Russell griffiths

Why are you building an icf house and fitting plastic windows? as far as I’m aware you will struggle to find upvc with a good enough u value, the frames are just not deep enough to get enough of a thermal break in them. Ive worked on 5 different new builds this year and everyone of them had aluminium clad timber windows. These also change your options on window location as the frames are so thick it takes up a big chunk of the reveal, which gives you a narrower cill. sorry but to me building a highly insulated house and putting in poor windows is a bad idea.

I thought it was harsh, we were having a good chat and thought we got on cool, but he obviously wants his extra fee. Fan was in back door, front door had a sheet of plasterboard over it all fixed in place with squirty foam.

Location please.

Did you get supplied with a certificate, I had a test done early to look for problems, but because I didn’t have a front door fitted he wouldn’t count it as a final test, so no certification, got to have another on completion.

Nope, don’t do it.

Self almagamating tape, wrap the whole run of insulation, or the wasps and mice will eat it.

If the roof shield is on it should be dry inside, is it not.

As above, buy bigger timber and trim it to fit better.

Yes nearly invisible. But I don’t know if it’s what I would use for yours, my timber is super dry and knot free, I’m hoping for zero movement so happy with a second fix nail, your timber is also heavy compared with mine. I would probably use a bigger fixing on yours. That wasn’t much help was it ??

It’s more bouncy than I would have liked, cold void underneath it.

We are on piles, ground beneath floor could not be categorised, so safe option is to span over it, then it can do what it wants, shrink,heave whatever.

10x£9000, you will spend that in a heartbeat, and then chuck in a load more. If the finished product isn’t worth £150,000 then forget it.

I don’t think you can use any of the crushed old house under your foundations, as they will not comply with any relevant standard. Use all the old house for driveway, and surrounding the house to keep mud down. You need to clarify what you want to build, and how you are building it. What levels of insulation you want and so on, foundation design will lead from this. There are dozens of questions on here repeatedly that say they need a thinner insulation as they cocked up the measurements and now cannot fit in the required insulation. Work out finished floor floor height and work backwards from there. If I had of had a choice it would be an insulated raft for the foundation. Unfortunately im on bad ground so ended up with block n beam which I don’t like much.

@SuperJohnG no second fix gun, so 16 gauge stainless t head. You can probably use first fix gun with larch if your having the more rustic look.

If it’s a soffit then it’s not going to pick up much weather. I face fixed all my cedar with the second fix paslode, from the ground you cannot see any fixings. Remember to not butt them up tight to allow for a bit of expansion.

I would talk to icf supplies in Essex, they will sort you out a contractor.

My supplier offered to take back any unused blocks, and then passed my details onto another bloke down the road who came and collected them, at the price I paid. Who have you used.

12mm start to worry. I put a frame up on a slab that was 25mm out over 6m was a pain, but once up and tiled you could never tell.

Have you spoken with the icf supplier to find a builder.

Will probably look different when it’s broken up with internal walls.

Where are you.

Get somebody new in to give their opinion first.

Why?? i found it very straight forward and wouldn’t consider block over it. Wont this cost you thousands in finding a new home for the blocks. What is the problem, let us know there’s a lot on here using icf, I’m sure we will have a cure.

Can you get a hydrologist to do roof area calculations, then discharge amount, submit this to council and it ticks their box and they go away. I did one cost £1200 but I can discharge all rainwater and sewage treatment plant direct to pond, job done.

I would use a recirculating hood and duct out of the plinth, then let the mvhr deal with it, you are only trying to catch grease and splashes, the mvhr will whip away the smells.