G and J

I do like a puzzle. And the scaffolding is wide enough to lay down for a snooze in the afternoon sun…

That’s probably a better idea than going to see Alan’s piles. 😉

It’s on the todo list. I’ll soon be whacking on the vertical battens. Horizontal soon after that. The cladding takes a remarkably large amount of time.

We’re using very short studs on our build lol Our upstairs panels were delivered without breather membrane as the flanks had to be clad first in cement board. So when we put the membrane on I just marked enough to level from.

Ummm, I haven’t taped all the other acreage of breather membrane. Bit late now as most of it is safely covered. It’s all carefully lapped as per, but not taped. Should I add it to the list of tumble dryer thoughts I enjoy at night?

I didn’t realise that was an option. Rolly and I manually erected our frame so that would have stressed the PIR fill so wouldn’t have worked for us anyway but for normal builds where a crane is used I can see that addressing all the in-frame PIR fitting issues.

Grey silicone on white sanitary ware would irritate me more than white silicone on grey tiles. Done well the white silicone could look like part of the shower tray and almost disappear from one’s notice. But don’t do aesthetics, J does. One has to recognise one’s pay grade lol

Is that because they are specifying it but not installing it? In a calculation, PIR makes a wall build up seem great from a thickness/u value perspective. So at the point of buying a timber frame it helps the sale. We took the view that a few inches off room sizes was an ok price to pay for a nicer ‘sounding’ house with still reasonable wall insulation. Your architect may be different, but most (it appears to me) never build stuff. Shredded paper looks good on websites, but one lesson from our build is that doing non standard stuff is like pushing a pebble uphill with your nose. Fighting that one through for airtightness was worth it. Given the properties of mineral wool which is widely available and understood I would struggle to build a case for cellulose. But it’s a good talking point over canapés I guess. I really must find out what a canapé is lol

Sorry, forgot to post this. Exhibit A : one wrinkly membrane…

Fairs fair though, you are building a 3 underground storey defcon 1 bunker system. At least I assume you are at those lengths. And wow, our whole house isn’t as tall as your smallest pile.

I (G) did hours and hours of working through options for wall build ups. Drove J, the architect and a lot of buildhub dudes mad with my endless ‘what ifs’. In the end the conclusion surprised me. Getting the most wall insulation is not paramount. Adding insulation underfloor and in the loft is easy. Improving airtightness (don’t get me started) is massively more important than absolute wall u value. Glazing further undermines the benefit of excessive wall insulation. So then decrement delay (ask a nearby grown up to explain that one) and sound attenuation become the driving factor. Had I known what a bugger PIR is to work with I’d have factored that in too, but I didn’t back then. Frame batts (not roll as it falls out) is nicer to work with too. Just don’t push too much in. And don’t ask me why unless you’re wearing ear defenders lol

Absolutely this drove us, (we had a previous room in roof (done by others) and the result was not great) and then we found it really easy to work with. Used the frame therm batts as others have described.

That’s true. When I laid the 120mm layer of polystyrene for our floor it snuck together beautifully tight and flat. The polystyrene has some spring in it so it could be cut to an interference fit and shoe horned in, lovely. The PIR in the other hand, was a bitch. Really nasty dust in the cutting, and however hard I tried still tiny gaps between the boards and to add insult to injury it sat there showing off how different thickness each board was. PIR. Just say NO! lol

Ummm, the title confused me. At first I thought you were talking about insulation outboard of the frame/OSB. But I think you are looking at insulation between the studs of the frame and inboard of that. I think the 120mm PIR in a 140mm stud is about an air gap next to a reflective coating. So better insulation overall than full fill PIR. I am biased. I hate PIR with a passion. Used it under our floor a bit and regretted it. Should’ve made sure I had enough space for polystyrene only. We used mineral wool in our frame and another layer inside. I may be kidding myself but I now believe it’s a nicer job to do and nicer to live in. The only place PIR looks good is on a spreadsheet.

I don’t hold with the ‘do everything yourself or it’s not a self build’ concept. That house wouldn’t be there without you and yours. You’ve shaped it and made it happen. Feel good inside and try and remember not to bore your friends and family too much lol (I, G, fail royally on the last part!)