Mulberry View

This is an important response for us because, if true, then it changes everything. So, it might be the case that we won't fit UFH upstairs at all. We are planning fan coils for the 2 first floor bedrooms, perhaps we just use fan coils for the bathrooms too? We have plenty of opportunity to conceal them and just have grille outlets. We'd probably add an in-wall electric heat pad of some sort to act as a towel warmer. I think you might have really helped here @JohnMo. The reduction in agro and the improvement in the reliability of the floor point to this.

This is the way in my opinion. I've been using the stuff a bit recently and did just that. Once it's partly gone off, it'll drop out of the bucket nicely. You're right though, it goes off VERY fast in this weather.

I'm guided by a low datum too. My bathroom window is floor-to-ceiling and with a 50mm frame height, so my total is 40-45mm in reality to include a structural layer. Damn I wish I hadn't got rid of the frame packer under it, but in all fairness, 45mm does work well with adjoining rooms anyway as I'm going from Microcement in the bathroom to thick carpet in the bedroom.

I recommend Soudal Fix All, I've used it on EPS with no issues. Sticks EPS to other surfaces really well. An easily available one if you don't want to think too much about it. https://www.screwfix.com/p/soudal-fix-all-high-tack-hybrid-polymer-adhesive-white-290ml/64585?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=895557794&gbraid=0AAAAAD8IdPxQZcwfDg7XuWT6M7XU5qJW_&gclid=CjwKCAjw8uTQBhAdEiwAVvtJytd5T8metMhSfttfGiRHNorqe-zWY_O6Zos9P_4E07LqWha0FGRpwRoCSywQAvD_BwE Other options are Illbruck SP350.. https://www.dortechdirect.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/742.html?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17178602520&gbraid=0AAAAADt-Kn0ph4eAt3inbtCk9Tjt8IA77&gclid=CjwKCAjw8uTQBhAdEiwAVvtJyrHurwMiX1eVezExj4zWyNFuYLzJ_LObPlYyH2qK77MUmOXTMa0tLBoCF0gQAvD_BwE But it was quite thick when I used it earlier in the year, so I'd suggest warming the tubes first.... Or this stuff if you can weigh it down whilst it cures as it is low expansion, but has been good at stick EPS to concrete etc. https://ewistore.co.uk/shop/external-wall-insulation/eps-adhesive-ewi-240-750ml/

Here's an in-progress Posi design for my Car Port roof. What I'm trying to achieve is a minimal edge detail, with masonry running up to the roofline, just with an Aluminium trim as a termination. What is the normal way to run the timber construction to the edge at the ridge and verge? So far the joists have been designed to land on a wall-plate on the inner leaf and the Posi tails have been left long enough to be trimmed inside the outer leaf, but I guess there will need to be some sort of rim-edge timber detail to support the deck and allow the edge trim to be fixed. At the verge, I am minded to have the last Posi swapped out for a 253mm Glulam, where a ladder frame can be built, but again I'm unsure how to detail this at the edge to achieve the minimal look I'm after. This is how the house is detailed, I'm after a similar effect with the Car Port, but here it's masonry not ICF! Obviously this is an uninsulated roof. Does anyone have any pics/details they can share to help me to move forwards with this? I greatly appreciate any/all help.

That's all very true and we had all the best intentions out the outset of the project. It was never our intention to end up in this much pain. We instructed Architect #1 in December of 2021, by the February we had already become concerned about a difficult working relationship. Something there was really no way we could have spotted earlier. She was a handful, very opinionated but oddly never wanted to come to site. It's a tricky site, with level changes and lots of trees, which was all documented in the Topo, but what we didn't think to consider and neither did she (because she never came here) was the magnitude of trees in the neighbouring gardens that would be impactful on the design. When it dawned on me, I called it out and she played it down. I ended up having to fudge a "topo addendum" of sorts, plotting estimated tree positions and approximate heights from our garden. It was clear at this point that we weren't getting the service befitting of the fee we had agreed (£16,000 for Riba Stage 4a). We plodded on through the difficult relationship, with all concerns and queries getting played down and brushed aside. After a massive mistake in ground levels on the plans (the building was drawn 700mm too high out of the ground), we really were getting annoyed. Long story short, we had to call it. The attitude was unbearable, it was pushed myself and SWMBO into tension and that's something we will not tolerate. So, with planning permission in hand, we broke lose and initially felt liberated. However, it soon because obvious that we needed further details/drawings and I think we can all understand just how reluctant any professional is to take on someone else's work, and so began the turbulent journey of trying to get our remaining detailing done. We "interviewed" 5 Architects in choosing the one we went with, she had us thoroughly convinced, she truly seemed to get it, us and the site. How wrong we were. That was just the start of our problems, but I think most of it stems back to that. Having an Architect who is not truly on your team is, I think, the most fundamental "clunk" in a self-build journey. The guy this post is about was technically Architect #3. Architect #2 turned out to be almost as bad as Architect #1, but now we are back with the firm of Architect #2, but with Architect #4, a really good guy and he's been worth his weight in gold.

There are lots of pitfalls in such a technical roof system, it really is a mine-field. I have plenty to say on it, perhaps that's for a separate topic! But suffice to say, the guarantees, on Zinc at least, are far from what they're claimed to be.

My lasting opinion of Zinc as a roof topping is, regardless of the problems I have had, you WILL get oil-canning. So if you (or anyone reading this) are looking at Zinc and are someone who might be bothered by this, then I suggest you have you expectations ready for it. My roofs are not seen from the ground from any position other than from one window inside the building and from that window you get the best (worst?) view of how bad this can be. Aside from all the other problems, I would not be content with the view I'll get every time I go upstairs and look left out of the window. I absolutely would not even contemplate it for a vertical facade, but I'd drawn this line in the sand long before our problematic roof installation. I have landed on the opinion that I would much prefer a nicely installed single-ply roof than a flawed Zinc roof and by their nature, Zinc is not flawless ever in my view.

Thank you, but we'll definitely not be going for Zinc again. I've totally lost the love for it and just wish we'd looked at other options from the outset.

A very expensive but poorly detailed Zinc roof. I posted about it here and there is another post linked in that post too.

I'm sure my proper UFH design will uncover that 40w/m2 is far too much. See my reply to @SimonD below. Thanks for your input, BH has been great to me, the support is helping me keep my head above the water (just about!).

In fairness, this is an outline quote, we're not at design stage yet so a set of heat loss calculations has not yet been done. I guess they'll charge for that in the end? I'm trying to do that myself through Heatpunk, but it's tricky with my very irregular shaped house. I'm considering paying for the Pro level for a month or two so I can upload my plans! But that doesn't help with ceiling levels (I have sloped ceilings). I haven't added all the windows yet, but it looks like 21w/m2 on there at the minute.

Thanks for this @Gus Potter. I'm a very very patient guy. I am possibly too far into the details, but I gave this guy so many chances, we communicated loads. I provided additional photos and dimensions as were needed to articulate the as-built structure. I spent FAR too long trying to mock layouts up in ChatGPT to try to further illustrate points I felt the Architect had missed. The fundamentals were missing though, without adherence to the standard details of the roofing system, we needed to go all the way back to square one and the passage of time thus far made it feel too risky to do with how weakly applied this guy was. With the idea that the ZInc roof needs to be stripped, part of my brief was to try to retain the Plywood deck if possible, as "taking the lid off" and seeing daylight from inside again felt like too much regression and another layer of waste that might have been able to be avoided. I already have 170sqm of 200mm Celotex that I cannot reuse. This might be why he couldn't have oversailed the edge to provide a similar detail as the one you kindly posted. I also now realise he's not as experienced as I initially believed. Keep in mind the total quote was £4000+VAT. FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS to provide a set of 6-8 details. Many people do not pay this for their whole Architectural package. I was desperately in need of help and believed this guy could take some of the stress off my shoulders. Turned out he just added to the ever-growing pile of nonsense that we're battling. We've lost tens of thousands of pounds in this project on "leakage". Poor Architects and this whole roofing debacle being at the forefront. Those elements have BY FAR been harder than physically standing this place up, even at my experience level. Some of the things I have achieved in this build make me proud, dimensional accuracy, level and having 3 ground floor levels that are +/- 10mm from the planned levels being some of them. Why can't professional services take the pride in their work as standard and just do the right thing if the customer isn't happy (and brings justification)?

Sadly, to our detriment, we do not have legal cover. This emerged during the early stages of the legal action that is still ongoing with the defective Zinc roof. We live and learn!

Although I need to look more closely at the quote, they've based the whole-house design on 40w/m2. I'm guessing that 10.5mm pipe at 75mm spacing is similar output as 16mm pipe at 150mm spacing. You're right though, this is more to give a warm feeling to the floor and what little bit of heat input might be needed.