markharro

Hi @Visti how did you floor go? Any issues? How was it done?

Hi @Dudda we are planning to have our 150mm insulated passive slab as our finished floor surface in our new passive house. There will be UFH pipes laid 50mm below the surface. The company laying the slab will power float it to finish but have cautioned that they cant guarantee the finish. They have also raised the issue of cracking and recommended "expansion joints" but said that they wouldn't install these. From some reading I think I would probably need these crack or contraction joints you mention but my concern would be hitting a UFH pipe. Our slab will be on 2 levels and a total of about 150m2. Is cracking inevitable without joints? How bad could it be? Can cracks be filled if they occur? thanks

Hi we are planning to have a power floated slab as our finished floor surface. I was thinking of applying Sikafloor ProSeal W - https://www.rawlinspaints.com/home/floor-paints/floor-sealers/1542-sikafloor-proseal-w.html?gclid=CjwKCAiAmuKbBhA2EiwAxQnt72lVa5Y-KR9dS83fdH9pL4WPUkN7B6KcZVjnsokdhLAhIF5tM2oVfxoCrF4QAvD_BwE - after the powerfloat. How does the Sika product compare to this Watco sealer? thanks

Ah there may be a problem - this seems to output at 5V and 2.4A and from what I have read online the Homepod needs a minimum of 9V to operate! Thats annoying

Actually, I think I may just have found exactly what I need - https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SF8909AT.html?source=adwords&ad_position=&ad_id=&placement=&kw=&network=x&matchtype=&ad_type=pla&product_id=SF8909AT&product_partition_id=&campaign=shopping_excluded&version=finalurl_v3&gclid=Cj0KCQiAsdKbBhDHARIsANJ6-jdkcwWJPpdPbp34vpSIt5vrNwm1uBoRWfpm-70j4HK5Bj9iTgLu_NMaAmNMEALw_wcB Would this work?

I have very basic knowledge in this area - I know that normally shaver plug sockets only are allowed. However would there be any option to provide USB C power for this gadget and if so how? thanks

I am trying to plan for whether I need to instal an aerial for Freeview. Does anyone know if there is any likelihood that the full set of Freeview channels will be provided over a standard hard wired broadband connection at any point in the same way you can access eg iplayer? thanks

Thanks very much @AliG - it does look like its the radon area issue that has thrown this up. My argument as you say was that we will put a radon membrane but apparently that's not enough for BC as additional mitigation might be needed if the readings are too high! So that means the hundreds of existing houses in this area can bask in the radon but not us! More £ down the drain and more delay....at times I get so so fed up with this process.

Building control have now thrown a request for a "Geo Environmental" report at me focusing it seems on radon and more general potential contamination although the latter is a compete mystery. BC state "our records show that the property in in a radon zone and very close to an area where historically the land use may have been contaminated". As far as my own research goes the area was all farmland etc under housing was built. In any event I have just spoken to the BC officer and he says that I need to get this report and that its needed for all new build houses he seemed to say. I don't know why my architect didn't flag this up with my months ago as it is now going to hold up our warrant but anyway. @AliG did you need to get one of these reports? It seems like Aitkens can do them - I really wish I knew about this when I got them in for the soil capacity report,.

It is MBC - yes prefab timberframe but that SIPS is it not?

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/ is a good audio forum. I am trying to decide on my own audio requirements for our new house. I'm lucky that I already have a separate garden office hifi den but I would like to instal something half decent in the house. Like you, we will have a double height kitchen/dining/living room. Ideally I would like to plonk an amplifier in our plant room and then probably use my Innuos Zen as the main source as I can control it via its App on my phone. The only issue with this is how to control the volume as the Innuos Sense App doesnt let you do that I think. This may dictate having to bring the amp into the main living space so I can get line of sight with its remote control. For speakers I was thinking about floor standers but I think they will get in the way. I may get a decent pair of bookshelf speakers and wall mount them. The other option is to use flush mounted ceiling speakers but I am not sure the audio quality would satisfy me. I am also trying to decide about audio in the bathroom - this would be via ceiling speakers but here the issue is the source and volume control - I may have to look into raspberry pi media servers and work out if I can use that as a streaming source and control content and volume from a phone app. Something like an Apple homepod probably makes more sense for hands free but there is the issue of how you use that in a bathroom and being too miserly to pay for the Apple music content.

Thanks - I had no idea these existed. So in summary if I just wanted to stream from eg iplayer or Netflix in up to 4k a CAT6 or 6A cable will do fine? If we were talking uncompressed 4 or 8k presumably that would need to come into the house via a fibre-optic cable using some sort of pay TV service/box. I don't use these so can the box be put in a central place and then multiple cable feeds be taken using HDMI to remote TVs? So this is where using the AOC cables would come in?

Thanks @George can you point me to any guidance on additives to use depending on conditions etc?

I have a connected question. We will be laying an insulated slab intending to use the powerfloated concrete as our final floor finish. What is best practise on cutting expansion joints? We will have UFH 50mm under the slab so that is one issue and of course no rooms/doorways.

We also have bought a reduced Bora hob from a show-room and were hoping to flush mount it. We collected it and watched as it was removed from its flush mount in the showroom and saw something like a metal perimeter ledge somehow bonded or fixed into the worktop a few mm below the surface that the hob sat into. What I haven't yet investigated is whether something like this could be sourced and fitted as a DIY project?

Likewise we used a Neff for over a year prior to the old house demo and no issues and that with me not being overly careful half the time. Now bought a ex-demo Bora for the new house - if that ever gets out of the ground - so Im hoping that Bora dont use some sort of inferior glass!

Its ok its the same company doing slab and the SIP instal!

One of the issues is that the company laying the slab are based in England and won't be happy if they had to wait to do the pour until the temp relented. Yes we have thought about that but Its a SIP build and after the frame is up we will be doing a lot of the finishing ourselves so we will only have ourselves to blame if we damage the surface. Yes we are putting in UFH - it goes in 50mm below the concrete surface level.

Annoyingly we are too late to pour our insulated slab now before probably January at the earliest and I face a dilemma. We intend to use the powerfloated surface as our final floor surface so any cracks etc during curing as going to be an issue. We are in Edinburgh so Jan and Feb are the worst months to be contemplating this but everything moves so so slowly in this game that's where we are. I know you can put in admixtures to be able to pour in colder weather but I understand that this can increase the risk of cracks etc. So what do we do? Take a big risk or delay any further progress yet again until the spring proper? thanks

Any chance you could post a link to that please?

I'm afraid this is beyond me technically. I expect this is to do with router capability? I'm only interested atm in the wiring infrastructure. I have no idea what the source of the 8K will be....I guess I am thinking that in the future it may be pure fibre into the house to a new router and then distributed from that or will a 5G modem router be enough? Thats not the point. I'm only interested in what to plan for for wiring from a central spot in the house to possible TV locations. thanks.

Ralph that's very helpful thanks. So assuming we had no runs above 55 metres in the house there is zero to be gained from installing CAT6A? On the 8k, is it worth putting in fibre? Can you do that DIY? What is CAT7 - would that not cope with 8K?

Just thinking ahead. If I am hard wiring to rooms where there will be TVs will CAT6 or CAT6A be ok for 8K TV? thanks

I am being quoted £1000 for Compacfoam 200 for our passive slab by the installer - quantities in the attached image. Can anyone advise whether its likely I would make much saving on the price by sourcing from GBS myself? Or would one of these other products be cheaper and the same spec? thanks

Thanks...can I check though do you need a special PoE variant of CATx cable on does standard stuff work? I understand the toothbrush now I think but could you not just instal a socket with a USB outlet?