Russdl

So, a year and a bit on from my initial thoughts on this I've been at it on SketchUp again. The plan is to make these boxes out of ply or MDF, any suggestions as to which would be best, and why? Sealed with airtight tape and closed cell foam for the removable door. My filter material will be, in the first place, unladdered stockings (if I can get them off without snagging them). The design will allow me to rip the box out and replace it with a standard Ubbink 180mm 90° bend if it all goes a bit Pete Tong. I welcome your comments and advice.

@Mrsrc in your ‘not in order’ list, utilities connection was right near the bottom. As @recoveringbuilder said you’d do well to get things in a more logical order, and as utilities could end up being very expensive I’d move that to the top of the list and get some quotes (or are the services/quotes already in place?)

@WWilts that looks better, and I don’t know about yours but my other half would go nuts with people wandering backwards and forwards through the kitchen while she is concocting her latest culinary masterpiece (tell her I said that ?)

I'd do something like this: Whilst a long window may not fit the current aesthetic it would give you much nicer views out on to the garden. Access to the garden from the dining room is only a few short steps away from the kitchen so why compromise the kitchen with that tall window/door in amongst the worktops and cupboards?

@Adam2 We did fit the Phantom screens externally which was not particularly straight forward as I wanted to devise a way of hiding them whilst still making them accessible, sounds easy but with our choice of cladding it wasn’t. We aren’t moved in yet but have used them in anger this last year and they do work well. Were I to do it all again... I would do exactly the same and use Phantom Screens externally. As we’ve built to passive standards having them internally would be largely useless I think. They are mesh so you can have the doors/windows open (our windows open inwards) and a breeze may get through. Looking out from inside they are almost invisible (we’ve all managed to walk into a blind that was down). From the outside looking in they provide a great deal of privacy.

@Onoff, ah! You've asked. I plead the fifth. ?

I wish you the best of luck @Scode99 Most people find the plot search the trickiest part until you find one, and then all the other trickiest parts start. I guess by looking for ‘affordable’ you’ve struck Sandbanks off the shortlist ?

@Adam2 @tanneja Here’s a couple of quick vids of the blinds. We made a space for the blinds by recessing the timber frame above the window heads and then standing the cladding off the face of the timber frame by 100mm, that gave us the void we needed to instal the blinds and hide them in the cladding (they are fully accessible for maintenance - but it’s not a 5 min job!) Of course they are not particularly cheap, our worked out to circa £850/linear meter. The width/drop doesn’t affect the cost much, it’s the motor that costs and they all have the same one. EDB9A4ED-A943-4670-9827-9953FED1C6F9.MOV FE27F836-3388-4208-AE8F-51C83D01A543.MOV

I'll take some pic's tomorrow and post them (if I remember, nudge me if I forget!) We used these (designed as fly screens for the US market, turns out they keep the hot sun out as well.)

Apologies, I've not read the whole post in depth but if you apply the external film to combat the summer thermal gain won't you kill off the winter thermal gain that you want? I definitely recommend 'modelling' it but tread carefully with PHPP experts, I've met a few and they most definitely were not expert and potentially very expensive. I bought a copy of PHPP, struggled through that and think I got it right... Whilst we are still far from finished, the house/windows seem to be performing as predicted. We have external roller blinds, hidden when not required, and easy to see through from inside out when they're down (I've already walked into them twice because I forgot they were down) but almost opaque from outside to in when they're down.

Our timber frame was constructed to allow for a through the floor lift should the need arise for one at some point in the future, nothing there at the moment.

@magutosh When we submitted our Notice of Intended Demolition, after planning was approved, there were numerous unknowns and the form was annotated accordingly. For example, in the section for 'Commencement Date' we put "not yet known" in big red letters. The section asking 'Does Asbestos Form Any Part Of The Building' we put "unknown at this time" again in big friendly red letters and gave a date of the expected asbestos survey (which turned out to be wrong as we found a better quote shortly after submitting the form). Under the section 'Name Of Demolition Contractor' we put the details of one of the companies that had quoted and added in big red letters "not confirmed air this time". That also turned out to be incorrect. We then prepared to wait for 6 weeks but received the Section 81 notice after a fortnight or so. After the asbestos was removed we set about demolishing the bungalow ourselves because of the crazy quotes. It was pretty easy and a great deal of fun. Scaffold boards laid on a ladder make an excellent slide for the roof tiles.

What shape is the building? Has it got dormers? Has it got a chimney? You say you are just starting to plasterboard, I think you need to find the problem first otherwise you could bury it under plasterboard and then it will become very difficult to fix. MBC guarantee 0.6ach or less so it should be their problem. You say it was 0.47ach so perhaps MBC had done all that was required of them and subsequent trades have knocked a few holes in it? Oh, and welcome to BuildHub.

Sunamp had sympathy with my situation and were well aware of the problems surrounding the distributor I was dealing with. The offer to sell to me direct came from Andrew Bissell and only stood for a week or two. If you want any more specific detail you’ll have to PM as I was asked not to ‘shout it from the rooftops’.

Same supplier as myself as I understand. I requested my supplier to deliver our Sunamp at the start of this lockdown but those requests were ignored. I subsequently found out that the supplier wasn’t approved so I sourced my own, direct from Sunamp. Now I’m just waiting for my refund from the non approved supplier. So, the fact that I’ve now got a Sunamp I guess puts me in the ‘marry’ camp (and hopefully one day the ‘merry’ camp) but it’s not up and running yet.

Hello @FtypeMark (I presume another Jaguar fan?) This is definitely the place for scared clueless fools. I was, now I’m not so scared (but still a bit) and not so clueless (but still a bit) and that’s almost entirely down to the wealth of information here and help that is available. In answer to your question, I don’t have a clue but I’d guess it may be a struggle. I suspect insurance may be problematic as well. I also suspect none of it is insurmountable and a wise wo/man will be along to help soon.

@PeterW excellent, I’m doing one thing right. The door is perfectly flat (and definitely not looking like a sprayed door yet).

@PeterW Ah. 120 grit, so there’s part of my problem then.

I had a look at the videos as recommended by The Shapeshifter er, I mean @ToughButterCup and they were very informative, but as predicted my results are far from ideal. It's a plywood faced door blank which I have sanded, primed, filled, sanded, undercoated, sanded, undercoated and have now applied one coat of topcoat with a high density foam roller. Whilst at first glance it looks ok, on closer examination it's clearly painted plywood. Does anyone know if the paint conditioner as mentioned by @Nick1c will cause the paint to fill all the very minor imperfections in the plywood and give a finish as smooth as a babies bum?

@Triassic as the Covid thing kicked off I pestered my M&E guy to deliver mine but got no reply so I contacted Sunamp direct and they temporarily waived their rules regarding direct sales and sold me one which is now on site (just need to balance the books there). PM me if you want their contact details, they may waive their rules again?

@Eric I’m still sat firmly on the fence however the unit I was looking at was the RHP 400 V which sounds like an altogether different machine to the one you are describing. Information on the RHP 400 V is not exactly voluminous it has to be said.

@oranjeboom I bought mine direct from Sunamp a couple of months ago and queried the installation/warranty issue. The response was: "There will be a full Warranty as long as the unit is installed as per manufacturers instructions. A manual does come with the unit" If it came to it, I would install my own (apart from the electrickery) and I am in no way shape or form a certified installer, but I like to think I have a modicum of common dog and I can read (those who know me may question both of those assertions).

Yow.

And I thought it was a French 'lockdown' issue. I can't get it for love nor money. Well probably could, but way too much money in some places. I've been told 4-5 weeks for, well, about the last 4-5 weeks.

@Tony K. I used one of these lasers with one of these detectors. I was using the combo in bright sunlight over a distance of 22m or so. The laser line was invisible to the naked eye but the detector picked it up without problems, bleeping away to indicate high (fast beeps) or low (slow beeps) , and a steady tone when you're spot on.