worldwidewebs

I've popped up a new blog entry for those that are interested https://selfbuildnoviceblog.wordpress.com Slow progress now the MBC guys have left (I was warned) but at least it is progress of some sort! As an aside, my brickie called me a couple of days ago and said he's starting the external blockwork that will support the stone cladding on Thursday next week. Which is good news aside from the fact that I haven't decided on where I want the external lights. This poses a problem as I need to fit some conduit in the timber frame though which I'll pass the cable and this must be done before the blockwork goes up. So a question to you all - what lighting do you suggest? Conduit going in this weekend...

It's Ampatop Aero Plus - apparently quite expensive. I think on the flat roof it is coming in where two sheets of it are joined as the join itself doesn't seem the best but as I say, maybe it's just that it needs the final covering to be fully waterproof, but it does beg the question why bother with it if that's the case. I pinged MBC an email over the weekend so I'm sure it'll be sorted in the next couple of days

I think they will deliver an air-tight structure, not water-tight. I had this discussion with Brendan as he said they would only come back to do the air-tightness once the roof, windows, ali cladding and rendering was done. So I take from that that he doesn't believe what is done is water tight. I think obvious rips in the roof felt are relatively easy to resolve - it's the ones that I can't see and that are letting in water that I'm more concerned about. And the flat roof section, which is pissing in. I feel like I don't want to put the final roof finishes on until I have more confidence in what's there now. Maybe this is normal but looking at @Crofter's comments maybe not

Rain. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. We are still waiting for the slates to arrive so the roof is simply felted, counter-battened and battened at the moment. I've noticed about 10 quite small pools of water in the bedrooms where rain appears to be dripping in although I can't see any noticeable holes. Oddly I can see 2 rips in the felt but no water below them (or that could possibly be attributed to them). Is it normal to expect this to a small degree (rips I see I will get patched) or should it be 100% water sealed at this stage? We have a small flat roof section (2m x 5m) which again is only felted at the moment and we are getting quite a bit of rain coming in directly under the flat roof. Is this too, to be expected until the roof is covered with the rubber membrane or should it also be pretty watertight at this stage? I can't tell where the rain is getting in, but my guess would be where 2 pieces of the felt are joined

Agreed, I just wish it wasn't so hard to drag information out of people. It's not as though these are original issues, they've been done thousands of times before but you would hardly know it based on the conversations I have had

Most of the reveals will be rendered but some will have an aluminium trim strip. The only reason for this is that we are having some elements of stone cladding (onto blockwork) and I don't want to have the stone in the reveals themselves as the thickness would be too great (25mm batten + 15mm board + 10mm adhesive + 35mm stone). There are a handful of details that I haven't worked out to my satisfaction yet. Above the 4 bedroom windows and the front central glazing there will be aluminium cladding (see CGI below) that will wrap into the top reveal. I have a few thoughts on how best to do this but I need to speak with the renderer again and get his view Actually, getting the ali/render detailing right is probably going to be the hardest thing

I think my CDO is going to be tested to the limit

I've got some over many of the larger windows at the moment and I think I'm going to employ your suggestion (as well as others). Cheers

I think that was the first window to be fitted

Windows are here!!!!

I take it that you could still close the doors ok with the polythene 'trapped' between door and frame?

So, apart from 'Magic Man' there's nothing 'magic' When I'm on-site I know I can patrol it, it's more about when I'm not there.

We've got the windows and doors being installed over the next few days - lovely Internorm alu clad timber... What's considered the best way to protect the doors and especially the door thresholds from ruin whilst trades are on site, aside from the threat of amputation?

If it's airtightness you're looking to keep, take a look at something like these grommets http://www.phstore.co.uk/airtightness/airtightness-grommets/roflex-airtightness-grommet-for-pipes.html

Lol - yes, it's not the easiest to interpret, is it?

Hi Gary What is an 'architectural type of ceiling valve'? (btw - we've just ordered our ducting etc from you )

It'll be some sort of render board, not block work. I'll take a look at the baumit website - thanks

Holy thread resurrection, Batman! Now the frame is up we're at the stage of finalising stuff like render and hoping to get it done in January, weather permitting. So, what's the current render du choix these days?

It lives!

Nothing

You could do this for a living The max separation distance I can get is just over 1m (or a bit more if the inlet is slightly lower down). I had a chat with BPC about this and they've said it'll be fine - and that I should angle the inlet cowl away from the exhaust! So, panic over

The MVHR and gas boiler will be located in the plant room, which is just under 1.9m wide. The plan was to put the gas flue and MVHR exhaust as far to one side of the room as possible (which is about 300mm in from the side due to joist positioning) and the MVHR inlet was to go above the room next to the plant room. That way I could easily get a minimum of 1.5m between inlet and exhaust. Just looking at it now, I just don't see how I can possibly fit the inlet and I'm somewhere between stuck and really worried about it. Here's the problem... The photo below shows the room I wanted to put the inlet above. There are a few issues: the insulated flexible duct and hence the duct to outside, is 180mm - this is 30mm more than what was in the original drawings from the supplier the gap between the upper and lower beams of the joists is 155mm - so can't pass the duct through it the gap between the wall and the nearest joist is 120mm - so not enough space to fit the flexible duct onto the duct to outside, even if I could get it through the joist So what to do?

Hoping to get our shower screens from here: http://expresstoughening.com/content/toughened-laminated-glass

Pretty much all sorted, yes. We ended up working around the beam issues which, had I known beforehand that it would have taken so long, I would have ordered a new beam. Partly I wasn't that confident with the steel company and was 50% sure a new one would have been just as bad. The guys are due to leave site tomorrow, I understand. Roof to be slated the week after next I think and windows due w/c 12th Dec. Apparently the windows will take around 2 weeks but hopefully they'll be done for Christmas so then I can crack on with the MVHR over the holiday period

Off the top of my head the delays were down to (most minor issues btw): engineering calcs not sent to BC in time so pre-pour inspection was delayed by over a week wrong spec of rebar used for part of the slab meant a couple of days delay heavy rain on planned day of pour meant 2-3 days delay steel beam - big issue! Made too deep, holes drilled in wrong place and twisted by 12mm. Ultimate delay due to waiting for Brendan to come available and then for the fix to be implemented meant a delay of 2 weeks in total bad weather for a number of days has certainly impacted the guys ability to work as well as they would have liked. To be fair, the guys on site have been amazing! So about a month longer than expected