SimonD

Yes indeed, sorry, even my attempt to explain the rules got confused - I meant to say standard rate! Reading through the lines I can't conclude anything other than that the government is fundamentally pro-business and anti-consumer at the same time. God forbid the government should allow peons like us to own our own agency and make our houses warmer ourselves, especially when they think it doesn't even occur to people to buy value items instead of branded ones in the supermarket to save money. But then maybe they realised that supply chains are so wrecked that they couldn't handle people going out and buying loads of insulation at once, what chaos would that cause...it could be as bad as loo roll..

Are you referring to the new rules introduced in April? If so, VAT on the installation of insulation would be reduced to 0%, but that's as long as the insulation is provided by and installed by the contractor. If you go and buy it yourself for diy install or to get someone to install it, it would still be 5% on the insulation, but the labour if you got someone in to do it, would be zero rated. Go figure who thought all this up.... See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-on-energy-saving-materials-and-heating-equipment-notice-7086

Yep, that's correct. It's obviously not the recommended buildup and due to various building delays has been in use for a lot longer than imagined and planned. My upcycled garden office has just a slightly different filling of insulation in that the studs weren't deep enough to accommodate 100mm of insulation so I installed two layers of 50mm, one between the studs and the other within counter battens to the inside, then the osb. It gets used, fully heated for upwards of 60 hours per week, has never had a problem with condensation and my wife says it's comfortable all seasons. I've used the garden office as a bit of a test to see if it does attract bugs and stuff, including leaving a gap created by damaged cladding where I can see the insulation. It's still there, intact and no sign of any bug activity anywhere and no damp. One spring there were some little birds that pulled some out from this gap, which I later found in a nest in the bushes, must have been very comfy for them. I used Thermafleece which isn't a pure wool as it uses a percentage of recycled polyester. Very happy with how it has performed. In the house I have almost the same buildup but it adds a breather membrane and ventilation space behind the cladding which is really how it should be done.

Good to know, ta 🙂

Reliance Heatguard Tempering Valve

Yes, you can get a mixer valve. I have one included in my thermal store and you just set the flow temp to whatever you want. The store also has an immersion heater that heats to approx 80 deg C. Once budget permits this will be used with PV. The TS is designed for 80 degrees.

I always use an air hammer with an inline lubricator. Bear in mind also that the cheaper models tend to have a lower maximum pressure. I've wrecked a few purely due to connecting them straight to a compressor outlet running at 8-10bar for nailing and then the air hammer mechanism jams in short order. The Erbauer air hammer IIRC needs max 6bar pressure and will work fine for what you need.

That's quite good compared to the measure of some professional and law firms where it can be more about being seen to be present, whether or not you're actually doing anything, let alone doing anything good!

Not to mention that there are a large number of district judges that don't have a proper handle on the law and some of them don't even know proper procedure. And then there's the organisation, or not, of the county courts themselves. I two cases we've turned up to hearings and the judge has sat there and said he doesn't know anything about the claim because he hasn't seen the bundle and questioned if it has been filed!

I agree with @Conor. I have a cordless Bosch Professional that's been impressive. The other option if you have a compressor is to use an air hammer - so light you can hold with one hand and can be bought dead cheap. I used an air hammer to remove concrete render from the back of my house and to remove all the existing plaster inside. The only limitation with an air hammer is the width of the chisel attachment but you can get some up to 75mm which I believe Sealey sells for one of its hammers.

As @Temp suggests, send them a copy of the report with a clearly set out rectification list that you require them to resolve and ask for a response within a given time - e.g. 14days. Unfortunately, if you have to make a claim in court you will need to play the game to really show that they were not willing to sort out the problem. At the moment, they could quite easily just sit there in court and say you didn't give them an opportunity to resolve the problems, that in their view it was all good and you didn't give the them the report and a list of the problems. \They could even argue that you didn't give them the opportunity to obtain an independent report themselves. Why do I know this? I've been in court with a lying toad that despite all my evidence and a surveyors report, slimed his way out of it. Out of a claim of thousands of pounds he got away with it apart from £600 which I then didn't even see because of all the various court/surveyor costs. Hence, why you need to at the very least have a conversation with a solicitor who will guide you - and sometimes, just getting the solicitor to write the letter for you will tip the problem in your favour by showing that you mean business. If this is that important to you, don't try to do this DIY. Have you looked at any insurance policy you might have that covers legal costs? BTW, that workmanship looks super terrible and shoddy! It looks like they bent the cladding by hand. I dread to think what the underlying detailing like flashings, trims and aprons is like!

It's good to know the history of this and makes perfect sense. It was only briefly described to me by a tradesman a while ago. I suppose today it pretty much means the same as you describe in that it keeps the money coming in when there's nothing else better, but as soon as there is they're off to that.

I contemplated this years ago and then did the daft thing of deciding to build a house on my own (that's another story). I spoke to some local developers to find out more about the business. One small developer explained that one of the most important things was to have good relationships with the local trades so that you know who you're working with and who to get in when. If you don't have these relationships, the process becomes far more difficult, time consuming and risky. I know someone locally who decided to try it out and used some known trades but because he's not know by the trades as a developer, he got put on the so called hospital job* list and had to wait over 6 months for the plumbing and heating to be finished and similarly it took months to get the wiring done. * a hospital jo is a job where the trades pop in every now and again when they're free as it's seen as a long job without deadline so they take their time and sometimes just forget about it. Start small with the purpose of developing the relationships and then build from there.

I don't suppose you can show photos? Have you been back to the installers to show them the report? I would provide a copy of the report together with a strong letter carefully worded to provide them with a final opportunity to reconsider their position and to give their proposal for rectification in accordance with the report within a reasonable amount of time. Explain that unless they do provide a satisfactory proposal for rectification you intend to proceed with rectification by another installer and will seek damages from them. The other thing to consider is if they're members of any builder's/roofer's trade organisation which has a complaints process. Although I would advise caution here as a number of years ago I did this and found the organisation to be as corrupt as the trademan I was dealing with (they exist for subsciption revenue not the customer). However, if the avenue is available, and you haven't explored it first, the court will not look favourably on you because the civil procedure rules require you to exhaust all options to resolve the problem before taking legal action. Do get yourself some legal advice and help. Once upon a time the courts used to be fairly good and permissive with litigants in person but in more recent times, I've found the courts and judges to be hostile to litigants in person and they will make you pay for any minor procedural infraction (both district and circuit judges, but district judges seemed to have become the worst) - years ago they tended to be more flexible and helpful.

Ideally, but sadly my cutting list doesn't fit into the Birch sheets I've got left! The faces of the drawers are all Birch ply as are all the cabinet and cupboard carcasses, but I think I'm going to have to settle for a B face softwood ply for the drawer carcasses due to cost - the BB Birch ply sheets are now between about £130 - £180 per sheet + VAT, compared to the softwood pine with a better grade face for £29 - £35+ VAT! Once they're finished up with some oil I don't think anyone except for me is going to notice when we open the drawers.

Maybe we should club together for a class action suit..

Screwfix and Toolstation are a scourge to productivity. It is just far too easy to justify getting a couple of pipe connectors, a single paint roller sleeve, drill bit, or packet of screws, and then driving half way across town to pick it up during the afternoon instead of doing something far more important. I now really try to be more organised and save up the orders to just get them delivered next day free.

I prefer to call my many lacks of skills opportunities to learn...whether I actually manage to take advantage of those opportunities is another matter, which I refuse to discuss 😁 Yes, procrastination is a big one. 1. I find myself procrastinating because I'm worried I've made the wrong decision so leave it some time to make sure it's the right decision. God, what a hole that is to get into. 2. Another one is 'organic design' or in other words, designing things as you go and changing your mind, a habit that feeds the procrastination of No 1. (Mind you, this way you do eventually get exactly what you want.. so far me and my whole family have been very happy with the decisions that took this route. It's some of the quick and poorly considered ones I regret.) Another thing for me is that stupidly optimistic tendency to think it's going to be easier that it is. I can now never forget the time honoured advice of Lao Tzu from over 2000 years ago that said something along the lines of: always plan for a journey to be much harder than you think. I wish that'd been at the forefront of my mind when I started, but we live and learn. Now I'm aware that writing this post is a form of procrastination because I'm trying to fit a cutting list as efficiently as possible onto some sheets of plywood and I can't decide whether to use the very expensive Birch plywood or some cheaper softwood plywood to build numerous kitchen drawers to go in carcasses that I'd originally planned to be cabinets....🙄

Not at all local to you but I can recommend Buckland Timber but fear delivery costs. Recent updates I've received from them indicate they're having to offer alternative timbers in their glulams, such as Douglas Fir etc. due to supply chain issues and costs.

IME the Soudal Fix All Flexi is very good.

If so, he/she would have had to order 2400 x 1200 plywood sheets. Most suppliers still stock 8' x 4' so you end up with 16 or 24" centres. It's so annoying... you can however just batten horizontally to the inside of the plywood at 600 centres, a space you could use for more insulation and services. If any help, I have an all seasons garden office I insulated with sheepswool insulation, no vapour barrier, no breather membrane, just osb to the inside of the frame. It's held up fine for years.

Interesting. I've just had some weird conversations with them this week. They've claimed I haven't submitted required evidence for my structural warranty. I had the structural inspection nearly 2 years ago which was signed off. I told them I'd received an email from their oppointed warranty inspector that I'd satisfied all this evidence and everything was clear (thankfully I still have the email). They then said that wasn't enough as they hadn't seen the evidence. So I asked them to ask him as I'd sent it all through nearly 2 years ago and they declined asking me to send it directly to them for assessment by their technical auditor. I fear games are about to commence on this one.

The answer is both yes and no. Theoretically it's very straighforwards but in practice it can be more challenging and time consuming depending on the existing timber, finish and so forth, so it can't always be guaranteed.

Part L is going to catch a lot of installers out. It's both confusing and somewhat contradictory. And the fact that new/replacement wet heating systems must be designed for a max flow temp of 55 degrees is going to challenge a good number of heating engineers/plumbers who don't usually even touch a heat loss calculation... or ever consider the primary energy demand, let alone that some heating choices might only be installed if you seriously upgrade energy efficiency. The changes are largely a good thing but the the way it's being approached is another. Lots of headaches to come.

Neither are mine...nor am I for that matter. I hadn't worked in construction ever before taking on the build. Works for us and the stairs may stay as the final staircase for the house 😀