willbish

Not that much to read on the forum regarding metal stud walling and the different configurations. Ive got 26 running metres of partition walling to put up, most at 2.4m high Having had a good gander at the 'White Book' Im drawn to a couple of options Either I studs staggered with 1 sheet of soundbloc each side, 50mm acoustic roll. 102mm depth overall Shown here, pic 1: Or C studs with double sheets of standard board, 50mm acoustic roll. 100mm deep. Closely pictured as number 2: I haven't yet done any cost comparison with timber yet, any good suppliers to approach? I'll give my local builders merchants a buzz tomorrow but I'm not confident they'll be at all competitive or even know what Im on about.. @Dreadnaught was going down this route, how far did you get?

Majority of slabs 900x600 so should fly down.... ? only 86m2 to do. Will probably take me til Christmas

Farmhouse flags have said no issues with a mortar bed, but then backtracked when UFH is mentioned As.. and I think Im good to carry on with plan A

True that. Adding UFH to the mix though and I begin to doubt myself Nope, trying to sell me flexible adhesive.

A screed to bring the level up has been considered but I thought it would be a bit thin and risk of cracking plus it adds another layer of work/labour @PeterW You haven't suggested flexible adhesive on top of the screed, so it's not really necessary in this case?

On top of my insulated raft slab I had intended to lay flagstones reclaimed from the old property and have left 60mm for these. Not having enough intact flags and tired of reclamation yard Del boy's I've decided to do the whole lot with concrete imitation flagstones. These are 20mm thick and I was thinking to lay them on a stone dust mortar 40mm thick to bring it up to the required height. With the backs coated in an SBR slurry Now with low temp, wet UFH in the slab is this going to be an issue?

If your steel beam is level and your padstone is slightly on the pi$$ you aren't going to be able to pour a runny grout mix up hill. Wedge a few steel shims in there

Yeh I agree. The big advantage of them is avoiding the messing around involved with feeding pipe through the webs of posi joists where you can't notch them out. A job I've not completed yet but fills me with dread every time i think of it!

I used second hand site hoardings, painted sheets of OSB, from a fencing supplier as a temporary deck through the winter. No need for DPM to protect the joists, they were unaffected. Sheets were £6 a pop and can we sold on

No timescale to collect. Judging by the speed of communication it could well have been Christmas. I'm going to take the £55, and yep get some larger hinges. With regards the lock, no idea yet, filler and then router? I just need to get the frame fitted tomorrow for the renderer to start. Will sort the door another day

Unable to reach a reasonable solution to this issue, I am going to post the last correspondence from Doordeals Ltd below. After receiving the below email, I asked Doordeals Ltd if they were happy for me to post their email on a public forum. 48hrs later, I assume their lack of response indicates they couldn't care less. Hi Mr After looking into this further we deem the issue to be minimal and easily fixable. . We don't see any issue with the hinges and the lock cut can be repaired easily, this is due to the specification of the doorset being altered. We have previously offered to collect and repair the door which we would do as and when passing and then redeliver. This would have a lead time involved. If the doorset has been worked on or attempted to be hung we would not offer this option as the door would be classed as accepted. Alternatively we would offer the good will gesture payment as previously stipulated by my colleague Tim for £55.45 to repair the door on site. These are the only options I would offer. alternatively we would happily see you in court. Regards Their offer to collect and repair the door seems reasonable and it is. Although they are hiding behind the fact I explained in my initial complaint that I was pressed for time and looking for a speedy response. They asked if I would like a replacement and I agreed. It took 6 days to establish that they don't have anything remotely similar in stock. A company who cared could have had the door collected, repaired and possibly on its way back to me by day 6. This is clearly a company that doesn't care about quality or customer service. Avoid

I've gone for the drill through after approach. Hasn't been too much bother. 20mm plastic conduit inserted and 100mm square section of EPS removed on the inside to be able to form airtight seal between hole and conduit

Won't the ceiling void be warmed from the ground floor anyway? In a low energy house all areas near enough same temperature and UFH flow temps low. I'll shortly be considering this too. I am going to install 4 loops of UFH upstairs despite not really needing any heating upstairs. Aluminium spreaders installed from below. You've got me thinking now, services or sound insulation next...

I used Logix, think the block is called XRV6-8, the thickest block they do. As I understand for Nudura if you want to increase the U value they use a standard block with a larger concrete void, you then push EPS inserts in which reduces the concrete to a normal ~6 inch. Advantage of that is the plastic webs are close to outer face so good for fixings. Disadvantage is it's extra work pushing the inserts in. One self builder I visited mentioned it was a right pain and slowing him down a lot.

I guess it depends what heating requirement you need upstairs. If you've really good insulation levels, air tightness etc etc and minimal heating required having a slightly less than optimal UFH system upstairs isn't going to be the end of the world.

@ZacP You asked about steel price for rebar. My SE spec'd 2x 16mm bars over each opening to form the lintels. Total was less then £200 for 15 openings, so pretty inconsequential. A bigger cost will be ply, timber, fixings and sundries for bracing, especially if using a poly system You could also check out Logix which is manufactured on the south coast. Discount available if purchased together with Isoquik raft. If I was doing my build again I would definitely spend more time considering adding additional external insulation as @Alexphd1 has suggested. I went for 200mm outside EPS blocks and it was much harder cutting, bracing fixing them than a standard ~70mm block. However the chance of blowouts or bulges is pretty much zero on the 200mm skin. Getting a really good U value is easy with ICF so anything over 0.2 seems a bit of a shame/waste to me.

We began with heritage olive colours, moved through various pastel shades and decided upon a real RAL 5021 Water blue. Matching it in with a clotted cream render, not too yellow not too white.

Unfortunately not, section 75 would be real handy right now

So 8 days since I raised the issue with this company, they are really testing my patience and we've not agreed an amicable solution. To their credit they have offered a replacement, it's just that they have nothing even remotely similar in stock. Lead times are a number of weeks. A partial refund for repair has been offered, £55.45 My response was to ask if they could put me in touch with the joiner that will come to fix it for that ? I have proposed that due to the time delay, inconvenience and cost of repair a full refund would be appropriate. Unsurprisingly, no response from them. One email a day max is all they seem capable of. Disappointing how a company can fall from 'Business Award Winner' in just a couple of years

I'm looking for good quality reclamation to match the existing internal taken up from the old cottage. At least £50 per square yard is what I've seen

Do tell...

Does anyone know of any companies making/selling concrete imitation flagstones? The only one I have found so far is Farmhouse flagstones who are local and well recommended but there must be others.

This is what I've used but if I was doing it again I think I'd use Storbord or similar plastic product. Very similar price to a decent ply board, machines nearly as well and will never rot.

Hello and welcome. I am building an ICF build about 4 miles north of you in Dundry, so feel free to drop in if you'd like a closer look. With regard to architects, I would say you don't need one experienced with Passiv Haus unless you absolutely want a certified plaque on your door. ICF is relatively straightforward forward to apply the three key principles of low energy design: extra insulation, great airtightness and minimal thermal bridging. This is the approach I followed and should end up with a property that meets the requirements of Passiv Haus. That said, if you are envisaging large expanses of glass and a very modern design having someone run the PHPP software to determine how bad you could overheat in the summer would be prudent.

Would it be appropriate to name the company?