LA3222

As an update, had the air test done today and it turned out alright. I wasn't sure what to expect, tbh I don't even care anymore, I'm bored with living in a caravan now and just want to be in the damn thing?‍♂️ must be 2.5 yrs in this van now! Anyway, got 0.2ach which confirms my suspicion that the horrendous condensation we had at Xmas was due to lack of ventilation. Thankfully the MVHR is jacked up now so no further issues. Living in a 30ft x 10ft caravan with two cats, a 9 and 11 yr old whilst staring at our 280m2 house for the last year has had its day now. Roll on move in day. The joys of self building. Champagne taste with lemonade budget = a long time living in a box?

Its depressing how fooked up everything is now. COVID has shagged everyone with the closures affecting supply chains and that coupled with the building industry going mental has screwed the market up. I feel sorry for those just starting, the pain is real. I'm closer to the end than the beginning but paying 50 quid for a sheet of 18mm sucks ass.

£300 a day each. The world has gone mad.

Yeah mate, screws. I went with the fixing details as given by kingspan tek. I emailed them about it and got directed to ejot technical department. They had done all the pull out strength testing etc and advised me on the type to use. Nails - not sure I'd want to go with them when all you have is 15mm of osb holding them in.

I view the house wrap as just a generic membrane, good at everything, Master of nothing. The Proctor roofshield is designed to be a roof membrane so I see it as belts and braces. Got generic wrap which was a bonus prize but got the good stuff doing the job it is supposed to do?‍♂️ I think the intimate contact between the wrap and the SIP didn't sit well we me either, happier having the roofshield with a ventilation gap under it between it and the SIP. Its probably all in my sward but I sleep easier having done it. The roof shield is expensive but pennies in the build budget.

SIP house wrap Then vertical battens Proctor roof shield Then horizontal battens I used 25x50mm JB red battens iirc

My roof buildup SIP outer sheath Membrane - housewrap Battens Proctor roofshield Counter battens Tile I did put an extra membrane on mine, reasons being it is a good quality non tenting roof membrane rather than a generic house wrap. Figured it can't do harm, only good?‍♂️

For what it's worth, my garage roof will be sarked but that is timber trusses so open. I like the idea of sarking for reasons such as ease of working on, rigidity etc but with SIP its pointless, you're putting timber sheet over timber sheet?

@SuperJohnG why are you sarking a SIP roof you nutter? Batten and counter batten, job done. The roof is already 'sarked' by the OSB outer sheaf. I suspect the roofers want it sarked because it is easier to walk on and the lizards have probably never seen a SIP roof so have no idea what they're working on. The number of trades I've had who go all glazed in the eyes when you mention SIP and how it is constructed. They know block, they know timber frame, anything else is black magic?‍♂️

Lincolnshire Wolds

Does not surprise me at all, the building industry is bandit country. The daft thing is that I want a legitimate air test so I can make sure there are no leaks, if you want a dodgy result - nay drama big lad, what, you want a legit result - cue beer being spat out in laughter at my naivety!

Well, I've had a nibble - £220+ vat?

Ha, Simon at lincs is the dude who did my SAP and I assumed was going to do my air test. Oh no, young padawan he says to me, he didn't like hearing that I was looking for below 1ACH. I never realised it would be an issue until now. I've not seen this mentioned on the forum before so I never knew. Now I do?‍♂️ Now I'm on the prowl for a tester. Lincs was cheap, I now have visions of getting stung for a premium price for what appears to be a niche service?

@epsilonGreedy it's the air testers that ain't interested. Seems they happy to go down to 2ach, anything below must be effort for them? They mutter about equipment then say they don't go that low?‍♂️ @nod I want to get the test done now so I can hunt for leaks if there are any before I board up and its too late. Not bothered from a SAP point of view, it's more so I can make sure we are well sealed before it's impossible to do anything about it.

Can the good folks on here pm me some companies for an air test. Trying to get one jacked up pre plaster, the minute I mention sub 1ACH as the target they run for the hills. Teeth sucking commences and then I'm told 'we only go down to around 2ACH'...mcscuse me? There was me thinking an air test is an air test but what do I know?‍♂️

I think this is now a right mess to sort out and a world of pain which I suspect will result in a parting of ways. The builder is wrong, plain and simple. Sounds like the sort of bloke that won't take too kindly to being told that he is wrong. If he was the sort then I expect at the first query he would have stopped, checked and confirmed before proceeding. He didn't. He had the I know what I'm doing mentality and cracked on. You now have 2.4m high blockwork which needs to come down so it can be fixed properly. This is a PITA and I doubt he will be the sort to go, no worries pal, I'll get on it now. If you don't stop this now though, you will be fretting about it for a long long time. If you let it go any further it will be even more pain to sort out. I would suggest you act sharpish if you intend to rather than dithering over it. The longer you wait the harder it gets. You may need to mentally prepare for the scenario where the builder goes and you have to find someone else.

Is it really 10k fir the ASHP and cylinder with no controls? Doesn't seem right to me. I paid 6k for a 300l pre plumb cylinder and 8.5kW ecodan with FT6 controller. Yeah you've got a 14kW version but a smaller cylinder. I cant see how you get to 10k without the controller?‍♂️ 27k fir plumbing...I would not pay that for something that's easy to do yourself. My build is 270m2, 4 bathrooms/enuites and a Cloak. UFH on ground and first floor, done it all myself. Got my ASHP/cylinder to install at some point. It's all easy but if you haven't the time then I guess you have to pay. 27k seems a hell of a lot though.

Mate you will soon come to realise just how much trash is generated from building a single house. I have to go to the dump every couple of weeks with a car full, it's insane the sheer volume of trash that must be generated by the building industry. The kicker is that there is not a great deal you can do with most of it, the waste seems almost inevitable.

I would recommend it, I had a real issue getting waste pipes in because I didn't think to beforehand .

I'd second the getting pipes in now. I know you said you're using flexible pipes for MVHR etc but what about sink wastes etc, toilet.

I bet you a pound to a pinch of shit that they won't be on a pallet. They will likely be shrink wrapped and banded. No way you're getting that with anything other than a hiab! I didn't have a single pack of blocks arrive on a pallet, bricks yes but block no?‍♂️ Edit to say, you could.maybe get pallets in situ for them to drop the packs onto!

Yarp, they do have a cooling mode. It is a dip switch on the FT5 controller and jobs a good en?

If you don't support it and then it flexes/squeaks or whatever later on down the line once its covered uo you will be miffed that you did it. I'm just saying why run the risk? Support all the joins and then you can be certain you're not storing up trouble for the future. As you've demonstrated, all literature says to support them....I dont get why you wouldn't?‍♂️

Don't do it, floor deck is cheap in the grand scheme of things.

Supposedly knocking around 92% here, I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned, but I noticed the condensate has been dropping water into the bucket (I haven't done the drain connection yet!) and it is normally bone dry. The house is always knocking around 50-50% RHI so it seems to be working as intended?‍♂️