Nickfromwales

My eyes were opened to just how good a job you can do with 'stick' building methods. Currently on a PH where the carpenter just ordered materials to site and plodded on screwing one bit to the next. No access for a crane or anything bigger than a family car (a narrow one at that). You'd struggle to tell it apart from another I-beam or Larson-trussed type residence from a turnkey supplier and erector that craned in the house in prefabricated sections.

Sorry if I wasn’t clear, the threshold stays where it is and you work the solution around it remaining in situ. You open the door 100% to do removals, then use the Marmox blocks and Illbruck 330FM foam to affix back into position. No cement work just cut / stick / wait / do next one. You close the door 10% of the way, install the first block, foam under it and pack it down to cure for 20 mins. Then pack properly and foam the top. Then close the door another 10% and do the same, repeating until you’ve done 100% of the work. Go back then and fit more packers and foam these into place. Some of these may already be screwed into place through the threshold, just remove those for the key fixing points, and add some more for intermediate fixing through as you see fit; just until the threshold isn’t deflecting noticeably under foot. Then seal up for weathertight and job done.✔️

I very much doubt this is a real life / measurable compromise tbh. I'd rather the walls mechanically fixed at junctions vs attempting to delete the equivalent of a squirrel coughing.

Yup. Sorry @mistake_not, I assumed a cold ventilated roof. I will punish myself by forcing beer down my neck this evening until I feel I have suffered sufficiently.

Ok, thanks. Do they stipulate waterproof concrete below DPC like Nudura did with us?

I'd question the quality of the unit, and how robustly the design manages condensation etc.

I have overlooked to say I am sorry to hear about the break-in. The fact that these c***s came back for the car is just incredulous to most, but par for the course for these bottom-feeding fukctards. The fact that our prisons are better than Butlins means that getting caught for these crimes is little to zero deterrent to these folk. This country, its snowflake government, and its judicial system is a complete pantomime.

I used to enjoy every single second of getting refused claims through for clients of old, for plumbing / electrical / structural stuff, where the insurance company had told the long term customers to (expletive deleted) off. You could literally hear their tone change when the customer said that they were giving their permission for me to speak on their behalf. Game, set & match.....wankers the lot of them. For anyone reading here, mentioning "accidental damage" to your insurers is your friend, (BUT.....strictly only when it is an absolutely hands-down case that accidental damage had occurred and nothing whatsoever else is afoot, naturally). We don't want anybody bending the rules peeps, "promise to be good" .

Did you install any below grade?

Something has to get covered in stale, humid, smelly air from bathrooms and kitchens, and that's what you're seeing tbh. I very much doubt there is any cause for concern, and would also ask what was the maintenance schedule that the manufacturer mandated, if any? Not too bad for 10+ years of service tbf.

If Velux mention it they then become liable for the success of the suggested 'remedy', so the silence is deafening I'm afraid. The blame game is something everyone avoids like the plague. This one's down to common sense that's all, so the "approved installers" should have been a bit more attentive here IMHO and should have realised their action had interrupted the natural airflow (a significant thing) and then done something about it. There are fitters, and there are fitters, and, from what I have seen to date, being on a list means you haven't yet done something significantly wrong enough to be struck off it. I'd take these matters into my own hands and oversee this being rectified, and move on to the next problem

Here is the problem. I have heard 'stories' from people who got broken into but the alarm was not activated (daytime, or just you were in a rush etc). Insurance null and void. Zero pay-out whatsoever. Basically, after declaring to your insurers you have a kick-ass alarm with all the bells & whistles, (so give me a discount please, which ain't enough to take the family out for a Nandos), you are then FECKED as without EVIDENCE via the alarm log that the alarm was activated when the break-in occurred, your NOT COVERED! Insurance companies are tossers on a good day, so to hand them the keys to the city and help them get off the hook seems madness. I would much rather have an alarm, undeclared on my insurance so no special terms applied, and then have that monitored or just alert my phone etc. Good news is, that if you are "done over" when you simply overlooked this minor thing, eg to turn the alarm on, if you don't declare the alarm then you're always completely covered.

Oh, and the suggestion by whomever that quick set mortar and the most porous block known in the universe should ever meet, needs the aforementioned padded cell. Just plain fecking ridiculous tbf!!!

Why do you need to pay the architect anything? Also, your structural engineer should have no interest in such a minor and inconsequential detail? I assume you have no desire to DIY this and have been 'hands-off'? This would be a multi-visit, in-situ repair tbh, but the work is very simple to do. It's down to how much sanity you have left of course, and easy for me to preach. 2.5 years for a 6 month program is just about the amount of WTF that would break some people, so good to see you still seem in control and not have not yet confined yourself to a padded cell . Just for safety sake, prob best to remove at least the most easily accessible sharp objects though, eh? lol . If you don't laugh, what other options are left? Nobody's going to be deprived of life if you go with the architects solution, but there is a better way and I thought I'd mention it. If you can find someone to facilitate the works, I, (and the other helpful folks on here), will be more than happy to help as much as is possible.

Any good? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Qrity-Overflow-Extendible-Rectangle-Interface/dp/B09YHKL23P/ref=asc_df_B09YHKL23P?mcid=bb0e755abfd2319696338704936736c6&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=697226876379&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5891332645679101210&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007460&hvtargid=pla-1661645287823&gad_source=1&th=1

Nice neat work @Post and beam, "never let the b*stards grind you down" lol, it'll be worth it in the end. Airtightness is 'where it's at'

Light fitting (recessed) methinks, due to the cable?

I used 6lb fishing line with a tuft of rockwool and pulled that with a Henry. Shot off 100m of it so fast I nearly lost the end.

It's detailing such as this which will reap the biggest rewards tbh. Remember not to cover the cavity completely, so whatever gap you have for the breathable part of the cold roof void, above the insulation, should be the same at that junction.

Do you really want a woodcrete ICF block under DPM and rising up? EPS is fine, done this before very successfully, but I'm not so sure that's a good idea with WC.

Airtightness is not achieved at the cavity You’re referring to “reducing the draughtiness” of the structure here. Not splitting hairs but there’s a huge difference so just want you to be aware of choices vs remit. To achieve airtightness you need an airtight house, pointless making this exceptional if the house is is bolted to is ‘ok’, so remember the balance of things when investing here. I’d say go blown bonded beads, and fully fill the cavity. Detail the insulation in the roof to overhang the cavity, and those will serve you well.

Sorry, more referring to TF turnkey suppliers, for eg Heb homes have fully installed the stud walls on my current M&E clients home, and now all of these need to be cut back or removed entirely to facilitate downstream works…. 💩😣 Most turnkey companies want to be in / out / paid / gone, so either this is done well by good companies who have thought this through (a-la MBC) or hit & run merchants who don’t really give 2 hoots.

Nope. That’s a wool / PIR frame above, the green OSB is on their cellulose blown frames

To the untrained eye, most will miss that with MBC the (non load-bearing) stud walls are cut down short by the thickness of a 4x2 on flat, so the membrane can be continuous across the ceiling and then the counter-battens can fly through for far better airtightness detailing. 👌

It’s usually at (after) significant building control sign off milestones. Foundation and groundwork’s done, then signed off by BC, inspection by bank, then payout, then structure, then sign off by BC, inspection by bank, then payout then doors and windows, same then 1st fix M&E, same repeat. Your lender will be the only person who can provide definitive detail for this, in line with their own criteria, so don’t go by anything that anyone else tells you