Tetrarch

There is no timber frame. This is for blockwork and a mahoosive 6.5m opening with two goalpost steels, one for support, the other to hang the doors from. I'm trying to keep the corner block as narrow as possible (328mm) hence the K-106. There's only 15m of walls and 7.5m of glass (all triple glazed) Regards Tet

Yep - too late Tet

Hi, Our Arhictect/Designer has specified 90mm Kingspan K-106 in the cavities of our new walls. This brings the U-value to 0.17 I've ordered the insulation. Do I need special tape for these boards or is there a high-performance tape that is recommended, or is tape just tape? Regards Tet

I want an EPDM roof on my new extension but I am having the devil's own job actually finding an EPDM roofer. I want a 28 sq m roof for me and I also have a 225 sq m commercial property that I manage that needs doing as well - you would have thought that that would be carrot enough! There are roofing companies that purport to be EPDM specialists but they don't answer the phone or respond to online enquiries I am a little wary of check-a-trade as they only have "roofer" as a category Any ideas? Regards Tet

I had exactly this problem where my SE specified the foundations below. After a good discussion we've opted for a picture frame instead of goalposts for the beam where the blue squares are and we had 600mm trench dug to 1200mm below DPC that satisfied the SE for the remainder. This way we didn't have to undermine the foundations of the existing structure that have been prefectly happy for 53 years.

sorry - wrong thread

I've literally just spent the last 8 days watching the foundations dug for our extensions and soakaways. The level of skill needed to accurately dig a straight and level trench is extremely high. It's not a job I would even consider doing myself. Regards Tet

We saw the Bora in-hob extractor and the Neff (Actually Siemens in their London Demo kitchen) both in-hob and the downdraft. They all work as-described. The Bora we only saw with a pan of boiling water, the Siemens/Neff was a three course lunch. We went for the Neff Downdraft in the end, mostly to retain five cooking spots on the hob but I can't deny that the theatre of the downdraft is incredible - I'm just hoping that I can get Alexa to play this tune every time we use it (scheduled Jun/Jul) Regards Tet

I should shortly be getting permission to change my roof. I'm aiming to make the roof "thicker" in order to extend the eaves to allow for some EWI. I'm having a new roof for sure, but exactly how it is to be constructed is an open question. I just watched "Channel 4 - The Streets" https://tvtonight.co.uk/grand-designs-the-streets-season-3-episode-7-airs-27-december-2023-on-channel-4/ I actualy got quite excited about the thought that SIPS panels would deliver exactly the sort of effect I'm after whilst massively improving the insulation values of the house. How do I find out if this is a suitable idea and not just a flight of fancy? Regards Tet

Overtiling one wall with something very plain will help. If it doesn't do another wall. This should not be expensive as you're starting with a completely flat substrate Regards Tet

Here are some pictures of my sample. The lower fascia just clips out really easily Regards Tet

I've got two of these on my shopping list for my build. One 1m and one 6.5m. They are expensive, but I went to my local supplier and was able to see it in action and they gave me a sample to take away. Very impressed butit is certainly not cheap Regards Tet

Maximising roof height mandates minimising roofing thickness. Corrugated sheets will not help with this. Rubber is obviously the thinnest you can go for and you can chase this directly into the wall, no need for lead. My outbuidling has an (as-yet uninsulated) 15° slope, 12mm OSB and loose-laid rubber roof. The rain makes a very pleasing dull thrumming noise Regards Tet

You could use some cladding boards with the star shape cut out of multiple https://www.cedral.world/en-gb/cladding/our-products/cedral-click/ These are pre painted and would not need to be treated. It's even possible that the raw cut inside the star would actually look quite attractive The super-cheap alternative would be some suitably painted concrete board like an aquaboard offcut Regards Tet

That's really interesting. We lost our internet for a couple of hours last week whilst they changed a telephone pole.....I'll try all that TIA Tet PS Apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread

Very weird that this thread should pop up now. I'm having terrible trouble with one of my three Neostat v2's (connected to the old style wiring centre WITHOUT reset buttons) and a Neohub Gen 2. It ran out of batteries and since replacing them the temperature is wrong and it refuses to run correctly (kicks in and then turns off seemingly randomly). This is winter three with the Neostats and winter two with the hub. All worked perfectly last year. As it stands I've been unable to work out how to reset the connection to the wiring centre and/or the hub. Will be following this thread with interest Regards Tet

The long term plan is for all three. The project is a 1914 essentially Detached house with a large outbuilding. Not DIY but the builder is happy for me to contribute The extension is a 28m single storey extension, flat roof. The build will necessitate the removal of the entire rear wall of the house and then replacement with a steel beam over 8m span and a new timber-frame wall above. The roof will be replaced as part of the project. Work is scheduled to start in March 24 MVHR - getting MVHR into the flat roof structure might be problematic so it may be limited to a single extract in the kitchen and all the other MVHR pipework being within the original house Solar - The outbuilding has a 10m x 3m almost perfect South-facing pent roof with a 15-degree pitch so I'm looking at a quite a substantial array here My question is ordering. The Solar PV is almost a stand-alone install. I will be running some more permanent electrical cabling. The only issue is that the electrical grid connection is on the North side of the house. I assume that the MVHR would likely be an easier install whilst the roof is off, but it could be done before if it makes sense Any opinions or experiences welcome Regards Tet

Update : Planning Permission granted so we start work in late February I will be submitting a minor planning amendment to cover the roof as well and the plan is to extend the roof slightly to deliver some broader eaves (more in line with current BR). My new insulation proposal is to have a hybrid mix of internal/external. Black is new 365mm walls Red is new insulation Orange is old 1970's cavity wall My master plan is to have the South walls (1914, 1972, 2024) lined up in such a way that the internal and external faces will be seamless and "un-stepped". This means using various thicknesses of external insulation and then K-Rendering the whole lot. The reason fo the internal imsulation on the front (West) is to preserve the aesthetic of the current sash windows My "new" question. Is it OK to just insulate and render on top of the existing painted roughcast finish? This finish is absolutely rock-hard and very difficult to remove even a small area. Regards Tet

Just to confirm from the Grand Designs website that the above link is correct: https://www.granddesigns.tv/northcotswolds https://roofit.solar/ "Request a quote" - I imagine they'll be busy..... Regards Tet

I want to put a solar array on a 3m x 10m outbuilding. It's covered by loose-laid EPDM at the moment. These looks as though they could do the generation and weatherproofing in one hit I was looking at a £13K quote (including batteries etc). I wonder if this is DIY-able.....or whether I should get the Estonians in! Regards Tet

I'm afraid that I can't remember. I bought it from the same place that I bought the Amtico, but either I bought it by post and/or my email account doesn't go back far enough. I do remember that it was highly potent stuff and I had a raging headache after doing just 5 sq m Regards Tet

MVHR is also the way we're planning to control humidity and ventilation in the house and we were planning to have a ceiling mount for our island. I say "were" as we've now decided on a different solution. I partly blame Bake Off but we're now committed to hide-and-slide ovens and the Neff ecosystem. Have you considered a downdraft extractor? The in-hob one compromises the hob cooking area a little and the glass downdraft is very expensive but haveing seen them in action (or their same-factory Siemens equivalents) I am extremely expressed, more to the point, so is Mrs Tet Regards Tet

Thank you for all the replies. The rear is a new build single storey extension 3.5m x 8m with a 6.5m Vistaline slide-and-stack Door that hangs from above and weighs 35kg per sq.m (so 475kg is total) - we'd ideally likely stack this to the right so that is a lot of weight on that outer corner I'm waiting on a few extra drawings and I'll share when they arrive that will show the rear elevation and the new planned roof Regards Tet

I'm not sure if this belongs here or in the insulation section. My architect has prepared my BC drawings: I would like: The rear horizontal beam (outlined in red) to be closer to the rear facade The right rear corner to be smaller in cross-section The internal cross beam supports (circled in green) to not intrude into the room. I can live with the right if required, the left is a real problem with the kitchen units. Notes: The grey wall on the left is solid brick and on the right a cavity wall (from a 1970's extension) My architect has replied to all of these with "possible condensation through the steel because insufficient steel cover". Do I have any choices here that I might suggest to my architect? Regards Tet

We took some time to see as many doors as we could from several suppliers. We saw some truly deadful doors that were stiles and rails with foam filled cavities. If you open and close these doors next to their solidly-built equivalents. We went for a solidor in the end, primarily for one of the same concerns that you raised - scratch resistance. What we were told (assuming true) is that solidor's outer shell is through-coloured and very tough (described by one salesman as the same as a lego brick. This was a major consideration when we selected what turned out to be a quite expensive door Regards Tet