andyscotland

I noticed that, also that even the company chief execs & people talking about their products seemed to have no "charisma" by modern standards: no way anyone getting interviewed about their work would get away with being that dry these days.

Oh yeah that bit had me on the edge of my seat waiting for it to all avalanche off the roof with him on top! Even knowing that they'd probably have cut that bit of footage out of required 🤣

One option for that is to use a double top plate. Build the panel on the ground with a single top plate with a good length of excess membrane overhanging the top. Swing it up & position it, then slide the second top plate into the gap between the panel and the overhanging membrane (so you end up with the membrane behind and over the top - then just cut off the excess). You can insert a couple of packers between the two top plates if needed get a tight fit. If the height is still too low for that you can also use a double sole plate. Fix it to the floor, swing the panel up beside it, then lift it on, then do the top plate trick as above. This obviously means having to lift the weight of the whole stud wall although you could build it in sections if necessary. This does of course increase the timber fraction/reduce insulation of the wall slightly.

I wasn't necessarily suggesting using them. The downside IMO is it's harder to get a good airtight/vapour-tight seal between boards. It's also harder to fix things to them - most plasterboard fixings assume a cavity behind the board, and will be harder/impossible to get them to spread out properly if the board is backed by insulation. Plus removing/moving things on plasterboard leaves a mess. If you want a tool wall/cleats etc then OSB or ply would give you a lot more flexibility. Yes, I suspect it will be.

I think you do need a DPM (or at least DPC strips between the timber and the brick) as it is drawn, assuming this is a single skin wall. Unless you do this: The other option would be to use a continuous layer of PIR on 25mm roofing battens on DPC strips, like this detail for eco-liner https://www.insulationbee.co.uk/72-5mm-ecotherm-eco-liner-rigid-pir-dry-lining-insulated-plasterboard-for-fix-and-dab-applications but a second layer of battens over the PIR (screwed through to the battens behind) to carry the OSB. This has fewer PIR joints to cut & foam, so may be easier to build and have less thermal bridging. Also fewer penetrations of the VCL (the battens only need fixed every 500mm or so). And gives you a service cavity for any wiring etc if you care about hiding that away. Bear in mind that PIR is efficient for heat insulation but not particularly effective for noise insulation: if that's your priority then a detail based on acoustic fibre or cellulose would be worth exploring.

This was brilliant, thanks for posting! I enjoyed the Glazier climbing up to the conservatory roof on some sort of trestle with large pane of glass in one hand and cigarette in the other 🤣 Also the idea that we'd all have electric vehicles and could charge them at night from our personal gas generators. And Valerie Singleton being presented with the programmable day/night thermostat and asking if people would have to go on a course to use it. But my favourite moment had to be when they showed what looked like it might be a wood burning stove in the living room before explaining it was a coal-fired boiler which would be useful in 2000 due to the limited availability of North Sea Gas, then later noted that someone would probably invent a more convenient way of feeding the coal in. 🤣

First question would be roughly where are you, are you in a conservation area or similar? The drawings mention "conservation style roof light" which (together with the appearance of the building) suggests you might be in an area with sensitivities around planning permission. My hunch would be that if they did work not that long ago and only expanded the rear dormer, that could well be because they knew they wouldn't get permission to extend on the side facing the street...

Bear in mind that a company can only reclaim input VAT that is related to trading & in turn to output VAT (slight simplification). If your company is supplying services to a participator in the company (e.g. director/shareholder) then it would likely need to do so at a reasonable "arms length" commercial rate e.g. by making a profit on the goods/services it is re-selling. Otherwise you get into things like deemed self-supply for VAT and payments in kind for other taxes. But if you pay your company a profit element on the job, you will not be able to get it back out again without paying dividend/corporation/PAYE tax (assuming your other income is above the relevant thresholds). There are ways to run things through a company that can be effective, but it needs to be carefully considered in the specific circumstance and would often be sensible to take professional advice. It's not a quick win for making small savings IMO.

@nod what do you do for substrate/tanking for the microcement: can it be applied over the impey waterguard you mentioned the other day?

The other difference (that is implied but not explicit in the earlier posts) is that Building Control is done entirely by the local authority covering your area. The English/Welsh option to use a private BCO does not exist.

To update - SIG no longer supply these, spoke to a helpful person at their Newcastle depot (after trying Scotland) who said that since the blown-in install now requires certification, the installers are all part of one or other manufacturer's official carded installer network and as part of that source materials direct from the manufacturer. My usecase is to pour into the lath & render/plaster box above a bay window (which currently contains no insulation of any kind). And also to pour into a small section of cavity wall that is now between the house & extension, mostly just to prevent airflow causing a thermal bridge from the cold loft down through the cavity. He suggested Vermiculite, but I'm not wild about that from a moisture / damp point of view (and the lambda is fairly poor). I'm leaning towards just buying fire rated white bean bag beads - they will be a lot better than status quo, and probably not going to get enough extra benefit from graphite to justify the cost of collection/delivery from Nottingham for what I need.

Oh yeah in that case definitely just redo it. You will probably get at least a bit of beer money if you take the cable to a local scrapyard.

If the extension is otherwise not being touched (no plastering, painting etc) then I would start by getting your electrician to inspect & test that part of the installation. PVC cables post the mid-70s that were properly installed and haven't been continuously running at high load can have a very long service life. If the insulation resistance and continuity is "as new", there's no visible damage or deterioration at terminals, and they meet modern requirements (e.g. have a CPC to lighting outlets) then personally I'd consider leaving that part of the installation as-is, at least until you're doing any major renovation/redecorating of the extension. But you will need your electrician to help you make that call both for their experience & knowledge in assessing the existing wiring and because they'll obviously ultimately have to sign off the decision. Do you already have an electrician lined up? Make sure you do before you start, they will likely want to agree parameters for the bits you're doing and e.g. things like the overall electrical design/cable sizing, locations of wiring routes etc. There are different rules for what you can/can't do in different parts of the UK but ultimately you'll need your electrician to be comfortable with (and clear on) exactly what they are being asked to certify.

No such thing as Part P in Scotland. The legal requirement is to be "competent" - however some (most?) councils seem to interpret that as "member of an industry body e.g. SELECT/NICEIC/ECA etc" and are firm on that view. Unfortunately that's a challenge as a DIY person, IMO best you can hope for is someone who will agree to split the work with you and sign it off at the end.

Welcome back, I certainly remember you! My project is still plodding on slowly, I'm edging towards the finish but life/other mini projects keep getting in the way. I was probably saying that last time you were here 🤣