Spinny

It is always the right thing to do to talk to your neighbour, not a mistake - do this when you have some plans but before you apply for planning. The vast majority of people will respond positively to this. Think about their feedback and whether some minor changes could help. The tiniest change shows you can think about others. Don't do as our neighbour did - keep your plans secret - put in a planning app the day before xmas - plan to break all planning precedents and to unnecessarily maximise the impact on your neighbour - use a dodgy architect - refuse to answer simple questions - constantly claim ignorance of building regs and health & safety - mysteriously go away during the whole of the 2 week period on the day the party wall award is issued, refuse every written request from your neighbour while making contradictory verbal statements over the fence, etc

Bit difficult to relate the house photo and the plan drawing - are they in different orientations ? Where is the driveway in the photo on the plan ?

Maybe you can mark on the floor plan which areas have u/floor heating and whether they are suspended floor or solid slab. Also what sort of water/heating system - gravity fed or mains pressure etc and where the cylinder and boiler are going etc. Are you siting a water softener anywhere ? It is obviously common to run pipes from the cylinder/boiler to the upstairs outlets through the ceiling void, but mains pressure systems commonly have a balanced cold feed from a pressure reducing valve sited near the cylinder. What does the upstairs layout look like ? Where are the u/floor heating manifold(s) ? Moving the supply pipe like you suggest seems like it would be better. If you are having a solid slab floor with u/floor heating pipes embedded, definitely make sure you have some conduit put in to allow insulated pipes to be run through the conduit to your kitchen outlets e.g. to the kitchen island. Where would you want a stop tap for the house - in the utility ? Where would you want an outside tap ? Do you want a tap outside a garden shed while you are about it ?

Struggling over best option for plumbing in the Monarch Water Softener - see sketch. Builders plumber has put in a stand pipe with a dry trap that is connected into the toilet waste pipe with a strap boss directly behind the WS position. This seems a pain for several reasons - it isn't visible - it stops the WS going back against the wall which then blocks the doorway into the u/stairs cupboard - is it a good idea to connect a water softener to a toilet waste pipe. Going out through the wall of the house seems like an option but would mean putting in an outside drain by digging up the hardcore and messing with the underground drainage pipe - maybe breaking the pipe run to the left of the larger chamber to put in a Y junction. This outside drain would presumably need a trap to stop smells outside from the drain. Presumably I would have to put 2 holes through the wall, one for the discharge drain pipe, one for the overflow. Then presumably neither would need a trap or tun dish or anything. Thoughts ? Anyone got any photos of neat and tidy water softener plumbing work ?

Taken the boards off the boarded side now. Guesswork correct in that the builders screwed the board back onto a timber that was not in line forcing the board into an arc shape. Also finding the door system is installed onto the timber studs slightly out from plumb upright - maybe 2-3mm out over the 2m height. Neighbouring timber stud is nice and plumb. Since the door hangs on runners this doesn't seem ideal and could look odd at the pocket end. Guess it will have to be put right.

The boards should follow the horizontal rails, however the horizontal rails are not parallel between each side, they diverge by 5mm from being 55mm apart to being 60mm apart (see photos). I am now noticing the front of the board that is on seems to have a bulge in it (horizontal spirit level rocks). Beginning to suspect that the board (which is attached to a wooden stud beyond the end of the pocket) has been forceably screwed to an out of line timber stud by the builder. They are heavyweight habito boards and don't bend without a lot of force. So forcing one end back against an out of line timber stud may be levering out the other end of the plasterboard. And as the frame is attached to it this is forcing the frame outwards and widening that end. I could do with a 4m straight edge - can you buy such a thing ?

I have a 125mm Eclisse Syntesis Flush (i.e. no architrave) Pocket Door system installed by builder but not yet fully boarded. This system is to produce a 125mm wide finished wall size once boarded on each size with two layers of 12.5mm plasterboard. Thus it is supposed to be 75mm wide plus 25mm plasterboard each side = 125mm. Measuring the install the builder's chippy left me with I find the width at the wall opening end of the pocket where the door slides out is 130mm and not 125mm. Furthermore if I measure the distance between the side struts of the pocket itself - at the opening end it is 60mm - but at the far sealed end it is 55mm. So the sides of the pocket don't seem to be parallel. This is not shown in the install guide drawing. I have raised it with Eclisse UK to be told they don't know why or whether this is correct or erroneous. They are going to contact Italy but don't expect a quick answer. Anybody have any thoughts on this (perhaps someone that has fitted these things ?) ? I attach some photographs.

Wondering what is achievable for relocating an outside tap by concealing the pipe run within the plaster line internally ? The pipe would be running over a brick inner leaf then need to do a 90% turn and go out through the wall to the tap. It is the understairs loo, so I don't really want to make it smaller still by having the entire wall plastered an inch thick. I guess it would be best for any such pipe to be run under the floor and then vertically up the wall. Otherwise we are going to end up with a tap where we wanted to put the bin store.

Thanks Jack. Just taken a closer look at the fixings. The frame is made up of 4 pieces of aluminium - top, bottom/cill, and two sides. Each is fixed by screws into the blockwork and seems to have shims adjacent to each screw. The hinge side has 4 fixings - 2 bottom, 1 middle, 1 top. As it happens it is effectively a single pane bifold design, so hopefully designed to be left open. I will say the plastic shims are not always tightly wedged in. I guess I am going to have to call the supplier now to see what they say.

So do I have a problem now because they have been removed not just cut back ? Shall I ask for them to be put back to help stop the frame moving in the future ?

If you want strong plasterboard, and plasterboard that that you can screw straight into and mount stuff to, it is available... https://youtu.be/nQK8awMOKpM?feature=shared https://youtu.be/nQK8awMOKpM?feature=shared https://youtu.be/Ure_nvPLYks?feature=shared https://youtu.be/CUvq0QzwDzY?feature=shared my favorite...https://youtu.be/HfVqIyUpE2M?feature=shared No builder is ever going to buy this for any customer unless you specify it and make them, It costs money and it is heavy. But IMO it makes perfect sense - the public should get what the public wants, not what a builder decides they can and can't have. The world needs to move forward. (I don't work for Gyproc, just like to see stuff that solves problems - I like my Frosti tap too.

I am going for wet plaster and experience so far is... Discussed work with builder's plasterer multiple times because of concerns over the need for wet plastering skills etc and explicitly asked him - can you do X, can you do Y, can you deal with this wonky wall because the 1930's plaster I knocked off was plumb even where the wall isn't. Told yes, yes, yes etc. Builder told me 'he is a good plasterer'. Twas all shown to be lies when he started work. Where he skimmed a boarded partition wall it is fine. Where he has wet plastered it is crap. 15mm out of true over the top half of one wall. Even on a section of plumb new blockwork he has managed to be 10+mm out over 1.5m. Never saw him use a long straight edge as you can see people using on youtube. So, some builder's and tradies do lie, some do lie without hesitation. No doubt builders like cheap plasterers (possibly on job and knock terms). The only way to tell if they can do a proper job is to see their work - via reference job visits and/or having them do a small piece of work first so you can see their work first hand. Now have another plasterer starting work. Learning that it is key to spell out all detail re positioning of plaster lines against doors and windows etc. Where something is boarded it doesn't mean it is square or plumb. I am double checking all the beads now with a spirit level in 3 dimensions because the plaster will follow the beads, so it is imperative the beads are correctly positioned. (Builders plasterer's bead was put on in a curve - that wall is curved and has to be corrected). Some things inevitably cannot be made right but better to decide on compromises now rather than measure afterwards when it is too late. (Just had an existing internal door lining pulled out and replaced to facilitate getting a good plaster line). Watch out for recesses - I am going to have to suck up a shelving recess that is deeper one end than the other. Have found two adjacent lintels are not set level because one is thicker than the other. Now cannot be corrected because the trickle vent is in the way. I really don't like dot and dab because few of us have large houses and I just don't like the idea of planning stuff with an architect or a kitchen supplier only for someone to dot and dab every dimension smaller by an inch or two. Then kitchen people want 30mm 'packers' everywhere 'because builders cannot build plumb' and before your know it your kitchen is 6 inches shorter for no good reason.

Plastic shims were used by the fitters when my doors and windows were put in to position them into the opening and plumb them up and then the frames screwed into the blockwork against the shims and the gaps foamed up. For the external rendering and cladding work I cut the shims back to finish level with the outer frame but did not remove them. My belief being that the doors and windows are effectively braced into position by the shims on one side and the screws on the other. My plasterer has now removed the shims altogether from one side of a door frame (the hinge side) as part of boarding up the reveal. I am now wondering if this might be a problem for the future because it leaves this side of the frame without the shims to help restrict any future frame movement from future years of door opening and closing etc. In many cases the doors and windows also have shims under the bottom cill/frame and people will be standing on these, so would not expect to remove these for the same reason, although I do plan to fill the under cill gaps with foam and/or slivers of blockwork or exterior filler. So should people be removing these shims and might it invalidate any guarantees ? What is normal here, what is good/bad practice ?

How can the edge of this ceiling in the hallway where it meets the stairwell be properly prepared for skimming and finished - see photos. We are thinking we want to look up and just see only a plastered ceiling all the way to the edge (i.e. not see a line of timber running down the edge from below). However when viewed from the side on the stairs there is a timber board, and equally we wouldn't want to see plaster on this side. There must be gazillions of houses (1930s) like this - so is there a good answer for how to achieve this and what kind of trim, timber, or profile to use for this and to provide an edge for the skim coat plastering ?

Thanks for response. Am using Eclisse syntesis flush (no architrave) pocket door system where the running gear needs to be fitted into a 20mm channel routed into the top of the door. Have also now realised the fittings which fix into this channel also need to be screwed down into the bottom of the channel, so another 40mm or so is needed. Therefore the door needs at least 60mm... From the eclisse website... Just received from Eclisse by email... (no door supplier suggestions, just confirmation of the requirement)

I need to get a flush white door to fit an Eclisse pocket, size is 826 by 2040 by 40mm thick. But it will need 20mm deep channel routed out at the top, so it needs to have a substantial edge framing at the top to allow for this without weakening the door. Where can I find such doors for quick delivery ?

@Nickfromwales Would that include WEDI board like this ... https://www.wedi.net/uk/products/building-systems/building-board/wedi-building-board/ ? This appears to be blue but says it is XPS.

What is interesting on that temp chart is that when we opened the doors at front and back to get a good through draft at about 8pm ish the temperature clearly dropped. However when I closed the doors up again after dark about 10:30 the temperature immediately started rising again even though the sun was gone. I guess the thermal mass of the concrete floor and blockwork is absorbing heat during the day as the house gets hot from the sun and then radiating it back into the house after dark. Kind of the opposite to what you want which would be having the thermal mass getting cool at night and then helping the house to stay cool during the day. Is there some way we can change this pattern - leave the house open all night to lose as much heat from the thermal mass as possible, then close it during the day ? How long does it take a concrete slab of 0.12*35sqm = 4.2 cubic metres to cool ?

No extractor fans actually fitted yet. The holes have been core drilled and stuffed with rockwool pending fitting them in the weeks/months ahead.

One opening rooflight 1.6sqm on a hinge and electric motor. Extractors and trickle vents: Kitchen will have an extractor over hob on south wall 150mm vent pipe ; Utility will have an extractor 100mm ; 3 Trickle vents downstairs. Building notice predated regs change in 2022 and we have no trickle vents in the bifolds. I am a bit concerned we may perhaps need more ventilation in the extension - only aesthetic option might be putting something through the wall behind where the fridge-freezer will go. I have the inner blockwork leaf omitted here to accommodate fridge/freezer depth. But would have to cut through cladding. Also struggle with sealing up insulation but then punching holes in it which seems contradictory. TBH ventilation never discussed by architect beyond regs requirements for extractors. Wonder whether a standalone MVHR thing as the utility extractor would help ? We had a single skin 1980's budget kitchen extension built by prior owner and a lean to conservatory before - ventilation was not on the radar. (We have also put u/floor heating in the hallway and utility - so the suspended floors there now have 70mm PIR between the joists.) (No blinds up at present other than 'within the glazing' blinds on two glass doors- planning internal roller blinds for bifolds and other windows)

I attach temp history for Friday from my heatmiser app. The drop in the evening is when we opened the doors because it had become so hot, hence the rapid drop. We have a gas boiler, no heat pump. Extension is at the rear (37sqm - east facing) and north facing side (3sqm). So we do get sun pouring in through the east facing bifolds (3.5m wide by 2.4m high) from early through to midday. The adjacent window is south facing (1.5m wide by 2.4m high). We have 3 roof lights in the rear extension - 2sqm + 1.6sqm + 1sqm = 4.6sqm total. We have a 0.5m wide roof overhang to the bifolds and side window. Construction is 150mm PIR under 120mm concrete slab with heating pipes in. Blockwork cavity walls with render and cladding - 90mm PIR in cavity (cladding to south facing wall). Warm roof with 150mm PIR and slate grey PVC single ply membrane. The bifolds and window double glazing seem pretty efficient - we regularly had condensation on the outside in winter. ? I guess it is 'solar gain' ? Sun shining onto the glass and onto the internal concrete slab ? Temp rising through the day from early morning. Presumably the insulation is good enough to stop the heat escaping so we end up hotter than outside and it doesn't cool off much at night either ?

The other day it was hot in the house and my thermostats were saying 27C. They need calibrating and seem to overdo the actual temperature by a couple of degrees - so I would say it was 25C. However the outside temperature was only 21C. So despite the insulation in the new extension it doesn't seem to keep the house cool in summer. Why is the house getting hotter than outside ? Is it just the effect of sunlight coming through the glass in the bifolds, window, and 3 rooflights - warming the inside and the insulation keeping this warmth in ? Is it the slate grey pvc membrane absorbing heat from the sun, and despite having 150mm PIR underneath transferring heat into the extension ? Any thoughts ? (I remember asking my architect about aircon at the design stage and he poo-pooed it as not necessary or worth it in the UK. Seems a shame there isn't a way to run wet underfloor heating in a way that would cool the floors ?)

Any advice on this and on boarding reveals generally ? Is this reveal board with 6mm plasterboard and 14mm XPS worth using ? I am also wondering about how to put fixings into the reveal - for example I will want to put roller blinds in the reveal but they will be positioned alongside the insulated cavity, so how am I going to be able to screw them up ? Do I need to fix some wood or metal in place behind the reveal board that I can fix into ? Is it better to use a tile backer insulated board and is that then easy to fix into ?

That has always been my worry, but I cannot for the life of me find any way to find a good tradesperson. Internet reviews are meaningless and often fixed and fictitious. Recommendations are dodgy because often the customer just doesn't know the difference between good and bad - or else they are doing a favour recommending their cousins boyfriend. I have tried highly rated on checkatrade and they say they will come but never do. I have had 7 plumbers, 3 have done incompetent things, 2 never quoted, and 1 buggered off for 3 months immediately after starting work, and 1 blocked my mobile because I called him twice in 3 weeks enquiring after my quote.

A painter with a wall sander ? How does that work ? Is he sanding imperfections in the plaster ? How do you find a painter and decorator that diligent ?