Adsibob

That’s an interesting idea. I might give that a go. Thanks!

I have a fairly basic damp meter that I bought from Amazon a few years ago for about £24. It has two sharp prongs that you stick into the solid that you are taking a reading from. I use it mainly to check whether logs that I want to burn are dry, but I did also use it when I bought our house to show the estate agent that the house had obvious damp (even though it was obvious, the agent kept saying it was perfectly dry, and I couldn’t be bothered to get a surveyor in until the price came down a bit). Would such a basic meter work on checking the screed? I would probably only be able to get the two prongs 1mm into the screed, at most. But surely that top 1mm of the screed is the driest.

Wow, that makes Corston look cheap!

Hmmm. Wish I’d found out about this in my hours and hours of research. Too late now. Our Brink Flair 400 went in a month or so ago, though it’s not been commissioned yet. I think Brink do make an enthalpy version, but I had no idea what it was, and as it was slightly less efficient than the regular version. But according to this article, it’s not really a problem in the UK, and the person the article is quoting is the person that specified the design of our system, so doubt he would have advised me to get one head I asked: ”“The average relative humidity in the UK is between lows of 70% and highs of 90% which is considered high, suggesting humidity recovery is not that big an issue in the UK,” Vaisey says.” https://passivehouseplus.ie/news/marketplace/understanding-enthalpy-heat-exchanges-for-mvhr

I hadn’t appreciated this. I find dry air can dry my throat. Is it very noticeable and what causes it?

not sure the label of door hinge porn would be complete without a link to Corston’s offerings: https://www.corston.com/collections/door-furniture works out about £10 to £13 a hinge, depending which ones you choose. With a trade discount that comes down to about £7 to £10 a hinge.

Does anybody ever consider the formaldehyde content of MDF products as a reason for buying plywood or real wood? This article scared me: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/feb/09/mdf-furniture-toxic-fumes-formaldehyde

I absolutely agree. The problem is, he doesn't. I've at least managed to persuade him to wait until next year, by which time it will be 85 days. Hopefully by then the UFH is down in the upper floors (which aren't screeded) and they can work on tiling and flooring that. Sorry to have hijacked this thread!

I'm arguing with my builder about this. Very frustrating that he won't delay tiling. He wants to tile an 80mm screed after 70 days. The formula suggests 110 days. Is that really necessary? I don't really have space for a decoupling matt.

I think it is something to do with the number of pipe connections that it has. Yes, you're right. Incredible. Here it is, has six different screed drying profiles: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1418392/Viessmann-Vitodens-200-W.html?page=148#manual

That's what I'm having to do... or two.

On a separate (and hopefully more useful note) does anybody know why this Pro Clima Tescon Vana tape lists outdoor uses, including "rainproofing", but also says it is only suitable for up to six months of outdoor exposure

Does it? I'll give you a clue: Brexit + Boris = disaster.

Thought I'd update on this after a frantic day of TWO false alarms, or at least I HOPE THEY ARE just false alarms!! Crikey. Ended up ordering the same boiler from both Veissmann direct and from Plumbnation. Both told me it would take until January, and then about ten days later they both miraculously got one, so I cancelled Veissmann direct which was about £150 dearer. After the builder insisting he needed it ASAP, he listened to the plumber and decided it didn't need to be done so urgently. But then I realised that it would really help get the remaining moisture out of the screed floor if we could start to heat the floor up a bit over the Christmas hols as I know my builder is keen to lay the wooden flooring in january and we only poured our screed on 11 October. Plumber is due to go on hols tomorrow, but managed to persuade my builder to get on with the boiler commissioning so that it's done before that given he is away for 4 weeks! Mid way through the day the plumber calls me to say "the jig is in and I've tested the gas, but you've ordered the wrong boiler, this is a combi boiler not a system". This obviously put a big spanner in my plans to have the wood floor laid in January and was particularly galling after all the effort I'd put in to get the boiler. Plumber is convinced it's the wrong boiler but eventually he acknowledges he's mistaken. False alarm 1 dealt with. Blood pressure still high though! At about 8pm I call the plumber to check that he managed to commission it. "Yes" he tells me, "it's on at the moment". "What temperature did you set the floor to?" "Oh I left it at 40C" "Are you sure that's not going to crack the screed? Seems a bit high for a first time" my blood pressure is sky high right now. He tries to reassure me that with the screed having been laid "ages ago it should be fine". But there I am wondering if he knows that our screed is about 90mm in some places and needs much longer than the 64 days we've had. So I call my builder, who is ultimately responsible and he assures me that they switched off the heating before they left. Given they leave at 530pm and at 2pm the boiler was reboxed and ready to go back to the supplier, I can't see how the screed would have been exposed to more than a couple of hours of heat. So fingers crossed there are no issues, but in my head I thought that with sand and cement screed you don't want to heat it too quickly the first time and only increase it by a degree a day. Or is that only the case when there is a virgin wood installation already installed? The house is well insulated with about 6 guys on site, so I think the temp probably gets to about 14 by the end of their day.

Thanks. I gave them a call to check stock and it's out of stock and double the price I had quoted originally. Apparently not available again till late January. It's bonkers this supply chain crisis.

I was due to receive a Reginox 595mm wide 270mm deep (internal depth 250mm) sink this week but the supplier contacted me to say he didn't know when he might get it, implying it could be more than a month. I really need it for second week of January. I don't really want to spend more than £160 (the one I had bought was £112 plus £30 delivery). Anyone know of anywhere that carries stock of 600mm wide belfast/butler's sinks that are quite deep?

Indeed. Another problem with @SteamyTea’s assumptions is that he forgets that whilst walking all weight will be oscillating from one foot to the other.

On our first and second floors, our build up is as follows: 1. 14mm engineered oak herringbone (small pieces) OR 14.5mm engineered oak long planks 2. 6mm ply 3. 25mm warmup branded expanded polystyrene foil faced UFH heating boards 4. 5mm dense rubber matting 5. 22mm Egger chipboard flooring In the bathrooms we are actually using a Cellecta extruded polystyrene product that has a 250kpa compressive strength and can be tiled onto immediately, but for the hallways and bedrooms my builder said I could save money by going with the warmup product. The spec of this product says this I tried squeezing it between my fingers and was surprised that I could reduce it’s thickness by 20% or 25% relatively easily, whereas I cannot do that with the Cellecta product. I told my builder to return it because I thought it was bad quality. He explained that in reality it will never be subjected to those sorts of pinpoint forces because the only and engineered wood will spread the loads. I’m sure he is right, to an extent, but I’m still nervous using something so flimsy feeling. I’m a heavy person 105kg, and I don’t want the floors to squeak underneath me. Am I worrying about nothing or should I insist he return it? He has confirmed he can return it, but he thinks anything stronger is going to be significantly more expensive and that I’m wasting money on it.

This shower is on the second floor. There is no lift. Can’t ever see a wheelchair user using it. Also, I had understood that one of the benefits of an open plan wet room, is that the whole area reaches a similar temperature whilst showering, such that when you step out of the shower, you aren’t cold. A curtain would inhibit that benefit.

If it wasn’t for my allergy to chrome, this looks like it would tick all the boxes: https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjL3Iz9r9z0AhXP3-0KHbGJCgEYABAJGgJkZw&sig=AOD64_1qB5NoZEDyzMrzY2KxoHNIiwwMnQ&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwju8oL9r9z0AhV1nVwKHe9VBnoQwg96BAgBEBs&adurl=

I probably should have said at least 10 or 11. Don’t they say 12 is ideal?

Yeah, that sounds like it works well. But I didn’t really want to introduce anything else into the bathroom as it’s really small already and having any screens, even partial screens, other than the 550mm one already shown will make the shower feel a bit cramped. So was really just looking for a way to house the toilet roll.

There is a company called bathroombydesign which is quite reasonable for supplying most branded stuff at a discount, but you have to ask for a discount, and then when they give you the discounted price, so for a further discount. I didn’t use their design service, but it is probably reasonable. You can also design yourself, by observing a few guidelines: - avoid placing toilets opposite doorways - make sure showering areas are spacious, smaller than 800 by 1000 not recommended, bigger is better - remember that if a wall hung toilet goes on a solid external wall, you will need to build that wall out to contain the frame - pay attention to matching finishes - don’t skimp on brassware - if installing a free standing bath tub, make sure you have plenty of space around it, as they don’t look good right up against a wall

If you want to insulate against heat in summer, design your walls and particularly your roof to have space for thick slabs of wood fibre. At least 140mm. From memory, we did 140mm steicoflex plus 40mm of Steico hardboard. You want to aim for a decrement delay of 10 or 11 hours.