Nestor

Hi Nick, I switch the UFH heating on in the main living space and after about half an hour while the manifold is still providing heat a loud pop / bang within the floor happens. Could I have too much pressure in the loops or air? I have just opened the air bleed points, no air just water.

@PeterW @Nickfromwales @Russell griffiths Can you advise, my UFH has been off since March and I decided to top up all the loops on the 3 manifolds before we switched the heating on for the autumn / winter as one was gurgling a bit in the spring. Have had the ground floor on and have had some huge pops / bangs in the 50mm Anhydrite screed. The pressure gauge on the manifold is reading 1.2 bar and on the front of the Ecodan cylinder 1.5 bar. At the end of. each flow and return manifold are these, it it a bleed valve. What have I done??

I have a similar build up to your own drawing except used 3 layers of Rockwool Flexi in my wall build up, 140, 70 and 50. Very good fit, easy to cut and not to toxic. . I had a 40mm layer of t&g Pavatex on the outside. No blockwork, just cladding. The first floor joists sit on the walls, no joist hangers with a similar detail to your original drawing. Very solid, no squeaks or movement. I felt it provided a very stable platform to add the first floor walls. Have fun.

I would recommend the P5 Film coated Caberdek + D4 Glue and screws. No squeaks. As @PeterW says 18mm or 22mm depending on your joist width. Remove the film after plastering.

I watched the Greencoat video which shows the forming machine. A lot of people had issues with Tata a few years back trying to place orders. Do you mind sharing the cost of the Greencoat fitted per sqm, PM if you prefer.

The Tata is more of a quick fit system due to the pre pressed seam. The panels are super smooth on delivery but once you start fitting the profile over the receiver panel and belt it with a hammer and block of wood it oil cans. Initially I was a bit disappointed but now the panels are so matte that a it gives the roof a bit of definition in different light. The Greencoat is a more traditional seamed roof, looks a very nice product. It goes on very quick once you have set eaves and verges. I still have another 72sqm of garage roof todo and a wall. Next year.....

I taped only the vertical joins and around the windows. The batten holds the membrane down flush. The Protect was about £55 for 50m x 1.5m and I needed 4 rolls to cover all the walls. The manufacturer states it should be covered within a month. What type of SS roof are you having as I fitted the Tata Colorcoat Urban?

I have just replaced all the Protect VP300 breather membrane after being exposed for 3 years to start cladding. It was starting to flake on the south facing side. It was still waterproof. Though If the wind gets up and starts creasing the membrane it can fail. I have some on the garage roof on top of OSB and after a year no change. If in doubt due to the relative low cost replace it but I would not expect any significant change after only a few months.

The cost of melamine, bagged concrete, sealer, wire mesh, PIR board, grinder and discs was about £650. And a few boxes of beer for the heavy lifters.

@joth trying to understand how this all works. You are planning to use the cooling function from the ASHP to pass cold water through the unit which is fixed on a wall to cool the room. Do just tee off from the heating circuit into the unit and how do you stop the rest of the house being cooled? I have UFH with 3 manifolds. The price is very good, was AC an option for you ?

We have a vaulted ceiling and the ducting ran under the steel ridge. In hindsight I could have run the ducting in the warm roof space as I had 70mm timber on top of the rafters. My solution was to make a curved ceiling.

Not sure if this helps, we have a MITSUBISHI ECODAN PUHZ-W85VAA with a 300 Litres PRE PLUMBED EHPT30X cylinder, 3.74 PV array with an Eddi PV diverter. All works fine.

Can you advise as I am about to start cladding. I will have a 50 mm gap at the base of the vertical timber cladding and want to fix mesh to keep out rodents and insects as much as possible. Two options here but the Soffit mesh is a third of the price of the other. Any other alternatives you have used.

I used a Bostik concrete sealer applied with a small roller. a few coats. I did not use any dye, the colour is straight out of the bag. I will try the waterproofer you recommend for some smaller worktops for a pantry. I know, I know......

I will put something up on my self build blog and let you know.

I tried using a soft mallet, tapping on the sides and an orbital sander. Tiny air bubbles appeared around the edges. After grinding I used a PVA / cement mixture to coat the surface to fill any holes then went over again with the grinder / polisher.

@Onoff I siliconed all the internal corners, used reinforcing mesh and some glass fibres.

I made some formas using 18mm matt white melamine. Cast in the garage and then moved across to the house. I purchased a cheap 4' wet grinder off the bay which has worked surprisingly well. Started with a 30, 50, 100 and finished with a 200 using copper bonded diamond grinding/polishing pads. I did a few tests with different aggregate but went with bagged 20kg Blue Circle High strength 40N for consistency across the 3 worktops. Our Pure DAB gave up after 20 years so Makita for the win.

I made some concrete worktops for the kitchen and utility, 40mm depth, two with under mount sink. Kitchen sink worktop is 3.6m, utility 2.4m and the island 1.2m x2m with hob. Major challenge was the weight but they are in. Tiles are temporary. I had a quote for 5.4K so thought I would give it a go.

I have had to provide 72 sqm of bat roost in the garage roof all lined with Bitumen F1. And a heater. The joy.

My brother fitted the same product except 7500L a few years back. Shallow dig was a factor though to be honest I did not look at any other options. It just works.

I fitted a direct feed. Had ordered the gravity fed system but wanted to simply the installation so went with this : F-Line 5000 Litre Rain Backup in a Box System. All the toilets and washing machine can be fed via the mains in the event of power cuts / pump failure.

For the long term greater good fit PV.

Fitting PV from a financial point of view would probably take at least 10 - 15 years to recoup the original outlay without any FIT.

@Taff Have to wait a year to really understand how well it performs in all weather conditions. It just works very well so far. Many others on the Forum have the same product.