Nickfromwales

We had to do sprinklers at >45m for my client in MK.

So you have a separate switch for lights, that doesn’t provoke the fan to come on at all? And a second switch to trigger the fan to start and overrun. And the humidity stat is permanently powered and switches on / off of its own free will?

The batten needs to be higher up, so it doesn’t get hammered by bounce back from rainfall. IMHO, the membrane should be flapping a bit there to promote drip / runoff, vs being clamped tight by the batten. Just feels like that would hold / harbour moisture too much (my simple opinion).

Good stuff. Velux can be controlled by a wall remote, and iirc these can provoke the opening at a particular set point, eg you then don’t have to run around upstairs checking room temps to decide to open them or not. That would be a hellish existence, and imho wholly impractical, but as above also then reliant on human interventions. Automating that, very simply, seems a perfect solution, and offers zero reliance on any occupant.

I’ve worked for 2 clients, both have done new builds in the rear ‘garden’, both needed automatic fire suppression due to access / distance to road and boundary etc. Your builder friend seems disinterested, probably because of a life hitting blocks to split them and working in the rain and mud for x number of decades. Stop listening to him. Grab life by the horns and explore this project for yourself!!! Levels of enthusiasm should come from what the goal is, so you’ll be much more engaging if this is a new, energy efficient and low maintenance and running cost dwelling that would then become a perfect forever home. Or it could be a stepping stone and an investment opportunity for you to make a move to such a place etc etc.

Handheld ones can carve valleys into the surface in seconds, so beware to not do more harm than good. I’d defo go for the upright and start with just taking a whisker off the surface, and remember to keep the machine moving at all times. Any time you need to stop, lift the machine. This isn’t a job for the front-hearted btw, and we recently had to drop an concrete raft down about 15mm (door and window supply and fit company fecked the job up royally, setting the front door down way too low to the slab as it was too big, and when I laid a tile down dry the front door wouldn’t open inwards as it was hitting 90% of the 9mm tile!). My mate came to the rescue, and did 2 days of grinding and smoothing out, over around 30m2 to feather it out. He told me we’re not friends anymore, and not to call him the next time 🤣. Hire the big machine for a day, try and area that you can sacrifice as a tester, and then remember you’ll need the smaller detail grinder to do corners and areas that the big machine can’t get to. Beware that the upright machine will chew through the job at a much faster rate than the detail grinder, so don’t make those areas then a load of grief by going to far with the upright machine. Mask anything such as skirting or units so as to not damage them, with Antinox sheets / other.

Horse and the cart seem a bit confused here tbh. @andeebee, do you have a pic of the architects section for this roof build up?

I think we have found the problem! Just re-read your first post…. Are you saying you have a dimmer switch controlling these lights? If so that needs to go, and the sparky should have told you this. LED dimming causes all sorts of grief, plus you can’t control fans or timers with a variable voltage input such as a dimmer. Afaic, this needs to be a regular switch, so if you can, change that over and test it again. @James94 also, you need the overrun for when someone’s used the loo, so there’s no reason why these two functions should be working without issue.

Defo supposed to be a VCL. Breather would be on the external surfaces. With correct detailing, it could become the AVCL, but a lot of questions would need answering to assure you of this, plus a lot more attention to detailing. Are you having MVHR? I can't recall.

Piss poor planning, which any decent professional should be discussing ahead of the works commencing, and including in the game plan for when works begin. Keep your chin up, as these improvements will pay dividends over time. Defo worth the extra hard work and time that you're putting in.

You are "within tolerance".... Go enjoy the beer and sit with the other half.

Gravity system with a heat only boiler? I'm less of a fan of Grundfos these days, and am steering towards Wilo more often. The 5 means 5m head, so most off the shelf standard circulators will do the job. This one may suit your needs and should be available locally LINK Hopefully the pump valves will hold well enough for a deft switch over, but expect them to not close fully.

It’ll be far more sympathetic, add value, and serve the intended purpose properly. Let us know if you put planning in and are successful, and we’ll talk you through the next steps

A light sand / media blast would bring that back to life

We used to call it cosy wrap. https://www.bes.co.uk/flat-pipe-wrap-12658/

That’s a piss-you-off!! CT1 will get that watertight temporary, if you need to keep using it. Just need to dry it out with a hairdryer and clean it before applying.

You’re driving me to drink Mike….

I’d be happy to roll the dice, if it’s not the only 2 houses within a few hundred yards.

From experience, with MBC ph offerings, MVHR ’may’ just get you by if you leave it at max wallop for purge. That’s if it’s used to prevent vs cure btw. At anything less, it’s no dice I’m sorry. One in Dorset was just stuck at 24/25°C and even with a Chinese heat pump MVHR with active cooling, the ‘occupant’ moaned to me that the cheap option she selected, against my advice, was useless. I’d recommend that you power up the roof lights and use the controls to trigger these to crack themselves open at say 22°, with rain sensors to close them etc etc. The automated purge from those, in your absence, may be the difference between a stinking hot house to an ok one; manual opening roof lights needs you to be there to manipulate them. Don’t think for one minute that this is in any way a) practical or b) possible in real life. My planning for clients is aimed at the residence being at an acceptable ambient by the time they retire of an evening, vs solutions which compromise life after the heads hit the pillow. One of the absolute joys of having a cellulose blown 300mm wall and 400mm roof, with MBC twin wall, is the sheer graveyard silence it brings. Having roof lights open in bedrooms at night would do my head in tbh, same annoyance I get when staying in hot hotel rooms with roof lights, and the result is a poor nights sleep.

This.

Not if it turns out cheaper and faster than prepping and re-covering with xyz. Especially if you’re still on shaky ground as to whether that’s then still robust.

SLC is friable, so won’t last 5 mins.

Microcement, or maybe ask a good grinding / polishing company to sample one small room and see what results that yields. Prep for adding layers to this will need to be robust, and would probably need some amount of grinding. The hope would be, to grind and area and see if it looks ok, then if so repeat throughout.

BCO may not sign you off with a DIY solution. Plus, you’d be interfering with the structural integrity of the beam, so would need prior approval from both SE and BCO. I like both other options, so as ever this is down to the decision maker in the house 👀.

Just “no”. Stop! This is fine, and will outlast you without issue. Put the sub-miniature spirit level into your missus handbag, and tell her, under no circumstances, is she to give it back to you. Turn the bathroom light off, and get to the fridge for a cold beer. Facts: The velocity of the flush water will take MrHankey and everything else out clear and past that connector, with absolute ease. Relax, fit it all in as per, and switch off. I’ve seen these going uphill 50mm and still no issue. And they’ve been in student digs etc getting a proper hammering. For insurance, when you’ve pooped, use the press and hold to completely empty all water from the cistern; that’s if you want to…..but I genuinely doubt you need to.