Laurence737

Yes we can’t see any evidence of a DPC on any of the other walls, if I tried to remove the cement mortar and repointed in lime would this be a better solution that trying to fix the ground based problem? and yes it is 9” solid brick

yes, it looks like the brick surrounds of the air bricks were put in to keep them exposed when they installed the pavement.

We’re not sure when the path was laid but it has been there a while (as has the damp and efflourescence) I’m not sure there is a DPC installed as it was originally a brick built church hall (1860 built) The path has raised up around a course of bricks.

Hi Everyone, we are trying to resolve some damp/efflorescence issues with our 1860’s property. we are getting high damp readings and efflorescence on our external road facing wall, I think the problems stem from the fact that the council put in a small pathway abutting the external wall and laid asphalt between the house and kerb, this has raised the level against the wall and is causing water to sit in the gap between the asphalt and brickwork resulting in the wall being constantly wet. we also have an enclosed gulley that may be adding to the problems. What would be the best solution for this, I imagine cutting a drainage gulley in front of the brickwork? But guess this would have to be a gravel soakaway? As the air brick surrounds would block a dedicated drainage channel? I would also like to remove the enclosed gulley and replace it with an open one that is easier to check for blockages/clean, is this a viable idea? I also think that we have some concrete pointing in the brickwork, would it be worth the time/money to get this removed and repointed? Thanks a lot for any feedback/advice!

We’re looking at a double flat vertical column rad I guess for those outputs? Our style pref is the flat bars.

Hi Everyone, I need to pick up a 2.2-2.5kw flat panel column CH rad and wondered if anyone had any recommendations? Struggling to find something suitable. Thanks

Thanks for that input it’s really helpful, as far as I am aware without having the instructions it seems that the system is similar for LVT to the Wunda boards, where you install a 7mm HDF board over the top to fix the laminate to? what sort of W/m2 would you say I should be looking for at T50?

Hi Everyone, I wondered if anyone had any experience with the Nu-heat LoProLite retrofit wet UFH system? We are looking for a low profile system to retrofit into our property and have around 30mm from the current floorboards to the existing sill heights so we’re thinking of using this system and 8mm LVT. Thanks

We have the space to store them securely which is fine, our builder told us his suppliers are expecting a price rise of around 10-12%?

Hi Everyone, We are starting the major part of our build/renovation late April, however our builder has informed us that his suppliers have indicated that they expect a significant increase in the cost of building materials (particularly timber and insulation). He has suggested that we bulk purchase the materials we require and store them, this is equating to around £17k in materials, he proposed we do it in chunks of £5k orders to maintain trust. Has anybody else got any experience in this? Obviously we are a bit hesitant to put up this money before work actually starts. So any advice or comments on this would be greatly appreciated ??

Thanks for that, what would you recommend as the best way to insulate it and keep it all dry?

Hi Everyone, I’ve finally got around to converting the room above our double car port into a functional office. I just had a quick question about insulation, the floor of the office is timber and below are the joists that form the ceiling of the car port (see photos) I just wondered what the best way to insulate this space and keep it dry? I was thinking of PIR between the joists, a waterproof membrane below and then cover the bottom with MDF boards? And what is the best way to insulate the sections with the braces? Thanks

Thats what I thought, I just got my head in a mix with the way it’s phrased and had a small panic ?

It was this part Escape from upper storeys a maximum of 4.5m above ground level 2.2 See Diagram 2.1b. Where served by only one stair, all habitable rooms (excluding kitchens) should have either of the following. a. An emergency escape window or external door, as described in paragraph 2.10. b. Direct access to a protected stairway, as described in paragraph 2.5a. 2.3 Two rooms may be served by a single window. A door between the rooms should provide access to the window without passing through the stair enclosure. Both rooms should have their own access to the internal stair. As I’m not sure the room will comply with that statement?

Hi Everyone, Having a bit of a head scratch moment and wondered if anyone could shed any light as to wether my plans to move our bathroom upstairs would comply with regs, particularly part B. The room is directly above the existing bathroom that has a door leading out to the main gallery landing to the staircase which leads to the open plan kitchen/dining/living space and has a small skylight fitted at 1.7m sill height. would this room comply with regs? Thanks

Hi Temp, Thanks a lot for the info really useful! at the moment I believe the roof space is vented just at the gable end, I was intending to fit tile vets on the lower part of the roof and ridge vents along the top, I would then leave a 50mm air gap before the insulation. would the additional weight on the underside of the roof need a SE? Or would it just need approval from the building inspector?

Hi Everyone, we are currently renovating our property and want to raise the ceiling height in the bedrooms and vault a part of the ceiling. Would this require building notice and would we need to get calculations done by a SE? The building is a hall conversion so the internal rooms do not support the roof structure, however we will be battening and insulating the roof structure. Any help would be massively appreciated ??

Thanks for the replies, very helpful! At the moment the shower pressure is ok, however the bathroom is currently on the ground floor and we are moving it upstairs, the en-suite is currently being installed so it doesn’t have the load of that on the system yet. Which option would afford me the most pressure?

Hi Everyone, The property we have just moved into has a Worcester Bosch Greenstar 24RI boiler installed that is around 5 years old. It is a four bed house (around 200sqm) and we have a main bathroom and en-suite. We need to get rid of the water tank in the loft so are looking at options to solve this. We have come up with three potential options and wondered which would be the best option and pros/cons of each? 1. Replace the system entirely with a new heating system (combi or system boiler?) and remove the tank. 2. Would the 24RI be capable of running an indirect unvented cylinder? could we replace the current cylinder and tank with one of those? 3. Move the header tank about 4-5m from its current location? I'm assuming if we did this we would also be best replacing the tank entirely for a new tank whilst we are moving? Also the tank is a bit of a pig to get to (the house is a hall conversion and not a lot of the loft floor is supportive!) so would anyone eagle eyed know what material this tank is made of? where the photo is taken from would roughly be where the tank would move to. Thanks a lot for the advice

Hi Joe, Thanks for this, we have spoken to the neighbour and he would be fine with this, the space is a "service area" for bikes and bins so he's fine with us routing a pipe, but he didn't want us digging up the area to lay an external drain, which is understandable! Cheers

Cheers for the advice Nick really appreciate it, presumably the inspection bend is fine to be external? Thanks

Hi Everyone, I was wondering if someone would be able to advise if it is possible to route a waste pipe outside a property to then route back inside and connect to the existing soil stack? We want to install an en suite bathroom to our master, however the land on the external wall is not our land so we will be unable to take a waste pipe straight down. So we wondered if it was possible to exit the external wall, run along the wall of our property to re-enter and connect to the existing stack? Many Thanks Laurence

That was the plan of the builder who was against gallows brackets. And is perfectly possible as we are ripping the whole place apart at the moment. I think that’s what we’ll go for based on the feedback

Hi Everyone, We are having our chimney breast taken out on the ground floor, leaving the rest as we have a decorative fireplace in the bedroom we want to keep. we have had a couple of builders come to quote, one of whom was advocating that we install gallows brackets, and the other saying he would never install gallows brackets now. are there any pros and cons to them, or is it just a different way to skin a cat? cheers

Yes it's a strange rooflight as they decided to put two massive velux windows into the roof space in the late 90's. We are intending to remove all of the false roof structure and open the ceiling up the the pitch.