Mr Punter

The batten issue can be even worse if you have external insulation on a timber frame. There is often nothing to fix to in the corners. Counterbatten is the way forward.

My son is getting a deer this week with the intention of butchering it himself and having it for Xmas dinner. Very odd imo. I have been sworn not to call it Bambi in front of his wife & children.

Nobody read the original thread very carefully. You may want to take advice from the carrier board people. The Bluclad BBA certificate says: 13.7 Horizontal movement joints must be provided at every floor to accommodate vertical shrinkage of up to 6 mm in the timber frame and to follow movement joints in the substructure. For steel-frame structures, reference should be made to the Structural Engineer’s details for detection at floor level and movement joints in the substructure. 13.8 Vertical movement joints should be provided at the required intervals. The actual spacing and position of the joints will be determined by the shape of the area to be rendered and should coincide with movement joints in the structure and allow for the same degree of movement.

Hi @JessandMat and welcome. Unless you are reasonably skilled and experienced and willing to do a large amount of the work it is unlikely that you will benefit much financially by building this over and above what you would gain free of hassle by just gaining consent and selling the plot to a self builder or small developer. The new property will need connection to all services and the utilities will provide quotations for these but on the basis that they are nearby you could budget £8,000 for this. You may find the transaction easier if you either purchase the parcel outright from your neighbour or agree to split the sale proceeds in proportions agreed by you both. I would not suggest that you and neighbour try to develop this as a joint venture. You will need your lenders consent before the plot can be sold.

I think it will be hugely expensive and time consuming to do. You will only get 2 slips from a brick. You may need some headers as well if you want the bond to look authentic. I think slips are easier to fix with one of the grid type systems to keep them in line. After you have stuck them on you have the fun of pointing. I would just use them whole on part of the house, use them to build a garage, or sell them to a reclamation yard.

Why on earth is there a step down into the living room? Can it be accessed from the hallway or just via the kitchen? There is a lot of corridor space. The utility room seems to be a feature for some reason. If you lose the utility and move the stairs centrally your upper landing would be more central. I quite like the front, but nothing is saying wow.

Sounds crazy but I would leave it a year.

It will take a long time to dry. Yes, just get rid of the loose stuff, wipe with bleach and off you go.

I was pleased to read that the EU and UK have reached agreement over NI border checks. Threatening to break international law was not very becoming.

Incidentally if you need to work on MDPE where there is no upstream stopcock you can get a squeeze-off tool to stop the flow.

Gosh that would have been a lot of water if you cut straight through with the pipe shears.

Is it rigid insulation or fluffy? If rigid you could just go ahead. If it is fluffy and looks ruinously wet, I would remove it and replace if wall ties allow. You could use polystyrene beads, but choose a very calm day.

I thought the water was blended with cold in UFH. Surely there is something you can have to stop the boiler firing due to a call from the UFH cicuit for at least an hour, to stop it cycling? We are in a fairly average spec new house and the heating is mostly only on from December to March. In a previous new house we had UFH and the boiler shut down mid winter and it was a day before we noticed.

I did not think MVHR had much impact on SAP and energy consumption. More a thing of better air quality and no draughts.

Is there any point in having a very low output heat only boiler for the UFH plus a BFO combi for hot water?

All hope was lost when you said gynaecologist. At that stage the thread disappeared into a black hole.

It looks quite bodged but it could outlast the rest of the house. It may have replaced a previous lean-to or conservatory. Does it have building regs?

The outside terminals on mine have backdraught flaps and the fans have an iris that opens when the fan runs. Not as good as MVHR but I could not find space for the unit and all the ducting, plus over 4 storeys there would need to be lots of acoustic and fire stopping. Also, I like an externally ducted kitchen extractor. The recirculating ones don't do it for me.

No. Extracts x 6 plus trickle vents.

The SAP for here has the same 60KWh/m2/year for "current primary energy use" but the estimated heat demand (space heating + water heating) works out at 35KWh/m2/year. Not sure how the figures relate.

Gas heating, DHW and hob has worked out at 60KWh/m2/year here averaged over 3 years. I suspect we don't bath and shower much though.

You only needed a small inspection cover but this will give you the benefit of being able to send up a street urchin should you wish to give the rest of the brickwork a coat of paint!

It is easier for others to comment on price if you give an amount per square metre for supply and and amount for fitting. Also handy to quote the average u value. Anyway, Rationel have a dealership model, so you could try another dealer.

They are expensive panels, so they should fit properly. Maybe the one to the left is iffy? Perhaps dry fit the next ones for your approval before fitting. Mine are on a wall with a load of other stuff, so not so focal.

I have the same concrete finish but not in a shower. They were loc fit and I had to give them a good wiggle and a bit of in and out to get them snug. I did not use adhesive, so that may have made a difference. Even then, some just seemed to mate better than others. The darker colour is probably more forgiving.