oranjeboom

Cheaper than the gym, but you should see the chiropractor's bills!! Walls have all held in place - no movement that I can tell. They do all go down to the traditional footings that I have. Only problem I had was where the old WC room had one wall sitting on the slab only - not any footings at all. So have decided to leave that small room as is. It was only going to be a cloakroom for boots, jackets etc and possibly a manifold for UFH (which I will have to have elsewhere now). Perhaps a wine room now that it will not have UFH and also a lower temp than anywhere else in house! As for EWI, yes EPS all the way down to the top of the footings (still have to decide whether I leave a gap along the DPC) and how I protect the EPS below ground from future gardening spades and possibly rats/mice. I'll probably create a french drain of some kind and then also use pavers BGL. Most likely be an autumn job so time to think about that one. Yes, long term best bet. Don't want to be in a position whereby they wife starts plugging in electric fan heaters as the place is leaking heat. Spend big now to save £££ in future years. Shame the price of insulation is creeping up over the past 12months...and more price rises to come I see.

Thanks Terry. I have my datum set by the extensions and managed to retain the original FFL in the old part of the house. One of the very reasons to dig out 500mm in the old house as I didn't want to re-create door lintels and lose ceiling height. As for air tightness, that is indeed going to be an issue with a renovation - awaiting my rolls from ProDave It's going to take more than a few rolls and MHVR of course...

@Onoff Yes, I've covered your updates with interest over the past 12months or so. You should have popped round for some hardcore levelling as I read you'd been round to @PeterStarck the other day! Could have used your expertise levelling 90sqm. @A_L Thanks! Yes, I came to the same result using the changeplan calc in the end. @TerryE - Good question! For some things you can aim/hope what you have done is correct. Nothing too scientific. Cross your fingers and hope for the best. That's almost the stance I took when I started looking at UFH in the old part of this house. I almost got schmoozed into going to a retrofit UFH system by a well known UK UFH company until I started looking into the science/facts a bit more. UFH with 20mm of EPS powered by an ASHP just isn't going to work. So I bit the bullet and dug up the old slab (plus an actual WW2 bullet) down to approx 500mm. U-value of 0.11 as it's better than BuildRegs...(well that ain't hard is it!!) and I noted that was the magic value that appeared to work for someone else on this forum. So I've spent the £ on areas where it's going to matter on this retro/extension: slab insulation, EWI, 3G passivhaus windows and discarded other stuff like ASHP, leaky bi-folds,and fancy-looking log burners that are supposedly 99% efficient and very environmentally friendly. @Ian Thanks Ian - I did come across this last night but got a bit bamboozled until I had a better look this evening. Quite simple in the end - amazing what fumes do to your head!

PIR is regularly used below slabs with the use of DPM so should be fine. I'll most likely put EPS at the bottom also. As for EPS70, I think that is fine for domestic settings. Why did you use EPS300? Do you have a 747 parked in your lounge? EPS70 cert: http://www.insulationexpress.co.uk/documents/Kay-Cel Flooring Insulation BBA Certificate.pdf

Right, evening all. I have sufficient depth in my ground bearing slab build up for 260mm of insulation and need to achieve at least a u-value of 0.11w/m2k. To achieve this I was going to use a mix of PIR and EPS. If I were to use the below, what overall u-value do I end up with? 100mm celotex (0.16) 160mm jablite (0.164) (My P/A is 0.449) Original plan was to go for 275mm EPS which would get me a u-value of 0.11, but now I've got a bit less to play with. I'd like to stick with that target u-value. Head is full of petrol fumes after whackering and levelling all day so my mathematical skills are even worse than usual. Another option I have would be to go for EPS100 instead of EPS70 but I have some 100mm celotex on site that I'de like to use up. Thanks in advance.

Shame that is not Celotex floor insulation. But I did notice that Insulationgiant have GA4000 on offer for 100mm: £25.95 no minimum order: http://www.insulationgiant.co.uk/Celotex-Insulation-GA4100-Board-100mm-2400mm-x-1200mm/p/778048 Can't see a better deal on that at the moment, so I better get my order in this week!

Frog's still smiling at least.

Now that's an interesting place for a window cill! Well insulated at least!

It's been over a day!! He must still be thinking about that one!!

Just a quick update on this one. Plumber spoke to my mother today (she's been away) and basically said that if she wasn't happy with the service, then they won't charge her with the understanding that she doesn't call them out next time something goes wrong. Now that is what I call 'service'!! If only more tradesfolk had that attitude!

Thank your mate for raising this question...as I think one of my mates may have asked the very same question!!!

My quote clearly stated what was and what wasn't included. I would go back and check your earlier correspondence/quotes. I did however notice a very different tone in their dealings with me once they had received my deposit. They turned out to be complete $&*£% in the end. Hopefully you haven't gone with the same outfit as I did.

I did consider that...but I have reservations being a one-man-show and also the fact that I will need 20m worth of tubing and then also drag it thru into smaller rooms, coil it all up when length is too long, stand and damage the pipe etc. Also checking insulation levels would be a bit cumbersome, so decided for an 'easier' but more $$$ approach. Thanks for the suggestions above, will look at options and pricing now. @Nickfromwales Could you PM me his details Nick? Probably a bit out of the way down here for him here in Kent, but if he's 'in the area' on any other jobs.... local trades are a real PIA I find.

Background: 2 new extensions old bungalow with slab removed, dug down to 500mm, compacted hardcore down in most places New concrete slab to be laid with UFH (over 300mm insulation) - no screed layer. First door in which acts as my 'datum' Now that I have main door installed with low level threshold, I can proceed to determine my FFL throughout the house. I had previously determined levels with one of these self=leveling cubes: http://www.screwfix.com/p/stanley-cubix-self-levelling-laser-level/69712. To be sure the levels were correct I also bought one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PENTAX-LASER-TILTING-LEVEL-TL-1-SURVEYING-/141961706661 (but from a local UK specialist, not ebay) which seemed like a decent bit of kit until i first tried it and it's clear it needs a service as it must have been used as a demo piece at best as the laser point does not zero in less than about 70mm from a distance of 5metres!! So i resorted back to the Stanely cube but now each time I carefully check my levels they end up being different. So have zero confidence in using that now. It's more to assist with shelving and tiling but as it's self levelling it did originally give me consistent floor levels....up to now. So prior to putting in my 300mm of insulation I need to go round the house again and re-check levels from my 'datum' (low threshold door). I've now got my eye on something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/131976544466 Would that do the job? I could hire, but the whole flooring process will take me a while with many rooms to compact the hardcore (where it still need a bit of persuasion), lay down the EPS etc. So don't want to keep hiring lasers over a few weeks. I did contemplate getting out the old spirit level and going round like that, bit by bit...but can't see getting across 20m from one end of house to the other accurately!! TIA!!

I think a better product than peanut butter would be marshmallows - surely better insulating than peanut butter?? You can buy ready-made panels from certain producers which will probably work out cheaper than bespoke/designed ones. If creating your own, you will need to ensure that there are no gaps at all with the insulant.

Having done a SIPs extension, I would consider that...as you indeed are. Quicker to erect, cheaper (esp if you put the panels up yourself), and potentially better insulated. It will also reduce weight on your footings. It may be worth digging down to your footings to see what the situation is with your footings/foundation.

Try to site the van in an optimal position (away from public view, out of the wind, close to sewer line....). I did at one point have camoflauge netting covering one side too, but the hedging makes it almost impossible to see. Just waiting on the next round on Landsat imagery to appear on Google/Bing maps now! Try and get a decent van too - one with double glazing, central heating etc. I also fitted ours with a log fire. But it's still not great - space is the main issue with 2kids and 2 adults! If the wife doesn't set light to it, then I will have a decent mancave at some point. Good luck!

local council here insisted I pay tax on renovation house even though we were not living in that (though we were down in the back of the garden in our static). Actually we are still in the static now....3yrs on. Financially it has saved us close to 60k from not having to rent. Healthwise, family-wise and sanity-wise it's probably not the best decision we made, but it should be our last winter in this thing now! You may also need to consult with your council whether you need to obtain there permission on a static too.

Have you chosen your piling company now? And if so, are you sure they will be sending a 32t rig? The rig that did ours was only about 2-3t, although your pile specs will of course be different for your site.

I've warned my mother not to give it too much of a bash with her new hoover! But Maybe the plumber fancied coming out for an emergency flood call!!!

Yes, the rad valve is directly above that scorched area.

In my extension I had two corner posts (SHS) that will be glazed on either side. I simply applied 10mm aerogel (taped), wrapped with plastic and then drilled timber to all sides. Once windows and doors are attached, I'll use further insulation on the interior where possible. But this is for the heated living room. From the looks of your drawing, you have bi-folds that will close off your 'garden' and will therefore retain some heat and therefore have the potential to cause condensation on the steels - hence the desire to insulate them?

Yes, will be moving on once I get his bill rectified. Original pipe going up through floor was copper with soldered elbow joint so i guess he he flamed it to disconnect but I guess he had no clue that wood combusts...and that plastic melts. And too top it off, was too lazy to get a copper pipe up thru floor boards to rad. Will see if I can pull in enough slack in the cable to rectify. And yes, had I known my mother was too impatient for me to fix the leaks, I would have had her get some quotes. I am sure she won't be inviting him next time! Hopefully I'll be on hand to get anything as basic as this to sort out. Thanks for the feedback!

Anything 'specialised' in this country warrants a 'special' price, i.e. overpriced. 3G windows are almost the norm in many European countries and the price for passiv is negligibly more. If you do get locally sourced windows in the UK, then it seems that installers do a poor job fitting them. I would have liked to buy my windows local too, but the service I received was awful even at the quotes stage. Good luck with getting your issues resolved @jamiehamy . If not, it's just another example of the service 'one-off' self builders get in this country. I sincerely hope they rectify the issues seeing it's dragged on for almost half a year.

Thanks for the replies. Had I known mother was going to call in the muppet, I would have put up big signs "hole here", "replace this joint with compression joint xyx", "dont forget to tighten nuts", "take coffee mug back to kitchen".... This is why I hate dealing with most trades people...and it's not like I always go with the cheapest I can find. Certainly my mother didn't, as she's used this guy for the past 20yrs and he's not the cheapest or the most efficient. Out of the 'professionals' i have used I would only recommend 2-3. In most cases I've had to re-do a lot of their shoddy work. Guess it's also to do with being in the SE where work is plentiful for them. Recalculating his bill: 3hrs labour(at £45) £135 Parts: £50 (being generous) TOTAL: £185 +VAT = £222 I also noticed that his handiwork damaged some of the electrical cabling. Should I now call in another 'professional' to replace that???? See first pic.