Redbeard

There are 2 schools of thought: 1. A hole with a fixing in it (a staple in this case) is not a hole at all and 2. (The more pessimistic one: A hole with a staple in might leave a residual hole). Both are valid! If you are at all concerned get a roll of suitable external-grade air-tightness tape (I know this is not an a/t issue, but some tapes are waterproof too) and stick a small piece over each staple. Tedious, but you can tick that off and proceed to the next issue. The butyl tape would work too - double-sided for pref. A mall piece wherever a nail is going through and Robert is your parent's sibling.

A whole other universe if that WC is to be taken seriously... Wow!

To clarify I am talking about the render as used with EWI, not about the EWI itself - no space for that. I think if it were me I'd do 2 thin toothed-trowel coats with glass-fibre/acrylic mesh between, to reduce the risk of cracking. Although, come to think of it, are you suggesting blocks with no insulation?

If you use one of the EWI base-coats I suspect you'd get away with 5mm. Of course you'd want to paint it, or it'll look grey - like concrete blocks.

A piece of plastic pipe glued to a small ball and a clearance hole in the lid. You can even paint 'Full, half-full and empty' marks on it. Of course the clearance around the pipe means that ingress of 'foreign bodies' is not prevented.

Ah, that's it! Thank you!

Ah, now that's interesting! It was Baunativ that I used, and in Mar 2020 I received the following e-mail: "unfortunately, since Brexit, it is no longer possible to send goods to the UK. Our shipments are canceled by the parcel service. You can also have the goods collected from us if you can find a parcel service that offers collection in Germany and delivery to the UK. Mit freundlichen Grüßen Baunativ GmbH" I wonder what the 'mechanics' of it are now. I have seen mention of another merchant on here, but I did not note the name.

If you are really, really tight for space (and your budget does not run to aerogel), you can get 12mm PIR (online - the carriage will probably cost you almost twice the £14+ price, but a bird in the hand...). 9mm plasterboard over that, joint-filled with no skimming will lose you under 25mm and halve the U value ( rough calc says about 0.88W/m2K, copared with around 1.7 for the 'base-case' wall). Insulating sloping ceilings by 'poking things down' is usually a lost cause, as there's usually a joist in the way, nailed to one of each pair of rafters, and keeping an even vent gap *and* getting air-tightness is really hard.

I use Pro Clima. I gather Siga are good too, though I have not used them. Before we left the EU I used to buy direct from Germany. The merchant I used decided they did not want all the import/export faff, but I believe some on here have found merchants in Germany who will supply and sort out the customs stuff.

Ours was 112mm brick, with stone details, but dry. We did lime parge coat then 40mm rigid wood-fibre, plastered and primed/air-tightness-taped, then rough-coat plastered, then replaced panelling, amended as necessary.

Don't plasterboard it! Lime plaster. +1 for external wall insulation, though you will have to build a 'gable ladder' to extend the roof line.

Remove it, insulate behind and re-fit with amended joinery details as required. It's what we did. (Mainly 40mm wood-fibre, and 100mm wood-fibre on the flanks each side of the bay)

- Why are you proposing XPS, which is completely impermeable, rather than EPS which has a degree of permeability? - Definitely fill the cavity (suggest EPS bonded beads, NOT Rockwool). Yes, insulation should not be used as a draught-blocker, but if the alternative is a potential through-draught and complete thermal by-pass (EWI left 'out in the cold') then, unless you can absolutely guarantee no air movement, insulkate the cavity (and of coiurse you get the R value of 75mm EPS anyway. 50mm EWI is not that exciting. Is that limited by roof oversail?

Welcome! I (and many others on here, I imagine) would like to steer you towards breathable (water vapour-permeable) insulants such as cork or wood-fibre (WF), but whatever you use, ensure that it is bedded in a full coat (or at very least (second-best) a full-perimeter bead with cross-hatchings) of adhesive to reduce the risk of thermal by-pass (cold air moving between the wall and the insulation). Before you do anything have a read of the government's Best Practice Guidance (Retrofit Internal Wall Insulation: guide to best practice (publishing.service.gov.uk) Insulated plasterboard may incorporate a vapour control layer but it is missing at every joint. I prefer (if I am using plasterboard, rather than plastering onto cork or WF) to use separate insulation (say PIR) taped at all joints and perimeters with air- and vapour-tight tape, then add the plasterboard. More than anything, though, if the wall has been soaked give it a long while to dry out. 225mm of brick takes a long time if it has been really wet.

Do you have purlins? IIRC in a similar position we just inserted 2 (doubled-up, to keep BCO happy) new rafters sat on the exg purlins above and below the desired roof-light position and noggin-ed (header-ed) accordingly.

My understanding is that Legionella cycles (to 70ish degrees) are generally set for about 3 a.m. - ish - to reduce the risk of scalding. In terms of asking questions, I suppose one would be 'is there anyone likely to use the hot tap - in the middle of the day - who is not aware of the Legionalla cycle at x o'clock on y-day?'.

...and steam it? Make a home-made steam-box 'fuelled' by a wallpaper steamer. We could also start a thread re the 'scariest wood steamer I've seen'...

The one I have used in Yorks has a branch in Fleet, North Hants. Not South, I am afraid...

I think you can probably build the duck house as ancillary accommodation or a tool store, but the ducks may require PP.

Polite letter as suggested above but, the Planning officer's mind being set, addressed to Head of Planning and chair of Planning Committee and copied to Plg Officer. Ask them how a start as described could *not* be seen as a start and a locking-in of the permission. Copy it to the complainant too?

I have no particular comment re the prices, except that if I thought the quote for re-bed exg was OK I'd go for dry ridge, if you see what I mean. I strongly suspect that the roofer has added a 'faffing factor' for the fact that the PVs will (if my guesstimeasurement is correct-ish) preclude the use of conventional roof hooks, and 'sitting astride' (probably not in the HSE handbook but some people's 'bag') looks impossible too. Have you yet got a 2nd (and 3rd?) price? If you were not specific in your request to the 1st roofer (perhaps 'can you sort the ridge out?') maybe use the 1st roofer's quote (if it is specific) as a template so that, as far as you can tell, you are comparing like with like.

Can you send pics? Shrink the file size. uPVC windows? Lots of 'plastic plank'? Draughts behind the kitchen units? (Just a guess or 3!)

I think you are right in that. Also are those DC isolators in the low spot? How well are the cables taken through the insulation? I think you could maybe prove that the area-weighted U value may work (though I am more au fait with refurb 'backstop' than new-build) but so many other shortcomings identified (is the insulation to the pipework just unfinished?) that I think it is worth grasping the nettle. BTW please use high-quality (and strength) air-and vapour-tight tape. Foil tape is not necessarily strong enough in tension (for example where you turn round from PIR to blockwork).

@Russell griffiths, it looks like the a/t layer is somewhat lacking anyway. Some blue foam but no tape that I can see. OP, can we have a pic taken towards that block wall showing why the cyl could not go leftwards?

Hmmm.... Well, you could (if indeed this is the case, prove that the *area-weighted* U value does meet the B Regs target. I don't rely on area-weighting much since, however you can make the numbers work, you still have an area of lesser insulation where a moisture issue might occur. Is this refurb or new-build? Have you worked out the U values? If you post the thicknesses and relevant areas I am sure someone could work it out for you. Is that under-layer 75 or 100 - cannot quite gauge it from here. How much is between the rafters?