Big Jimbo

@BotusBuild Not being thick. I think it is something that most people dont consider. If we wanted to limit our heat losses, we would line our windows up with the outside edge of our insulation Not put our windows further out, like in my drawing. They want us to all use fancy expensive tape to put our windows in, but allow us to have our window frames only sitting back in from the outside, 30mm into our insulated cavity. That means that the cold air outside, and the warm air inside only has to pass through 30mm of insulation. If we sat our windows further in from the outside, say that they were flush with the cavity insulation, the cold coming in, and the heat going out would have to pass through more insulation before it either got in, or in the case of heat got out.

@Iceverge Looks like i will have to. The currently available rubbish available should be taken off the market, and the window industry should wake up.

So with a cill of 150mm...Brickwork....A 30mm cill overhang....... your window frame will sit 30mm into the cavity. Building reg PASS, but shite. So with a cill of 150mm...Render....Blockwork......A 30mm cill overhang......Your window frame will sit into the cavity by at most 15mm. Building reg FAIL. With a cill of 180 cill.....10mm cladding.....25mm batten....Blockwork.... A 30mm cill overhang.... Your window frame will sit into the cavity by 15mm. Building reg FAIL So, basically a large thermal bridge. Heat loss, damp, mould, etc...... It can't be just @Kelvin and me that have thought about this ? Come on guys, other than getting cills made, has nobody done better than above. Where are all the smart people when you need them ? 150mm cills are marketed as standard. They should be marketed as will just get you through building regs with brickwork, will fail in all other circumstances, and are basically shite.

@Kelvin Well done for thinking about it. It seems that most people don't. Cold bridge, heat loss. damp and mould.

If you can see the drawing my windows will sit into the cavity by 30mm. That's a bit rubbish with regards the thermal bi pass around the windows, and it's by using 180mm cills. I'd like my 70mm window frames to sit into the cavity by 60mm. 180mm is the deepest grey cill I can find ! When it comes to the upstairs which will have hardi plank cladding on a batten, the windows will sit completely outside the cavity which won't meet building regs. Frustrating. What have others done ?

@SteamyTea Yes, Both how to calculate them, and thinking about what i might be able to do to make them a bit better.

@SteamyTea you, my friend, are not making anything precision with that tape measure.

I'm starting to think about heat losses. Not the normal one's, like floor, walls, windows, doors, and roof. The odd ones that i also need to consider. Things like where the wall meets the floor. Where the windows meet the wall reveals. Window lintels. Where the roof meets the walls. Pipe penetrations from inside to outside. Are there any others that people can think of ? Don't want to miss any if i can. Thanks in advance.

He did look like Catweasel though, and his cups were filthy.

@ReedRichards If you had run the pipes through the insulated envelope of the house, instead of the loss. Than the pipe heat loss, would have been a room heat gain. We could go on and on. I knew a strange chap many years ago. When you visited, and went for a pee, his bath would quite often be full of manky old water. When i asked him why he said he didn't drain the bath untill the water had gone stone cold. Refused to waste the heat. He had a good point.

@ReedRichards I have often wondered if you could have fitted a PIR. Walk into the bathroom, and it kicks on the re-circulating pump. The instant hot water is a great idea, but having to have a pump running during awake hours, with the heat losses seems a shame.

I've done that before. Stuck them on with Sticks like shite.

Also, my understanding is that a window frame should be sited as far in from the outside, as to have most of the window frame within the insulated cavity. If the window frame is 70mm thick, and you are using a standard 150mm cill, you are going to want a 20mm cill overhang to the brickwork. That means that at most your window will be 30mm into the cavity, and 40mm outside. Now if you are rendering, you will have even less, and if you are using a batten and cladding, even using 180mm cills, chances are none of your window frame will be within the cavity. A huge cold bridge. We need to start making window cills a lot deeper.

@Susie Yes, i will have to sort out some guarding for the upstairs windows. My early doors, in my head plan is. MDF, sat on the top of the window, nailed to the wall, but not above 1100mm in order to comply with fire escape rules. Get passed by building control. Remove MDF, fill and paint. It is madness, you can't have an escape higher than 1100mm That is fair enough, but if any of your openings are lower than 1100mm you have to have guarding ! I watched my grandson the other week. Wanted to go on the trampoline in his garden. Pulled over a sit on truck, and used that to reach the trampoline. He is not yet 2 years old.

Well done. That is a hell of a task.

Actually, i'm not, and never have been a fighter. My actions were always carried out with calmness, and no discussion. My daughter said that when i loose the plot, i come across as some sort of phycopath. As she says, people who tell you they are going to beat the living daylights out of you, hardly ever do.

@SteamyTea Joking aside, i was lucky that i had windows, and doors actually on site which had been used on my posh shed. This allowed me to actually measure things. One of the big surprizes was the angle that my side hung windows opened. To comply with the regs, at 650mm from the internal face of the wall, my side hung windows only opened to 47 degrees. Most examples i looked at estimated the opening angle at 70 degrees.

Just wanted to let people know that the new building regulations part O, are a pain. However, by spending a bit of time getting my head around them, and looking at some examples from places like Future Homes, i sat down with the Mrs for a couple of days, and got the calculater, pencil, paper and tape measure out. Without cheating, i have got a pass using the Simplified Method...... Yippie. The Mrs has produced some sort of computer spreadsheet thing, and entered all the figures. I actually feel that although my spelling and computer skills are crap, i could almost write an idiots guide to part O now. It is defo one of those things that you need to consider at the design stage, as a tweek here or there can make a lot of difference. For info, the house is 2500sq foot. 4 bed / 4 bath. Most of my glazing faces East, followed closely by West facing. I have some, but not a lot facing South, and very little facing North. I was quoted about £1200 for thermal modelling, with more fees to follow if it needed alterations. So if you have some spare time, it is worth having a pop at doing yourself. A certificate for building control, together with the work sheets, will be produced by the better half now. I'm going to see if i can get my head around Heat loss cals next. Wish me luck.

Cheers @nod. Can't even get out of my debts if i drop dead then. Cheer a feela up, why don't ya.

Well done. Bloody CIL is going to cost me £80k if i dont keep the gaff for 3 years.

@SteamyTea I could only think of cracking it with a hammer. That is the extent of my computer knowledge. So from me atleast, it is very safe.

I have made and fitted at least 100 of these cabinets over a Twenty year period. to join the Two doors, simply use a length of piano hinge. Various colours and widths available.

The additions are calculated as what you are adding, say 125 square meters, less what you are knocking down, say 30 square mt. Therefore net addition is 95 square meters. Under 100 square meters = nil CIL Liability.

No. Crack on.

If the doors are only 18mm thick you could use a piano hinge. Available in various widths and colours.