Russdl

We used Phantom Screens but there are various other types, styles and suppliers around.

External blinds here, works very well but we have three east facing windows that we didn’t fix external blinds to and that was a mistake. If I were to do this again I’d have external blinds on all East, South and West facing glazing. So far any overheating risk has been easily managed with a very active regime of window opening and closing, the closing is the important bit. If we get another ‘summer of 76’ it may well be more difficult to control.

I can’t speak for the longevity of EPDM but I can vouch for its DIY-ability, recently did our garage roof 7m x 7m at the front and 5m wide at the back. Apart from getting the EPDM up on the roof, it was heavy, the rest was child’s play. The supplier of my EPDM recommended it was laid on OSB and not plywood, telling me that plywood delamination could be an issue, so ours is stuck on OSB. Maybe that’s the delamination issue you’re being told about? I’m sure someone on here has longer exposure to EPDM to inform further.

There is a specific gutter trim that should have been used, Google EPDM gutter trim and you’ll find it straight away. I think it needs ripping off and doing again as has been suggested, it wouldn’t take long or cost the original installer a great deal.

Timber frame, metal roof here. We used homeprotect.co.uk very competitive.

Go with your gut. Keep searching, they’ll be something else out there.

That sounds strange, it should be fully automatic and does its own thing depending on the exterior/interior temperature without any user intervention. As what @JohnMo says, you probably won’t need to bother about that, we never have.

+1 VAT claim is enough.

Whoops! Should have read the posts properly. Soz.

@Philxyz one thing to add, when I was doing mine I recall seeing somewhere that vents should be at least 1 meter from any wall, in your image some are right next to walls, may be worth considering moving them away from the walls if you can.

It’s going to have to be more permanent than that, especially if I get an EV charger.

Spookily enough that’s exactly what I want it for. The electrician told me: “…it would benefit from two CAT5/6 ideally. One to hard wire into Ethernet if available and the other for the comms to the current clamps.” Some of the above I understand. Plus he tells me I need 10mm2 for the garage so a plan is taking shape. So they do exist 😃 Two days ago I’d never heard of such a thing and I was surprised that a search of BuildHub produced no mention of them.

There’s no cable at the moment, just the one duct to take a future cable. I think that may well be the first plan of attack. Waiting to hear back from the electrician about the EV Ultra cable after Ian’s discovery.

@ToughButterCup thanks for that bit of research, I’d better check with the electrician if an EV Ultra cable is acceptable (just when you think the water is clearing, someone throws some mud in it 🤣)

Well I never! Thanks for that pointer, never heard of such a thing but the demand for such a product is obvious I guess. That’s a very straight forward solution that I never even considered!

I want to extend my broadband/WiFi about 20m from the house to the garage. Poor planning on my part means I only have one duct going there from the house which will house a 10mm2 cable for power to the garage and I’m guessing that putting a CAT6 cable alongside that for 20m would not be a good thing? Is ‘point to point’ WiFi (WiFi bridge) the answer? It looks like a neat solution but I don’t see any mention of it here.

Can you not disconnect it inside the house and then cover the inlet and exhaust pipes with a plastic bag and a bit of tape?

No idea at what stage of the build you are at but our sliding doors are sat on a GRP angle which pretty much eliminates the thermal bridge. The GRP angle is tied in to our slab so may not be feasible for you.

I’m no roofer but surely those tiles will be gone in the next storm?

We used these peeps. Choose a finish, specify exact dimensions, where you want hinge holes etc and then wait for the delivery. We made a built in wardrobe and got all the doors and infill panels back panels etc from them for around £500.

It's a bit difficult to see exactly where that water is. If its inside the sealed glazing unit then that's a definite 'fail'. It looks more like its got behind the silicone that seals the glazing unit in the frame which to my mind is a definite 'fail' as well. That's what the silicone is there for, to stop water ingress.

@alexo Sorry, I can’t figure out how to adjust the blinds (without too much experimentation that might screw ours up!) They do come out really easily though. If you want to take a closer look yourself. There are two black plastic catches that turn through 90 degrees to release the blind. Turn those towards the hinge side of the window and the blind plus motor/solar PV etc will drop out so be prepared to catch it! Here’s pictures of the catches in the locked and unlocked position. I can’t see where the adjustment would be, maybe someone will pipe up with a good idea. Where exactly is that water you’re talking about? Is it between the hinged pane and the 3G unit?

I’ll have a look at ours in the morning see if I can figure anything out.

@alexo Regarding the blinds, can you open the outer leaf to access the blinds? Ours are effectively 4G. A triple glazed unit with a separately hinged outer pane of glazing that protects the external blind. Are yours the same?

@alexo I guess you’ve already paid up? Or have you something you can withhold until they fix everything and install correctly as per the quote?