Makeitstop

To be fair Nick, I think Adsibob is referring to the the bit about painting over boards once down. That's proper overkill. Not sure if you were on the same page there, but if so, fair enough.

Fair point, but I'd not remotely consider putting any particleboard flooring down before a building was weather tight. I'd also have thought that properly functioning baths and showers manage to keep the water where it should be, and, that they don't share their contents with the flooring. If they were to fail, my concerns would possibly be focussed on other more pressing issues than whether my floor ended up squeaking in future as a result.

Moisture ingress?... from what and where? To me, that sounds like company marketing bs to get people to spend more cash. There would never be enough moisture in the relative humidity in a well insulated and heated house to cause any concerns over moisture "excess". Even if you spilled an entire bucket os water of a section of floor, I'd bet the subsequent absorption would be so minimal, that it wouldn't be noticeable a week later. On the subject of adhesives used too, the pu stuff has far greater gap filling abilities than pva, so that's where it would have an advantage. Whether that's even "that" necessary is debatable, as with fairly close fitting joints on the boards and once screwed down onto joists, all areas of contact would likely be tight enough to provide good solid service I'd have thought. Of course, the pu is probably better, and would likely be superior in terms of flexibility also. As already pointed out though, if a good mechanical fix is ensured (screwed down well) it's unlikely to go far.

What a magnificent scene

I agree, it does look considerably better than the GD house. Greencoat has less thermal shift than zinc, athough it is a thinner material than the optimal type of zinc on facades. Zinc roofing material is usually thinner gauge than what's often used on facades, but only fractionally.

Is there much to see besides the gable end Ralph? I notice the runs are shorter on that job, and as you say, a Matt finish reduces the glare effect. Of course, seasonal shift and light conditions will play a part, but I'm not sure itll disappear over time. Nice looking job though, as was GC100's when he posted images of it in the past.

Not convinced it'll settle and level out enough over time to be markedly better than it looked in the programme. I appreciate the issues are many in "why" it happens, and also, that even the best installers cant necessarily say what (if any) single or combined reasons have lead to the effect on a specific job. My thinking was more that, on spending £500k on a cladding job, I'd be disappointed to see it as widespread and obvious across the entire structure. I'd have imagined the team behind the designing and installation could have considered a solution that reduced / removed the potential of such an unpleasant outcome.

I'm not convinced. Even on the narrower trays there's considerable canning effect. Having said that, I'm sure the owner could care a lot what the likes of me thinks about it.

I thought externally it looked an absolute jumbled mess. Internally, attractive enough in places, and stylishly finished here and there too, but still somehow lacking on a £2.5M house. When our Kev was looking at plans and asked where the nearest shower was in relation to the gym, and got the reply of "there" which was about 50 metres away, I actually laughed out loud like I was watching a comedy routine. It seemed obvious the owners had not had enough input or discussion with the architect on "how" they wanted to live in the place, which I found utterly astonishing. As others have noted, £120K on the kitchen was a complete joke. Swanky, unnecessary overpriced shite. Half that spend could have done an outstanding job I'm sure. Also, the canning on the zinc was pretty bad. I'd not have been pleased if I'd aimed £500K at it for it to end up looking like that. A really good company and skilled people should surely have been able to come up with a plan or design to minimise that. Not one for me at all.

If you are able to slice into any thickness of the board to be able to allow the oak veneer to press back into place, then that would be good. Cascamite will certainly hold it once it's set and will be rock hard. What you'll need to make sure of is that you don't bond the wooden block to the floor..ha. That'll be more of a problem than you have now. Perhaps use a piece of polythene or suchlike as a barrier to bonding. you may find you need to refinish part of that board once its all set, but that's not overly tricky. Try to keep glue to a minimum and in the joint. If you can get some in there, and can press it closed, then do that and wipe of excess glue. Then place your poly barrier over the area and weigh down and leave for a day..ish. for mixing cascamite, use very little water and add powder to mix into a fairly stiff paste, then add a little more water to a runny creamy texture. it's ready to go then. Good luck with it.

How long was flooring installed before the issue arose? For it to be moisture related, it would need a while, perhaps a few weeks at least before it's really going to be able to pick up "that much" excess moisture to "swell" like that. Besides, if it was moisture, there would be more widespread evidence than two rogue spots surely. The relative humidity at 70% is high. Is the house newly built, and has it had much in the way of "wet" work done recently? The indoor environment in most houses would possibly mean a relative humidity of approx 30% to 50% (drifting outside those upper and lower limits occasionally, when conditions are more extreme) So, 70% is very high, and over a protracted period would not be good for interior joinery. The makeup of this type of flooring would need a fairly long spell to take up excessive atmospheric moisture. Furthermore, you need to keep in mind that engineered flooring has a totally different makeup and behaviour to solid timber, and is far more reliable in varying temps and humidity. From looking at the problem, I'd say it's almost certainly from installation, where it's been stressed by impact on knocking boards into place. Over the time it's been down, the delamination has become more apparent and has shown itself to you. If it were mine, I'd try to put pressure on it to at least see if it moves back into place. If it does, then it can be repaired I'd say. You would need to get some good adhesive (maybe a UF type like cascamite), that does not expand or creep once cured, dries clear and hard, and also, where the excess can be wiped off while wet with a damp cloth. Of course, you’ll need to keep pressure applied while it goes off, which will be tricky. A great deal of weight may be required to achieve that, but whatever you do, don’t use any kind of ferrous metal, as combined with the moisture from adhesive, it’ll stain the flooring black, due to tannin in oaks..

Thanks for that, but I believe Vitral are part of Velux Commercial, which are where these modular skylights came from. It seems they are offered to residential jobs also now. I was wondering whether anyone knows of a competitor to this system, or, if anyone had actually used the Velux product, and what they thought of it generally.

Does anyone have any knowledge of or first hand experience of the Velux modular system..... This.... https://www.velux.co.uk/products/modular_skylight_domestic/packages_sizes_prices Or any products that can compete with it from other manufacturers?

If the place ticks many boxes for you and you generally like it, then I'd not be deterred by a parapet issue, if it was the only glaring problem. Can't you get hold of a decent builder and get them to come along for another viewing.?...May be worth the effort.

Have to admit though, that is some absolutely hideous masonry

How many in the team?

£10K...wow. I've had a few 3 bed semi's re-rendered with simple s&c and dashed with 6mm clean limestone for under £5k (I guess it depends where in UK you are). As Nod said, it's a few days work on that job you have there and materials cost is virtually nothing using traditional sand and cement. To me, your price sounds expensive. Also, it may be worth asking for other quotes advice to gauge what everyone suggests as solution. As you've found out here, there are a number of approaches to resolving it, with some being better than others. Doing this kind of thing once only is definitely preferable.

This, 100%

The vent potential (especially lift and slide, where its lockable) is one of the main benefits I see in a slider, as well as better sightlines, less obstruction on opening wide, due to not having a bank of doors protruding maybe 0.8 / 1 metre deep into the outside space, better airtightness and arguably security too. Having said that, on some installations bifolds work well and suit some situations. I think if you've really considered it, and if you've lived with them previously (as Conor has above) and know what you want from them, they are still a great choice. Great looking place by the way Conor.

Agree on sliders 100%. I don't get the mad fuss over bifolds in recent years. I'd bet for the vast majority it's very rare they are opened up fully, and when they are closed, the vertical interruption to sightlines would annoy the crap out of me. The single aspect of bifolds that I see as a potential plus is the inclusion of a slave door to use as you would any other door, but other than that, sliders every time for a wide aperture imo.

I remember reading this some time ago which kind of tackles a similar issue...

Yes Faz, that was my thinking. The point of my initial question was to gauge opinions on the level of pisstaking, which I felt was monumental. The overall quote from this guy was Circa £42K + VAT on an extension of 6.3m X 3.5m. This does not include large (3m) sliding door, window or rooflight and does not include even any foundations, as I need to get it piled and RC beam. It did make me chuckle to be fair. @ Ferdinand..... Yeh, I know timber has risen in price, but I am thinking he's likely to be using softwood on it, not Madagascan rosewood or ebony. To my mind, it said to me... " I don't need the work mate, but here's a price for you."

Is this really true though? While I appreciate the fundamental principle of avoiding shading that area of the house, what can be done if the client wants to avoid moving, is looking to create more ground floor space, but, the only space they have to extend into is at the rear. What if the space that will suffer from some shading is a utility room that is used minimally, and can be closed off by a door into a main kitchen living area.

Thanks for the response. I was a little taken aback to be quoted approx £17k for the "joinery" in a fairly straightforward extension of dimensions above. The contruction is standard brick and block, and does NOT include any fitting of kitchen. From what I can tell, I'm looking at roof structure and second fix bits such as skirting. How that translates into £17k + I dont know.

Blimey, what a mega stress that lot sounds. Have to agree that I'd not be at all pleased with door manufacturer. All the fuss they appear to make about "tolerances" only to provide you with a product that doesn't meet their own surveyed dimensions. Surely they have to accept some responsibility for things not working out. Having said that, if the architect says "most / majority" of the loading is already taken into account and that deflection is really minimal, then maybe all is ok as is. Out of interest, what kind of door is it.? I understand it's a triple track slider, but what maker / system?