Hilldes

I'm about to do mine too : 32mm MDPE to 28mm copper. @PI build do you have links to the products you purchased please? Or anyone who has done the same please. Any links to double check valves in 28mm also appreciated please - all I can find are 22mm from Screwfix (not sure what "DZR" means???).

Thanks @Nickfromwales. Good to know it’s in the right ball park. I’m happy to pay a reasonable price for a quality job. I’ve asked for a split of costs labour/materials and how any days on site. Out of interest, how many days work would you estimate for this job?

Not all clay is equal- ours has high volume change potential which lead us to pile (we also have mature oak trees within 4m of the foundations). The next step would be a Soil Investigation which will entail drilling bore holes and taking samples at various depths for lab analysis. Our SI cost £2300. Although I’m not sure if simply drilling trial holes with a digger would suffice - our Structural Engineer wanted the full soil investigation. Choosing the structural engineer is key - eg if you want something like an insulated raft foundation for passive house choose an SE with experience of this.

In Surrey @Adsibob. It was meant to be a good price. Are you doing parts of this yourself? Mine is really just the boiler, UVC and gas supplies with me supplying and installing the rest.

Anyone have any views in the price quoted please? Or just a view on effort required eg for boiler installation and uvc installation? A new build with services already in plant rooms.

Thanks @MortarThePoint they do 20mm, 7 to 12mm gap, 4.3m length for £16 so may well be slightly lower cost than Dortech.

Got a quote from a professional for all Gas Safe and G3 work - I'll do all UFH and hot and cold feeds to bathrooms and waste. Is this a reasonable price? I was expecting nearer £5K. This is the pro scope of work [I have put in the materials costs]: Supply and install Worcester bosh 35kw 8000 system boiler . [Materials circa £1,400 inc VAT] Supply and install Worcester bosh flue system. [Materials circa £300 inc VAT] Supply and install Worcester bosh boiler buddy . [Materials circa £140 inc VAT for Fernox Boiler-Buddy] Supply and install 3 two port zone valves . Supply and install 300 l pressurised cylinder. [Materials assumed £1K max inc VAT] Supply and install copper pipe work and fittings . Install boiler and run new pipe work to cylinder and underfloor heating mainifolds . Run hot and colds too ends of were the client has left them by cylinder. Run new gas underground pipe to be put in too ducting . [Meter in detached garage to plant room - 8m run via existing 100mm yellow ducting. Plant room to kitchen island 6m run in existing 100mm yellow ducting] Cost quoted for above supply and install is £7,800 zero rated for VAT. Noting that these are excluded: Client to supply [and install] manifolds for underfloor heating. Client to pipe underfloor heating pipe work . Client to pipe hot and colds and waste to bathrooms. I've not costed all the copper pipework and sundries etc, but assuming this is no more than £500, looks like materials costs to be supplied in total will be circa £3,340 inc VAT]

Thanks @SimonD those alternative products look to be an equivalent spec to the Illbruck and ProClima products and the BBA cert is a bonus and a good price too. I had actually made a purchase before I saw this - I've gone mainly for the Illbruck product from Dortech and also bought a small number of ProClima tapes from GBS for comparison - although I think it would be difficult to fully compare without test such as wind driven rain. A note for others researching these products: - From looking for a cheaper source of the genuine Illbruck Tremco Compriband 600 - Dortech was the best price I could find - many web shops of the form 'SealantsRUS' were a few pounds more expensive. Are all "compriband" products equal? I'm not so sure. Most I could see on Amazon market place or eBay did not appear to claim to be capable of the primary weather seal - e.g. wind driven rain.

Thanks @Mr Punter - did you buy the Tremco product cheaper on ebay or another product?

Both my window suppliers (Velfac and Solarlux) specify Illbruck Tremco TP600 Compriband. From searching BuildHub consensus appears that TP600 is the muts nuts and cheaper alternatives perform less well. Looking at 20mm wide tape for gap fill between 8 and 15 mm and 3.3 linear metres of tape: Tremco Compriband TP600 from Dortech £16.08 ProClima CONTEGA FIDEN EXO from Green Building Store £7.56 Has anyone experience of using CONTEGA FIDEN EXO? The spec appears similar to TP600. Given the quality of other ProClima products (e.g. Tescon Vana tape), this should be a quality product - for half the price?

Thanks @A_L like the idea of the pre-folded tape for floor/wall junctions.

Many thanks @andy, will take a look at those products

Thanks @keith65 by "air tight foam" do you mean regular expanding foam?

Thanks @Pete so you effectively sealed the timber frame to the concrete floor? - Did you use foil on PIR insulation as your VCL?

That would be my concern too @Big Jimbo. Does anyone have an alternate solution please? I have searched both Buildhub and googled but can’t locate a solution. This must be a relatively standard detail.

About to start fixing PIR insulation sheets across the inside of the timber frame. Need a method of ceiling the foil on the PIR to the concrete slab (will have no screed). The foil of the PIR will be taped to form the VCL. Timber frame company said they would normally prime the concrete slab with PVA, then use tape to seal this to the foil on the PIR - I'm assuming this is standard aluminium foil tape. Has anybody done this? Are there any alternative approaches for ensuring an airtight seal at this junction?

With our bifold openings the timber frame company (and their SE) worked with the window manufacturer to agree the maximum deflection of the steel goal posts (i.e. sag in the middle of the steel cross bar) - acknowledging that there will be some deflection. Our widest opening is 4m. IIRC the maximum deflection agreed was 10mm.

We budgeted £3k per caravan, but found at this price all we viewed needed a lot of work. Many looked ok on web sites but were in poor condition when viewed in person - some were quite simply old mingers. We actually spent £6k each and bought two from a dealer that needed very little work - we had no time for this a demolition of the old house was imminent. The dealer offered guaranteed buy back of £2.5k each but plan to try to sell ourselves first to see if we can get more. On winterising we did nothing. I know other self builders have done things like skirts but we are in a sheltered location and accepted they are going to be (very) cold in winter and use an obscene amount of energy to keep warm. Ours have single glazing and next to no insulation in walls, roof and floor. After surviving the winter we’re looking forward to boiling in the summer ?. I’m sure this winter had more freezing mornings than any I can remember?. Would definitely go for a static again though as opposed to renting a house/flat. It is invaluable being on site 24/7, lower cost etc.

Thanks @ProDave.

Looking to source service battens for the build (i.e. between internal PIR insulation and plasterboard). Is there any reason why treated timber cannot be used internally - e.g. 25mm x 50mm roofing battens? From a quick Google it appears should not be an issue if the wood is not used for worktops etc.

Thanks, will talk with roofer tomorrow. Like the idea of a nice crisp edge.

Thanks @dpmiller you mean a dry verge as alternative to wet verge or to aid ventilation in some way?

Thanks @tonyshouse I was kind of expecting the answer to be the main ventilation of via the eaves due to lack of detail when googling verge ventilation. The technical product manger of Knuaf has been really helpful with detailing (e.g. abutments) but he is on holiday until 12 April. The roofer has already said we don't need to undercloak with slate, but I left them in until we have a chat tomorrow where I'll learn how he will do without. There is not that great an area to be rendered anyway on the gables:

Have searched Buildhub on this but could not locate. Will have render board with silicone thin coat render. For the gables and verges, there is no barge board planned - the render will meet the undercloak for the slate tiles. For the eaves we eaves we have fascia mounted vent strips. For the verges, I've looked at data sheets/BBA certs for the most likely render board products (Knauf Aquapanel Exterior and Multirend), but can see no detailing on how to provide ventilation at the verge. How have others with render board done this please? This pic shows render upto the undercloak: This pic shows the proposed layout of battens to hold the render board:

I used dry laid blocks on 18mm ply sheets to spread the load because the ground was wet when we moved the vans into position. The method of tying down is ground anchors (screws) and ratchet straps. All ok after gale force winds, but we are in a relatively sheltered position. My post