Jilly

Why's that? I've been told to have this on my piled extension.

What a lovely place. With the complexities and nuance of restoration building work, pay attention to advanced language skills so you don't get caught out, as there are plenty of pitfalls for the unwary without that added complication. All the best.

Did I dream that build hub has a loan facility for one of these? The plumber hasn't installed UFH for many years and doesn't have one. Is it worth getting one or will we manage without, or any top tips? Thank you!

Did you use battens to stop the celotex touching the membrane, to maintain the 50mm gap? There was much discussion on my site about this as I have F1 bituminous because of bats. A lot of people rely on the friction fit of the cellotex between the rafters, but I wanted to be sure that they didn't get knocked accidentally and impede the air flow. Do you have a dry ridge? If so, it should give an airflow down each bay to the eaves (our builder/roofer put the ridge onto the felt with no gap tho). The other option BC wanted was a tile vent in every bay (32!). It was mooted that we could cut the felt, but in the end we made a little cold roof and this satisfied them. Ie the air can come up either eaves and communicate across. This doesn't actually make any sense to me as hot air rises and needs to escape or it will condense, which is presumably what is happening to yours? I'm going to add more ventilation tho and use a humidity monitor, as I'm a bit of a worrier!

Hopefully Gus will be along soon. Maybe post for advice on the main forum?

I'm doing a stable conversion too and it's been very slow and painful, with so many constraints, as you are finding, it seems much more difficult than designing and building something new. I got another structural engineer's opinion and it was different. The first said underpin all round, the second said it was ok not to if we didn't dig the ground bearing slab out.

I'm looking at these as a compromise. No actual flame, but a nice look https://everhot.co.uk/Everhot-Electric-Stove.aspx

Hello, the plumber has just more or less finished first fix and I noticed the bath waste pipe hasn't got a fall. In my usual fashion I am now in the rainforest doubting his work (perhaps unfairly). He has agreed to correct this, but I can't help thinking this black waste pipe looks very flimsy and seems to have no provision for differential movement when it will be out of site under the block and beam of the extension. Is there some way of double skinning them? If any of these joints leak it will be an almighty problem to fix. Am currently trying to upload a photo

Yes, the windows and doors are fitted.The floor is very uneven, so the screed will vary from 70mm to 40mm in places. The builder says the weight of the screed (unknown sort, sand and cement to be ordered with fibres thrown in) will sort out the unevenness. Sand blinding didn't do a great job. Its rocking where the bath is to go so need to think of something there.

Ok...? I can't get any more in as it's a retro fit. I suppose I just have to go with it because the screed is going in soon and there isn't much choice but to see how it performs in real life as I don't want forgo the option and then wish I'd done it. So you are saying I'd be better with giant radiators which I don't have room for?

Not really enough in normal circumstances. I'm using 100mm Kingspan Kooltherm K103 which gives a calculated U value of 0.15 w/m2 K Is this 'enough' for UFH in your opinion, Oh Esteemy One? ?

All the very best Pat. I can understand why you want to keep your house buyers, but try to keep yourselves as warm and stress free as possible under the circumstances. I've just done the geo textile /aggregate thing to combat the mud, I feel much happier too. If you stay on site having a washing machine and tumble dryer or drying facilities will help you enormously. I can't understand about the water either, I just had to send a photo of the pipes and the connection in the house with its lagging, turned off. I was struggling at that point and a local chap who worked for Anglia water helped me out, is there anyone you could ask? How about putting feelers out to friends who might lend a hand to help you get the basics sorted, you might be surprised what happens, as you must be feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment? I know your plumbing husband doesn't want anyone mucking about with his plumbing, but it's not the worst thing in the world, I've known a couple of people have had a stoma, including my dad, and you can't see the bag under clothes, they are very discrete and often the op will be reversed as Jo said, it's just to let things heal.

A broker I approached said it might be difficult to find an insurer to take on a risk part way through and told me to approach my self build insurer to find house insurance (because I want to live in the house before full completion). They were happy to find a suitable policy which would work in tandem with the existing one.

Thank you, ahh, this is what I thought we couldn't do, as insulating below DPC externally seems to not be done. Below the wood cladding batton there is just the two courses of brick, down to concrete external floor level. So is there an insulating block product which could be stuck to the bricks which looks aesthetic or like brick/block and could be painted? It couldn't be dug in below ground level as yours is.

Oh yes, forgot to draw that in! still wondering exactly how to detail it.

Hi, I'm converting stable and there's a tricky cold bridge at the wall/floor junction. I'd be grateful for suggestions. There is a step in the 2 courses of brick under the damp proof course (DPC) and the external wall insulation (EWI) only comes to the bottom of that. I have put in 100mm kingspan Kooltherm 103 which gives a calculated U value of 0.15 W/m2 K . If we put something behind the DPM we risk condensation, but it seems quite tricky to put insulation on top as it might float up during the screed pour.

That's a seriously bad idea.

Cos it's quite small. ?A cylinder will take a chunk of scarce storage. We'll have room when the extension is built.

Hi, thanks for the replies! I do like the idea of having lots of energy options in case of outages (it's disappointing that gas still needs a trickle of electric to work). Yes, we are setting the UFH for later ASHP, so you've set my mind at rest re the temporary gas boiler rather than an electric one.

For various reasons, we'd elected to get a combi LPG boiler before an ASHP (May be in a year or 2 when we have space for the tank etc. I was unable to get anyone to fit a temporary Willis heater as have no cold tank) so it seemed expedient to have gas and hope we are insulated enough for our usage to be respectable. However, with the current gas debacle, I'm wondering if we should have an electric combi? I was scared it would be eyewateringly expensive to run, but now gas is not looking very promising. We also rejected oil on account of the tank siting would be tricky. We can't have an ASHP until we have built the extension (a year or two at least). I'd love solar thermal too, but cant justify that yet either.

It might depend on your area, but my local council took 13 weeks to discharge a condition because they're snowed under. Depends what they refused it on, someone here may be able to give advice. It might be worth paying a planning consultant who knows your area for advice.

You will probably have to comply with SUDs so a grasscrete type like that product might help your case. Highways usually have to do the dropped kerb' or 'crossover' which can vary hugely between local authorities.

On a seriously tight budget, possibly false economy, but the builder dug out the drive entrance to and put 6 tones of what was supposed to be type 3 MOT (but seems to have an awful lot of fines) over a geotextile from Buildbase. The first big delivery has torn the membrane and clay is now mushing through. The builder suggested putting rebar mesh under another delivery of aggregate as a cheap solution, but people seem a bit horrified at that suggestion if it's not going in concrete, which is my reaction to (?rust etc?). The grids from local companies don't seem strong enough for big trucks but fine for normal vehicles. Not sure whether to chance it as the ones specified for trucks are very expensive. The drive is meant to be permeable, so the simple solution of concrete round the rebar might not be acceptable. Does anyone have any cheap ideas which will be hidden under the future pavers and clay please?

Update: Coincidentally (?) on the today, I've got a response from EDF complaints dept and a reply from my MP, not directly answering the question, but it seems they will sort it, nevertheless.