LaChab

@SteamyTea @JohnMo Thanks. I'll try and cut down on the over thinking!

@SteamyTea Thanks for the reassurance! Could you possibly give me an idea of what I would need for the separate component system.

@SteamyTea Thanks for the explanation. That's really helpful. Althougfh a bit worrying as well!

@cjsparkey Thanks for that.

Hi, I'd welcome some guidance on buying a solar inverter. We've recently fitted the panels, so we now need to buy an inverter. (possibly Solax X1 Hybrid G4, as we've had one of their string inverters fitted to our current system for >10 years with no problems) It seems a bit short term to get a string inverter, as I'm sure we'll be getting batteries some time. (Fogstar Seplos look interesting) I don't really understand AC charging (Victron?), so I was going to go for a simple hybrid inverter, but I'm worried about compatibility with the battery. I've no wish to be restricted to batteries of the same make as the inverter. Is that a problem? Does the inverter need to interface with the batteries? Are there common standards? Does it matter? So many unknowns!

@jayc89 Thanks for the reference to Airguard. I'll have a look. I'm sure Intello is good, but as I've got a cold roof I'm not sure that I need variable membrane, just airtight. Hoping for advice!

Hi, I'd really welcome some thoughts and advice about selecting an air tight membrane for the upper floor ceiling. I've done loads of searches and read lots of topics, but I can't really find an answer. It's an ICF house, with a ventilated cold roof built with attic trusses. My plan is to have some PIR hung under the attic floor joists to give a continuous layer, then possibly some more PIR and/or rockwool in between the joists. But I've no idea what to use for the membrane. I'm sure it needs to be airtight, but would just polythene sheet be good, or do I need something more technical? And do I put it between the plasterboard ceiling and the PIR, or above the PIR and under the truss joists? Or fit both? And any recomendations for what adhesive to use for bonding the membrane to the EPS walls would be great. Thanks for reading,

@craig Thanks for the support for side fix. I went for the original supplier because they're "Internorm Platinum", and I thought they would make the best job of installation. so I was really suprised when I enquired about the fitting spec and found that they just used 330 foam with no membrane / tape at all. As I've said, I think face fix is difficult to conceal behing the plasterboard, especially with a 10mm gap. Hopefully the "new" supplier will work out ok with "i3" sealing.

@craig Thanks for the input. No check reveal, just 15mm stop beads on the Jackon closure. It was mainly the fact that they were unable to guarantee the work if they fitted a "side attached" membrane, despite charging £1k.I've now asked for a quote from another Internorm dealer who actually offer a membrane as an option, although it's still £1k!.

@Russell griffiths Yes, those pictures make the problem a bit obvious! Did you cut into the foam for your cills? We're using thin coat render, so wouldn't be a huge overlap without going into the foam, but still be a big improvement.

@Chanmenie @Russell griffiths Yes, cills first sounds much better. Trouble I hink that would mean having a second lot of scaffold just to do the sides of the reveals. I was intendiung to use the liquid membrane you like before the cill is fitted, so perhaps that and something suitable (silicone? tape?) between the upright side of the cill and the side of the reveal might be ok. Wouldn't be ideal, but probaly waterproof........ The reveals havn't been rendered yet (weather!), so if I found the section of the cills I could "block of" just the lower bit of side render, then patch it in by ladder after the cills have been fitted.

@Mike You're right, it does look a bit of a potential problem.Leaving the render until after the windows are fitted would be a real pain though. I checked with Internorm, and they were ok with doing the render first, so I didn't think much more about it! I'll bring it up with the surveyor when they come to measure up.

@Mike I must confess I haven't considered the cills as much as I perhaps should have! It's been a bit of a journey deciding on the window design. The Internorm salesman showed us some aluminium cills that looked quite good. They attach to the "extra lump" that appears underneath the window. They've got upstands at each end, which makes them quite robust. Much better than the rather flimsy ones we've got now. I've only arranged for the sides and top of the reveal to be rendered to stop beads. The bottom is just being finished with a stop bead on the vertical surface. Then I was going to paint the bottom reveal with liquid membrane, as I've seen on here, and possibly even add a strip of actual membrane. The windows are going to be 120mm inset, so about 150mm cills. Hope that makes sense!

@Chanmenie Thanks

@Chanmenie Thanks for the info. As the windows I want have got such a narrow internal face it would certainly seem easier to use liquid membrane on the inside "join". And we could do it ourselves after the fitters have left. What liquid membrane did you use?