Nickfromwales

Facts, not stories Prices for them is now utterly insane. These got rebranded Thermino to try and shake the troubled relationship, and also Aquafficient. Same box, rebranded. Saw another of these getting wheeled out of someone’s home a few weeks back, never to return, and an UVC going in; to relieve the owner from their long-suffering negative experience. Sunamp tried hard to wriggle out of replacing some of these failed units. When the clients sought my technical support, Sunamp then backed down and replaced (supply and fit) for free. Facts, not stories.

Will be a nonsense figure if you then go and introduce trickle and mechanical ventilation imo. Can you sacrifice a little bit of plaster and board for a lifetime of heat recovery, fresh air, zero drafts, lower heating bills, requiring a smaller heating system……list goes on. Getting an AT test done FIRST will be paramount, as if you’re off with this, then MVHR will be useless and pointless, plus detrimental. Previously linked are some very cost effective suggestions for MVHR equipment. Work a budget around those.

Oh dear! You’ve a rather shite architect then. He’s let you spend all that money on AT and then you’re making a cold draughty home to comply with building regs, via trickle and point mechanical extractors. Ffs. What a shambles, sorry to be blunt. Please take some sound advice from us here, and bend over backwards to install MVHR. (PLEASE!!). Do you have an opportunity and a budget? This would be the best thing you invested in afaic. Really think long and hard before poo-pooing it.

See @Omnibuswoman’s latest few pics. Most of the web of the I-beam gone, whereas with posi’s there would be virtually zero cutting out between joists, sometimes zero.

Pulling in pipes and ducts. Be mindful that I referred to trades prices vs DIY so savings are had both ways, one in time (you) others in cost (bringing in an installer).

Just consider any walls where and insulated 15mm pipe(s) may drop down, as those battens may need to be 45 / 50mm vs 25mm.

Probably best to add, that MBC (and some others) do the cellulose filled frame vs SIPs, but tbh the SIPs I find to be horribly acoustically transparent vs a fully blown (graveyard quiet) offering. Apples for apples quotes should consider this, as SIPs isn’t a house I’d build for myself, ever, especially one featuring a flat / mono-pitch SIPs roof! If going down the SIPs route, defo go for pozi’s in the roof and just pump that full of cellulose. You’d thank me later, but it’s hard to fully comprehend the difference(s) unless you’re as fortunate as I am; being able to gather real live / life data from my many clients differing builds / choices (some which I now know to avoid!). Almost all seem to pay little homage to M&E design / integration, but in fairness MBC seem to embrace this far more than most others. Being ahead of the game with the M&E stuff can save a load of money with downstream trades, if addressed (identified and caught) in the early days (before the slab goes down). Simple things like not going for I-beams for one!

Also, is the mist system your choice or specified by BC?

Yup. Astonishing seems to be the norm. Have they also specified cross-talk and acoustic attenuators? Ah, slow connection, now showing the pics lol! Good for you, getting stuck in, and looking good so far.

Have you looked at seconds? https://www.insulationsouthwales.com/ Fill-in the gaps with foam, then tape, use the saved money to put towards a holiday.

I think it’s just the general / overall deterioration of the up-stand and the floor (cracked and now U/S) as these clearly no longer perform their intended task(s). I doubt there will be any success in putting a band-aid on this, an instead I would pay to have this up-stand re-rendered and do the job properly. Time = decay, and maintenance & repair is the flea of owning the dog. Time to spend some money here methinks, sorry! I’d only want to do this once too, so I would ask a local builder to disc cut around the perimeter of the concrete path, at around 400mm from the vertical facade, and replace that too. “Short cuts take 3 times longer and cost 3x more to do”.

Defo. Norrsken’s best offering doesn’t go much lower than 0.7. Let’s wait for @Cooeyswell to clarify.

Hi Max. I doubt your integrity, I’m sorry to say, as I’ve seen your house and it is at least a 5 bed….something VERY fishy going on here.

This will be the best time, expense and effort you can possibly invest in. Tell sparky boy to just stick to sparking What he said. Is the entire house airtight by design, and you’ve integrated this from day 1? Or have you taped and membraned where you think it’s needed? You defo need an AT test asap before doing anything else regarding calculations for heat loss and then deciding how you will achieve that energy input. @Barnboy I am assuming you’ve not done an AT test yet? If not, why? If AT you will need MVHR and the MVHR design should have demanded this result to be a known also?! Or at least target.

Hi. Can you upload some pics so we can see how it sits at ground level, as that will be one of the issues (damp / water ingress) if it is to be insulated and boarded etc.

You don’t spend any time floating around up there, so it’ll never be an issue. Comfort is perceived by the occupant, so if you are at the right temp and not turning purple, game on

And if you have an insulated raft you can chunk / bulk heat with the slab as a ‘thermal store’, during off-peak times, to minimise the 1:1 costs somewhat. Maybe better to have 2 Willis for boosting from these sometimes shorter windows. Also good as a failsafe.

In a nutshell, yes. Way OTT approach tbh. Just tricky when I’m trying to work with a client and act in their best interests and also not throw someone under the bus (when they’re genuinely doing what they think is the best job they can…..). Yay. 🥳

What spec is yours home?

So no face bricks left on display?

Going to need full width boards of like 11mm OSB to offer a crutch to those. If you try and repair just the sides I doubt you’ll get away without breakage and a lot of time & effort spent doing a job that’ll not last very long. Attics are fun aren’t they

Reduce the width of the steps?

I’ve looked, but can’t find a dinosaur emoji. Oh, hang on….. 🦖

Agreed. Why not leave this all alone and just infill the gap? Can of worms here afaic, and if I was asked to alter it I’d put-log it, remove the arch to get proper access for installing the beams, then brick fill back in accordingly. I’d never disturb those ends, there’s a lot of differing forces at play there.

Did your PH designer specify little windows and minimal southern glazing etc? Shading too? Most Passiv spec dwellings get very uncomfortable in the peak summer period. I’m about to start a certified PH build for a client, and we identified early on (on paper) that, for at least 35 days of the year, it would be outside a survivable temperature for the residents (PHPP done) so absolutely couldn’t be built without cooling having being introduced by design; as a mitigating measure to demonstrate that this had been addressed. PH architect suggested A2A A/C and also that the A/C got used to offset the opposite effect, where for 18 days (more imo) there would be a requirement for auxiliary heating. Suggestion was to pull out oil filled rads and heat the spaces independently to suit. Client found this out only after I highlighted it, and they weren’t very impressed. Lots of back-pedalling and talk of cross / purge ventilation and so on. If you’re managing without mechanical cooling I am equally curious, but house location / orientation / shading et-al and the micro-climate all play very large roles so defo ‘possible’ to design this out (solar reflective glazing is another Ace to keep up one’s sleeve).