Gone West

You should consider whether UFH is the best way to deliver heat to the rooms in an old house. Unless you're putting 300mm+ under the slab you will be spending a lot to heat the ground under the house. Even with 300mm EPS you will be losing around 8% of the heat to the ground.

I don't think it makes much difference if you've got airflow behind the counter battens. The only reason we staggered them was because the counter battens held the insulation against the racking.

IIRC they tore the tape which is why I thought it was a type of gaffer tape. Don't know if you can tear butyl.

It was done by the TF company but I think it was a type of gaffer tape but it had a metalised, (if that's a word), surface. It never came off until the protective layer was removed.

Don't know if you've seen the similar thread here.

They're fitted in the middle of the 400mm of insulation.

The cladding was fixed with hidden pins so the staggered battens didn't affect it. The counter battens were sloped slightly to the side so if any moisture got behind the membrane it would run off onto the lower counter batten.

One of the problems with cycling on and off is that as the level of solids builds up so there is more back pressure each time you restart the pump. This causes premature failure of the diaphragms in the pump. There is a thread on here somewhere where this was discussed in the past and Jeremy designed a pressure sensor which would warn when the pressure was too high.

Horizontal cladding seemed straightforward with horizontal battens and vertical counter battens holding the EWI in place. For vertical cladding areas in order for air movement and possible water drainage I staggered the counter battens and had a very slight slope on them.

I didn't use any silicone but did check the surfaces were flat and smooth. IIRC I used silicone grease on the outlet compression fitting.

I used McAlpine Hi-Flow shower wastes at our last place. No leaks. https://mcalpineplumbing.com/traps/shower-traps-accessories/st90cp10-hp2c-112-90mm-hi-flow-shower-trap https://www.screwfix.com/c/heating-plumbing/traps/cat831610?trapapplication=shower#category=cat831610&brand=mcalpine&trapapplication=shower

I borrowed one from the Icynene installers. Amazon had one, but no longer in stock. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spray-Foam-Insulation-Saw-29/dp/B00G2G0XT4 Sorry a quick search but couldn't find any.

I think energy prices were already high enough for a lot of people last year, when we put our house on the market. There were other factors affecting the market such as the Stamp Duty holiday though. People seem to think they are spending too much of their income on keeping warm when it could be spent on booze and fags. I prefer keeping warm.

There wasn't room on our site for drainage crates so I asked the BCO if I could discharge surface water onto the lane, which runs down to a ditch, and he was ok with it. I asked the Highways Dept. and they were happy so I asked them to email the BCO and it was sorted.

Good luck with that one.

The people who bought our house bought it because it was a PH with EPC A95. There were three people bidding against each other to buy it so I'm sure given the choice buyers would consider low energy housing important, but as the estate agent said it was the first EPC A house they had sold.

@Arnold9801 This gives you a flavour of what to expect with Icynene. We did our our whole house in 2014 and had it sprayed to a depth of 350mm which was more than twice the depth they had ever done before. As already said the walls have to be warm so a job for the summer. Trimming.mp4

I had one of those once. Bloody thing lost the timer when there was a power cut and as a result it regenerated when I didn't want it to and we had a lot of power cuts. The one I had couldn't deliver soft water and regenerate at the same time unlike the twin cylinder Harveys, etc can.

Twin cylinder softeners such as Harveys regenerate when one cylinder is "used up" and it switches to the other cylinder, so can be any time of the day when water is being used. Single cylinder softeners, that I have used, have had a timer that can be set but generally regenerated at night. They are relatively noisy, not something I have measured, but ok with door shut.

In previous houses we did fit the water softeners under the kitchen sink but in the new build we fitted it in the utility room where the mains water entered the house. We found it much easier to access sitting on the floor. It was all a bit tight for space but better than under the sink.

So BC would want me to apply to them to replace my windows myself and then they would issue a certificate.

Ours were around 2.5m above outside ground level. We had to be able to brush insects off and wash them once a year.

That's great, so what's all the FENSA nonsense about then? When I sold my last house the solicitors wanted FENSA certificates, until I pointed out it was a new house.

Just a quick one or three, what are the regulations relating to replacement windows? 1. Am I allowed to replace a window in my own house or should I employ a FENSA window fitter? 2. Do the window and the fitter both have to have a FENSA certificate. 3. Does BC have to be involved. The last time I did this sort of thing was back in the 90s and I just bought some windows and fitted them, but then that was the good olde days.

I used the Vitrex Ultimate blade in my tile cutter. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vitrex-200mm-Ultimate-Diamond-Blade/dp/B001ACRRJE