Onoff

Scored a new length of chromed 15mm copper for nowt earlier!

Fair play to that eBay seller @Nickfromwales put me onto. I ordered those 16/15mm parts this morning and they've already shipped them. Went for standard delivery. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Cheers @Nickfromwales. I was looking at similar myself but that still puts a compression joint in an inaccessible place behind the tiled wall and behind/under the radiator. From the same seller I've found these straight 16/15 couplers: http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/COMPRESSION-ADAPTER-REDUCER-COPPER-x-PLASTIC-16mm-x-15mm-pipe-/131271352568?var=430551659381&hash=item1e9061e0f8%3Am%3Am2V2jydUBoxQHhYO3dwtxhA&_trkparms=pageci%3A4d48e681-a7d3-11e6-b1ac-74dbd180b28a%7Cparentrq%3A51f38d771580a6a5ca233ebcfffdf6cd%7Ciid%3A3&varId=430551659381 I could as I said go with copper from the rad tails, along the wall and round the corner to behind a "knockout" tile or even at the end of the bath as there'll be an access panel there. Can't see though that even a copper bend coming out the wall to the rad will be tight enough..... Lucky I don't do this for a living! I'll get a couple of elbows and straight couplers to have a play.

Asked on another post about the min rad of Pex-Al Pex pipe. After a bit of experimentation the questions possibly irrelevant tbh. 80mm rad seems most appropriate measured to the inside of the pipe bend. That'd get me around the internal corner OK with minimal channeling out of the Celotex: BUT.....trying to bring an r80mm bend along and out through the plasterboard (20mm hole drilled) is a non starter: The plasterboard won't sit flush against the studs. Having the pipe on the slant would look appalling. It needs to be perpendicular to the wall. Thinking copper now, at least round into the dwarf wall then a 15 to 16mm straight joint behind an accessible panel / removable (breakable?) tile. Going to have to fit some sort of elbow which I was trying to avoid. The next question was going to be can I affix 16mm UFH pipe to a radiator!

Wait until the day you decide to "address from below" and drill upward and nick the T&E!

I've found a generic spec for Pex-Al-Pex UFH pipe that states the minimum bend radius as >=5D. So with a 16mm pipe it's r80mm. Is that rad to the inside, outside or centreline of the pipe does anyone know? Cheers.

Spot the novelty wall ties: The render the original sill had been bedded down on was so loose it basically lifted off revealing them. The cavity closers appear to be strips of, now rusty, corrugated iron: I'm debating the merit of cutting a couple of nom. 200mm deep 25mm thick, EPS strips and putting them across the width of this cavity. Then filling in between with expanding (low expansion?) foam. Thoughts?

I'm hesitant to fill this cavity with EPS beads tbh. It's pretty "compromised" down the bottom with debris anyway and there's lumps of brick and mortar here and there bridging the cavity. Worried I'll be causing myself future problems?

I looked at the picture rather than who posted it and as it wasn't mine thought it must be yours! I've been putting off my eye test. I don't need any help to see how bad mine all is.

You WIN! Your gap's bigger than mine!

@daiking - 1 @Onoff - 0

+1 on Wago boxes and connectors. S'fix do a useful starter kit but you'll need to buy boxes. TCL sell the connectors individually. Check out the Wago videos. https://youtu.be/xOZDLhRyE9c Thus is useful kit too: https://youtu.be/WFdvMmpjVpk No good of course of tiling or laminate flooring afterward. Armeg is just one make, mine is another (Super Rod). For a few holes here and there T'station do this: http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power+Tool+Accessories/d80/Wood+Drill+Bits/sd1120/Solid+Board+Access+Cutter/p36742 I prefer my make as it uses galvanised steel discs.

I won't use all the matches so I'll send you the rest of the box!

That's a good shout. EPS beads I guess you mean? There's not then going to be any damp bridging issues by filling it up? Where to get it locally next.....

In a @daiking esque twist I can't say I'm overly happy at the rendering under the "lintel" in this reveal. It has a rather hollow ring to it. I'm assuming of course that there is a lintel there! Might have to remove and make good before I line it.

You can post pictures direct from your device you know. Just "Click to choose files" below where you're typing and navigate to where they're stored locally. I think there is a limit to how many you can do like this.

Is this old wiring or that which today's builders have done?

It's an eye opener for me and tbh I only even looked as this juncture because of what I've learnt on here. Makes a mockery of the whole concept of "double glazing". I can imagine DG fitters on a price doing the same with TRIPLE glazing As I say making the best of a bad job! Foaming around the window just now makes the gale coming up through the cavity even more noticeable! I masked the edges with tape so I can cut it level when set:

Took off the nasty (mitre bonded?) trim with an old wood chisel. MASSIVE GAPS! 20mm plus along the top, sides vary between about 3 and 8mm. Figure the best thing is fire in some Soudal expanding foam (the ordinary expanding type) and just keep the window shut till it sets. Then just before I push the insulated plasterboard on I can run a line of decent silicon along it.

Brickwork looks nice and neat!

Thinking these Fischer hammer in insulation fixings might be the answer to my problem of how to fix the 27mm insulated plaster board to the reveal: http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Screws+%26+Fixings/d90/Fixing+Packs/sd3310/Fischer+DIPK+Insulation+Render+Fixing/p77867 Never used them before. I presume the 10-30 refers to the thickness of whatever you're fixing. Hopefully they won't protrude such that it'll interfere with the tile adhesive. Thinking stick the DPM to the reveal with contact adhesive, run a few thin lines of something sticky on the face of the DPM then push the boards on and secure with these?

Flattery will get you everywhere!

Another one of my "started not finished" items from eBuild now revisited! Seems easier to address now I've actually got a floor to stand on and ceiling above my head! So.....this is the bathroom window. A generic DG window (Britelite maybe, the house has a mix) set flush with the outside of the outer leaf of the cavity wall. The wall is a mix of block, breeze and brick. Heavy, uneven, painted render externally. As I'm battening, insulating and VCL'ing the walls it's really focusing how draughty it is around this window. It has glued on trim pieces but I can see elsewhere on another window the gaps all round have just been packed here and there with no foam or expanding tape around the edges. I added the blue foam to cut down the fraught along the bottom edge. I have no idea how the cavity is closed here btw but it is rendered. At the moment it's howling up through this cavity: So the plan then is to line the reveal with this 27mm insulated plasterboard. 27mm is all I can put on the sides without making it look silly. I can double it up on the sill i.e. two bits of this stuff. I might need to remove the internal side trims or cut the board insulation to suit to get the side bits to sit square. If I removed them I could perhaps also fill the side gaps up a bit with foam then a sealant over the top. Do I just "go for it"? Cut my plasterboard then squirt/coat the sill, sides and header with something sticky and gap filling then just push the boards on and weight/wedge in place until dry? Options I see are one of the plasterboard foams or Sikaflex EBT. Whatever I use has to stick to that salmon coloured foam on the back of the plasterboard. The reveal btw will later be tiled. As to the VCL, you can see how I'm attaching it to the face of the battens - the green strip on the right, do I just stop it short of the reveal and rely on the sticky stuff? I could I suppose carry it on in and around the reveal but would need something to stick that to the sill then the pink insulation to the VCL. Maybe I'd be better lining it with the blue DPM material I used to come a metre up the wall? What sticks like the proverbial then to the blue DPM? I'm not going for strict air tightness just making the best of a bad base job! Cheers

I though you were going 32mm water pipe in the OP? Be easy to upgrade now though won't it! Job's a good 'un! Cover it up quick so no snotty utilities company tries to say you've not maintained their required distance between services! Don't forget with your comms and leccy to leave a decent draw string in there when you finally pull stuff through.

Win? You're not married yet are you? Actually you've done me a favour pointing this out. I'm going to start referring to it as a designer radiator.....a sort of halfway house and drop the "towel" reference. She's looking at that same style on eBay so is maybe secretly keen!