lizzie

@pocster your cladding looks very smart indeed.

oops misundersttod the question I have extra smokes linked to hard wired system via wi-fi and they go off in a sequence and repeat etc......

Ive got some...had extra put in after the hairdryer fire. Will see if I can find the brand.

There are several on FB and members here are on some of them. If you are on FB @Ferdinand I can invite you.

I had quotes from conservatory blind people.....v v expensive one was over 12k! I wanted blinds to be as minimal as possible and also to sit inside the frame on the sliders.....perfect fit too big to allow slider to work so then there was the glued on to the glass solution which did away with the perfect fit framing. All many £££’s and not offering me quite what I wanted. In the end I got the duette fabric blinds made by a local indepenent company and they fitted them on a very small frame (not perfect fit). Frame sprayed ral 7016 to match window frames and its almost invisible. I had blinds coming down top to bottom conventionally in master bedroom slider but in dressing room, en suite other bedrooms and our TV snug I had them fitted bottom up. I am very pleased cost me less than 2k for the lot fitted.

I have low e coating on my 3g windows, suspect most high u value windows have this as a standard feature all designed to keep heat in. I have an overheating problem. My large glazed areas are s & sw facing, at design stage I asked about bris soleil but was told didnt need ..I clearly need something. I have deepish overhangs but not deep enough to shade properly. We had engineering issues with loading and wind due our high exposed location so they are as deep as was practical. I have had solar film fitted to try and help but until next summer I wont know how much benefit it will be, it didnt go on until October. I have the pleated blinds as well as film in bedroom areas. The living area glazing has no blinds. In my experience overheating can be a problem in some highly insulated houses as they hold the heat. In an older house with 2g south facing glazing it was much less of a problem. How well insulated is your barn going to be? It can be hard to get those old buildings up to the standards of a modern construction in which case you might welcome the extra warmth e coating gives and consider some coating/film/blinds for shading in the summer. You can get windows with integrated blinds too or very nice external blinds but they are very expensive.

I’m with bulb too, just on my 3rd month so should start getting some realistic numbers for usage soon.

I got all mine from Porcelanosa in the sale before we had a spade in the ground. 40% deposit and balance on delivery. They kept my stuff in the warehouse for over a year. They were brilliant and (fingers crossed) not likely to go bust like some of the on line merchants.

Go back to your planning consultant they should be offering you some ideas on a way forward, if there is one.

@Dreadnaught I have the 0.10 pumped cellulose roof and the 0.11 walls and they gave me the guaranteed 0.60 air tightness....I wonder why they have now changed that?

I've never heard of 15 years either.....that would be very worrying on our house as it cant be accessed

is It? LOL I know I am thick but no-one told me that........thats why they seemed pleased!! Scuttles off to corner to put on hat with large D!

I have the 'other' walls U value 0.11 my air test was 0.58 ACH@50pa (designed at 0.60 ) ......my walls are a bit thicker than the original spec as the new supplier had to provide a different thickness internal insulation board to get to the u value. MBC guaranteed an air tightness of 0.60 in my contract, they almost got there, guess the small margin is acceptable. As Jeremy says there was a lot of sealing up for us to do, for the airtight test the testers just stuck tape where it was leaky and we were told to seal up properly afterwards. Took my men on site ages and a lot of sealant etc to actually get it properly airtight after the test. It certainly feels airtight now, no draughts anywhere, and this has been commented on by visitors. I was not aware of price difference of one wall system to the other. I got a quote on what I was told was the best one for the job..........I had seen an MBC house some time before and the very deep window reveals with small windows put me right off, was very dark, the slimmer wall profile was chosen for that reason as far as I can remember. I had never heard the term decrement delay until this forum which came well after the frame was ordered. For all that my house is quiet and warm, our heating has not kicked in for days, the MVHR is holding it at about 22 degrees which is ok, humidity way too low though. Enthalpy unit being fitted in two weeks so hopefully that will solve that issue.

Bamboo - either with root barrier or a non running variety. Turf expensive plus you need the prep. Seeding cheaper plus you need the prep. Turf instant seeds will take a while.

Who are you with currently?

I've got studio because I preferred that profile. HF310 for windows and HS330 on the sliders. My are timber Ali not upvc though so it may be different with those. Personally I would not mix and match different windows. If you have a suntrap and want blinds there I would prioritise that as your driver for the decision and if you need to spend a little more do it and cut back somewhere else. TBH given the number of botched jobs on Internorm windows (mine are one) I would be very focused on the quality of the job. The profile will pale into insignificance when you are 12 months down the line still trying to sort issues. Pick your installer with care, they are great windows but the dealerships can be very mixed in terms of quality of service once they have your loot.

He cleaned off the old stuff and reapplied. Used his knife..... not sure if anything else, what was on wasnt too bad as it was a first layer reapply of mine. He used my silicone (he didnt have any with him wasn't expecting it). It was the Uni bond one that doesnt need a gun. Neat job, hope it us the end of the leak now......the difference a professional makes is impressive.

nope not a penny, he is a good ‘un!

I used Vincent timber for my cladding very helpful company

my lovely kitchen fitter called in to do a tweak yesterday and I got him to reseal that shower screen whilst he was here. Bingo no leak tonight!

Following this too

Hanse Haus uk builds all have it. Dont know any self builds sorry.

The V22 comfort is what we were considering. You need to hire the specialist machine too. https://www.systexx.com/en/products/downloads.html

Maybe OP likes his location and doesn't mind spending more than finished product will be worth...........how many of us have done that LOL

We plastered in the horrible ‘summer’ of 2017. The rain was non stop for weeks then. I think the frame was still wet when we plaster boarded and we had leaks from all the windows. Plastering still went ahead. We have some cracks now 18 months on but I am told this is inevitable with a timber frame as they do shrink and move and about 2 years to settle. Our cracks are not horrendous and I’m going to wait a few months before doing any repair work hopefully it will have settled then. I would not tape and joint that is low end finsh and you will end up skimming down the line. The German kit houses do not skim their plasterboard they use a special sort of ‘paper’ so no cracks. Its pricy but comparable with a plasterer I think. I looked at using it but talked to several decorators who were not keen. Got details buried soemewhere if anyone wants them.