Alan Ambrose

Of course a simple option is to take one or more sockets out and see if you can see what’s going on behind them.

>>> you may have chosen the wrong product. Possibly, I think that’s the only Ubbink choice for the flow I need. But … I’ve found elsewhere that the Ubbink range doesn’t appear to have had a lot of thought behind it. Will see if I can cobble together a hack.

A practical option might be a smoke source e.g. incense stick or smoke pen to figure out where the worst leaks are. If they’re small leaks, there’s a system called Aerobarrier that might help. Agree though that a ‘professional’ leak test measurement would be something to go back to the developer with - particularly if the result is outside the building control limits.

>>> Why don't you use ubbink foam duct? I am, this drops into 180mm foam duct. >>> You mean weathertight? I am mainly concerned about the airtightness of the ply box that is the roof (that has the foam duct running within) - there’s a membrane and a metal roof to go on top. The main problem is logistical - I’ll take a few pics when I’m up there. Ubbink (who are not good designers imo and have clearly never installed their own products in anger) seem to assume the whole contraption pokes through into an attic where it can be joined to the duct afterwards. (Although how it would be sealed, I can’t imagine.) I have the duct in place and a hole in the right place in the ply and want to install from above. Unlike some Ubbink roof terminals, this one doesn’t seem to be designed to be installed sequentially from above. If the cowling could be installed last following the 2nd sleeve that would work. But that’s not how it’s designed.

Good point about wall ties. I had thought about those, then forgotten about them… Reporting back: + wavy Bahco saw hard to push through XPS even with wax on saw to help. Possible, but hard work and needs some skill to keep the cut flat - the saw tends to bow and then the cut ends up bowed. + wavy jigsaw blades also dodgy - causing lots of vibration presumably due to friction. Was actually melting the xps. + hot knife works ok but I need to think out some sort of jig to cut a uniform profile.

Congrats - any tips you can pass on?

… and made it an airtight seal with the roof. This guy: https://www.ubbink.com/gb/products/building/roof-terminals/pitched-roof-terminals/roof-terminal-insulated-ub48-180mm-black/ Best idea we have is to cut the pipe, install in the roof, and then use a SC200 rubber pipe connector to join the stuff above - assuming we can get to it.

Yeah if the ‘minor amendment’ is a variation of condition, my LPA makes a new planning ref which then requires the cil commencement thingy. Total bollox - I have 3 VoCs in, none of which change the floor area and therefore the CIL amount doesn’t change - so we’re going to play this stupid game at least 3 times. Tell me again how LPAs are short of resources…

>>> Messy but a hot knife won't work. Why not? Otherwise I would suggest a Winons hot knife.

Guess I have to ask - why would panel prices be going up?

Sorry, just busy for a few days + BH system never sending any notifications. Pretty much any time is good.

I’m looking for some cost effective airtight split tape to tape the inside ‘external’ corners e.g. wall to soffit, wall to window boxes. Any recommendations?

Tried the tracksaw followed by handsaw idea today. Works fine, but we actually need the tracksaw at 60 degrees and it has a max of 45. I've also ordered a hot wire cutter, a Bahco wavy saw and some Bosch wavy jigsaw blades to try. Intend to build a jig somewhat like @Super_Paulie 's. Will report back.

@JohnMo Pretty much this:

I have a bunch (~72m) of Ravatherm XPS blocks 100mm x 600mm x 1,250mm I need to make some cuts reasonably accurately at 30 degree angles. Something like below, if you're looking from the ends of the boards. Anyone have a great method? The cut surface on the slope is 200mm long.

Sounds like a lot of progress to me. Thankfully the weather is heading in the right direction now.

Suspect that’s for eps beads rather than wood fibre or cellulose. I hope the same might be true for those two though.

An interesting problem. ‘Interesting’ for me at least in that we’re about to have insulation blown-in and an answer to what happens if ‘membranes fail and the insulation gets wet’ would be reassuring. I think you need either a proper creative engineer or someone who has fixed this problem before. Sure, call the blown-in importers as they may have exposure to this problem before. You might need their CEO or their top tech person rather than be fobbed off with a lead to their local representative. Alternatively, call a bunch of the local representatives (mostly one-man businesses), describe the problem and see who bites. I’m wondering whether some more creative solutions e.g. just let it dry out or suck out the damp stuff and blow in some dry stuff might work. Do report back to add some info to the hive mind.

>>> Shall we all make a date for say Thurs March 19th? ?

Don’t know if this helps any - it’s fairly common to bevel the plasterboard below and above the window. (We have ours bevelled in all 4 directions, but that’s a bit of a faff.) Would that help your objective?

Maybe there’s another staircase design that means the ‘rsj’, or replacement, can still do a similar span? Also, it’s possible that an SE can design something that will have the same structural effect but not impinge on the stairs. The good news is that there won’t be many bidders prepared to absorb the cost & risk of structural work. Start flinging out very low bids to see whether it might make financial sense? Agree that previous developer is a fool, so there may be other stuff lurking. You should be able to see on the land registry what the previous developer paid for it. That might be a psychological bottom line for them.

UK technology company Automated Architecture, or AUAR (pronounced “our”) believes it has a solution. It makes portable micro-factories that can produce the wooden framing of a house — the walls, floors and roofs. Co-founder Mollie Claypool says the micro-factories will be able to produce the panels quicker, cheaper and more precisely than a timber framing crew, freeing up carpenters to focus on the construction of the building. AUAR has raised £7.7 million ($10.3 million) to date, and is expanding into the US, where a lack of housing and preference for using wood makes it a large potential market https://edition.cnn.com/world/home-building-robots-housing-crisis-auar-spc

FYI I see: Bosig/Warmotech Phonotherm RG 550 - 7MPa @ 10% - 0.076 W/mK CompacFoam CF 200 - 3.5 / 0.046 Marmox Thermoblock - 9 (doesn't say at what compression %) / 0.053 (but probably less vertically- the columns are 0.13) (for comparison) Ravatherm XPS 300SB - 0.3 / 0.03 I see there are a bunch of others too - Armatherm, Foamglas, Unifoam etc.

If you don't mind me joining in ... this is my solution atm - I'm not totally happy with it. That is, steel shelf angle resin anchored to side of slab, mostly buried in XPS insulation, and supporting Marmox Thermoblocks for a mix of thermal & load bearing. The brick plinth is Suffolk-barn stylistic rather than load bearing. In my case, the door load falls completely off the slab like Nick's example. Any thoughts gratefully received.

The US dictator will lose interest in Iran quickly - he doesn’t have much of an attention span.