MikeGrahamT21

To cut your ceiling holes you need one of these: https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-adjustable-holesaw-with-cowl-29cm-9-piece-set/2571V?tc=TT6&ds_kid=92700055262507123&ds_rl=1244066&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrIjYzoTP6wIVluvtCh3FiwRWEAQYASABEgJg1fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds Saves getting an eye and gob full of plaster too

Thanks! Was my first attempt at undercoat plaster, and only my second time plastering, really enjoyed the first time I did it. Managed to get a lovely smooth surface to paint on, few little bits I missed but nothing a bit of easifill and a quick sand won’t cure

Just done this during my lunch hour, squared off the plaster ready for joinery to go on, and put a piece of plasterboard up on the ceiling to fill the gap, lines up bang on to the other second layer which is on rest of ceiling, so even though I thought it was 9.5mm board, it must have been 12.5mm.

Just remember to clean it regularly and this won't be an issue

Been a while since i've updated this, but I have been slowly getting on with it. Yorkshire Water came out and inspected the meter and signed it off, so was able to finally get the floor finished and move on. Floor done, and got some stop beads 15mm in depth to ensure my background coat was the correct depth to marry up the existing coving (bit of an amateur cheat i found online), to save any mess putting new coving up. Extended the cupboard and mounted the MVHR unit MVHR vent for the dining room Background plaster done on right hand wall, half done on left/front wall, but couldn't move at this point! Finally got some bags of multi finish, and this weekend got that on the walls. Next weekend going to get plasterboard on the missing bit in the ceiling where the cupboard used to be, plasterboard the cupboard walls, and then do all the joinery bits around the doorway, and hang the new door.

The unit that i had damaged, the chap who picked it up said he was collecting all the damaged bits for a new kitchen in his council house, so fair play to them really, it was usable, but not worth paying for.

Just a thought, but assuming you have a mortgage, have you spoken to them about it? Technically the property belongs to them if you do have one, and they will have a lot more leverage and internal legal teams to apply some serious pressure to the builder.

They're white, perhaps just a slight off white (warm white). Can take some photos if you want? I've not got them mounted yet, but plan on making a start on a couple today. If you wanted them a different colour, you could spray paint them yourself. I bought all my components seperately from BPC rather than relying on their kits, as the kits included bits I didn't need for my install. I got the premium pipe (antibac,antistatic) which seems good quality, quietvent manifolds and domus plenums.

I spent ages looking around, and found BPC are massively cheaper than anywhere else, just taken delivery of all of my components. The airy valves are incredibly expensive, i've just gone for the normal metal ones, but depends what you are after. BPC stuff is all branded, I did find their PVC 125mm pipe quite thin though, bends a fair bit.

Yeah I massively over think things too. For me it would be far easier to go with the 200mm from wall, as it'll be easier to get to in the loft. Rooms aren't huge, only a 2 bed bungalow i live in. Just taken delivery of all the ventilation gear from BPC, its amazing how compact it is, had in my mind it was going to be huge.

Yeah i was thinking they'd look nicer a little further away. In my mind I was going to locate them in the second ceiling joist gap, which would put them about 500mm away from both walls to make it even...

Morning all, So I know already that the vents need to be located for maximum cross ventilation of the rooms, but is there a set minimum distance which they should be from the walls and corners? I'm thinking having them too close to a wall could be a bad thing? I've not come across any set minimum, but want to get it in my mind before i start cutting holes in ceilings! Regards Mike

They have changed their delivery price structure now, used to be Gold minimum to get them to bring it inside the house, which I originally paid for at £150, they then changed this so that all of their delivery prices had them bring in the house, so you can get them to refund the difference down to the new £99, only difference is you won't know what day of the week they are coming until they ring to say they're an hour away, which wasn't an issue for me as i'd booked the week off work.

ok cool, i'll get cracking then, cheers

I really like the Wilko own brand scrubable paint, and not too expensive.

This will be my first time doing the basecoat, used boards last time, have used bonding coat in the past but only on small areas. I've got 15mm stop end trims to nail on as a depth guide to ensure it'll be perfectly level ready for the top coat. Just checked wickes again, and the stock is getting closer, so maybe another couple of weeks and it'll be in the local store.

Yeah, its known as bed joint reinforcement, and will stop the cracking, its not essential for structural reasons though, just cosmetic. The post build fix is helical bars ground into the blocks to stitch them together. I bet you are absolutely gutted about this house?! Unbelievable the quality of new build.

They get a lot of post install shrinkage, especially if they had been stored incorrectly on site before use (basically in the rain, they should be kept as dry as possible). The cracking is generally just cosmetic and nothing more. They're used as they help developers achieve certain u values cheaply and quickly. Obviously get it proper checked to confirm, but it may just be a case of crack stitching to ensure they don't show through again in the render, and some expanded metal lath attached to the blocks and then rendered in for additional strength at these points.

Blocks from original photos appear to be aircrete, they are prone to cracking like this, probably just looks worse as the render has taken some of the block with it when its been removed.

Hi, I've emailed BG about this but with everything going on I think they are operating skeleton staff, as i've had no reply yet, pretty sure someone will know the answer to this on here... As most people are finding, Multifinish is hard to come by. I've got my bags of hardwall ready to start the basecoat, but can I do the basecoat and have it totally dry before doing the top coat? If so i can get that done and scratch it ready for the MF when its back in stock. My dad seemed to think it shouldn't be totally dry, but i'm not convinced it matters, and can always spray with a bit of water before the MF if needs be? Regards Mike

luckily I took a photo when they first arrived...

I don't think there will be many brackets available online for this, majority are custom made and welded on-site, or by a steel fabricator. There is also as you mention the compactfoam, i've never seen this product but there are videos on youtube showing it being used for windows, so it must be pretty strong. With regards to airtightness, as long as you have a flexible airtight tape from window frame to masonry, there shouldn't be any issues with slight movement. If you don't hang the window right out, there will always be a thermal bridge, as you say will have 30mm EPS on it, but still a lot less than the rest of the building. Personally I'm keeping my windows where they are, and doing a return, and then using insulated plasterboard on the reveals internally to compensate.

Hanging the window out into the EWI layer in its entirety. There are some posts on here about it using steel angle irons to hold the weight of the window, with brackets to support it in place, a very robust solution.

Didn't realise i'd not posted a final done photo. Just the walls to paint at some point, but not decided what colours to go with yet.

Phenolic is slightly better than PIR in terms of performance, Kingspan Kooltherm type stuff, 0.018U vs PIR at best at 0.021U. I also find it a much nicer product to work with.