Thorfun

we paid £300. don't know if that's a lot or not but it was the going price around here. and as @joe90 said it showed up leaks that we fixed there and then and which brought our score down. it was quite interesting to see the score drop after each remediation. instant feedback.

Why don’t you get an Airtightness test done to see where you’re at at the moment before throwing more money at it? It might be that you’re happy with the level of airtightness already achieved.

Spreads won’t plaster all the way to floor anyway and will be scrim tape in the corners. sounds like nothing to worry about to me!

As above, just noggin if the board edge flaps. All depends on you stud spacing and board thickness! I put timbers in every corner to support board edges.

nice. thanks @nod. we bought a couple of sample lights and they look good. just thought I'd get an idea on the forum what others thought! think I'm sold though.

Anyone used Saxby lights? I've done a search on here and can only find reference to @nod using them! we've found some we like but I'm trying to do due diligence before we buy.

i had areas where i couldn't fix to the floor or didn't want to and i used this stuff. https://www.toolden.co.uk/sealants-adhesives/adhesives/grab/illbruck-pu700-multi-purpose-construction-adhesive-pack-of-12/?sku=501135X12&setCurrencyId=2&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5IzGmtmgggMVh-rtCh1NZApoEAQYCCABEgKFN_D_BwE seemed rock solid. but, if you can fix then fixing is obviously better.

I'm not a builder but I'd say directly on to the concrete floor and would put DPC under the timbers if this is ground floor for sure.

i thought 2" x 1" was your standard roofing batten at 25mm x 50mm? 2" x 2" is 50mm x 50mm (nominally 45mm x 45mm). CLS doesn't have an inch equivalent. but i agree with @crispy_wafer. 63mm x 38mm CLS is fine for stud walls.

cheers. @dpmiller care to give a first hand review of the Hager Sollysta sockets please?

i showed SWMBO a few different styles of cheapo sockets and she likes these from Hager https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/1661707-2-gang-13a-dp-switched-socket-with-dual-earth-white no one on here has suggested Hager. anyone have experience with their sockets? our CU is Hager and i'm aware they're held in high regard in that field. doesn't mean that they make good sockets though!

the underfloor heating store are offering 20% off ProWarm heating products for another 2 days. I just saved quite a substantial amount using it. https://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/collections/offers yes yes, I know I could've got cheaper UFH mats on eBay but I wanted a known brand with lifetime guarantee as I don't want to be digging up my bathrooms to fix the UFH mats! 😉

agreed. I have an account but I hate the way that you don't know how much you're paying until the local branch manager decides to pluck a figure out of the air at the end of the month. I use them as a last minute resort.

We don’t want oak. We also don’t want to pay £160 per door! doors are easy to change later on and our coffers are dry. So it’s not a case of what we want anymore but a case of what we can afford 😢

It’s a very good point. The thing is I don’t know how far in the future later will be! So they might need to last quite a while. We’re looking at £2.50 per faceplate. But I will go to TS/SF/CEF and ask to look at various offerings and make a choice.

I've been looking through various data sheets on the different makes and some say rated voltage 230V, some say 250V, some say Nominal Voltage 250V but rated 220V...230V. our voltage is nearer 250V from our supply than 230V (think it's about 245V) so do I need to be looking for sockets that are rated to 250V? and what is 'nominal voltage'?

I think, in the end, that we're going to go with these throughout. https://www.jewson.co.uk/p/premdor-interior-grade-plus-fireshield-door-1981-x-838-x-44mm-white-PCD23114 Jewson came up trumps again and I've been quoted £71 per door. seems a bargain to me as we don't have much money left and we can paint them whatever colour we want!

yeah, and it would appear that trades can't agree on which are the best to use! 🤣

have you tried LAP faceplates? if so, any good or any issues?

ok. I can see it is a thing https://wetroomsdesign.co.uk/liquid-coating-pci-lastogum-4-kg-grey but at £60 for a 4kg tub it seems excessive when I only have 3 iBox surrounds to do! is there another product that will do the same job but cheaper or in a smaller container?

as i finish up my iBox installs in preparation for the tiler next week i need to install the waterproof part that comes with them. according to the manual i need to fix with PCI Lastogum or sealing compound which is similar. can anyone tell me what is the best product to use for this part please?

i'm using Appleby as recommended by @ProDave. will pick up a bunch of longer back box screws anyway.

thanks all. it's actually good to know that folk recommend different makes. kind of means that they're all pretty similar. one question though. when they say will it also fit a deeper back box? or would I have to buy longer screws to facilitate that?

money is rapidly running out so we're thinking of fitting cheap white plastic faceplates and can upgrade later when we have some money again. searching through CEF there's quite a few under £3. would they all be much of a muchness? https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/search?q=double socket&per_page=48&page=1&number_of_gangs[]=2&colour[]=White&sort=price_inclusive_vat.sort_asc I know we're not talking much per socket difference between cheap plastic and something nicer but when you have to buy over 100 of them £5 per socket makes a massive difference!

so i've only done a quick Google but found this from door superstore, an XL joinery FD30 for about the same price as the Howdens one (it's actually £2 cheaper). https://www.doorsuperstore.co.uk/product/xl-joinery-suffolk-essential-fd30-fire-door-oak-internal-door.html and as above someone said that XL are stupidly expensive it leads me to think that maybe it is just cheaper to shop online for doors that bother with trying to open a Howdens account. not a very scientific experiment and definitely not a lot of research gone in to it though!