Diablo

All, I own a large detached property that is being run as a HMO. The property has an integral garage that I want to convert into a home office/yoga area that the tenants can use, especially during lockdowns. The garage currently has a roller shutter, but I would like to replace this with a door and a window. This would result in two doors on the front of the house. Can this be done under PD? Many thanks, Rog

Brilliant! That's what I need. How do you get from the 180mm vent to the 167mm of the wider end of the reducer? Many thanks

All, We are having our flat roof done and I want to move the exhaust vent from the pitched, as it is making a mess on our slate tiles. I called BPC and they want £210 for a cowl and shroud, which seems a bit dear to me. The roofer is using mushroom vents for about £10-15/each which don't look that dissimilar. Has anyone come across any more cost effective alternatives? Thanks, Rog

All, We had flat roof installed about 4 years ago. The handover from builder to roofer wasn't as seamless as I would have hoped, as the builder put the OSB3 deck down and did not cover it. That night, the heavens opened up and by morning, the deck was drenched. The roofer did explain the risk of continuing, but we took our chances and tried to torch the boards dry, before applying the GRP. Long story short, the GRP did not fully bond to the deck and we have had several leaks over the years. We are looking to replace the roof with a 3-layer torch on felt. The roofer is insisting that it would be fine to board over the top of the GRP and then lay the felt on the new boards, on the basis that the GRP will prevent any moisture in the old boards permeating into the new boards. He is prepared to guarantee it. Does that sound reasonable? Many thanks, Rog

Gents, I think I can locate the boiler next to the house and avoid an underground run of pipes and power. I will use PeterW's suggestion and place it on a 3x2 slab.. . I can run the pipes though the old flue hole and seal it in the way Carrerahill suggests. What an excellent resource this site and its members are! Thank you.

Brilliant! That is exactly the sort thing I was looking for. I had a quick look online for the sealing compound, but came up dry, It looks like an industrial solution, so my guess is that there maybe a minimum purchase requirement.. What about expanding foam, as an alternative?

Hi, It is a System boiler. It is a good point and was my first thought. However, the issue is that there is a rainwater gully, manhole and grey water pipes all in close vicinity. It could be done, but in order build a solid base for the boiler, I would need to somehow micropile around the various underground pipes. I will have another think, as it does make it easier for power as well.

All, After years, we have decided to replace our internal Warmflow (total rubbish...) with an external Grant oil boiler. It will be located about 1 metre from the house, so will need to run 22mm pipes out of the boiler, underground and up the side of the house. I would really appreciate some advice on: 1. Is it best to use Copper of flexi pipe under ground? 2. What is the best way to insulate it? 3. Rather than drilling new holes for the pipes, I was thinking about using the hole for the existing boiler's flue. Any thoughts on how to seal up the hole once the pipes are in place? Many thanks, Rog

Hi Ed, I tested the motorised valve cables with a simple voltage pen. I am now back home and had a curiosity look at my own system, and notice that the two port valve for DHW is also showing current flowing to it even though there is no demand. My two UFH vales both have no current flowing to them, as there is no demand. Many thanks for the responses and video link.

All, My parents had a nest system installed a few weeks ago and there is something odd going on with the 2 port valves. There are separate valves for HW, downstairs rads and upstairs rads. The thing I find odd is that even when there is no demand, there appears to be current going to the valves. Also, I have noticed that the levers sometimes feel completely floppy, as if they are not connected to anything. I took the cover off one of them and it stiffened up, put the cover back on and it went floppy. Any thoughts on what might be going on here? Many thanks

Gents, Thanks again for the replies. We spent all of Sunday on the roof, mostly cutting out the really bad areas of the topcoat. The source of the leak was a particularly bad area where, once we cut through the GRP, revealed a rotten piece of OSB. This was cut and replaced. I cannot have this hanging over me (literally), so as has been suggested, we will take the plunge and replace all of the underlying OSB. I cannot believe that the single board we replaced was the only rotten one, so I am budgeting to replace the entire lot. Much appreciated.

JSHarris As usual, I think you are spot on. After all the blood, sweat and tears, it is a bit soul destroying to see water dripping into the living room…. However, I need to get through the Winter for now… Any thoughts on the best way of scraping off the flaking top coat so that we can get a relatively smooth surface on which to apply the repair solution? Thinking forward to next year, do you think we would need to replace the OSB boards? I am really hoping we can get away without having to go to that extent… Thanks again.

All, today's torrential downpours have resulted in a leak in my living room roof. When the OSB boards were originally put down, it started to rain before we could get them covered. The roofer did his best to dry the boards out and put down the GRP roof. He did warn us it was not ideal, but we were desperate to move in, so I told him to just go for it. 3 years on and the top coat is flaking badly and the roof has started to leak. I intend to go up tomorrow morning, clean up the roof and put down some repair product that my brother swears by. Has anyone got any advice on how to clean up the flaking topcoat as it is really tough stuff and cannot simply be pulled away? Thanks in advance, Narinder

Hi, in all honesty, I have just let the boiler run without the cover off. I figure that if we can at least see out the cold spell albeit with partially dressed boiler, that's fine by me. Beyond that, we will certainly need to get to the bottom of what is going on. I will call your mate and pick his brains. Either way, I will post the outcome here. Thanks again.

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