Nickfromwales

Hence it only being 100mm Dab over the PP and half over the tape etc reduces that down to only missing ~50mm of ‘mechanical’ adhesion. PB of wall gets scrim taped to PB coming down the ceiling = winner winner 🐓 dinner.

Just remember that with AB they want the entire 1st fix done for M&E, all known penetrations through slab / superstructure done, and then they do their thing. For current masonry project, I’ve asked the client to instruct the builder to do a 200mm ribbon of parge at the top of each external, internally, and then to PP that. The AVCL that comes down the posis on the roof will be cut long, to have about 100mm of skirt left hanging down there, then a 75mm AT tape will fix the AVCL to the PP. That’s over breeze block. AB will go from there, penetrating the porous elements of the masonry and finding the bits the builder / client missed.

Quite easy to demonstrate that assets have been damaged beyond economical repair here. Completely ignored SE remit etc and gone rogue with their own, unsuccessful, and non BC compliant, set of rules….

Yes. Some sectional drawings would help, but the issue is about getting UFH pipes to traverse this structure and I’d defo say on top. H-H shows more concrete cover atop, but the cover may be very minimal over the top of the pipes, but these beams can be circumnavigated by the UFH loops I’m sure. Heat will jump these gaps in a 250mm slab?

I’m assuming 300mm of EPS under a flat 250mm constructional slab? Eg no divots in it so no need to add an extra 100mm of EPS underslung at each intermediate location.

EPS basket then?

They should as it’s supply and fit. Just ping them an email, they were super helpful when I rang them for technical info and method statements etc.

Just recommended PassivePurple to another client for a masonry build we’re getting airtight to PH level or better. PP is a liquid airtight membrane (for anyone wondering) which can be bought as a sprayable liquid, or as a thicker product that you apply by hand with a brush. Get some disposable gloves, decorators coveralls, and some cheap as chips brushes. Easier to throw these away then clean and reuse as the PP starts to go off on the brush and the brushes get mangled on masonry / woodcrete ICF anyways. Theres a few products in the range which can be used, so when we were challenged getting a VERY complex ICF superstructure airtight to PH+ levels, this stuff came in super-handy. If anyone needs info on this, Adam White from Intelligent Membranes is a top chap and extremely helpful tbf. He came out to meet me on site without hesitation to recommend the correct products and to demonstrate how I best applied them to get the great results we attained there. https://www.intelligentmembranes.com For context, an ICF company I worked alongside previously applied this against the recommendation of myself, and used a boatload of PP, and the AT score was just over 3ACH after £thousands got spent. Poor workmanship will always yield poor results. So, you MUST sequence getting AT measures into your construction phase at the design / pre-commencement stage or no amount of Barney-juice will save the day. Sadly for that client it was 💷🔥, but for the one where I drove the AT works it was a game changer. Client thought above 1 ACH, I said lower. First test was 0.88, and I said it can be better, so we went and tweaked doors and windows, and found some nooks and crannies that needed more foam, and then 0.66 ACH which even the clients couldn’t believe. Now, if we’d have known about AeroBarrier back then, the combination of the two products / systems would have got this to around 0.3-0.4 I reckon. Client was happy with 0.66 obvs, but I had got 0.27 previously so like to aim for <0.3 ACH wherever possible. This allows for any degradation over time of AT measures (imo), so more belts and more braces the better.

They spend the majority of the visit masking up. Some more time doing the obligatory checks for what Joe Bloggs has missed, including taping up of ducts etc etc, and then they do the application / treatment. They specifically said to me that you only need to foam around doors and windows, no tape needed there either, just that you did a good job of it and that it was cut back flush / recessed slightly ahead of their arrival. You don’t want them to come and go, and then you remove something that’s been sealed by their wizardry.

If there's no physical decoupling from outside to inside, then no. It's rudimentary not excessive. Are you saying you are peeling back the interior to the brick walls, still standing, and are building backwards > inwards? Can you post a drawing of room/walls/layout/etc plz?

Ah, ok, I didn't appreciate you we're this far in, sorry. Your posts probably state this, but I've likely missed it or my brains used the spare disk space for things more fundamental lol. Most decent ones have the pre-heater, it's not unique to Zhd'r. Ping me a PM and I'll help you push this along. I'm owed a few favours. If you go AB and ditch all the other things you mention, which I assume you do have a budget for as you don't state otherwise, then you will save money overall, and time, and hair loss.......

Your SE has made this difficult to integrate UFH pipe anywhere other than atop the steel. Why make life harder, and just do this? You can find the UFH pipes after the pour with a FLIR camera, if you REALLY need to make such penetrations into the slab afterwards, eg where the pipe doesn't already avoid such things like walls and sole plates and what-not which will be nowhere near by design. PS, are you building an NCP or using a monster ICF system?? This slab with a 250mm general core already reinforced should be man enough to take most loads (load bearing walls anyways!?!). Jeez!

Use wall plates and hang off those? No need to punch into the blockwork a load of times and create work afaic. I believe the Tony's Trays are the weapon of choice, if you do choose to turn the house into a colander. If not then you just tack a ribbon of AT membrane to the wall and then fix over it, but see my last for why none of this is necessary if you use one's noggin. So under 1ACH. Not a bad target, but better is doable, and the rewards are there for the taking if you strive for better. Why not pump the gap full of bonded EPS beads afterwards and fully insulate? Buy a perfectly comparable Brink and save 4 figures. Then.... ....use the money not wasted on the Bugatti of MVHR to get the best AT solution you can. If £2k for AT isn't in your budget, then neither in a Zehnder MVHR . I know where my priorities would be here, plus if you get the unit bought ASAP, then Air-Haus.co.uk have a massive discount on these atm. I've nudged a few clients to buy the systems/units now to save money. All negated by Aerobarrier............ Which means if you take some simple advice, you'll come out with a better result, executed faster, with less trades involved, and it'll cost you less. Take this from someone who's doing this for a living.

Oddly, I just asked it, and it said "Not while I have a hole in my ass"..... Must be a different Indian sub-contractor pretending to be AI than the one you got. Such a shame.

My worry would be those walls simply disintegrating the second you start to interfere with what is taking all of the weight of them. Even underpinning, very slowly and painstakingly, would prob be a worry. Any kind of vibration or percussion is an enemy of those walls for sure. Sounds a bit drastic, but can you drop those walls and replace in stud? You’re quite committed atm, and not much of the existing there to tie back in to if you put timber suspended back in.

Not at all, you’re just obvs using your reading glasses to examine them. I doubt we’re helping Mike much here….

Set your catastrophic concerns aside for tonight at least It’s not going anywhere, anytime soon. Just looks like typical moment of such a structure over such a period of time. There are methods for “stitching” brickwork together to prevent further degradation, involving taking out the mortar, inserting linear metal binders, and then back filling the joints with a high integrity resin (iirc) mortar (pointing system) which is recognised and certified as a long term solution. For your own peace of mind, you can get an SE out to examine, but I’d suggest avoiding any 1st year apprentices and go for someone who’s been in the game for a while who will give you a sensible and pragmatic service/opinion and a robust method for rectification. If works been done next door and power breakers were used, this would’ve been enough to encourage those cracks to grow a bit. @saveasteading / @Gus Potter

I’m a tourist attraction. I worked in Falmouth a lot, in the dry docks, lovely little place. Plenty of beer and scoff from the Admiral Nelson. Anywhere with a coastline is great tbh, and we’re spoilt with the Gower peninsula. 20-40 mins from my front door gets us most the way along it, Oxwich, Wormshead and Rhossili etc.

…probably also helped that you stopped tossing your slop bucket in there?

Estimated cost of flushing WC’s (etc) p/a? What is/are “etc”? Estimated cost of buying and installing equipment and drilling borehole? I assume mains water is at boundary or on site already? If this isn’t to delete your water bill 100% then I can’t see this a) saving money, b) being a good idea. The cold mains needs zero maintenance, no pumps replacing etc.

Was thinking more a-la Basil Fawlty vs car type of thing.

I'll belay the thrashing................for now, but I have my eye on you, mister.... Hopefully not whilst wearing a black PVC mask with no eyeholes.

Ask BCO what they’ll accept as a pragmatic solution regarding how much (little) concrete cover you can get/have to get in place.

lol. Yea, good news they’ve closed those timber openings in, so you can reverse that. Yes, the Marmox is compatible, just needs your plasterer to scrim tape on the Marmox side of reveal to deal with the fact that the skim is going over some exposed/bare XPS there. If you need a sketch to explain I can sort that later. Pull all the PIR boards forward, so they’re flush with the stud work, and then foam everything with the product I mentioned. It’s way better than the regular dogshit foams, plus it is airtight (closed cell) and won’t bridge damp/moisture. Leave that to cure and then cut it all back flush. Then do NOT foil tape the joints, only foil tape the joints of the 25mm layer that you say you’re flying over this lot with. Don’t buy insulated plasterboard for this, as you’ll want to foil tape the joints and stagger the joints in the plasterboard too, which you can’t do with ins PB. Remember you’ll need to order in some extra long PB screws Put some PIR on top of the purlin too vs just screwing PB to it, but I’m guessing you know to do that. In an ideal world you’d foam each outside edge of every piece of PIR that you fit, so there’s no gaps at bottom/top/sides/junctions at walls etc. Cold air infiltration will delete the insulation work so pay proper attention room to this. Foam between the PIR and the floorboards, to stop any thermal tenting. These things will yield better results than most can appreciate. If you get one of these motorised, even though you can reach them, on very hot days you can get a controller that’ll open then an inch of the temp gets too high (as long as it’s not raining ).