Dudda

What service cavity or room do you have for recessed lights. Some lights are very deep. If you've only a 35mm service zone like me in some areas due to head height in existing build it limits your selection. If you've 60mm or above you'll have a greater choice.

Planning, Fire certification, accessibility? You'll need accessible toilets, showers, fire escapes, etc. Is someone taking care of this for you? Can't imagine electric feeding multiple showers will work. What are you doing to support the floor where heavy weights are lifted and dropped? Ventilation is also a big issue in gyms. How are you ventilating the toilets and showers or the waste? I've a lot more questions and bit worried about this.

You can get side rails, toe rails and all sort of fancy bolt on features for trestles to make them compliant. Up to a meter the trestles are ok I think but agree anything higher they can be wobbly. The OP only wants them a meter so could be the cheaper and lighter solution. Will definitely need kiwi for the main house though.

Welcome. Sounds like a great project. The stage you're at is probably the most interesting and most exciting as you've so many options and possibilities. I wish you all the best. My thoughts in no particular order. As it's an old house it's going to be draughty and cold so would you consider externally insulating it rather than internal? You could add a lot more insulation (think 150mm or even more) without loosing area and would make the house look new when complete. Great way to get rid of that dated pebble dash. Do the front and side and don't do the back until you are ready for the rear extension. Looking at the back I'm presuming it's not protected or has any special features so external is doable. You could connect the external insulation up into the roof when you need to fix that. The whole house would be instantly warmer not just one or two rooms. Internally I'd put airtight membrane then a 2x1 batten for cables and a service cavity and then plasterboard. Alternatively you could just wet plaster it internally or I've seen a lot of refurb houses use the outer layer of plaster as the airtight layer and tape the windows and roof membrane to it to create an airtight layer. Might be tricky in your case with the pebble dash. So many options. I'd think them all thorough before going to far ahead with the internal plasterboard route. Best of luck and keep us updated.

Looked into that. On my project with 13 sensors it was pretty much at the same price as an entry level commercial system. It was the ease of use of the control switch and not having a complicated central panel that won it for me. Now in about 10 years when the heads need replacing I might go differently.

Keep in mind the location of the insulation. If you've an attic you can easily add more to the roof later. It's difficult but you can add additional insulation to walls at a later date (either internal or external and very easy if you've a cavity you can fill). Adding insulation to a floor is extremely difficult and disruptive.

That's what I read but wasn't fully sure I understood what was happening. I've the 4 core fire rated cable fitted (plasterboard almost complete so to late to change). I'll stick with Aico and control switch like you so but that Gira looks a lot nicer. Thanks for the clarification.

Very nice and look to do most of the same things as the Aico in terms of network ability. Anyone know if Gira have something like the Aico Control Switch?https://www.aico.co.uk/product/ei1529rc-hard-wired-alarm-control-switch/

Are you a plumber or mechanical engineer that wants this system or is it just me that thinks this seam overly complicated? ASHP, boiler, PV, Sunamps (x2 types), all the motorized valves, pumps and controls. With all this kit will you ever get payback?

I always specify a separating layer on top of insulation. If you put the Radon below or between the it doesn't matter. Usually below if coordinating trades is easier and between protects is better. Don't have the radon above the insulation as it will get punctured when placing the steel or UFH pipes. A separating layer on top of the insulation can be a 1000 gauge polythene and is very quick and cheap. If it gets one or two holes it's not a big issue. This stops any concrete seeping between cracks in the insulation (which you shouldn't have to start with) thus creating a thermal bridge. It's also useful if you've pipes or other services cut into the insulation layer as it stops any concrete seeping down around these.

House is doing fine thankfully. The 1960's office I work in is another story. The old oil boiler broke down yesterday morning. It's always cold after a weekend but my god was it cold yesterday. I had 5 cups of tea in an hour and a half trying to keep warm. I was in very early and txt a few others so they arrived dressed with layers of woolly jumpers, hats, scarfs and leggings under trousers and weren't as cold but looked ridiculous sitting at their computers.

Have you heat on in the house? If yes remove the floor boards from any plastic packaging and let them dry out to the temperature of the room. If left like this for a few days they'll do most of their movement. Then it's only slight movement if any you'll have to worry about like JSHarris above. The mistake some people can make is taking them from a cold warehouse wrapped in plastic and laying them in a warm house where they do a lot of movement.

I've the Internorm UPVC/aluminium KS430 in my own house that's 5.4m wide 2.2m high and very happy with it. Moves very easy. Couldn't afford the timber version myself but I'm putting in the wood/aluminium Internorm HS330 in another house for a client. The problem I have is the KS430 can go to 6.5m wide so presumed the timber HS330 was the same and designed an ope 6.5m wide and 2.7m high. Having to reduce the ope to 5.8m wide now as I don't want a joint. The only other timber aluclad 2.7m high lift and slide I could find was Platin 82 Josko's Slim but was a lot more expensive. Not sure if they could do the large width I want as I stopped inquiring when I saw the price. I've no idea how the OP would get 7.5m in one piece without going aluminium section.

As an architect living and working in Ireland I have to take regular training as part of professional development. I haven't done Passive training (some in the office have) but do use PHPP regularly and can work out thermal bridge PSI values. We've a huge amount of different environmental regulations and standards. Currently the big one is NZEB (Near Zero Energy Buildings). All public buildings currently getting designed have to be NZEB. Houses have strict environmental regulations and each house has a building energy rating (BER) but will get a tiny bit more strict as they will have to be NZEB in addition soon. Then you have a large amount of international companies that use Ireland as their headquarters such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, AirBnB, Microsoft, eBay, etc as well as non tech business and pharma companies. All these American companies want LEED certification and then we've BREAM as well and some look for certain aspects of WELL (a nice building to live in standard). Water payments in Ireland are a huge issue that almost brought down a government and could be a whole thread in itself. Between LEED, BREAM, NZEB, PSI, BER, EPC, CPC, WELL you're not far short passive house certification for a lot of new builds. Most don't bother with it as you're paying a lot more for a cert to hang in the hallway and you've usually quiet a few already. The electrical infrastructure is improving (with opposition some areas whey they don't want new high power lines going near them). With all the regulations it's hard to not put PV panels on a new building (and getting harder) and therefore no real need for the government to introduce FIT. Why pay when people are already feeding into the grid for free? The electrical infrastructure is more of an excuse to FIT.

Doesn't help the OP but thought I'd mention if someone else finds this thread that in Ireland it's slightly different. Clearing the site, hoarding, site facilities, etc are all allowed as start up works or enabling works. You can dig to a depth or increase ground levels up to 1m before the project is deemed to have started and you need to have a commencement notice lodged. I find this very useful on a lot of jobs.

Is the right pallet a mix of green and blue board? Get that in first as it’s twice the weight. You don’t want to leave that until the end. I’d 170 boards to carry in 8 weeks ago and up half a flight of stairs which looks less than half that. It’s not something you want to do often. Let us know how you get on.

Used these loads of times as toilet and shower cubicles. Very strong durable material, easy to clean (including graffiti), moisture resistant. Never seen them used for kitchen worktops but no reason not to as long as you don't mind the black edge profile. They look fine when used for the WHB units. If you get onto Venesta who are one of the larger toilet cubicle manufactures they'll have a far larger range of colours. Give them the measurements and they'll cut to size for you. It would probably work out cheaper than getting from a kitchen company.

I'd get conformation from you're structural engineer. Usually structural engineers specify a block on flat to support concrete floors. A block and beam with screed will weight a lot more than a timber floor particularly with a large floor and span (which we don't know the area or size of). The dead load would be a lot greater and the existing foundations, walls, etc might not be capable of supporting the additional load.

Able to expand further on the new products? Are they even building or automotive related?

I think you’re kitchen will be a bit dark. The kitchen island is over 6 meters from the dining area glazed wall. The kitchen window that faces to the rear garden and east has the living wall running beside it preventing a lot of natural light getting in. In addition I think you’ve nowhere near enough head height in the proposed ensuite / wardrobe area. It’s 2.4m in the corner and reduces from that. It’s going to be very tight on head height. I’m an architect so will always propose better space rather than more space. Therefore what I’d like to do is have a huge higher ceiling in the kitchen area. The attic area above the kitchen or proposed ensuite and wardrobe would just be a full height kitchen making it feel bigger and brighter. You could potentially add high level rooflights to this also bringing more light into the kitchen. I’d keep the cinema above the utility but enter it from the landing at the top of the stairs not from a stairs in the attic. I’d also consider a higher sloped ceiling in the upstairs front bedroom 02, the master bedroom and the downstairs rear living room. You don’t need flat ceilings with tiny attic areas above these. Get more height and a better feeling of space into the rooms.

They have to strip the lead. Lead expands and contracts at different rates to fiberglass. It will fail. I've put in three valley's which were 65 meters long in fiberglass on a large project on the edge of the Atlantic with crazy exposed winds. Massive saving to lead and a much better job. You can have the fiberglass extend up under the last few rows of tiles or slates. Original lead roof leaked although it was very old and the downpipes and leaves weren't cleaned I'd say. The problem I had was it was a bad winter when roof works were ongoing. Needed good dry weather to do the fiberglass so it wasn't done until early April. The surface you fix to (in our case marine ply on battens to a fall) had to be very dry. Delayed the programme a bit.

When someone is getting into financial trouble they tend to cut corners. Not saying you would be just saying how it is. From experience if only foundations are done it’s very hard to get a new builder or structural engineer to sign off on them. Had this happen during the recession after a few builders on sites went into bankruptcy. Any structural cracks on competition of the building and they’ll blame the original foundations by others. Far better to dig them out and start again. Therefore a green field site with planning would be better than a site with foundations to a potential buyer. If selling it’s going to be sitting a long time while getting surveyed, finances, legal maps, transferred, etc. You really need it weather tight (sold like an office shell and core ready for fit-out) or green field to get the best return.

It did look great. The LED strip lights inside were a nice touch to mirror the gaps outside. Whatever he saved on the scaffold planks cladding was spent elsewhere on the steel, lights and spring castors I'd say. For airtightness I doubt you could light a candle in it over the winter with the gales rushing through it.

I used a cheap airtight membrane (prodomo) for €70 or circa £60 for a 1.5x50 meter roll (75sqm). I had an existing blockwork wall which I used this over and then a batten service cavity and plasterboard over. It wasn't a reinforced membrane and easier to tear but I though against a blockwork wall was fine. If it was a timber frame and had to hold in cellulose I'd be a bit worried. In the attic area I used Pro Clima Intello which I bought online from Germany for 2-3 times the price of the above cheaper stuff but was still another 2-3 times cheaper than my local BM. This was supporting insulation and I'd have electricans and MVHR people going through the attic so wanted something stronger. Bought various tapes, mastic for fixing to blockwork, etc online from Germany too. I'd a huge area with all high ceilings so went through a lot and needed to make savings. I think with airtight membranes you have to consider where they will be and what stress will be on them and can then buy accordingly to save money.

You have to compare the u-value of the whole window not just the glass. Some tricky sales people will quote the u-value of the glass which is always better rather than the overall window. With the timber some companies insulate the timber core which improves it's u-value. This can add considerable cost making it harder to compare. eg Above they both look identical but one is far superior to the other due to the insulated core (yellow insulation) with a far superior price tag. For me Rational were cheaper than Internorm but they couldn't do a 6 meter ope in one piece and wanted to split it in two so went with internorm to avoid the fat mullion in the middle.