MikeGrahamT21

Unless its been filtered with UV light, mains water has every chance of containing a tiny particle of bacteria, all it takes is one to start a colony. I'm not trying to scare monger here, just speaking from experience and advising care

Just bear it in mind when doing anything with lower temperatures than normal. MVHR ducting is another place it can lurk. Obviously this is more of a worry for the immune compromised person, but even normal people can get ill from it, and it can happen anywhere not just in a hospital environment, this is just more likely as people are ill and their immune systems compromised.

Just a note to people wanting to store/use water at lower temperatures... Some bacteria will not be destroyed at these lower temperatures, pseudomonas being one of them, so if possible (and I dont know the technical side of ASHP type systems) design in perhaps another method of heating the water to a much higher temperature (immersion heater perhaps), so that you can run a high temp cycle one a week to stop bacteria from colonising. Pseudomonas also likes underfloor heating loops for the same reason, low temps and plastic pipe, perfect environment, so ensure with UFH that you put the correct amount of water treatment in, as high temp cycles with this aren't possible. And please take this seriously for yours and your families sake, I've been on the sharp end of Pseudomonas, its not a nice bug and it will and does kill people.

I wouldn’t go K5 for EWI, I’ve heard stories of it shrinking post install leaving cracks everywhere, they nearly pulled it from market at one point. Plus it’s expensive. minimum 100mm eps is far cheaper as long as you have the overhang on soffits to cope with it, and will probably get you an even lower uvalue. Eps also has a degree of allowing moisture vapour to escape, albeit slowly, where as phenolic does not allow passage of water full stop

Well I’ve made a start on it yesterday, my god there’s some crap up there, going to be a fair few trips to the recycle centre I think! Done 2 insulation boards worth in the eaves, wanted to do the most horrible bits first and to get some of the mountain of boards used up so I can move things around to give me space to take the chipboard up, the joys of doing work in a lived in house! carrying on today and tomorrow then I’ve booked some time off work to make more progress later in the month

Ahh fair enough, nearly had heart attack for the OP when I saw that! I've never handled the stuff as yet, hence why I said I don't know too much. Glad all is in order.

EWI is my system of choice, sounds like a similar house construction, if you are pretty handy, and it sounds like you are, you could do the majority of the work yourself and save yourself a fortune. Like me, you will have medium dense blocks, and the really thick galvanised wall ties they used to use back then, basically the perfect thermal store, in my case I'm planning on using it, but I don't have as much area to cover as im in a bungalow. EWI also has the added benefit of giving the exterior of your house a brand new facade, and giving projection from the elements, preserving your building, good if you are in it for the long run. As for the sills and heads, have you looked at foamstone? This may well fit with what you are looking for. Floors, I would say AVCL taped up the walls above where the finished floor line will be, 50mm PIR or Phenolic board, taped, and chipboard/osb laid over the top. Done a rough model above, hope I got the right materials, gone on what you said.

I don't know much about this subject, but I do know the inside of your pipe should be smooth to stop bacteria congregating, and to stop dust accumulating. I'd change that if you can?

Yeah the phenolic are going between the joists, then loft roll on top. will put the foil nearest to the rooms below for the VCL

I was having a think about that... Obviously thats totally possible, i can get it up against the plasterboard, but there has to be an air gap for the foil to work doesn't there, otherwise it just acts as a conductor. So on that basis, making an air gap isn't really do-able, nor would it be easy to seal, so was going to have the foil on other side just to act as a VCL. Thoughts?

that’s very kind Where abouts are you? edit: just seen Gloucestershire, I’m not sure where abouts that is without looking apart from south from me

Yeah that’s fine, I need something to keep me occupied over winter, you may or may not have read that I lost my wife in the summer, so anything to keep busy no matter how tedious is welcome ?

ive plenty of other uses for it if it’s not suitable for whatever reason, but if it’s suitable I’d like to use it as my base layer as it saves me laying a VCL

Hi ive just got a load of kingspan k112 100mm phenolic board quite cheap. Foil on one side and fibreglass on other. any issues using it as the 100mm in between the ceiling joists? bungalow so only got one floor and it’s a cold roof loft. cheers Mike

The MVHR should never be switched off surely? the sensors generally activate a boost condition to remedy the issue with air quality, and then when its resolved, it goes back to normal speed.

No i've not done anything yet, had a bad time recently, sadly lost my wife to her long term illness at the beginning of June, so at present everything is on hold, because at the moment, I just can't be bothered with anything ? My main thoughts at the moment are along the lines of, 'what is the point in any of this?' can't be arsed etc etc. Doing the house up was always for both of us, but now theres just me rattling about in here. So glad we bought a 2 bed bungalow and not some larger house! I'll certainly report back when i do get round to doing this, but probably won't be for some time.

We have had glass replaced before. The general rule so I've been told, is if the mark obscures your view, and is clearly visible from a distance of 2m, if it is then they have to replace the unit free of charge.

Thanks I'll take a look at these. Company recommendation is good too for the timber, i'll definitely keep them in mind for this and other cladding I'm hoping to do (pending approval from planning of course!). EDIT: This is a fantastic tool, exactly what I was after! Many thanks

I'm probably on an uphill battle as the wife has said now she doesn't like them, personally I think they look really modern, but obviously they do have purpose. Are there any calculations available for the projection of the canopy based on how deep the window is, and what angle the louvres would be positioned at for shading during summer, but, or are the louvres simply there so its not a solid surface doing the shading?

Hi, We have 2 windows which face south, and cause the majority of the overheating in those two rooms during the summer months, so I'm wanting to put a brise soleil above each window, but I'm guessing the manufactured aluminium ones will cost lots of £££, so I'm thinking to make a couple from timber and paint it 7016 grey to match our window frames. Does anyone have any ideas on design for the blades? Any one else embarked on such a project? Regards Mike

I have just completed an extension in a very similar manner, vaulted ceiling with 225mm insulation (we did full fill with PIR, and then had to counter batten the roof for the 25mm air gap), and we have 2 roof windows on the south facing side which work quite well. We used Okpol roof windows, however the air tightness wasn't what we were led to believe, and I think in general airtightness in roof lights is probably an issue, so thats one thing to consider. Our U Value on the roof was around 0.11 in the end, the roof windows even though they are triple glazed is 1.0U, so a lot worse, but you have the solar gain in the day time when its sunny. We have both older double glazed in another roof, and these newer triple, and the triple are a LOT quieter when it rains, you could certainly sleep with it, but you can still hear it. This particular room has a lot of glazing elements, 2x2.1m bi fold doors, and a massive window at 1.6mx1.9m all triple glazed, and the room even when we have had -5c a few weeks back required around 10minutes of heating first thing in the morning and that was it for the whole day. Now with this warmer weather, the heating hasn't been on for days, holding a nice 21C. So for us, there is no negative impact in terms of efficiency. One final thing to note is overheating in the summer months, this year we have decided to add on Awnings, which are external blinds that cut down heat ingress by what they say is around 80%, so we will see how they perform.

How about these: https://www.creative-cables.co.uk/metal-ceiling-roses/7053-black-cylinder-rosette-kit-bracket-screws-and-cable-retainer-8057730181235.html

According to U-wert Phenolic Set insulation (Kingspan Kooltherm) also has a very good heat storage capacity, not quite as good as wood fibre, which seems a bit odd for a foam product, but it is extremely dense compared with PIR, will get nearly a 10hr decrement delay, which isn't too bad, plus its the most insulating of materials, unless its an error on their calculator. I find buying from seconds and co is a good deal cheaper than new, the boards i received were barely marked, but they were effectively K5 EWI boards, so fibre lining on both sides, instead of foil, but that was fine for what i wanted them for. As far as a ceiling is concerned, decrement delay definitely needs to be considered, it is very important in terms of comfort in the summer, but also balancing temperature in the winter.

So a while back I decided to send an email to British Gas FIT team to ask about the re-positioning of the panels, thinking they would come back saying no, to my amazement they rung yesterday and said as long as the panels aren't changing size or power output, and the system still goes through the same single MPAN, then we can re-position, and they sent it me on an email in writing. So good news on a few parts, this means we can go with the 6 panels south, and 2 extra east, and more importantly, we have the west side roof now free for a dormer extension!!

I used these screws on everything from the roof trusses to the floorboards, fantastic quality and very cheap, and they are rated as structural screws hence the use for roofing: https://www.toolstation.com/forgefast-multi-purpose-self-drilling-wood-screw-tub/p91716