MikeGrahamT21

They got in touch with their technical department, and yes I need the sticky mat embedded in 10mm of self leveller, in case anyone is wondering about the answer to this question...so a return it is

Had thought about and still considering using cable and a decoupling mat, but since it would still need self leveller I may as well go sticky mat if I can’t use this foil mat. I’ve already got a thermostat, warmup 4ie which I’m currently using in the existing bathroom, existing and new will join together once completed.

So i went ahead and bought a 140W/m2 foil underfloor heating mat for the new bathroom im working on at the moment, thinking that was suitable to go under Stone Plastic Composite (a type of LVT) flooring. Floor construction is suspended timber, will 100mm insulation between joists, and a 10mm marmox board on top. I wanted to ask about the method of laying the foil mat, and whether a further XPS layer would be required to get rid of the potentially hard surface of the marmox, and was told yes, XPS layer, then mat. However they then advised me that laying SPC on top of the foil mat wasn't advisable as it would end up showing tramlines of the heating cables through onto the surface over time, and recommended MDF below the SPC, until i made them aware it was a bathroom, they then said I need the sticky mesh mat and self leveller. I'm more than happy to return and go with a sticky mat and self leveller, but i've also found other foil mats online and they seem to be saying that the above minus the MDF is absolutely fine for SPC flooring When i asked where i bought it from, i'd already sent them an email but was impatient and went on live chat which is where the above came from about sticky mat, but have just received a reply to my email ... Having asked: Their reply was simply: So as you can probably guess i'm now rather confused. If i can help it i'd really rather not use self leveller just from a mess perspective mixing it all up. What have others done with this type buildup? I did reply to the message and told them what i got from the live chat other day, awaiting reply.

same for my areas council, head of building control been there over 30 years and he’s retiring in a couple of weeks

how about speaking to a solar installer? Might be something they’ve come across before.

Bar tenders friend, if that won’t shift it nothing will. if it’s true marble though the stain will have seeped in, but still worth a shot, it’s pretty cheap

Have you contacted GSE? also their install guide - https://www.gseintegration.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/GSE-IN-ROOF-SYSTEM-Guide-dinstallation-EN-4.2.pdf looks to be batten and counter batten to leave a nominal 25mm air gap to remove condensation. and the full install manual - https://www.gseintegration.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GSE-IN-ROOF-SYSTEM-Manuel-dinstallation-EN-V13.1.pdf does your installation follow everything in there?

It all depends on how much time you have to play with. clay can be the basis of brilliant garden soil but it takes time to achieve. Not much time? Do as temp says. not in a rush? Spread the whole area with a good amount of garden lime which will break up the clay by a process called flocculation if I remember right, and then on top of this a really thick layer of garden compost and well rotted manure, and leave it a full season to let the worms do their magic

They are indeed my plants, I’m quite a keen gardener though been a little too preoccupied with the renovations to take proper care over it, maybe this year ☺️ Wow yeah £200k does sound a lot, I know things are super expensive (managed to spend £52 on some screws, a bath trap and some penny washers somehow today 😳) and of course it depends how big of a property it is, but I suspect there is some risk premium built into that price. Still a lot of these house renovations on telly seem to spend rediculous amounts on not a lot, I always think to myself, I just don’t think I could bring myself to spend that amount of money, but then I am from Yorkshire 😂 Always happy to help, and I’ll keep the blog updated with this years work, main job is new bathroom, followed by the snug and finishing the dining room, but I’ll see how far my body lets me get, bathroom is a must as I’ve been without a bath for around 4 years (plug is broken and stuck) and I’m looking forward to a good soak!

Where on earth has that 2 years vanished? So coming up on the 2 year installation of the inverter and single module battery, and as with most things these days, the gradual improvements to firmware over time have made a huge difference. So at the last update I'd managed to get the power leakage down through an offset, and the whole system was a lot more accurate, but nonetheless still had a small amount of leakage throughout the day which was averaging around 0.5-0.6kWh, certainly not insignificant. It turns out that not long after i bought this setup, Solis released a Version 2 of the inverter, which came with an external RS485 Meter, to connect the CT clamp to, and i believe this was done to improve accuracy, gutted i missed out on it, and theres no way of adding it without swapping the inverter, so thats a definite non-starter. I got back in touch with them to see if there was anything more they could do, and it was decided that I would move away from the firmware which supported the fixed offset (A1 branch), to the generally available firmware and ended up on version 17014, which was clearly much improved as now the leakage looks like this... At the end of september I decided to move over to Octopus Flux to take advantage of the cheaper rate during the night to charge the battery up. To compare both scenarios i have taken the same December - January Period (clearly at this time of year, solar input will be minimal), last year and then this year. Neither of these include any standing charge, this is purely for energy alone. 2022 Electricity 8th Dec. 2022 - 31st Dec. 2022 - Total amount after reimbursement from goverment £44.45 Energy Used 141.3 kWh @ 48.45p/kWh £68.47 Energy Price Guarantee 141.3 kWh @ 17.00p/kWh -£24.02 2023 Electricity 8th Dec. 2023 - 31st Dec. 2023 Energy Imported 15.15p/kWh 130.2 kWh £19.731 25.26p/kWh 17.8 kWh £4.491 35.36p/kWh 3.4 kWh £1.188 Total consumption 151.3kWh @ 16.79p/kWh (Average unit rate) £25.41 So taking into account the government reimbursement from last year, the energy pricing on standard variable tariff this year is around 4p cheaper than the same period last year. I've not included the amounts for export, as they are minimal at this time of year also. Otherwise the battery has saved me almost £20 in that single month, by being able to use cheaper electricity, and in effect shift my load. Maybe another month, or thereabouts and I should be able to stop charging from the grid again until autumn, and rely wholly on the excess Solar PV to run the property. The better months of the year for Solar should be really interesting, as at the peak i'll likely be able to totally drain the battery, and still charge it up enough after peak export period to keep me til the next morning, should be able to accrue a good amount of credit from export. I shall report back in the autumn!

If the cavity is correctly packed with insulation, air movement will be limited at best. The chimney effect is what you are thinking of, which would bypass EWI, and this would not occur with full filled cavity, there could still be a small amount of infiltration but not enough to cause serious degradation of performance. This is a comparison in energy use from the main place I did EWI last year, along with a replacement window for 3G from 2G.

Maybe that’s why it was without issue 😂

I’ve used a wavin hepvo one before, I think at the time it was one of the only ones that was available, good quality and didn’t have any issues

Don’t forget with new build you can claim back the VAT, may well cover that cost and a lot more on top and massively reduce complexities down the line which would end up adding even more

Has it got a summer bypass that’s playing up or set incorrectly? The dip follows an average peak, and the dip length seems to correspond to the peak maximum

dew point ends up at the render/insulation board interface. No requirement for an internal VCL with EWI alone, your free to wet plaster for airtightness. moisture and moisture vapour are two very different things, the foundation below DPC is designed to remain damp, but the rest needs to be managed correctly. brick slips can be used on any insulant, they get stuck to the basecoat render. There are multiple types of brick slips too, some made from real brick which can be applied with a metal mesh behind them, or lighten resin slips like I used which are stuck straight on with special adhesive. some properties cavities are capped off with slate, mine isn’t and is still open topped, but filled and over covered with loads of dense rockwool. I did speak to someone once who told me the more airtight the cavity, the better the EWI performance, makes perfect sense but isn’t feasible, and is impossible when you have a semi detached property like I do.

Be careful with that build up, you are putting two very non permeable (in terms of vapour) materials on either side of the main structure, moisture will have no where to go and there will be plenty of that in the bottom of your cavity. Your best off sticking to only EWI, or if you must use PIR internally then use something like wood fibre or rockwool boards for the EWI as the moisture will always travel toward the cooler side of the cavity, in winter this will always be the external leaf.

What has triggered your want to improve the house? Are you noticing any effects from poor workmanship? Or is it simply because the numbers look poor? Also worth looking into https://www.aerobarrieruk.co.uk/

Don’t discount EWI quickly as it solves a lot of problems, plus you can achieve pretty much any finish you want, so shouldn’t be a planning issue. I’ve used it on my bungalow (60s) to good effect. Take a look at my blog on here, I’ve posted a fair bit as I’ve been doing it. never used multifoil, though I do remember seeing the buildup spec many years ago suggesting that to achieve anywhere near a good u value it required supplementary PIR, whether that’s changed since I’m not sure.

If there are any manufacturer markings, they'll be on the inside of the gutter, where the water collects, to remain unseen

Managed to get everywhere completed now. Living Room (-2C Night) Before - Temp just before the heating comes on - 15.7C After - Temp just before the heating comes in on - 15.8C Bedroom (0C night) - Least accurate as the reading comes from TRV which on a night is behind curtain, though both values came from same device in same situation. Before - Temp just before the heating comes on - 13.7C After - Temp just before the heating comes in on - 14.8C Dining (0C night) Before - Temp just before the heating comes on - 14.8C After - Temp just before the heating comes in on - 15.1C Did some acoustic readings before and after for the 'roadside' windows, and achieved a 1dB drop on all 3 windows. The temperature readings are probably very finger in the air stuff, i've tried to marry up days with similar temperatures and the previous day where i was in all day to make it as good a comparison as I could. I noticed the newer uPVC windows i've got have a larger gap around the glass in some cases, but not always, so it could be difficult to say exactly what size backer rod would be perfect. I think for the majority the 10mm stuff has been idea, and even tight in some cases, but then on others i've had to double it up and 20mm would have been a better choice. All in all, i think for the small outlay in money and effort, its certainly worthwhile considering, especially if you are fitting new windows and have the beading off anyway.

I'm also curious to know the best approach to this too, as i have the same job to do this year. Those grey coated chipboards are pretty bomb proof, i used those in the latest extension.

Why would you want a single layer of wood in place of a DG unit? cold, damp and unsightly in my opinion, and I definitely wouldn’t be paying £6k for the privilege

To make it more malleable

Might be worth lifting it up, putting a strip of butyl tape on the corrugated sheet and then pushing it back and shape it.bit of heat would help this too if it’s not warm outside Double Sided Butyl Tape Used for Membrane Jointing, Waterproofing, Pond Liner Repair (50MM X 1.5MM X 10M) https://amzn.eu/d/2k52nAl Usually the windows with flashings come with this pre installed and you just peel the backing off and push it down