Lincolnshire Ian

Thanks for your response everyone, very helpful. Its seems pretty obvious now it's been highlighted that I should use fire resistant plasterboard. I have checked my BC drawings + the build specification from the TF company and it's not mentioned. Thanks Build Hub and the super community for keeping me right.

We need to finish our timber-framed, attached to the house, garage. The walls are 140mm studs with 120mm insulation which was fitted by mistake in the TF factory. We have considered plasterboard, plastering and paint, but this is quite an expensive way to finish the garage. Then we have OSB board, cheap to buy and easy to install, but with a utilitarian appearance. Are there any other options we should consider - we want it to look nice for the least possible money (who doesn't). Here is a picture of the wall. Thanks

My feet are killing me! I bought a pair of cheap safety shoes, trainer style, (maybe £35-ish) from Screwfix and they are SO uncomfortable. Can anyone recommend a pair of safety boots with a wide toe which feel comfortable all day. Happy to pay what it takes for a foot-friendly safety shoe/boot. Thanks

My feet are killing me! I bought a pair of cheap safely shoes, trainer style, (maybe £35-ish) from Screwfix and they are SO uncomfortable. Can anyone recommend a pair of safety boots with a wide toe which feel comfortable all day. Happy to pay what it takes for a foot-friendly safety shoe/boot. Thanks

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?