TheMitchells

No sorry - scribbles in a notebook!

I have been doing that since finding BuildHub. As well as good products, I add other useful pieces of advice. Its quite a list now and I do have to occasionally read through it to remind myself. But definately worth the effort as it saves having to search through lots of posts for that one you vaguely remember from months ago.

yes, I looked at them and they do look easier to do than tiles. I was a bit worried about damp getting into the joints but they say they are waterproof. maybe I shall order a couple of samples. thanks Janet.

Can I just resurrect this post to ask for advice for our bathroom floor? We plan to tile the bathroom floor - all 3 sq metres worth. (not including underneath the bath) We currently have 18mm chipboard and we have been advised to use 12mm Aquapanel or 6mm Hardie Backerboard on the floor before we tile. The chap at the BM also said he'd use 18mm ply but we think that would make the height of the floor too high once tiled. Which of the three would be best under ceramic tiles? We also planned to get 12mm Hardie backerboard for the stud walls.

will have a look next time I am at the house.

okay - I can do that. Do I have to take it from all round the base and then do a new bead on the outside?? it will be difficult as the basin unit is in the way. Maybe we should have a post of simple instructions for showers and bathroom fittings that the suppliers dont tell you.

oh dear - thats what I didnt want to hear. shame its not explained on the instructions. Maybe I can remove some of the sealant on the inside. we cannot get to the outside without removing the rest of the bathroom furnature and thats probably not going to happen. thanks for the advice.

This week the OH and I removed a bath and refitted a shower room for my (aging) parents. They didnt want to spend a huge amount and we ended up getting it all from B&Q - the Cooke and Lewis Exuberance Rectangular shower encosure with single sliding door and the Cooke and Lewis Lagan shower tray. The quality was quite good for the price, IMO, and we followed the instructions (pictures only) to the letter. We also followed @Nickfromwales's advice and used Sikaflex EBT to create an upstand when we positioned the tray against the wall. However, when we used the shower to test it out, there was a load of water coming from the base of the enclosure on the side wall nearest the shower, where it joins the wall. When constructed, the glass panels were slid into a metal (aluminium maybe) trim which in turn, slid into the section which we had glued and screwed to the wall. the base of the glass panels fixed into another trim but these also had a plastic thingy (technical term for the non-plumbers) which we think seals the glass into the trim so no water can get in. But not at the side panel. As the shower tray has a completely flat bit for the enclosure to sit on, we were a bit concerned about water seeping under the enclosure as we hadnt been told to stick it down with sealant. So I used some Sikaflex and applied a thin bead all around the base, sealing the bottom of the enclosure to the tray, on the inside. The water seems to be getting through the part where the glass panel fits into the first metal trim. It does seems strange that it did not need sealant or a plastic/rubber seal. But I wonder if I actually created the problem here. Maybe the design is for the water to get into that area but then drain out the bottom - although what would stop it draining out the outside, I dont know. In the end some clear CT1 in a bead all the way up that join seems to have slowed the water escaping but not completely. At least it was just seeping slowly out rather than pouring out. And that was with the shower head pointing straight at it, which isnt going to happen under normal use. Was it me or the design? The bit where we think the water is getting through is that black line where the glass was slid into the metal trim, which then slid into the wall trim, already fixed to the wall.You can see the thin bead of sikaflex that I applied all round the base.

a Viessmann 29kW combi boiler.

That answer from Jeremy was interesting. we are renovating and the house has hardly anything turned on when we are not there yet it still uses a surprising amount of electricity. As we have never been there during the night, I assume the fridge and combi are using the whole 60kW as that is all that's connected. the charge for electricity for the 3 months was only £30 so I suppose £10 a month isnt too bad. But having read the above, I think it is the combi boiler using the most - I can hear it come on regularly even when we arent using any water. and its only the kitchen sink that uses any hot water at the moment as we haven't got the radiators or bathroom in yet. Electricity readings Period Meter no. 22 Oct 16 to 23 Jan 17 Day 158 Night 60 kWh. Does it sound too much and should I be turning off the 'ready and waiting' mode that Jeremy mentions? The gas costs £18 for the three months and the only thing using gas is the boiler. Again, I wonder if thats too much when we are using no heating and very little hot water.

I have the baby wipes ready! The walls are covered with ply, I would guedss then wall papered but the pipes are already in place and hidden witin the wall. we will do as you suggest re sealing all the pipes that come through the panels. No - I hadnt read about the supplied trims - would you recommend agaisnt using them? I'll have a look for the posts. Thanks for the help.

I'm thinking about the shower my parents are planning to install instead of the current bath. it is in a Mobile Park Home so like a caravan but static. therefore the walls are not solid. we plan to take out the bath and replace with shower tray, use B&Q Splashwall panels around the area and fit a shower enclsure. I am wondering about whether we'd need to tank the walls before fixing the wall panels. The plan is to use Nicks sikaflex stuff on the tray to create an upstand.(as described here) and then the panels would go on top of the shower tray. Should we use some tanking stuff on the walls first? And which one? I have looked at Aquaseal wet room system for around £30. would that be enough? Or are the panels sufficient by themselves.

the one thing I learnt when we took out a wall out between our kithen and dining room, was to make sure the RSJ's are in place on the floor before setting up the accro props. it is very difficult to get then in afterwards, espcecially in a small space. sounds an exciting project - welcome to the forum and good luck.

Opps. You are right - just checked and it was 0.087! It was the lowest that the air tester had ever done in 30 years of testing. http://www.houseplanninghelp.com/hph183-how-to-achieve-an-outstanding-airtightness-result/

Wow is all I can say! Looks great.

It is reading posts like this one that convinces me that if ever I do find a plot, I will go for a company who provides the full package to a watertight house. I'm looking at the PH15 system by Passivhaus Homes as they supply everything and have contractors who know their system and are trained in its use. They are currently doing a Passivhaus in Buckinghamshire and their airtight test came back at 0.8ACH!! and the guy who did all the work had never done passivhaus before. But they have a known system and components that all work. And that seems to give an awful lot of confidence and hopefully less stress. Sorry I'm not able to help with your problem but at least you know we all feel for you. You'll get there in the end (hopefully!).

welcome and, definitely, we need a blog with lots of pictures please. I'm quite green as still looking for a plot but one day............

Just had a conversation with Door Supplies Online and must say I was impressed. no hard sell but plenty of (hopefully) good advice and suggestions. we have two doors to get for the bedrooms which appear to be rather unusual sizes. If I get a normal sized door, it will mean taking 100mm off the height which may look rather strange and will invalidate any guarantee. But they do made to measure so waiting to hear back with a quote. And when we do the bathroom walls, we will make sure we have the doorset and make the doorway to fit!

What was I worried about. I just spoke to Building Control and they are happy to issue the completion Certificate for the main work (removing the kitchen pillar and installing rsj's) which they checked and passed months ago. They dont need to come out for the stairs!

Blimey! I didnt realise this would be so complicated. This is the current state of the stairs. I have moved the orangy post which we had, next to the thrid old one and jammed it in really tight to give extra structural support to that large beam above. The plasterboard will go round and cover all of these on the left. Then I plan to get two nice posts and abutt one to the right of the orange post, which will have been covered by PB by then. And the far right post will also be replaced by a nice new post. and hopefully it will be filled in between by glass or if too expensive, some nice spindles. I think I wil get the stairs/woodworking company to come round and let them tell me what wood would be suitable. and price up for those spindles too. 1. what about delivery?? But thanks for the offer. I'm down to 2 posts so price is coming down. 2. I know.... but it will look nice! And its the one extravagance in the whole house. yes, it is to resell but it is the one feature that will be the 'nice' thing that we didnt need to do. And walking round from the lounge, it is nice to be able to see through intowards the kitchen. Shouldn't all houses have that little extra touch. 3. Its not that twiddly! It will look classy..... hopefully.

I did speak to the Structural Engineer today to ask him what it is I need to do. He promised to ring me back in 20 mins. 12 hours later I am still waiting. He did say that using a hardwood would be fine as that would be better than C24. So I popped into a local woodworking place that does lots of projects including stairs. They quoted me £340 for 3 oak posts, planed to size. Which doesnt seem too bad, till I told the OH and he said 'no way'. I guess we could just put ordinary posts in and cover it with plasterboard but I had that vision of creating something that little bit differernt. Tomorrow I will ask at the BM about those 75x100 lengths....

Thanks for looking Peter - I did say the first 10 pages were all to do with our kitchen rsj's and not this problem. I am sorry in that I have obviously confused you all - the newish bottom post currently there was put in by us, when we removed the two bottom most origonal posts. we thought we shuld put something in till we get the new stuff. re point 1. I dont know why the engineer assumed the wood to be C24 - they were just branches, cut to size and most still had the bark on. I will get a close up today. None of the origonal posts were anything like 50x100. but if thats the size we need, I can do that and yes, my new bottom most post (when we get it) will be within the 1.25m from the wall. So I think from all that, as long as I get 50x100 (actualy I will get 75mm as thats the current depth of the origonal posts) C24 and place it within 1.25m of the wall, it should be okay. I will try that and see if the Building Control like it! I doubt they'll come out just to look at a stair post but you never know? Thanks for all the imput. Will let you know how I get on with the BC.

But is that what the engineer specified as I am not sure I understand his report?? Was I correct that this is what he is specifying? Thats the main question I am asking.

Please ignore the last two photo's - they werent supposed to be added and now I cannot delete them.

yes, I am considering a mirror. We will not be adding a window as we dont want to add costs that we probably will not a return back when we sell. Just painting the area white or pale colour will help - it was bright orange with black woodwork! Each to their own!