mvincentd

Calendar days.

Update, 70% received in account 19 days after their "please allow 20 days" statement.

No, it's the same at that stage (except i didnt get a text). I got the acknowledgement with 6 week prediction after about a month......THEN the letter re 70%, which came a little quicker than the 6 weeks.

I have Idealcombi Futura+ double outward sliding doors, each door being 1500w x 2300h, I also have a track sliding one the same size. I'd say both are fundamentally fine but do need accurate installation, particularly the track slider. The track must be on a rock solid dead flat level base, any movement over time in the base and the track will flex making the glide stiff. Mine so far are all fine, but it's only 2 years. Mine unusually was an overall good window experience. My approved fitter expressed a preference for Rationel (if he was choosing for himself), considering them a tad more robust and easier to fit, while he considered IC not the easiest to fit. Is this a fitting issue apparent from day 1, or has it come about over time from some component in the window unit allowing some 'slump'?

Yes, that is the entire thrust of the letter.

I posted the letter imagining it to be useful information for anyone recently embarked on a vat reclaim. Given that this thread seems to have turned into an opinion piece i'll clarify my own position as the o/p;....I find the vat office approach perfectly reasonable under current circumstances. However, I don't see debate over the fairness of it as useful to this build related forum, it won't change the facts ....maybe start a moaning thread in the non-build related section to discuss the performance of our various government departments and agencies. What might be useful is if other current/imminent claimants update this with their own outcomes. Further useful info on my claim. Claim submitted 1st June, claim acknowledged mid july, that letter received 21st August, plus 20 days would be 10th September, so 101 days end to end. We dont have Building Regs sign off yet, we moved in last August and had a VOA effective from 12/08/20. We were concerned this may trigger a 3 month time limit on claim submission. There has apparently been inconsistent application of rules by the VAT office due to slightly ‘blurred‘ definitions of completion, and we didn’t want to fall foul of this. We spoke with the VAT DIY Helpline 0300 322 7073 for clarification. They explained the 3 month deadline would not be triggered by the VOA but that reasonable explanation of delay should be provided along with our claim. They also cautioned against waiting for the Building Regulations completion certificate if only limited external works remained or if VAT expenditure became nominal. As such they described it as a balancing act. Submitted invoices within the final 3 months to claim date show that quite fundamental works have been ongoing. They cover for example plasterboard, dab adhesive, angle beads, plaster, sand, cement, 2nd fix electrical components, plumbing components etc. We wrote that we believed we had chosen the right moment to submit our claim. On the one hand we have amongst other things 2 bathrooms still to fit, only a rudimentary kitchen, 3 undecorated rooms, outstanding external render and landscaping works still to do. On the other hand Covid-19 has ensured completion will remain out of reach for some time. Against this background we were braced for some malicious wriggling on technicalities by the vat office but actually they seem to have been entirely fair and reasonable in the application of their rules.

Letter received at end of last week. ...the letter ended saying "please allow 20 days from the date of this correspondence for funds to appear in your account"...or words to the effect.

???? https://www.dortechdirect.co.uk/tremco-compriband-tp600-3mm-7mm-gap-size.html I have leftover Illbruck me501 tape for the internal (approx 10m left of the 25m roll) if you want it, pm me.

I’ve An approx 1700sqf Basement with all south facing floor to ceiling windows (approx 30sqm). It’s layout is long and thin as I’m taking a wild guess yours is too given the window configuration? I’ve an approx 450sqf upper floor. My Zehnder Comfo350 is in a utility room at one end making for runs to room plenums ranging from 4m to 25m. This doesn’t make it easy to balance (branch system, not radial). My designers/suppliers were ADM Systems and they raised the prospects of 2 units for me at my size, but I was set against that. It works ok and the lower floor is well regulated year round. The upper floor getS problematically hot from solar gain, and I think the overall house ‘heat rising’. I believe I need my currently fixed skylight at the house’ high point to become openable to draw this heat off. I don’t believe (based on posts here[jsharris] and ADM advice) cooling inline via mvhr will contribute enough relative to the complexity it introduces. The key thing from my experience is to accommodate the mvhr very early in the whole design stage and do not just assume duct runs will be achievable....establish that they actually are!

Nidagravel , they're 1.2 x 2.4 so lay very fast compared to clipping typically 9 squares per sqm together and fighting with their stiffness. The nidagravel's are flexible, but you should still aim to create a 'flat slope' rather than a radius....they did accommodate my slightly arcing transition from slope to flat though. They're not cheap and when comparing their robustness to say Aco's grids there's much less material in them so you'd think them flimsy.....time will tell, but the point with all the grids is that their strength comes from the gravel fill. I've no problems so far with them. http://2gomadindorset.blogspot.com/2019/08/driveway-and-some-landscaping.html Sure Joe, but in Dorset at least Hoggin is sand/gravel/clay and while its ratio may vary from supplier to supplier it can't really be a 'non-shedding' surface in the way paving, decking, tarmac or gravel is, but it does have the potential to be the opposite as far as i've seen, perhaps because i've not seen an installation of any significant area thats entirely avoided puddling.

My drive is sloping around 1 in 7. I'm on a chalk base and whacked approx 35mm of type 1 onto it before laying grids and filling with gravel. In the year it's been down i've not once needed to rake it , although now it would benefit from the half hour that would take (150sqm). Being in grids it acts as a much firmer surface than loose gravel .... admittedly not perfect for bikes, but probably better than dealing with the sludge that moist Hogin will put on your tyres and shoes.

Our main front door is actually Hormann, but we do have a back door by IdealCombi. It's the Nation IC model fully glazed. 2 years ago it was £858 ex vat, plus £253 ex vat for 3 sets of keys... so in total £1333 inc vat. I think it's better than the Futura+ items we have and good for the money, however i'd overall characterise IdealCombi as very good for the money but not premium products.

I used these through my flat roof to hallway ; https://www.sterlingbuild.co.uk/product/lightway-crystal-300-hp-blue-performance-0-6 Double glazing is within the insulated section, not at the end. Not getting any condensation and seem thermally perfectly adequate. They're great for light to find my way in a corridor with no direct natural light, but in the proposed kitchen scenario where some areas are getting hard sun I wouldn't expect the tubes to balance matters and make the other areas feel 'sunny'...with some spilled ambient light in those areas anyway the sun tubes effect could almost be lost....i think.

The marine ply deck of my terrace falls very slightly but sufficiently away from the sliding doors and run-off ultimately just drains to ground. The deck is covered with Wecryl 230 system. Dont take too much from this, its unlikely to be useful to you, and its not a design i'd have chosen had my hand not been forced by steel position. I was only trying to illustrate that bc can be somewhat flexible regarding upstands.

I also concur that Building regs would impose such requirements. I have a 10mm upstand in a similar scenario which was actually designed in collaboration with BC.

...in my broadly similar scenario my bco saw my upstand from inside when skylight was fitted but no plasterboard was on, and he required me to to add a vcl behind the plasterboard.

I've used Maincor mlcp with press fittings. If your plumber knows the system and has the press tools, it's good...but I wouldn't 'have a go' without experience.

With regard to contents insurance I do not believe you will obtain any valid insurance without sign-off......you will probably be able to buy it simply by not raising the point. Declare it and you'll be turned down. I would love to be proved wrong.

I've had a rather similar experience with a Vision AGI skylight on a flat Bauder (same as Sarnafil) roof. If i've interpreted your earlier blog posts and pictures correctly you made your own upstand and then the skylight was fitted onto it frame first then the glass inserted. You'll need to have been fairly hands on involved really to be able to answer the following points, but the top flat surface of your upstand needs to be really quite good in terms of its flatness in order to provide continuous full contact with the whole circumference of the skylight frame. It also needs the roof membrane to have been lapped both up the side of the upstand AND over the full width of the top surface. You wouldn't think this was critically important based on the supplied technical drawing but what if the frame actually does have weep holes, say where i've put a blue mark on your drawing. For me there were weepholes not illustrated, ask the supplier. Given the wide fitting variation of 12mm min to (103-8mm) max possible the actual whereabouts of the weepholes wouldn't necessarily sit where i've marked blue, but in this position they'd drip inside the membrane IF the membrane terminated on the vertical and didn't roll over. If they're blaming the mastic failure, thats the easiest fix for them and the first thing they want to try before getting more 'deconstructive'. I'd presume they've now drilled a weep hole at the lowest possible point so about where i've marked purple, on your lowest falling edge....so I've tilted the image for a fall and added a pale purple 'wedge' representing the potentially trapped water that drained out. To form that wedge of water all mastics and gasket seals had to get breached and the wedge height reached the screw through the frame into upstand. Maybe the screw became the leak point....otherwise the wedge would have to grow to overflow the internal edge of the frame, at which point water would escape directly behind your internal finish...can you see any staining or evidence there. These are my thoughts anyway, hope something is useful. Mastic was initially blamed and replaced in my case but it was not the final answer. I actually ended up with a replacement skylight but that was in part due to a concurrent problem not relating to the leak(blown glass unit leading to condensation between panes). My initial skylight was supply only and I made my own upstand. The replacement (on the grounds of the blown unit) was offered supply only, leaving me with the consequential costs of removal/refitting totalling approx £1000 for me, largely due to need for crane/lifter/banksman. They denied liability for getting the skylight onto the upstand but having ascertained the info' that @Temp has uncovered for you I persisted and so they delivered and fitted it with their own team and hydraulic lifter 'in the interests of being helpful'. I still paid £500 for a local crane though but reserved the right to make a small claims when I have time (which will be never). I would fully expect to win that claim as should you regarding your peripheral damage.

I imagine only a SE with knowledge of all your factors can help really. I notice that detail doesn’t show any rebar in the wall tying into the slab. I guess this isn’t just a case of designing the slab to suppport the house, but using the slab to assist the (retaining) basement wall in resisting the ground and whatever surcharges are on it. So I can’t see it being much use to you but here’s my ‘not entirely dissimilar’ scenario; section cc for example, wall is fully basement and supports 1 storey of block work cavity wall out of the ground above....it’s only 350 thick to provide the base width for that cavity wall makeup and not for structural necessity. section bb is only 225 thick wall and is not supporting any further storeys, but the full height is retaining. Im on undisturbed chalk dug down to between 1 and 4 metres. Hope something here helps a bit. 16440 rc01 e.pdf

So the footprint of the 3 steps in the garage is shown as 750 x 1100. Cant that 1100 taper from the door to something more like 800 (given the door only offers 768 clear anyway). That way you could potentially drive 300mm deeper into the garage before smashing the drivers side headlight into the corner of the steps.

You have tapered insulation so potentially need a range of fixing lengths....used in the correct positions. They will need to be carefully planned. Make sure you spec the requirement for all fixings to penetrate at least Xmm shy of underside of ply deck.....it could change things for the roofing co’s approach to and costing of the job. Actually, aren’t you having a green roof?...in which case I’d be less concerned about wanting mechanical fixings given how weighted down it will be.

Forbo Marmoleum...it's basically good old fashioned lino...linseed oil. 2m wide rolls, stick down, mine worked out at £66sqm fitted. Definitely NOT a diy job and very important to use a fitter experienced with it, joins MUST be scribed to achieve 'near invisible' seams (i know this to my cost).

Yes, and on 1st complaint the door people proposed adding a drip bar to the bottom of the door, much like that pictured example. I argued this circumvented rather than solved the inadequate seal between door and threshold (as well as introducing an aesthetic I didn't want). Eventually they fitted a different threshold which works fine...the essential difference being it's solid unlike the original one which dished, bowed and otherwise deformed. @vivienz if you want a canopy fine, but it does sound like your door/threshold is underperforming.

Have I interpreted your posts correctly; you and a mate, plus £360 for a farmer and telehandler will see the block element of your house up in 2/3 days if you use this method?