Cambs

I used this to fix foil backed insulation to blockwork. It's good stuff and does go off quite quickly. I think it said on the back of the tin that it'll do 5 or 6 sheets of plasterboard, so about £2.50 a board. https://www.screwfix.com/p/dow-insta-stik-expanding-foam-grab-adhesive-gun-grade-750ml/72793

One of my next jobs is to get an airtight seal on the block walls shown in the picture below. I’ll be doing a parge coat using Gyproc Soundcoat Plus at about £7 - £8 a 25kg bag (assuming I can find it somewhere, at the moment) which will cover 5m2 at 6mm thick. It’ll be behind plasterboard, so my dodgy plastering skills will be well hidden! I looked at Blowerproof and PassivePurple but at about £10/m2 it’s too expensive for large areas.

I will be fitting a length of flexible ducting. That’s why the 150mm pvc pipe shown in the pics is currently running at an angle because I haven’t installed the piece of flexible ducting between the end of the pipe and the MVHR spigot. I need to avoid it being crushed so the plan is, on the final fix, to hang the incoming PVC pipe from the timber frame to stop it crushing the flexible ducting. That’s a good reminder about rubber mounts. I seem to recall that you used bushings from a Mini or something similar?

Thanks for that. The plenum is a tight fit for wall mounting. I took a length of 89mm deep timber to use as a noggin and had to cut a little notch out of it at the front to seat the little lug on the plenum in to. Drilling through the 89mm stud was ok. It’s all nailed down to the floor anyway. The posi-joists are 253mm deep.

I’ve just spent most of last week installing the distribution boxes, ducting and plenums on my BPC/Vent Axia system. I thought it would be worthwhile sharing some pictures, It went well and was relatively easy to do. I tried to keep ducting passing over each other in the joists to a minimum but it was unavoidable in some places. Having two ducts on top of each other in a web joist was a bit tight and didn’t leave a lot of room for insulation. I had already installed the 150mm PVC pipe through the roof and drilled a 150mm hole for the second PVC pipe through the wall. I then mounted the Vent Axia unit on the wall and figured out where to mount the distribution boxes in the metal web joists between the ground and first floors. We have vaulted ceilings upstairs so it seemed easiest to mount the boxes here rather than up high in the first floor. Here’s my rough in of the MVHR unit. Ignore the angles of the pipes. These will be straightened up on the final fix. Here are the distribution boxes. Required careful planning and it didn’t seem to matter where they were because of the metal web joists there was always at least one duct which was a tight squeeze through the joists. I have a change in levels between the main part of the house and the lower level which causes a bit of head scratching as to how the get the ducts from one section to another. This was exacerbated by the fact that there was a steel running across the lower level which I had to navigate around. I built a dummy stud wall in the lower level and ran the ducts behind this. I need to get 3 extract and 2 supply ducts into the lower level. Here’s a photo after the first 4 ducts were run. A bit of boxing in required to hide them, but relatively easy solution. and here’s what it looks like in the lower level. And finally, a ceiling mounted and wall mounted plenum. I quite enjoyed doing it and it was satisfying to see it all done.

I’ve just finished the first fix of the radial ducting on my BPC supplied system. We have vaulted ceilings on the first floor of a one and a half storey build so easier to wall mount them. One thing to watch out for was the depth of the plenum. We have 89mm deep studs and they fit exactly in the stud depth. I had to cut a little notch in the top stud to recess a little tab in the plenum to keep within the 89mm depth. Here’s a couple of pics.

I’ve spent the last few days fitting my Vent Axia MVHR with the semi rigid ducting, supplied by BPC. I had the design done by them but it needed to be tweaked when I was doing the install, so it wasn’t perfect by any means. I suspect that what they mean by the “rubber connectors” mentioned are the things that are used to make the final connection between the rigid pvc pipe coming in from / going out to the outside of the building to the spigots on the MVHR unit. I think they are specified to reduce vibration. They supplied me with flex ducting instead to cut a small piece to make that final connection. It has to be kept uncompressed so, I’ll have to support the vertical pvc pipes which drop down in to it. Have a look at Page 7 of the install guide to see the rubber connectors to the spigot. https://www.bpcventilation.com/mvhr-installation-guide They supplied me with the necessary 90 degree bends and connectors that fitted with their design, so you will definitely need to include them in the parts list. I’ve got the semi rigid attenuators and they do give you a bit of flexibility in fitting which I found useful

Bought all my kit from BPC last October. Vent Axia unit + all ducting, plenum etc. for about £2600 for self install which I’ll be doing in the next month or so. Extract from 3 bathrooms, WC, utility and kitchen. Supply to study, hall, dining, living and 3 bedrooms. About 170 sq. m over two storeys. They did the design, cost then was £100, deducted from the order. They’re still working during the lockdown, so might be worth a call.

I took delivery of these yesterday - tempted by the £50 off (valid to 9th February) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Security-eufyCam-Wireless-Weatherproof-Compatible/dp/B07W4MY7HL/ref=sr_1_3?crid=XK41J3NB2EXU&keywords=eufycam+2c&qid=1580983683&sprefix=eufy+cam%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-3 I wanted something portable that I could move around as we move into the new house. These seemed to fit the bill although a bit of an impulse buy. There is on board storage in the hub so no need for a cloud or subscription if you don't want to, they are Homekit compatible and I read somewhere that they will be upgraded to HomeKit Secure Video in future. Easy to set up, easy to use App. I think the issue may well be battery life - this model (2C) promises 180 days before you have to take them down and recharge them but I'll believe that when I see it. The Eufy 2 promises 365 days of battery life but I didn't want to pay £150 more for them.

I was required to fire protect my WRC cladding. Had the same problem trying to find a suitable product. I was doing the whole house - didn't need to do it all but there was so much of it close to boundaries that I thought I'd do the lot. I used this, applied in their mill by the timber supplier: http://fireretardantuk.com/shop/hr-prof-holz-prof-wood-fire-protector/ The cladding has been up now for a couple of months and here's what it looks like at the moment:

Yes, cladding is Western Red Cedar, 200mm wide rebated feather edge. You can’t really see it from the pictures but the dormers slope up from the side to the middle of the roof so rain drains off that way We’re in a conservation area and in the grounds of a listed building so the Conservation Officer was very particular about what materials we could use. Generally the most expensive ones ?. The Pan Tiles are hand made clay tiles from William Blythe.. Really expensive but they look great, I think, and should age well. They are Barco Old English Weathered colour Windows and doors are triple glazed timber from Green Building Store. Again, Conservation Officer insisted on timber exterior finishes, rather than AluClad. I think we went for RAL7023 Concrete Grey in the end but I could be wrong.

At last, we’ve got the scaffolding down. It’s taken a while and we’ve still got the cladding around the porch to finish off. On to the next stage - brickies on site tomorrow to do the plinth. Slightly out of sequence but we’re getting there.

Green Building Store have done a number of retrofits to existing properties. Their website is a pretty useful source of information, so have a look around there. Here's a link to their Technical Resources page https://www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk/technical-resource/

This company do a hybrid straw/timber frame product. It might be the "Eastern European" company mentioned above? http://www.ecococon.lt/english/straw-panels/

Hope this link works for you .... They're on Page 34 https://issuu.com/passivehouseplus/docs/ph__uk_issue_21_digital