squealeyhealey

Please advise if blown beads, suggested previously, would be breathable?

I'm on my second year of a 'Land Liability policy' to cover third party claims against me. The Insurer almost doubled the policy for the second year so it lapsed for a week or so, until they came back with a quote as per the first year! The 'Land Liability policy' is not valid during building & I guess demolition. I'd assumed that the policy will be valid again, once demolition has finished - guess I'll need to check. I've not had any claims to date, maybe due to my Geriatric neighbour chasing off my wife, my daughter & her friend and then a couple of suspicious characters - OBS I've asked him not to put imself at risk! I'm conscious that once the house is demolished the plot is likely to attract more attention from ne'er-do-well's!

I want to demolish the existing house on my plot this year but, given the issues with extending build Insurance policies, not start the Employers Liability & Public Liability Insurance for the new build until next year. I'd like to take out Public liability insurance just for the period of the demolition independent of subsequent building insurance. I believe my contractor should provide Employers liability insurance for the demolition, I will not necessarily use the same contractor for the build. Does anybody have any advice / experience of this situation and or know of providers of Public Liability insurance during demolition only?

I was advise against a Bobcat, skid steer means it will chew up the ground and access to the mechanical bits is from under side - Its a lot of weight to be working under on a building site!

Yeah, I accept that some individual items to achieve passive are expensive, but I'm thinking that;- The benefits achieved from the building as a whole will be geater than the individual parts & The value of the building will be enhanced by the passive acreditation. Denby Dale / Green building store passive houses seem to be cost effective overall. But I'm also aware of critisims of the cost effectiveness of passive standards. Agree entirely about air permeability and as mentioned previously I'm planning breathable walls comprising Brick outter skin, air gap, breathable membrane, rock wool insulation, block inner walls & lime plaster.

Thanks for the explination, unfortunately the thin wall ties that you sugget would form cold bridges. I'm planning a passive house using basalt low thermal conductivity wall ties (Really not cheap) - Zero® bricks have a recess which will accomodate thicker wall ties.

Thanks Guys -Yeah I suspect tin joint mortar would be more cost effective. Do you have more details of how stainless fish tail ties will fit in the joints, the concerns with coursing and how imperial size bricks help. Unfortunately I've not the knowlege / experience to appreciate how your suggestion will work.

Yeah, I'm using lime plaster and everything else is gona be breathable' which results in the very thick wall - thanks for the reminder!

Yeah, I'm not sure where I'm gona get a brickie to put this toether as I want it - whilst I'm standing over them to check the fit of the insulation! Insulation batt is to achieve breathable walls & air gap to prevent the ingress of driven rain. I'd assumed that any mortar drops would fall into air gap - I'd planned to clear bottom of air gaps during build.

My design aims to achieve a breathable building. The purpose of the air gap is to prevent the ingress of driven rain as house is in the North West and near an estuary. You are correct Denby Dale has a 300mm filled cavity, but then Yorkshire is not as wet as this side of the country.

I'm interested to know if anybody has experience of utilising a reinforcement mesh product to support glass mineral wool insulation batt, in a masonry cavity wall with an air gap? I'm a self-builder planning to build a low energy house with a 350mm cavity between masonry walls comprising 300mm glass mineral wool insulation and 50mm air gap. I will install a wind barrier to prevent thermal bypass and put spacers at the the wall ties to hold the insulation in place. But I'm concerned that he wall ties / spacers will be too far apart to prevent the 300mm thick insulation from, over time, slipping into the air gap. I'd like to find a rigid-ish mesh that I can use to hold the insulation in place. I'm aware of the Calsitherm Reinforcing Mesh, but this product does not have BBA certification for this application. Is there a product that has BBA certification for this application, or know of an appropriate solution in the current NHBC standard?

Does anybody know of an alternative way to achieve a Modern / Contemporary brick finish - without visible mortar joints. I'm aware of the Vandersanden Groups Zero® brick and assume that since their product is patented nobody else can supply a brick with a recess on the top to hide the mortar.