joe90

What about the 4 million homes in the UK that don’t have mains gas?

Sorry Dave but you have no idea at all about heat pumps do you. Yes they are not a direct replacement for a gas boiler but many people (me included) have a very good working heat pump, the only ones that don’t work properly are those that are not designed properly (p.s. I designed my own installation and I am not a rocket scientist?‍♂️).

Yes, mine was good, cement render instead of parge coat then Thin plaster top coat. Cement render is cheaper than hard wall for first coat! But I did parge coat between joists etc so no leakage between floors!

With my build i specified cement render first coat and plaster second coat so I am told but I still don’t like “hollow” walls, solid all the way fir me, fix/hang anything anywhere!!! (Plus I am an advocate of “thermal mass ?)

On the subject of dot and dab I would not have it in our house, I much prefer solid render/plaster but as Terry says above you could “parge” the walls (seal them with a cement slurry mix) then batten or dot and dab if that’s what you really want.

I agree about the large size of hallway, but I don’t like pokey hallways?‍♂️, I would extend the downstairs toilet into a shower room as well. The problems with large cupboards are they tend to get full up with junk (ask me how I know!).

brick slips are thin sections of genuine bricks that provide the same look as conventional brick work which are commonly used to replicate the appearance of a conventional brick wall in both internal and external applications.

Pics as requested,, as above, don’t forget your the client, they are building/working fir you!!, ask as many questions here as you want, lots of knowledge here ?

Why are you hung up on catnic lintels, they are cold bridges, why have lintels at all in the outer brick skin (you spec brick outer leaf), why not build arches like they did hundreds of years ago (and I did a couple of years ago). For the bifolds where arches were not possible I used concrete lintels (set back slightly) and cut bricks into slips which when glued on matched the bricks ? I will post pics in the morning when it’s light if you want? The best solutions are the easiest ones!

Which is why proper nails, not screws should be used in joist hangers,!!

true, but at my age (ancient!) I have made all my mistakes ?.

Well I have racked my brain and can honestly say nothing went wrong with our build, no mistakes made! Only problem the bricklayer had was the gable wall blew down two nights in a row in windy weather, they ended up propping it up with scaffold overnight whilst the Mortor was still “green”. Good news was I paid a fixed price so it cost me nothing !.(I was a project manager in a previous life and on site every day).

I have a 200mm cavity with dritherm insulation, brick arches in the outside skin, normal concrete lintels in inside skin. Catnics are a thermal bridge (IMO). I also have 200mm insulation under the slab, 2g windows and an 5KW ASHP, no PV , my house is a constant 21’. It can be done.

Yes, the stove will contain most of the heat, you just need to leave the gap around the stove depending on what stove. Most houses have a “builders opening” and this is infilled to give the required size for the open fire. This can be removed as long as a lintel is in place in the builders opening.

I have never heard of studding being screwed, I have only ever nailed studding!!, I find single or twin thread screws usable in most things but I thought twin was mainly fir chipboard ?

I must admit despite my plasterer saying noggins are not required at joins I tend to screw an off cut of ply or flooring to the edge of the plasterboard just put up then screw the new plasterboard sheet to it. Not a noggin but just keeps the plasterboard edges in line. Probably OCD but I have no cracks in my plasterwork after a year ?

Never heard of it ?, bit late now I’ve finished!

Yes your plumber needs to remove that toilet and find the leak. However I glued my LVT down with non water based glue, water should not “unglue “ it. You have had so many plumber issues, I feel for you. You say it only leaks when the loo is flushed, so don’t flush it I hope he sorts it.

If laid with steel in it it will rise fall or tip as one piece if the worse happens (which is why I like adjustable ground anchors next to trees).

Don’t be, we are a very patient group here with lots of knowledge and understanding ?

Yes, that sounds good but will it last?

Yes Yes. ? I didn’t do anything with down pipes as in my experience I only found creaking came from the guttering it self!

A shelf is good but can you get to it to remove dust???. Alternatively you could slope the “wall” from the bottom of the velux s to the edge of the void, like an angled light well? ? just down to personnel choice I reckon.

Yes, plastic guttering does tend to “creak” and I find it very annoying! but I found that it’s mostly the guttering being too tight in the brackets and the creaking is it’s not sliding within the bracket when it warms up or cools down. What I do (and have done on several properties with success including my self build) is to shave a little from the gutter with a Stanley knife where it sits in the bracket, only half a mil or so, I even do it on the back side in case it can be seen from the front (OCD). My guttering is black, mostly full length and south facing and even during last years short heat wave I suffered no creaking at all ? just had a thought, perhaps spud peelers like this would do a good job. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stainless-Steel-Potato-Peeler-Fruit-Vegetable-Spud-Speed-Slicer-French-Cutter