MikeGrahamT21

How insulated is the rest of your property? I have a large triple glazed window on the west side of my bungalow and that can bring some heat in during the summer months, there have been times i wish i'd have had solar control glazing.

In my opinion thats incorrect on the frogged bricks, the frog should always go down ot discourage moisture from collecting, regardless whether its filled or not it will collect moisture, which will lead to face failure. The British standards say that the frog should be pointing up and have a full mortar infill, i suspect this is because they are focussed on strength over anything else, the majority of master builders would likely disagree and lay frog down. The idea with the frog is to make a perimeter seal which would partially fill the frog with mortar, and also trap some air. Frogged bricks make it simple to know which way is up and down, as the frog is always pointing down. This way you have efficient use of mortar, no chance of moisture collecting, and also some stationary air which would be slightly insulating.

From what my dad has told me in the past, retired builder, there is an up and a down for a brick, an experienced bricklayer will know the difference, he told me if you get it the wrong way it will hold the water and be more susceptible to blowing in frosty weather, the right way encourages the water to run off. whether that still reigns true today I’m not sure but could explain

63 sheets! I bet that hurt!

Have a look at these:

Apps don't always store this info in registry, they make it super hard for you to find it for the whole reason of the trial period. VM and snapshot is the way forward for no mess

Yeah i've done this before. Create a VM, and take a snapshot before you install the software, when trial expires revert to the snap and reinstall, and so on and so forth. You can share a folder to a virtual box VM, but pop the ISO in the folder. https://carleton.ca/scs/tech-support/virtual-machines/transferring-files-to-and-from-virtual-machines/

Thats got to be a faulty batch. I've had PIR in the loft which is years ago (odds and sods), and still looks the same as it did when i bought it

I'm probably star pupil here, but i'm not so sure the majority would be willing to change their lifestyles to suit. I do the following: Eat responsibly and locally, and have zero food waste Travel within the country and only when necessary (this is partly because i'm just a boring bugger, and partly because driving results in days of pain for me, courtesy of fibromyalgia) Be careful with water usage, only using just what you need, and harvesting as much rainwater as possible to cover dry periods Buy just the things you need, and reduce the want list to virtually zero. Repair when possible instead of replacing. I have both Solar and Battery, which allows me to be self sufficient for a large proportion of the year (around 9 months), during which time I export far more than i use and store to the grid Compared with everyone I know, I go far and beyond what they do. My motto is to leave no footprint, or as little footprint as possible (which was oddly something we were taught about in primary school for when you are in the countryside), and leave the bit of the world i have control over in a better state than i found it. As for your list I would probably add security, depending on how bad things get, societal breakdown is a possibility, and security will also need increasing for the whole supply chain.

Mine came from DIY kitchens, really pleased with it. Few issues upon delivery with an item damaged and missing a part, but they quickly replaced it without any hassle. Not had a single issue since.

I'm going to assume along the lines of the other building regulations, and obviously speak to BCO about this, usually you can do whatever you want to (in terms of energy efficiency, and in this case overheating) if you do something along side it to mitigate any ill effects which it could cause, so perhaps some kind of external shading to mitigate the increased heat ingress, and ventilation will help with this. I would assume fire escape regulations would take priority. Have heard other people having to do dynamic thermal modelling (or rather having it done for them) to prove what they are doing won't suffer from overheating. Luckily all my builds came before this was introduced, its certainly complex and adds a lot of cost to a build

Yeah they don't like the weight do they, fair comment i guess, 3G is very heavy Nothing wrong with bi-folds, as long as you choose the right ones! My Liniar ones are spot on and air leak free, and have been as such for 8 years so far.

I think modern upvc windows do them, search them on google they’ve got a design tool on the website

Whilst 2G panels warm up far more than 3G (South facing roof windows, 70C vs around 45C), they still bring a lot of solar gain, external shading is the only true method of reducing this, as once the sun gets inside the panel it becomes a nice storage heater.

Twistfix helical fixings 👌

On a brand new house, yes i'd be concerned. Thats a fair sized gap. Get in touch with them ASAP and get the ball rolling...

Absolutely not normal, the membrane should be fully water and wind tight without anything covering it, i.e. tiles. Have you any photos of it in its various states?

Spot on 👍

neither grout or tile adhesive is truly waterproof afaik Some people use tanking on top of s&c render which provides a true waterproof layer. a waterproofing strategy should include the failure of grout and adhesive, it’s worst case scenario stuff so if it happens your covered

It is indeed yes: https://walltite.basf.co.uk/

If you use liquid foam in the cavity, you will be limited to breathable only products on the external insulation, wood fibre, rockwool etc, you won't be able to use EPS or Phenolic, something to bear in mind

The older you get, the less you'll be able to hear it 🤣 High pitched noise is quite easy to block with acoustic insulation, you could considering putting a box around it?

Also take a look here, may save you a small fortune: https://www.secondsandco.co.uk/deliveredboards If you get the kooltherm boards, they are a step up from PIR in terms of performance, they're phenolic boards.

After the worst of the cold weather was out of the way, i decided to start chipping away at my huge jobs list this year, some is finishing off, and others additional bits. Started getting the block paving back down again, as i was fed up of bringing sand in on my feet all the time, was very time consuming as each block needed individually inspecting for chips, and cleaning of its old sand and sealer around the edges, but kept doing a bit every other day. Level is a little higher than i would have liked, but i was down to a lot of concrete, so couldn't really go much lower whilst being able to put a bed of sand down, decided to seal the walls with Nano Drex Protect in order to mitigate any splashback, and I have since filled the gap with geotex and 20mm gravel. Eventually many months later, i've removed any damaged blocks and replaced them, jetwashed it all and re-sanded with Dan Sand then sealed. I've not finished it all yet, still got behind the extension to finish, sand and seal which is one of my next jobs. 3 external wall insulation areas to complete, around living room window including swapping the bow window out for a flat window with 40mm triple glazing, around the boiler and gas box, and behind the extension off of the small bedroom. Beginning with the horrible bit, digging down to the foundations: Followed by leaving them for around 2months to fully dry out, which took longer than expected with the rain we kept having, but got there eventually. Plinth insulation installed, trench filled with loose fill and all of the damaged block pavers. Living room window also had timber glued and screwed to the wall and starter tracks installed on this photo plus a myriad of heavy duty angle brackets, and i had 5 spare so I added those too before i insulated it. Also added another piece of 4x2 above the window, which sits half on the brickwork, and half on the wall timber, screwed to it, which i'll screw the window to, along with the side fixings, and some window straps to fix to brickwork inside. Wall insulated and old bow window removed... New window in, and insulation added to top the timber, and wrap the edges of the window. basecoat render completed. Next step is adding the brick slips. Above the window also needs expanding foam, and a trim to close the gap, I ran out of foam! Really happy with the look of the new window, from both outside and in... Inside has since been taped to the wall with Tescon tape, cavity closer to the top of the cavity, also taped down, and the exposed brick needs plastering at some point, before a new window board. Area round the gas box was dug out and prepared with plinth insulation as best as i could. Gas man has since been and put a new gas pipe in through plastic tube where i core drilled, so the remainder of the plinth can be installed now. Gas box was spaced away from wall by 120mm, and a new longer flue has been installed ready for the wall boards to go up. has morphed into... few more pieces to go on, but need to finish block paving off so i've somewhere flat to setup my work platform. and last but not least, swapped out the MVHR filters, previously G4 and F7 for another G4 and H15, spot the before and after... More to follow, hopefully soon, but probably not that soon!

Don’t forget VAT and import charges to the UK on any prices