markharro

Thanks @AliG thats a good point about the cavity - I think I will see if I can persuade BC on that. How many mm of gap between your cladding boards do you have out of interest?

Hi @AliG I am just at the stage now of having to check this tedious fire barrier stuff - like you it seems we are having open timber cladding and it seems totally pointless. Our vertical battens are 45mm deep and horizontals 22mm giving 67mm in total. Is that similar to you? What product did you end up using - was it the Envirograf ? Also how did you deal with the Envirograf being blue I think and the Tenmat red when, you like, we are looking for something black to camouflage with our black membrane and battens etc? thanks. PS did you ask Building Control if you could just dispense with the stuff for the wall sections where you are using open cladding? Same with the insect mesh - both seem pointless and just more money down the drain.

what do you use for coolant?

Yes I'd like to know that too!

I have done the same @Dan F now so will have the option to fit temp probes down the line. Is there any cheap and easy to set up digital display I can get to wire the probes to so I can observe the temps visually?

As someone who has three phase brought into our building site currently powering our outbuildings on Octopus via a smart meter I've been reading this thread with some interest. Once our house is built over the summer I have just committed to installing about 6.5kw of PV on the roof with the space to increase this to the maximum 11kw in the future. I agonised over a battery but decided against it as they just seem to be incredibly expensive compared to a car battery for example. We will be installing an ASHP and have an electric car although its charging requirements are minimal. So I wondered whether this Flux tariff would work for us without a battery? Or should I reconsider a battery?

Thanks - will these have as much holding power as annular nails of the same length?

Hi @Mr Punter are these nails glue coated ie is the red colour glue?

Another vote for MBC - they are bringing our frame next week!

Just said 4mm diameter screws with no mention of whether they are to be SS or otherwise. I have a box of smooth shank 90mm nailgun nails so had hoped to use those. I know they are not annular but I had read somewhere that the tips have a glue covering that heats up on insertion to glue to the wood fibres. No idea if thats correct? If I do use screws I have read guidance elsewhere thats states 6mm! Also what length do I need for a 50mm batten. And I am totally confused by all the various designs of single and double threads and other more subtle variations.

What do you mean "adverse conditions" - I assume you mean poorly installed? What should I look out for to quality check the install?

Thanks @Nickfromwales this is exactly what I was looking for. Is your 700mm of gravel under the 150x150mm cut out or under the whole pad? I was a little thrown by this issue when the plumber who came last week to pressure test our UFH manifold told me that the ASHP unit could discharge up to 100 litres of water a day. Even to a layman like me this seemed improbable.

We are having an 5kw ASHP installed in a couple of months so my question is what thickness of concrete pad to pour for it and how to deal with the drainage ie will putting the pad over Xmm of hardcore do?

Hi we are using vertical timber cladding on our timber frame so will have vertical 50x50mm battens to fix to the frame first then horizontal counter battens. I was planning to nailgun the verticals with 90mm nails but the engineer is saying screws! Is there a specific type/length of screw that would be recommended? thanks

Hi @saveasteadinginterested to read this. We want to do all we can to ensure our newly poured slabs cure as well as possible. There were poured 2 days apart on Mon and Wed. I have now covered the earlier pour with polythene and intent to cover the Wed pour probably after tomorrow's rain. Is this a good plan? Should I be periodically removing the sheeting to spray over some water? We have just over 10 days until our timber kit arrives so keen to spend that time trying to tend the slabs optimally. After that the sheets around the perimeter at least will have to come off to allow the external walls to be fitted etc

I've just had Abacus Groundworks doing ours - highly recommended but extremely busy

Thanks - so actually all I need to do atm is to bury some sections of tube - any recommendations on how deep into the slab to fit the tube - right down to the bottom for example? Ours will be a 150mm slab?

Hi @Dan F I am thinking I may aim to instal 2 or 3 of these sensors. I see the chat about there being a lot of counterfeits around. Do you have a link to where I can buy the real deal - ideally with a long enough wire to stretch to above slab level? What is the logic behind putting them in plastic pipe - to be able to replace easily if they ever break? WHat is the minimum kit I would need to connect them to a display on the wall to show the temps? thanks

Thanks - looks like I need a cobalt bit

something that will get through a 3/4mm steel plate without taking all day as the cheapo stuff I have is currently taking? thanks

Thanks for comments...so a few questions...as @Dan Fsaid its my understanding also that the Vaillant system has a humidity sensor also but I think that that is simply for the air in the room. My understanding is that the cooling risk is that you get condensation within the slab. Thats why I thought you needed some sort of sensor or sensors in the slab. But @jothseems to say no but then goes on to say fit the sensors in any event!?

Our installer says that there is no option to wire up sensors to either the Vaillant ASHP controls or UFH etc so I am wondering if there is some sort of Raspberry Pi solution to give me a basic monitoring of slab temps/humidity so that I can decide if it is safe to run the ASHP on cooling mode? Our slab gets poured in about 10 days so I need to know what sort of sensors and how many of them to buy with a view (I am assuming) to having them embedded in the slab during the concrete pour? thanks

Hi @ETC generally just below roof lines and top and bottom of window openings; top of GF door; and midline between GF and FF

That the stuff I saw first - its about £30 a metre!!

So I can see @Kelvin- can you link to the product you are using if possible?