Spinny

Looks amazing and in a great setting too. So good to hear of people achieving remarkable things despite everything life throws at us all. And an encouragement to all of us struggling with seemingly never ending projects to keep on keeping on. Based on my own experience I look at builds like yours, and those that were featured on say, Grand Designs House of the Year and I cannot really fathom how these things ever get built at all. I am still trying to get a simple extension finished after 3 and a half years of being ground down by endless challenges. I have absolutely no idea where you can find trades people that are capable of building such things, or indeed that reliably turn up. Clearly they are out there and there are people and teams out there that can manage the seemingly unmanageable world of building. Well done Sir.

PPS Just remembered there is also this type if you can drill into the frame to fit it (a bit like a door latch barrel), such as wooden frames... https://www.vesternet.com/collections/door/products/z-wave-plus-aeotec-recessed-door-sensor-7

PS There are also numerous other more chunky window/door sensors including zigbee or matter ones around (always battery but life shorter than the sensative in built battery)... https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=door+and+window+sensor&crid=1BCTQXM1HXSS4&sprefix=door+and+window+sensor%2Caps%2C310&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

You could consider using one of these... https://www.vesternet.com/collections/brands-sensative/products/z-wave-plus-sensative-strips-guard-800 https://sensative.com/sensors/strips-zwave/strips-guard-800/ It is battery powered but supposed to last years and designed to sit unobtrusively in the edge of the door/frame. Uses zwave to communicate with a smart home capable of linking to zwave devices - such as Samsung SmartThings, Home Assistant or others. If using Smart Home control for the blinds they could be using the same hub and then could be nicely integrated that way. When you say external blinds, do you mean shutters ?

It isn't a door, it is a single fixed pane window about 1.5m wide and 2.4m high. Yes I used foam at the sides, you can see some yellowed and waiting to be cut back flush at the edge in the photos. I agree it seems best to have something capable of supporting the window from underneath. Would the EBT set hard as it seems to say it is flexible ? And wondering if it has any insulative value ? The aluminium frame has a thermal break in it, so if I could avoid creating a thermal bridge underneath across the outside frame and the inside frame it might help keep the bottom frame a bit warmer internally. Maybe push in some XPS at the back and then EBT or something at the front ? Or maybe I could try cutting some slivers of celcon block ?

It is a new rear extension. Two pipe loops into a manifold and the heat source is a gas boiler with a mixing valve of course. Floor Area about 37 sqm, ceiling height 2.6m, 90mm PIR walls, 150 PIR in warm roof and under slab. As you can see pipes were not put under the kitchen island or kitchen unit wall area - so maybe 5 or 6sqm unpiped floor area. The heating has been operational for a couple of years since we had to ditch the original builders. I have had the concrete getting up to 26C with the current settings, but it has often had some protection mats or other coverings over chunks of it. Never really tried to optimise (or calibrate the heatmiser wireless thermostat) as it has been in various unfinished state but now plastered. I have omnie TorFlor2 heating in the suspended floor in the adjoining house. Just thinking if I had a probe then the heating could be arranged to turn off if the floor temperature went above 26C say.

How do people suggest I fill the gap under my floor level window as shown in the photo ? (Around 16mm) As you can see the Window was installed onto plastic spacers before being screwed in, so I need to fill between and around the spacers. A porcelain patio is planned to be laid up to the window frame, or possibly with a strip of gravel soakaway at the bottom of the window. I am thinking ideally an element of insulation might be good at the back of the gap to limit thermal bridging at the frame ? And perhaps mortar mix, or concrete mix, or Toupret exterior rock solid repair filler in the front half of the gap ?

I have a concrete slab approx 120mm thick with heating pipes embedded in the middle. Controlled using Heatmiser and a wireless thermostat. I will be having levelling compound and LVT laid in a few weeks and am therefore contemplating getting a temperature probe into the top of the concrete slab to provide a continuous monitor of the floor temperature. As I understand it the floor temperature shouldn't rise above 27C for an LVT floor. (Up until now I have just used a temperature gun occaisonally to check the concrete surface temperature). I currently have a floor probe from Fast Warm which terminates in two wires, and a Sonoff zigbee temperature probe which terminates in the zigbee device and small screen. I also have some small diameter flexible conduit, and some spare u/floor heating pipe from my suspended floor. (See pic) I plan to cut or hand chisel (will this work?) a recess into the top of the concrete slab, lay the conduit or pipe in the recess, and chisel it into the plaster to run it up the wall into a cupboard (See pic). Cover the recess/pipe with Ardex 45 and the levelling compound when laid. Any advice please ? Should I use the flexible conduit (more easily bent through 90 to run up the wall but much less robust than the pipe) or the pipe. If the pipe, how can I straighten it and bend it through 90 at the wall ? How important is it to have the temperature probe ? Might the floor crack or move if any heavy furniture is placed on top of the pipe location ?

So we have chosen a white colour for our walls in an open plan room, and intend to paint the ceiling white too. Can we use a standard brilliant white for the ceiling, and then our chosen softer white for the walls ? Or is it going to be better to paint the ceiling with the same white we use on the walls ? Not sure if using two whites is going to look odd at the junction of ceiling and walls ? Or is going to show up any wobbly bits at the junction of walls and ceilings (we are not using coving) ? Lots of people seem to paint open plan rooms white - so hopefully some can offer their advice/experience.

Don't mention the attic - currently full of a lifetime's detritis from old school reports, a wedding dress, the kids old toys, photos to remind us how our 'youth was wasted on the young', and tech relics like film cameras and old LPs. I guess we have turned the attic into a charity shop ;0) https://youtube.com/shorts/2NrNgfoXldk?si=_4T6k6Dz40pxc-B0

We are looking to get a new balustrade fitted on the staircase. I am not sure of the ramifications regarding the Newel posts at bottom and top of the stairs. As we are looking at oak handrail and black spindles it would be best to have new oak Newel Posts, otherwise we would presumably have to paint the whole post white or something. Are the Newel posts normally fixed to anything else other than the stringer and stairs themselves ? e.g. into Floor joists. (1930's Semi) I get the impression they gain their rigidity just by virtue of being fixed to the stringer and stair - is that right ? The top Newel Post upstairs runs all the way down to the ground floor. Therefore it seems necessary to cut it off regardless to fit a new top piece onto it from just above the stringer. Not quite sure how you achieve new oak newel posts in practice and whether it is likely to destablilise anything ?

Thanks All. The main achievement of the last 3 years has been to transform a domestic house into a small building merchants ;0)

Have a load of offcuts of PIR insulation to be disposed of - can I just bag it and take it to the local tip ? (can't see any instructions on their website, and I know they get funny about plasterboard etc.)

Thanks for that. Present thoughts from the guy on site is to use metal frame ties, bond one end (the bent end) to the block wall with resin, and screw the other end into the vertical corner timber. Then fix the plasterboard to that. https://www.toolstation.com/stainless-steel-frame-cramp/p13331 Could do with 120mm length though. And something similar but wider might be easier to resin. (Yes a minor thermal bridge I suppose) Let me know what you think...

TBH it started with the builder. I think they just automatically see steels and think fireboard. BC's (often ex builders) can do the same. Seemed harmless enough to do it and save having the conversation. However some places we are using habito which in any case has a decent fire rating.