Lowest profile will be a led strip?

You could even just put the bathroom up in the roof, and then you’ll only need a cloakroom downstairs. Lots of ways of skinning this cat if you’re prepared to invest time exploring possibilities (and pinching other people’s research / ideas). 💡

VIP would bankrupt you. Most expensive and not practical here at all. Likely 10mm of XPS would suffice as a break between concrete and finished floor covering. In a nutshell, what he said. Why fit a floor that creates a problem? Go for wood effect LVT or carpet, and reduce the cost and pain. Or do as you say, and insulate more, say 15 or 20mm in an XPS backer (insulation) board and a thinner engineered floor, and lose some head height. FR PB needs to be to the garage interior so fire is co rained within that ‘cell’. As the walls are breeze block you only need to cover that steel lintel and the 100mm under it, so basically a ribbon of 2 layers of FR PB like a coving, and then the 2 layers on the ceiling, all junctions / joints need to be filled / covered with intumescent caulk. Check the head of any door opening to see if that has the same exposed underside of a lintel, and that the cavities have been closed. Same around the garage door opening. Yes, these are a pita to do, but that’s what building control would ask for / expect to see. It’ll be good if the habitable side of the garage has had a concrete on concrete raised floor, as that will constitute the bund for flammable liquids, again required regardless of what you say you’ll store as it is possible TO store a vehicle / ride on mower etc which is enough to provoke that requirement. The guide would be what your building control officer / architect would put together for you exact circumstances, but the FR(PB etc) / smoke&heat / bund being put in place will allow you to sleep better I guess. We can’t really advise you to look the other way, so if you ask you’ll be told and then you can decide for yourself .

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Mask the wall and get it tanked at the right side of the shower area, where you have paint over plaster.

Just not going to happen with white adhesive tbh, so thank them for that "golden nugget" of 'advice'.... Yup, stops the sweat and panic, just chaos trying to do that in rapid. Crack on son, that's looking a top job. @nod is hiring lol

That should all be dressed in with 2 layers of FR PB. Defo done off the radar!

Consider the stairs, and assume that on the least impactful side of the (pyramid) roof, one side would need to be a dormer or full gable. You’d need to have the head height when stood on the top of the stairs, so look for examples of these small dwellings and get ideas for free from other people’s innovation . Aldo consider just a 1000mm extra footprint each way to beef the m2 up a bit. Or 500mm on the width, 1000mm extra on the depth etc etc.

What is that a pic of? Looks a lot like a wall….?

All hail, king @Pocster, 👑 🤴, bringer of posh doorbells and……stuff.

Yes, add a piece, but would defo be a simpler way to finish the intersecting timbers to a non-staggered surface and it would prevent any rotational movement as that’s creating a pivot. Also odd that the 4m and the 3m weren’t swapped, to further stagger the joints.

Thanks, I just found the "Elite" one, so may swap that out for my rechargeable one as it's an annoyance, but not the end of the world.

Your choice, and yours alone. The property will be valued in the future, less that extra habitable space afaik, so getting this immortalised in proper order may be beneficial for longer term options for higher resale valuations, or may be a can of worms you just can't be arsed to open... If you're happy to continue as-is, then the minimum, as said, would be to change to a fire door and lining. Then you defo should extend the linked (mains powered) heat/smoke detection system out to the garage and put a multi sensor detector in there for early warning (if there's not one there now), and basically treat that arrangement as if it's still just the garage and still a fire risk to the main residence. Back to the original question, we'd need to know what the floor was raised with (assuming they just poured a load of concrete in is a bit too little info to go on of course!), so if you can take up a corner of the room to investigate that would help. You can use a 200mm long drill bit to just drill down slowly until the drill pops out past the slab (if its masonry) and report the findings and the depth that you broke through. Do this at least 300-400mm in from the edge to get an accurate 'reading'.

Not sure how aggressive the pad you used was, but it looks like you may need to up your game a bit Looks like a bit of the laitence is still there, but that's not easy to tell from these pics obvs.