Lincolnshire Ian

I am pushing it into a 220mm rafter leaving at least a 50mm void between the OSB sarking on the rafter and the insulation apparently the gap is important as this is a warm roof (vaulted ceiling).

Hi folks I'm going to fit 150mm PIR insulation between the rafters of my vaulted ceiling. Can I simply cut the insulation slightly too large and squeeze it into the gap and the minimal expansion of the foam will hold it in place, or do I need to fix it in place. After the 150mm PIR is fitted I will be adding another 50mm PIR across the whole ceiling which will cover the rafters and 150mm PIR. Many thanks

Hi everyone My clumsy scaffolders haven't been treating the breather membrane on the external face of our frame with the same reverence as the timber frame erectors and we have some minor damage. Should I repair this with "breather membrane tape", does it exist, or is there another way to repair tears? Thank you.

They will want to see a drains test (already discussed it in the most and vague terms) and I'd like to test the system before needing to. If there are any problems better to know sooner rather than later.

Hi everyone We would like to replicate the test that BC will want when they carry out the final inspection. I have asked them what they expect to see and the best and most detailed answer I could extract was, "a normal water test". I have bought the bung to close the pipe run furthest away from the house, and intend to fill the highest inspection chamber with water and monitor for water loss. Am I doing this right, do I need to block the soil vent pipes as with an air test , what is an "acceptable" water drop? Does anyone know of a simple guide for water testing, or could maybe answer a question above. Many thanks

I spoke to the guys from Envirograf and it was a stress-free process for a novice. I explained my scenario, they asked a few questions, made some suggestions and followed up with an email - all within the space of a couple of hours.

Thank you everyone - very helpful. I will call Envirograf to get the info we need.

Ohh, that's a good idea. I need 32m to expand to fill a 50mm cavity. Thanks

Our architect gave us the option of having vents added to the cladding or intumescent strips. We thought the vents looked pretty poor, but there might be more elegant solutions.

Hi folks We need intumescent strips to close the 50mm void in our timber frame where we use cladding (about 30% of the house). I am more than a little shocked by the difference in price between cavity socks for the masonry walls and intumescent strips for the cladded walls. Does anyone have a supplier that offers intumescent strips at a reasonable price? Thanks

The 2x2 is OK around the openings, but we also need cavity barriers at roof height to mitigate the potential for the cavity to act like a chimney.

Hi all Our next BC inspection is when our timber frame has been erected and the cavity barriers have been installed. I had assumed that the cavity barriers would be installed as the block work went up, but apparently this isn't what the BC inspector is looking for. We have a window of opportunity between the timber frame erectors leaving and the brickie arriving to get the cavity barriers installed, but this is four weeks before the brickie arrives. I am assuming that the cavity barriers are waterproof, but will they be OK left for 4 weeks before being boxed in with the block work. Thanks everyone

Nope. We are buying a timber-framed building, and the company has a number of exclusions in their service, which includes the design the outer skin of the property. We were expecting a more joined-up service due to the nature of the focus upon self-builders, but alas, that hasn't been the case. I suppose if we had read all the small print and asked more questions, it could have been clear.

Hi We are building a new timber-framed house house. The house will have a block skin which will be rendered. There are lots of blocks we could choose, but which one is best to take render and minimise block work preparation before rendering starts? Many thanks

That's a brilliant reminder - our timber frame company offered us the same option, but we didn't accept it (maybe should have!).

This house building lark is tricky!! Our roofer doesn't do fascias, soffits, bargeboards and guttering - apparently that is a chippy's job! Its too late to change roofer - they are like hens teeth around here. Do we install the fascia, soffits, bargeboards and guttering before or after tiling the roof. Thanks everyone

Hi all We are going to have stone cills installed in our timber-framed house. My concern is that whenever I see a house with traditional buff coloured window cills they are various shades of brown, grey and black depending upon how long the algae and mould has been attacking it. I think I have two options: Coat the cills with something to prevent the buildup of crud - but I don't know what! Use a dark charcoal/granite colour which won't show the algae and mould, but then I have the problem of finding a mortar to match the dark cills. Does anyone have any ideas regarding how I can approach this? Thanks

We haven't started cladding yet, but I like this idea. Thanks

Hi all We are pondering how to get the best finish for our windows at the intersection of the window frame and the cladded wall. The timber frame house is erected "wind and watertight" with the windows and doors installed by the timber framed erectors. The windows will sit within the frame, then we have a 50mm void with cladding on top. We will have approximately 50mm of space between the window frame and the cladding that needs filling, and this seems impractical to cut such a small piece of cladding then use the required fixing strips etc. Has anyone found an elegant way to sort this out, or am I destined to spend hours cutting up cladding. The image shows my predicament. Thanks

Thanks, I will try these people in Derby.

Hi Are there any cast stone window cill suppliers who will quote based upon uploaded plans?

Hi We are trying to work out whether we should do something about the intersection of the cladding below with the chamfered brick. The drawing isn't clear, but we intend to have a 10mm ventilation gap between the end of the cladding and the start of the chamfered brick. We are also planning to install some insect mesh. Should we have some sort of cill underneath the cladding? Even though the cladding overlaps the chamfered brick by around 15mm there is still the potential for water either running down the cladding, or during driving rain to enter the cavity. For content, the build-up on the TF house is Protect TF200 Thermo Insulating Timber Frame Breather Membrane over OSB board. Should we be concerned about this, or is this just how cladding works on timber-framed houses? Thanks

Hi We have a groundbeam and are just about to start the block work for the beam and block floor. We will have a long, thin cavity which needs telescopic ventilation immediately in front of the front door (roughly the same width as the the porch). With hindsight the design of the groundbeam probably wasn't perfect, but we are where we are. The BC inspector has specifically said that we need ventilation in the front porch. Is there a way to install a telescopic vent behind a door threshold drain and still maintain an airflow. Thanks

This is the post, next to the front door. The house will be 70% white render with 30% composite cladding.

Hi When our timber frame is erected we will have an ugly galvanised post holding up the corner of the porch. We are planning to match the house brick plinth height on the post, but how can we clad the post to make it look a bit more elegant. For context the house will be white rendered with composite cladding. Thanks