Nickfromwales

Yours was more eloquent.

What a prick. The whole point of the chuffing “service” is to inspect and top up the expansion, if so required!!!!!! Did he do the G3 inspection for the UVC? That’s the major importance here. I’d not let him back through the door ever again, as he’s gone the easy route and just wandered off with some fast bucks. When you find a replacement, fit one of these to the red expansion vessel. and if you want to make life easier downstream you can fit one to the UVC expansion (usually a white vessel a-la your red one) so the next service chap won’t wince and will be minutes vs hours checking both of these vessels accordingly, per annum.

The pipe shouldn’t be disconnected, in real life nobody removes these ‘temporary links’, as there’s no blank cap for the cold supply to be made safe with. Most fitters pull these blank caps off their rubber noose and throw them away, to save explaining what they’re for. Eg

Good riddance. He was a cock.

Give me the slab every damn day of the week.

IR point and see ones seem to give big differences based on the colour or effectiveness of the thing they’re pointed at. That’s largely why I’ve not bothered as largely they’re shite. A good FLIR camera attachment to a mobile phone seems a good solution, or just a cheap Chinese android phone with the facility built in. One of those ‘get what you pay for’ situations methinks.

Sorry, can be done before or after boarding, but I’d do it after boarding and all 1st fix, which iirc is what AB recommend. Doable either way in actuality, but you’re responsible for then preserving the ‘treated’ exposed surfaces until they’re covered.

Defo before skim. However, it can be done after if you’re closing the gate after the horse has buggered off.

Correct. ☑️. I see tapes peeling back and loosening their airtight grip, but in complete honesty I don’t see this happening with AB. I’ll be using / promoting AB on future (suitable) projects without a seconds hesitation. I’m seriously impressed. No affiliation btw, and not on commission wish I was though as I’m sure this will become more and more popular.

To clarify, I’d never assume a slab would be good enough to take to a threshold with zero tolerance allowed. I always assume that we need to build up at the openings (doorways and sliders etc) where you need to be level and just shy of flush for aesthetics.

Only if you use inexperienced (or shite) contractors. You’ll notice in the detail I shared that I’ve allowed for the floated concrete slab to be self levelled, and then feathered to allow a specific level at the threshold (Karndean LVT for this particular clients project) which gives room for ‘human / installer error’. If you’ve discounted a power floated slab, what’s the alternative?

You’ll need to get over this aversion, but directing the right funds to the right people, at an appropriate and controlled time. Look to go 1.5 storeys as to build a bungalow is just such a waste of the same footprint. It’s not much more cost to put rooms in a roof, 2 birds with 1 stone afaic, so look at costing out both options. But for planning I’d go for the 1.5 storey first and see if it gets passed, as the long term resale value for an extra bedroom with ensuite upstairs would be significant, and may be somewhere where you can recover part of the overall investment (in equity). Bungalows suck imo lol. Why use up a good piece of land to only utilise half the potentially habitable space??

Ditto. SIPS would be my last choice, but then I’d just go masonry and simplify.

You’d need to see this for yourself, or accept my ramblings about just how good this is. It’s like pouring liquid PVA into a gap and it being left to cure. It’s nothing like fibres, just atoms of the ‘product’ that hit each other, bond together, and then cure in situ. The depth of the gap / void / crack has the product disappear more deeply into, then as that closes less and less heads in, but when sealed it’s a very good, penetrating seal. It’s like hammering more and more wedges into a gap I guess. In terms of longevity I would only think it would fail if left exposed and subject to mechanical wear and tear, but once covered over it’s there to stay afaic. This has been used for some time in the USA, so maybe search across the pond for reviews / instances of failure or issue perhaps?

Give it to the architect if you want to burn money, or get it near as damn it before doing so and reduce the pain.

Is that the WiFi app? Has it just lost communication?

The truth sometimes hurts

Did they demonstrate how long the 2 loops would each be? For this amount of m2 I would be looking elsewhere as the loop lengths would be crazy long, and the effectiveness of the loop pretty dire; energy disrupted into the slab would soon sap the heat out of the pipe long before it had returned to the manifold. Thos installer needs to be binned off afaic.

5 bedroom needs a system capable of 6 person occupancy. Your ‘advisor’ shouldn’t suggest a system of lesser capacity. Get an air-blower based treatment plant, and leave the coconuts to the good people that make the Bounty chocolate bars .

First obvious one, just do a flat roof. You're losing head height for no reason. An EDPM 'rubber' membrane can be flat as a witches tit, or GRP same, with either just needing a whiff of a fall off to one side to function if preserving head height internally is a big box to tick. Sketchup is what a few folk on here use for detailed DIY drawings Lots of other stuff available, others will comment I'm sure. Going below grade outside renders you being at risk of of flash flood / excessive storm rainwater finding its way in, so you'd need to understand the permeability of the ground and where the water table resides before even considering dropping down. Your foundations are huge, so just ditch the masonry and go for a lightweight twin-wall timber frame arrangement, well insulated, and whack some cheap AC in there for heat / cool. Zero need for the masonry walls, but you probably do need to have a solid floor / slab. You could incorporate a recessed area aka sump in the centre of a poured slab where the treadmill would then live (a bit like a pit in a car mechanics garage), to get you another 200-300mm of useful head-height when in use. I'd prefer my chances tanking and waterproofing that than dropping the whole slab that far down.

Did they glaze these on site?

I’d defo say go alu-clad vs solid aluminium. Condensation is a bitch. If alu then look intensively at how / if the frames are thermally broken.

I wouldn't leave it on show! I'm referring to using it for fundamental sealing and weatherproofing, only, with decorative rain screen meeting the frames of the units so hiding the 'seal' behind.

Are you challenging me to a dual sir?

The gap will be dictated by the supplier, for eg Norrsken wanted 10mm each side, and 10 - 15mm above, and to be able to pack out 3-5mm underneath to level the units. Don't order any products until you have these particulars FWIW, why Compriband? FM330 foam and then something like clear CT1, applied after the foam has cured and been cut just shy of the surface, does a splendid job and is (afaic) easier and more robust. I prefer to have a continuous bead of mastic 360 degrees around the unit to provide sealing / weathertightness etc. You can also CT1 across the face of the packers, whereas with Compriband you have to stop and start in between the packers which is a bit shite.