Crofter

There's quite a wide range of breather membranes out there. Being a bit ocd, I compiled a list of options with info pulled off the BBA certificate. So I was able to compare g/m2, tensile strength in two directions, nail tear strength, and UV exposure rating. It is that last factor that is likely to be crucial. Most membranes are only rate for 3-6 months of exposure, so if your cladding detail allows light to fall on the membrane you might be in trouble. Having said that, my wall membrane was fairly cheap stuff and has been keeping the weather out for about a year now, doing a much better job than I had dared hope.

Surely it's not the Reynobond itself that's unsafe, it's the use of it in large areas without firestops? I would expect my larch cladding would be highly dangerous if installed over a large elevation with a cavity behind, and no firestops. Nobody's calling for larch cladding to be banned outright, though.

One neat way is to use a silicone rubber flashing from the likes of Dektite (other brands are available).

What a funny wee place... that's just along the road from me so I'm surprised I don't recognise it. I'm amazed that they're charging the same sort of rates that I'm thinking of, given they are 18m2 and my place will be 43m2. There does seem to be a market for glamping type properties though. Have I made the house too big?? I've heard good reports from both AirBnB and Booking.com from various people I know on Skye. Right now almost every accommodation provider seems to be turning people away. Hopefully the boom will last long enough for me to finish my place...

Hi, and welcome to the forum- whereabouts are you building? It's common practice to buy or build a small weathertight meter cabinet and attach it to a post. This becomes you temporary supply for the duration of the built, until the house is well enough on to be able to safely move the supply inside. See if you can get a suitable tariff with low or no daily standing charge, and that will stop the supply from racking up bills whilst you aren't using it.

This season is slipping away... the plan is to get it basically habitable and then stick it on AirBnB at a nightly rate, just to get some money coming in. Remaining cladding, decking, and various fiddly little bits and bobs can wait till next year, when we'll likely switch to weekly lets since it will be far less work. Although that will depend on the job situation as well- I might find I'm better off staying at home and running the cottage full time.

The good news is, the one wall that will be 100% tiled was left unskimmed. But we decided the part-tiled walls would be best skimmed, rather than try to only skim sections of them.

And one more noob question... possibly one for @Nickfromwales ? Will it do any harm to paint plastered walls which will subsequently be getting tanking and/or tiles on them? Just asking because I haven't planned the details of how high up to tile etc.

I didn't do an airtightness test in the end- we get plenty enough windy days here and I found it was easy enough to spot any leaks as I went around the building. My winds were more like 60mph than 20, so I might have over-engineered this aspect...

Long shot, but just in case it helps someone, Herts police are looking to reunite recovered stolen goods with their rightful owners. Full story here: http://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/power-tools-stole-from-vans-hertfordshire-1-5086989

That's looking really good! Nice windows btw

Yes that's a fair point. I'm only going to consider using two different paints if they are going to be indistinguishable once dried, i.e. no masking or cutting-in required. The more durable paints cost around 50% more than a standard vinyl, so it's a pretty small saving all told.

I don't mind the surfaces looking slightly different if that's what the ambient lighting does. But I do want to avoid having to mask up on the ceiling/wall joint. Ideally I'd like to be able to fire on with a big roller on the walls and not worry about the odd bit getting on the ceiling. I'm hoping that a cheaper non-scrubbable PBW will be the same colour as the more durable version from the same manufacturer (most likely leyland).

I'm doing a coat of thinned contract matt, then at least one of straight contract matt. A third coat where necessary (bit behind the stove is proving quite stubborn!). It says on the tub that it's ideal for new plaster. Top coat paint won't be here till next week anyway, is that enough time? Will make it about two weeks since plasterer finished.

Another noobie question... How closely matched will one brand of 'pure brilliant white' be to another? I don't really need durable scrubbable paint up on the ceilings, but I also want to avoid masking at the join between vaulted ceiling and wall.

With a bit more analysis I would expect that measures can be found to mitigate the danger without having to strip off all of this cladding. For example, in the immediate term, updated safety advice and perhaps evacuation of the upper storeys only of affected buildings. Then implement a robust inspection and maintenance program for alarm systems. Longer term, it might be that adequate firestops around windows and every few floors of the facade is all that is needed. Major work to retrofit, but not quite as difficult or expensive as replacing entire EWI systems. There is an understandable and justifiable lack of trust in the politicians and organisations involved, though, so to satisfy the general public that adequate steps are being taken there must be honesty and transparency.

Since the last update, the interior of the cottage has come on leaps and bounds. The rather unusual partitions and ceilings were all framed up and then plasterboarded. I was sensible enough to enlist help with some vaulted ceilings, having learnt the hard way that a 9.5mm board balanced on your head is quite liable to snap in half. I had originally planned to simply tape and fill, but at short notice heard that a plasterer was up on the island and available for work (his original contract had been delayed). So it was a mad rush to finish all those fiddly little window reveals etc and then watch the amazing transformation as the whole interior received a full plaster skim. It's made an enormous difference to the feel of the building, turning it from the untidy patchwork of plasterboard to a lovely smooth dusky pink uniformity. You can now truly get a feel for how the space works- and the feeling is good! My electrician was a little less pleased than I was, because we hadn't quite finished all of the wiring yet, but it was nothing that some educated guesswork and some poking around with a bit of bent fencewire couldn't resolve. I did put one hole in the wrong place, and was pleasantly surprised to find that polyfilla does actually work, creating a perfect seamless repair. I'd only ever used it on plasterboard surfaces previously, and you just can't quite hide the edge between filler and paper. Next step was to get on with painting- it seems to make sense to do this before installing flooring, kitchen, doors etc. The new plaster is fairly gobbling up my contract white paint, but I'm sure it'll only take a few more coats before I can switch to the final finish. The worst part so far has been the section of wall which will have the woodburner flue running in front of it. This is boarded with cement fibre board and the plaster has taken on a noticeably darker tone, which the paint has not entirely managed to hide. It feels as though the end is very much in sight, but of course the remaining interior work- paint, tiles, floor, skirting, doors, kitchen, bathroom, plumbing- is a huge amount of work, and then there is the outside jobs that have yet to be completed. One last piece of progress has been my electrical connection. Originally I had been quoted around £2000 for this, and the work had proceeded up to the point where the cable would enter the house, but no final connection was made. A few months later I was told that my quote had expired, and I received a partial refund to reflect the outstanding work. Fast forward a few more months, and when I tried to get the remaining work done, I was once again quoted the full £2000. It turned out that they hadn't updated their records and thought that no work had been carried out yet. There followed several emails and phonecalls to various different people, but this morning I received a revised quote which, in their words, had 'come down quite a bit'. Indeed it had- it was now for under £300, as expected. So, that was time well spent. If in doubt, always query the bill!

Presumably a simple matter of containing less water?

I've used Siga Corvum tape around the windows, with a 48mm/12mm split. Very easy to use and the plasterboard reveal hides it. You do have to be fairly patient and careful. I ran short by about one metre and got given a few feet of a different (non split)tape by a neighbour. Much, much harder to use!

Good old table salt... 520J/kg... you may need a slightly hotter oven to melt it though.

Interesting thread. On a related note, I was told that it's good practice to always twist together the wires of an open circuit, say if you're half way through a job and coming back the next day. So if it is accidentally energised, much safer to trip the breaker than to leave open live wires.

Thanks for taking the time to keep us updated. It's the sharing of each others' trials and tribulations that really makes BuildHub such a valuable resource- a problems shared being, hopefully, a problem halved. I know what you mean about choosing a non stressful time to build... self building itself must be one of the most stressful things that anybody can voluntarily go through with their family! We did the apparently obligatory 'have a baby just after you've broken ground' bit. There's never going to be a perfect time to build, so just get on and try to enjoy it

I had a lovely view out my front window and then some b*gger came along and built a little house there. Fortunately it was me so no point losing sleep over it!

So, Armstead contract white is in progress... anybody got anything good or bad to say about Armstead Trade Vinyl Matt as a final finish? Tin says it's suitable for commercial/institutional use, but doesn't mention being washable/scrubbable/wipeable. Unfortunately the next step up that I can get locally seems to be three times the price. I don't think I can get this sort of thing delivered.

My innocent little mind can figure out one of those, take a stab about another, and no idea at all what the last one is! [moderator hat on] please don't spell it out [/moderator hat]