jack

I don't think you'd need a mould. Cut flashing, glue in place (bit of OSB underneath to support), then glass fibre and resin inside to finish. You'd still need an external flap and a way of finishing the inside neatly, but this would give you a low thermal bridge way of making a chute through the cavity.

Some scaffolders will charge for installation, adjustments, and a fixed period (3-4 months from memory), but not charge anything for extensions of even several weeks. Around here (South East England), it's more common to have an initial period, and then a weekly charge after that. I think ours might have been 5% per week. In the end we went over by so many months that I asked to renegotiate the deal and he said to just stop paying and not worry about it! I think we had it for about 7-8 months in the end, but that was a bit unusual because of the trouble and delays we had getting the brick slips done, and then we held on for a bit to get the PV up.

I need to look up what form of contract, if any, we signed. My wife largely dealt with this particular trade, so I'm not sure.

Yes, the claim is legally against the roofer for sure, although the insurer could get their legal team involved of course. I'm sure that at least some of the above won't be covered, as it's just a general public liability policy. I can't imagine there's any provision for a partial refund of the installation payment, at the least. I did ask what the policy covered (not unreasonable, since I'd been asked to deal with them rather than the insured), but they ignored me. Interesting possibility. I think at the moment the best option is just play it with a straight bat, and not think too hard about these known unknowns. I need to take a break from this for a few days to get some work and some balconies done, but will update once I'm ready to take the next step. Thanks all.

Warning and apology: long post ahead! I'm partly doing this as a way of organising my thoughts. Yes, quite a lot less at the moment. Depends on what else I claim for! This is what I'm thinking. One problem, though, is that some of what I now plan to pursue (partial refund of installation cost) is almost certainly not covered by this insurance. I'd rather not fight on two fronts, so my current thinking is to stop dealing with the insurer and go back to the roofer directly. I suspect they've been told by their insurer not to communicate with me, but that only applies to the extent that I'm willing to keep going down this route with the insurer directly. Possibly. A solicitor acquaintance said that insurance law is a bit tricky, and didn't feel they could give advice they'd rely upon. I'd assumed that a local firm of solicitors would be the same unless they happened to have someone who dealt with insurance law. Always a possibility of course. Exactly my problem with all this (disclosure: I have a law degree, so am mindful of privity issues), and an issue I think I discussed earlier in this thread or the other thread when it first happened. I've assumed that the insurer is acting as an agent of the insured for this portion of the negotiation, although they haven't formally stated that they are taking this legal role. The rest of your post is helpful, thanks. I hadn't seen that link to third party insurance claims - very useful. No, the sole interaction I've had with the insurance company is as set out above. In summary: I receive a single paragraph email from the insurer saying that they hear I allege their client has caused damage, asking for evidence to support my claim. I send back a detailed explanation of what happened, including timeline and photos. Didn't think to include client's emails admitting fault/liability, as it didn't occur to me that fault/liability was at issue. Three months and several emails from me later, I get back an email that says, approximately: You haven't provided proof or an expert report. Our client says they don't know what caused the leaks and they could have been caused by many things outside their actions. I write back with quotes from the roofer's emails to me, confirming that the leaks are due to items they supplied and fitted. I tell them that I've withdrawn my previous offer and am now expanding it to include other damages directly arising from their client's actions. I list the items against which I now intend to claim and ask them to confirm which items from the list their client's policy covers. They reply with the following (this is the entire email): "In an effort to resolve the claim without need for further protracted correspondence. I am willing to make an offer of £2730 in full and final settlement. We are not responsible for the first £250 of this claim and our Insured will be asked to pay you this separately. If the offer is accepted, please provide your account holder name, sort code and account number?" That sum is the lowest quote we had for replacing the insulation, boarding, skimming and painting, which I set out in my original email. It allows nothing for any of the other items I listed, and (as with the first email I sent them), they more or less ignored my questions. Re: claiming, I'm interested in potentially pursuing the following costs: Removal and disposal of insulation This took me over two days on a stepladder, cutting open the airtightness membrane in each 400 x 400 section (battens + counter-battens) and pulling sodden cellulose insulation into rubbish bags. The cheapest labourer around here is around £100 a day, so I thought to claim £200 for my time here (not counting costs of bags, or trips to the tip). Cleaning Cellulose insulation makes a hell of a mess. Even with dust sheets and our best efforts, it got everywhere. Very conservatively, we spent 2 hours cleaning after all the insulation was taken out, and then another 2 hours after the membrane was repaired and the insulation re-pumped. Cleaners are at least £20 an hour around here, so 4 hours gives £80. Loss of amenity We weren't able to use the bedroom or the bathroom while this was happening. The leaks happened in early January, and we were advised to let the easi-joists dry out properly, ideally over summer (the wood may already have been wet for months before the leaks became apparent). In the end we had well over a year without these rooms, but I was planning to call it six months. I don't know how to value the loss of amenity. I could base it on renting a room in a shared house like mine in my area, but you get a share of the rest of the house for that money. The alternative is to go by floor area. The affected bathroom and bedroom are just over 30m2 in total, versus 289m2 for the whole house. Call it 10%. 10% of the monthly rent around here is roughly half the amount it would cost to rent a room in a shared house. Rough numbers would be about £2000 for the six months. Reasonable? Additional heating Having no insulation, and less airtightness, while the roof was drying out increased the cost of heating. We have no heating upstairs, so during the three coldest months, we left a column heater on low in the bedroom, just to make sure that the timbers and internal walls didn't get too cold (thereby avoiding condensation). Call it 24 hours a day at (very conservatively) 0.5kW average = 12 kWh @ £0.14/kWh, for 90 days = £151.20. The bathroom was left open to the rest of the house, as the uninsulated area wasn't big enough to chill the rest of the house. I therefore don't propose to add anything for this, although undoubtedly the house heating system would have been working a bit harder to make up the difference. Expert assessment This is a tricky one. I suspect that some water is likely to have made its way into the cellulose where the roof meets the wall. I have no idea how much though. Any water will almost certainly have dried out over the first summer after the leaks, and it's pretty unlikely to cause any long term damage. However, I don't know this for sure. As such, I think there's something to be claimed here for either getting in an expert to do a proper review with inspection holes etc, with restitution if needed. This could be expensive: if there's any damage, we're talking major structural matters, including replacing insulation and studwork in an external (=supporting) wall with all that entails. I assume we're talking several thousand quid for this job given how fiddly it's likely to be. An alternative would be to raise this as a possibility, and then offer as an alternative a risk premium. I would agree not to pursue any future claim in relation to structural damage caused by the leaks, for which they would pay some fraction of the estimated cost of inspection and rectification. Say it would cost £10,000 to inspect and rectify - I would accept, say, £1000 to absolve them of the future risk. My time I've spent countless hours on this to date - probably at least a couple of days, including time trying to locate the leaks and interacting with the roofer and the insurer. I'm not sure how reasonable it is to claim for this, but I was thinking that any tradesperson I had in to do the investigating would be at least £200 a day around here. Call it half a day = £100. All the other stuff could be an hourly rate - nominally twice minimum wage? Call it (very conservatively) 8 hrs @£15 an hour = £120. Total: £220 Partial refund of installation costs These aren't the first leaks we had in these areas. Not long after the membrane was installed, we had some serious rain that resulted in several leaks (including exactly where these two leaks happened after we moved in). The roofers inspected and concluded that the problem was likely to be water tracking back through the structure of the house, since the coping over the parapet hadn't yet been installed. I thought that extremely unlikely based on the wall structure, but it was my opinion against theirs, so I didn't feel I could push too hard. They put the coping on, and then we had more leaks in the same places when it rained. They inspected again and concluded that it was likely to be water tracking back along the underside of the outlets going through the parapet wall. They installed a drip edge underneath the scupper. Again I wasn't convinced that the volume of water could possibly be tracking all the way back across the twin stud wall (no insulation as yet). They also spent some time adding additional patches around the outlets on the inside of the parapet wall, because I was convinced this was where the leaks were happening. Once they'd finished, I inspected the work and raised a number of issues to do with various edges not being sealed properly. I also again raised the fact that I didn't think the membrane was properly adhered to the flat bits of the scupper inside the parapet wall. They came and re-did the joins I identified, but disagreed with me on the scuppers. In the end, they had a rep out from the membrane supplier (Resitrix), who inspected the work and confirmed in writing that they believed the roofing had been installed to a high standard. We moved in a couple of months later, and the leaks happened within two weeks. My personal theory is that the unadhered bits around the scuppers allowed a small amount of water to work its way into the joins. Every time we had a cold snap, the water would freeze and open up the gap(s) a little more. Over several freeze/thaw cycles, the water eventually opened up a path into other unadhered portions, and now had a clear track into the roof. You have to give a supplier the opportunity to correct their own errors. Based on the history of these leaks, I believe they had ample opportunities. I therefore think it's reasonable to now demand a partial refund on what we paid them for the installation. Would 10% of their labour cost seem reasonable? Definitely open to suggestions as to what might be a reasonable request here. More generally, I'm not trying to punish anyone, but I'm increasingly frustrated and annoyed by the reactions of both the roofing company and the insurer. They've put us through an awful lot of stress and sleepless nights, and made us spend a lot of time dealing with the aftermath of these leaks that we'd rather have spent finishing off the rest of the house. I offered the roofing company a cheap, simple, solution, but they complicated the situation massively by getting their insurer involved, and either they or their insurer has since lied about the roofer's culpability. I'm currently thinking that I add up all the costs I would claim if it went to court, and offer to take some proportion (70-80%, say) of this if they pay up now. However, I don't want to take the mickey, so please tell me if I'm going too far with any of my costs above. I'm also mindful that the larger the compensation I demand, the more likely they and/or their insurer are likely to want to fight it, so I very much want to stick to claiming only for what a court is likely to award. Thanks as always.

Aaand we're back in the room. Citizens Advice weren't much help on the question of whether I could refuse to deal with the insurer direct. I tried contacting some law firms that specialise in this sort of thing but clearly my case is too small because I either didn't hear back or was told they couldn't help me. I tried contacting the roofing company again, and they said they couldn't talk to me because it was with the insurer. In the end, I went back to the insurer with the emails showing that their client had repeatedly admitted fault and liability for the damage in writing. I said that in view of the response to my initial email (in which either the insurer or the roofer lied), I was withdrawing my initial offer of accepting restitution just for the cost of replacing insulation and plasterboard, and expanding my claim to cover other direct costs, such as that for removing the insulation, the loss of amenity for the two rooms while they dried out, the costs of cleaning the rooms, and for getting a surveyor in to check that no other hidden damage had occurred. I also said that I'd be seeking a partial refund of the installation costs I'd paid given that the leaks had happened at least twice after installation and that the repairs were clearly inadequate. At the end, I asked for their confirmation of any items in my list that weren't covered by their client's policy (I'm assuming that the partial refund isn't covered, since it isn't an issue of public liability). Their response was only a few days this time. Apparently, to "avoid protracted correspondence", they will offer me an amount equal to the lowest quote plus... [drumroll] Nothing. Yup, all of that extra stuff is apparently worth nothing. Unsurprisingly, they didn't answer my question asking about what factors in the list I gave are covered by their client's policy. Of course their first offer isn't acceptable, but what do I go back with? I see two possible approaches: 1. Put together costs for each of the things in the list, and say that this is what I'll be suing their client for as a next step if they don't seriously engage with me. 2. Demand that they actually answer the questions asked, and say that unless a proper answer is received within 7 days, I'll be initiating a formal complaint with Aviva and the Financial Ombudsman. I suppose I could combine both 1 and 2, but my preference is to keep my responses as brief as possible at this point. Thoughts? Thanks

Assuming a single zone (as many of us have, made up of multiple loops), I've long thought that measuring the average return temperature at the manifold might be a useful approach. With an ASHP delivery temp of 25 C, you'd just set it up so that the call for heat is terminated at a particular return temperature. Set a reasonable hysteresis and minimum run/stop times for the ASHP and the temperature should be controlled pretty well. I know a bit about control loops in theory, but not really enough to homebrew anything. However, my Loxone system has various controllers (including a self-learning PID controller, from memory) that should be plug and play. I plan to have a go at this approach this winter.

MVHR is designed to maintain whatever temperature difference exists between inside and outside. This is generally good, except when it's too hot inside and there's cooler air available outside (ie, overnight during warm periods, or possibly even during the day depending on how hot it gets inside). The problem with bypassing the heat exchanger permanently during summer is that when it's hot outside and cool inside (eg, mid-late morning on a warm day), you'll effectively be pumping out the cool air and replacing it with warm. That makes the place heat up even faster. I think the simplest solution to your problem is to open the windows as wide as you can tolerate in the evening, as soon as the temperature outside drops below the interior temperature. A large, high capacity pedestal fan set up high to blow hot air out an open window will make a massive difference to bedroom temperatures before you go to bed. I find that just leaving our windows open for two or three hours before we go to bed makes a reasonable difference, but a fan will definitely improve things if you don't have good cross-ventilation or it's a still night (quite common when the weather is hot). You can turn the fan off when you go to bed and leave the window open if you find you can sleep like that. Otherwise, close the window and turn the fan to point at or near your bed on a low setting. Fans are a lot quieter than air conditioners. I lived in Australia for a while and got through 30+ degree nights with just a pedestal fan at the foot of the bed and no air conditioning.

@vivienz, if you're going for frameless glass, please think carefully and early about how you're going to install it. I have this on some balconies and with timber frame it's been a bit of a nightmare due to it not having been designed and detailed properly in advance. It's literally held up getting the house completed for over a year while I figured out how to manage it. It's definitely doable, but start looking into the detail now (if it hasn't already been thought about), and certainly before the areas are fiberglassed for example.

Welcome Rob! I installed Loxone in our new build a couple of years ago to control external blinds, lighting and a few other bits and pieces. All working well, except for the 1-wire extension which seems to have died. Do have a think about whether Loxone is the best option for audio. Their gear is expensive for what you get (the multi-channel amp is a rebadged unit that you can get cheaper elsewhere). I know there are a few things you can do with integration, but if you don't plan to use those, there are probably better and cheaper options for audio.

Sorry, I misunderstood your earlier comment. MVHR does transfer moisture in the way you're talking about. It delivers fresh air to living areas, and pulls air from areas such as kitchens and bathrooms, including moisture in those rooms. I don't know what HRV is that's different to this: wikipedia thinks HRV and MVHR are synonyms.

Moisture is only transferred in a so-called enthalpy MVHR. When used alone, MVHR generally means just heat recovery. Enthalpy units are rarely used in the UK.

I don't know, the default settings have always worked fine for me (virtually all non-photographic images I post are captured this way). Have you zoomed in as much as you can in AutoCAD before snipping? It seems to capture at the screen resolution, so capturing something small will result in fuzzy edges once expanded, for sure.

Piece of the proverbial!

I use something called "Snipping Tool", which is part of Windows from Windows 7 onwards. I have it in my task bar. When you open it, you just click "New", and the Snipping Tool window disappears. Once you've selected the area you want, you can either save it as a file (for import to BH), or copy it to the clipboard (for pasting into, eg, PowerPoint, which is what I use for annotation). It does have some basic drawing tools, but I find PowerPoint better for things like arrows and text.

Welcome to the forum - looking good!

Have you had a trawl through the planning portal? Try and find some local applications that have been successful and see what sort of covering letter they've used. To be honest, I think a properly done design and access statement has far more impact. I'm not saying you can't benefit from a well written cover letter, but I think it's marginal, and possible requires your story to resonate with the planner (they're human!), which I think may be a struggle if you're developing for profit. Another thing to spend time on now is getting neighbours and other potential objectors onside. They're the ones that could, if enough of them act, get the matter called into committee.

Welcome to BuildHub, great to have you aboard.

Snap - MBC's handiwork: Got slightly wobbly after several months, but added a couple of battens and some screws and it did us until the build was finished.

The main issue is that the wall it would go on is a very dark grey/green colour, so I'd need to paint anything like this to conceal it. There's also the issue of noise from the TV room escaping into the hall, although admittedly we don't have a home cinema or anything like that.

Not a bad idea, thanks, as long as it can be concealed.

I had considered hiding heat-producing equipment like the games console in a cupboard that had an MVHR extract, but that didn't really work out for the space we had. In any event, it's only the TV and console (which we use a DVD player and streamer) that're on most of the time we're in there, so I'm not sure how much better this would have been. Additional ventilation into that room would likely have helped alittle, as would comfort cooling via the MVHR (something I may well add in future). Even something as simply as a ceiling mounted fan might have been useful - I've considered retrofitting those in the bedrooms, although I'm not sure there's enough head-height for safety upstairs. For us, most likely we'll just get a nice fan to put in a corner for the worst days. I'm constantly telling my kids to keep the door open if they're using this room, but it always ends up closed. Not sure why - they're the ones making all the noise!

There's your problem right there. You should have attached them with a suitable adhesive!

The overheating effect isn't so noticeable in our house, as it's very open plan and has a decent volume with concrete floors. The one place we really feel it is the TV room, which is small and carpeted. We can't sit in there as a family with the door closed for very long in summer.

Jeremy, I don't follow why you're willing to prepare an EICR and/or pay money to upgrade a CU on a house you're selling. If I were a potential buyer who didn't know you, I'd consider this behaviour concerning, as it definitely isn't what civvies do in this scenario. At best it looks like you're desperate to sell, which might encourage a late, lower offer. Offering to prepare your own EICR, in particular, is something I'd counsel against. Again, to someone who doesn't know you, I think this would look highly suspicious, plus I don't think you want to be the one in court arguing about your competent person status in the (admittedly highly unlikely) event something goes wrong. If they want an EICR, why not just tell them that you're happy to give someone access to prepare one? That's what people without your background (ie, most of us) would do. If they're committed to buying and this is just a formality, offer to allow them to upgrade the CU at the same time to reduce costs. To me, that sounds like the behaviour of someone confident that there're no problems with the wiring (and perhaps you can then give them your background and explain to them why you know it'll all pass except for the CU). Just my thoughts - I appreciate that others will have a different view.