ed g

Adding to the CDM discusssion on Principal Designers/Contractors (I've just read through the ten pages of rivetting discussion that led to ToughButterCup's very useful synthesis linked above), what are the implications of the Buildings Safety Act 2022, and its extension to 'all buildings' in October 2023? I have an architect bringing it up, and wondering how it plays out in a self-build situation for a domestic client. Any ideas?

You make an interesting point - so can thin joints (say 5-6mm) be reasonably achieved with a normal mortar - it's just down to the bricklayer's expertise? Does it require changes to the mix? Given the bricks I plan on using are 45mm high, there'll be fun-and-games to get wall ties right in any event, but is there anything else to think about? I think one of the problems as the joints get thinner is that the moisture levels in the mortar can get risky? Presumably this depends on the brick? Can this be adjusted for in the mortar mix chosen?

I've just had a trip via Belgium on the way to the Netherlands with the kids, and was really taken with the thin-bed 'mortarless' look you can get with the linear facing bricks - see photo - (the adhesive mortar is 3-6mm rather than 10-12mm thick and when set back a little from the brick face it means you only see the bricks, not the mortar). When speaking to a Belgian Wienerberger chap, he said that 5mm may be acheiveable but 6mm was probably realistic given the brick tolerances to give a bit a lee-way. I know the brick is a Wienerberger Special Waterstruck, which I can get hold of in the UK through Huws Gray, but don't know what adhesive mortar options there are. Googling brick adhesives only seems to bring up brick slip/tile adhesives... - Are facing brick adhesives separate and different from thin-joint mortars, e.g. https://www.vandersanden.com/en-uk/adhesive-and-thin-bed-mortar and https://www.nelissen.be/en/products/mortars/adhesivemortar? Other forums seem to talk about them differently and with slightly different thicknesses: "adhesives" give 3-6mm thickness, "thin-joint" may be 5-8mm - I've found Celfix is one option for thin-joint blcokwork - would this work for waterstruck facing bricks where the tolerances are a lot bigger? - What other brands/ products are there that work for this use? UK-sourced options seem limited and it seems daft importing the mortar from Europe... Any help or insight much appreciated. Cheers

Probably way too late to the party on this one to help, but for our self build (we had standard blockwork with a 52mm height facing brick) as long as the wall ties sloped downwards from inner face to outer we got BCO approval. The brickie seemed to cope with finding a pattern that worked and had sufficient numbers of ties to keep the BCP happy.

I think your Geobrick may be the one I have as Geostylistix (autocorrect altered the name on my post just now). It's priced competitively but it's not clay. Got a couple of samples and they do look different - not bad-different but definitely different-different!

A range, options include - MBI's Geostylix (not actually clay) Lovely, but very expensive options like: - Petersen's Kolumba and - Vande Moortel's Infinitum, - Joseph Bricks - not so long but very thin Better priced but still much more than normal bricks like: - Anselmo's Corso (via ModularClayProducts), - Las Losas has some options, - Vale Gandara's Jerusalem, - Egersnund have an option, - La Paloma, - Vande Moortel's Linea and Linea7, - Weinerberger WS LF510 range (haven't seen samples yet but better value) - Imperial bricks have an option in the pipeline (I think it's Turkish) We've also used Roben Aarhus which are more linear than standard bricks, but only ratio 6:1 rather than the others that can go to more than 10:1 length:height. Some of these are engobed so the bricks have been coated or dipped and the inside colour may be different to the faces. Hope that helps - you got a decent size self build going on?

Thanks all for the commentary. One further question: How long does the first claimer have 'dibs' on the site address? Had the explanation today from one supplier that the point of the system was to 'avoid them undercutting eachother'... I dunno, but as the customer I quite like the sound of undercutting... 😂 One chap accidentally put in a wrong address (still only a few miles away) and I've got a 10% price difference... I'm wondering if the only way to get multiple competitive prices for the same brick is to give each one you speak to a phoney, localish address - which can be merrily logged - and once you've picked your favourite then returning as a fresh customer with the right address... Not exactly cricket, but then again I'm not sure they're playing with a straight bat either!

Hi, new poster so bear with me... I want to use thin linear clay bricks on a self build, and am trying to understand what options there are (and the relative prices) to see what my budget can stretch to.... The market, however, seems to be pretty opaque to me (partially by design?) in terms of trying to get competitive prices. Searching google I see lots of intermediaries advertising bricks they clearly don't make themselves, and some don't even name the manufacturer brand obviously, or seem to have re-branded them. Besides the actual brick manufacturer, are builders merchants, brick suppliers and importers all doing the same middle-man role, or are there differences? It seems to me that everyone wants to get hold of my site address so that they can log and lock down the address - once this is done no one else can price me for the same brick. Is this right? Is it worth it/possible to shop around for different supply quotes for the same bricks? Would all middle-men offer me the same price if I'd asked them first? If so, when they bluster on the discount they can get me is that all BS? If the suppliers/builders merchants/importers change the names vs the original manufacturers when talking to me, but log it on the system with the manufacturer, how can I find out the underlying brick brand? If the suppliers/builders merchants/importers who log the address get different margins from the different manufacturers of bricks how do I know I am seeing all their options, or just the ones they want to show me? How do I find different brick options of a similar linear design from the full breadth of British and European manufacturers? I wonder if I need to build myself a list of the brick manufacturers then methodically enquire with them to find out who imports/supplies their bricks to the UK... How do I avoid getting an intermediary who 'bagsies' my site address but charges high middle-man mark-ups? So far, for linear brick options I am getting a massive range in costs per m2 supplied to site - but there doesn't seem to be a way to allow brick manufacturers to 'compete' for my custom. Any insight would be welcome! Cheers, Ed

Hi Dave C, what was the model of inverter and battery you had installed? Is your system hybrid or just for making the most of an E7 tariff? Thanks

Hi Alshamal, thanks for the reply. I've got a bunch of questions of you don't mind... Does the Lux 3600 provide the easy option to charge itself at night and then to be the primary power source until empty at user selected times in the day? Does it also offer the option to automatically step in if there's a power cut? Is the Lux just the inverter, and were there options for the battery modules? Did you consider any other options for the battery? Or for the inverter? What was the approximate cost? Was that including installation? THANK YOU!

Thanks, ProDave. I've just moved to Economy 7 as the maths made a lot of sense even with the "extortionate" day rate. Before, I was paying 35p/kWh for every kWH under the EPG; right now, I pay 7p/kWh for 75% of my usage and 54.5p/kWh for the rest, averaging about 18p/kWh. Now admittedly that's skewed in my favour as so much of my usage is heating at this time of year (which I can do at night), but crunching the detailed stats for the whole year, I expect 63% of my usage to be off peak and my weighted average cost to be around 25p/kWh saving me around £800 in the year (from £2,800 for 8,000 kWh to £2,000, of which £350 is for 5,000kwh night units and £1,650 for the 3,000kwh day units): The thing about EDF's particularly skewed day/night rates is that it then makes it worthwhile trying to use a battery to shift a large predictable, and regular, chunk of the 3,000kwh at day rate to the night rates... 6.9kwh per day would be around 2,500 of them. Under my plan, I'd then have 7,500kwh @7p and 500kwh @54.5p total £800 annually for 8,000kwh, with weighted averaged cost of 10p/kWh... Does that stack up to you?

A bit late to this topic. I have an ASHP and have just got EDF to apply their E7 tariff to my account. (I have a new Smets2 meter so it was just a case of applying the tariff, no wiring or meter changes needed). I'm in the Eastern region so the difference is big: 7p /kWh at night (11pm to 7am, so actually 8 hours), 54.5p /kWh in the day. I'm lucky enough to have wet underfloor heating and a well insulated house, so it seems I can heat at night and last nicely to the following evening, combined with programming DHW and D/W, W/M and dryer running to nighttime I'm at around 75% off peak. Preamble over, I do still have 5-7kwh per day daytime usage as a minimum that I want to install a battery to benefit from the low rate. I'm looking at a Fox ESS option that comes with 2.6kwh scalable battery units. 3 of these would have usable capacity of 6.9kwh. Including their battery management system and an AC (NOT a hybrid/PV) inverter this looks to be £4,300k for the kit incl VAT. I know if I add *some* PV it would be zero-vat rated, (£3,600) but not sure the minimum approach, as the eco and cost benefit comes from using, say, wasted nighttime off shore wind or nuclear, and reduce the need for peak hour gas-based electricity. 6.9kwh per day is 2,518 kWh per year. Each kWh has a saving 47.5p/kwh, or £1,196 a year. Accepting energy and capacity losses I'd hope for £1,100 to be achieved. So a 3-5 year payback depending on finding an electrician to install and the VAT answer). This is entirely hypothetical at the moment - I'm not an electrician, and am yet to approach one, so interested on people's thoughts of the feasibility. I would also be interested to hear of any other options versus this: - 3x Fox ESS HV2600, with brackets plus - BMS plus - AC1-5.0 A/C inverter. The 5kW inverter feels generous, but the saving for a 3.0kW option seems small for the added limitation on running appliances (e.g. oven plus microwave plus kettle plus)