Canski

The air pockets are the insulation. I have also seen somewhere where the holes in the blocks are filled with what looks like rock wool. Having said that I have laid 100's of m2 of these in Germany using both thin bed and traditional mortar and I agree with the rest of your comments. A pig to cut and course to openings and penetrations and although I haven't tried them I can imagine that fixing to them is not easy either. Then again most Lidl stores in the UK are built with them .

Isn’t it just great when someone tells you when it’s too late. 🤯my plumber told me that the flush pipe he needed was inside the concealed cistern behind the tiled access panel just after I had just grouted the tiles.

No we went with Rads for the first floor with heated towel rails in the bathrooms that either run from the heat pump or electrically on a timer. I looked at spreader places for UFH and decided against it due to cost. Pozi joists are ok at 6m but you may need a steel beam in the middle.

This is correct. I hope that the beam and block company had the drawing that showed the walls below DPC ( foundation plan) the blockwork should be built to the underside of beams then a full DPC added before laying the beams to the plan supplied by the beam and block supplier. Then prior to the blocks being suspended in the beams the 50 mm or so should be built up solid to the underside of the blocks and then the blocks inserted.

I went for pozi joists in the end. I would have much preferred a beam and block floor but a few things put me off. 1) the fact that I don’t think that we will need much heat upstairs anyway 2) the cost of the extra masonry to raise the height to give me a service void. 3) I would have had to beef up my blockwork load bearing capacities and I was tight on the u values of the blocks as it was

I saw a groundwork’s crew on one site dig and pour in sections. They would have the concrete delivered into a massive skip and then pull the foundation down to the required dig level and fill with concrete using the digger bucket to move the concrete.

Send it back. Get another ten.

A missed chainsaw opportunity.

You don’t see many boats snap in half. 😜

I’m having a similar problem with one of my in-line fans. It was noisy from day one so the plumber turned the power down. It still passed the ventilation test but since then got louder and louder then silent apart from the sound of trickling water. He’s just been up in the loft to inspect and drained some water out and turned it back up a notch. It sounds fine at the moment but ( while it’s still under guarantee) he’s going to order a replacement and switch them over. There is a very slight rise (about 10 mm in 250 mm) from the extractor to the condense trap but he thinks this won’t be the cause of the problem. When he installs the replacement he will raise it up anyway.

It was a while ago but I think about 2 weeks.

British Gas did mine. They were set up to come the day after connection and to my surprise came on time and did a great job. Since then they have been appalling so I’m moving suppliers.

Nearly every house we build has 7kn blocks below DPC.

I bought aluminium copings for my parapet because I like the look but mainly because I have spent many weeks over the years removing and replacing parapet masonry. I was adamant that I wanted the clean lines of aluminium and when our GRP roofer said he could replicate this using GRP and at a cost saving I was still sceptical and stuck to my guns. Since then I have seen some of his parapet work and I’m very impressed. Next time I will take this route.

So he needs to add on the trench block quote (£25 m2 labour is pretty cheap) and then deduct what he originally had for 2 x 100mm skins and the cavity fill. I would charge around £22 m2 per skin of blockwork so there should be a decent saving on labour. Trench blocks are usually 215 mm deep without a bed. the 140 mm ones above are used to alter coursing if needed. You should be looking at a slight increase due to the more expensive cost of the blocks.

Yes but there’s not enough room for a 75mm upstand by the time your tiles and lath are on. You will need to go up as far as the top of the brick on edge.

I think I’ll have to be the one responsible for this. I paved the location beneath where I knew the pump was going to be sited. I just presumed that there would be one outlet.

By the time I have plugged then I could have implemented my new invention. The 300 mm off cut from my next rubber roof glued to 11mm OSB offcut propped up with a 25mm tile batten ( offcut) can anyone tell I’m at the end of my build and run out of budget? 😜😜

Many thanks that is what I have been searching for. Where did you find that ? You are correct it is the Altherma model with the sieve as a drip tray. On your photo it looks like the heat pump is raised up by about 100 mm from the rubber blocks. This would incur more work as it is already plumbed in. I think my options are either :- a) wait for the ice rink in winter b) make some sort of gutter that catches the condense from the 8 drain holes and discharges into my gravel strip c) disconnect the pump and dig out and create a gravel soakaway d) disconnect the pump and lower the rubber feet and install a tray. e) start drinking heavily any other tips or ideas welcome.

I’ve now got it perfectly level from front to back and left to right. It’s not condensing ATM. I’ll have another look in a bit and see if they have designed a fall in the tray. You would think that they have designed that in wouldn’t you ? 😀

Mine is a daikin and it seems it drains randomly from the base.

Yes I thought that but seeing as it was placed straight on the paving that has a fall of 18 mm per m I am aiming to get it somewhere level or a slight fall to the rear

Yes maybe. If I can get it draining to one location it will be easy. I wonder if the bolts to the rubber feet can be adjusted to raise the pump at the front end without having to pack the feet. I'll have a look later.

Thanks Conor, I thought of that but the pump is about 300 mm away from the wall and the gravel is only 150 mm wide. I think I'll give it a go anyway to see if the condense falls out of one location then and then I could divert it into the gravel. Before the installation I thought that the condense would flow out of a pipe rather than from the 'tray' beneath it. Silly me.

I’ve no idea. This is a small amount compared to when it’s in full flow.