Balou

Hi guys, thanks for your input, its much appreciated. Ive attached some elevation photos as requested. One of those is early on in the build, so you can see the large steel beam that spans the bifold, on which the exterior bricks rest. We havent had any further work done to the house since it was signed off, no alterations etc. I dont have a lazer, but i can see no signs of movement in the brickwork, around windows etc. When looking back through photos of the build, there seems to be plenty of insulation visible around the window apertures in the cavity walls, but cannot see any type of cavity closures in the pics i have available?

I can't easily see how the bricks are supported over the bifold doors. Again here if defending the glazing contractor I would want to know about this and cavity tray design. I would also want to know if you have made later alterations since you moved in, have you done something that could compromise the building performance that has cuased the building to move and over stressed the glazing and this has resulted in the problems manifest. If you have not done any of the above then the glazing provider seems to be on a sticky wicket! I agree Craig. It could be that the window frames are absolutely fixed to the main frame of the house and as that moves about it's causing overstress in the windows and doors. By the sound of it the workmanship appeares shoddy, not maintaining air tighntess for example. In the round though there are so many issues it apears to me that the product could just be faulty and the installation is poor. Hi guys, thanks for your input, its much appreciated. Ive attached some elevation photos as requested. One of those is early on in the build, so you can see the large steel beam that spans the bifold, on which the exterior bricks rest. We havent had any further work done to the house since it was signed off, no alterations etc. I dont have a lazer, but i can see no signs of movement in the brickwork, around windows etc. When looking back through photos of the build, there seems to be plenty of insulation visible around the window apertures in the cavity walls, but cannot see any type of cavity closures in the pics i have available?

I believe the units are made by Sternfenster, in Lincoln (although the installer is rather guarded about this for reasons unknown)and bought in by the installer . We are located near Wisbech, Cambs. I’ll sort some photos out tomorrow hopefully. Many thanks.

hello all. We moved into our new build home 3 years ago. It was a single build with a builder we trusted. There have been substantial problems with the windows that were installed by a local installer who was brought in by the builder. In those 3 years, weve had 6 sealed window units and a bifold door unit fail and have to be replaced. Weve had a 4.5 m bank of balcony doors and windows had to be removed because rain water had got in around the frame and damaged the ceiling below it(in about 12 places). The frames had also cracked through in two corners. The replacements were fitted, but still draughty. A 4.5m set of bifold doors has had ongoing problems with rain and draughts getting in, despite numerous visits by the installation company and are still a problem (draughts will easily blow a candle out on a windy day). Weve got 3 top hinged ground floor windows that if we open them in the summer on hot sunny days, they warp and we cant shut them again for several hours. We also have several sealed units in a double height staircase window, where the upvc frame has cracked through in 2 corner joints, which im wondering if its structural with the weight of 2 sealed units above it pressing down. On top of that, numerous visits and repairs by the installers where locking mechanisms on the windows have failed (taking months to replace) etc. Ive honestly never come across so many problems with windows before. On top of this, we have a huge amount of air getting past the cavities and wall insulation to the point that air coming from behind a wall mounted stat ( located about 3 feet from the bifolds) will blow a candle out and cause the stat to be permanantly calling for heat. With that in mind, and with all the other quality issues, im wondering if the windows have been fitted without cavity closers being present- Is that possible? Really not sure what our best course of action is now. We havent paid the installers direct as they were brought in by the builder, who's not being particularly helpful. Thinking of getting an independent surveyor to do a report, but not sure where to find one ? Sorry for the long spiel, but its been a long three years. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi. We have a real problem with a new build (cavity walls with PIR, block and beam floors with 150mm insulation) where a couple of ground floor room temps are struggling to get above 15 degrees when its around 2 degrees outside. We've had a couple of air pressure tests carried out which is revealing an issue with a lot of air circulating behind the dot and dab plaster boarded walls and there seems to be a link to where we have exterior air bricks for the block and beam floors. Im wondering if its possible that the internal 'periscope' fittings haven't been installed properly and allowing cold air to bypass the insulation. Is this likely? If so does anyone have suggestions on how to test for the problem please? The rooms in question were supposed to be for an elderly parent and have been pretty much unusable throughout winter months since completion. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Hi gdal, sorry only just seen this. Upstairs is all rads, downstairs is a mix of rads and underfloor heating (in the new part). The rads get warm enouth to cope, although in the winter it is boosted by the woodburner.

We are getting towards the first fix stage of a well insulated new build house. Having had a Daikin ASHP in our current house for 10 years, we are going with another ASHP in the new build. The plumber is looking to install a Grant system, of which i hjave no knowledge. Has anyone got any experience of them? (I was leaning towards Mitsubishi). TIA Phil

ps- ours uses single phase electrics

GDAL, if its of any use, we live in a house the majority of which was built in 1760's, so thick solid walls, no wall insulation, no under floor insulation, 2 large inglenook fireplaces with wood stoves, about 3300ft2 in size . Luckily, its not listed. 10 years ago we carried out a fairly big renovation, so some of the older part has minimal insulation, new parts were insulated to the standard of the time, loft has lots of insulation, double glazing fitted etc..At the time we also fitted solar panels to the rear south facing roof and for heat/hot water we have been using a Daikin 16KW ASHP. The Daikin has been working fine, especially if its just left ticking over and particularly if youre going to use a woodstove as well. All our heating/hot water/cooking is electric (except the woodstove which is handy when the village has its powercuts) for which we are currently paying around £800 per annum. Hope thats of use.

Thanks to you all for your replies. It seems that alot of planners will try withdraw PD, but as per Temps reply, according to Gvt guidance theyre not supposed to put a blanket restriction unless they can meet all of the 6 points, which is very unlikely. Happy Valley, can you tell me if there are specific application forms used for the process? There is nothing i can find on the local authority web pages or gvt pages to give any guidance.

Hi, we are in the process of building a new detached house on a large plot that took us years to get planning permission for, finally being granted a year ago. The planners were particularly obstructive throughout the process and their parting gift was to give planning permission but then impose a blanket condition across the whole plot, effectively withdrawing all permitted development rights. Government policy is that these conditions should not be used and it seems we have a good case to apply to have it removed. However, if we employ someone to tackle this, we are being quoted £900 plus vat, which seems pretty expensive (plus the actual application fee).Has anybody gone through the process? There seems to be little if no guidance that i can find on the internet.

Thanks guys, zero rated/ vat reclaimable is what i meant. Thanks for the info.

Hi, we are looking at options for flooring compatible with UFCH on our new build house and a lot ofm people seem to be going with LVT. Can anyone confirm if LVT flooring (when glued down) is VAT exempt on new builds please? TIA

Hi, we're due to start breaking ground on a new build in a couple of weeks. Heating/hot water will be via an ASHP (no gas in the village). Ground floor heating will be UFCH but still unsure as to go with Rads or the between joists spreader plate UFCH for the first floor. Can anyone share their experience of warm up times etc for the first floor. We have an ASHP in our current (built in the 1700's) house, in which we have UFCH in the ground floor (well insulated) extension and rads everywhere else. Its very noticeable that the rads have much quicker heat up times than UFCH areas. Re ASHP/UFCH firms, has anyone any experience with epc improvements in Chelmsford? TIA .Phil

Hi All. Hope everyone is keeping well in these odd times. We are hopefully starting a new build at the end of the month- should have been a few months ago, but covid pretty well stopped the project.Although weve had extensions built before, this will be our first house from the ground up, so hopefully we can learn a few thjngs along the way. We have a good builder doing the main work , we'll be just sourcing materials and co ordinating trades, etc.Kind regards Phil