PeterW

I think between the architect and the SEng, you've got a bit of a mongrel... So if the SEng wants a raft, you then should be building up from that and looking to reduce your cold bridging. Building a raft, then using a perimeter blockwork and filling the inside with your insulation and capping it off with a concrete screed, and then build up the SIPs off the edge blockwork. You then dispense with the beam and block floor as it becomes an irrelevant cost. Insulation could be EPS rather than PIR - so cheaper - and you can design out the cold bridging. If the SEng still insists on a beam and block floor then look at one of the insulated ones such as tetris as you can kill two birds and get a better and lower insulation value with a thinner floor build up.

Is it going to be buried or visible ..?? You can cap MDPE with copper compression fittings but it’s not advisable underground.

Couldn't you bling it up with some walk on glazing...???

You can trim and reinforce those to make the gap - just needs to be sistered/framed with the same size joists and doubled up all round

County are great - local to me and never let me down

Have you got any section drawings as that doesn't make sense

Looks like block and beam has been removed..? Raft with beam and block would be a bit odd tbh - foundation masonry is your below ground/below DPC brick and blockwork

Make sure they lay the DPC flat on the lintels, and they will drill either side, above and below to ensure they fill the whole wall. Internal walls were fun - I did one between an internal garage and a lounge and we had to make sure as it was a single skin above the first floor we plugged the top of the cavity with rockwool.

Hire a wet bench instead. Will make short work of the bricks too - and could get them all uniform in thickness. Stone will take some practice and may need to flip them over as some look pretty big, but all do-able...

Seen a fair bit of this - and it is why I only pay weekly but pay monday for work to previous friday on invoice

That is extortionate..!!! There are however some huge tiles in the range, the bigger they are the more they cost although you appear to have 150 square metres of tiles..??! Is that correct..?? And is that the fitted price..?? Try this as a comparison https://www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk/

OK so have a look at stacked stone slips

Its about £35-40/sqm for the cladding - how much do you need and what was the "agreed" finish for planning purposes..??

No he meant what he said...

But you've now screwed the pipe up, you can't use foam eater to clean it as it will damage the pipe, and there is a very good chance the foam will leave a residue on the nice shiny pipe that will trap crud and other sliding items...

Why not use the PIR as the air tightness layer..?? Just tape with foil tape, ceiling join would need to be done carefully but not difficult. Could be as simple as using 25mm as the first layer held in with 25mm battens, then back fill the gaps and tape. That would thermally break the timber frame also from the inside and give you battens to fix the plasterboard into.

Yes but I expect the dT is something like 8c based on 45/37 which is the hot end and traditional flows. It is also designed to get the room temperatures up within 60 minutes from memory - there is a set of parameters hidden somewhere and you can alter these. If you’re using ASHP as a heat source then you really want to be using E7 and overnight - slab on at 3:30am to absorb low grade heat for 3 hours etc. That needs a lower flow temp and closer to the final room / slab temp you’re looking for so ideally it’s nearer the 35c flow (most ASHP have 35c as optimum for CoP) blended with the return water. Ignore that entirely !! That’s the flow the ASHP needs, not the floor. The floor flow is set by the manifold circulation pump, not the ASHP pump and it’s a bad idea to just connect the ASHP to the manifold and hope it runs ok as the zones closing will play havoc with the flow. I’d use a small buffer - 60-100litre - and let this do the balancing to the ASHP. The heat pump then uses the tank stat on the buffer to fire rather than the call for heat from the UFH controller as it is less likely to short cycle or find flow restricted.

Did a 150mm cavity with blown bead and worked really well - they got everywhere ..! They set after about 3 hours as they are glued together when installed and I’ve core drilled sections through so know that they don’t really move about much once installed. I’d use them again over batts which are a pain as they are bulky and get in the way. I’ve also seen batts get soaked on site and still used - they are not cheap to chuck in a skip.

You can pour when it’s hard - doesn’t need to be cured and it’s the same with any concrete construction. Most if not all ICF has rebar in it for strength and it supports the joins between the pours - you will get a mechanical bridge between the pours even if you don’t get the full chemical join. The only issue is normally for basement walls with waterproof concrete that do need some sort of contiguous pour. The major reason for limiting pours is cost, as your concrete pump will be the big factor. I’ve seen a build where the guy got a towable Putz on hire for a month and basically he poured every couple of days as he did it himself. Very few issues and a very nice finished build and he did as much as 4 CuM of concrete would fill every time. I’ve also seen a big pour that had a huge 40m concrete pump that was like watching an angry elephant and it put me off using any sort of ICF..!!

OSB - your local scrote will go through PVC with his lighter and you’ll find your nice garage storage stuff on Facebook marketplace ... OSB is £10/sheet if you shop around and makes for a much nicer working environment indoors. I doubt your insurers will cover you for 1st fix wiring either without secured windows and doors - cable is very easily nicked. Don’t bank on changing your windows either - no such thing as precedence in planning, you could be waiting 18 months and still lose on appeal. You will have to also potentially submit an NMA or even a variation - consider the cost.

What’s the Delta- T and output temperature they have designed it to ..?? Screed depth and material..?? 150mm is quite tight for some of those loops - I would look at 200mm centres and run it lower temperature for longer. Like others - need it in the En-suites and a lot to be gained from using the individual flow and return pipes in hallways etc. Loop lengths are irrelevant, they should be roughly equal where heating the same room, but use the auto balancing actuators and 99% of the problems go away.

Boards will probably blow away if not fixed down which gives you a challenge ! You can’t fix through the roof membrane or it will leak, concrete slabs will heat up too (although not as much as felt) so you need a way to attach the boards to something heavy.

Why not just buy a doorbell like a normal person ..??

Ok you are trying to do it backwards. No easy way unless you cut a piece to the largest gap then scribe based on that. quickest and easiest way - run a board the right height up to the rough wall. Make a scribing wheel - 50mm piece of hardboard with a hole for a pencil will do - and run it top to bottom following the wall. You have your wall profile. Cut along that line with a coping saw or jigsaw. Mark the ceiling and floor at the edge of your last board so they are easily seen then slide the cut edge of the board against the wiggly wall. Mark your pencil marks from the ceiling and floor onto the wiggly edge board. Remove the board and cut a straight line between your pencil marks and fit the board into place - it will fit the gap.

Crushed finely and mixed with other coloured glass ....