Nickfromwales

https://en.blocchiisotex.com/contact-us/ ? Give that a try.

The longevity of wet layers ( plaster / render ) over aerated blocks is dire, as they are dry as a biscuit and crack a lot through settlement etc. Get the structure as your #1 focus, and don’t lose track of what can and can’t be retrospectively addressed / upgraded / altered. The structure is one such thing. Have a look at this again, and defo stay focussed. Nudura offer a thinner system also, 67 - 150 - 67 iirc. The XR35 is their beefed up block. Isn’t your cavity superfluous?

You'll have a gap anyways, having one slightly bigger is neither here nor there, totally negligible. Never been an issue for any of my clients ( all MVHR adopters ).

Ok. Probably best to just stick to the facts here, as a lot of people are affected and they don't really need conjecture atm.

That would be public information? Does it say that?

I think @PeterW has put this to bed. Read his posts a few back

It sounds as if they have made this offer very soon after 'the event'? They mention folk affected specifically, so have they not just done what you say, prioritising those affected. Has anyone asked if they have offered speedy dispatch for those affected? If they have, then great. These big companies should have to offer a parachute to the end consumer, of course, if they allow someone to set up a money-making franchise. But if a client signs an agreement, with the understanding that there is no such mechanism, then you can't go at the supplier for any ( retrospectively deemed ) short-fall in their business practice. You can, however, ask. If you don't ask, you don't get. Dovista, the window / door group, however, did get involved when a window company went bust. And they sunk their teeth into the supplier, got the clients money out of him, and then worked tirelessly with me to get the matter concluded on the clients behalf. Big thanks to Ryan.

Yup. I wonder how much stock is in the UK at Insulhub's premises? Assuming not much or any, but worth asking the receivers what is available, especially for anyone is mid-build and short of materials and is now on stop because of this? Isotex will not want to lose face, so hopefully they'll facilitate speedy delivery to site for anyone who takes them up on the discounted offer.

Agreed. But long-term benefits will be notable afaic. My comments about latent loss extend beyond your PHE etc, and outward to the rising pipework and CWS tank etc. Plus, I just wouldn't ever want to be bathing / washing dishes in the water which has come from the CWS. Open-pipe systems have a lot of 'negatives' but are kept "because it's worked fine for us, up until now". The MCS markup will likely pay for the UVC change.

And god help you ( your wallet ) if the copper cylinder is already on borrowed time. You can very rarely tell from the outside! Ask me how I know.

I disagree about the upheaval. Have you asked a plumber to quote for the swap, or are you looking at this from a novice / DIY PoV? The second you bolt that PHE to the cylinder you have just added a constant miniature radiator to it, massively increasing the latent / standing losses. The second the ASHP stop giving heat, the process will reverse and all of the bolted-on retro fit stuff will leak heat like a pig vs a new, much better insulated and encapsulated UVC.

Yup. They can write anything down in their claim and it's almost impossible to defend yourself if you hadn't stopped to get quotes out, get them signed, and then did the work.

I think you'll spend all of that money, and get a poor result. Looks horribly over-complicated to me, hugely inefficient, maintenance hungry and I would still recommend that you reconsider the UVC option. Just my 2 cents of course, and I will offer any help / advice I can if you decide to go to the wonkey-wheel option

My moral compass told me not to go under when folk were invested in my company ( life savings / earnings etc ), so I just bit down even harder and weathered the storm(s), and some utterly disingenuous scrotes of clients to boot. I'm still owed north of £40k, but ain't going to see that ever again. All of that went out of my account and into these snakes new builds. I can only thank them for me now having a proper and robust billing system, where things get signed for, agreed, and then done. Never go on faith and smiles, is what this had taught me. I was quite a happy-go-lucky guy, but nowadays I'm far more weary of leaping before looking. There are defo two sides to these stories, but this one stinks.

Thank you for posting this, and it may be of huge interest to anyone mid-build!!!

Indeed. Just odd how money has been requested, more than once, so close to pulling the doors shut? For £100k, that steel building would have been chopped down on a bank holiday Monday.

Amen. This is not a thread for giving false hope to people who are already emotionally compromised. If anyone would like to offer advice or support here, please only do so with the accompanying, current, facts that their statement is based upon. A-la, the above Thanks. Mods.

100%

Complete and total bollocks, and yes I am blunt, and yes you should all be used to that by now. If you're wanting to build through the winter, an exposed block build will be weathertight, far more than a woodcrete build would be, especially the Isotex block. If you want to get on with a completed interior it is 100% the way forwards. The woodcrete stays saturated for months, especially if you've had to wet coat the interior vs dry-line. and the shrinkage when this all dries out makes the walls look like a map of New York.

I'll PM you now.

Sorry to hear that. Is yours their 380mm ( iirc ) block?

Indeed, just I've seen first hand what it takes to get woodcrete airtight, and the rain just gets into the house until you're 100% complete outside. Worse detail of the Isotex block is the woodcrete bridge in the cavity, which joins water and air directly to the house interior leaf. Velox wasn't much easier, but they use a metal tie to keep the internal and external leafs in place, but all the way up to having the UFH pipes installed and getting the screed down, there would often be a little river appear and start meandering through a room. That only stops with woodcrete once you're totally weathertight externally, which is a ball-ache if you're building through a winter, not so impactful if not. EPS systems are weathertight from the moment you plonk the last block down, really allows you to get going on the inside without delays. I could also see daylight out of a lot of the bottom corners of the Isotex project, where the concrete pour didn't get to the slab, which likely answers somewhat for the AT score of 3..... The Velox build was one where the builder and his team were meticulous and easy to engage with, so I managed to liaise with the builder and the client to parge / seal with Passive Purple ( liquid AT membrane ) and install membranes appropriately, and that got a score of 0.88. This was let down by the Ideal Combi doors, so I am expecting a better result when it gets tested as-built. If the doors were sealed for the provisional test, I am confident we'd have got that under 0.6 ACH. Quite a result for a woodcrete structure tbh.

Ok, just anything other than EPS ( a-la Nudura etc ) it's a big PITA to get right in masonry or woodcrete. Woodcrete would be my last choice, but tbh I'd probably go masonry if woodcrete was the only remaining contender. Have you considered the XR35 Nudura block? I can recall the exact depth of block, but iirc its 100 - 150 - 100 so a 350 depth EPS to EPS. You'll save money as even though the shell will be expensive ( but quick ) to put up, you'll save a lot on being instantly water-tight, and getting super-airtight is then child's-play.

If you want contact details for an excellent guy for Nudura, let me know. I've mentioned him on here a couple of times, and he has recently completed one BH members house, and is 2/3rds of the way currently on another BH members build. His work is fantastic, straightest walls I've seen since being in this industry, and super reliable / trustworthy, ( caveat is, that he is quite expensive, but this is value for money as putting a wonky finished ICF house straight is a 5-figure setback ).

Are you looking to get airtight and install MVHR?