worldwidewebs

Fitted wardrobes? Go to IKEA. You can build these yourself!

We have a triple glazed Velux window in a very inaccessible location that's become locked shut. The Velux customer support has been so fantastic (both for this and an installation query/issue) that I wouldn't even look at alternative suppliers if I needed anything like this again

I think we paid £8k for about 105m2 - that was for Alumasc render which I really rate. if you do end up leaving the windows open, you can cover them up with poly tunnel polythene. MBC did this for us and it was a godsend given the heavy rain we then had

Have the windows been ordered? If not, I'd wait until the render has been done then take your measurements from there. This will cause a delay but I think it would be for the best overall If they have been ordered, then I think you'll have to work with the renderers so that they finish to the right dimensions. The render onto render board isn't that thick so if they're any good they shouldn't be more than a mm or so out, which is nothing in reality. It may be worth speaking to a different renderer too. I can recommend our guys if that helps (Cheshire Facades)

Here's mine

There's a lot more to it than just veneering a door! The quality of the hinges and latches for a start - and that's before you get onto the frame itself. I totally get that not everyone wants to spend £7-800 per door-set, but to think it's "just a door blank" is really missing what they're selling. Take a look here to get an idea of what we fitted: https://selfbuildnoviceblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/27/internal-doors

Deuren (and hillside) get their veneers from Nantwich Veneers (http://www.nantwichveneers.com) We have Deuren doors throughout and if you can stretch to them I'd totally recommend them. The quality is superb and the fit/adjustment is amazing. Everyone, and I mean everyone, that saw them was gobsmacked. I was going to say pop over, but I've a feeling you already have!

We bought ours from www.suttontimber.co.uk Having said that, with hindsight our flooring guy could have sourced it cheaper - and he also did some mods to them, including fitting nosings

I don't remember tbh, but probably somewhere in the £50-65 region (list was a lot more) but ours were bespoke finishes to both the eyeball and the insert I'd have them again in a heartbeat. Even our electrician, who has fitted out a lot of very high end houses, reckoned these were the best he's seen

Yes, that's the one. We have a lot of the Zep6 eyeconic trimless, plus a few others. It's worth going to see them as they have a demo area which really helps when it comes to planning what you want/need

We used EcoLED - the quality of the fittings is superb and far in excess of anything else we found. Speak to Guy and say Andrew Webster recommended him to you

Most of what I need to do is within 300mm of a wall/door so it looks like I'm going to be busy with the grinder! £70 is a good price though - was that a special?

Good tip!

Cheers Peter - I may well take you up on that. Whereabouts are you?

Which model did you go for? They look quite aggressive - are they easy to control and is it possible to do up to an edge? For the most part I don't want to take too much off and as well as going up to a wall I need to go quite close to a glass sliding door

We had a concrete slab laid for the patio as we're going to be tiling it, but in a few places the concrete is too high by between 5-10mm. The total problem area is probably 3-4m2. What would be the best/easiest/most cost effective way of getting it back to the right level? I've looked at concrete grinding machines but they look like overkill for what we need. Would a cup grinder do the job and can I just fit it to a cordless drill?

Very many thanks!

Thanks for the reply Jeremy. Yes, looking at it I do think I need to get those figures closer. What would be the best approach for this - increase the inlet speed relative to the exhaust or adjust the vents? Sorry to be cheeky, but do you have a template for your cert that you could share? I'm assuming you self-certified?

Ok, so commissioning re-done - better than before but still not great. The figures below are for extract boost at 50% and inlet boost at 60%. The snug is showing a very low flow rate despite the vent being well open and being the closest to the MVHR, so I'm guessing there is a problem with the ducting there. Unfortunately it's too late to do anything about that now The house is about 305m2 so we need to get 92 l/s as the background rate. I didn't try it, but I think I'd only be anywhere near that figure at around 70% inlet boost!!! Think I'm a bit stuck now in terms of BC tbh although in reality the house is fine as we have no condensation issues, bathrooms clear easily and the house doesn't feel stuffy.

Well, I'm going to start on this again now - wish me luck! Does anyone have a template of a commissioning certificate they'd care to share? Just want to ensure I capture what is necessary and no more! Going for sign-off next week and I'm sure they're going to pick up on our stairs - don't want it to be the MVHR too!!!

Thanks @JSHarris I have to say that BPC have been very helpful in all my dealings so I'm just hoping I've got the wrong end of the stick...

Bit of an update... I spoke with BPC toadying and they've suggested a slightly different approach which I'll certainly try. One of the things they said was that having all the vents open could actually decrease the overall flow due to less back-pressure. I was quite surprised at that but every day is a school day, as they say! Also, I had quite a few windows open (as it was very warm here) and apparently that does have quite a large effect, so will need to address that next time. It'll probably be the weekend before I can get on to it again and I'll give the new approach a go before I try anything more 'serious'!

Not that easily no (it's all taped, sealed etc) , although I suppose I could just cut a slit in the flexi duct and then tape it up afterwards.

Hmmm... something's not right, as you say. Before I get to butchering up my equipment (!), I'm using a reducing cone into a 1m length of 100mm duct - the anemometer is probably about 90cm from the vent. Could this length of duct potentially be causing a problem? Also, I've just re-tested as follows: all vents fully open. Extract rate = 80.6 l/s Inlet rate = 59.9 l/s ran the system without any filters to see if that might have an effect. I only measured the extract side as I ran out of time Extract rate = 97.3 l/s So it's looking like the dirty filters are having an effect although replacing them won't solve the problem. Would you expect to see a proportional increase in flow rate with boost speed? Just thinking that 59.9 l/s is roughly 290 m3/hr (at 50% boost), which is about half the 666 m3/hr quoted, allowing for losses. One final thing, I suppose it could be the anemometer itself although I'm not sure how I'd go about getting it tested

I've finally got round to balancing the MVHR and am more than a bit worried by the figures I'm getting. I've followed @JSHarris excellent write up (and spreadsheet) and am using a Testo 405i in a 1m length of 100mm diameter straight duct with a cone to go over the inlets/extracts. The system is a Vent Axia Kinetic High Flow (max flow rate 666m3/h) and the house has a floor area of about 305m2 with high ceilings upstairs - I'm guessing at a total volume of about 1000m3. Buildings Regs is looking for 92l/s (trickle rate) but on Boost (50%), I'm getting just 62.5l/s extract (about 225m3/h) and 57l/s inlet (205m3/h) with all vents open between 50% and 75%. Opening the vents more changed the balance but didn't appreciably change the total flow rate. I've attached the work-in-progress spreadsheet for reference Now, I do need to replace the filters and I'm sure that doing so will improve matters, but surely not by the amount required! Am I doing something wrong? I know I can fudge the figures but at this stage that's not something I'm looking to do. Starting to panic a little now if I'm honest...