Thorfun

how did the Knauff rock wool compare to Rockwool for costs? (sorry, I know I could Google prices but it's late and I'm feeling lazy! 😉)

Ok. That makes sense. Thank you.

sorry. I don't understand this at all! but it has been a long day.

ok, thanks. so there's no rhyme or reason, just a one or two entry points into each section. got it. one more quick question, the gap at 450mm and 1150mm, you've previously said 'leave a small gap'. can you quantify 'small gap'? are we talking 50mm? 80mm? 100mm? I'm sure it doesn't matter but my brain likes to know the details of what I'm doing despite winging most of the bits I've done so far! although it has been educated winging it.

@ProDave how do you know how far apart to put the openings on the top batten? in your image below from another thread there doesn't seem to be any sort of standard? did you already know where sockets were going and so left top gaps accordingly or is it simply experience?

thought of another question (although not specifically to do with the corner battens!). what is an acceptable distance between the fixings for the battens? 600mm? 800mm? or in true cowboy fashion 'that looks about right'?

but you can use it to offset your water usage in the house, especially now there's a new net-zero water usage jobby in planning, right? I know for us it helped us to get through planning with regards to water usage in the house and the number of toilets/showers/baths/dishwashers etc we've planned. we've got a RWH tank and didn't do it for any kind of financial return or saving, we wanted to reduce our reliance and demand on mains water. I hope to be in the new house for at least 30 years so if it eventually pays itself off then great! otherwise I won't be losing any sleep about the payback period. As with other things, decisions don't have to be made just on the financial payback period of the technology.

thanks guys. I can fix to bottom and top studs in the wall so any diagonal fixing will be few and far between

so, basically, this?

thanks guys. I like both those ideas. think I might amalgamate the two and see how I get on! I'll need to use maths to figure out the length of screws needed for that diagonal though. it's a good job we have Google!

like this @cwr?

and I presume you mean 'studs'? so add extra studs to the TF walls making them 80mm wider so it is past the PIR? that's a LOT of extra timber. plus a lot less insulation in between the studs.

too late for that I'm afraid! the walls are already full of mineral wool and the PIR is already attached to the studs (and in one room the VCL is already fixed). if there's no other option then I can potentially do that but it's a ball ache. 😉

hello, I'm wondering how others with timber frame houses have fixed service cavity battens to the studs in the corners when you have internal PIR? we have 80mm internal PIR covered with an AVCL so in the corners it's not possible to straight fix to the timber studs so do you simply screw at an angle and hope that you hit the stud? e.g. or is just attaching at bottom and top plate enough?

as @Johnnyt says, none of the GSE plastic tray is exposed at all.

Have a search on here or just read the Timber Frame forum thoroughly and you’ll soon get an idea of who people used. MBC are good at what they do in offering guaranteed air tightness results and foundations as a package but they’re not the cheapest by a long stretch. we decided to get an open panel TF (from Flight Timber) and fit the insulation and airtight membrane ourselves. This saved a LOT of money but has taken (and we’re still at it) a LOT of time. every one’s situation is different and you need to figure out what is best for you.

Hi all, got a quick question for those that know about Tescon tapes. I've started taping and I've noticed that the Tescon Profil that is used to seal around windows looks rather like it has lots of holes in it! as you can see, and the writing of the Intel is visible through the tape as is the Tescon Vana. is it supposed to look like that? I presume there's some kind of clear stuff on the back to make it airtight? or maybe it's just the adhesive that does it? just looks a little strange to me.

ok, so then 100mm of glass mineral wool will most likely more than double the previous insulation levels. you can get 0.035W/m.K or 0.032W/m.K glass wool in batts format at a relevant thickness (Isover do a 50mm or 90mm 0.032W/m.K batt https://insulation-uk.com/products/isover-timber-frame-batt-32). PIR has a thermal conductivity of 0.022W/m.K so 100mm of that will give you a much warmer house.

and what was the 50mm insulation that was there before? PIR or something else? if it was PIR then 100mm of mineral wool won't give you much of an increase in insulation value. you can use online U-value calculators like this one to help calculate it. https://www.changeplan.co.uk/u_value_calculator.php

how many miles a day do you do? I have a Tesla Model 3 and have been charging it from a 3-pin 13A socket for the 2 years I've had it waiting for our new house to be built so I can install a charger. I'm not a high mileage driver (especially over the last 2 years of lockdown!) and so 3-pin has been fine for me. I could've got a charger installed in the existing house and then move it to the new house once done but I figured that'd be a waste of money so am waiting patiently.

it all depends on what U-value you want to achieve. if you can decide on that then you can choose a material that, at 100mm, will achieve that level.

get the fabric right from the off and put basic kitchen/bathrooms etc in to start with and then upgrade them to more 'top-end' if you want at a later date when you have more disposable income. you can easily change wall coverings/kitchens/bathrooms etc but it's not easy to add more insulation!

@DragsterDriver I have started down the double-sided tape route and it is working well so far! but I haven't tried to yank it off the wall yet (and I'm not going to!) but it is staying put for now and I'm sure it'll be ok until I can get the battens up to hold it all in place securely.

yep. ours is on a mix of EPS300 and EPS100 depending on where the SE said to put it. just like @Bitpipe our basement slab is also on EPS300 with the walls built on that and coursing blocks on top that the soleplate is fixed to. it's still standing but isn't finished yet and has only been up about 6 months so can't really give you a long term analysis. for our above ground structures we had to dig 2m down to the bedrock and trench fill and then lay the EPS on that. obviously, all done to SE specifications. I can highly recommend TSD if you want to investigate an insulated slab like the MBC design. but paying for more structural engineering might be a bitter pill to swallow

although we didn't use MBC we did use TSD as our structural engineers and they designed our slabs the same way. the timber frame was fixed to the concrete slab or the coursing blocks if above the basement. I think they fixed the sole plate at 600mm centers iirc