Beau

I cant see that lowering your floor temp to say 15C is going to make much difference to the air temp

I've just got sent some colour samples from a microcement supplier. Been using them as coasters and they have proved hot coffee cup proof so far 😄

I might look at setting the tray in under the backer board a bit. I recently installed a tray relying on the tiles for the overhand but trays are not always perfectly straight and true so it was a bit marginal. I added a shower sealing kit which has a tape which you bond to the backer and tray to get a good seal. Even that was a pain as the provided seal/glue didn't stick to the tray well. I used Jackoboard but will be going back to MS plasterboard and relying on the sealing kit to keep things dry for the next one.

I'm surprised a hot cup damaged the resin but I know many epoxy resins dont really like heat. I made an engineered wooden worktop for our kitchen but didn't use epoxy for the section around the hob for this exact reason. Such a shame as you have done an amazing job.

We have a small farm and I have done major renovations on site. We have a compact-ish tractor which was handy for doing forklift work but clumsy. We now have a dedicated pivot steer loader which is massively better for doing forklift type work due to the control which is in part due to the hydrostatic drive. I've never been tempted to get a backhoe as again manoeuvrability is all for this sort of work. When I need a digger I hire one and did so with a pecker to break up the concrete in a barn we converted. Other times when doing groundworks I think having a good driver in their own JCB leaving you free to move and direct is better value as you get so much more done in a day.

I'm only a self builder and have done bathrooms a few different ways. Last one I used Jackoboard and by the time I had sealed all the joints and penetrations there wasn't that much left uncovered with the sealant and there was enough in the pack to cover the whole area anyway! Next tiled bathroom I will be using moisture resistant plasterboard and sealant.

Our Vallient has the circulation pump in the heat pump

Sorry for endless questions but I am presuming screwing floorboards over it is alright? Just envisioning it getting crushed when screwing down especially on the ends with small contact point.

Dyslexic me not reading things right. I saw 50mm and thought depth even though you clearly state width I will have a look into them as I suspect isolating the floor boards from the joist would be very effective Something like this? https://www.affixit.co.uk/resilient-floor-tape.html?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwytS-BhCKARIsAMGJyzpTKk0V_IiQFt2eKMd07jjuHNF9DwWr-1wxHEwb4Xz4bYq08rtZz4IaArsTEALw_wcB#180=844

Hi Nick. It's carpet in the main bedroom and vinyl in the en-suit. It's already a low room so raising the floor much is not an option we would take. We are not paranoid about soundproofing just want it better than it has been which shouldn't be difficult as there hasn't been any sound proofing up to now.

Morning all. I'm about to start putting a bedroom and bathroom floor down in our renovation. It's directly over the kitchen which is the heart of the home. I'm wondering what to do to limit sound transfer through the floors. Is it best to maximise on acoustic insulation slab between the joists or would an acoustic underlay make a big difference? I'm not intending to touch the ceiling below on this round of works so resilient strip isn't an option. Thanks

We had an anhydrite screed. The advice at the time was leave to dry, sand/grind the surface to remove the surface fines and then prime. I used a diamond grinder on small angle grinder which made one heluva mess but worked. The primer was something I think called Ozin 260 but can check tomorrow if helpful as I think the old tub is still sitting about. Think it was only one coat. Anyway that was 18 years ago and tiles have never budged

This is the route we are taking after your help on here. Extract from known wet areas and no risk of interstitial condensation. A friend has a PIV unit and I guess no heater as it was noticeably cold in the area it blows in.

Just another vote for lots of draws. I built quite a lot into our last kitchen but will be almost all draws in the next one. At the planning stages so interesting following this. As for 'Kettles/toasters/coffee makers/air fryers' I'm looking at a separate work area for these away from the main prep space. No way can I be bothered getting them all in an out of cupboards all the time. We got a combined microwave/airfryer which saves a bit of space

Reading more about I think you are right. I was overcomplicating things as ever haha I will see if my plasterer is happy to do this if I make up the wooden 'quirks' which seems to be the right term

We are doing up an old place on a limited budget. In the ideal world we would be replastering all the walls with lime but we simply dont have the budget but we dont want to make the place characterless either. Can we recreate this relatively easily with pink and plasterboard? I'm a woodworker by trade so can make most things if needed. I'm presuming it's not just a of making some dowel and bonding it in on the corners.

We bought a 'comfort hight' pan and the top of the seat is 475mm high. We got it as we have some elderly parents who come to stay and thought it would be nice for them. They have still to visit and we dont really like the extra hight but either of us are tall

Much appreciated 🙂

So is the joint pretty near invisible?

Is Multi Pane still the preferred option on here? The shower enclosure will be 900x1400 so I would need one edge to edge joint on show if using panels. Other option I've glanced at is micro cement which I had never heard of until recently. Having just dismantled an old shower room I was taken aback by the quantity of none recyclable waste when tiles are used hence looking at other options Thanks

As a cabinet maker of 30+ years I can safely say their patter is tosh. Yes solid wood expands and shrinks across its width but thats why solid doors are usually frame and panel construction to avoid the problems associated with movement. Also doors and draw fronts expanding and shrinking a little bit wont matter as there are shadow gaps between them so they wont fowl. I'm not against the look of some of the German Kitchens. Quite like some of the Nolte ones myself. Also I agree with John as when you get under the skin most of them are made in very much the same way with similar materials. What matters most in my experience is a quality fit. A cheap well fitted kitchen will look better than an expensive poorly fitted one

Thanks Onoff I like you taper the boards idea. Do you make a guide or just freehand cut your angle? I was intending to fully tape the joints I've done and if I get a 100mm wide roll I can bridge over the 50mm rafters completely eliminating any air leakage on the joints. No idea how well the foil tape holds up over time though if the boards shrink but it will be sandwiched between the next layer of PIR boards below the rafters. I always spray some water over surfaces before foaming Yes I was working on a 50mm air gap. No problems with ventilation as the roofing felt joints are pretty sloppy and we are in an exposed windy spot.

Thanks I did see that tape at a homebuilding show. Nice idea but as you say a tad expensive 🫣 "get it as tight as you can and inject some flexible expanding foam" is what I've been doing but I wasn't aware of this flexible foam so will track some down before doing the next part. Mind you if you only have a hairline crack its very difficult to get any in and looking at the foam it talks about flexing 25%. 25% of a nabby grabby bit is diddly squat! Might try Onoffs suggestion of a deliberate taper to leave room to properly get foam in if I can work out a neat way to cut a taper and hit my width marks With any luck problems there may have been with shrinking boards should have been ironed out but better safe than sorry.

4K ouch! We recently found an asbestos partition in our house. Did the removal ourselves but the specialist skip wasn't cheap. Think it was around £800 for the first tonne and £400 per tonne over that and we thought that was painful. All taken to Bridgewater to be buried.

Hi all. I just read something on here about PIR boards shrinking. This has got me a little concerned as I'm in the process of insulating between the rafters in a low bedroom. I dont have the hight to use lots of mineral wool on the sloping parts of the ceiling so how can I best mitigate any potential shrinkage? Thanks