zoothorn

Ah thank goodness. I can crack on with the 2nd 'coat' this wknd then. I hate wasting 20kg of cement you see/ so that's good, I might use asap after for another mortar job. Thx markc

Sorry the pics aren't too clear.. Could someone help me out? I'm not sure how long after my 1st repoint layer (of 4:1) I can put the 2nd layer? I needed 2 layers (or "passes" I dont know the right term) because the depth was so big between my stone. I think that was the right idea. So it's been 3 days curing. Also how long does a bag of cement last, opened? do I need to store it in an airtight bag? thanks- zH

Hi again chaps, Im finally on this job. My builder was here so asking what he'd do, he said yes ideally lime mortar as has been suggested.. but if it were him, might just go 4:1 mortar. So Ive had to go just mortar. Cost is £20 vs £120 including driving 150m to get 'lime mortar' ready mixed.. so turned out an unviable option with an old failing car. Its been a very tricky for me so far tho- getting the stuff in the rough, craggy stonework has been very challenging.. so i can only do an average job at best. Most of the mix fell on the floor. A sod of a job i feel way out my depth with. So far I've managed a 1st "pass" of mortar. But tbh I dont feel i really know what im doing. Am i rendering? With the same stuff? Does it need a second " pass" then a whole render over?? What the heck is this old stuff its replacing.. render or mortar? Its thick, covered the reveals, seems like a fine concrete maybe fk only knows (pic 3). As it is Ive rough filled say half depth. But I'm not sure how to continue. Even my mix (1st time done one) i couldn't achieve it to 'stick' on the trowel.. so im not even confident on this, but, it seems possibly ok. Thanks zoot.

Hi Rob. Useful info thanks especially having experience of this. Ok now Im reminded edf energy have taken me over, their homepage actually gives good info to us. Bodes well, reassuring. 1 st time Ive read it. Now they say don't cancel my dd, & Ive noticed the same ( estimated) monthly figure/ bill has gone out as usual, to green energy which confuses me if they're bust, but they say this is to be expected.

Hi MJN back here. Actually edf say not to cancel my dd I see on their site (might i get my leccy going off if I were to I would wonder). I think just keep a close eye maybe. Perhaps this isnt the catastrophe I 1st anticipated. Hope so. Thx zh

Hi ST. Thats useful info thanks.. I had completely forgotten that this edf co has indeed taken over my account, so thx you've jogged me back into gear. Dammit tho I havent taken meter readings. I took one at the time, so moneysavingexpert emailed us to do. So just write them down you mean? Afaict I dont have an edf account.. yet.. so I can't go on there to put any readings ' in' anywhere.

Oh bloomin eck that sounds concerning. Not what i want to hear Id better keep an eye on my bank acc. Ombudsman sounds stressful too.. Id be hopeless if I had to go this route.

Thanks Peter, kind to say that. I think admitting I have a stress problem (not seeing or speaking to anyone for 14 months esp elderly parents, one with bigC is mostly the cause, & n'bors stress too) is 1st step/ then manage any Q's on this fine site better.. not run off up pickle street. is my aim. thx zH

Hi Chaps, having only a few years electric Co tarrif experience (my 1st house) I was a bit -shocked- to get email saying my Co had gone tlts up. Green Network Energy. I used moneysavingexpert compare site to switch providers each year, possibly easing 1st concerns with reassuring emails "dont fret for now, we've put you on another Co, you don't need do anything" etc. But nothing since about 2 months I think, so I'm starting to fret. My dd payments still going out to Green Co. I wonder if anyone else might be in same situation with this Co? or can advise. Much appreciated- zoot. -- [Apologies for my long extention thread, & my stress twds end: I packed too many subjects in one thread & got myself castled, I've been suffering from stress recently from a few things colliding partly the cause I think: sincere apologies & thanks to all for their time to reply].

And how many pages taken up with replies such as these 3 MJN eh??? and pocasters, TBC's, and others (just to glean attention afaict) purely done to be unkind, rude, sarcastic, childish, or nasty to me rather than helpful. Maybe half? Like a bunch of schoolchildren. Grow up.

..and so, logic dictates.. you are ALL masochists! Haha. Ggood & bad news on my CH ( yes, is part of extention- last bits). Good: better heat in top room, think ive 'balanced' other rads tweaking them lower. With sun adding 3.5*c, yesterday 23* c in here! actually too hot! Turns out thermometre was 1* reading lower, so using a different one now (so maybe instead of it being excessively humid feeling, it was just excessively hot? 70% rh tho?). Trying venting, minor rh difference, but room temp gets back up to speed much quicker than i thought once window closed again.. so is feasable to do during day to vent my manhuff. Bad news: vaillant visit to fix noise issue (circuit boards added, waited months for) which seemed to have resolved it... hasn't. Noise again, during this cold patch, 2am heating comes on. My anger at this again you wouldn't believe. Eg yesterday: woken, 2.10 am, 2.35, 3.05, 3.45, 4.25, 4.55, 5.20, 5.55... finally heating on 6.15. 10min chunks of noise time on each, then quiet. On.. off.. on.. incessantly, so once woke your stressed waiting for next.. so you cant sleep all night. A week of it. Hence another time out from thread, im so sleep deprived i can barely work, totally infuriated and defeated by it. If this isnt a warning not to buy this ashp.. i dont know what is, its fkn atrocious (but im stuck with it). So I cant cope with more talk on the condensation.. its too tricky, i cant deal with the stacking up vs me ontop of the CH issues, ontop of tackling Vaillant via hours of calls too + lack of sleep = im too exhausted. Thanks tho.. i do appreciate efforts trying to help, explanations, even the solutions too: ill buy a dehumidifier, but if its noisy.. it goes in the fkn river. I'll add some final pics of the extention later, Im now calling FINISHED (even tho diddy downlight pots + rest of fluff to do). So huge thanks for all the build help again: despite the teething xyz & me not understanding stuff as usual, it has turned out fantastically well after all. Thx. zoot.

But Peter you are now suggesting anyone just cannot tell an uncomfortably clammy-hot room.. to a pleasantly-dry room unless measuring it. Of course you can, we all do. You know at your barbados villa when its clammy its clammy, at your saharan villa when its dry air its dry air. Did you need a device to tell you of these obvious huge climatic differences? No. Similarly I know every time I see parents, & it feels far drier when i get there so much so its a lovely relief & identical each time over 5 yrs.. I know this is not something I might possibly only be perceiving; it is a fact it is drier, i dont need a measurement 'or Im not able to say so'. Paper is soft & limp here, its normally dry there (as of i need any proof.. but there it is anyway) is a useful and succint example of what is found/ tangibly/ fact. Its a similar huge difference between these two areas of the uk.. and.. my disparity in these rooms. Made even more bizarre as you'd expect the total reverse as to what Im finding if the old damp room feels normal dry with heating on.. & the new dry room feels unusually humid with heating on. If its a humid day, you - can- just say it is humid with an acceptable degree of certainty. 2 million years.. we've evolved enough to sense things well enough! .It seems like my fkn ashp waking me up & leaking still, im stuck in a catch22.. can't put dehumidifier on overnight- noise will prevent sleep. Cant run CH as it should- noise will prevent sleep. Seal room so its airtight to aid heat containing, but must vent the room so heat escapes & like now Im bloody cold again having had window open for 5 hrs. And then the 'bag' analogy also inevitably facilitating moisture build up (so how can i make sense of this counterintuitiveness). Old damp room feels dry.. new dry room feels damp etc. If I dont get the cup for longest thread, ill surely get it for longest fkn word (20!). If it is a word. Thx zh

@PeterStarck understand your test idea, but wouldn't it need two identical room characteristics to be of use tho.. & someone sleeping in each, same rad size too-? Peter could you comment on this.. sun pm yesterday added 3.5* heat to this room (thermostat room 18*, so if it usually gets to 1* less in problem top room as a rule.. so at 20.5* the sun added 3.5* blasting in). So good success in this figure, lovely warmth best ever.. but unpleasantly clammy. Now in my main old ground floor room, stove on, get similar room temp, known bit of rising damp ((( not cause of top room moisture because its all of 3 rooms away plus a floor below & damp minor anyway/ liveable with fine ))) old characteristics etc.. pleasantly dry. Its this weird "reverse disparity" Im trying to get cause of: you'd just expect in new timber frame, dry, sunniest ever room.. pleasant dry heat. You might expect in my 1830 stone room, much darker, next to kitchen, with its bit of known damp in.. unpleasantly clammy heat. But I'm getting the -complete- polar opposite. Thx zh

Exactly. Which suggests to me some other factor is at play here: if you said you're 50m away from the ystwyth, 8m over rolling hills westwards from sea high up in a mini valley 'bowl' fir forest trap ( & assuming no dehumidifiers & mvhr in it going full pelt).. Id say how the flyin feck?! Im not sure of the point of saying this tho, but I am sure it's likely not to agree with me.. to humour me maybe? thx zh

So you're suggesting my (minimal use, 1 person) kettle/ kitchen huff is some of the cause.. ok so it goes out through kitchen door, through my main room, up stairs, bypasses 1st bedroom & landing window where it could have collected, through big 2nd bedroom, on right through my new thick door always closed to keep warmth in, on through big new extention room & collects 35metres away, at my french doors? Seriously?

So might it be the case then, that because - i have- in fact built this room well, ie sealed like a foil bag ( as was suggested the idea when i did my foil taping every nook and cranny Onoff & Co were advising).... that this might be cause? In which case, Im back to the bizarre situation of on the one hand advised to be sealing the room up super well against cold air ingress, but then the very opposite being advised of you need ventilation. So why seal it up like a bag in 1 st place?? Even so, if this was the sole cause then Logic says i should see this same effect in each room i sleep in. But i see the very opposite, i see this room massively different to any other ive slept in including my adjacent bedroom for last 4 years. So this doesn't seem likely then if true to be all of the cause, but only part of it.

Hi TonyT. I can see this is a feasable suggestion.. appreciated: but I dont have any pipes under the floor in this 1 st floor room, none under floor below either.

Hi Peter, it might be an idea. But look Im only, just, solely, nothing else just for now.... trying to figure why this room is acting like it has a hot sauna next door, the door open, & sauna'd hot fattie fatsos keep coming in for some reason (maybe they think I have food in here. I dont have food in here). Why considering it should be the least condensation laden room (if the normal causes are happening) in the house.. after so much effort & modern materials used, which should help so says posh clip chap... is it being by far the worst for it?

Hi thanks for that link. As he says straight up.. it's a complicated subject. Next he says regarding causes, the 4 main culprits: cooking, shower/ baths, washing, breathing. But all apart from breathing are n/a in this new room because: Im rarely having shower/ baths (like 1.5 a week.. its too cold currently in my bathroom), kitchen & bathroom far away from this room anyway. I cook for one sparingly (like using one pan only, ever). I never dry washing inside, only outside. I dont have a tumbledryer/ wasteful things IMO. And as Im one not a family of 4, I think its fair to say I produce minimal moisture breathing too. So I am introducing minimal moisture into this room, I think that can be said. So.. wtf is causing this much then, in here. unfortunately, even such a good vid hasn't shed any light on the cause of this excessive condensation, in this particular room here. Onwards from explaining the ins & outs of these main causes, he just goes on to dehumidifiers and solutions. So Im still none the wiser. If it was a single glazed, old stone room, a bit of damp evident at floor level, kitchen next door, 3 fatsos using this room... this level of condensation & black mould would fit. So I wouldnt need to ask why so much condensation in here. It'd be bloomin obvious. But I do not have such a room or fatties. I have just built, the opposite of this old room example, with double glazing, insulation etc etc (& as the chaps says good insulation is a pg1 thing to have to minimise condensation.. seems the complete opposite to me). But it is acting like the very worst old room with shite single glazed windows, & 5 fatsos now in it eating steamy noodles. And whatsmore its the worst room in the house even, by a huge margin too.

Hi Thedreamer. Yes I do.. & tbh that's interesting Ive not considered this (actually curtains aren't the least bit interesting, but I think I get your gist!). In fact, as it's yet to have big balcony which will add some privacy (IE 1.2m H of wood railing) I've deliberately kept curtains closed up until midday. Hadn't mulled on this (but: before curtains put up, I was getting excessive condensation on the outside tho/ huge ammounts too). Designwise the extention end, doors etc, is too close to the two lanes really.. but the views & the light such a knockout on both counts, I went with it (my design). It means my bedroom can be seen into tho you see. Damn good point- thanks for that. zH

So far Peter Stark seems to the only one whose given me a reasonable suggestion of a cause: of this excessive condensation, in this particular brand new built timber frame room, in the new extention (visible now Ive completed 'extention- last bits', having spent the winter in here watching my new pB bizarrely rotting away). I ask for possible causes... but I get 'put a heater in'. I say no with thanks Im not asking about a solution, but what might be causing it. Again: 'put a heater in' (no I repeat, the cause pls/ not solutions). Its damp! (no, I have no damp in here. jesusH). Its damp put a heater in! For. crying. out. fkn. loud. Cause ideas/ suggestions etc? I aint got anywhere near solving it if I dont know the cause of it, the level of it, in here. Recall me moaning (before carpet) about it covering the -outside- of these doors ?? (so much I couldn't see out- never seen doors or a window so bad). Right.. so then, is it that weird to be questioning them again as maybe a part of (even all of-?) the cause of this excessive condensation also on the -inside- too? I mean Ive never seen such a huge red arrow pointing at anything in my life, as these doors tbh but I'm happy to be prooved wrong if there's good reason to say this big red arrow's a big red herring instead. But no-one says so, ignored, & instead 'you got damp.. put a heater in!'. boy oh boy. If I had a penny for everytime someone said 'put a heater in'..... .... I'd have five pounds sixty three. zH

ST you just add sarcasm & keep saying its damp. This is ridiculous & not helpful. All your info is under the assumption its damp. There is not a jot of fkn damp in the room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FFS man!!!!!!!!!!! No. damp. In. This. Room. Full. stop. All you do is read that if I say I have a bit of damp in the main old shell, well well away from this new room (extention sort of gives it away that its new)... you jump to the assumption the cause of this.. is damp. So very wrong. I dont fkn pay my builder £26k to have built me a timber frame extention with damp in do I. FFS. How on earth is this helpful?!

Hi Dpm, HAD A HEATER IN FOR AGES THANKS!!!!!! BIG FKOFF LONG ONE TOO!!!!!!!!! And getting a reasonably consistant 18.5* in here from midday >> 9pm in here too. every day it's on.

haha. Well as I just know in my bones that it's here, 8m in westwards from the sea, up over hills (IE precipitation factors), then 600ft up within a 'bowl' of fir forests closely looming over, often literally in a cloud too, just has inherrant partial (if not most of the) cause to this problem.. it's certainly an idea! In meantime: I wonder if I could inject the french door frames with say soudal foam as insulation? The doors with the DG units in are seperate of course, so I wouldn't bodge up the glass units. Drill hole > fill up the outer frame ?? IE if I could try summat/ rule that out/ continue.. I might get to the cause >> then >> the easy bit might be doing summat about it, or might be impossible if big structural alterations of course, but at least I'd know the bloody reason! thx zoot