Canski

Did anyone see the BBC news this morning? Bellway customers showing water damage to their properties caused by badly installed roofs. They are coming to the end of their 10 year warranty with NHBC and desperate to get repairs done before the date. NHBC and Bellway seem to be avoiding the obvious issue.

Update …. the heat pump burst back into life on Wednesday night all by itself. We informed daikin and they cancelled the call out. It’s a bit of a bugger really as I still don’t know what the issue was. I feel that it is connected to the cold weather but I won’t know until the next cold spell. Luckily I was away for the last breakdown.

Due to the machine already being on site, we usually use a telehandler for the beam and block with a single chain attached to the forks to enable us to spin the beams to get them lowered into roughly the correct position. To speed things up we lift several beams in at once and then manually move them into the correct position. You need to ensure that they are lifted and not slid to prevent damage to the DPC. The placing of the beams doesn’t take too long maybe 33% of the time. The filing in with blocks about 33% and the rest of the time is allocated to infilling the perimeter edges and any other gaps and grouting. A team of 3 would take 2 to 3 days depending on access. If the telehandler can’t reach the rear of the property we use a dolly to move the beams over the infilled blocks. A crane is quicker but more costly.

I’m guessing you refused then. We want to do a professional job but when people deliberately put obstacles in our way something like this happens. I’d have left the snots hanging. (Just saying)😜

We tiled on to 22mm egger protect which they claim can be tiled directly on to. No problems so far after 9 months.

I’ve only just seen this but thank you. Daikin can’t work out the problem remotely so are sending an engineer to meet the installer on Thursday.

I note that you have not answered the question so I’ll ask it again. Did you give them access to build it from your side or did you refuse ?

Hi all. I’m after some help. My Daikin Altherma has been working fine until yesterday but now I have no heat. When the unit is switched on the circulator runs until about 30 l/min flow then after about 90 seconds it switches off. No fault codes are showing. I’ve tried an hard reboot as well as a full reset on the controller but no luck. Any ideas what to do ?

I agree even more so if the PIR is tongue and grooved. It would work fine in walls without lintels, cavity trays or openings.

100% agree. I always recommend pumped beads insulation as on balance believe it is the best option. That’s fine for a full house but for small extensions it would prove very expensive. As a brickie who sees tight gaps around cavity trays I don’t trust the beads to get into some of these gaps. I know I that I can fill them 100% with cavity bats. I also know that I can install cavity bats neatly to the top of the wall plate and can see that it’s there before the roof covering goes on.

1) the insulation needs to go down to at least the bottom of your floor insulation. If you have room to go lower then do it. But there is no point of over insulating cavity walls to an area that is served by air bricks giving cold air flow beneath your floors. 2)no gaps around the cavity trays or anywhere else. 3) ideally protect with a roll of DPC on top of the wall, use a cavity tray roll to do this in one continual piece for each elevation. Try to plan the works so that the internal and external skins finish at the same height before covering. This is a pain in the butt if it rains during the day. You will need to weigh this down well. When it rains quite often the wind gets up. You will not always succeed in keeping the insulation dry but you will also not succeed in getting a 100% perfect build. At least you have made an effort. 4) wall ties need to penetrate the insulation at reveals where the ties are spaced at 225 mm centres. I use a long sharp knife to achieve this cutting a slot the width of the knife ( about 25 - 30 mm) 5) over filling is better than under filling but not excessively. Any cut bats that I do on 150 mm insulation are typically 20 mm longer than the gap. The most important thing is to cut the bats square. I have found the easiest way is to cut them them through a ‘slot’ If there’s room I do this in the scaffold and lie the bay on the scaffold and cut through the gap in the boards. When I work off the ground it’s easier to set up two trestles and a sheet of OSB or similar with a slot cut in it at least 500 mm long. I lay the insulation on this board then cut through the insulation and the slot. If it’s cut square you save on waste and have no gaps. Win Win ! Watch out for …. 1) Brickies attempting to cut it with their trowels. This makes me shout at them. It’s quicker and easier to do it properly. 2) Brickies building higher than the insulation without covering it. I use lengths of 4 x 1 timber to catch any mortar droppings. You will use it elsewhere on your build anyway. When we reach window height we cut these to fit the panels and move them up or around the build as we go. 3) at lintel height make sure that the gap below the lintel is full before placing the lintels. I try to cut this as an L shape around the lintel rather than cut a small piece below the lintel with a piece joining it. I then make an angle cut ( at the same pitch as the fall on the lintel) to pass the cavity tray through. I’m sure I’ll still get slated for this post but by using these methods you will achieve the best job possible. Alternatively find another better qualified trade to carry this work out while the bricklayers start the stopwatch to get compensated for downtime. 😜I’m just going to find a link for the knives I use. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Insulation-Scabbard-Cutting-Stainless-RockWool/dp/B09RW57LRL/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1P0E1NW2VAXET&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.684K2TWJ9ecZU2r20s7M2w4ShwmQYHp_4_4s3wJsF1sX3thu1LFat02fZ9ZjWiizdHfA-RauLUIFuTtgv-HKLUTAF9vifstTeWSkSiVZwNKenGr4DEYuc95QW7qfjew5y2SZkXgP5t89ZIGtHddUktN4AkHmOaZZJUg4SQs3Kxz6LcLEKslEcVaETycQkggid1bUrDN5k3cfN5-rtoUugMwGRUIqLR1NiFVUrvLbbuhZHrvRGdGyENqTIL6S8gNqLkmbQPOTrllelqmfxorPrOS4826YkNmy1qp8ieOZIWc.Q5ZptyHAlgRHUbhm1V-Df08zvXWWWLhHi5jDXsQYEY0&dib_tag=se&keywords=insulation+knife+rockwool&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1736500922&sprefix=Insulation+knife%2Caps%2C207&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1&smid=A3CYBNKKYWTMTI

If you are intending to install the frames after the masonry is complete and are absolutely sure you want old style horns then a solution to ‘the old thread’ could be….DPC on top of the cill to allow slip movement. Then mix some slurry primer and paint it on to the exposed brickwork ( not the front) prior to filling with mortar and pointing. Cut off any excess DPC and seal.

Have you got your drainage in yet ? If you are putting MOT on top of sloppy mud you will just make more sloppy mud. Mothball the site. I know it’s a waste of hire charges but I expect you would be paying labour on top of the hire and it’s all money down the drain.

I’m sorry but installing insulation takes time and I always charge for it. It is not something that should be included in the rates the same as feature bands, cutting up gables and cutting the bottom course of blocks where others have lost the ability to use a laser level correctly. I won’t take on projects with tongue and groove insulation because it’s not fit for purpose. Cutting and installing full fill insulation requires the following skills. 1) be able to use a tape measure 2) be able to use a long sharp knife and a cutting slot. 3) be able to think ahead 4) checking each junction as you go. 5) protecting work properly as brickwork progresses Gaps in insulation is my pet hate and the lads who work with me know it and have known it for years. I can guarantee that there isn’t a single gap in any of the cavity insulation on the 2 houses that I have just built for myself. Like I said it’s not rocket science but it does take time to get it bang on. Time should be paid for. Some of the bricklayers that have worked for some of this forums members were most likely used to working on a ‘rate per 1000 all in’ to include all the sundries. I stopped giving my time away for free 30 odd years ago. You pay peanuts you get monkeys. I do agree that there are plenty of poor bricklayers about but to tar them all with the same brush is pure stupidity.

A shocking comment. I can only presume wine or something stronger was involved.