SimonD

3-4mm all round should be fine. When choosing your glue, as mentioned use a D4 but do make sure it's of the polyurethane type that has some natural expansion as this will fill small gaps and voids - as advised by @MikeSharp01

Yes, best not to go there, eah? As in a set screw type thingies? They don't use nuts and typically go into threaded components so the screw taxonomy gets my vote 😁

Unless you go by the definition that bolts are used to assemble unthreaded assemblies (using a nut) and screws threaded assemblies, including when they're self tapping. 😊😉 Here is doesn't really matter if they're fully threaded or not. So a woodscrew is a screw unless it uses a nut....but then you have machine screws, that can and do use nuts...... I'll get my coat and leave the argument to all those more sensible than me 😁

Good luck. Just ask if there are any other questions and I'll try and answer as best I can. I had no head for heights and was crapping myself when I was crawling all over the roof structure and roof to get it built. I've always had a problem with heights but this build has now pushed that discomfort from starting at only a few meters to when my feet are at 6.4m above ground - i.e. the height of my roof. I'd did buy and use a proper harness which helped. Now I'll quite happily hang off the scaffolding at that height which is probably the wrong thing for health and safety - Kwikstage scaffolding has great standards for shimmying up when you can't be bothered to go round to the ladder (hhme, perhaps I shouldn't admit that 🙂). One of the neighbours actually said to my wife that they were relieved when I stopped having to hang off the roof and scaffolding and they could now relax again! Strange to think self-build can actually be therapeutic! 😁

Mightily kind words indeed. Always nice to receive feedback that what I've written is helpful!

Really good questions, I'll try and answer them as best I can. Doing it myself was definitely not taken lightly and it wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination, but at the same time it also didn't end up as difficult as perhaps I'd thought once I got on with it. My project is technically a renovation/extension so I didn't have any VAT questions to deal with, but I went for self-fit mainly because I got such a huge variation in quotations for the fit. Lowest was about £4.2k, the hightest just under £8k. None included lifting equipment and I knew I'd need lifting equipment even if it was just to get the windows across the front banking to the house. Having personally seen (and read on here about) poor quality installations, I cynically surmised that I'd be better off ensuring detailing was done on installation rather than once the installers had already legged it from site, or further down the road. I know someone who used a known reputable company to supply and install and have had years of headaches down to poor installation, a fight probably going all the way to the courts because every time the company promises to come and fix the problems, they cancel a few days before visiting, or don't turn up. If I did it myself I'd only have myself to blame! Another reason is that all my ground floor windows are fitted externally to the walls to sit within the new EWI. I needed some additional detailing information about this for the most appropriate approach. But also to put it into context, I have built the whole house entirely myself, with the only exception of a 2 man team and crane to install the steel frame. I felt I'd be cheating on myself if I got someone else in to do this 😁 I measured, and re-measured, and re-measured, and re-measured.... the as-built rough openings. I know this part is a worry for a lot of people but it's just about being careful with the tape measure and re-checking the readings. I went for 8-10mm clearance. This really wasn't a problem. I ended up switching supplier having received a final massively inflated quote from the supplier I'd originally selected. This meant a change from aluminium to timber sills and a change in position of the frames within the openings - I had to move the frames slightly out from the timber frame on the first floor. All the relevant technical details about minimum frame support were available from the manufacturer. Then, in terms of weathering, it was just a case of doing the math to specify to total cill extension needed for either the cladding or render portions of the house. The more difficult process was detailing the rough openings within the timber frame and the EWI as I couldn't find a great amount of easily available and reliable information about this in the public domain. I got some from the window/door manufacturer which was very helpful, but then had to spend a lot of time doing research on this. I made up my own window and door sill trays where necessary too. I also got some detailing information from the EWI manufacturer. This part of the process was fine but time consuming. I've used a mixture of expanding tapes and airtight tapes internally (on the bay returns and EWI), and Soudal's SWS window system which comprises and external sealant, foam around the frame, and then either an airtight internal sealant or the LQ airtight liquid membrane. As a note of experience from the inexperienced, I've used a lot of the expanding foam tapes from several different manufacturers in the detailing of the EWI as the EWI requires a lot of extra careful detailing around any openings that comprises several stages of weather protection. What I've found is that when it's the middle of winter and the tape has been in the freezer, you've got loads of time to install the stuff before it expands. In the summer, when it's warm and you're using the expanding foam tapes to fill between about 3 - 12mm, it's expansion rate means you've got to work really fast even if it's been stored in the freezer! In this sense, when working alone, I prefer using the Soudal SWS sealant so you've got all the time you need to get the window into the rough opening, set it all true and plumb, get it fixed and then seal it all up and once set, fill the gap with foam. JMHO. Another tip is to have a section of soft plastic tube on the end of the foam gun so you can push it full depth between window frame and rough opening to ensure full fill of the foam. For the smaller windows I made up a simple dolly and used vacuum lifters as hand holds. For the larger items, I made up a trolly using kwikstage scaffolding with wheels (I bought the wheels with the kwikstage scaffolding). On the trolly I made a lifting arm for a chain hoist and vacuum lifter so I could lift the window/door onto the trolly from the pallet, then pushed the trolley round to the lifting point - with the really heavy items like the french doors I towed the trolley with my mini dumper. For the heay windows I used a rented vacuum lifter hung on the end of the chain hoist but for the smaller units I used a Grabo together with some Faithful heavy duty manual vacuum lifters used as handles to make it easy to move and position the unit.

So these are your risk points. The lime on its own should be fine for woodfibre but the risk is what paints have been used on the lime that might render it unbreathable. It's not unknown to find some so-called breathable paints that actually have an sd value equal to a 10 meter thick wall!

Just saw this.... I found a really helpful 5min video on YouTube that went through the process of getting the thinning and other settings right - probably saved me hours of grief and only took a few sprays set it up in the end.

As you've already suggested, you've tanked the critical areas and you're installing the boards to go over the top edge of the shower tray and be sealed. If you're putting the sealant on, apply it to the top of the shower tray and then fix the boards on top of that so that the sealant is squidged between the board and tray and then clean it up nicely. I went extra by also having a final silicon bead at the bottom of the microcement/shower tray but is probably not necessary at all going by the installation guidelines. +1 to using the fine surface treatment to fill all the screw holes and joints before applying primer and mesh and do use scrim tape for the corners rather than the base layer mesh. I've just done this on my new kitchen worktop and it was so much easier. Are you doing it yourself? Microcement kitchen worktop although i decided on this occasion not to make the sink out of microcement too - just couldn't muster the energy for that much. (It looks more blue on the photo than it is, which is a 'silver' grey).

I would give the window lifting department at Hird a call. They were very good and helpful for me. Several options of vacuum lifters and potentially glazing robots. https://hird.co.uk/products/glass-vacuum-lifters/ https://hird.co.uk/products/glazing-robots/

If you look at the steico buildups there is one key difference. In the first example, the woodfibre is bonded directly to bare solid brickwork and therefore it doesn't require breather membrane or vcl. In the second example a vcl is used because there is an existing internal render on the masonry wall. Because this internal render is not likely to be very vapour permeable or hygroscopic, the vcl is used. Otherwise you end up with a risk of interstitial condensation at the face of the internal render. Do you have bare solid brick or is your wall already lined with plaster to which you're intending to fix the iwi?

That's good to know. Hopefully they can all build more of them as we surely need them.

Yes, definitely check your installer's history. I won't name the company but a rep called me the other day asking me if I was planning to order more ewi as I hadn't bought from them in a while (I'm doing the ewi on my house myself). I said yes and that I'd be ordering some more supplies in the next couple of months. They said they'd keep my account open and next thing I know I've been given pro installer status and can get access to their warranties etc. I have no background and very little experience and thankfully would never in a million years be selling my services for this, but I'm sure there are those that would.

And your photo has just reminded me that I forgot to tape a couple of duct joints before I fitted some kitchen cupboards and splashback! Thanks

Oh yeah, but I did love it.

The real problem, especially with energy and food prices right now is not supply and demand. It's a convenient distraction and spouted to hide the reality of the game. With so much of what we consume, prices and supply are controlled by exchanges and investment vehicles (like those managed by hedge funds and investment banks) - this is where the real problem lies as they're going to milking it together with the oil and gas producers whos fixed costs have not increased.

I used to prep and cook 3 courses for up to 120 people in a small galley kitchen on a steam boat on one of the large lakes in Sweden. There were 2 of us working the kitchen and the total area was smaller than both my current and past kitchens. As you say, for working kitchens it's about function, but I personally really like the form of commercial kitchens, maybe coz I love the process of cooking. My wife doesn't like the commercial form so I wasn't allowed stainless worktops, but I have designed a simple minimalist kitchen for function.

Goodness me, what, and consider our houses to be homes rather than pure investment vehicles? I don't know what the world would come to. But more seriously, I think this thread demonstrates how our thinking has changed so much that the purchase and upgrade of insulation boils down to a mere economic decision. Do people make this same calculation when spunking tens of thousands on bathrooms and kitchens? Priorities are all wrong I think but as a bit of an oddball, when I started designing my extension/renovation/build, the first thing that came to my mind was how I could achieve a comfortable, warm and healthy home.

What a brilliant summation of the current situation. For many years I used to decamp to our cabin in Sweden for months on end. Used to find it the most refreshing thing to do. I've been in the continuous slog for far too long and building a house only brought a brief reprieve until the reality of what a monumental task it was I'd taken on.

I'll join you in the cafe by the sea....😁 Recently they've become so brash they don't even hide it anymore.

So looking at the controls in more detail and from what you've said, it appears that it's either weather compensation or Opentherm load compensation rather than a combination of both. I wonder if there are any figures for which generally provides the best balance between energy efficiency and comfort?

Ah, yes, weather compensation is in. Currently gas going in with upsized rads for 55 degree flow temps for future heatpump upgrade. Although technically a renovation & extension, it's got good insulation standard (better than BR newbuild), good airtighntess, 3g glazing, 5 bedrooms and a few other rooms - actually room numbers is fluid as we're probably now leaving a large portion of the house open plan. I'm currently also leaving my options open for additional insulation within service voids so may get even better. Total heat loss calc inc 3kW for water is 8833 watts. 18kW boiler that can modulate down to 3.6kW which is the lowest I could find.

It is simplistic to suggest it's just conservative ideology (as from a political context, the current government isn't really functioning like conservatives), but unfortunately the problems we see ourselves faced with are down to ideology; it's ideology that's started the war in Ukraine; it's ideology that has caused the huge hike in energy prices (because energy price is market based thus price is affected by influences other than merely supply & demand; we're seeing a similar thing happening with food as so much of it is also market based and controlled by a small number of mega private companies. Our current government are as blinded by over financialised, market based economics, mixed in with a scewed view of meritocracy and individualism, that allows them to blame each individual for their circumstances and are thus ideologically opposed to helping the disadvantaged. Add into this the effect the implementation of this ideology has had very much since the 1980s and you get the current convergence of businesses running their finances based on value extraction - high debt fueled by low interest rates that funds share buy back and generous dividend payments to shareholders while reducing/ceasing investment and R & D (since Steve Jobs diesd, even Apple has started to lean in this direction). Then you have the current government acting in exactly the same way with public funds - distributing vast amounds of public money to private entities that operate less efficiently and shovel the returns into the pockets of their shareholders rather than back to the public. Perfect storm....because the inaction is down to willful blindness of these fundamental problems. Goodness, that's not actually meant to sound like a monumental rant..... I'll get my coat....😁😁

As the title really. Anyone able to provide a view on these systems, their preference and why? But also, if you have any of the above, what's your experience been? I'm also considering the 'smart' trv modules and wondering whether they're worth it over well set up manual trvs running with opentherm and system running hot water priority to avoid unwanted heating system temperature peaks. Thanks.

There seems to be a phrase gaining popularity with MPs and ministers doing the rounds atm saying that something isn't consistent with 'conservative ideology' as a reason for not doing it. There is no other reason not to. I remember back in the old days when there were insulation grants getting a whole lorry load of loft insulation for our house for the princely sum of £98 all in and delivered, I think the cavity wall insulation cost us an eyewatering £400 or so.