Russdl

Oh yeah. And the dust.

Against all the wise advice on this forum I’ve had a go with it, with limited help and varying levels of success. Started with a cupboard area and progressed to larger and larger rooms. It got more and more difficult. We are now using plasterboard to finish off. Weak and feeble and as fragile as eggshells in comparison but what a pleasure!!! Perhaps with your helper who has prior knowledge it’ll be ok. But I’d definitely go along with what @Mr Punter said, get a trial batch to start with. It does kill power tools, and it is bitchin’ heavy.

Looks impressive and should definitely keep you busy! I think you ought to get some windows in there at the planning stage though, this does not look like a temporary structure and it'll make it so much more useable in the both the short and long term imho.

@PeterW that’s really useful Peter having that ball park figure to knock doors with. Much appreciated.

@Temp thanks for that. I’ve just been looking at some YouTube farmer stuff re the planings and how they fix their tracks. I reckon it could be a goer. Not too sure about pouring diesel over it as many seem to recommend. @PeterW I’ve had a quick Google of the roller (because I had absolutely no idea what you were talking about!) and that shouldn’t be too much of a challenge either, as a rental. Thanks. I reckon the only hurdle left to leap is persuading the other 3 that use the lane to chip in. I’ll knock some doors.

Along similar lines, we have a shared pothole strewn track that 4 properties use, we’re the 4th, 60m from the road. A friend of mine says it can be fixed with road planings which as I understand is the tarmac scraped off existing roads prior to them being restored with a new layer of tarmac. Does anyone have any knowledge of fixing tracks with planings? A cheap option by all accounts.

I think that is ultimately where I am regarding Fermacell. I found myself putting noggins in today, never considered that when I was using the Fermacell.

You did indeed and with 20/20 hindsight I should have listened (but I’ve always been a bit pig headed). The marketing does seem to gloss over some of the nitty gritty but I’m sure a well trained team would ace it, but probably best in an office block or something like that. I’m very grateful to @PeterW for his help to allow us to get this far but as a one and a half man band I’ve admitted defeat. Started with some plasterboard today - all ready broken 3 sheets, that never happened with the Fermacell 🤣 @Dreadnaught it’ll be interesting to hear your feedback after your course.

@vivienz it’s quite interesting really, the house has no heating but has never felt cold over the winter even though it’s been down to 10 degrees inside, now that we’ve added gallons of water 14 degrees feels cold. @Dreadnaught We’ll use what we have left to finish of the bathrooms and toilet where it will be tiled over, so much easier to use. Onwards and upwards...

Sadly my Fermacell experiment has come to an end. We've found it very difficult to get a smooth flush finish to the boards with a less than smooth and uneven timber frame to attach the boards to. Where resilient bars were used it went someway to help but that hasn't been fool proof. The precision required to ensure that endless filling and sanding isn't needed prior to the Fine Surface Treatment is very time consuming and has been problematic. As time was running out we ended up getting the first room skim plastered, which made me weep as all the time and effort to get it pretty good was then buried beneath a few mm of plaster. The plasterer hated the Fermacell but he's done a great job. I had a go with the FST in one of the cupboards and I didn't get on with it very well at all. With more practice and time I may have got to grips with it, but I don't have the time so the final decision was made. No more Fermacell. I wished it had worked out for us because it's really quite disappointing to be introducing so much water into what was a nice and dry house but such is life. As many advised: It's heavy. Dust created with power tools is hideous. It does indeed eat power tools and their blades alive. It is of course expensive.

So it would seem to be a similar product but without the ‘name’ for similar money. That makes one wary. Thanks for the feedback. Does one follow the other? I know BPC have a good reputation here.

@Big Jimbo it does look good. What is that cladding? Is it Cedral (or something like that?)

@Jeremy Harris How do the 'specs' of the Komfovent compare to your Genvex? Are they much the same?

There blurb says that one of the benefits of the Rotary Heat Exchanger is that it won't freeze up even at -30 outside which means the unit doesn't have to defrost and let cold air past the heat exchanger in the process.

That's where I first saw them, I thought they were very reasonably priced until I dug deeper/scrolled further and actually looked at the price of the RHP model which is quiet reassuringly expensive.