joe90

Waiting with bated breath ?

When I had electric gates at my last house I put a door bell push switch round the back of the gate post in the hedge so I could open them in case the remote failed. Also the actuators had a hex key that disengaged the motor in case of power failure.

In some ways I am pleased, the warm loft showed no particular problem and the biggest area to seal properly (all that expanding glue, OSB and expanding foam was worth the effort). As per another thread I did ask the plasterers to put a stop bead before the timber windows so I could mastic the join which would have been flexible but they argued it was not worth it, I DID know better. All window and door seals appear to work well so apart from waiting till the end of summer so any timber shrinkage has maxed out then I can caulk all timber/plaster joins. It did go through my mind that if I slightly over pressurise the house when I balance the MVHR then any leakage would be outward not inward????.

I will look at the doc when it arrives and report here (at least it’s not draughty ?)

Farmers round here leave blue pipe exposed at field troughs for years.

How about fill them with expanding foam as well?

Just got a call from the tester to say the result was 1.64, I am a bit dissapointed considering other results on here, he did comment that apart from an ASHP pipe I forgot to seel, the leeks appeared to be shrinkage between wooden windows and brickwork/plaster which will be dealt with on redecorating once the place dries out completely. He also commented that when we opened the loft hatch (a warm roof) it made little difference which is not bad as sealing the loft is not an easy task. He did say he would return after I did remedial work if I wanted to but I don’t fancy forking out another £250 + VAT. I know it’s soo much better than most other houses (not the ones built by buildhub members ?).

With my de Walt sds drill you don’t pull the sleeve back (previous un named ones I did) you only have to pull the sleeve back to take it out.

Beware of buying cheap bits, three sizes in a packet at shows, some are soft and the hammer action can rivet them over in the “chuck” (SDS socket) and can be impossible to get them back out. Ask me how I know ?

I am about to tile my sunspace floor in porcelain imitation riven slate tiles in black, some may remember I was slightly disappointed wth my kitchen floor with grey tiles and charcoal grout where the grout appears the same as the tiles. So the question is what colour grout would you use with these black tiles bearing in mind it will have plants, be the back door and we have a dog so white is definitely out.

21st June is the middle of summer, the longest day surely.

In fairness I recently changed to Octopus and based on the info they received from the previous supplier (green energy) they asked to up my direct debit, I replied saying that ours was a new house and still drying out, using immersions prior to getting my ASHP up and running so previous usage was unusual. I asked to simply pay for what I used and agreed to send in meter readings and they agreed.

Ah, not sure, he didn’t have a laptop but a thing that looked like a large multimeter (Steamy may put up a piccy later) with lots of numbers on it, he also took the house plans as they are doing the as built SAP as well.

Well that went well, Steamy Tea and me running round with joss sticks, found an ASHP pipe that I had forgotten to silicon up but a few windows leaked where the timber had shrunk away from the plaster a little, which will be sorted on re decorating after the house has settled. The tester said it was better than he was used to. Will get the official figures soon so will post them (if they are good enough to hold my head up here on the forum). We also opened the loft hatch to see if the warm roof was as airtight as we thought (hoped) and it looked good.

Could you not do as @TerryE and run your heating from a Willis heater (cheap in line electric water heater) and he is looking to change it out to an ASHP later, I am sure Terry will be along in a mo.

Perhaps I should have said damp! https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/insulating-with-damp-spray-cellulose just found this as an example.

Just found Holland and Barrett in Bude sell incense sticks , I am off to the seaside?.

If I knew someone who kept bees I would ask to borrow their smoker!

Right, after having to go away for the weekend to sort family problems I am not ready fir the air test this afternoon, I went to a Vape shop and was told I would have to spend £40 fir one that delivered the amount of smoke I required!!! (And you cannot take it back afterwards). I was then told Argos did party fog machines (that I could take back afterwards) but they have stopped doing them. Apart from buying some fags (which I am reluctant to do as I have had throat cancer twice and don’t smoke!) I cannot think of another way. Ha, just looked and Screwfix do smoke capsules, anyone used these?, are they good enough? It would be good if I do have some leaks that I can pinpoint them and think smoke is the only way.

Is it not true that all foams are a petro chemical (oil) product ? Therefore not “green”. I would prefer cellulose (re cycled newspaper). I like (in theory) the idea of wet spraying cellulose into panels in a timber framed house. It’s a shame that in this country you cannot hire cellulose pumping kit like you can in the States to do a DIY job.

Depends what colour the stripes are ?

You can’t get stripes on artificial grass ?.

Well just offer to do it and say if your contractor accidentally damages the pipe during the build it will take time to correct it, if they turn that down they are stupid (put a new pipe in ready around your land anyway) ?

My garden is like the Somme and I know it will take a lot of work to make a decent lawn, once the patio is laid and I have a level to work off I will have to build up the soil up to two feet in places. It will then take rotovating and rolling to get level but I know it will settle and need it again. We live in a very rural location so I know weeds will be an ongoing problem but that’s the price you pay for living in the countryside. I would not use Astro turf but I can understand it in a town with a small postage stamp lawn that gets little sunshine.

I got my bricks from south west brick and stone, 11,000 of them, my builder said I got them cheaper than he could! And they came originally from Northumberland.