MikeGrahamT21

The biggest issue for me, is that they are working for themselves, they are building essentially without a customer. They are building the houses to their own spec, and hope that someone will buy it on completion, which of course they will. It could even be a case of voting with our pockets, if no one buys them, they won't build them that way anymore, but thats not going to happen either. I've worked on quite a few sites over the years, building new schools, and they are very strict on air testing, I remember one in the north east where they failed the air test, and it was a big big deal, it had to be sorted, because the contractors were employed to build for the local council (was one of the last local authority builds i did).

When you get to 1200ga thickness, it becomes known as a Radon Barrier and DPC in one: https://www.toolstation.com/radon-barrier-300mu-1200g-gauge/p78204

My BCO who is the head of the local authority department, didn’t even know what MVHR was. Pre plaster inspection and he said “what on earth are those pipes for!?”, followed by “oh yeah your doing that, what’s it called aren’t you”. he doesn’t even understand half the stuff I’ve done, just signs it off

Seen a fair few videos of mastic guys going on site, the site manager asking them to bodge something to pass the CML, only to afterwards rip out whatever it was and finish it properly with trims, but then they don't know whether its airtight or not. The fact new homes are built like this, especially one badged up to be super eco, unfortunately is of no surprise. It is seriously disappointing however. Big house builders have no desire to build eco homes, they just want max profit to please their shareholders and board.

yes, I forget which exact type I used but yeah it was just standard PEX pipe

yeah, stainless steel, not had any issues, was easy enough to install even in the tight space I had for use (under the floor in a small hallway). Found this from an old PM: I found from the kit I used there were 2 types of cone, one which has a double seal on the opposite end to the 16mm connection and one which has a single seal, the single seal ones fit perfectly in a 15mm TRV thus converting it to 16mm without any hassle. some very old photos too before I finished the floor

not had any issues though lowest pump speed I’ve set is 80%. yeah it’s all 16mm to rads, and then 22mm plastic both from and to boiler with the last 2m in 22mm copper. If you can make 25mm work, it wouldn’t be a bad thing with heat pumps in mind, and then just a brass converter to bring it down to 22mm to fit your boiler pipework

I used cable ties at regular intervals to keep it a tight fit all along. all my stuff came from psw trade suppliers, the eurocones (brass coloured) have just one external sealing ring, making it a perfect fit for a TRV - https://pswtradesuppliers.co.uk/brass-compression-fittings/92-117-16mmx34-eurocone-adapter.html#/39-pack_of-1 another bonus is no press fit, it’s all compression but works an absolute dream.

If you get the right eurocones as I did after a few trial purchases, they fit directly in a normal TRV and lockshield, so no messy conversions

you posted just at the right time! 😂

Just use the stuff for 15mm, it’s just a tighter fit, that’s all I used, thick walled 15mm ID climaflex 👍🏻

Consider taping a piece of VCL on the loft door hole to stop it going up, just as a temp measure, and get that heating on full whack, windows on vent, dehumidifiers running max, you’ll get there!!

Don’t forget to price in some form of flyscreen too, for the size you said could be upwards of £2k. not sure how big upvc ones go, but I have Liniar modlock, triple glazed, which cost me around £2800 8ish years ago

If it’s trapped in between the PB and VCL insulate as it’ll raise the temperature and allow the moisture to evaporate again, remember moisture will go for the coldest spot. have you determined the cause of the moisture making it into the loft itself? apologies for the panic, I think most of us have been there! At least as it is you have opportunity to rectify the situation, just needs fast action. drawing 5l per day is something but won’t get on top of it, there will be hundreds of litres to come out.

What type airtight membrane did you use? Ideally should be an airtight vapour control membrane (AVCL), and if sealed correctly moisture shouldn’t have been able to reach the loft unless you have masonry elements which travel up there. see what others say but for me you really need to hit it hard and try getting as much moisture out as possible, quickly, you run the risk of getting mould growth as it is, which would lead to ripping plasterboards out and replacing. Hiring an industrial dehumidifier (or 2 depending how big an area) wouldn’t be a bad move

Yeah a bit left field from me 😂 more results coming soon!

Its the mesh tape you use in between the joints. Do you know what kind of tape was used? You should be able to see the tape where the cracks are if its in there, shine a light in it

Ring your insurer, its the only way to know for sure

I'd recommend you fully fill the depth you have available to you with insulation, and ensure you have approx 150mm air gap underneath the timbers. 100mm isn't a great deal which is all i had space for (and looks same for you)

I’m no professional plasterer but that looks like someone forgot the scrim when it originally got done

I vaguely remember setting mine at 2 lpm on each circuit bar the bypass (bathroom) and the boiler pump is set to 80% max flow. Been running for around 6 years so far with some big vertical bar radiators and a couple of standard single rads, no complaints from me. temperature won’t affect the manifold itself, only thing I can see ever wearing out is the flow rate meters which can always be replaced, and you’ll find they get a lot dirtier quickly with rads, mine are black inside and can’t read the rate anymore, really need to clean them at some point 😂 no other components in there you wouldn’t find in the rest of the heating system. ran for most of the 6 years at 55C, just moved to 45C this autumn

Your current method suggests you are essentially installing a VCL on both sides of the joists, a very bad idea. Is there a reason those joists are doubled up? Rooms looks relatively small in size for all that timber. It may be more feasible to remove the doubling up bits, unless there is a large span which isn't visible on the photo. I can see a sleeper wall, so in that area, definitely no reason for doubling up, unless you've some serious load to bear on the floor?

Plastering at this time of year is problematic for condensation, I was in the same position last year around this time but had MVHR running, along with a dehumidifier, the amount of water which was removed was bonkers, you’ll get there eventually but it’ll take time, from memory I think I was battling it for around 2 weeks with normal heating on, around 15m2 of plastering but I used bonding coat and plaster rather than dry lining which increased water content

I think all the smart heating controls have this, mine is called early start, it basically uses historic room data plus the outside temperature from weather forecast to learn how early it needs to turn the heating on so that when your chosen schedule starts the room is at temperature. The heat miser version seems a little more basic than the Tado I’ve got where you have to input the amount of time. glad you found the culprit, knowing what I’m like that would have been proper doing my head in!

This one isn’t very scientific, but may be something… So I went back on the heating graphs for that room (which i have since retrofitted with the backer rod completely now) to a day where the heating was on the day before (so the starting temp was the same) and the night temps were very similar to a night since I’ve done the works (which were consecutive days as it turned out), and got the following result: Before - Temp just before the heating comes on - 14.2C After - Temp just before the heating comes in on - 15.0C As an aside, this may seem generally a low temperature but this room is only on heat schedule til 4pm and has a lot of glazing, even though it is triple glazed (between 1.0 and 1.1Uw). Make of it what you will, all a bit finger in the air this part