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DavidFrancis

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  1. DavidFrancis
    I've just switched to the British Gas deal (referred to above) as it includes "free" boiler cover and our boiler is now 16 years old and has not been particularly reliable. Don't know if Bulb will still do the cashback for me!?
  2. DavidFrancis
    We've been with Bulb since July. No problems so far. From what I remember they've only got one tariff and it's variable, and we're soon to get a price increase. If you like the look of them I think I have a cashback link which would get you more than switching by a comparison web site. This would also get me something, though!
  3. DavidFrancis
    I used to be an insurance broker many years ago and I wouldn't be suprised if the insurers are relucant to cover any losses. I've just looked at an Aviva policy, purely as an example, and without "accidental damage" cover I'd say their policy wouldn't cover these kinds of electrical damage losses and even their accidental damage extension has an exclusion of "electrical or mechanical breakdown". If the original cause of the problems was a fire, an explosion, a falling tree etc then the cover should operate, but for a faulty connection somewhere, there maybe a problem claiming. Not all policies are the same, but in this area I think they are mainly pretty similar. But I did leave the business 30 years ago, so I could be talking out of my posterior.
  4. DavidFrancis
    According to the government's latest fire statistics, about half of all dwelling fires start in kitchens, so if you're thinking about where to place an extinguisher then in or near the kitchen would be good. May be of interest to Lizzie: smoke alarms failed to operate (or failed to raise the alarm - not sure of the distinction) in about 30% of dwelling fires, but only 20% of mains-powered alarms failed, whereas 40% of battery-powered ones failed (mostly because the battery was either missing or defective). See https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/650926/detailed-analysis-fires-attended-fire-rescue-england-hosb1617.pdf About 8% of fire fatalities come from candle fires and 35% from "smokers materials", so if you use neither your chances of dying in a fire are much improved!
  5. DavidFrancis
    I've spoken to the WB technical support quite a few times and they've always been helpful: 0330 123 3366
  6. DavidFrancis
    Why don't you start by looking through this section?: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/142-windows-glazing/
  7. DavidFrancis
    Don't know if this will help, but there's this article on dry rot on the buildingconservation.com web site: http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/dry-rot/dry-rot.htm
  8. DavidFrancis
    Thanks again @JamesP. Looking more closely at your second picture above, I looks like you've screwed the 75x47 into the 150x47s using a single horizontal screw at each intersection. Did you use something like a 120 x 6 screw? Looking at your diagram, you have the 50x47s inside the 75x47s but it looks like these sit on top of some insulation and not the slab, and you then have OSB, battens and then plasterboard inside the 50x47s. This seem like a lot of weight being carried on these screws, or is there some additional support somewhere? Sorry to ask so many questions.
  9. DavidFrancis
    Thanks @JamesP. I was thinking of a wall build-up something like this should we re-build our extension. One last question (perhaps!): how did you fix the 75x47s to the 150x47s?
  10. DavidFrancis
    @JamesPall looks very professionally done. Can you give bit more detail of your wall build-up (140/70/50)? I'm guessing the 50mm is the internal battens? And did you do the GRP roof all yourself. If so, have you done anything like this before? And how difficult did you find it? Thanks
  11. DavidFrancis
    Are you sure your arithmetic is right? Take your "front main section". If the rectangular part of that is 3m wide and 2.4m high, that's 7.2 sq m. Add 3.6 sq m for the triangular section and deduct 1.5 sq m for the window, then that's 9.3 sq m, not the 17 sq m you've got.
  12. DavidFrancis
    For a definitive guide you could buy one of these from TRADA (Timber Research and Development Assn) https://www.trada.co.uk/search?term=treatment&IsSearchPage=true
  13. DavidFrancis
    Berry's use one of the Koppers treatments, but its NatureWood.
  14. DavidFrancis
    I think I've seen some sizes of treated timber in the sheds. And Berry's will pressure treat any of their timber for you for an extra charge. I haven't got an up-to-date price sheet for sawn timber, but (for example) 50x150 planed timber costs 38p/metre extra for pressure treated - and it come in clear, brown or green! I think they only do two treating runs a week so I've sometimes had to wait for three or four days before I could pick it up. And I agree with Jeremy that painting or spraying's not going to be as effective. I ofter soak cut-ends in a tray of wood preserver for a minute or two and, as @Onoffsays, it soaks up quite a way.
  15. DavidFrancis
    @PeterW - do you have any recommendations/suggestions for a self-install split unit? Was wondering about these only yesterday. TIA
  16. DavidFrancis
    An oberservation on membranes now our re-roof is mostly done. I was suprised by the amount of wear the membrane got from boots whilst the roof was going on. Our roofers walk up and down the roof along the rafter lines as I imagine most (all?) roofers do and their boots scuffed up the membrane to a fair degree. As we're having a re-roof there were quite a few nails left in the rafters after the old battens were removed. These were then just hammered into the rafters and if any of these had been left with a bent head I imagine there's some probability the membrane could get torn. So I reckon its worth going for a pretty good quality membrane to ensure it's all in one piece by the time the tiles/slates are on. One caveat: we have a double roof and our roofers got to the inside (valley) pitches from the outside pitches, so maybe our membrane got more wear than the average membrane.
  17. DavidFrancis
    @SteamyTea A BISF-style house is not what I was suggesting. I was thinking of a lightweight steel frame (not a portal-style frame) clad on the outside with modern steel-faced insulated panels such as these Tata panels Could be used with an insulated raft foundation.
  18. DavidFrancis
    What I don't understand is why no one appears to have built a whole house with a lightweight steel frame and sandwich panels, as Roger440 did with his old garage. (I asked both Kingspan and Tata if they had any examples back in 2015 and Kingspan couldn't come up with any examples and Tata's one example was actually a SIPs house.) As far I can see this would do away with the need for VCLs, breather memranes and loads of OSB, and when I looked at the Kingspan site (back in 2015) some of their panels seemed to come with battens on the exterior so you could add whatever cladding you liked. One of the downsides would be a poor decrement delay, but you could perhaps improve this with some extra high-density mineral wool somewhere. What other problems would there be? Any one looked into the cost? Roger's garage seemed to be pretty good value as far as I can remember.
  19. DavidFrancis
    Thanks Peter.
  20. DavidFrancis
    Any other suggestions for a roofing membrane? We're about to have our slates relaid. The roofer normally uses Easy-Trim's Maxi membrane. Having compared he BBA certificates of a few I'm thinking of asking him to use the Vent 3 Pro as it's stronger, albeit £10/roll more expensive. We live in south Lancashire so our wind exposure is not high. Easy-Trim's factory is in Lancashire whereas Cromar are in Yorkshire, which might affect some Lancastrians' decisions perhaps! Thanks in advance for any comments
  21. DavidFrancis
    Thanks for the replies. I just wondered if I ought to be a little more "pro-active" on this front. My question was partly brought on by having a small leak in our upstairs shower. The leak was between the tray and the wall but behind the frame of the shower enclosure, where it had either never been properly sealed or the seal had disintegrated. Because the leak was so small it never made it as far as the ceiling below but had started to rot the top of a floor joist. Only noticed when giving the outside of the tray a clean and the abutting ends of the skirting had gone soft.
  22. DavidFrancis
    In his latest blog @Stones said he's renewing the silicone in his shower (maybe one year after the house was finished). How often do people replace (or fiddle with) the silicone in their showers/baths? I've never really considered this as a regular maintenance task and only do something if it looks like it's deteriorating.
  23. DavidFrancis
    Haven't looked at any of the other figures, but I make 0.33 to be 0.00156% of 20,000. Perhaps that's not so high for a plant? But then I guess the bigger the tree the more weight it puts on every year (up to a certain point)? Not disagreeing with your fundamental point, though.
  24. DavidFrancis
    There may not be that much difference in the breathability of lime-based mortar and cement-based. See this discussion (admitedly on render) http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=10263 If you search for " Breathability: The Key to Building Performance" you will find the paper referred to. It is written by Neil May who is, inter alia, one of the "experts" at the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance. (Never met the man myself.)
  25. DavidFrancis
    The SPAB (Society for the protection of ancient buildings) has been carrying out a 5 year study of moisture in solid walls with IWI. This is a key line from the summary: "In conclusion, we find that as well as the influences of external and internal climate the performance of these walls is conditioned by their individual material components and context." In other words, it's really, really difficult to tell what effect adding IWI to a solid wall might have. If you're interested, you can find links to the both the full report and a summary part way down the page here: http://stbauk.org/
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