Dunc

Scotland - north east highlands. Not sure they're local; think they're travelling from Essex!

MBC are using R.Warville (JW- Insulation.co.uk) for my insulation blow next week.

Dunno if it's in the spirit of the forum to disclose company names? @Buildhub Moderators can delete if required. These are windows from NordVest. Have checked warranty detail. 2 years parts & labour, 5 years glazing & labour; further 5 years glazing but no labour....just shows how variable warranty can be. Perhaps I should have looked into this in more detail when choosing a supplier. But the headline "10 year warranty" seemed comparable with others. Doesn't fill me with joy for the long term. However they have accepted the warranty claim with fairly minimal fuss (a surprise based on previous issues). So new glass is on the way.

Dunno if it's in the spirit of the forum to disclose company names? @Buildhub Moderators can delete if required. These are windows from NordVest. Have checked warranty detail. 2 years parts & labour, 5 years glazing & labour; further 5 years glazing but no labour....just shows how variable warranty can be. Perhaps I should have looked into this in more detail when choosing a supplier. But the headline "10 year warranty" seemed comparable with others. Doesn't fill me with joy for the long term.

When we were getting quote, cost difference between 2g and 3g was about 10% from the same manufacturer in my case. Much smaller than expected.

My timber cladding reveal boards overlap the aluminum of the window which itself ovelaps the glazing unit - they'll have to come off unfortunately. Doable, but irritating given I only finished installing today.

Not bl**dy long enough 👿

Well that's disappointing to say the least. No end of trouble with these windows. I really wish we'd gone with another manufacturer. Installed by their "recommended" installer, so not a direct link there. But at least we know I didn't mess it up. Will have to check the warranty to find out who's paying for the labour. Rather gutted as we just finished cladding that side today. The timber in the window reveal will presmably have to come out to allow access. There just aren't enough swear words today 😡

Bright sunny day today (for the first time in a while) and noticed what seems to be condensation or contamination between the panes. It's not on either touchable surface; it appears to be between the glass panes. Seems to be only in the large fixed pane which is ~2x2m; the opening pane beside it is fine. South facing if that makes any difference. Triple glazed, aluminium clad, installed 2025. Any ideas what this is? Causes? Solutions?

Ah, this is not OpenReach. It is a local area network broadband provider (coz we only haz copper BT cables in these backwards parts). But point taken - ask the service provider what they require.

(Not really sure which section this should be in) I need to lay about 40m of underground ducting to carry a broadband cable from site boundary to the house. This will pass under the driveway. I understand that telecoms duct should be grey. Is that correct? I cannot find any flexible/twinwall type duct in grey; only 6m lengths of rigid duct. Rigid duct seems likely to be hard to lay over the long distance. Am I missing something? Could I just use black twinwall? Thanks.

I need to have a couple of penetrations in my timber cladding to allow ASHP pipe and electric connections. Any suggestions for a tidy way to finish these? For the MVHR it's been easy as the ducts terminate with a flanged louvre grille, covering the rough cut and allowing a good squidge of sealant. How to achieve a tidy finish around pipes and cables and seal the edges of the hole? Better to put a single large duct in and put all the pipes and wires through this but then how to make airtight inside and water & bug proof outside? Better to do each individually?

Dunno if this applies for you: Scottish building standards technical handbook section 2.1.14 allows penetrations of up to 40mm diameter without remedial measures.

I installed an external type door between the garage and house on the basis that its insulative properties and seals would likely be as good as the house's front door. GRP, solid core, FD30, SBD, self closer supplied. Just asked them to not fit the letterbox or knocker. Available online from various suppliers, manufacturered by Unity. Self install was pretty straightforward. Unless you're aiming for Passive house certification I suspect it'll only be a minor component of the overall structure's performance. Will be interesting to see if I can persuade the air tightness tester to do 2 tests, one via the hose door and one via the garage door.

I had a consultation/planning session with Velux directly (its a free service) and they produced a detailed quote including all part numbers for the various insulation and flashing kits as well as links to installation instructions. The list price was eye watering and they advised me to take the quote to my preferred supplier who would offer discount it. My local builders merchant beat all the internet prices by a good margin.